Shao Khan's Fortress, Outworld
Training Arena
Three Days Before the Beginning of MK9
"AH!" roars an enraged Kitana as she beheads the training dummy with her fan. It has been a day since Kitana has found out about Mileena, and to say that the princess is enraged would be an understatement. Not only did the sorcerer Shang Tsung create monstrous abominations using her DNA, but it was all done at her father's orders. To make matters worse it was all done in order to 'perfect' her. As if she were some defective product or object in need of being replaced
With another roar Kitana proceeds to slice the arms off the training dummy before sending it flying backwards with a kick and causing it to smash into a wall. Then to make matters worse Malphas not only stopped her from killing the only surviving abomination but also adopted it with some form of blood ritual. At least that's what she believes to have happened considering the fact that not only Mileena calls him father in secret, but she also vaguely resembles him should one look close enough to compare them. Of course Shao Khan doesn't seem to particularly and instead seems ecstatic with the closeness of their relationship. It seems that he believes that Malphas is courting Mileena.
As for the warrior himself, Kitana has no idea what to think of him. When he first appeared at Shang Tsung's side she had thought him to be nothing more than another foolish warrior seeking glory. Then she heard that he had almost killed without incurring any injury along with the fact that he's power seems to be pure destruction and she had thought that he would be a formidable asset to Outworld. Of course seeing his power and hearing of his heritage Shao Khan had to decide to use her in order to cement his loyalty, causing her to begin resenting the warrior. The fact that he easily defeated her and Jade simultaneously in eight seconds only made her want to despise him even more. However she couldn't. No matter how much she tried she couldn't bring herself to despise him. Despite it all he is kind, reasonable, charming, and very handsome. While she isn't well versed in magic, Kitana knows for a fact that a man shouldn't be that attractive. From beautiful skin, to his long hair, and his animalistic crimson eyes that seem to stare into her very soul, the man is anything but normal. And that's all without even mentioning that damnable smirk that he gives whenever he does something impressive or says something that elicits a reaction from her. Watching him flirt with Jade made her realise how attractive he is and simply fed her previous frustration. And that seems to be the tip of the iceberg with him.
In addition to all of this he seems to be a conservatory of knowledge that piques her interest. For example, what was Edenia like? Where are the Edenians? What truly happened to Edenia's royal family? And most important of all did Shao Khan really kill her father, cause her mother to commit suicide, and raise her to be his weapon in order to spite Edenia?
Had it been at any other time Kitana would not believe any of the information that he gave her, however ever since finding out Mileena she can't help but wonder what if he is telling the truth? If he is telling the truth, what would she do then.
Without even wasting a second, Kitana already knows that if Malphas is telling the truth that she would easily betray Shao Khan to have vengeance for her mother, her father, and her people. The question is how should she go about finding out?
Looking towards Jade who is currently practicing her forms, Kitana wonders if her friend would be willing to traverse this dangerous path with her. For as long as she can remember Jade has always been by her side, so much so that she sees her as her sister and nothing less. They grew up together, trained together, fought together, and even killed some of Shao Khan's enemies together. Steeling herself, Kitana begins to make her way to her sister in all but blood.
"Jade." calls out Kitana, causing the warrior to pause in the middle of her form.
Looking at her friend's face, Jade knows immediately that she plans on doing something very dangerous. Something that could make them suffer a fate worse than death.
"What's the plan?" asks the emerald warrior.
"What?" questions Kitana who had not expected Jade to agree before even hearing the question.
"What dangerous tasks are we up to?" she clarifies.
"I want to find out whether Malphas' words are true or not." explains Kitana.
"If they are true, what then?" asks Jade as she shrinks her staff to make it easier to carry.
"I avenge our people." firmly replies Kitana with fire in her eyes and a voice full of conviction.
"If that's the case then we should speak to Sheeva. She was Queen Sindel's personal guard until she died and was said to be more loyal to her than she was to Shao Khan." informs Jade.
"How do you know this?" questions Kitana as they make their way out of the training arena.
