I clutched Morro in my cold hands, cradling his limp head like a newborn. Tears rolled down my face for reasons I was too scared to admit, and I desperately combed the white hair away from his sweaty face like it would somehow make him open his eyes and prove he wasn't dying.

    No one had seen what happened inside the dome. All that we knew was that the dome fell, and inside were three limp bodies. One dead Overlord. Two nearly dead boys. Chaos had ensued after that.

    The Vermillion were weak and scattered. Without their masters to guide them, they refrained from swarming us. No one had seen Ver or Acronix, and the camp's fire was nearly gone. Only a few flickering flames remained, licking up what was left of the supplies. When the dome had dropped, we had all run inside, and I was surprised to find myself straight at Morro's side. Suddenly I was crying, holding him—holding him—to my chest, sobbing like I had just lost my own child.

     His parents attempted to take him into their arms, but quickly realized I wasn't going to let go. Shade was colder than Morro, and for a second, they thought he had actually died. Harumi was still clasping him, sobbing from grief and from the pain of her wounds, and Lloyd was beside her, trying to support both members of his family whilst holding himself together.

     "What happened?" Carmen breathed from Storm's side, voicing the thought all of us were too overwhelmed with emotion to say.

     It didn't take long for Aureole to let out a high-pitched wail and drop to her knees. She was inconsolable. Her father and Peak knelt down beside her, holding her the same way Harumi and I were holding Lloyd's sons.

     "This all my fault," she tried to say, but Kai shut her off with a firm shake of his head.

     I turned my attention back to Morro's face, studying the straight edge of his jawline, his defined nose, his bushy eyebrows. He wasn't as handsome as his brother, but there was a charm there. Behind those kind eyes there was an intuitive mind, a surprising patience, a world full of compassion. I realized in that moment that I cared for him very much, despite all my efforts to not care about any of them at all.

     His face flickered.

     Not with emotion.

     With light.

     I looked up at the same time as everyone else. Off in the distance, three orbs broke off from the sun's dying light, growing stronger in brightness the closer they came to us. They were all shining gold, expanding until they all three hovered in front of our little group, standing tall above the scattered remains of a tent.

     That's when I noticed they weren't just orbs of light. Faint within the glows were shapes of people.

     The first was a woman. She was beautiful, with warm grey-blue eyes and soft blonde hair that tumbled down to her waist in elegant curls. Her attire beneath the gilded light was every shade of blue I could think of, all twisted together into an outfit that looked too formal to be everyday wear. She did not smile, and her face kept shifting every time I focused on it. She looked both ten and sixty, constantly seeming immature and like she'd seen too much at the same time.

     The second (and middle) figure was taller than the others, though that may have been due to the large hat covering his face. He was dressed in what appeared to be ninja robes, though his were far more sophisticated than the gis the Ninja wore. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, placid yet protective. When he lifted his head to properly see us all, suddenly we understood who he was.

     His eyes, they were a beautiful green.

     Just like Lloyd's.

     "Grandfather." Lloyd bowed low, practically prostrating himself in front of the figure.

     Everyone else's eyes widened and they dipped their heads as well. Only I was unsure of who this might be. Perhaps Lloyd's grandfather had been the founder of their generational ninja clan. Seeing as everyone else was paying him a good deal of respect, I bowed in his direction.

     The third spirit stood with his arms out, like he was welcoming us all into his embrace. His head was haloed in dark hair, with a distinct green stripe running through the front of it. He was wearing a ninja gi, adorned with armor that looked like it was sold fresh from the armor-smith only minutes ago. His lips were pressed together, yet he was smiling, his eyes only on one person.

     Harumi gasped, blinking back tears, reaching out to him. "Morro?"

     The figure only smiled, finally turning his attention to Lloyd's grandfather.

     Morro, I realized with a start, the old Morro that played a large role in their lives.

     "What..." Harumi shook her head, the only one who could find words in this situation. She stared at the spirit Morro again, her tears slowly hardening into a dangerous anger. A grieving anger.

