One- The Beginning of the End (☆)

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⋆⁺。˚⋆˙‧₊☽ ◯ ☾₊‧˙⋆˚。⁺⋆

[ONE YEAR AGO]
(before the events of the prologue)

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*this chapter refers to the reader using (they/them).







Your gaze swept towards the monitor mounted on the wall, watching as an intricately drawn map of Ninjago loaded before you. A small, blinking red dot popped onto one of the noteworthy locations, followed by another, and another, until there were too many for you to keep up with anymore.

You carefully traced your clawed finger across the screen, moving from one dot to the next.

"This can't be accurate." You huffed a breath of disbelief, refusing to accept the news you'd just been given. "This many people have disappeared?"

The remainder of the ninja force, as well as Sensei Wu and Garmadon, stood close by your side in the Bounty's control room, appearing just as perturbed as you were.

"I hate to say it, but it's worse than that." Nya stepped in front of the control panel, scanning the information presented on its smaller screens with a grimace. "These dots aren't accurate in number– one is representative of the location, but the actual number of missing persons varies from place to place."

The water ninja typed on the keyboard, editing the visual on the monitor. A few clicks later, the map changed, displaying more accurate–and more horrifying–data.

Multiple different numbers were listed beside each dot, and your stomach crawled as you read them.

One person was missing here, five there– some even up to ten. The numbers only seemed to grow the more you looked at them, and you had to pry your eyes away from the screen, unsettled.

"Why is this happening?" You breathed, lost.

"We don't know." Lloyd frowned. Noting your unease, he quickly added, "not yet."

"Are you sure this is all the information we have?" Kai asked, turning to his sister worriedly. "This isn't much to go off of. Not when we don't know what we're dealing with."

"It's all we've got." Nya affirmed, sharing in his disappointment.

"Then it'll have to do." Cole nodded confidently. You wished you felt the same in that moment, but all you could feel was hollow.

Given the few scraps of intel available, tackling the latest mystery unfolding in the realm seemed close to impossible. Sure, the data provided somewhat of a place to start looking for answers, but there were already too many locations to investigate in one day. It would require a lot of time and energy, but the effort might be for nothing in the end. The ninja would be left grasping at straws for a while.

"Indeed." Garmadon agreed. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the data on the screen. "This is a troubling situation. We'll have to plan our next move accordingly."

Sensei Garmadon was a strong elder, his wisdom surpassing his years. Yet it was clear from his wary expression that even he hadn't seen something like this before.

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