Harumi's POV

     My eyes snapped open to a boringly beige room, filled with the fresh scent of clean air. I felt energized, like I had been sleeping for a while. The sharp pain in my stomach was gone. Memories surged into my head of the needles used to help me with my dehydration, and I scanned the area around me for anyone unfortunate enough to be holding one.

     The short table beside where I was laying contained no needles, only a few bottles of bright red medicine labeled 'beetroot'.

     "Ah, you're awake."

      I spun to see an older man, watching me with steely blue-grey eyes. His face was kind, but his deceptively simple robed attire convinced me this was all an act. He was surely a demon from the Departed Realm, ready to lure me into a false sense of security. The infirmary surrounding me was only an illusion.

      "Welcome to my humble abode, Harumi."

      I looked around to find a weapon. Seeing nothing but a discarded spoon, I picked it up and pointed it at him. Drops of red medicine flung through the air. "I'm not falling for your tricks, demon. Where's Morro?"

      "Mistake reacted similarly," the man mused, stroking the ends of his gray mustache. "Except she actually threw something at me."

      I dropped the spoon in surprise. "Mistake?! You've... you've met her? But she's good. She's not going to the chasm!"

      What have I done?

     "Relax, Harumi, and trust me when I say this is not the chasm. I found Mistake in the mountains of the Seventh Realm where she said she was going to be. She's here now, waiting for you outside." The man gently retrieved the spoon from the floor, twisting it in his fingers. "Morro is here too. You are all safe."

     "Did—did you save us?" I hesitantly asked. "The last thing I remember was being stuck in a prison cell, slowly dying from poison."

     "Basically. I was the one who sent people to get you out."

     "Then," I added, "you saved my life."

     "Technically," the man said. "Malevolence's poison wouldn't have actually killed you. It doesn't have that type of power. She just wanted you to suffer then rot because of lack of nourishment. She has her creative ways of torturing people, wouldn't you say?"

     I brushed my bangs out of my eyes. "You know Malevolence. You saved us... why?"

     He crouched down to meet my eyes. "My name is Erasmus and I'm from the Cloud Kingdom. I write destinies for a living." He chuckled. "There is something very serious surrounding you. I need to understand why things happened."

     "What sort of serious?" I questioned warily as the room began to violently shake.

     Erasmus' face twisted in concern, yet he seemed way too calm that the world was experiencing this bad of an earthquake. "Turbulence." He said once the rocking died down a little. "I'm going to deal with that real quick. While I'm gone, I want you to try out walking, and if you can, change into more suitable clothes. I have a feeling you don't want to walk around dressed like that." He left the room without another word. I didn't hear any lock click, which immediately gave me a strange feeling.

     I wasn't sure why, until I realized how silent the room was afterward. I was used to the click of the lock, the rustling as the castle guards changed positions, and the hushed orders of Hutchins outside. Erasmus had left without a word, leaving nothing but silence to take his place. No locks; no absence of freedom. I could run after him if I wished. For once in my life, I actually had a choice to not stay out of sight.

     When I did slip off of the mattress, my knees almost gave out. The floor was cold beneath my feet, but hard and steady enough for me to regain my balance. A tattered tulle hem brushed against my legs, bringing my immediate attention to what I was wearing. The outlandish kimono I had been dressed at Malevolence's palace was frayed and dirty, covered in a purplish ooze from where my wounds had been inflicted. I had felt the barbs drag across my left shoulder when I was attacked, but I had never imagined that so much poison would cover the kimono.

     I gingerly fingered the area where the poison had been injected into me, but all I felt were faint lines. It was like everything had almost completely healed while I was unconscious. I saw a suit of robes at the end of the bed, which looked like Erasmus'.

     His attire could best be described as robes layered on top of robes, and that was how confused I felt trying to tug on my set. I had no idea which layer was supposed to go where, so I ended up just shoving on the first bulky layer and making my way towards the door. The robe was like a casual hoodie turned into a knee-length dress, way too thick for normal fabric, but at least it wasn't tulle and lace.

