Chapter Text
I have long struggled with mental illness my entire life and in 2012 during a very low period in my life I got a little parrot I named R2 even though we always called him Tooie. I had always wanted a bird, a living dinosaur, ever since I was very young and given my state my family thought it best to get me a companion parrot. He helped me get through many troubled times but in 2018 my beloved companion Parrot passed away suddenly July 12 at only six years old from a fungal infection. Just three months later my cat Keiko a beloved companion of 14 years was diagnosed with cancer in the jaw bone the week of Halloween. She was given only a week to live but hung on till February 26 of 2019. R2 loved watching TV with the family or when people played video games. My younger sister got me into watching Ninjago around late 2016 and I came to love it and so did he. Watching the show helped me feel better whenever times were low. I didn't get into the Nexo Knights till after he passed but knowing him he would have loved it too. I had gotten into the Elder Scrolls series in 2012 during my very low period and it really helped me get by and both R2 and Keiko enjoyed hanging out watching as I played Elder Scrolls games. I've always been strongly creative and often write, draw or work digitally to create things and shortly after R2 passed I had started to come up with an idea involving three of the things we loved the most; a story involving the ninja and Nexo Knights. I only started writing however shortly after Keiko passed. I wrote this story as a sort of way to get over the grief of their loss. When I started I had a sense of where the story was going but no real end and many aspects were still blank. I was heavily inspired by the Elder Scrolls series particularly the third instalment Morrowind, the fourth instalment Oblivion and its Shivering Isles expansion plus the most recent instalment Elder Scrolls Online which my younger sister got me as a birthday gift in 2019. This inspiration is heavily noticed in environments, names and parts of the mythology in the story. While the story deals with the very dark subject matter of death and grief I tried to keep it light and keep in plenty of humor despite the dark subject matter. I also tried to keep it light enough in tone for young children to enjoy in the story which is very hard when dealing with such a dark subject. I originally wanted to keep it short but as I was writing I found that really was not going to work. The story became so complex that restricting it in size was not really wise. I knew from the start I was going to focus on two of the ninja similarly to how the show works. The two I chose are my two favorites', Zane and Cole (if you're wondering Aaron and Clay are my two favourite knights). As I wrote I began to feel the story was best put into two parts. While the two are focused on through the whole story the focus is more prominent to Zane during the first half and Cole in the second. Part one is titled The Land of Ice and Ash while the second is titled The land of Stone and Shadow.
I have seen all the Nexo Knight seasons and Ninjago up to season 16 of the show so it will fit chronologically up till this point. It also takes aspects from Tommy Andersons story "Way of the Departed" since I have read those. Overall it is not heavily reliant on other seasons being focused on the story at hand though there are times when content from other seasons is implemented. Taking hint from what one of Ninjagos creators said, I believe it was Tommy, the knights and ninja are given a pretty hard time in the story but that helps propel the story and make it interesting. They are thrust into a strange world with strange people who have mixed views of them many hating them and beings who wish to destroy them at every turn. Overall I believe it is a fun, entertaining and heart warming story. It might even help you get over any grieving you might be having. It did that for me.
I am a strong visually orientated person so as I went I created many concept arts to help me visualize environments, creatures, layouts and characters in the story. I will include these with the story so you can help visualize things as well. If you wish to take a deeper look at these images you can find them on my Deviantart page: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/gallery/72478681/story-project Feel free to comment on images.
Overall I believe it is a fun, entertaining and heart warming story. It might even help you get over any grieving you might be having. It did that for me.
As in all Elder Scrolls games there is a prophecy that foretells of heroes journey for the ninja their prophecy as foretold by the scrolls is:
"The scrolls foretold of this; His defeat was merely a delay; after the oni would fall the dragons would fail. When their wings are clipped and they have fallen to shadow the border between realms shall weaken and fall and darkness shall come. Realms once light and familiar shall be covered in shadows, shadows that are in plain view yet hidden consuming the world in darkness. There is only one this darkness fears; one of its own. But to gain this darkness and for the realms to be saved knights must fall to ash and shadow and dragons must enter the tower of first light and fall to its darkness in order for realms to see the light."
