"Keep running! Keep running!" I told myself. I had to keep moving. My lungs were screaming, my legs burning. The smoke stung my eyes and stuck in my throat, but I had to keep moving.

I struggled to see through the thick smoke hanging in the air. I had to find the portal back to Ninjago before HE caught up to me.

There! I could faintly see the soft glow of the portal through the smoke.

"You are going nowhere!" Spat a cold voice.

"Oh, yeah?" I called looking around me, frantically trying to locate the owner of the voice. "Watch me!" I growled, flinging myself through the portal as I came within jumping distance.

I erupted out of the other side of the portal...in NINJAGO!!! Home at last. I glanced worriedly behind me at the portal. I was unsure if HE could cross over as well. "I guess all my studying on the location of this portal paid off." I muttered to myself.

It seemed that he wasn't going to be able to cross over to the land of the living. I suppose since technically I hadn't died I could cross over, whereas he had died. Rising to my feet, I began to brush off the dirt that covered my front. I looked around, studying my surroundings. I was in a forest of some sort. I took in the sight of an assortment of trees: birch, ash, maple, willow, and the list goes on.

I was admiring the view, including the stars, which were especially vibrant and vivid in the velvety black night sky. I was rudely snapped back to reality when an explosion spewed from the portal behind me. I was launched through the air only to end up sprawled on my stomach on the damp forest floor.

I immediately curled into a ball and covered my head with my arms as I felt something strike my back. A tingling sensation followed, spreading from my back to the rest of my body. I clamped my eyes shut as the sensation overwhelmed my senses for a brief moment, making me gasp quietly.

The sensation dissipated and I quickly recovered to a standing position, feet braced in the damp soil. I stood facing the portal, frozen in horror as I processed the scene before me.

A green-grey cloud of smoke drifted. From the portal. 'He can cross over!' My brain screamed.

"Hahaha." The smoke chuckled malevolently. "Free at last!"

"No..." I moaned, nausea creeping its way into my stomach. A tear escaped from my eye. I knew what his freedom meant. I also knew that I had to evade capture at his hand...for I could very well be what aids him in his quest to conquer Ninjago or his downfall. I had to get away.

I turned and fled. Branches clawed at my face, but that wasn't the main concern. Whether my face took a beating from trees or not was of little importance, right now the most important thing was putting as much distance between me and this place as I could, as fast as I could.

"Hahaha...run child!" His voice echoed through the forest, dripping poison. I continued my mad flight through the trees. "You're mine..." I heard him whisper on the breeze, ominously.

I kept going, his words "you're mine" ringing in my ears. I fled farther and farther from the portal, one thing becoming more apparent to me with each step... I couldn't run as quickly as I normally could and my line of vision seemed closer the ground than usual.

One thing was for sure...something wasn't right.

😁😁