Who says videogame tribute music on YouTube is not worth listening to? 😏

Title and lyrics taken from "Dream Your Dream" by TryHardNinja.

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~Hush now, drift off to sleep
Reality, a memory
Don't be scared of what you find
Yeah, it's all just in your mind~

Garmadon let out frantic, subtle gasps as he restlessly fidgeted about in his sleep. His forehead glistened with beads of sweat along with his brown fringe of hair. His hands involuntarily clutched and released the sheets in a repeated fashion while his mind assaulted him with nightmares.

The room was blanketed in darkness. Solid black colors and nothing else. He stood in the centre. Or was it the corner or the back? He couldn't really tell. His lungs felt compressed despite him desperately gulping down air.

Garmadon's quivering voice fell out of his dry lips in trembling whimpers. His breathing slowly growing loud and heavy. His body was shivering all over even though it was a warm night.

Crying. Sobbing. He could hear it in the room. It echoed all around him but it still seemed to emanate from a single point. He dared to move closer to the sound. His eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness and he was surprised to see the room really was enclosed with walls. It wasn't endless.

"Th-there . . ." Garmadon mumbled sleepily, urging his dream to proceed towards locating the source of the crying.

At the far wall, he could make out a child, huddled in the corner with his head buried in his knees. A small pool of blood lay at the side of his feet. He grew uncomfortable when he witnessed this but the child seemed to be ignoring the red liquid.

He hesitantly moved nearer to the boy, crouching down a few inches away from him. He couldn't feel his lips moving but he heard his voice whispering, "What's wrong?"

"Stay b-back," Garmadon murmured, his agitation increasing more.

The boy looked up, irises glowing red like his and cheeks stained with tears. He did a double take. The boy was him. But younger. He noticed blood excessively running down the child's right hand and dripping onto the floor. It appeared to be oozing out of the wound where it had bit him.

Upon closer examination, he could even make out inky black tendrils originating from the bite and moving up the kid's arm. They rose up his neck and swirled around his face.

He looked almost consumed.

"No," breathed out the brunet, hands now slightly moving this way and that as if trying to keep something at bay and away from himself.

Fresh tears welled up in the boy's eyes as he glanced up at his older form. A choked sob issued out of his throat.

"It's too late," cried the child, his voice watery and raspy from crying. "There's no saving us now."

He could see the younger's skin turn a dark shade of grey, gradually morphing into pure black.

"You didn't fight hard enough!" the boy continued in screams.

He grew silent, moving back to lean against the wall, red eyes staring straight ahead. His voice was now calm and more quiet.

"Now we belong to the darkness . . ."

The kid's words gave rise to an inhumane shriek as his entire being turned black. His skin, his hair, his face; all of it seemed to dissolve into the darkness of the room and all he could see were his blood-red eyes still staring back at him.

~Monsters that live inside
Your head at night, they are alright
'Cause they can never compare
To the ones that live outside~

The boy's body transformed to something bigger, more sinister. Before long, the Overlord's grotesque face finally came into view. It snarled at him, a forked tongue swishing in and out of the dented mouth.

"There's nothing left to save, Garmadon. You lost. Now you belong to me."

"No, there's still time!" he screamed back, almost sounding hysteric.

"The Final Battle draws near! The Green Ninja will rise soon! What are you waiting for?"

"The Green Ninja does not exist!" he shot back, attempting to move farther from the Overlord's advancing figure.

"Of course he does, you fool! He breathes. Someone mothers him. Someone shelters him. Someone shall endeavor to prepare him for what's coming. She knows! She knows who he is!"

"Who?" he yelled through his seemingly frozen lips.

"Your father turned out be more clever than I anticipated. The Green Ninja is someone you can never even dream of harming. You must forget about him!"

He paused. Was that true? The only people he never wanted to lose were his brother, his wife and–

The Overlord lunged towards him and he felt his body being torn apart and ripped open. Screaming, he could feel the monster taking over everything he had to call his own. He went numb and fell into deafening silence.

~So dream, dream, dream your dream
'Cause when you're awake,
the nightmare awaits~

Garmadon awoke with a start, shooting straight up into a sitting position. Sweat cascaded down his forehead and he could still slightly sense something inside him trying to break free. His heart palpitating at a mercurial pace, the brunet turned to look at his wife who lay next to him in a peaceful slumber.

His face twisted in agony as his chest suddenly began to burn as if on fire. Every part of his body hurt more than anything he had ever experienced. The extremely faint bite wound on his hand immediately split open with an overwhelming stinging sensation.

Garmadon tried to keep his cries of pain from bursting out for fear that Misako might wake up. Occasional tears ran down his face as he bore the excruciating affliction. He raised his hands to grasp his hair in hopes it would lessen the torment. That's when he noticed something. Something that acquainted with his dream.

