Hello everyone! It feels like it's been so long since my last update. As I write this, we're almost at 900 views, and since the last update, this story made it to number 3 in #Llorumi! Thank you guys so much!

Here is your chapter. Most of the things Mistaké tells Harumi are straight from the series, so if the words sound familiar that's why. Enjoy!

I grew tired of waiting for myself to figure it out. I'm not an impatient person, but I waited for three months, so I decided I had waited long enough. Time to take matters into my own hands.

I roamed the palace one night at 2 am, hoping to find answers in the sweeping arches and mysterious rooms, but nothing revealed itself. Frustrated, I stormed as silently as I could back to my room, staring at the scroll intensely as if willing it to show its secrets.

The parchment remained pitch-black, as if someone had spilled ink all over it. I was honestly starting to think that was what had happened. It was... the phrase sitting duck comes to mind, but that's not right... plus Cole says that....

My room was right next to where the Mask of Deception was stored, remember? Well, I had to pass it on my way to get back to my room. As I walked down the hall, the darkness suddenly cleared a bit, the dark ink growing more transparent as I neared the mask.

The Oni Mask... and a scroll about Oni History. I caught myself before I laughed in excitement. Of course!

I rushed towards the glass case, pressing the parchment up against the casing to get it as close to the mask as possible. The pounding headache returned, but I pushed past it, the adrenaline spurring me on.

The ink cleared to reveal the scroll was filled with tiny writing. My eyes flitting up and down rapidly, I stood there for who knows how long, scanning the words I had waited to read for so long.

I drank in every word, wondering if an Oni had written this. The grammar was not the best, and there were times when the words just melted into a blob of inky frustration. It was like a massively abbreviated history of the Oni, with additional information that I found rather intriguing.

The writer was very open with their secrets, likely assuming the reader of the scroll would be an Oni. They talked about an Oni and Dragon and the ancient legend, then the first realm, and all kinds of things that just didn't make any sense to me.

I reached the end of the passage and found something written like a recipe.

One hair of an Oni's son

One hair of an Oni's brother

One hair of an Oni's wife

Oni Masks of Vengeance, Deception, and Hatred

= Clotho-venge, Clotho-decer, Clotho-ha-eed! Clotho-venge, Clotho-decer, Clotho-ha-eed! Clotho-venge, Clotho-decer, Clotho-ha-eed! Clotho-venge, Clotho-decer, Clotho-ha-eed! Rip the fabric between realms! Oni, I call upon you! Connect me to the Departed Realm! =

Purple fire, no disruption, temple.

That was all.

I flipped the scroll over, but it was the plain color of old parchment. There was no inky spill or scribble of words. Just emptiness.

The words clotho-venge, clotho-decer, clotho-ha-eed sounded like the beginning of the words "vengeance", "deception", and "hatred". Perhaps these were the Oni's named for the masks?

There was no title to the scrawl, but it sounded a lot like a summoning ritual for a dead Oni, bringing them back from the Departed Realm. An Oni's son, brother, and wife's hair was needed along with the three Oni masks.

My eyes were drawn to a part of the scroll I hadn't understood. It was the part about the Oni and Dragon— what was that all about?

There was a line that I had overlooked. I read it again, trying to derive meaning from it.

The tale of the Oni and Dragon is illustrated in tea leaves of one who knows.

What was that all about?

The phrase "tea leaves" was interesting. Tea leaves have been used to put people to sleep or keep them awake for a week straight. They've told stories, wiped memories, turned time forward, and simply brought a pleasant addition to scones and cakes on a picnic. Tea could do many things in the hands of an expert.

The puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind. There was only one real expert in tea, and it was an elderly woman named Mistaké.

💮

"Thank you, Mistaké," I said graciously and sipped the tea, throwing my hood off and wrapping my cloak around my arms, trying to hide my shivering. The tea brought a well-sought warmth to my body and I smiled at the old woman, who returned the smile.

"I am glad the Tea of Enlightenment is working. It is necessary to help you see the original tale of the Oni and the Dragon."

I leaned forward, trying to mask my excitement. Mistaké prepared to tell me the story of the Oni and Dragon, and she didn't seem reluctant in telling me the ancient tale that felt more like a massive secret. It could have been because I was the princess, though I thought that Mistaké wouldn't give in just because I was a princess.

"Long before time had a name, there was the Realm of the Oni and the Dragon. It was the first of our Sixteen Realms. The Oni and Dragon were polar opposites-- the Dragon had the power to create. The Oni had the power to destroy. They fought a never-ending war.