"Servants gossip, you just need to know when and where to listen." replies Jade with a smirk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shao Khan's Fortress, Outworld
Soul Chamber
Three Days Before the Beginning of MK9
The Soul Chamber, a cavernous chamber with a strange statue head of a smiling and roaring horned beast with a swirl of tens of thousands of screaming tortured souls spinning in its mouth, with somewhat living tentacles on its back and with Shao Kahn's royal Shadow Priests acting as the overseers. It is also the chamber where the warrior Ermac, a being made entirely of the souls of Edenia's slaughtered warriors, goes to rest and recharge.
"What are we doing here father?" ask Mileena with her usual hissing drawl, her state of dress now being the exact same clothes from MK: Armageddon. Why she would choose such ineffective and revealing clothes is beyond me.
"We are here for the souls of Edenia's warriors." I explain as we approach the chamber's entrance.
"Are you going to revive them?" she wonders with a tilt of her head.
"No. I am going to use them to empower Sindel once I resurrect her." I answer as we stop just outside of the chamber.
"How powerful would that make her?" asks Mileena.
"Easily more powerful than Shao Khan." I reply.
"Oooh, are you going to use her to kill him?" she questions me excitedly.
"No, Shao Khan will die by my hands." I answer before continuing forward.
Walking into the chamber, I easily dispose of all the Shadow Priests with a beam from my Power of Destruction before making my way towards the beast. Before I can make it far however small green beams of light appear before me and coalesce together in order to form Ermac, a tall man that wears a mask made only from black bandages fully wrapped around the head, leaving the eyes and nostrils visible, with a small green amulet placed on his forehead, functioning as a means to concentrate the souls in his body. Ermac's clothes are mainly black with red accents, with bandages wrapped around his arms and legs, giving him a sinister look.
"You have disturbed our regeneration process." he stoically says with his distorted voice.
"Ermac, just the being I wished to see." I say as I telekinetically pull him to me and grab him by the throat.
Before he can even resist I push my chi into him using a similar technique that Aang used to strip Ozai of his bending. Unlike Aang however my technique is designed to dominate my opponent's being into suppression, mixed with the Heaven's Feel magic I put every single soul that makes up Ermac under my control which in turn puts Ermac under my control.
"How brilliant!" exclaims Mileena as she observes. "You plan on having him absorb all of the souls in the chamber before sacrificing him to Sindel." she explains.
"Correct." I answer before smiling proudly at her for having figured it out this quickly. In response she stands a bit straighter and preens under her achievement and my praise.
Turning back to Ermac, I use him as a vessel to absorb every single soul within the Soul Chamber. While I could attempt to use the souls to revive the slaughtered Edenian warriors, I know that after years of being tortured by Shao Khan's Shadow Priests or being part of Ermac has driven them all insane and most likely thirsty for vengeance against anything that is not Edenian. As such it would simply be safer and more humane of me to merge the souls into one being before using them to empower their Queen once she is resurrected.
As for the revival of the Edenian race, Morgan and I can create the bodies using mine and Sindel's DNA as a base, then I play to return to the nasuverse where I will access the Throne of Heroes to select a few of humanity's greatest warriors. Using their souls as a template, Scáthach and I will go to our pantheon's version of Hell where we will select a few souls, cleanse them completely and mold them into completely different beings using the templates of heroes from the Throne before inserting the souls into the new bodies.
Once that is done we will need a world for them to grow into their new existence while also receiving life experiences and becoming familiar with the supernatural.
Focusing my attention back to Ermac, I find that he is still absorbing the souls and that the process will most likely take days before being completed. Not willing to wait here for the process to be complete, I turn around and make my way out of the chamber with Mileena following closely behind.
"Where are we going now?" asks Mileena as I set up a bounded field, capable of keeping even gods out, in front of the chamber's entrance.
"We are going to train. The Mortal Kombat Tournament is in three days and I want you to have mastered firebending and your forms by then." I reply as I add an alarm system and a teleportation marker to the bounded field just in case. "With your rate of growth it should be an easy goal to accomplish." I tell her, causing her to give me a prideful smile beneath the veil that covers her mouth.
"Of course father." she answers as I teleport us out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AN: Here's the chapter. As usual tell me what you guys think. The first chapter of my Campione fic should be out sometime next week, so look forward to that.
Have some idea about my story? Comment it to let me know, and don't forget to leave a review.