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Khione Garmadon was being chased.
She didn't know who or what was chasing her or what they wanted but she knew that she had to run and run fast.
She couldn't use any of her powers nor her animal form or her Elemental power although there was no Vengestone on her or around her.
She was rendered powerless so the only thing she could do was run as fast and as she could.
She ran through endless labyrinths with mirrors, marble statues of animals and marble statues of graceful young woman dressed elegantly,thousands of staircases that usually led to the same place and gleaming black and white checkered marble floors like a chess board complete with chess pieces with her heartbeat in her ears as she ran ran ran.She ran up the pristine chessboard marble stairs as she heard the creature laugh as it approached and its laughter echoed throughout the corridor.
The laughter felt so familiar but where was it from?
“Ahha!~Run a little foxlet run,run!” cackled the familiar female voice echoing off the walls and growing closer and louder with sadist amusement.
Khione felt a strange connection to this beast although she couldn't place it.
There was no time to think that she had to run and fast.
Finally at the top of the exquisite marble stairs there was velvety dark blue curtains with two white marble fox statues on each side of it.
She ran up the stairs and ran through the sapphire colored velvety curtains. On the other side of the curtain was a large stage with a beautiful silver mirror with two elegant white marble fox statues with dark sapphires as its eyes on each side of the mirror with the mirror In the middle facing her like it was the main event and puppets were being hung from the ceiling like chandeliers. Surrounding the stage were seats which appeared to be all occupied by shadow creatures dress to the nines with suits, top hats,ties, bow ties,exquisite masquerade masks, slip,kimono and asymmetric dresses all in hues of black and blue with the air smelling like roses and black dahlias.This was an auditorium of sorts and this was a show but with no actors or actresses in sight.
She approached the mirror slowly and instead of seeing her reflection she saw a monster.
It was still her yes, but she was in her Oni form but bigger around a young dragon’s size with devilish horns, with fox ears and nine white fox tails like her animal form but instead of the tips of her tail and ears being red it was dark blue.
Instead of being black like normal Onis, she was white with her red markings from the Choosing becoming black and sharper and her usually slightly sharp nails were razor sharp like thin blades.
Her eyes were extremely dark blue with slitted pupils and a pale blue diamond marking on her left eye.
She wore a harlequin bodysuit with a black flared skirt,black sleeves of a short-sleeved kimono, with dark blue diamond appliques with a dark blue diamond pattern, a black mini top hat with a blue feather and black veil,black stockings and black flats.
The beautiful outfit contrasted with the inhuman traits of this otherher. She screamed loudly as she tried to back up but bumped into something.
It was the monster that was chasing her, and it was the demonic form that she saw in the mirror, but it wasn't in the mirror anymore.
“Count the days, count the hours and count the minutes till I pull the puppet strings!~” her monstrous form cackled malevolently.
“Who are you?”Khione hardly choked out.
“I'm you silly!” other her replied, amused.
Khione wanted to deny it but it felt like she had no voice as the shadow creatures in the audience cheered like it was a show.
Other her snapped her fingers and the mirror disappeared as her monstrous form got close to her she found her voice again and began to protest in fear as her monstrous form got closer and closer to her as the crowd cheering became louder and louder.She screamed as loud as she could but she knew that no one could save her now.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Zetes Garmadon woke up with a start hearing his older triplet sister's cries of pure fear and tightly hugging her favorite fox plushie.
“Khione, are you okay?”Calais, the youngest triplet asked, rubbing his eyes and getting up from his bed.
“Yeah I'm fine,” Khione said, sitting up with sweat on her forehead said holding her fox plushie.
“Are you sure?”Zetes asked, getting up from his bed with him and Calais sitting on her bed.
“Yes I'm fine, it's just a nightmare,” Khione insisted, wiping the sweat on her forehead.
He and Calais exchanged a look,both of them knew she was lying, because after all they were triplets but he wouldn't force her to tell them if she didn't want to.
She had every right not to tell them. After all, he hadn't been completely truthful to his triplet siblings.
He hadn't told them or any of his friends or family about his horrible dreams.
Thinking about the dreams made his stomach churn with fear.
Don't think about the dreams,this isn't about you.Zetes scolded himself“All right, let us know if you want to talk about it,” Calais said, grabbing his sister's hands with concern.
“I will goodnight you two,” Khoine said, withdrawing her hands from her brother's.
