Dark Island

Sixteen years prior

The room was lit only by a candle, glowing with a red light, and it was filled with a heavy silence that grated on his ears.

The figure moved. Grrrink. The sound of metal on metal echoed in the stone chamber. The figure - an android - placed his hand on a table in front of him.

"It is complete," he whispered. "At long last, it is complete."

Another figure moved. He stood in the corner of the stone room, scowling. "Are you completely sure you want to go through with this?" he asked. He took a step forward towards the android, his pale face concerned and slightly disapproving. "It is too risky, master. Something may go wrong."

"That's why I have you here, Hokori," the android said. Its voice reverberated with determination and pleasure - with an undertone of evil. "So that nothing goes wrong."

The man cocked his head, but said nothing. The android continued.

"It is too long that I've been in this state," it said. "I need to do this, if only to preserve myself. And you will help me."

"What shall I do, master?" Hokori asked.

The android turned around and put its cold metal hand on the man's forehead. The man flinched. "You will exist," it said quietly. Hokori swallowed nervously and gave a nod.

Android turned around and touched the paper on the table. The paper had markings on it - black lines and intricate designs curling all around the edges of the paper. The android laughed. It was a dark laughter that sounded distinctly familiar.

"YA odin," he said. Hokori froze - the android's hand on his forehead was suddenly warm. The room seemed to start trembling.

"YA ten'. YA t'ma. YA vse eto bez sveta," the android said.

Hokori grabbed the android's hand and tried to pull it off himself. "Stop!" he said. "Stop! You are using me, Povelitel'!"

"Teper' ya dolzhen byt' dva," the android said. There was an evil grin in his mechanical voice. Hokori started writhing, screaming in protest - the room was beginning to feel heated - the hand that was touching the man's pale forehead was white hot, yet was not burning his skin. "Split moyu dushu, i pust' dva sushchestvovat'."

"Povelitel'!" Hokori screamed. "Povelitel'!"

This is not fair! This should not be happening! Why would it do this to me? Hokori's vision was blurring with painful tears. It felt as if his soul was being ripped from his body.

"I have done all I can!" he said, his voice breaking, echoing in the room. "All that I can to serve you! What have I done to deserve this?!"

The android laughed. "Pale man," it said. "I am Povelitel'. And you are an instrument in my hands. You will be called Soren, and you will be loyal to me, and only me, because you and I are the same. You and I are darkness, you and I are power - you and I are one."

The pain was too much.

"We are one."

He was never to exist again.

The android laughed and drew his hand from Hokori's forehead. Hokori fell to the ground - he was dead.

"We. . . are Povelitel'."

The Glacier Barrens

9:47 PM

Snow and ice.

Lots of it.

A man pulled himself into a cavern in the face of the snowy cliff. He surveyed the darkness that lie before him, eyes glinting in the dim, snowy light. It was terribly cold, and the man was dressed in black, with a dark, heavy winter coat and scarf, with a cloak over all that.

He pulled a small white pen out of his coat pocket, and drew something on the cliff wall with it. Then he pulled off his glove. His hands were tattooed with dark green lines and swirls, which were intricately woven together to form a sort of eye-twisting puzzle.

He touched his index finger to the drawing, and the drawing and his tattoos lit up. The green light spread from his fingertip all the way to the back of the cave in a thin line that followed the small indentation the man had made with his pen. The man watched it intently.

The narrow green line flashed white, then disappeared with a sharp, resounding crack. He lifted his finger from the drawing and pocketed the pen.

His wrist communicator buzzed at him. He answered the call.

"At your service, ma'am," he said, in a deep, cold voice. He had a thick, unknown accent.

"What's the state of things?" replied the voice emitting from the wrist communicator, which sounded distinctly Ninjagian.

"Their numbers are growing, ma'am. There's no way we can fight them."

"Hot spots?"

"The Glacier Barrens, Birchwood forest, and Torchfire Mountain, as well as the Golden Peaks."

"Copy that. . ."

"You keeping a tab on those warriors you were speaking about last conference?"

"Yep. Have been for a few months. I'm checking up on them as we speak. . ." said the communicator. There was a brief moment of static silence. The man waited patiently, slipping on the glove he had removed.

"Hold on a moment. I'm getting something. . . . what. . .?"

"What happened?"

"There's a foe heading for straight for them!"

"What? Where are they?"

"Outskirts of NinjaGo City, near the Badlands. . . It's trapped in their vicinity. . . not picking up any allies, it seems to be alone. Should be an easy suppression, but you're no where near where they are and those warriors have never dealt with a Whisperer before."

"The City is supposed to be safe," the man said, unzipping his coat and pulling a little coin out of one of the side pockets.

"I know. How did it breach our security?"

"It doesn't matter how it breached right now. What we need to do is reach that Whisperer before it's too late." The man flipped a coin and caught it. He opened his hand and said to it, "NinjaGo City." The coin glowed orange.

"You're right, of course. . . can you get there in time to stop it?"

"Of course. Commencing teleport."

"Thank you, Gahiji. Really, this means a lot to me -"

"It's only part of the job," The man interrupted tersely. He felt a tickling sensation as he stared at the coin. "Hey, you didn't upgrade my coin or anything, right? This feels different."

The communicator sounded guilty. "Heh. . . I don't know, but I think Amilia might have gotten a hold of it at some point. . ."

"Meaning you let her tinker with it?"

"Well, not tinker. . . exactly. . . she said she was upgrading it. Said the upgrade is supposed to get rid of the nausea after a teleport."

"Oh, thanks, London." The man was annoyed. "I'm sure to show up at the City missing a couple digits." His body began to fizzle out of existence.

"Sorry, but you know how it is. If that lady wants to do something, she does it, heck with the world."

"Sounds accurate." He closed his eyes. "Now let's go save your son."

"Yes," the communicator said slowly. "Let's go save my son."