     It was more comfortable than I expected.

     I wobbled over to the door and pulled it open. A cool breeze hit me in the face as the ground shook again. My eyes adjusted to a pale pink light that haloed everything in a burst of wonderful color. I slowly advanced, looking around for other people. I seemed to be on some sort of ship. It was like Destiny's Bounty, with tall sails and a large deck, but in white and beige.

      "That didn't take long, but I don't blame you. You must be very curious to know where you are."

      Erasmus strode over to me. His hands were tucked into his robes' sleeves. He didn't comment on my appearance. In fact, he wasn't entirely focused on me at all.

      "I am." I answered simply. I had a feeling he'd tell me.

      "Come," he gestured for me to follow him. He led me over to the side of the ship. I saw no water, only an endless sky. "We are in the Cloud Kingdom. Do you know where that is?"

      "I've heard of it." I watched the clouds beneath us move. I saw no ground but, strangely, I wasn't afraid of falling. Something about the gentle breezes, perfect temperatures, and peaceful atmosphere was calming. Somehow, I couldn't stay angry or anxious. "You write the fate of Ninjago. What is written cannot be altered."

     "Correct," Erasmus smiled. His skin was glowing the dawn light.

     "How did we get here?" I asked.

     "The Cloud Kingdom and the Seventh Realm are sister realms. They can access each other very easily."

      I didn't understand what he was saying, since I had never heard of sister realms before, but somehow my curiosity was quenched. I had never felt so lighthearted before.

      "So, the brat is out of bed. About time." A voice crabbed behind me.

     "Mistake," I spun to see the old woman outlined in the golden rays of dawn. She clapped my shoulder.

      "Good to see you."

      I realized how long it had been since I last saw her. Her hair wasn't in its usual tight bun, instead hanging loose on her shoulders. She was dressed like Erasmus in an abundance of robes, looking completely calm and serene. "Wait," I said, slowly thinking back to the desert, "how long was I out?"

     "About forty-eight hours." Erasmus said. "You recovered quicker than I expected. As large of a dose as you were given, I would have assumed the poison to keep you knocked out for longer. Luckily, we have a lot of the beetroot cure here."

     "Morro was going to have a tantrum because Mr. Mysterious here wouldn't let him visit you." Mistake stated, trying to stifle a smile at the memories.

     "That wasn't the reason." I heard Morro's voice resonate, a not-so-friendly irritation leaking into his tone.

     I couldn't suppress the strange amount of joy that came with seeing him alive and well. Something about this place was making me giddy. Yet, no amount of jubilation could stop the sinking in my stomach when I saw how cold his face was.

     His expression was familiar.

     Grief.

     "What happened?" The words tumbled out of my mouth, turning from concerned to accusatory.

     Morro ignored me, his full attention on Erasmus. "You need to quit avoiding me and just tell me where she is!"

     I stepped back like I had been slapped.

     "She is safe, Morro." Erasmus answered the frosty inquiry with a tight smile.

     "Is she here?" Morro rebounded. "Is she on one of these ships sailing far away from Malevolence's prisons? Or did you leave her there to rot and die?"

     "I can assure you that she is fine." Erasmus said lightly.

     "Where is Mika?" Morro's voice had a nasty edge to it. I had never seen him this ruthless, this desperate, until I realized that I had. This was the war he fought within himself every day in the Departed Realm. This was his unguarded emotions, finally being able to spill into play without consequences. This was his pain and anguish that he bottled up to appear strong.

     This was the real Morro; the one without the mask.

      "I've already told you, Morro." Erasmus's smile had collapsed into irritation. "She's in a better place."

      "Quit being so vague!"

     Erasmus paused. He seemed to realize that nothing he could say would get Morro to stop fishing for the truth. He took a deep breath before murmuring, "She's dead."

     Morro froze, his whole body going rigid in shock.

     I had no idea who this Mika was. I watched Morro's defeated form swell as his anger was fed by grief. "You write destinies." He accused Erasmus. "Why did you do that to her? Why did you keep her locked away for hundreds of years with no room to stretch? How can you sleep at night knowing you caused the death of an innocent old woman?"