“Good night,” Calais and Zetes said, getting back into their beds.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Calais woke up, stretched and yawning.Zetes was sitting in his bed with a reading light.“Good morning,”Zetes said, closing his book.“Good morning,”Calais replied, getting out of bed.He looked over to Khione who was sleeping soundly after her nightmare and clutching her fox plushie to her chest.Khione had a nightmare that had her sleep talking and freaking out.She refused to tell them what happened and a while he wanted to know what happened but he had no right to pressure her into telling him into telling him about the nightmarebecause he hadn't been all that truthful about his own dreams.In the first nightmare he had that started the tirade of nightmares he was on a chessboard and he had to avoid getting crushed by the black chest pieces.As he got to the other side of the chessboard he saw a monster form he couldn't truly make out but he felt a connection to it.But before he could get to the end of the chessboard the monster laughed as it slammed a king chess piece into him.He woke up sweating and panting as he tried to process what the hell just happened.At first it was easy to convince himself it was just just bad dreams projecting his insecurities and fears but as they started getting more frequent and more realistic he started doubting if this was more than just constant bad dreams.His most recent dream was probably the worst out of all of them.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Calais was in a hall of mirrors which was a mix of the ones found in carnivals and a hallway fit for a royal palace.None of his powers worked but there was Vengestone anywhere to be seen.The hallway seemed endless as he wandered the hall with his only company being his own reflections. So he thought.As he walked down the hall he could have sworn he saw the shadows move and laughter that felt so familiar echo the hall.When he'd look at his reflection his reflection wouldn't contort almost to unrecognition like a normal mirror in a hall of mirrors but instead his reflection would have a mocking smile and pose.But when he blinked his reflection turned back to normal.Finally at the end of the seemingly endless hallway there was a large mirror surrounded with small marble statues of a heart card suit.When he stood in front of the mirror instead of seeing his reflection he saw a monster that resembled him.This monstrous version of him resembled a Oni with its demonic horns and human appearance but also had traits from his animal form like the ears and tail of a bobcat instead of the tips of it being red it was dark blue.His red markings from the choosing were now pitch black and sharper.He was also the size of a young dragon with white razor sharp teeth,claw like nails and a pale blue heart marring on his left eye.“Well,well if it isn't well me,”his monstrous reflection said playfully.“You can't be me!”Calais insisted.“Oh we're not so different, we are two sides of the same coin,” the monstrous form said.“Fighting will be useless because I'm sick of being trapped within you,”Before he could say anything his monstrous reflection leaped out of the mirror and grabbed him into the mirror.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sometimes it felt like those dreams were blurring the lines of reality and fiction.He knew he should tell someone in his family but he felt like he was putting himself in danger.His family had always been intertwined with occult with his father's side of the family being part Oni and Dragon and on his mother's side Forming.What if they thought he was cursed? Last time someone got cursed like Garmadon it did not go well.Garmadon was treated somewhat like a monster even when he wasn't trying to take over Ninjago and make it into his image.Even now people feared him even though it had been years since he had tried to take over Ninjago and even helped save it multiple times.No matter what the stupid paparazzi would find out and everyone would know and treat him like a monster.And it would tear his family apart and it happened often.He didn't want to be the one to tear the family apart again.This family had already been torn apart too many times to count and he wasn't going to be the one to cause it.It's too early to think about this,Calais scolded himself.“Should we wake her up?”Zetes asked, looking at his sleeping sister.“It's 9:30 already, mom is making breakfast,”Zetes said, sniffing the air.Dang it, we all woke up pretty late,Calais thought.He,Zetes and Khione had heightened senses of smell and hearing that let them hear and smell for miles.“Usually she wakes up before me,”Calais said.“I bet she's tired from her nightmare,”Zetes said.“Hey,Koko, wake up,”Calais said, shaking his sister softly.“Khione, wake up!”Zetes said, shaking her a bit harder.“You leave us no choice,”Calais said with him and Zetes smirking mischievously.The boys transformed into their animal forms and began licking their sister.“Ew! Stop!”Khione said giggling, waking up and trying to push her brothers off her.