Ninjago's Shadow

24: Dragons In The Fire Hills

Because of the sudden change of realms the golden weapons return to their weapon form and we land on the red dirt. When we stand up Jay asks, "How did you do that?"

"Like I said before, it is not a spell but more of a request. I asked The Counsel and they allowed it." I say.

Scrambling up a small red dirt hill. Big blue flower petals are above our heads. The ninjas follow me. Standing on the rise of the hill I say, "Welcome to the Fire Hills."

A dragon swoops low overhead, its great wings string the blue flowers. It Bellows and several hundred other bellows reply. "Was that a d-drag-g-gon?" Cole stutters.

I smile. "We are in the realm of dragons." Cole turns white like a sheet. "We are going to get our own Dragons. Lloyd has his, so we need our own." I explain.

"How will we know when we have found our dragon?" Kai asks.

“You and your dragon already have a bond, because you have already been with them. I haven’t. So when I find my dragon it might try to kill me.” I explain sliding down the other side of the red dirt hill and walk under the blue flower petals. The others follow.

“So Rocky, Flame, Wisp, and Shard are here?” Zane asks.

“But the elemental dragons became Ultra-dragon.” Jay states.

“Well yes and no.” I explain, “The elemental dragons have two parts to their soul. The one you know as your individual dragons, and the part that makes up Ultra-dragon. The individual part comes here, and the other makes up Ultra-dragon when put together.”

“But what about your dragon?” Kai asks.

“Isn’t it an elemental dragon?” Cole adds on to Kai’s question.

“Yes. There are hundreds of elements. Ultra-dragon only comes from the four main elements, so he is only fire, earth, ice, and lightning.” I tell them.

“Does that mean I could control more than four elements?” Lloyd asks.

“I don’t know. You might have to ask your mother or Sensei about that.” I shrug.

“Where are we going?” Zane asks.

“We are going to the Calling Cliff. It’s a cliff that you can call to your dragons from, but only your dragon.” I say.

We become silent as the roars and bellows of dragons become louder. We walk under the petals as they cast a bluish tint to the air and sun light flickers through the petals to the red ground. We pass trees that are 1-2 miles around and thousands more miles high. Every so now and then the wind brings the smell of ocean, fresh or old kill, or fire. Soon the chirps and squeaks of baby dragons can be heard along with the other dragons.

The flowers get less thick and more sun is on the red ground. Then the flowers stop and in front of us is a cliff edge. We stand on the edge of the cliff and look down. The cliff is shaped like a circle with a ravine that opens up to an ocean. The cliff face is dotted with the dark holes of caves and perches made from tree trunks that look to possibly be about 3 miles around. In some caves nesting material such as twigs, flower petals, and leafy branches are scattered about the entrance. The bottom is a thick forest with thousands of different colored dragons flying to and fro or resting on the perches or in the caves.

In the middle of the circle of trees is the Calling Cliff. It is the same height as the cliff Kai, Cole, Jay, Zane, Lloyd, and I stand on. Stairs are winding all the way up to the top of the Calling Cliff from the tops of the trees and probably all the way down to the bottom. Seven hollowed out tree trunks are lying with their roots on this side and the other end rests on the Calling Cliff. Small circular windows are carved out of the tree trunks sides.

We walk over to a tree trunk bridge. Multi colored beads, pieces of colored glass, gold and silver bells, shiny feathers, and wind chimes are hanging from the twisted tree roots, blowin the wind making sweet tinkling music. Light comes through the circular windows on to the dark polished golden wood of the tree.

Stepping in, a wave of sweet smelling evergreen wood surrounds us. All the while as we walk Cole has his eyes closed muttering to himself, “Dragons can’t harm us. Dragons are just. They don’t know we are here.”

After about an hour of that Jay says to him, “Don’t think about all of the dragons crawling below us. Don’t think about how their sharp claws could rip-”

“Stop!” I tell Jay. Instantly he shuts up but now Cole is white like a sheet again and muttering all the faster.

After a few more hours of walking we come to the end of the tree bridge tunnel. Stepping on to the Calling Cliff, I instruct Kai, Cole, Jay, and Zane what to do. “Simply just call your dragons by their names and thy will come to you. Only your dragon will come no others. No matter how far away it may be, your dragon will hear you and come. But keep in mind that it takes time for them to fly to you. Call them three times and wait. If they do not come by night, then call them again.”

“Where will you be?” Lloyd asks.

I walk over to the edge of the Calling Cliff. “I will be looking for my dragon.”

“What are you doing?...” Jay asks.

I spread my arms out. “Jumping.” Then I jump.

“LERAY!” Lloyd shouts.

I plummet down thousands of feet. All the while the trees whisper to me. Saying, “We will catch you. Do not worry.” Then their leafy embrace folds around me and gently slides me from leaf to leaf till my feet land softly on the ground. I look up at the huge leafs of the trees. For every one leaf two and a half bounties could fit on one.

I start to walk when the roar of an engine fills the air. Turning around I find Lloyd racing down the rocky stairs of the Calling Cliff on his motorcycle. Sighing I ask the tree to carefully bring him down to me. The trees reach out their branches to him, Lloyd losses his concentration causing his bike to convert back to its weapon form. He lands on the stairs and tries to dodge the tree branches.

Cupping my hands around my mouth, I call to Lloyd, “Let the trees bring you down!”

Lloyd stops dodging and the trees bring him down to me. Once his feet were on the ground he says, “What was that for?”

I reply saying, “The noise from your-”

Lloyd interrupts shouting, “No, not that. I mean why did you jump?! You could have DIED!”

“But I didn’t. I’m fine. The trees would never let me fall.” I insist.

“Still you didn’t have to jump.” Lloyd presses.

“I don’t want to go down all of those stairs.” I say pointing to the stairs on the Calling Cliff.

“I could have taken you down on my motorcycle.” Lloyd points out.

I shake my head. “Your motorcycle gives of gases that are bad for the trees and baby dragons both in and out of their eggs. And the noise frightens them because some of them don’t know what it is.” And with that, I turn on my heel and walk deeper into the forest.

Lloyd walks beside me. “How do you know so much about this place?”

I smile. “The trees tell me. And I did a lot reading in the tower with father.”

We walk through the forest in silence listening to the sway of the branches. I place one foot in front of the other, not sure where I am going, trusting that this is the right way. We come into a mossy clearing with sunlight coming through the leafs and branches of the trees, dappling the ground with spots of light. The air is musty and steamy but still smells fresh like it recently rained. Vines hang from the trees and colorful feathered birds flutter about the big trees like rainbow spots.

The trees rustle and the birds dart for cover. Then a glossy green scaled dragon lands in the middle of the clearing in front of us. It rises up on its back legs, fans out its wings, and raises its great head above us, stretching out its long neck. From a cord around the dragon’s neck, hangs my golden bow and quiver of arrows like a pendant.

I smile. “This is my dragon.”