     "She died of overexertion, Morro. Malevolence caused this."

     "You had the power to write her out of that situation. But you stood by and did nothing." Morro hissed. Somehow, somewhere, I could feel the wind stir. I had thought Morro's powers were gone, but perhaps the Departed Realm hadn't taken them completely away.

     Erasmus took a steadying breath. "Why did I not change her fate? If you're asking me that, why not ask me why we writers let evil into Ninjago? Why did we write Chen and his cult into power? Why did we bring back the Overlord? Why did we let Malevolence survive banishment? What about you and your reign of terror? I will tell you why, young Master of Wind. These events are pieces to a greater puzzle that neither you or I understand."

      Morro refused to be calmed.

      "If Mika had not been kidnapped, the green ninja wouldn't exist." Erasmus's stare withstood Morro's glaring. "When Mika disappeared, her mother grieved and left to find her. When the mother didn't return, her sons grieved. Wu went to books for consolation. This habit would eventually lead him to a library, hundreds of years later, where he would meet Misako. She would befriend him, and Garmadon would come to meet her. After a while, Garmadon married Misako and the baby of legend was born. When Mika was kidnapped, her situation set off a chain-reaction of events that have led to the present as you know it. I know what Mika had to endure was tough, but it was for a better world. Without Lloyd and his friends, much would have been lost already."

      Morro's mouth opened, ready to argue—

      "She lived an innocent life, no matter how painful it was. She will go to the clouds of light, I'm sure." Erasmus gently ended.

      Morro thought about snapping back, doubted, and was silent. He then spun and headed back towards the cabins, mumbling that he needed a moment.

      I needed to know what happened. Who was this Mika? Why was our unit broken; why were emotions and facades crumbling?

      Mistake put her hand on my shoulder. "Let him go, Quiet One."

     "He will not grieve for long. It is not like him." Erasmus noted. "It is not like this realm. Loss is celebrated, not mourned. Every dead soul is liberated from their earthly forms; why should we deject that? Death is only natural; it is a part of life. In order to be at peace with ourselves, we must also be at peace with loss. Now, come Harumi, there is still much to be revealed."

     I shot one last hasty glance in the direction Morro had disappeared and followed Erasmus up the stairs.

>(<>)<

"People in the Cloud Kingdom may write destinies, but like you said, we are not allowed to alter them. The Master Writer is the only one allowed to make changes, because he has the grand plan for each realm." Erasmus said, walking into what looked like a map room.

     We followed him in, and he slid the door to a slit. "However, over twenty years ago, a thief broke in and stole several destiny scrolls. Those scrolls were completed, but the thief decided at least some of them were worth altering."

     Mistake looked bored, as if she had heard this before.

     "Three of the scrolls stolen belonged to you, Morro, and Mistake."

      "Why us?" I asked, looking out the giant windows in the back of the room. My mind, despite the calming atmosphere and Erasmus' soothing voice, was still anxious about Morro. He was weak. Weakness only got people hurt. What had happened to him down in that prison cell?

     "You played an essential role in bringing about a cataclysmic event." Erasmus said, directing my attention back to him. "My guess is that the thief's goal was to prevent that from happening. It is also worth noting that your and Morro's scrolls were the only ones altered."

      "If my taking over Ninjago was already written, then how could altering a scroll change that?"

      "That wasn't the cataclysmic event I was referring too." Erasmus said, holding up a finger before I could ask any more questions on the topic. "We believe that the unaltered scrolls were stolen so that we couldn't edit the thief's scroll to punish them."

      I paused, something black flashing in the corner of my eye. I looked out the window to see a giant dark cloud in the distance. It was out of place in the colorful morning sky.

      "Oni," Erasmus stepped up beside me. "Malevolence's army. They have taken over our city for the moment, but no matter. They will leave once they realize Malevolence's forces have been defeated."

