Taking Control. (a Ninjago fanfic)

Chapter 11- Trapped in the mind

J A Y

Falling

Falling

Falling

I jolted upright, gasping for air, but there was nothing around me to see, nothing to cling to.

Only darkness—deep, impenetrable, stretching forever in every direction.

Just a void—pitch black, endless, and still.

Unease clawed up my throat as I stared around, bewildered.

Where am I?

What happened?

I remembered blacking out, I was sure of that, but where had that left me?

The last thing I remembered was... oh yeah. The mechanic. And- my stomach lurched.

The Overlord.

But as bad as that info was, it didn't help explain where I was. This was certainly not Ninjago, and maybe not even any realm. I was... somewhere, but nowhere at the same time.

A void. A literal fucking void. Was I dead? Is this what the afterlife was like? A lonely, endless... black? Shit, oh shit- I hope I'm not dead. If this was what the afterlife looks like, no way do I want to spend eternity here.

"Hello?" I whispered quietly, not really expecting an answer. My voice echoed and bounced in the silence, sounding loud yet quiet, my breathing light yet heavy. This place was weird. Everything felt the same, but opposite.

"Anybody there?" I ventured again, the sound coming out like a ghost of itself. The ground—or whatever was beneath me—felt strange. It was solid yet soft, cold yet warm. It was... everything and nothing, somehow at once.

Ok, yep, I was definitely going crazy. None of this made any sense, not a single bit of it. This place, wherever it was, felt wrong. So wrong. It was like I'd fallen out of reality and into something else, something twisted and evil.

The void around me stretched out into nothing. There was no ground, no walls, no end in sight. Just emptiness swallowing me whole. And I was here, trapped in it, with nothing but my own voice echoing back to me. There was no sign of anyone—no Zane, no Cole or Kai or Nya or Lloyd- no way out, just me and the cold, creeping dread that was starting to sink into my bones. Hell, I'd even settle for Dareth being here right now.

Where were the others? What had happened? I tried to remember, tried to put the pieces together, but all I could see in my mind was a blur of darkness, flashes of that last fight, of the Mechanic, and then... the Overlord. He did this. He put me here.

But how? And why?

The pit in my stomach twisted with dread, and panic started to creep in around the edges. I'd never felt this alone before, and it was scary.

What if the others weren't okay? What if he'd gotten to them too? My mind jumped to Lloyd first, because he was the last one I was with.  Was he okay?

And then, out of nowhere, a voice thundered around me, tearing through the silence like a knife. "Do you see, Jay?" The words filled the void, coming from everywhere and nowhere, and the sound made my blood run cold. I jumped, looking around, desperate to see where it was coming from, but there was nothing. Just the endless black stretching around me, as far as I could see.

But I knew that voice. I didn't need to see him to know it was him. That sound had haunted my nightmares too many times. "Do you see what I've done?" The Overlord continued.