"But a child arrived, born of both worlds. The child understood the power of both. Without one, you could not have the other. But when the Oni and the Dragon fought over which side the child should choose, the child abandoned their world to start a new one called Ninjago." Mistaké paused and took a sip of her tea.

I gasped out loud as the pieces fell together in my mind. The child of the Oni and Dragon formed Ninjago. The First Spinjitzu Master is part Oni and Dragon, which means Wu and Garmadon are, which means Lloyd is part Oni and Dragon. And the resurrection spell--at least that's what it seemed to be-- worked for any part-Oni.

I could think of one part-Oni that had a son, brother, and wife, and he had just died.

My curiosity for the rest of the story pushed these eager thoughts down and I quickly apologized. "Sorry, I just realized... Go on."

Mistaké didn't seem to mind "After the First Spinjitzu Master created Ninjago, he fathered two sons of his own. He thought he could escape the war. He saw the evil of the Oni was waiting to be unleashed in one of his sons, Lord Garmadon! It was up to Master Wu to control his brother's undying thirst to destroy, and with some help..."

I saw the Ninja and wanted to say, Hey, that's the Ninja! But I figured Mistaké already knew that.

"Lord Garmadon was destroyed by the most powerful force of all, the love of his own son. And for now, we have peace. But peace will never last."

"That's incredible. I never thought... wow." I shook my head, a wisp of white hair coming loose from my bun. "Mistaké, if I may ask? I have learned about the Oni Masks, but my parents don't know much about it. If they do, they don't tell me. What are they really?" This wasn't a lie; it just wasn't all the truth. My parents didn't actually tell me much about the masks, and the scrolls from Domu didn't give much information either.

Mistaké sighed, and I feared she would tell me she couldn't tell me any more, or that was all she knew. I wanted to learn more. I wanted to know. To my relief, she had answers.

"The three Oni Masks are relics from the first realm, and they wield tremendous power. The power to deceive. The power of vengeance. The power to hate. You could never let them reunite, for if they did, they will have the power to bring back any Oni-- like Lord Garmadon. But as it is a spell for an Oni, the light and Dragon within him will not be resurrected with him." She looked me dead in the eye, and I suddenly got the feeling that Mistaké was much more than an elderly woman running a tea shop.

"Playing with the dead is not to be taken lightly, as we can see with the recent events," she said bitterly, referring to Morro and the ghosts that had tried to attack Ninjago City recently.

Mistaké said this as if she knew something was going to happen.

I didn't.

💮

Harumi.

I sat upright in bed, my hair plastered to my face from the sweat. Moonlight streamed in from the windows, casting wavy lines over the junk thrown carelessly on my floor.

Was someone calling my name?

Harumi.

Harumi.

I didn't know where I was going. I pulled myself from my bed and out the door, following the voice. It led me to the glass case that terrified me over the years, the glass case that led me on a journey to Domu and a tea shop in the city two years prior.

Unconsciously I extended a hand and pressed a palm to the glass. A vibration thrummed through my hand, making all the hairs on my arm stand straight upright. I sucked in a yelp as a shock rippled through my body, melting my knees to butter. I collapsed to the floor, my head throbbing and my right arm numb.

I blacked out for a good while, coming to when the sky started to lighten. I don't know what the Mask did, but it gave me the inkling of an idea.

"A biker gang," I said to myself as I peeled my body off the ground and to my room. "To resurrect Lord Garmadon. Garmadon's Army... the Shadow Bikers... Garmadon's Bikers?" None of the names rolled off my tongue in the way I was looking for. A children's book, The Sons and Daughters of The Fairy, was struck by a rising ray of sunlight.

"The Sons of Garmadon. Nobody needs to know that I'm running it. We could hide in the shadows, finding the other masks. We know the location of one mask already. The Hatred will be the hardest to find," I said aloud as I wrote it down. I sped through three, five, ten, fifteen scrolls filled with ideas and notes. As I started to map out all the vague backbone of my master plan, I recalled Mistaké's words from two years ago.

As it is a spell for an Oni, the light and Dragon will not be resurrected with him.

"Why do you need the light in someone when all that's necessary is the dark?" I mused. "Oh, the real Garmadon will be back soon, and it won't be Master Garmadon," I mocked. No, I couldn't let Lloyd have the satisfaction of seeing his father come back. I could never see my parents come back. Why should he? "I'll bring back the Lord Garmadon."

Lord Garmadon? No. He would rule Ninjago. He would be Emperor, because the current rulers would not be there when he took over.

I let out a laugh- one that you call an evil laugh- and began plotting the destruction of Ninjago. Maybe I could get the revenge I needed.