Before starting the story there is some information about this world the Ninja are going to enter that will help you in understanding this foreign realm. A lot of the things in this world are inspired or based off environment, places, people, mythology, etc from the Elder Scrolls. While some of the creatures are based off ones in the Elder Scrolls series many are inspired by prehistoric creatures.
I also highly recommend you read my short headcanon Anatomy of a Droid as some things used in this story are covered in more depth in there. You can find this story here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44691181
First off this realm is as large and diverse as Ninjago however the ninja and knights only get to see a small part of it. A region known as the Ash Wastes. This world in ways is a parallel or sister world to Ninjago. Here is a little backstory and world building for the realm they find themselves in:
A Comprehensive guide to the history of the Lost Realm by Teekeus Conurious
As many would know our world is both ancient yet young. Brought into being long before time had a name and shaped by the Dragon-Master, a great being of both Oni and Dragon descent, during the times of myth. Very little is known from this very early time which has often been labelled the Mythic era but by the end of it our world as we know it had come into being. The known events of the Mythic era are the arrival and formation of the Tribunal and the Dragon-break, an unknown but terrible event that caused the breakage to time and space on the lost continent of Ice Reach leading all those who could too flee the continent. The tribunal as many know are Oni and came with many of their kind to try and stop and destroy the Dragon-Master. Upon seeing his world however three of the Oni decided to switch sides and protect this new world and its creator. Three Oni sided with the Master, while their original names have been forgotten we have come to know them by the names they wished us to know them as. Mystara the lady of wisdom and patience who takes the form of an elderly ungulate folk. She is gifted with alchemy and has become associated with tea, meditation and riddles. She is known as a mystic and wise woman and keeps her identity secret from most. Only a select few including members of the Guard and the two sons of the Dragon Master know where she dwells. Sheoth had once been a calm, orderly, knowledgeable and respectful being until his kind caught him. Instead of slaying him for his betrayal of his own kind the Oni decided for a crueller punishment enacting a powerful curse upon him, a curse of insanity. After his curse the Dragon Master gifted him a collection of islands where the mentally unwell or troubled often live in peace and respect. He rules these lands as the lord of madness and takes on the form of a hyena folk. He often caries a staff or cane and came to be represented by butterflies, cheesecake and yarn. The last is known as Astara the one we know as the missing Oni. Depicted as a cat folk she disappeared in mythic times. She is associated with the moon, stars and mysteries. Due to many similar tales many believe the spirit worshipped in areas around the places known as the Blackwood and Ash Wastes known as Whetu might be the same entity. Though they never had horns in their humanoid form the members of the Tribunal are often depicted in artworks with small horns on their forehead to portray their Oni natures.
It is believed during the Mythic era there was much fighting between the Dragon-Master and his allies against the Oni which ultimately led to the creation of the Dragon Guard, people the Dragon-Master gifted elemental powers to aid in protecting him and his realm and the monsters known as Ashers who aligned with the Oni and the darkness of the universe. The Oni and Ashers along with two other entities of Oni make, Dagon and a great powerful spirit of darkness known as the Shadow Lord, appeared in Mythic times. It is also believed that this fighting led to the Dragon-Break on Ice Reach which ended the Mythic era and began the Ancient or Legendary Era. While when most of the Oni left is unknown it is known that both the Shadow Lord and Dagon were banished towards the end of Mythic era; the Shadow Lord in a temple on our lands twin continent the Isle of Shadow and Dagon to the Void the emptiness outside the realms.
