Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

Part 2: The Road Of Destiny

A/N: I've decided to name Ninjago's mailman as Gobei and the workers are those red-hooded people who were painting the wall mural in season 10.

☯️🐉☯️🐉☯️

The Monastery of Spinjitzu was a palace like structure built all the way on top of a mountain that looked over Jamanakai village. When the sun would rise, this monastery would be the first building to catch its rays and when it would set, it would have a glorious view of the day's end.

People would pray here but it was also the headquarters of Ninjago's finest heroes. They learned how to fight while maintaining peace within; inner peace. They learned how to see what others could not. Like how a random person would see an old man sitting in the monastery's courtyard playing his flute but that person couldn't see that his senses were on alert.

He was surrounded by bushes and trees that nestled within the walls of the courtyard. Dark shadows moved in the background and the white-bearded man seemed oblivious to the other presences. The figures silently crept towards him, not making a single sound. As if someone had thrown on a switch, the five beings jumped out of the undergrowth and dived towards the old man.

Moving like lightning, the man's eyes snapped open just in time to dodge the swipe of a female navy-blue clad ninja. He wielded his flute like a bō staff and used that to resist and hit his attackers. He parried their every move without sweating himself while the five ninjas seemed to be slowing down in their planned sabotage.

The man spun his flute and stood poised, glaring at the colourful, masked warriors, before folding his hands behind his back and saying, "Well done, students . . ." He praised them as they hopefully raised their heads. " . . . if you were trying to disappoint me," he continued angrily.

The five ninjas took off their hoods to reveal their sweaty faces as they gasped to level their breathing. They connected their hands and bowed in front of their master as he pointed at them with his flute, addressing and correcting each and everyone.

"Kai, you need more ferocity; Jay, greater speed; Cole, strength; Nya, subtlety; Zane–"

"Master Wu?"

Wu turned away from the nindroid and pointed the instrument at a purple dressed, bespectacled man who jumped and squeaked  at the sudden motion. "What?" Wu growled.

"It's the First Spinjitzu Master," blurted out the messanger to which the old man relaxed his stance a little. "He wants to see you."

☯️🐉☯️🐉☯️

Master Wu ran purposefully to the Hall of Heroes where he gathered the wizened Spinjitzu Master was at the moment. The giant doors carved with intricate gold dragons were pulled open by the the red-hooded workers. 

The man dashed inside with a speed very uncommon to maintain at such an old age. He skidded to halt on the marbled floor in front of a person resting on the moon-shaped head of a staff in perfect balance. His back was turned to Master Wu as he gazed upon a green pool in front of him.

Wu calmed his breathing before bowing and asking, "Master? You summoned me. Is something wrong?" He kept his eyes low and waited patiently as the other person slowly descended from his unusual perch. As he reached the ground, he straightened his black and gold kimono and looked up at the newcomer.

His eyes were a sparkling blue which seemed to see through to anyone's heart, guessing a person's deepest desire, darkest secret or greatest fear. Wrinkles were the most prominent features on his face. His beard was whiter and longer than even Master Wu's. His body was shaking with slight tremors; a gift of extremely old age. Like Wu, like many people in this area, he wore a straw hat which covered his bald head except for the greying short braid that extended down to just below his neck.

He leaned against his staff as he silently observed his student before asking good-naturedly, "Why must something be wrong for me to want to see my son?"

Ignoring the rhetorical question, Wu slightly lifted his head to look at the older man. "So . . . nothing's wrong?"

The First Spinjitzu Master smiled in spite of the grave news he was about to tell his pupil as well as son. "Well, I didn't say that," he replied, walking over to the long table that lined half the perimeter of the hall. It was loaded down with thousands of candles burning to their fullest.

Master Wu looked at his elder with concern, wondering what he was on about. The First Spinjitzu Master opened his mouth and blew out a candle, his old age slowing down the action. Master Wu waited with a patience that was gradually diminishing. Usually it would take about a few seconds to extinguish three candles. However, Wu's father had taken nearly a minute to blow two and was taking half a minute more to blow a third one.

Even the ninja masters of the highest rank are human and equipped with very little patience when tested. Wu stared at his father, his right eye twitching. He displayed his palms and pushed them towards the candles. In a matter of seconds, the entire room became dark as all the candles went out with a feeble whoosh, nothing but the remnant smoke hovering above the wax sticks.

Not waiting for a reaction from his father, Wu cleared his throat. "You were saying?" The older man stared at the dead candles with a far-off look in his wise eyes. He looked troubled. "I have had a vision."

