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"Nya!" Kai's voice crackled with overuse, scratching his dry throat. He gulped, trying to force saliva down to moisten it up. "Nya! It's me, Kai!"

He'd spent the good half of the night searching for his sister but found no trace of her. The pack of salvaged items from his house seemed to grow heavier with every passing hour and exhaustion was taking over.

Now that his anger had ebbed a little, reason returned to him. He should never have let her run away like that. What she'd done was going to cost them but she was just a child. Her intentions were pure. Kai had overreacted and now Nya was missing.

I let her loose for a few minutes and she disappears off the face of the earth, Kai grumbled internally, plopping his load onto the ground.

Nya wasn't the type to get lost, however. She knew the streets of Ignacia better than she knew herself. The only explanation that she wasn't found yet was because she could be deliberately keeping out of sight. Kai didn't blame her. He had been too hard.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered uselessly to himself. "I shouldn't have accused you for mom and dad."

Kai slumped against the brick wall of a cobbler's store, almost on the brink of sleep. His sight became blurry and his head drooped forward. He didn't care if it was chilly and he had no shelter. He was completely drained and he just wanted to-

"Gotcha!"

His head jerked up at the noise, drowsiness slipping away. Instinct nearly made him conjure up a flame but he snubbed it out quickly when he found no one around. The voice had come from around the bend in the road. Sounds of struggling followed up a few raspy sentences.

Then someone screamed. A muffled sound but a cry for help nonetheless. There was no mistake about it.

"Nya," Kai gasped, scrambling to his feet. He left his belongings tucked between old shoe crates beneath the awning of the store. He rounded the corner, eager to get to his sister. He stopped and backtracked at the sight before him.

Skeletons clothed in armor stood in the middle of the street. Their pale bones stood in sharp contrast against the dark night. And even though one of them had Nya held tightly in its bony grasp, Kai couldn't bring himself to move. Petrified, he ducked out of sight.

Where did they come from? What do they want from her?

Kai's mind raced, desperation mixed in with fear. Afraid or not, he had to save his sister. He looked around for something to use as a weapon but soon remembered the few blades he'd brought from the destroyed forge back home. Before he could run, however, there was a surprised shout.

Kai turned back and saw the skeleton release Nya. She got to her feet and immediately inched away. Kai silently screamed at her to run or hoped she'd look his way and run towards him.

The big skeleton rushed at her but tripped on something, his head detaching from his shoulders. Kai winced.

"Whoa! Did you see that? That was amazing?" The other skeleton exclaimed.

Kai frowned, squinting at the scene occuring before him. He hadn't seen anything. Either he was too far away and it was too dark to see or the skeleton was praising the other's trip and fall.

To Kai's relief, Nya took this distraction as an opportunity to escape. He was appalled at the speed with which she ran; as if she was simply skating on air. Nya fled out of sight, eliciting orders from the fallen skeleton to catch her.

Kai didn't wait and took the back alleyways to intercept Nya before her pursuers could catch up to her. In the dim moonlight, the backstreets seemed like an endless maze with turns enveloped in deep shadows. Luckily, Kai could navigate the neighborhood even with a blindfold on.

After a mad dash through the dark, Kai skidded out onto the main street. He took care to keep to the shadows, peeking out just enough to catch sight of Nya. He kept his trembling fingers ready to catch and pull his sister to safety when she ran past. His breaths were shallow but sharp, the only sound he could hear in the unusually quiet street.

The seconds turned to minutes, still there was no sign of Nya or the skeletons. Kai frowned, straining his ears to hear running footsteps, cries for help, something, anything. But there was nothing. The village was deathly silent. Kai still waited. Minutes accumulated into half an hour and anxiousness filled him completely.

Finally, he plucked up the courage to check. He stuck close to the wall, pressing himself up against the bricks as he shuffled a little further up the street. Once or twice he thought he saw movement in the shadows but it was only his eyes playing tricks on him. The moon wasn't full and the dark clouds weren't helping with the light.

At last, Kai arrived at the very place where he had seen the skeletons attack his sister. It was quiet and empty, no sign of anyone being there. Dread was bubbling in the pit of his stomach, threatening to erupt in a bout of nausea. It didn't make sense.

He was starting to doubt if what he had seen was real. How could his sister just vanish? Did she take another turn? Was he in the wrong place? Panic blocked his mind and clogged his airways. An old fear was creeping up his spine. A phobia he had tried so hard to erase.

"Not Nya," he whispered to himself, digging his nails into his palms, focusing on the pain rather than the anxiety. "Please, not Nya. Don't take her from me too".

He didn't know who he was pleading with. Maybe it was the very force that had ripped his family apart. Maybe it was himself. Maybe it was nothing at all. Kai tried to light up a fire to find some solace but the fear froze him over. He couldn't focus. His fire was out.

It was late in the night now. Ignacia slept. All but for Kai who was wide awake, reliving the tragedy of the night his parents disappeared forever. Only this time, Nya was the victim.

He was burning in his despair, all alone and afraid to the core.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Nya yawned, securing a stolen shawl around herself. Her feet throbbed every time she put them on the ground. The lack of sleep was taking a toll on her and she couldn't walk straight for more than a few seconds. After an entire night of paranoia and adrenaline rush, the exhaustion came on hard.

The sky was a dark blue with only a few stars twinkling between the leftover clouds from the previous rain. Dawn was arriving fast and Nya hadn't slept a wink. Escaping Ignacia and the clutches of Samukai and Lord Garmadon was the farthest she had planned. She hadn't thought about where she was going to go once she was safe.

Will I ever be safe?