Sometime during the very early period of Ancient times came the transformation of the people of this realm though why is poorly understood but it is known that the Dragon Master did the transformation and it was not the result of some dark powers. At one time the people of this realm were like those of other realms but either as a blessing or as a curse we were transformed into the beast-folk of today. Our human forms were given the traits of beasts; our skin became furred, our skulls developed bestial looks including ears of beasts, fangs and in cat and hyena folk a modified molar resembling that of the beasts they portrayed. Our nails became claws or hoof like and we grew tails. We were gifted three main forms portraying the three pivotal roles in nature; the prey, the predator and the scavenger. Despite the differences all members of each race can reproduce with each other and overall the races have been largely peaceful with each other. All people are born the same and only as we grow does our racial allegiance show often around two to three years old. This trait means a family can be made of individuals from any and all of the races. What chooses the race we grow into is still currently unknown but likely has roots deep in the fabric of the universe. Within each of the races a special offshoot was made and while they could mix with the other races only producing with those of their own race could produce a member of their race. This plus other factors including hunting by dark forces has lead to the extinctions of these sub types. Collectively we refer to ourselves as the Betmer or beast folk. The name for each of our races ends with mer which in the ancient tongue means one signifying our unity as one people despite our physical differances.
Ungulate folk who are known as Ungmer represent the prey and have always outnumbered the other races. They are known for high stamina and speed and are believed to have the greatest skill in magic's. A now extinct sub-group of this race the Minomer folk were the largest of races and were known for their great strength, large frame, martial prowess and their skills in crafting weapons and armour. Despite their power and ferocity in battle these folk were peaceful and gentle giants that tended to dwell in temperate to tropical forests, grasslands and highlands. While the original design of the ungulate folk never had any form of horns or antlers it is not uncommon for many of these folks to acquire prosthetic horns and antlers for decorative purposes. These are acquired through either surgical or magical means.
The predator is represented by the cat folk or Felmer who equal in numbers to the scavengers. The cat folk are known for their agility and strength. The sub-group to this race is quite well known primarily due to their great strides in technology and craftsmanship. Scimitar folk or Scymer created various robotics and cybernetics constructs but these are rarely seen outside their ruins. They mainly guard and maintain the ruins of what used to be Scimitar folk cities and dwellings. Scimitar folk often gave their creations complex features such as human like thought processing and even primitive abilities to feel emotions. As a race they held a deep love and respect for all living things and felt that even their metallic creations were equal to other living things. The last Scimitar created their most advanced robotic which he made to be as human like as possible giving it the ability to think and feel like a person. He gave it the form of a hyena folk in honour of Jules the Wise. To the last Scimitar this was his son and he gave it a unique power source that only the Scimitars knew how to use and what it could do. This power source is a rare material but is a very long lasting material and never needs charging. This source along with many other secrets and mysteries were left behind when the race disappeared. They trusted few with their knowledge keeping most of it hidden so it would not fall into the wrong hands. They were found often in mountainous and cooler regions. They were hunted to extinction by dark forces. The Scimitar folk while closely resembling the regular cat folk notably had small sabre fangs and short bobbed tails compared to the regular cat folk.
For the scavenger they were given the traits of the hyena. Hyena folk or Yeenmer are known for the greatest endurance and resistance of all the races and along with this robustness a major immunity to diseases and infections. The sub-group for the hyena folk were the Hunyeenmer. They were more rugged and muscular versions of the enduring regular hyena folk and were some of the greatest fighters of the eras once forming a vast empire in northern regions. What ultimately led to their demise is currently not understood. What is known is that they disappeared around the time known as the Century of Despair at the border between the first and second era a time when great troubles plagued the land after a meteor struck a sensitive volcanic hot spot in the far north throwing many of the planets natural systems into chaos. What became of them is unknown but some have speculated they may have fallen target to dark forces who cursed them to the Cursed Realm. They often dwelled in grasslands and open forests of various climates.
Another group of people that were created, though by whom is unknown, were the reptilian folk. There were once three types lizard, crocodilian and snake but the snake races destroyed the others in Mythic times leaving only them as the only reptilian folk to remain. The serpentine folk are often named the Tseci (ses-ee) by the others. There are many races and in each they can come in several forms from snake like to humanoid.
