Lloyd slowly wakes to the scent of dampness and a faint musty smell that pervades the air. He groans as he moves his hand to rub the sleep from his eyes. His head pounded like someone was forcefully banging it with a mallet. The room he was in was dark, but he could make out that it was made of stone. The air was tight with heat, and he could already feel the sweat dripping down his face.
The darkness of the dungeon was oppressive and thick, like a heavy fog that had settled in the room. The walls were a bleak grey with what looked like scratch marks along the sides. It was like something or someone was desperately trying to escape. A single candle flickered feebly in the corner, casting eerie shadows that danced and swirled around the ancient cobwebs that hung from the ceiling. As Lloyd's eyes adjusted to the dark, he could start to make out more details. One that terrified him, was the fact that there were blood stains all over where he was being held. On the floors, ceiling, walls- everywhere. Was whatever had left those scratch marks been hurt? Where were they or it now? That was a whole lot of blood... did they die in there?! What if the same thing was gonna happen to him?!!? What terrible, awful things happened? As the fear began to rise inside Lloyd's chest, he began to get up and start walking towards the  steel bar door that held him inside. However, he quickly tripped; realizing that he was being held by chains around his ankles and wrists. The metal was unusually cold compared to everything around him, and it rubbing against his skin stung. The green ninja couldn't believe it. The Fire Tribe had captured him, and was now holding him hostage in a prison cell. Knowing what they did to their own, it terrified him as to what his fate would be. Every terrible, possible outcome flooded through his head at once and he began to tear up. Did anyone even know he was here? Was anyone coming to save him? What if the answer was no? Then what?! The boy could barely find the strength to not panic. This was terrifying.
For what felt like hours, he sat in the silent darkness alone. Then finally, he heard footsteps approaching. But the question was- was that good? Or bad? Clouse slowly stepped into view as his eyes shimmered a nasty purple.
"Aw... What's wrong little Garmadon? Not enjoying your stay?" He mocked.

Lloyd growled like an angry baby dragon as he glared daggers at the man. "Clouse."

The man raised his eyebrow like he was surprised that he knew his name. "Correct. Your father told you about me?"

"Not exactly. Now what do you want from me?"

"Oh, you know very well why you're here. Uniting the tribes to take us down- stop our attack. You're a naughty, naughty little boy you know that? Though, I suppose I can't blame you. You are your father's son. In any case, your little 'uniting the tribes' scheme won't work anymore. Now that you and your father are out of the way, the whole alliance will fall apart."

Lloyd's emerald eyes widened. "WHAT?! You're lying! Once the others find out what happened to us, they'll come to our rescue! If anything, that'll unite them even further!"

A twisted smile slowly spread across the sorcerer's face. "But young Garmadon, after I'm done with you, there will be nothing left for them to save..." With that Clouse turned and left; leaving Lloyd alone in the dark once more. Lloyd felt as if there was a rock in his throat. What was that supposed to mean?! Oh.... he was in serious trouble now.

The next morning, Lloyd was awoken by a sound of an explosion. The boy quickly jumped up and looked around; terrified. And it made it no better once he realized surroundings and remembered his situation. And before he knew what was going on, Ronin was unlocking his cell and he was being dragged out. Though still handcuffed, he fought desperately to get away from the assassin's grip. But to no avail... They walked down a long, stone corridor lined with torches on the walls. They were walking to a pair of twin doors at the end of the hallway, which to Lloyd's horror, seemed to have the same scrape and blood marks all over them as the cell. The ground they walked also seemed to be stained with a umgodly amount of blood, and several marks that looked like they were made from the claws of a large animal. Whatever had gone down here in the past must have been absolutely terrible. The green ninja's stomach turned just thinking about what might have happened. As they approached the door, he could hear the sound of a crowd chanting something. He looked up at Ronin, who had been completely silent this entire time. "Where are we going? What's happening?"

The man looked back down at him with an expression that was a mix between almost feeling bad, and 'you don't want to know'...
Yeah, alright, that wasn't a foreboding response at all...

When they reached the door, they stopped and the soldier looked at Lloyd again. "Listen kid, you really should have just let me kill you before when you had a chance. Because what's about to happen... Trust me, you'd want that to have been the reality."

Lloyd's face went pale like he had just seen a ghost. WHAT WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! Is he implying what was about to happen would be a fate worse than death?! WHAT WAS WORSE THAN DEATH?!!!!?

