"Clousey!!!" Whined Chen. "Why can't I go outside and see my tribe..?!" The snake was slumped over a rock looking incredibly bored and irritated.

Clouse signed. "Because to them, you're long dead. It's best if you just lay low for now. Besides, we can leave the palace once I finish perfecting the Anacondrai virus." The sorcerer stood in front of a cauldron filled with glowing, bubbling amber liquid. He lit his hand on fire and shot it at the logs below to increase the heat for the concoction.

The Anacondrai's eyes glistened. "That was elemental power! I felt it! How did you-?"

Clouse smirked. He explained that when he had fought Kai, he used a spell that drained his elemental essence. In turn, also draining his life-force to an extent. Every time the boy used his powers, they would slowly leave him and soak into Clouse. And by the amount of power he was already feeling, Kai was doing exactly what he wanted.

At Hiroshi’s Labyrinth, Kai and Nya rushed at each other in training. Garmadon had instructed her to test his limits, but the Fire Tribe leader wasn't as strong as she thought. Either that or she was getting stronger? As they fought back and forth, Kai jumped in the air and used his hands to shoot fire, propelling him upwards like a rocket. But about eight feet off the ground, his power cut out and he came crashing down with a curse. Nya asked if he was alright and reached out to help him up.

"I'M FINE!" He snapped. "Don't you dare touch me! I don't know if this cursed jungle or one of you maggots- but something's messing with my powers." He dusted himself off and stood back up; igniting his hand once more. " That's better. Now, where were we?"

Alright- that was weird. But Nya shrugged it off and ran in again with a water punch. Kai dodged it and retaliated with a blast of fire. The master of water blocked it with a tidal wave wall and shot an aqua jet at him. Before he could dodge, a sharp pang of pain shot through him; freezing him in place. The blast connected, sending him flying back into a tree. Nya smirked.
"You all good there, dude." She said and almost a joking matter. But the master of fire didn't get up from where he was laying. He didn't even move- he just.... stayed there. The girl tilted her head in confusion. "Um.. Kai? Are you alright?"
She bent down and started to help the boy sit up. His eyes were wide with shock. Something was very wrong.

"I'm sorry," Nya spoke. "I didn't think I hit you that hard."

Kai growled. "You didn't! Your feeble water blast was like a tickle!... This is something else. I... I can't feel my powers." The sea creature noticed his face becoming slightly more pale, and a dark crack was on his neck, reaching for his cheek. With much resistance from him, she managed to drag him back to the village where Garmadon was mediating. By that point, the boy had fallen into even worse condition. And he was doing the one thing the master fire should never be able to do- shiver. Garmadon quickly took note of this and had him sit down so he could examine him. Every part of Kai, even his eyes were faded. It was like someone had turned down his saturation. The dark crack crept up and branched out even further; now trailing up his left cheek and reaching towards his eye. The color drained from Garmadon's face as his eyes followed the crack down. Carefully, he removed the boy's front armor and pulled back his shirt layers. A dark mark stained the flesh over his heart like a splotch of ink. It branched out from that point in formations that resembled lightning bolts or cluttered tree branches. They gripped around his ribcage and traveled around his shoulder then down his arm. Unfortunately, the markings were all too familiar to the Jade leader.

"Clouse. He hexed you." The leader stared down at the boy with sympathy. "I... I can't fix this."

Kai shivered again, igniting his hand and holding it to his chest, hoping to ease the pain, but to his shock, it made it worse. His fire extinguished and he'd never felt more cold. His core stung with an icy sensation as he took each breath. He was desperate to warm up, so, almost like he didn't learn his lesson, tried to use his powers again. However, Garmadon stopped him. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the cracks on him from spreading. As they slithered around his other shoulder and back the fire leader let out a cry of pain.

This... wasn't good.

A few moments later, all the tribe leaders and Ronin were gathered around Kai who was placed by the central bonfire. Ronin sat closest to him, but refusing to admit he actually felt sympathy towards the freezing leader. Cole hated to admit it as well, but he definitely felt a little bad. If not even Garmadon could fix this, then it was very likely he was going to die. Something he wouldn't have minded a few weeks ago. But actually seeing the teen writhe in frozen agony in front of him... yeah. You couldn't really help but feel kinda terrible. Especially knowing that you can't do anything to help. Kai shivered as he practically hugged the flames of the bonfire to get warm. Morro, knowing very well how awful it felt to have a mark of darkness etching its way into your soul, turned and left the scene. It was getting dark anyway, he might as well go to bed. And by bed, he meant a random tree branch. Nya and Zane left as well, going to check back up on Akita and Kataru. After a few minutes, everyone had left Ronin and Kai except Garmadon and Lloyd. The green ninja sighed as he turned to his father. "What do we do?"

"There's really nothing we can do. Either Clouse reverses it himself, or.... well- if my brother was here, he could've used his power of creation to heal him. But neither of those things are going to happen."

Lloyd paused. "Aaaaah.. father? Can I head off to bed now? I'm- um- really tired." The master of destruction found it odd, but agreed and let his son go. Lloyd ran up to his hut and threw himself into his bed. He closed his eyes and tried desperately to fall asleep. "Come on, uncle Wu- I need to talk to you..." He muttered.