      "What is the purpose of this!" Harumi yelled out, her voice cracking as she held on tighter to her dying son. All respect for the dead-now-spirit people in front of her had vanished. "Why... why must you put us through this torture, time and time again? Do you hate us that much?"

      The spirit woman's eyes flickered, and her lips pressed into a thin line. Even the spirit Morro's smile faltered at his dear friend's words.

     "I do not control the world." Lloyd's grandfather stepped forward through the air, making him seem even bigger than the other two phantoms. "As I do not control your destiny, Harumi. But I will offer you first one point of consolation. Your sons will not die today, nor will either of them die for a long time."

     Harumi let out a sob in relief, burying her face into Lloyd's shoulder. He held onto her, held onto his second-born son, his hands twitching because he knew there needed to be one more in that embrace. But my fingers did not loosen from Morro's frame. I would hold him until he woke up. And then... I wasn't sure what I'd do. I was taking it one step at a time.

      "This world, my world, was created as an escape," Lloyd's grandfather continued, his booming voice echoing over the silent, desolate camp. "I didn't want to face the war from which I was born, and the world I had gone to next was becoming too dangerous for me to handle. I created Ninjago as a realm of peace, so that I'd never have to deal with war again. However, for every action there is a reaction. For every ounce of good that enters the universe, there must also be an ounce of evil that enters as well.

      "You have heard the story time and time again. I fought the Overlord. Neither of us could win, so it was up to my descendants to settle the scores. If the descendant won, then balance would be restored. If the Overlord won, then darkness would consume our realm until nothing was left. However, the stories have always been wrong. Ninjago was never balanced. It was always imbalanced because I had created it that way."

      I didn't understand his words. Why was he going on about realms and balances, like Morro wasn't sitting in my arms, barely breathing at all?

      "Our sister realm, the Realm of Madness, has been corrupted with darkness for a very long time. The Overlord rules that realm, and he was trying to take this one as well. Ninjago drifted over to an imbalance of dark, and both realms began to crumble beneath that weight. Storm here," (he gestured to the woman), "discovered that Ninjago didn't have much time left, due to the Overlord taking advantage of one broken heart.

      "She overwrote that catastrophic future with the intention of setting both realms back on track. Storm was trying to save the realms, not doom the people she involved in the process."

      Storm's dark eyes brightened up as he studied the blonde woman. I began to see the similarities between the two, despite the fact that their ethnicities differed. The woman had Storm's soft eyes, his cheeky grin, and his lithe frame. Even their names were the same. The way he looked at her in awe, and she looked down upon him in affection, could only mean one thing. They must be related.

     "So you're the thief," Lloyd said tentatively, like if he spoke too loud he would anger the spirits. "You are Storm Lightning."

     The woman nodded once. Her face flickered with age once again.

     "The Overlord knew what was going to happen if goodness was allowed to triumph in this realm. If you defeated him, his grip would loosen on the Realm of Madness, and it would drift onto the light. Both realms, then, would be without balance, and both would be destroyed." Lloyd's grandfather's face twisted as he studied our facial expressions. "You are angry that Storm doomed this world with a prophecy, but you do not fully understand the situation. Ninjago was created with a selfish intent, and the Realm of Madness was merely a consequence of that. Nothing created out of selfishness can last forever. Storm was merely altering the course of the realms' destructions so that it would end peacefully for everyone living."

      "Y-you're telling us that everything we sacrificed, everything we fought for, it was all for nothing?!" Aureole's voice cracked. "The prophecy said—"

     "The prophecy is merely a confused message from the Cloud Kingdom," the spirit Storm interrupted, her voice carrying more power than I expected. There was a great deal of wisdom in that voice, but also much pain, as if she had endured many lifetimes of suffering. "I never intended to end the realm, I only wished to save it from a terrible fate."

      "There's magic in the Cloud Kingdom," Harumi murmured against Lloyd's shoulder; her eyes glazed over as she connected the dots. "One that scrambles messages. They don't want us knowing the future."

     The spirit woman nodded, then quietly stepped back.