After the chaos at the beginning of Ancient times also known as the first era the first and major capital to the realm was established. Nirnhold was built atop a Scimitar City and focussed around a massive artificial structure known as the Ivory-Gold Tower which predates the cities construction on a large isle in a large lake on the continent. This tower is the largest artificial structure in our realm and boasts many mysteries. It is still unknown who built the tower even though its design and materials match that of the Minomer folk there is no record of them ever building it. Some suggest the structure was never built but simply exists and has always existed as a part of the realm as some sort of focal point though for what is still a matter of debate. What is known is this great structure seems to boast mystical properties. For one despite all the centuries it shows almost no wear to its surfaces and many magically gifted claim strong energies are emitted from the tower possibly from deep within the planet. While this has never been proven those that believe in it claim these energies are from the creation of the realm itself and some believe it has the potential to shape the environment around it to suit those who hold possession of the tower. While this has yet to be proven some backing for this theory can be seen throughout history and could explain several strange climactic shifts to the region through the ages which all seem to coincide with the reigning of various entities who have ruled the city. For example during a period of a few hundred years of the first era ruling by Scimitar folk saw the region with a colder climate while during a time in the early second era when the Tseci concurred the city for around a century the region became more tropical. Currently the region is a warm temperate environment better suiting the common folk. What is known of the tower is that dark forces are often drawn to this tower and one could see why. With its height and strength it makes for a great seat of power.
Battles between the Dragon Master and his aids against the Oni and their monsters persisted into the first era and are thought to have sparked the Dragon Masters desire to lock up powerful and dangerous items away from dark hands in order to try and protect his world.
During the early ancient times an early emperor of the Scimitar folk Lord Nerevar led a large attack force against the Ashers and Oni which had taken up residence in the isles largest volcano the Red Tower. This force included a great mixing of beings even those from outside the realm however despite its size and strength this army failed leaving a sole survivor who shortly perished after the event from the Blight, the first recorded case of it. Not long after this battle at the Red Mountain for reasons still not understood any Oni remaining in the realm left with the exception of the those that made up the Tribunal. Around this same time Astara disappears and while there are reports later in time of those being able to commune with her she is never seen in physical form since.
Sometime before they left the Oni created the disease Porphyric Hemophilia. The original infectents were not willing subjects. Through dark powers they were cursed with an un-dead blood hungering state and sent out to destroy the living of the realm. Luckily with help from Mystara a cure was able to be found thwarting the Oni's plans and keeping this curse at bay.
Sometime during the first era many tribes in mountainous and boreal regions began to worship an entity whose origins are rather unknown which they refer to as Storabek or the huntsman. Following his worship came the creation of man-beasts, half human half beast entities. While those in these tribes often viewed it as a blessing making them great hunters and offering great advantages in combat, defence and survival in these harsh lands most saw it as a curse and a mocking to the Dragon Masters transformation of the people leading to the condition to be hated and feared. Again Mystara was able to find a cure for those seeking one especially for those not willing to negotiate with the temperamental and unpredictable Storabek.
The first era ended with what has been termed the Century of Despair. An around 100 year period of environmental cataclysms which sparked mass crop failures, a period of below average temperatures and sparked the spread of the devastating Nahatun Flu. It all began when a large, what is believed to be city destroying, meteor struck a region in the far northeast of the continent known as the Sulphur Marsh an active and large volcanic hotspot. This led to global temperatures plummeting about 1 to 3 degrees from the debris thrown up by the meteor and later several massive eruptions from the hotspot which had been rocked by the impact. The resulting cooling and haze created by the debris of the dual impact and eruptions caused large spread crop failures, populations of wild life dropped as plants were no longer as efficient at production and caused temperatures cool enough to allow snow to fall near the equator. These harsh conditions then led to the outbreak of the Nahatun Flu. While having been encountered a few times before on isolated islands at sea this was its first and major breach into the main lands. This devastating plague was created by the undersea toad slug people the Sload along with the Sea Serpent folk known as the Slid, an underwater race of snake folk. From their undersea kingdom of Thras they created and unleashed the plague to destroy the land dwelling peoples so they could attack and conquer the land unimpeded. They used this period of devastation to launch their full scale attack. The plague decimated the surface world both people, snake folk and many beasts alike before the Dragon Master and the Tribunal found a cure for the condition. During the outbreak the Thrassian denizens began conquering many of the coastal and flood plains regions enslaving those that survived the plague and laying waste to their settlements. With the cure being dispersed the Dragon Master and his Dragon Guard set forth and reclaimed the lands rescuing the people and sending the Dreg and Slid back to the sea. It was around this time that the Minomer and Hunyeenmer folk were heavily hit by the catastrophes and flu leading to them to becoming severely decimated. While Minomer folk managed to cling on until the end of the second era the Hunyeenmer folk disappeared shortly after this believing to have gone extinct.