      "You seem way too calm about this." I noted. These were his people. One would think he would be concerned about his fellow citizens.

      "There is no reason to be upset. The Oni have merely frozen my fellow citizens. Once the Oni leave, everyone will revert to normal."

      I... I couldn't save h-her.

     My fists clenched, fragments of Morro's and my time in the prison coming back to my mind. I had thought he was being delusional, but could he have been talking about Mika?

     "You look angry. That emotion is out of place for this situation." Erasmus said. "Do not worry about your friend; everyone will lose someone they come to care for eventually. Mistake lost her friend, you lost your parents, and Morro lost people he promised to protect. Mika was another prisoner, one he audaciously thought he could help escape. I would think his past experiences would have taught him something, but he had too much hope."

     "How do you know about that?" Mistake's voice was dangerously low.

     "He is your secret to share." Erasmus responded, not looking in her direction. "And I will require you to leave for the next section of this meeting. What I am going to show Harumi must originally be for her eyes only."

     I groaned in frustration as Mistake left the room. I was aware Erasmus was watching me as he gently slide the door closed. I couldn't stop the stream of words that poured from my troubled heart.

     "I don't make sense anymore." I said. "I feel terrible that Morro is hurt, but I can't figure out why. Every time I try to explain it with logic, my excuse seems so lame. It's... it's like having to watch Lloyd break all over again. I feel like I should care, but I don't know why. Now you're trying to tell me my future has been rewritten, which could stimulate thousands of possibilities... and I don't even know how to feel about all of that—"

     "It's easy to close our hearts off." Erasmus replied with ease, as if he had been counseling his whole life. "When you allow yourself to care, you open your heart not only to unlimited joy, but also unlimited pain. It's taking the risk that makes everything worth it. You have closed yourself off, not allowing yourself to feel, since that would be considered weakness. Now that you are starting to open once again, your heart is feeling the effects of it. My best advice would be to meditate on yourself and trust in your friend. I am sure your feelings will make sense soon enough."

     I sighed, leaning against a table. I can't believe I was dumb enough to get all emotional in front of a complete stranger, but then again the atmosphere did call for it. There was something about this place that made me feel more... human.

     "What was altered?" I took a deep breath, bracing myself for bad news. "What was the new material written down on my scroll?"

     "That is what I don't know." Erasmus started pacing, but I quickly realized his movements weren't consistent. "The thief, after writing what they wanted down, burned the scrolls so they couldn't be modified again."

      "Then how do you know it was altered in the first place?"

      "We were able to rescue a few pieces from the ashes. What was written on there was unfamiliar to our scholars. It was altered with a language most of us didn't understand at the time; the language of your realm."

      "Ninjargon?"

      "Yes," Erasmus's voice had gone distant, as if he were recalling a fond memory. "The Master Writer called for all writers to learn the language after that, to make sure we could identify anyone from your realm if they decided to invade again."

      "What did the pieces say?"

      Erasmus reached into the layers of his cloak and pulled out a small box. He fiddled with it. Gingerly, he extracted two slivers of burnt paper and handed them to me with utmost care.

     I examined them closely. The words were in Ninjargon, but it was an older form of the language.

     "The language is a different reason we know the scrolls were altered. We write in the old Cloud Kingdom code. Sadly for us, it doesn't matter what language the alterations were written in. The words were still effective."

     I squinted, vocalizing the words as I made them out. "After reaching adulthood, Harumi—" I looked up at Erasmus in shock. "—will return to Ninjago?"

    He nodded. I quickly started to read the next piece, my heart pounding in my chest. "The unexpected truth will..." The burns in the paper had blotted out some of the next words. "I can only make out 'change' and 'life' next."

     "That is all that was salvageable from the wreckage, besides Morro's pieces."

     I stared at the crisp papers in my hands. Surprise, sadness, joy; I was feeling it all. Ninjago. I was going to go back to Ninjago.

     Ninjago.

     Lloyd.

     I barely heard Erasmus' next words.