     "And the world has been saved," Lloyd's grandfather said softly. He looked up, only for a second, taking in the world he created. I wondered if he looked upon it with delight, if he thought it had grown into something he was proud of. Or was he disappointed, thinking that the next generations had destroyed everything he fought to preserve? "And the world is at peace. The Overlord is gone. His influence will fade from this realm, and then it will fade from the Realm of Madness. The monsters there can finally have their peace, after being conquered thousands of years ago. I will not tell you how long it will take for this realm to fade back into the Ethereal Divide, but I will say that no one will suffer. The light will consume both Ninjago and its sister, and they will fade away in peace."

     "What about my children?" Lloyd pleaded with his grandfather. "Can you heal them?"

     His grandfather responded with fire in his words, "I have told you they will not die. Is that not enough? Have faith, young Garmadon. This realm is finally at peace. Do you think I would not have the heroes of it live to see what beautiful world they created?"

     But Morro was still limp in my arms, his skin growing colder with each passing second. I did not feel consoled by the spirits. I had seen many people die in Shadow Bay, but this was so very different. Never had I held them in my arms. Never had I known them as people as real as me. Never had I wished that they could live another day. In that moment I mourned the deaths of the traitors, the deserters, the rule-breakers. Perhaps they hadn't meant harm, perhaps they just needed a second chance at living. A second chance we never gave them.

     "We have explained ourselves to you," the spirit Morro said, drawing everyone's attention to him. "But we have not explained our purposes for appearing to you. That is what I will now discuss.

     "The First Spinjitzu Master," he nodded at Lloyd's grandfather, "created elemental masters to aid him in the fight against the darkness. This follows the well-known principle: evil stands alone; good stands together. The elemental masters always had a purpose, and that was to help keep the darkness at bay. Now, there will be no darkness. Thus, there is no need for elemental masters."

     Protests were shouted among our little group, yet I was silent. When would Morro open his eyes? When would he smile and the warmth return to the air?

     "I require the power of energy," Lloyd's grandfather—the First Spinjitzu Master? —ordered, holding out his right hand.

     Immediately, both Morro and Shade started screaming. Their chests stretched out, as if they were fighting to keep something within them, but then a single orb of light burst out of their chests, and they collapsed back into waiting arms. Morro's orb was golden, pulsing with the warmth he always carried. I realized that Morro was now cold, colder than he'd ever felt before.

      Morro's golden orb and Shade's magenta orb flew straight to the First Spinjitzu Master's waiting hand, where they combined in a brilliant flash of light. Before our eyes, a singular, glowing green ball floated in the air. The elemental power of energy.

     "I require the power of fire."

     Aureole screeched next, clutching her chest like her ribs were imploding into her lungs. Tears of agony leaked from her already bloodshot eyes; the pulsing red orb shot out from her chest to join energy.

     "I require the power of water."

      Storm bellowed in anguish as his power was ripped out of him.

      "Lightning."

      Carmen held him tighter as if her grip would somehow loosen Storm's pain.

      "Earth."

      "Ice."

      "Wind."

      "Shadow."

      Each power was listed, and I was sure somewhere in the world people were screaming. There were more elemental powers than I realized. With each element called, an orb floated to the main one hovering in the First Spinjitzu Master's hand. It did not grow bigger; it only flickered with color.

      "Communication."

      I let out a sob as the tugging began in me. It did not hurt my core, but when the orb of white light snapped free, I felt as if it had taken all my vocal cords with it. I buried my face in Morro's dirty hair, sniffling my already silent sobs. I didn't care if I never spoke again. I just wanted Morro to wake up.

       "And finally," the First Spinjitzu Master said, his visage stone-faced. "I require the power of Amber."

      Kai winced as an amber colored orb swallowed up the rest of the elements. The First Spinjitzu Master clamped his hands together, pressing the elemental powers together. We watched in silent pain as the beams of light between his ghostly fingers dimmed. When he reopened his palms, there sat an jeweled medallion.

      "This is the Amberstone," he said, "it will grant great power to the one who finds it."

