The Split Element- Book 2 (Ninjago Dragons Rising: Zane X Oc)

The Temple of the Dragon Cores...

Aly's POV:

The World Forest:

We'd been flying for a couple of hours at this point, and Robin had woken up from her nap. Surprisingly, she managed to sleep for the majority of the flight, though she woke up just in time to see the stunning scenery around us; we were in a forest, but not your usual forest. The trees were huge, bigger than anything any of us had ever seen before.

"These trees are the size of skyscrapers." Lloyd gasped in awe. "They are known as 'World Trees.' And to my knowledge, they can only be found on this island." Zane explained, weaving through the trees with us close behind. "What animals live here?" Robin asked, looking up at Zane. "I do not know." "Nothing that can hurt us, Robin." I softly smiled at her, but in my head I thought otherwise.

Anything could be here...hopefully nothing dangerous is here, or else we're in trouble...

"In any case, I think the temple should be just up ahead." Nya spoke up, squinting her eyes ahead of us. And sure enough,within a hollow in one of the larger trees ahead of us, sat a structure, and we all quickly flew towards it, landing inside the tree.

We all hopped off our dragons, and it all felt so surreal. "I feel like I'm the size of an ant." Sora gasped, her gaze drifting throughout the hollow. Riyu suddenly ran ahead of us, prompting Robin to quickly rush after him, though Owen didn't follow. He stayed beside Zane and I. "The Temple of the Dragon cores..." Nya mumbled as we all stood in front of the door to the temple; it had runes decorating the frame, and a tree pattern in the wood. As well as this, there were three levers on the door.

"Looks like the whole door's one big puzzle lock. Maybe if we try-" "Oh, let me handle this one, trainee." Just as Sora was about to work on the door, Kai slipped himself forward. He stood in front of the door with a smug look, and cracked his knuckles. I rolled my eyes and watched him; he really hadn't changed much over the Merge.

Kai pulled the middle leaver, and two runes lit up. He turned to us with a grin. "I made it do a thing. I deserve a break." "You of all people don't need a break." I told him. Nya sighed, slightly annoyed. "I think what my rude brother meant was, we have a lot of experience getting into ancient temples." She explained to Sora while Lloyd looked over the door. "There's probably a combination of movements that unlocks it." He thought.

Owen kept his eyes on the leavers, and wandered up to them. He managed to pull the one on the right by standing on his tip-toes, which made three more runes light up. Though one dimmed. Zane softly chuckled. "I can run all possible scenarios." He spoke, stepping forward. His eyes shone brighter as he started to analyse the door. Owen stayed by the leavers, and Robin ran over too. She tried to reach the left one, but she was too short, and could barely reach the lever with her fingertips. "I can't reach!" She exclaimed, still trying. "Come on, let's give dad some space." I smiled, gently taking my daughter's hand and guiding her away as Owen followed.

We walked over beside our dragons, and waited for Zane to finish analysing the door. Arin and Sora chatted between Kai and Nya, Wyldfyer was sticking close to Heatwave, and Lloyd was taking a moment to himself. I thought, and looked to see what the kids were doing; they were happily playing with Riyu and a handful of sticks, which gave me a chance to talk to Lloyd without interruptions.

"Hey, Lloyd." I spoke up, sitting beside him. "Oh, hey, Aly." He responded, and I could tell he seemed lost. "You okay?" Lloyd asked me, and I just gave him a smile. "Yeah. Well, those two are testing my patience but nothings new." I responded half-jokingly, gesturing to Owen and Robin, which made Lloyd chuckle. "But, are you doing okay?" I asked Lloyd in return, and he went quiet.