As the realm recovered from the Thrassian attack a collection of kingdoms around the Blackwood Labyrinth, a dangerous untamed forest few have ever escaped from, came together to form the Great houses, kingdoms in sort to protect the realm from the horrors of the Ashers from the nearby Red Tower and protect the realm from the dangers of the forest and keep adventurers from venturing into the labyrinth. After years of fending off the dangers with limited help from the Dragon Guard who often battled greater threats throughout the realm they became quite skilled at fighting back the hazards of these places. Five houses were formed each with its own territories sectioning off these dangerous lands. Within each house a royal family was appointed as the rulers and would bow only to the emperor of our world. Along with a royal family each house maintained an army of skilled knights who would combat the dark forces and keep the lands safe and secure. The royal families of each house generally remained the same race throughout their rule. For example House Jadeoran which held the dreaded Red Mountain in its borders were always of the Hyena folk while their neighbour to the west House Prong are of the ungulate folk. The houses and their knights worked for some time but by the end of the second era corruption believed to be from the prolonged exposure to the cursed lands they protected everyone from led to major fighting between the houses as each sought to acquire more land and greater power amongst each other. Fearing the chaos they could ensue the emperor of the time sought aid from the Dragon Guard and the Dragon Master to end the fighting and bring peace. After some time of fighting with them the Dragon Master was able to break the corruption and bring peace to the houses. What the corruption was is unclear but some speculate Ashers used energies from the rifts to the First Realm, the Void and the Underworld which they had created in their main stronghold by the volcano to poison the waters of the regions to corrupt them. The war of Kingdoms as it came to be known marks the end of the second era and the beginning of the current third era.
Also during the second era the order of the Ancestor Priests came into being. Monks trained in a sacred art to read the pieces of creation known as Ancestor Scrolls for prophecies. A guild of those gifted in magic known as the Psijic Order was also formed around this time to try and keep magic from being used for dark purposes. While the Ancestor Priests persist to this day the Psijics disappeared sometime before the start of the reptilian wars in the third era.
While things between the houses were restored at the beginning of the third era the damages from the corruption had been done. Three of the houses had become weak and eventually fell to what exactly is still debated but is speculated to be linked to a set of turmoil's between the people and serpent folk that were occurring at the time. The Dragon Master managed to broker a peace between the people and Tseci to prevent any serious conflicts. House Prong remained the Strongest followed by Jadeoran and the primarily Scimitar folk house Dumac which occupied the mountains bordering the east of the region.
Sometime during the mid stage of the third era the Dragon Master had two sons and a time of relative peace was attained. Sometime during his youth the Dragon Masters one son had been caught by Ashers before being rescued by his father. While not evident at first the Ashers had corrupted him though it took years, not till after the Reptilian wars, for the full effect of this to be seen. What had been done could not be undone.