     With those words the First Spinjitzu Master threw the Amberstone as hard as he could into the distance. It soared farther than humanly possible; the last we saw was the glint of the medallion as it touched the sky.

      "However, it will only be found in a time of great need. Until heroes need to fight off darkness once more, the elemental powers will remain dormant, and the Amberstone untouched. Just as it used to be."

     The spirits did not leave after that. They stood judging our silent reactions, until the spirit Morro finally spoke once again. "There is one last reason that we have come."

     We waited for him to elaborate. When he did not, we followed his gaze across the ruins of the camp, where a lone figure stood on a hill, watching the scene with scrutiny.

      After gaining acknowledgement from the phantoms, she limped forward to meet them.

      Her arms bore the weight of too many scars; fresh blood dripped down her fingers and onto the dust below. She looked as if she'd been scourged, then the minute her wounds scabbed over, her captive scourged her again and again. Despite the obvious pain she was enduring, Ver held her head high as she faced us one last time.

      "Ver," the spirit Morro said kindly, "I know you better than anyone."

       Harumi's eyes wildly drifted back between her friend and daughter, confused as to what these words meant.

      "I have been there through every trial and every breaking point. I was the voice in your head, the spirit following you around. I have watched you keep your head above the water through betrayals, lies, truths, pain, suffering, and weakness. Your endurance and tenacity speak volumes to your character."

      Harumi was gaping, her cheeks flushed with understanding. Ver ignored her mother, her expression growing more confused with each word that left the spirit's mouth.

      "Ver," the spirit Storm started. She drifted down from her spot in the sky, stopping only when she was face-to-face with the horned teenager. Storm lifted a delicate hand, gently cupping one of Ver's scared cheeks. "There is much turmoil within you. Yet, through all of it, you have shown incredible power. You are quick thinking in combat, are prone to good ideas when it comes to leading attacks, and are deeply loyal to those you consider allies. You'd drive yourself to your breaking point for them, even if they did nothing to deserve it."

      "W-what do you want from me?" Ver's voice wavered, a single tear spilling out of her glazed eyes.

      "Ever since you left your home, the Keeper of the Underworld has been trying to claim you. We wish to give you a greater purpose," the First Spinjitzu Master said as the spirit Storm returned to his side. "Your mother is a full-blooded Oni."

      "Yeah," Ver muttered crossly.

      "She did not mention she is also the only living descendant of King Atrocity, the last king of the Oni."

      "Sounds about right."

      "You are unhappy here, Ver," the spirit Morro said in an almost brotherly tone. "We wish to set you on a new path. If you promise to do only good for your people, we will send you to General Mistake, the current leader of the Oni. She will train you, and you will introduce yourself to the Oni as the last living heir to the throne."

      Ver's mouth dropped open. After a second the shock in her face wore off and she began to frown. The more seconds passed the deeper her frown became, until she looked positively malevolent. "So, that's the ultimatum, huh? Go to the 'Underworld' or be queen of demons?"

      "There is no ultimatum," the First Spinjitzu Master said calmly. "Acronix is waiting out in the woods, whether he wants to admit it or not. You could return to him, and you would both live peacefully here for many years. You'd outlive him, of course, but he'd completely accept you back."

      Lloyd's face flushed maroon. "There is no way any daughter of mine is going to be spending her life with that filthy mongre—"

      "You could return to Ninjago with your family," the spirit Storm cut Lloyd off without remorse. "They would accept you as well. There would be tension, yes, but you would not be a social outcast."

      "Or you could become queen," the spirit Morro added when Ver shook her head. "You would rule over the Oni with a loyal heart, I am certain. They would give you a second chance at living; they can give you the happiness you've been wanting."

      Ver hesitated, rubbing her arms and smearing blood across them in the process. "What about Acronix?"

      Both the spirits of Storm and Morro's faces softened in compassion. The First Spinjitzu Master, however, remained stone-faced. "He will accept your fate," he said, "he will not grieve for too long. He's ready to move on from the past, not dwell in it."