“You snooze, you lose,”Zetes said, shrugging as he and Calais transformed back into his human form.Zetes was usually the more mature of the three triplets, solemn and trained until he couldn't anymore but when but when he was alone with close friends and family it was like he was an entirely different person who was cheerful and playful and enjoyed teasing his brothers and sisters just like the rest of his siblings. Zetes could be a bore and too serious but with a little bit of prodding he was a fun person to be around. “Ugh,”Khione said, wiping her cheeks.“Come on, breakfast will be ready soon,”Calais said.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Akita was making pancakes and Calais’ brothers and sisters Sora,Arin,Kir and Kira and their cousin Aura, (The granddaughter of Morro, the previous Master of Wind) as well as Lloyd, Akita,Misako,Wu and Garmadon.“Good morning sleeping beauties,”Sora teased.“Sora don't tease your siblings,”Akita said, pouring pancake batter.Sora playfully stuck out her tongue at her younger sister.“You sure did sleep in,”Lloyd said, looking a bit tired.“We're on summer break, we can afford to sleep in,”Khione said, sitting beside Sora.“Yeah,”Zetes sat next to Khione and Calais sat next to him.Akita served everyone their pancakes.“So Sora,Arin are all right with taking care of your siblings while we're out?”Akita said after swallowing her pancakes.“Sure, we'd love to,”Sora said between bites of Nutella pancake.“Yeah!”Arin agreed.“All right but don't,”Akita said“Leave or destroy the monastery,”Sora,Arin, Khione Zetes, Calais,Kir,Kira and Aura, said in unison.“All right, get ready for you six,”Misako said, chuckling."Keep your room cleans for the dinner party,"Wu reminded them. "We will,"Sora said getting up. "Besides the party's only in 2 days I'm sure we won't mess up our rooms that bad before that!"Arin said."When have we been the type to mess up our rooms that bad?"Calais added."We know that you wouldn't mess up your rooms but somebody needs to clean up her blueprints and wrenches,"Akita said."Moomm! It's for one of my latest projects,"Sora said."I know, but moving it off the floor won't be the end of the world,"Akita said.Sora,Arin, Khione Zetes, Calais,Kir,Kira and put their plates in the sink and went upstairs to change.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Calais looked through his closet through gis, school uniforms and formal clothes until he found a green hoodie,baggy shirt and sweatpants. This wasn't usually what he wore because half the time he was wearing a gi or high school uniform but Sora or Arin or the rest of his siblings and cousin wouldn't care.He went into the bathroom and changed into clothes.Beside, he didn't want to get his gi dirty while cleaning.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~When he went down in the living room watching NMTV he saw the rest of his siblings and cousin in comfortable clothes like sweatpants.Aura was on the floor with her green instant camera beside her.Calais sat beside Sora on the couch who was lying on her stomachOn the other side of him was Arin lying on the couch upside down,Khione lying down below Sora on a mountain of pillows with Zetes lazily lying at the bottom of the pile of pillows and Kir,Kria and Aura lying in front of the TV.Calais yawned and his eyes began to droop slightly.“Looks like someone is tired!”Zetes teased snickering.“Buzz off and you shouldn't be talking,”Calais said.It was true that the three of them hadn't been getting a lot of sleep because of them waking each other because of nightmares. Thankfully they abided going to the doctor and passed off as being not used to their training schedules where they had to wake up early to train to control their powers better.By early it was 4:30 or 5:00.Calais yawned again and lay down on Sora like a bed.“Fsm,Calais you haven't done that since you were 9,”Sora said.“I'm tired,”Calais said, making himself comfortable.Sora sighed and rolled her eyes and continued watching TV.“Hey,can someone pass the chips?”Arin asked.Calais passed the bowl of potato chips to Sora and she passed it to Arin.“There's nothing left,Sora,can you get the chips?”Arin asked.“Um, I would if I could,”Sora said, trying to lightly shove Calais off her but he refused.“Not it!”the others saidArin chuckled at his lazy lazy siblings and got up from the couch.“I can get it if you want!”Aura suggested.“Nah, it's fine,”Arin said leaving the living room.A few minutes later Arin came back with the chips and sat back on the couch.Khione was whispering into Zetes’s ear about something and he snickered.Calais tried to listen in but they was too far away to hear what they were saying.“DOGPILE ON SORA AND ARIN!”Khione yelled suddenly.Khione Zetes,Kir and Kria dogpiled on their older siblings.The siblings fell to the floor giggling happily.“Smile!”Aura said, taking a photo of her cousins.Being surrounded by his siblings the nightmares weren't so bad.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Lloyd- The EmperorAkita- The EmpressNya & Jay-The LoversGarmadon,Wu,Misako,Lloyd,Akita,Kataru,Sora,Arin, Khione,Zetes,Calais,Kir and Kira-The TowerVania-FortuneCole-StrengthGarmadon-The Hanged ManP.I.X.A.L-The High PriestessLeo-The SunAmphitrite-The MoonLily-The Star[Redirected]-The Devil
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
One moment Zetes was in his warm, soft and comfortable bed with the only sounds being his sibling’s breathing, snoring and sleepy sighs but the moment he closed his eyes he was HERE again.