Not long after his sons were grown the Dragon Master passed. After his passing the Tseci took advantage of his departure to the departed realm to attack the people and begin the reptilian wars leading the Dragon Masters two sons, the Dragon Guard and the remaining knights along with many warriors and mages to fight back to try and end the serpent folks attempts at conquest. Due to their many natural skills, immunities and powers the army of the people were unable to push the serpent folk back and were steadily losing ground during the battles. During the early days of this war the Red Tower blew and before long began to create the Ash Wastes. During the height of the reptilian wars the serpent folk aided by the Ashers began turning the Dragon Guard against each other and attempted to hunt down some of its members using the monstrous reptilian Fear to hunt down and destroy members of the allied forces. During this time Jules the wise, a tinkerer and great thinker from the hyena folk who had come to live with the Scimitar folk after they saved him created the Fear-bricant to combat the serpent folks monsters and along with the aid of the Scimitars robotic creations were able to start holding back some of the Tseci's forces. It is believed seeing the allies renewed forces and strength combined with the years of tyranny under the serpent folks rule inspired the enslaved people to begin leading rebellions against the serpent folk. These people aided the allies and together formed the Dragons Blood pact. With this disruption allied forces were able to start pushing the serpent folk back and reclaim conquered territories. Eventually the Serpent folk were pushed to the brink and with the aid of special magical flutes were conquered. While the serpent folk begged for mercy as for the terms created from the Dragons Blood pact they were to be given none. The Tcesi leaders and generals were executed and any of their people who were caught were to be banished beneath the surface locked away in tombs. While many were locked away in these tombs some of the serpent folk were able to escape and flee to the Shadow Isles to escape punishment.
Even though a sort of peace was made the damages from the reptilian wars had been done. The Scimitar folk were headed for extinction with few remaining largely in isolated pockets. Only House Prong remained strong and though house Jadeoran still clung on with the growing of the Ash Wastes and an increase of Asher presence led to great weakening of the house. In fighting left over from the events of the reptilian wars and a growing dislike for the Dragon Guard due to events during and after the wars along with a sudden desire by dark forces to hunt them down saw most members go into hiding or to disappear. Sometime after the chaos subsided the corrupted son of the Dragon Master seemed to have disappeared however in truth he had been banished by his brother to the Shadow Isles to keep him from causing trouble. Even though the Guard was gone, most Knights of the houses had disbanded and only one son of the Dragon Master remained there was a time of relative peace.
During the reptilian wars House Jaderoan and the emperor had organized the creation and built the Ghost Fence to combat the spreading ash of the ever active Red Tower and the sudden increase to Asher activities. This fence was completed around the time of the end to the reptilian wars and stands to this day. While it has managed to hold back much of the ash and the monsters from the tower it has not stopped the spread of the Blight curse which has slowly been increasing in prevalence world wide since this time.
Sometime after the corrupted sons banishment a strange cult like organisation arose and tricked the corrupted sons' only and young son into releasing the serpent folk from their underground tombs. Seeking revenge for the wrongs done to them the Tseci began an uprising against the people aided by forces that came from the Shadow Isles. The cultists who started this were known as the Order of the Shadowscale. They were an organization of serpent folk from the Shadow Isle who had returned to seek vengeance for the wrongs done to their people and to set them free.
With a new threat arising the remaining son of the Dragon Master was forced into reforming the Dragon Guard to combat the threat. A task easier said than done as most of the dragons had become well hidden or perished over the years since the war. As an example since the last Dragon of Ice had been a member of the now extinct Scimitar Folk it was a mystery if this Dragon had been lost. Luckily it seems fate would have it that the last creation of the Scimitar folk the first hyenoid had been gifted this mantle to take over. The newly formed Dragon Guard was small in numbers. Only the Dragons of Earth, Lightening, Ice, Fire, Water and the corrupted sons son the Dragon of Energy could be found at the time and are the only ones still to be full members. Luckily despite their small numbers and youth they were able to combat the new uprising and quell it brokering a peace between the people and Tseci however the uprising took its toll on the ancient houses. Faced by both the serpent folk and Ashers house Jadeoran was demolished and all but the self ostracized princess of the royal family were destroyed. This left only House Prong and its small force of only five recently graduated full time knights to combat the monsters of the wastes and labyrinth keeping them from wreaking havoc to the rest of the realm.
Since it had been the corrupted son who had sent the serpent folk to our lands to start the war the Dragon Guard headed to the Isle of Shadow to quell the forces of darkness which had been growing over the eras on the isle. The corrupted son had come under the rule of the Shadow Lord who used him and the serpent folk to free him from his banishment in the tomb known as the Shadow Gate where he planned to overtake the rest of the world from. Once freed of banishment he escaped the Isle of Shadows and made his way with his ancient stone warrior army to the White-Ivory tower where he used the tower and its place as a center of power to begin his corruption of the realm. It is interesting to note that during this time a handful of Ashers were noted in and near the capital of Nirnhold, something that had not been seen since the Mythic era. The Dragon Guard managed to defeat him and in doing so also broke the corruption the Ashers had put on the corrupted son.