      "You will tell him?" Ver asked tentatively. I realized I could not hear anything else in her voice. She just sounded unsure, despite the question signaling something more.

      The spirit Morro nodded. There was an ease to his actions, like an old friend reassuring his companion that he'd help out with a project.

      "What about... what about you?" Ver was quiet now. "Will you be there?"

     "I was tethered to the wind," spirit Morro replied, "and the element of wind is gone now. I will be waiting in the afterlife, but my time in this realm is done."

     "He was the voice in your head," Harumi murmured softly, repeating the truth that was hard for her to accept.

     Ver didn't answer. She gazed up at the three spirits for a moment, weighing her options. I wondered if they were mentally communicating with her, but that seemed unlikely as they hadn't done that before in their approach.

      After a second, Ver turned to face her parents. "I will not apologize for leaving you."

      The spirits' frowns deepened at that, but Ver ignored them. "However, I will apologize for causing you grief. I wished to do what was right, and I'm sorry you had to be hurt by that."

     "Ver." Harumi tried to get to her feet, but her wounds were too much for her, and she was forced to sit back down beside Lloyd. "Ver, we have always loved you, and we always will," Harumi said fervently, "I know you're scared and you think we hate you but... but we've all made mistakes that we regret. You don't have to leave us. Come back to our family."

     Ver's jaw tightened. I, once again, felt confused as to what she was thinking. Normally understanding her nonverbal cues was such an ease, but it was like someone had covered up my thoughts with sand. I couldn't translate a thing.

      It hit me a second after Ver turned back to face the spirits.

     She was biting back words.

     "I will go to the Oni," Ver said. If she had felt any regret towards rejecting to her mother's pleas, it was gone now.

     The First Spinjitzu Master nodded, then stretched out his hand once again.

      Ver did not scream, though I could tell she was in pain. Her body started jerking in strange directions, and she was growing bigger. Claws busted through the broken skin on her fingertips, spikes jutted out of her shoulders and legs. Her skin darkened into a midnight black; her hair thickened and curled around her long, intricate horns. When she swiveled to examine herself, I noticed her jaw had jutted out, showcasing long, protruding fangs.

     She was terrifying to look at. Somewhere inside me I knew that she was a beautiful Oni.

     "You are free now," the First Spinjitzu Master said, and a portal of glowing blue light opened beneath him.

     Ver took a deep breath. She looked back over our small group one last time, her eyes lingering the longest on Shade. Harumi and Lloyd were watching her with years of grief in their eyes, hoping, wishing, praying that she'd somehow change her mind and take back her choice. But Ver didn't say a word, and walked through the portal without looking back. I imagined there wasn't much she wanted to say to us. I doubted she'd be unhappy if she never heard of us again.

     With their mission complete, the spirits began to fade.

     "How soon can we provide professional medical care for everyone?" Peak asked steadily, his mind already on the right track.

     They seemed pleased with his question.

     "PIXAL has been alerted of your location. She is sending helicopters to transport you back to Ninjago City as we speak," the spirit Morro smiled.

     He was the first to disappear, grinning at all of us until his smile had faded into the light. The spirit Storm was next; no one missed her final words of parting.

     "I'm very proud of you, Storm. Tell your father I'm proud of him too."

     Storm nodded as his grandmother vanished.

     The First Spinjitzu Master lingered the longest, though his eyes were only for his world. The soil he created. The mountains he formed. The rivers he carved with magic none of us would ever understand.

    "I am glad," he said, "I am glad I created this world."

    "We're glad to be a part of it," Kai spoke for the first time since the spirits arrived, bowing his head once again.

    And the First Spinjitzu Master smiled. He smiled at his world, smiled at the people who loved it, smiled at the universe to which he was returning. It was then I felt at peace too. All I could think about during the whole encounter about was Morro, but now I understood he was going to be okay. There was no reason for me to worry. He would wake up, and then I could face what would happen next.

    Until then, though, there was nothing to do except sit in the ruins of the tattered camp and marvel upon the wonders that had just taken place.