Chereads / Ninjago: Path of the Realms / Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: The Boon

Chapter 6 - Chapter 6: The Boon

Falia stood in front of the three children she'd been charged with taking care of, who were all standing in front of her with a sheepish expression at being caught in the middle of the wilderness. The three of them looked at each other, unsure of what to say exactly, and what ultimately broke the silence was the sound of Falia's frustrated sigh.

"What were you kids thinking? Heading out into the wildness unsupervised… that's practically suicide…"

Kai looked up from gazing at his feet and gave Falia a remorseful look.

"Don't get mad at those two, it was my idea… I wanted to go look for any clues about where our parents were with Nya, and Xav wanted to help too."

Xavier looked towards Falia, whose face softened a little. That said, her anger was still palpable, and understandably so, considering the events which had just occurred. The three had wandered off into the wilderness, but in doing so, had come face to face with a massive moose, which was either territorial or otherwise offended by their presence. Xavier was no wildlife expert, but he could have sworn that in his old world, moose didn't grow this large. For their part, Kai and Nya had been armed in case the faced danger, but daggers and short swords wouldn't do much against a massive animal of that size without getting close enough to get squashed. The two scattered, and Xavier, who hadn't been noticed by it, managed to shoot it in the eye. That however, only ended up enraging the beast, and it was only because Falia was sharp-eyed enough to see what was happening and had her bow on her. It was one of the few times he couldn't help but appreciate her skill.

Falia pointed towards the village, dissatisfaction and disappointment still evident on her face.

"We're going back to the village. We can talk about things there. I understand you miss your parents, but I need you to act responsibly and let me deal with the situation."

The three children dejectedly did as they were told, walking back to the village with a melancholic look on their face as Falia followed behind, still with a sour look on her face. Eventually, they made their way into the house, where Falia gave each of them a stern look.

"You're all grounded. Hopefully this lets you reflect on what you did wrong so you don't go and do anything that reckless again."

Xavier, not having much of a choice, returned to where his room was and plopped onto the bed, frustrated. It had been a week since Kai and Nya had moved in, and while he had done his best to make what he could of it, the two were too stressed at the situation to really be talkative like usual. Xavier had to wonder if what he had done had been the right thing: after all, as someone who didn't know the original story, he might have set things on a course to inevitable failure and not even know it by having convinced his mother to take them in. This worry and pain of not knowing filled his thoughts, and he couldn't help but begin to second guess himself.

His sudden wave of self-doubt, however, was ultimately interrupted by a sudden light, which appeared from the corner of his eye. Shifting around in his bed to get a better look, he almost fell over from surprise upon realizing what it was: the one which had brought him to this world in the first place had now returned to him again: he had to fight the urge to rub his eyes in disbelief.

"You? What are you doing here now? You've done literally a z e r o for me as long as I've been here. What changed?"

The orb flashed a very reddish orange, and it's tone of voice carried a very annoyed inflection.

"Listen kid, I wouldn't be here if I had a choice in the matter. As it stands, since you just had your first near death experience, I'm obligated to give you a little bit of help."

Xavier felt he should probably mention that technically, his brush with Kai's sword was a near death experience, but he decided that insulting his one helper any further was probably not a safe move right now. Still, Xavier couldn't help but have a sour look in his eye, even as the orb continued undaunted.

"Well, I got to help you in some way, huh? Well, why don't I give you knowledge, you know what they say about power and knowledge huh. Well, I guess the most fair thing to do would be to tell you what your noon is."

This comment made Xavier sit up straight and pay full attention to the words coming out of the orb's… mouth? Body? He wasn't sure, but it was definitely a interesting set of words that it was using right now. Xavier had been trying to mull over whether or not he'd gotten any reincarnation power or not, and now that he found out he did have one, he was ecstatic to know what it was. The orb seemed to glow a self-satisfied green, and made a chuckling sound.

"That got your attention didn't it. Well guess what…. The boon you've gotten for this life is... your family situation! Isn't that neat?"

Xavier took a moment to process that information. When he was done doing so, he promptly let out a string of curse words that would probably get his mouth washed with soap if Falia heard them, potentially literally considering how brutal she could be some days.

"You… you cannot be serious. My family situation…. My mom and living with Kai and Nya is my boon?""

Xavier was practically shaking with rage, which would have been slightly more imposing had he not been a small child. As it was, the orb couldn't help but chortle at the sight.

"Well, looks like I'm done for the day. I'll be seeing you!"

With that, the orb popped out of sight, and Xavier had to restrain himself from yelling at the top of his lungs. Of all the things it could have said, Xavier was pretty sure that was the one that made him want to strangle its nonexistent throat the most. Now he was certain that it wasn't just annoyed with him for being rude earlier, but actively seeking to torture him by playing with his emotions. His boon was his family situation… it was even worded ambiguously just to make him even more unsure, though Xavier was certain it was referring to his living with Kai and Nya… it must have been true at least, if the orb was contractually obligated to say it, so it must have some value at least… Xav wondered if he was meant to use it as a ticket to the main plot: at the very least that had some use, even if he wasn't sure how it would go, it was better than being empty handed. After pondering it for a moment, Xavier made a promise to do everything he could to help out the two siblings: after all, his life could depend on it.