Ronin took a deep breath and pushed open one of the double doors with an ominous creak. A blinding light broke through the doorway, catching Lloyd, who had been used to darkness for the last several hours, off guard. He was shoved out and on to the ground; the giant doors slamming behind him. The ninja dusted himself off and looked around. His heart sank as he realized the reality of the situation. He was in an arena. All of a sudden, everything made sense. The crowd that cheered as he got shoved into the arena... All the blood in the hallway in the cells... The several scrape marks around places... People WERE trying to get out. People who are being nearly killed in the arena, and then dragged back into the cells to suffer- possibly even die in there.... The Fire Tribe was more sadistic than he could have ever even conceived. They made people fight each other to the death for their own amusement. The thought of it made Lloyd sick. But it made him sicker realizing that it was about to happen to him. The worst thought of them all though, was if this really was a fight to the death, then that'd mean he would need to take someone's life to save his own. True, he'd been hunting before, but that was nothing compared to having to kill another human. There was no way he'd be able to do that!!! Just then, the double doors on the opposite side of the arena were flung open. His opponent was shoved through and landed face first in the dirt as the door closed behind them. The figure slowly stirred with a pained groan as they got to their feet. The green ninja froze at the sight of who'd he have to face. It was a boy that didn't look too much older than him; maybe only by a few years. Their eyes connected as the boy menacingly stared him down. His eyes had a glazed, empty look; like his soul had been shattered and eaten away. The fire that burned in them was the only spark of life; however, it seemed to only burn out of desperation to live. The boy was in a terrible state. His body was absolutely covered in scars and bruises, both old and new. Majority of the lacerations seem to have been infected, but were never treated so they just stayed that way through attempted healing. His back however, seemed the worst; looking like it was completely shredded by something like a whip. Flesh was torn, then healed, then torn again, multiple times until it was nothing but a giant scar over time. He was filthy, covered in dirt, blood and ash from the volcanic landscape. His figure was atrophied; his skeleton being so visible you'd mistake him for one if not for the flesh still clinging to his bones. It could have just been the dirt, but Lloyd thought his flesh looked completely dry, like he hadn't come in contact with any liquid in weeks. He had only some filthy rags tied around his waist; barely constituting as a skirt, but slightly more decent than a loincloth. The boy snarled at Lloyd revealing his fangs.
The green ninja‘s heart dropped. This boy... He wasn't about to face a member of the Fire Tribe that rightfully deserved it...

That boy was a formling.

Zane had previously mentioned that every formaling whose animal form was predatory came with the pair of fangs in their human form. Which is why he, a falcon, had them.

'That would explain all the animal claw marks.' He thought.

But if that was the case, then what was a formling doing here? Perhaps he was taken prisoner too at one point. But Zane never mentioned anyone being taken. Plus- he looked so awful... How long ago would that have happened? How long had this poor boy been suffering for?! Without any more time to think, the boy darted forward with a raspy battle cry. He slashed at Lloyd with his nails; that seemed to have grown out and sharpened into claw-like weapons. As he dodged, Lloyd could tell just doing that was painful for him. It had only been one attack and he was already breathing heavily. Was this what Ronin had meant by a fate worse than death? Yes, you're alive- but your existence is suffering. With every minute that passes you'd wish you be dead. This was absolutely awful! There was no way Lloyd was going to hurt him- let alone kill him. He didn't deserve it! He need to get them both out of there. The boy snarled an went in for another attack, but Lloyd blocked each one with his energy shield. "Listen to me, I know it hurts you, so please just stop this! I'm not gonna hurt you! I won't fight if you won't. Please- I promise, if we work together we can just get out of here! Don't you want that? Freedom? To leave this awful hell?"

But the boy's eyes remained empty and desperate. He beared his fangs as his heavy breathing intensified and he stared down Lloyd. He let out another painfully dry sounding scream as he tried to attack the ninja several times over with his claws. Every swipe Lloyd dodged or counter attacked. But the ninja only ever blocked or pushed him back; never hurt him. The crowd got fussy from the lack of violence and began to 'boo' the attempt at peace. Just as Lloyd was about to try reasoning with him again, purple lightning zapped the boys making them fall to the ground. Clouse sneered at the two from a balcony above.
"Honestly, I expected more from you Kataru. Especially after your punishment from last time... You know what happens if you lose this fight too."