Trapped once again in an endless pristine labyrinth of mirrors, checkerboard floors, statues and thousands of staircases that often led to the place he started but this time it was different.
He was sitting in a dark wood chair with a dark wood table with tea and sweetb treats like butter cookies and brownies as well as a vase with black roses with a second chair across from him and playing in the corner was a shadow creature playing the violin.
He could tell that it was still part of the labyrinth with the marble floors and statues and silver mirrors.The air smelled like fresh baked goods and roses.He looked around and saw if there were any exits but there was none that he could see and he couldn't move anything below his waist.“Well,well what do we have here?”an extremely familiar voice said.
Appearing from the shadows in across from him was a monstrous version of himself with this otherhim being larger in his Oni form but white with bobcat ears with the normal Oni horns with his red marks from The Choosing and the marking on his tail were now dark blue, with a Cheshire grin full of gleaming sharp teeth and his eyes were dark blue with slitted pupils and a pale blue diamond marking on his left eye.
He wore a black tailcoat with dark blue diamond appliques with a white dress shirt underneath.
also his slightly sharp nails were like weapons.
This monstrous version of him was almost identical to him (minus the inhuman traits) down the streak of hair covering a bit of his left eye.
The otherhim dragged his sharp nails on the table causing a sound like nails on the chalkboard.
Zetes shrinked at the sound with the otherhim grin growing bigger.
“You!”Zetes said angrily.
“You mean us, we're the same person after all,”otherhim said, shrinking down to the same size as Zetes but that did not make him look any less threatening.
“I am nothing like you!” Zetes said, trying to get up from the chair.
“Oh really then? Then why do we have the same name, appearance and family?”the otherhim questioned.
“What the fuck are you anyway?”Zetes shouted.
“Oh FSM, such a foul world coming from your mouth is unusual from you,”the otherhim taunted.
“Anyways,I'm not like your Oni, Dragon or animal side which is animalistic and behaves on instinct that you can tame so you can use it’s abilities and powers as your own but you can't do that with me because I'm much smarter and I’m human, well partly,”the otherhim said amused grabbing a brownie.
Zetes tried to say something but he was interrupted by his monstrous counterpart.
“Come on, lighten up!Indulge in these treats!”the otherhim said, completely changing the subject with his voice becoming friendly and inviting.
Zetes hesitated but took a chocolate chip cookie.
It tasted like his mother's cookies that he and his siblings tried to help but instead made a mess.
Oh how he would die to have comfort from his mother.
“Doesn't this taste like mom's cookies?”the otherhim said swallowing the cookies.
“What do you know about her?”Zetes said angrily.
“Like I said before we're the same person,” the otherhim said helping himself to another cookie.
“Why are you doing this?”Zetes asked.
“You know….your fears and insecurities make me stronger and I can't say I don't like it,”the otherhim said growing bigger.
“My point is I love watching you suffer because it makes me more powerful literally and figuratively.”“You're a monster!” Zetes cried.“If we're the same person that makes you a monster too,”the otherhim mocked.“YOU'RE NOT REAL,YOU'RE JUST A BAD DREAM!”Zetes screamed enraged, slamming his hands on the table, leaving a deep dent.The otherhim grin and began to laugh and began to grow into the the size of a young dragon.
“You can't push me down and I will be more than a nightmare for you and your family. I'll be a reality, little fukouna boy!” otherhim snarled crawling on the table on all fours like an animal causing the food to fall onto the floor and the table to break like ice.
Zetes tried to back the chair up but he couldn't. He was stuck, just like the other dreams.
“I will feed on your fears and insecurities so I can finally be in control!”
The otherhim started getting closer to him until they were face to face.
“WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!”