Ninjago:Rising

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

(TW) attempted suicide

Lyra stumbled through the dense forest just outside the city, her mind reeling from the chaos she had left behind. Images of her family, her brother Lloyd's horrified face, her mother's terrified eyes—everything played through her mind in agonizing clarity. She had hurt them, nearly destroyed them, all because of this power she couldn't understand or control. Her hands trembled as she looked down, feeling the faint flicker of dark energy around her fingers. Every moment she held onto this power felt like it was eating away at her, yet she couldn't seem to escape it.

The air grew colder, shadows stretching long and ominous around her as night fell. She slowed her pace, looking around at the looming trees, their branches twisting and reaching down like claws. Lyra's chest tightened, her breaths coming faster as a deep despair settled over her. The world around her was quiet, far too quiet, and in that silence, she felt the crushing weight of everything she had done.

Her eyes caught a glint of metal in the moonlight. She reached into her jacket pocket, pulling out a small knife. She didn't even remember where she had gotten it, but she clutched it tightly, feeling its cold, sharp edge. The thought whispered through her mind, dark and insistent: Maybe this was the only way to end it.

She gripped the knife, pressing its edge to her skin just below her ribs. Her hand trembled, and for a moment, she hesitated, questioning if she could really go through with it. But then her mother's terrified face flashed through her mind once more, and the pain surged back, sharper than the knife's edge. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she tightened her grip and plunged the blade into her side.

Pain flared hot and intense, blooming from the wound and sending shockwaves through her body. She gasped, her legs buckling as she sank to her knees, pressing her hand against the wound. Blood began to trickle between her fingers, dark and warm. For a brief moment, she felt relief—relief that maybe, just maybe, this could be the end.

But as she looked down, horror replaced that fleeting sense of peace. Dark energy began to pulse from the wound, tendrils of shadow twisting and weaving around her skin. The blood stopped flowing, replaced by an unnatural cold, and before her eyes, the wound began to knit itself back together. The flesh closed, seamless, as if she had never stabbed herself at all. The blade in her hand turned black, corroding and disintegrating until nothing was left but dust that slipped through her fingers.

"No..." she whispered, panic lacing her voice as she clutched her side, feeling the smooth, unbroken skin. "Why... why won't you let me go?"

A voice, deep and ancient, echoed in her mind, sending a chill down her spine. It was a voice she had heard before, whispering in her dreams and haunting her thoughts since the explosion at the elemental reactor facility. But now it was stronger, undeniable, a presence that seemed to fill every part of her.

"Because, child, you are far too precious to waste," the voice intoned, each word laced with a sinister authority that resonated deep within her.

Lyra's heart pounded as she backed up, her hands pressed to her temples as if she could block out the voice. "Who... who are you?" she stammered, her voice barely more than a whisper.

The voice chuckled, a low, unsettling sound that seemed to seep into her very bones. "I am a force beyond your comprehension. I am the source of the power that now flows within you, the very essence of darkness itself. I am what your kind would call... the Overlord."

The words seemed to hang in the air, heavy and oppressive, and Lyra felt herself shiver at the name. She remembered ancient tales, whispered by her mother when she was a child, about a being of unspeakable evil—an entity so powerful it had nearly consumed Ninjago in darkness long ago. But she had thought those were just stories, legends meant to frighten children. Yet here it was, the Overlord himself, speaking directly to her, entwined within her very soul.