Lloyd had no idea what Clouse was talking about, but it sounded really bad. He looked up to see the fallen boy's bloodshot eyes shoot open with a newfound desperation. His trembling body returned to his feet went right back to trying to tear apart the ninja. Except this time he was far more successful on landing hits. Lloyd cried out as blow after blow connected and his blood began to flow. First it was just a little scrape on the forearm, but it quickly turned into long slices down his whole arm and across his chest. But regardless of all the pain he was feeling, he still refused to hit the formling back. Only blocking or pushing back, no attacks. The crowd roared in twisted cheer as one blow tore through the side of Lloyd’s shirt and scraped the skin underneath. The ripping sound echoed through the arena. Kataru swiped again at the same spot, which caught Lloyd off guard, seeing as how he had never done that before. This time though, now that the shirt was out of the way, it wasn't the thing getting torn. Lloyd let out a scream as he clenched his side. His foe snarled at him as he stumbled backwards. However, as Lloyd looked up he could see his opponent trembling. Not because he felt regret for his actions, but because of exhaustion. The formling's breath was getting progressively more forced, but no less angry. He needed to find a way to stop this... Painful or not, the green ninja flung himself at Kataru and pinned him to the dusty ground. The boy struggled to get free; growling and snapping at Lloyd’s face.

"Look, please... You have to stop this! I don't know how long you've been here, or how long you've been suffering, but please just calm down. You're going to kill yourself if you continue like this! Please-.. just let me help you...." Lloyd's emerald eyes glistened with tears as he watched the boy's struggles slow.
Then, for the first time, he saw sparkle life behind his dead eyes. Lloyd got off of him and watched as the boy attempted to sit himself up. Lloyd smiled slightly as Kataru looked up at him with something other than rage. But the moment was short lived, and without warning, he lunged at Lloyd again. Another tearing sound echoed through the giant arena, and the the ninja froze. Crimson ran from his upper waist down his leg, and onto the ground below. The exhausted formling sat there, his labored breathing the only sound that could be heard. Lloyd dropped to his knees, then gave in and collapsed to his side. Kataru looked down at him with a hint of serious regret before Clouse appeared behind him and floated him into the air with his magic.
"Good job my little pet." He grinned. "Fortunately for you, this counts as a win. You get something to drink today.  And because it's a special occasion, something to eat."

Lloyd weakly looked up at the suspended formling. His glazed, bloodshot eyes almost came to life at the mention of possibly getting something to keep him alive. Some possible relief from the pain he was clearly in. Lloyd’s heart shattered. That 'punishment' from the last loss Clouse was talking about--- it was not giving him any food or water.

But... he lost... does that mean HE'S gonna be left to wither away now? Everything went black before he had a chance to ponder it.
When he woke up, he wasn't in the same cell he was in before. And this time, the shackles were on each individual ankle and wrist, not bounding them together. There was also a shackle around his neck and stomach. The one around his middle was dangerously close to his most serious injuries, practically digging into them. It was enough to scare him into not moving in fear of it shifting and causing a major problem. He had been placed propped up, so the weight of the neck shackle was already making his shoulders and collarbone ache. The ninja’s heart stopped as he looked to his left to see a chained up Kataru looking at him. His eyes were different though, less bloodshot and rageful, and more tired and hopeless.

"What's going on?" Lloyd questioned.

The formling sighed as he leaned against the wall. "I apologize for what I had to do to you." His voice raspy and broken. "I lost last round, and the punishment was nothing to drink for 3 days. You have to understand, I only hurt you because I wouldn't live any longer if I lost again."

OK.... That. Was. The single most brutal, heartless, SADISTIC thing Lloyd had EVER heard.... What the burning hell was wrong with this tribe?!!

"Ronin called this place a fate worse than death, but..." The green ninja sighed.

Kataru exhaled sadly. "Trust me, it is. I've been here for years."

"YEARS?! THAT’S AWFUL! Well, if it's really so miserable, then why have you never just.... you know? Given up?"

The boy scoffed. "Letting yourself go is a lot harder than that sounds. When you're about to die, you're desperation instinct kicks in. No matter how hard you think your will power is to leave that glass of water alone- your throat is flaking away- you're going to drink it. Then there you are- another step back from your sweet release. It's called self-preservation. You'll learn to hate it kid- believe me."

Lloyd sat in silence, thinking of the tortured hell of a situation that he had gotten himself into. The dark atmosphere weighed down on his conscious like an inky cloud of depression. His wounds burned with the warning of an incoming infection, and the river of blood that ran down from his ribcage had soaked the whole left side of his shirt and pants. It had long since dried as well, so it was incredibly uncomfortable rubbing against the stiff cloth.

Kataru let out a long sigh after a while and turned to Lloyd.
"What you said earlier in the ring about getting out of here? I apologize, but it's never going to happen. I've given up hope a long time ago... For your own well being, next time we're in the ring... please just let me kill you. I promise I'll make it fast. It'll be better for you I swear it..." The way he said it was so dry and monotone; like his emotions barley worked anymore.

As horrible as that suggestion sounded, it, to be honest, sounded pretty reasonable in the moment.

Wow.

Was everything really that hopeless? Lloyd was honestly terrified to find out....