After a short time since they had not fully destroyed the Shadow Lords spirit he returned through the technologies of the capital city and the Scimitar ruins beneath. He unleashed the constructs dwelling in the ruins of the Scimitar city below the present city on the surface world before creating his army of corrupted hyenoids from stolen plans of the first hyenoid from the Dragon Guard. It is interesting to note that again the Ashers were noted within city boundaries at this time leading many to speculate they were allied and aiding the Shadow Lord. The Shadow Lord was this time fully destroyed. It is speculated it took the destruction of the Dragon of Ice to do this. While he does appear to have a more advanced appearing body and he did appear missing for a short time afterwards since he is still here today it is unsure exactly what occurred at this time.
Since the Shadow Lords destruction there has been relative peace as any threat that arises the new Dragon Guard and the Knights of the Prong have been able to combat sadly however it has often taken a notable toll on the groups. The corrupted son of the Dragon Master had to sacrifice himself to prevent an uprising of dark forces, the leader for the Knights of the Prong was cursed by an Asher attack into living stone till they found the cure from the ancient court wizard of House Prong, the Dragon of Earth was cursed for a short time into a spectral state and the Archer for the knights was severely wounded while the knights led an attack to remove Ashers from a stronghold near a town. The archer was saved by fusing his body with cybernetics with help from the Dragon Guard and the attack sparked the Guard and Knights to work together to remove and destroy the Ashers and their stronghold. Both the Guard and Knights have noted a strange increase in activity from Ashers leading to some concerns however since they have been frequently more occupied on more serious threats they have not looked too deep into it. They have admitted to having concerns over these sudden increases to activity with worry over what it could mean but at present have few plans into any actions against them. As time goes on we can only hope our handful of protectors are a match for any threats that should arise or we may be in for some serious tough times ahead.
Before you start here is a little something special I made while working on this, it really helped with working out how the knights and ninja would react to the environments of my story which take inspiration from environments and aspects in the Elder Scrolls.
To learn more about the images you can visit their pages on deviantart to learn more on how I workd them out. Just copy and past the address followed into your browser and it will take you there: (all of my art for the story can be found there along with a bunch of other stuff) https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/art/Ninja-In-The-Elderscrolls-865971123
And here is one for the Nexo Knights in the Elder Scrolls: https://www.deviantart.com/nerdy-hyena/art/Nexo-Knights-In-The-Elderscrolls-893056108
If you wish to read this story in a different format or on another site it is also posted here: https://www.wattpad.com/story/274118196-ninjago-the-oni-scrolls and here: https://robobirdie.tumblr.com/archive.
This is the Cover art I made for this story, it took me three and a half full days work to complete this, I based its concept on the promotional wallpaper of ESO’s Morrowind. A little background on what is going on in the picture: the ninja find themselves in this foreign realm which is known as the Lost Realms in a place known as the Ash Wastes and are facing off against a band of Ashers beings aligned with Dagon one of the two main antagonists who are led by an Asher sorcerer the most feared of these beings who is summoning Ash Spawn, vestiges of ash that take on living form as soldiers for the Ashers, in order to eliminate the ninja. Meanwhile unknown to most of them the Stag a daemon from these foreign lands and the other main antagonist along with his forces are creeping in from behind. Jay is the only one to notice and terrified is trying to alert Nya while Zane is starting to feel the Stag possessing him as the Stag often takes over and controls non human entities as its puppets. Cole is taking note that something is wrong with Zane while Lloyd and Kai are preparing to defend against the Ashers unaware of the dangers behind them or what is happening with the others too busy trying to defend from the first threat.
This is the image I based it on if you don't know which promotional ESO image I was talking about:
My departed pals Keiko and R2:
Update:
After finishing the original story A prequel and sequel came to me and I will be posting them here too and will update a few things in the main once the prequel is done to boost continuity.