Salt: A Ninjago story

41: Who-rumi?

The brightness of the sun warmed Lloyd, drawing him back through time from the nightmare of his past. He had returned. It may be his present but he knew it was now a new reality. Standing in the centre of the Celestial Clock once again, he dropped to his knees and cried for his lost love and for the life she had regained. His heart thudded in his chest and his head felt like bursting with the feelings of pain and happiness that tore at him. He had to leave. He could not stay a second longer.

He ran to the edge of the precipice, where earlier he had watched his father's flight from the Clock, holding his son, the child Lloyd once was, in his arms. Lloyd stopped sharply and turned back, viewing the timepiece with a new sense of awe and bowed low before it 'thank you' he whispered before turning without giving it a second look.

On the beach, the little boat was waiting patiently and Lloyd looked at it with a different view. He placed his hand onto it with gratitude for their first journey together and hoped his journey now would be their last.

He set off from the Island and arrived at the shingle beach, but Lloyd could not recall the time between. It could have been an hour or a day; time meant nothing to him and he had no desire to be a part of this reality. The cold mist sunk into his skin and chilled his bones, but he was oblivious; the memory of her body close to his was enough to keep him warm. He recalled her touch, her face and the gradual reveal of her true self; like a shadow lifting, a life released and he wept for her and her parents both. For their happiness and the life they had regained, while his sank deeper into sadness.

He returned the boat to its home and approached the grand house. Darkly's was still a cold deserted place and felt more so now. He felt the ghost of her everywhere and he recalled their flight into the great hallway to escape the rain. He walked through to the kitchen his muddy footprints by the back door were proof they had been there. He could see her standing in the space, feel her fingers slide under his wet clothes. His mind wandered upstairs, his thoughts shattering with the flashes of lightening that had called to them, drawing them away to this future. He suddenly felt so full of anger he released a frustrated shout and stormed into the garden where it had begun to rain. He hung his head in despair 'oh, give me a break' he muttered angrily before turning to go back in. His fresh muddy footprints mingled with his old and he realised that his were the only prints made in here, but elsewhere a trace of her could still exist. He ran back to the Great Hallway where they had run in from the rain; but there also, just one set of prints. She was gone. Truly gone. She had been eradicated from time but he had not and he could remember every single thing.

There is nothing left of her here. But what will replace her story in the world?  Lloyd thought to himself. I have been left with a void, a hole for a new past that I have not lived and memories of a past that no longer exists.

He left the house, turning his back on Darkly's for the last time. His questions had been answered, his life altered and now he wanted the world to reveal itself as a better place. Well it had better! He demanded.

He trekked back. The landscape changed the further from the coast he walked; from craggy and windswept to rolling hills and soft foliage, he did not stop to rest. He needed to be back with his team; feel their spirit fill the temple; hear their voices happy and loud. He could sit and talk with his mother. She could help him make sense of this experience and explain the events he witnessed. Even if the visions seemed unbelievable, he knew that to his Mother they would have been very real and painful.

The sting of the salty coast air softened the further inland he travelled and his mind drifted as if a heavy fog were obscuring his thoughts from view. I'm tired, he thought; He found it difficult to recall what he had just been thinking about and stopped, confused. His Mother and his past came right back to him. Yes that was it! The wide empty field he had stopped in accentuated his solitude and he wondered why he felt so alone. He had the best friends in the world, who would support and stand along side him; a mother who loved him and would do all she could to help him on his strange path. And now he had a future where he understood his past, beyond the threat of Overlords, demonic fathers and psychopathic princesses. But wasn't there something else? There was something right there on the tip of his tongue. A word or name that he could not form; a feeling that was a mere echo of a dream... He sighed. He was too tired to care anymore.

It would come back to him in time.