The Wolf and The Dragon (Book 2)

67 - Where are Lloyd and Akita?

In the courtyard the rest of the team got really confused when suddenly all shadows disappeared at once.

-"what's happened? Where have they gone?" Cole asked
-"Well, my guess is that Akita and Lloyd have found the shadow controller." Pixal said.
-"Just in time, I was exhausted from fighting imaginary creatures." Jay dropped his weapon moaning.
-"But where are they? Lloyd and Akita, where are they?" Kai said running towards the building.
-"Guys... I am not sure we are out of danger just yet..." Kim is very uneasy, she walks behind the rest, she still can feel a shift in the air, but she can't pinpoint where it is coming from.

Cole was just two steps in front of her, when he suddenly felt a soft gushing of air on his neck, he turned as quick as he could to find Kim immobilised by the same Oni that had attacked her before, he had put something on her face and she was about to faint.

This time Cole did not hesitate, he would rather risk to hurt Kim than let her to be taken by that monster. He throws his golden hammer straight into the attacker, Kim saw it coming just in time and slightly dogged from it before she passes out. The hammer hit straight into her attacker's that drops semi unconscious just behind.

Cole ran to catch Kim, and the others came to help, and make sure the attacker did not escape.

-&-

-"are you telling us we lost both of them, not one of them, but both....both!" Kai walked from one side to another, he can't believe his own words.

-"Kai, calm down, please!" His sister tried to put some sense on his hot head.

For the last 5 minutes since they learned what happened to Lloyd and Akita, Kai hasn't stopped shouting at Kataru and Sorla, in his mind it was their fault his little brother and his girlfriend have been captured.

-"at least we managed to capture one of them. We can interrogate him, if he survives Cole's hammer hitting." Jay added to the conversation, trying to put a positive note.

-"he will survive." Kim assured everyone. She was supporting herself in Cole's arms, feeling dizzy and slightly sick after the Oni tried to take her captive. She is relieved Cole did not hesitate throwing the hammer.

-"we need to get you checked, by the way" Cole tells her worried about her appearance, she was very pale.

-"I will be fine Cole. I just need to have some food and a good rest, I will be back in shape in no time." She tells him with a smile, and he leads her to the kitchen to get her some food.

Meanwhile in the command room, Pixal and Zane are playing back the footage of the events to get a clue of where Akita and Lloyd were taken.

Wu entered the room.

-"what have you found out?" He asked Zane and Pixal.

-"we are absolutely sure we had two groups working together, the white Oni and the Shadows, although the Shadows were under the control of one of the Oni, they had a different schedule."

-"what do you mean?" Wu asked.

-"the shadows were here to get Lloyd, as soon as Lloyd was delivered to them, they completely disappeared. As the Oni were here for Akita." Zane explained.

-"The Oni that fooled Lloyd to believe she was Akita, said to Lloyd he was part of the bargain with the shadows, what tells us, they had a deal."

-"so, Lloyd is in the underworld in the shadow kingdom. What about Akita, any clue about where the Oni took her captive?" Wu said.

-"no... Akita was not taken captive, she accepted an invitation, Morrigan asked Akita to go with her and she would find out the truth about herself. Would she mean the Never Realm? Would she take Akita back there?"

-"No, she is taking her back to the first Realm, at the Northern Land, where the Oni breed with the white wolves and create the White Oni race, that is where Akita, or Ama, and Morrigan were born." Sorla explained as soon as she entered the room. "Not just Akita and Morrigan, but also myself and Mistake."

-"How can we travel there?" Nya asked.

-"we cannot, no without the Oni Masks" Sorla explained.

-&-

Lloyd tumbled down, hitting his head hard and following unconscious for a while.

-"ouch" - he said rubbing his head and taking in his surroundings.

-"are ok?" - a lady with jet black hair, wearing a long dark violet velvet dress, approached him with a cup of water.

-"what is it?" He asked suspiciously.

-"just water, quite a rare liquid around here." - she answered him looking around.

He took the cup from her hand and drank from it. He looked around and noticed he is in some kind of dungeon, he is pretty sure the cells were made from Vengestone, as he can not access his power.

-"thank you." He said to the lady. "Are you also a prisoner?"

-"me..." she smiled "well... yes, you can say that."

-"how long have you been here for?"

-"a couple of years... it does feel like an eternity... how old are you?"

-"22... why you are asking?"

-"I guess I have been here your entire life time. Lloyd, yes, Lloyd Garmadon?"

-"how do you know who I am, if you have been here for so long."

-"your father told me."

-"do you know my father, Garmadon?"

-"if I know Garmadon? That would be an understatement, he is the reason I am here first of all."

-&-

[Akita]

As soon as I accepted Morrigan's invitation I questioned my own decision. I am sure Lloyd would have called reckless and crazy.

She is the enemy, her soldier attacked Kimberly, and hurt her badly. She has brought the Shadows into the monastery, and gods know what they have done to Lloyd. I have no powers to fight her alone, she can kill me easily, if she wants too.

But, don't all stories have different sides and perspectives?

I shouldn't have trusted her, she is playing a game, and I can feel it. Still, she wasn't lying to me either, there was truth in her words, and I cannot explain why I felt I could and should go with her, it was like recognition, familiar feelings, she is my sister. Not like Kataru posing as my big brother my entire life in the Never Realm, but someone that has the blood of my blood, that knows exactly where I came from.

When she said I would be able to learn the truth about myself I couldn't resist.

I have so many questions not answered, all those memories of a time I haven't lived, and I long to know, not just what my guardians are supposed to tell me, but all that made who I am, all about Ama and her life before meeting the dragon for the first time.

I know I belong with Lloyd, and I will go back to him, but right now, I will take the gamble, the leap of faith, and follow what my senses were telling me to do.

In a blink of an eye I was elsewhere, a completely different place, somewhere I haven't seen before, still, it felt like home.

-"Welcome back to the Northern Land, my Queen, the home of our ancestors the three tails white wolves. The dark Oni killed them all, keeping only the females to be used for breeding, and our race was born."

-"Just like the Time travellers Dragons from the never realm?"

-"could be... they have destroyed many species in the hope they would create the perfect soldiers. We were the closest they ever got.

-"and.... what's happened?"

-"you, you happen.... the most powerful Oni that ever existed!"