Wu wasn't concerned about the fact that his father was seeing things in his mind. The First Spinjitzu Master tend to see a vision or two everyday during meditation. It was how he said it that was making Wu squirm. "Yes?" He muttered, urging his father to go on.

"Morro . . . will return."

Wu was struck dumb at the name that echoed through his ears as if it were a spell to stun people. His mouth fell open and fear flashed across his sapphire orbs which looked very out of place in his usually determined and courageous eyes. As if on cue, a series of images zoomed across his mind's eye: a door being thrown open, shouts, accusations, pain, hurt. He flinched as a face with glowing green eyes and a hateful scowl glared at him through curtains of black hair.

Wu closed his eyes and shook his head to clear his mind of those awful memories. He looked at his father who stood there quiet as usual, waiting for his son to recover from the shock of the news. "That is impossible," Wu almost screamed in denial. "He is in prison!"

"Nothing is impossible," muttered the First Spinjitzu Master with an unreadable expression etched between the wrinkles on his face.

"Gobei!" Wu yelled. The bespectacled man from before stumbled into the room upon hearing his name. He was about to lower his head in respect when Wu grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "Go to Kryptarium Prison and tell them to double the guards, double their weapons, double everything! Morro does not leave that prison!"

"Yes, Master Wu," agreed the messanger after nodding unsurely to every command the panic-stricken master gave him. He turned away and in his hurry and uneasiness, smacked against a column that helped keep up the roof of the hall. Gobei gave a squeak of pain before recovering and rushing out of the building, the double doors closing with a deep thud.

The First Spinjitzu Master walked towards the pool, his staff tapping the marble floor and his garment's ends trailing behind. "One often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it," he warned his son.

Wu followed after him, still in a shocked state. "We have to do something," he argued. "We can't just let him march on the valley and take his revenge. He'll . . . he'll–"

The First Spinjitzu Master placed a gentle hand on Wu's back and brought him closer to the pool. He made him look into the turquoise water that was littered with cherry blossom petals. The water was disturbed and it distorted the reflections of the men.

"Your mind is like water, my son," the First Spinjitzu Master explained. "When it is agitated, it becomes difficult to see but when you allow it to settle . . ." Wu's father prodded the liquid surface with the tip of his moon-shaped headed staff. The ripples and disturbance ceased immediately and the water became still as glass. ". . . the answer becomes clear."

As the water settled, both father and son saw in it the reflection of a intricately carved golden dragon clutching an emerald green scroll in its fangs. They both looked up above the pool to find the same structure gazing down at them.

"The Spinjitzu Scroll . . ." muttered Wu as he looked at the scroll in awe.  "It is time," whispered the First Spinjitzu Master mysteriously.

"But who?" Inquired, Master Wu. "Who is worthy to be trusted with the secret to limitless power? To become . . . the Green Ninja?" Wu whispered the last two words, seeing them as too sacred to be said aloud and waited for his father's reply. However, he scrunched up his nose in annoyance at the reply he got:

"I don't know."

☯️🐉☯️🐉☯️

Lloyd winced as he carefully wound his way through the tables that were too close to each other. His aunt sure did have a lot customers but very little space to accommodate them all. He carried a tray laden with teacups which he was serving the people.

He bumped into a table and spilled some ginger tea onto a man's clothes. "Oop . . . sorry," he said as the man scowled at him. "Hey! Watch it, Lloyd!"

The blonde quickly stepped back only to hit the table on which a woman was seated with five or six kids. Their food spilled all over their table as Lloyd turned around to apologize to them as well. "Sorry! A thousand pardons."

He finally got out of the maze of tables and chairs without upsetting any more customers. He gave a sigh of relief but sucked it back in as he saw a group of the monastery workers setting up a poster on the interior wall of the courtyard. It was gold in colour with five silhouettes of the Super Ninja Force printed on it.

Lloyd rushed up to it and read it excitedly. His eyes widened with every line he comprehended. "The First Spinjitzu Master's choosing the Green Ninja! Today!" He turned towards the oblivious customers and yelled at the top of lungs. "Everyone! Everyone! Go! Get to the Monastery of Spinjitzu!"

An excited murmur filled the air as the people started getting up. Lloyd couldn't keep in his excitement. "One of the Ninja is gonna get the Spinjitzu Scroll!" The people started gulping down their teas as Lloyd forced them to get up. "We've been waiting a thousand years for this! Just take the cup!"