His fingers were tinted entirely black with the colour slowly seeping down his palms in meandering branchlets. He could feel a chill under his dark skin. It moved down his back and creeped around onto his stomach. The brunet hesitantly lifted his shirt and shook his head as he made out thin dark lines stretching across his torso.

The evil was taking over.

~Rows of teeth penetrate
There's no escape, the veil is raised
Every mistake visible
So was it me after all?~

. . .

The pain was gone now.

He could feel nothing. No fear. No warmth. No safety.

Just . . . darkness.

His crimson eyes frantically darted about the bedroom in search of the hissing sound till he realized it was in his mind. It was always in his mind.

"Your time has come."

"This world doesn't need you like I do, O' mighty Lord Garmadon."

"Come join me. Take the Golden Weapons and reshape your father's cruel world into your own image."

"Do it for the ones you cherish."

"Do it for your son . . ."

Something inside him snapped after the voice had faded into the depths of his mind. Face expressionless, eyes emotionless and movements as if under hypnosis, he gingerly got off the bed.

Wishes of deserting everything he knew and disappearing among the shadows for the time being pounded on his mind. He didn't care what would become of him. He didn't care what he left behind. He just wanted to take what was rightfully his.

Ninjago.

And if he had to betray his blood for it, he would not hesitate.

Garmadon reached the door, opening it a crack to peek out into the hall. The little voice in his mind told him to be careful of his surroundings. To practice caution in everything he would endeavor to do.

He stopped. Turned around. Glanced at his sleeping wife whom he had left alone on the bed.

He watched her as she slept, completely unaware of the war he was in. But still, she had put up with so much just for him. The many times he had shouted at her or blamed her even when it wasn't her fault. All those times he had scared her by his irrational behavior. She had endured everything because she knew he couldn't control it.

Garmadon wanted to give her and Lloyd the world. And that is what the darkness had promised. Force was the only way he could make this life give him what he wanted.

"I love you," was all that Garmadon whispered back to his wife before stepping out and closing the door behind him.

He made his way to Lloyd's room. The scattered toys, stacks of story books, the mountain of stuffed animals and an overall feel of a young and innocent aura in the room made him hesitant while entering.

~A music box that creaks
The melody brings solemn peace
But only for one more breath
The last one you might have left~

Garmadon approached the little figure of his son, huddled under the sheets with nothing but his small face poking out. His baby snores drew the father closer till he was hovering right above his head. The brunet leaned down to press a light kiss on the child's forehead after he swiped away a bit of his blonde hair.

"I'll be back for you and Mom, okay?" he murmured in the toddler's ear as if he were listening to him or could even comprehend what was happening. "I promise."

The boy mumbled something in his sleep and smiled faintly. 'At least someone is having good dreams,' Garmadon thought, looking lovingly down at Lloyd.

Being around his little son always made Garmadon feel better. It made him feel purged of all the evil that now held him up like a puppeteer. He didn't want to part with him but it was the only way he could be with him forever without any worry of what the world would say hanging over his shoulders.

~The ticking clock
Breaks the spell with every beat
Illusion or not
You are safe for now so dream
So dream your dream~

Resuming his previous ambiguous demeanor, Garmadon purposefully left the room and crept past his brother's sleeping quarters and down the hall to the dojo. The light was on in Wu's room and he assumed his brother was doing one of his late night studies on fighting formations. It was a habitual thing by now.

The brunet arrived at the dojo's panel doors and slipped inside without making a sound. Switching on the ceiling lamp, his eyes shifted over to the quartet of weapons hanging on the left wall. Their gold shone under the light, tempting Garmadon to proceed further.

The brunet shuffled closer in a dazed manner. He could hear the blades calling out to him. To take them far away and use them for his own personal gains.

~It's a fantasy
They'll be seeing you soon
Nowhere left to go
Terrors keep breaking through~

Garmadon could see his reflection in the Sword of Fire's flawless surface. His skin had grown pale, almost grey, and his face was now invaded by the chilling tendrils that kept spreading all through his body. They swirled around his eyes and climbed up his cheeks.

Ignoring it, he reached out his pitch black hands and simultaneously grasped the Sword and the Nunchucks. His breathing heavy and rapid with excitement, Garmadon could feel warmth and electricity collectively zooming through his veins.

His senses were a mess. He was so mesmerized by the power that he did not notice the door sliding open behind him but he never flinched when Wu's ironic voice cut through his mind.

"I'm afraid those are for display only."

~So dream, dream
Dream your dream~

Garmadon felt his lips moving upwards in a menacing grin. His red eyes glowed ominously as he turned on his heels and faced his brother. He revelled in the shock on Wu's face at the sight of his brother being consumed alive by darkness. He let out a low maniacal chuckle.

"Tell me, what good is a weapon if all it's used for is collecting dust?"

~'Cause when you're awake
The nightmare will become the truth~

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