Suddenly, he felt a wave of energy wash over him. He opened his eyes to find himself in a field, with the apportion floating not far away. The ghostly boy looked at Lloyd with a confused and sorrowful expression.
"I can't."

Lloyd's hopeful smile slowly dropped as he questioned what he meant.

"I'm aware of why you wanted to talk to me." He whispered. "And I can't. I've been gone for a very long time, nephew. My powers are no longer mine to control. I can't save him."

Lloyd hung his head. "It’s not like I care if he lives or dies, but... I just figured-"

"I can't." Wu spoke. "But you can. I no longer hold the power of creation. It's found a new host, in a new form. Energy. My power lives in you now. If you truly wish to save the lost, then it'll have to be you who does it."

Lloyd stumbled over his words as he tried to explain that he didn't know how, or didn't know if he really wanted to save him in the first place. Kai had hurt him. Hurt Kataru. Hurt his father- So why SHOULD he save his life? If anything, it would probably be better if he were to die and be out of the way. Die, so he could never hurt anyone ever again.

Wu looked at Lloyd like he was reading his thoughts and understanding him completely, but was visibly a little disappointed. Then, Lloyd woke up with a start. It was still dark out, but time had clearly passed, because his father was now fast asleep in his bed. The green ninja sighed as he quietly snuck out onto the rope bridge that hung closest to the bonfire. Ronin was no longer there, and Kai was by himself. With what felt like an invisible force pulling him, Lloyd snuck down and knelt down beside the dying boy. The cracks of darkness had grown immensely; now trailing around his torso and down his thighs, reaching for his knees. The boy shivered from the pain and cold as he curled into himself. A crack had covered the left half of his face, and large dark circles hung around his eyes. Lloyd had to admit that even though what Kai did was terrible, he probably didn't deserve to die this terrible of a death.

"Son?" A voice whispered from behind them. Lloyd spun around in surprise as Garmadon walked over. "What are you doing here?"

The master of energy couldn't find the words to describe why he was, so he said nothing and turned his head away.

"My heart does break for him. I understand that he's done things that may be considered unforgettable, but it's not necessarily his fault." Garmadon knelt down opposite side of the body as Lloyd. "When I talked to Ronin before, I wanted to learn more on how the Fire Tribe operated. He told me terrible things that all just about confirmed my fears. One in which is him."

Lloyd looked down at Kai puzzled. "Him?"

The master nodded. "When Kai was very young, Clouse killed his father. He lied about it and took on the responsibility of raising him. But being anywhere near that monster is bad for you, so I can't imagine what it was like having him raise you. That man groomed him to believe things that aren't true, made him a puppet to be used for his dirty work. He made him into a monster- just like him."

The green ninja couldn't break eye contact with the fallen boy. It stung to look away. The more he looked, the worse it got. His body was littered in scars. Not as many as Kataru, but still enough that you'd think he was a prisoner too. Then, something hit him. Something Wu had told him a while back-
'True evil lives and grows behind the scenes, taking control by any means. Using the power of manipulation on an innocent mind, it renders everyone who sees the actions blind. He treats him like a marionette, making him do unspeakable things, but such a plan has invisible strings. Not even the puppet knows that he's being played. You must free him, or he won't be so easily swayed.'

KAI! That rhyme was talking about Kai and Clouse! The sorcerer had taken an innocent child and turned him into a monster. But nobody seemed to have noticed or cared.
'Using the power of manipulation on an innocent mind, it renders everyone who sees the actions blind.'

Garmadon just referred to Clouse using him as a puppet for dirty work- 'He treats him like a marionette, making him do unspeakable things,'  

And even though his scars suggested that his form of raising someone was beating the ever loving crap out of them, Kai was still shocked at Clouse's betrayal. 'Not even the puppet knows that he's being played.'

But the last part... 'You must free him, or he won't be so easily swayed.'
That one was becoming clearer, but he didn't know if he liked it.
"Father? If there was a way I could save his life, would you let me?"

Garmadon paused. "Well- I suppose so. What did you have in mind?"

Lloyd had no clue what he was doing, but he put his hands on Kai’s heart and closed his eyes. "I'm gonna try to free him." With that, Lloyd's hands began to glow green, but as the energy built up, it became more golden. Garmadon watched in disbelief and awe as the cracks started to retreat back into the blotch over his heart. Suddenly a blinding light engulfed the scene, leaving them on the ground. Garmadon called out for his son as they both sat back up. Lloyd felt like he was going to throw up, but he smiled slightly when he noticed that he did his job successfully. The color slowly returned to Kai's face and every trace of the hex was gone.

"What was that? How did you learn to do that?"

The young ninja knew he couldn't tell his father about Wu, he had promised not to- so he said that he didn't know. It wasn't a full lie though, he really didn't understand how the spell he used just worked. He could have done it completely the wrong way for all he knew. But that didn't matter right now, all that mattered was that Kai seemed to be healing. Even if he was sure he still didn't fully deserve it. His actions being puppeted by Clouse or not, he still did the awful things. And that was something Lloyd wasn't going to forgive all that easily...