Original - The 17th Realm (The Maniac Trilogy - Book 1)

9 - The First Son of Garmadon

LLOYD'S POV

In the snow, at that one moment I kept hearing the screeching, screaming and whispering again. I tried to drink the water but as I drank it I suddenly had a feeling that there was something stuck in the back of my throat and choked on the water. It was cold and weird...

We almost got to the border and it suddenly all went black. Like in the cloud. A cold shiver went down my spine and across the cut on my face from Harumi's knife. I turned back around and everyone disappeared. I yelled as I fell through the ground. I could hear everyone call my name, but they couldn't hear me shout for help. I looked above me and there was a hole I fell through. I shouted to them that I'm down here, but they didn't hear me. The tunnel started closing, I tried to use my powers against it but it went straight through.

I suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind me. 

"Hello, Lloyd..."

I turned around but no-one was there. I turned back around and he was there...

My father.

I took a few steps away. "But you were gone for so long..."

"Well I am back. Back with something more powerful than ever..." The cloud came close behind him like an army.

"You're forgetting something. I'm part Oni. I can survive in the cloud."

"You can't. You're part Oni. Not full Oni." He started walking towards me, the cloud followed after him. I started running away but I tripped over a vine from the cloud. It suddenly pulled my leg and before I knew it I was upside down.

I looked my father in the eyes. "What do you want from me?!"

"Revenge." The vine grabbed my arm and left me hanging the right way up this time.

"What?"

"I take pleasure in the suffering of others." I tried to break free.

"Even your own SON?!!"

There was a pause. I saw a weird shadow move next to Garmadon.

"Why do you think I'm here?"

"You're not actually here. This is just in my head!!"

"Or is it?" Another vine went tightly around my neck. I couldn't breathe. I tried to break free. Each vine grabbed one limb and pulled me towards my father.

He whispered in my ear, "If you want your friends alive, you will obey..." I managed to break free. I ran away. I ran towards the light. It was another tunnel.

"You know, now that I'm working with the Overlord we're gonna be unstoppable. You won't be able to run from us..." I was about to step to the other side but the vines caught me again, they pulled me towards him. My father used his powers to hold what looked like a red-hot piece of metal. It had the Sons of Garmadon logo carved on it. I tried to break free again.

"Keep moving and it will be more painful..." The vines held my head in place as the metal burned through my skin. I yelled in pain. The metal stamp stayed on my skin for a while before it was taken off. The vines let me go. I fell right by my father's feet.

I couldn't breathe. 

I couldn't move. 

I couldn't speak.

"Until we meet again, Lloyd..."

I ran back to the light, as fast as I could. I got to the other side.

HARUMI'S POV

All of a sudden, he tripped. We sat him up as he was hyperventilating. It looked like he ran back from somewhere. We were all across the border.

"Where were you? Where were you?!" He shouted. "WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS DOWN-" he pointed at the snow. There was nothing there. "I don't understand... The portal to the underworld... It was right there..."