By the lake

      An unnatural wind swept through the forest, the leaves trembled, small animals hid, while large predators froze, listening cautiously. Near to one nameless lake in Ninjago, the ground turned black, the grass nearby covered with frost – and all the living in a matter of seconds fled from the place where a moment later a portal appeared. Black-violet, strangely dark – as if absorbing the light.       A creature fell out of the said portal. Beautiful – for her kin, undoubtedly a monster – for any other living being.       Her aura alone could scare anyone, no matter how curious or fearless.       But there were no people around. And, thanks to some manifestations of her power, all the animals, big and small, also hurried to go away, go as far as possible. Her instincts, sharpened by hunger, could not be mistaken – she could well feel how potential prey was running away. Fine, let be.       Mistake sighed slowly, not in a hurry to get up. For the first time in many years, she did not even have the strength for such a simple task! Not because of moral fatigue or laziness, no. Due to injuries.       In one way, it's almost funny. The son of her old friend was not human, of course, but to defeat her, a full-fledged Oni!..       She predicted correctly after all. The Masks are ancient artifacts, created by an unknown member of their race. Only they, she and her partners, knew the subtleties of their use: Masks were given to them, because the elders believed that additional strength would not be superfluous. Master of Spinjutsu, even though he had a different name back then, was not an easy target.       She only recently learned that masks can strengthen not only her kin, but also humans. All thanks to the little princess...       Still, humans of this realm, her friend’s creations, are very funny to watch. They always find a way to surprise her.       And how did the girl even know about them, she wondered?       Oni masks... Oh. Right.       All of a sudden, memories float to the top, and this is somewhat unexpectedly expected.       Mistake with great effort resisted to the desire to grin. What a joke from her "brothers"! And who, she wondered again, left the user manual, huh?       ...By that time, The heir to the Blood of Oni and Dragons was hiding from them quite successfully, not even stopping the process of creating his world. Of course, they, reckless by nature, became bored. Some may find this strange, but human logic is one thing, logic of the Others another.       Heh.       Generally speaking, masks gave strength, yes. They gave a lot more to an Oni, by the way, than to a human. Well, as far as she managed to analyze. But acting – separately – the artifacts were guided primarily by the desires of the user – his Hatred, Deceit or desire for Revenge. And when someone decided to combine them...       Oh, then the Masks didn't limit themselves. They indulged the user's wish completely...       Mortals probably wouldn't see this as a problem. At first. Everything would become clear later...       In the core, everything was very, very simple.       The catch is that neither humans, nor Oni, nor most of the sentient races she met can control their wishes. And so, are no masters to their desires. The closest example: a little girl wanted someone who would help her take revenge (she can hide behind lofty slogans as much as she wants, which are undoubtedly true in some ways, but do not justify her actions). Someone of a power she couldn't reach. Someone who could take over responsibility.       Someone with the oh so much needed cruelty to execute her plans.       Sometimes Mistaké thought that the creator of these Masks definetly loved joking. Or really liked to hit the truth backhand. Now you won't know...       Oni lazily glances at the sky, peeking out from behind the crowns of the trees, and lowers her gaze down. Mistaké lies on the shore of some small nameless lake, and she didnt even have to turn her head to understand this: the measured rustle of the water calmed the demoness, even if she didn’t need it.       However, why not relax? It would be a sin to spoil such an idyll.       Speaking of sabotage of the nature, by the way...       Mistake allowed her power to flow freely through her body: there were no living creature anywhere near anyway – everyone fled as far as they could. Which means that she don't have to hide. Even the trifling part of her magic scared away everyone; a little less, a little more... What's the difference?       The peculiar diagnostic was completed relatively quickly. The result made the demon sigh: they damaged her bad, without a doubt.       The woman—let’s ignore the fact that her race has no gender—turned over on her stomach, stood up on her elbows and crawled to the surface of the water. She couldn’t see her reflection – it was too shallow. Oni washed her face and arms up to the elbows, freshened up.       She thought.       On one hand, it was a pity. On the other hand, she can't just continue to sit! There must be such a performance beginning there, in the city...       Decided.       Darkness thickened around the demoness, covered her like a blanket, and obediently flowed away. Not to the escaped living creatures – they were too far away. To the underground and nearest greenery. In a normal state, she would have disdained such a passive source of energy, however, one must give him his due, the fake-Garmadon managed...       Eh.       In any case, the resurrected... creature made a mistake in its calculations – she is not dead. It’s actually difficult to kill someone with her... no, not strength. She was not stronger than the First Mester's heir. No matter how annoying it is.       But she was smarter. Cunning?       Probably.       Black smoke slowly returned to her. Demoness diligently pushed away her memories – no matter how thick it would have been, if it weren’t just her... Mistaké absorbed living energy, not worrying at all about the “killed” or, more precisely, the dried up.       She stood up and looked around again. Her eyes did not deceive her. The place is really familiar. When she created the portal, she just wanted to get to safety...       Oni sincerely believed that she had nothing more to do directly in the showdown with the self-appointed Emperor – Lloyd should be able to cope with the creature created by the Masks, and even if not...       It really changes little for her.       Mistake stood up and headed to where the entrance to the cave, once built by her so called brothers, was hidden behind the waterfall.