     "I didn't go after them... I didn't want to hurt the realm... I didn't want to go back—"

     "Miss Harumi, you need to sit down." Erasmus gently chided, helping me over to a chair.

     "Why do I have to go back?" I whispered, scanning the burnt papers over and over. Ninjago held so many emotions. Maybe I didn't want to have to face them again. Maybe I didn't want to go back to the broken hearts and minds of an ever-haunting past.

     "It won't be that long once you get used to a life here." Erasmus soothed, his voice somehow entering my mental fog. It wasn't fair how my whole life could be uprooted, and he got to be so calm.

     I didn't realize what he had said until my chair started to shake with me. "What do you mean, 'get used to a life here?'"

     "You have not reached adulthood yet. You will need somewhere to stay until that day comes."

     The time that had to pass until that happened sunk into my foggy haze of a mind. "You want me to live in the Cloud Kingdom for how long?!"

     "Don't worry about time passing, Harumi. You escaped the Departed Realm with Trasmitea, correct?" Erasmus said, motioning for me to breathe.

     "Yeah."

     Erasmus went back to his erratic pacing. "Transmitea is the only tea strong enough to rip open the binds closing off the Departed Realm from the rest of the realms. Oni warriors are given it before they go to battle. They are told to use it 'only in extreme emergencies.' The only problem with using it is that the portal you travel through will stop time."

     "Mistake said something about being stuck in time."

     "While you were traveling through the portal to the Seventh Realm, time passed without you. It felt like seconds traveling through it, when in reality it was almost two years."

     "So, I'm two years older now." The chair was starting to tremble alongside me again.

     "Only by technicality. Your mental state has not aged at all, since with age comes wisdom." Erasmus smiled at stating the maxim, then turned back to me. "Confusing matters aside, it seems your destiny is to return to Ninjago at some point. I still need to figure out why it is essential for you to do so." He chuckled to himself. "Imagine running into the Ninja."

     I refused to think about them. "It's been two years. Did Emperor Garmadon really occupy Ninjago City that long? If the Ninja were going to defeat him, wouldn't they have done it sooner? I mean, Emperor Garmadon was the only thing holding back Malevolence from attacking."

     "Lord Garmadon was defeated the night of your death." At my surprised look he smiled as if to say it wasn't surprising. "You helped your father reach an unspeakable level of power after his resurrection. That power was strong enough to hold Malevolence's forces back, even after his power was stripped from him. Once Garmadon's disturbance fully wore off, you and your friends' arriving in the Seventh Realm created another complication."

     For some reason, thinking of Emperor Garmadon as 'Father' felt weird. I don't remember when I had stopped thinking of him as that. Erasmus noticed my discomfort.

     "He's not my father," I mumbled awkwardly, rubbing my arms. "We didn't exactly go and get papers signed or anything. It was never really official."

     Erasmus raised his eyebrows. "Then why did you call him 'Father' and he to you 'Daughter?'"

     "I think I just wanted to hurt Lloyd more." My words were scarcely a whisper. "And his attachment to Lloyd was holding him back, so I had to sever it somehow."

     "I see," Erasmus said. "All pawns in your game. It's a strange thing to see how much is a lie when we take our masks off." He walked over to the door. "Anything else you would like to know? I do need to confront Morro at some point about his pieces."

     "What is the unexpected truth I'm going to find out?"

     Erasmus shook his head as he slid open the door. "You will find out what that means in time. Oh, and you can keep the pieces."

     I looked down at the burnt paper in my hands. Such tiny, insignificant fragments of a much larger scroll. Such tiny, significant roles in my much larger story. But what did it all mean? And what came after this? I didn't know, and I wasn't too excited to find out.

>(<>)<

Erasmus was scarily accurate once again. Within a few days, the black cloud surrounding the Cloud Kingdom had disappeared. As we sailed closer to the city, I heard the sound of a normal society. People conversed on the streets, bought items, sold wares, and wandered around on suspended wooden walkways. I saw other flying boats sail across the sky. It was different than I had imagined. I had thought the citizens of this place sat inside writing on scrolls. The sight in front of me proved this was truly a civilization.