Nya paused, refusing to think about what she had gotten herself into. Instead, she looked around her, at the vast fields stretching out on her right with the distant mountains shrouded in the early morning mist. On her left was the bay, opening out into the Endless Sea far beyond.

The forest had ended a few miles back and the rough trail she'd been walking on was now smoother. She could make out the trail marks of carts and horse hooves in the dirt, which meant a village was just up ahead.

Hopeful, Nya picked up the pace. A few minutes later, she spotted it. Small houses and shops stood silhouetted in the grey-blue dawn. Candlelight and lanterns were flickering in a few windows. Nya clutched the shawl tighter and practically flew down the path.

Just a little way before the village, the road split in two. One went straight through the village while the other was a winding path leading down to the edge of the bay. A warehouse was situated beside a few docks. Boats and ferries were tethered to them, rocking gently on the water.

The small harbor seemed devoid of people and Nya decided the warehouse would be a good place to catch a few hours of sleep before the village awoke. The bay was an advantage, giving her a weapon to work with if something went wrong.

The inside of the warehouse was a bit musty but spacious. A few stacks of hay were piled in the corner, farming tools half buried in them. Nya walked past it, approaching a mass of crates and boxes at the other end. A platform lay amongst the wood, topped with trunks and lugs and covered with a tarp.

Nya sighed gratefully, crawling under the tarp and settling between the crates. She'd be safe this way, shielded from anyone visiting the warehouse. Sleep came on quickly, a temporary haven from all she had endured that day.

Her eyelids drooped lower as she studied the peculiar symbol of a dragon eating noodles from a bowl marking the crates.

. . .

The spell of sleep broke with a booming crack. Nya jerked awake, the tarp still over her. The platform beneath her rocked and swayed violently. What sounded like rain roared all around with claps of thunder following every flash of light. Through the din, Nya could hear men screaming. Heart racing, she scrambled out from under the tarp.

She couldn't believe her eyes.

She was on a steamboat, struggling in the churning sea enraged by a storm. Tall waves rose and fell like steel-grey walls, taking the boat along with them. The sky was boiling with dark clouds and voilent lightning. Men were running all over the place, yelling orders or keeping the steamboat from being swallowed by the sea.

Nya was well hidden in the midst of the cargo, under a small shed secured on the deck. She must've been shifted onto the boat with all the other trunks while she slept. Nya couldn't tell if it was night or day or how long she'd been out. Panic wailed like a siren in her head, making her want to throw up.

Crack!

There was the sound of splintering wood and Nya screamed. The deck beneath her was breaking, ugly cracks running under her feet. She quickly moved away from the shed before the whole thing collapsed under the weight of the cargo.

"The hull's breaking, starboard side!" She heard someone yell. A burly man came running into view. He wore no shirt. Just purple trousers and a string of bones around his neck. Purple snake tattoos were inked all over his back and abdomen.

Nya ducked out of sight as two more men with the same get up joined the first one. A few sailors also approached the damaged part of the deck. One by one, they started dragging the crates towards the stable side.

I have to get away before they see me.

Before Nya could even move, the warning bell of the steamboat cut through the storm. The strange tattooed men and the sailors all looked up, their eyes wide and mouths gaping. Nya turned around and gasped.

A massive wave stood over the steamboat, a monster of grey waters. It was so close, Nya could almost touch it. Time seemed slow, dragging through a thick haze. All the sounds of shouting sailors and roaring thunder faded away, replaced by a soft ringing in her ears.

Nya felt the familiar tug inside her. She heard the water calling. But it didn't seem friendly at all. The wave loomed over her like the grim reaper, ready to take down whatever came across its path. And so it did.

Nya could feel the boat tipping over, breaking apart in the wind and water. Everybody was screaming as they fell into the raging sea. Nya held her breath before she slipped across the deck and went overboard, plunging into the cold water. The sound of the storm was suddenly muffled as she entered the dark void beneath the surface.

She slowly floated down into the depths of the sea, surrounded by the boat's wreakage. Lightning flashed in the sky, visible through the surface. Nya could only see one face as her body screamed for oxygen. The only person who ever really mattered to her.

Kai, her brother, her best friend, her shield.

If she was crying, she couldn't tell. Her tiny lungs begged her to let go of her breath. But she couldn't just yet. She had to stay alive for just a few more seconds in order to relish the memories she had with her brother.

She regretted running away. Now she was paying the price. No place in the world was safe. The arms of the people you love are the only home you'll ever find. Nya lost her home when her parents disappeared. She lost it again when she left Kai. She was homeless now, slowly dying in the deep waters of the sea.

She was drowning in her mistakes, all alone and afraid to the core.

. . .

The sunlight was like a knife through her eyes. Her vision blurred as her lungs violently coughed up the salty seawater. Gritty sand grazed her cheeks and hands, while her legs were still being caressed by the lapping water. Her entire body ached as she tried to pull herself up. Her head buzzed with muddled thoughts, wondering how she survived the storm.

Footsteps approached, softened by the sand. She tried to look up but her neck was stiff and sore.

"Daddy, hurry up! I think she's alive!"

"Don't go too close, Skylor."

Small naked feet came into view, completely coated with the white sand. The person bent to their knees and lightly touched Nya's hair, running their fingers through her dark locks. She made an effort to shift her gaze a little way up to see who it was.

A young girl, just like her. She had vibrant blue eyes, similar to the waters she escaped from. A halo of short red hair framed her face like a fire she yearned to go back to. She smiled at Nya, removing her hand from her damp hair and placing it on her cold cheek instead.

Her touch was the most gentle thing she had felt in a while. Nya swam in and out of consciousness, struggling to keep the pretty girl in focus.

"Don't worry, you're safe now."

There it was again, the empty promise of safety.

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