He rushed over to an old man who was slowly placing money on the table, paying his bill. Lloyd didn't spare him too, pulling him up to stand. "Don't worry about it. Just go!"

When he made sure that everyone was out of the restaurant, he hurriedly ran to the entrance of the yard. He stopped short as he heard his aunt calling after him. "Lloyd, where are you going?"

The blonde groaned as he turned around to see Mistaké coming out of the kitchen. Lloyd put on a nervous smile as he replied, "To the Monastery of Spinjitzu."

"But you're forgetting your tea cart," his aunt said, wheeling over a creaky wooden cart topped with cups, plates and tea bags. "The whole village will be there and you'll sell tea to all of them."

Lloyd almost stopped himself from letting out another groan. "Selling tea?" He said, hoping that if he said it with enough irritation, his aunt would spare him. However, the excited way Mistaké nodded to the question didn't give the indication that she was going to change her mind anytime soon. Lloyd sighed, deciding to just let her know that he couldn't do it. He couldn't keep carrying the burden of the tea shop wherever he went.

"Y'know, auntie, I was kinda thinking maybe I . . ." He paused, not having enough guts.

"Yes?"

"I was kinda thinking maybe I . . ."

"Uh-huh?"

Mistaké's eyes were filled with expectations that her nephew was going to say something to make her proud; not to upset her. Lloyd saw it too. He couldn't let her down. Not after all she did for him.

" . . . could also sell the earl grey tea. People really like it."

Mistaké beamed bigger than it was possible. "That's my boy!" She hugged him and pecked him on the cheek. "I told you that dream was a sign."
Lloyd tried to be as cheery as she expected him to be. "Yeah," he gave a fake laugh. "Glad I had it."

☯️🐉☯️🐉☯️

Throngs of villagers entered the wide gates of the monastery as firecrackers exploded from every corner. Kids ran here there while people went around trying to find a good place to sit. The village was enjoying this change in their usual routine.

However, all the way down the thousands of steps, poor Lloyd of Steep Wisdom gazed up at the dizzying flight of stairs and almost fainted. How in the world was he going to drag the forsaken cart up that never ending path? He always found it cool that the Super Ninja Force trained and lived all the way up the mountain in serenity and secrecy but right now, Lloyd could do nothing but curse those steps as he started his fatiguing ascent.

He carefully pulled along the cart, stopping every now and then to make sure all the cups and plates were in order. His apron kept getting in the way of his legs and the cap he was wearing was making his head itch. Not to mention the sun which was beating down on him as if he had committed some serious crime to which he was being given this punishment.

After what seemed like hours, Lloyd was panting as he still climbed the stairs and the cart was, unfortunately, still a part of his journey. "Come on!" He panted, flopping down on the steps, trying to take a quick breather. "Almost there!"

He sat up to see how far he had come. His heart stopped as he realized he had only conquered eleven out of billion steps to be exact. "What?!" He shrieked, feeling like crying. "No! Oh no!"

Two villagers passed him on the way up. They stopped when they saw how "traumatically" upset he was. One of them laid a hand on Lloyd's shoulder and sympathised, "Sorry, Lloyd." The other village pointed to the monastery with his thumb. "We'll bring you back a souvenir."

With that, the two of them made their up the steps, out of breath but faring far better than Lloyd. The blonde wanted to call after them, ask them to carry him and his stupid cart up to the monastery but the exhaustion he felt made his mouth unable to move.

Suddenly, adrenaline rushed through his veins. No way was he going to let a useless tea cart get in the way of achieving his dream of meeting his heroes. He was sure Aunt Mistaké wouldn't mind if the village didn't drink her tea for one day. Lloyd hit the concrete step with his fist, eyes sparking with determination.

"No," he said, getting up. "I'll bring me back a souvenir. With that Lloyd threw off his work cap and untied his apron, letting both these things fall on the ground. He left the cart abandoned as he ran up the steps.

He didn't know he was walking the road of destiny. He was just going to see who would be the Green Ninja. He climbed, his desire to succeed pushing him up. He unknowingly chased after his fate. He unknowingly ran to claim his destiny.

☯️🐉☯️🐉☯️

Okay I'm so not only working on this story at the moment. *Fake smile* . . . . Okay maybe I am.

But that's because Wattpad is being a total pain in the butt and it won't let me open my other stories. Just this one. I had nothing to do so I decided to write chapter 2.

Hope you liked it!

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro