Hope's Last Glimmer

Chapter 4: The Story of a Life

Hey, guys! I know it's been a while, but I figured I'd give you a Christmas gift! Enjoy this next chapter because you may hate me by the end of it. *Evilly grinning while I type* Lol, anyway, enjoy!

-TMNTNinjagoLover

Shimmer's POV:

"To answer your question, I received this pendant as a gift from my mother. On my way here, I ran into her in the Cursed Realm..." I began, the mention of my mother in the Cursed Realm saddening my heart.

Pausing for a moment to collect my thoughts, I continued, "This is my story.

"Morro became greedy beyond imagining. He craved power, an addiction of sorts. As his cravings grew, my mother knew she could no longer stand idly by; she had to stop him.

"Gathering her strength, she prepared to face him. I was but a small child at the time; a babe, clinging to her mother's skirt.

"Morro caught onto my mother's plans to confront him and challenged her in combat at our little mountain cottage before she had a chance to fully prepare. Caught with her guard down, she scrambled to retaliate to his attacks.

"Hiding me in the cellar, she proceeded to battle Morro, heartbroken as she fight. And that was the day that the wool was pulled from innocent eyes ton reveal the harsh realities of the world and the monsters that hide therein."

*Flashback: (Little Shimmer)

The sound of powerful forces tearing at each other, fighting for dominance, ripped through the silence. The ruckus ringing in my ears, it was real; this is really happening.

I clamped my eyes shut and covered my head with my arms as the reverberations of the battle raging above me tumbled through the small, dank cellar. The sound alone was terrifying, imagining what was actually happening while in this damp, dark hole was terrifying on a while other level. The walls of the cellar vibrates with electrifying force.

I was jolted from my dazed state as I heard a familiar cry of pain.

Mom.

That was her scream; the sound of her in pain frightening me all the more. Never in all my six years of life have I heard my mother scream, but somehow I knew that it was her voice straining against the confines of her vocal chords.

Upon hearing her pained cry, I swallowed my fear and began clawing at the dirt walls of the cellar in an attempt to find the ladder. I managed to grab a hold of the ladder just before a particularity large explosion of powers shook the floor of the cellar, threatening to knock me off my feet.

Scrambling sloppily up the ladder, I grasped the handle of the door. Flinging it wide, I leapt from the cellar to see a sight I wish I hadn't.

"NOOOO!!!" I shrieked as I watched Morro impale my mother with a tree branch and a grin. She was already wounded, stationary, unable to move. There stood Morro grinning sickly as he used his wind to ram the splintered branch through my mother's core, entering through her stomach and exiting just to the left of her spine. Her face was one of shock as she slowly fell to her knees and crumpled the rest of the way to the ground from there.

"MOMMY!!!" And that is when I began to cry. I ran to my mother with tears in my eyes only to be caught by the waist and hefted over Morro's shoulder halfway to her. Kicking and screaming, I stuffed against his firm grip. He said nothing as he hauled me away. My mother's dying form disappeared the further away we got, me watching her body with bleary, teared up eyes, silently begging her to move as I continued to struggle.

'I didn't even get to say goodbye...'

*End Flashback

"Morro ended up dragging me to the Cursed Realm where he had made himself a dark palace. It was an architectural work of art, but it was a prison to me nonetheless. He kept me locked in his mansion in solitary. The room he locked me in later became my room.

"That night my mother died. I could feel it. When a parent with elemental abilities dies, the power is passed on to one of their children or their child unless the child already has abilities or in special circumstances.

"I felt it. I felt her die. The moment my mother's light powers rushed into me was the moment I knew she was dead. That was when I wept. I wept bitter, rage-filled tears for her.

"That night I vowed to escape one day, for her.

"The years went by and I was unable to escape. Morro used me as a maid an hit me when he was bored or didn't like something. Morro slowly instilled me with an intense fear of him which made me hate him all the more.

"Though my mother now resided in this world, I was never allowed to leave the mansion nor could she come and visit me. I was forbidden from seeing her.

"Eventually, I gave up trying to escape...for the time being, that is.

"I came up with a plan.

"I decided to wait until I was older to attempt another escape. In the meantime, I behaved myself. I even managed to get him to trust me enough to use the library to educate myself. While educating myself when I was about 13 years old, I happened upon an old book. This old book described, in detail, the locations of the portals to the outside world and what parts of Ninjago they lead to. I succeeded in slowly making a copy of that old book.

"I studied my copy for years until I felt I was old enough and strong enough to make it on my own. Eventually, that day came...that was the day I first ended up in Ninjago as a 10-year-old. I had thought that I was ready. I had managed to learn many things and train myself with my powers and prepare my body. All of the hopes I had had vanished with my change to a 10-year-old...I didn't even remember those crushed hopes after my memory-loss inducing plummet down that slope.

"Overall, Morro's a power-hungry murderer...and he's m- ———r..." I mumbled he last part.

"I'm sorry. What was that last part?" Asked Cole, looking at me curiously.

I looked down at my feet, my hair shadowing my eyes. I slowly raised my head to look him in the eye. Intensity radiated from my eyes and seriousness flowed from his.

Breaking my eye contact with him, I looked around at the group.

"I said, he's my father..."

Well that's it for this chapter my lovelies! Merry Christmas!🎄🎁

-TMNTNinjagoLover