The Child of Silver

34

After walking for several days, Lloyd, Garmadon and Anirei continued with Lloyd's training to not only balance himself, but to increase his strength to face the Overlord once again. Lloyd stood on a large boulder, several rocks placed in a tower on his shoulders as he tried to balance them with all of his strength.

"We underestimate the importance of balance." Garmadon said.

"When it's there, we are at peace." Anirei added, being the ninja of Balance, it was best for her to be a second teacher for Lloyd. Not that he minded in the first place.

"If something is off, everything falls." She continued as Garmadon placed yet another stone on the already tall tower.

"Ninjago is no different." Garmadon said, "It put too much faith in technology, allowing the Overlord to return. And because of your friends, now the world is without power."

"When one relies on something too much, we become weak, vulnerable, imbalanced." Anirei said. She smiled and looked up after hearing Zane's falcon crying through the air. Anirei couldn't help but wonder what the others were doing, as her dreams said nothing about them the last she slept. But she had to have faith in her elder brothers, after all, they did not become Ninja by mere chance.

"In order to find your full potential and unlock your true power, you must find your own balance." Garmadon said, breaking Anirei from her thoughts.

"I'm already the Gold Ninja." Lloyd said with a straining voice, "How much more power do I need?"

"You've only scratched the surface of your power, Lloyd." Anirei said with a small chuckle, "I have had many visions of the Gold Ninja through my dreams before I returned. Lloyd, there is so much more power in the palm of your hands, and yet like grains of sand, you are unable to grasp is without it falling through. You have the potential to move mountains. The power of the First Spinjitzu Master."

"The Ninja destroyed the power substation, essentially destroying the Overlord and his Nindroids." Lloyd shot back, "Why can't we go back?"

"Essentially?" Garmadon repeated holding a very large rock in hi arms, "Until the Overlord is fully erased from the system, we must not go back, but forward."

Garmadon threw the large rock onto the tower of stones, but Lloyd was not ready to handle the weight and fell down the tower of stones all over him.

"If you can't move mountains, I guess we'll have to move over mountains."

Lloyd screamed as he spun around, ridding himself of all the fallen stones, "Oh, yeah?"

Garmadon and Anirei jumped down to the stone pillar Lloyd was standing on.

"And this next one looks particularly steep." Garmadon pointed to the large mountain in front of them. Lloyd sighed and walked with his father and friend to the foot of the mountain.

Together, they began their climb up the mountain, but as the fog became more prominent, Anirei could feel a sense of darkness rising through the air. She stopped for a moment, turning around and looked in the same direction as New Ninjago.

A heavy feeling weighed down on her her heart, but she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned back around to see Lloyd and Garmadon with concerned looks on their faces.

"Rei, you okay?" Lloyd asked.

Anirei shook her head, "Something is wrong. There's a larger sense of darkness that is weighing me down." She said, "Please, Master Garmadon. I understand that Lloyd's training is important, but my mind will not rest until I see what has happened."

Garmadon was hesitant, but because of the dimming sunlight, he agreed for the three of them to rest for the night. They quickly found a cave for them to safely rest until morning. Immediately, Anirei sat down and crossed her legs.