      Erasmus didn't bother with giving us much of a tour (he told us that we would have plenty of time to explore for ourselves); he simply led us to different cottages where we would be staying. Each of us were given enough money for one month's worth of food and apparently the houses didn't need to be paid for.

       "I will stop by every few days to see how you all are doing. Do let me know if you have any questions." Erasmus told me, before walking off onto a busy street that sat near my cottage.

       I stared at him as he left, my brain still not entirely processing what just happened.

      We were staying in the Cloud Kingdom until I reached adulthood.

     That was definitely more than a month.

      That's when I realized what we were supposed to do. "You want me to work!?"

      I had lived as a princess throughout my life. I knew how to fight; I knew how to play the game of politics. I had never been reduced to manual labor. Such work was beneath me.

      I spent the first few days huddled up in the tiny cottage, finding creative ways to work out. I did pull-ups on the door frames, used counters to stretch, and constantly waited for Morro to visit. His cottage wasn't very far away from mine, but he never came down to see me. I figured he was still grieving, but he had also apologized for being rude on the ship in a somewhat normal manner.

      I had half a mind to go out into the city, but I always felt self-conscious about going out in public. Erasmus knew so much about me, who was to say these people wouldn't scream in fear or throw me in prison if I ventured into their space? There were days where I felt like I could fight them all off, but most of the time I was just too tired. Maybe it was because I was actually settled down. The Departed Realm had always been filled with running; we were never in one place for long. The Seventh Realm had been a rush, I barely remembered staying in one place besides that blasted princess prison for long. Now, we were being given a chance to live a somewhat normal life before being thrown back into Ninjago.

     A normal life.

     I still couldn't process that. My whole life I had longed to go back to that life I lived with my parents. Here it was in front of me, a simplistic and humble abode with a city filled with new opportunities. And I was scared to take the first step. My whole life had been filled with masks and lies. If I took them off now, who would I become?

     Mistake was the first one to knock. She told me that she had gotten a job at a local hydroponics garden, where she could grow and sort tea leaves. When I questioned whether anyone recognized her, she told me no one did.

     When Morro knocked the next day, I gave into my hope. We spent the day exploring the city where I just happened to catch the eye of a business owner who just happened to know Ninjargon. He told me I looked like I would make a good manager of his shop, and not to worry if I didn't have any previous experience. Morro encouraged me to take the job, since I would have to pay for my food after the first month, so I mustered my best smile and condemned myself to manual labor.

      It was strange how much I actually enjoyed living in the Cloud Kingdom. All the pieces had fallen into place for my job, which actually turned out to be bearable. The customers were barely ever rude, and the city never seemed to have any crime or danger. There was peace that sat upon the realm, one that I truly appreciated. Here I didn't have to face my past. Here I was a completely new person.

     It was liberating.

     Days passed in a helpful blur. At night when I came home from work, there wasn't much to do except get ready for bed. The Cloud Kingdom was lacking in all the technology that the Seventh Realm had. I crawled into bed, blew out my candle, and wished for sleep. The cottage reminded me of my parents' apartment. At first, I imagined them tucking me in, telling me I did a good job, and then I would envision them conversing about some boring adult thing outside. With the smells of ordinary life, I could almost feel like I was back to those times where I didn't have a troubled past. Where I didn't have any worries. The past where I was home. With the comfortable illusion in my head, I would drift off into slumber.

     As time went on though, I quit imagining them there. Some days I was too exhausted to visualize, others I couldn't recall their faces. They seemed to slip beneath my fingers like faded memories. My mother's gentle smile. My father's right dimple. Their words, their lullabies. Each night, I imagined them there less and less, until I fully accepted they were not there at all. They were dead, a fraction of my life that had disappeared. It didn't mean that they were gone forever. They were a part of me. They would always be a part of me. Finally, I was able to sleep without them. I had a new life now, one that didn't require me to hold onto the past. Perhaps the destiny scrolls were all a mistake, and I could live happily here forever.