Author' Note:
Follow this story as it depicts a world thrown into chaos by a war that has raged for centuries. The times have changed and mortals and immortals have had to adjust to a modern world where the confrontation over the realms still wages. Clans have turned to organized crime. The tournaments have become street fights fought in the shadows under the eyes of the police and other law enforcement. Tradition and honour have fallen to more violence, disgrace and foul play. Kingdoms have become businesses and monarchy are CEO's. The city is a war zone and one may become the weapon to stopping the fighting or being the catalyst the wipes out every single world. R/R!
Rated T for; Graphic Violence. Sexual References. Course Language
Chapter 1
The temperature on the bus got noticeably colder as the doors swung open letting a man at stop 17 get on. A few of the other passengers looked up from their papers, iPads and other distractions and shivered. Despite the suffocating heat of this hot June afternoon, the frigid air was almost unwelcome.
The new passenger kept his head down and his eyes on the floor as he moved to the back of the bus and sat in an aisle seat. He was a bit scruffy looking, unshaven for perhaps a day or two, but handsome. His dark hair was messy but kept reasonably short. He looked to be in his late twenties, maybe early thirties, tall and well built.
It was odd for a man to be dressed so heavily on a day such as this. The sweltering temperature outside had caused a heat alert throughout the city and yet the man wore a relatively thick black leather bomber style jacket and heavy dark blue jeans. Still, no one really paid much attention to this or him for that matter.
The bus lurched forward.
A man in a high priced suit sitting at the front grabbed his suitcase just in time before it fell from his lap.
In the middle of the bus sat 4 young children no older than 9. Three boys shared a bench seat behind a young girl. The strange passenger only glanced up to see one of the boys lean over and pull out a single piece of the little girl's long blonde hair. She turned around sharply and punched the boy in the shoulder then withdrew back into her seat before the driver even had a chance to glance up.
"HEY!" the boy shouted at her.
"Quiet back there" the driver scolded.
The young girl only smiled a twisted sweet smile at her own deception.
The passenger felt his own face smile in the same way as the young girl.
At that moment she seemed to feel a set of eyes on her and she turned her head ever so slowly to sneak a glance at the staring passenger siting at the very back. She only noticed- in all his mystery – the piercing blue, almost white eyes that caught her own.
Rather than look away in her own embarrassment at being caught staring she continued to ogle the odd man in the back.
He began to feel uncomfortable.
The warm vibrant green eyes of youth and innocence. Such a beautiful young girl you'd wish your daughter to look like.
The bus slowed as it approached its next stop. The two strangers remained locked in their gaze until the young girl shifted her sight slightly to his left. Curious, the man did the same only to face a set of listless white eyes staring back at him through the window outside.
"GET OVER HERE!"
The words echoed through the bus in a deafening roar. People screamed as the glass window shattered and a hand reached through to grab the blue eyed man.
The bus driver panicked and hit the gas causing people to fall out of their seats but the attacker had already climbed in through the busted out window.
The driver looked back in terror but in that moment his eyes fell off the road, the bus crashed into a street lamp before running a curb and ramming into another vacant bus shelter. The bus jerked violently as the wheels on the right side came off the ground. It rolled onto its side before coming to a stop half in the street and half on the sidewalk. Windows were busted out. Glass and torn metal littered the inside of the bus.
There was no time for those inside to collect themselves. The attacker had gotten to his feet and now stood where the windows became the floor of the bus as it lay on its side. The blue eyed man stood before this enraged attacker.
The young girl's eyes slowly opened to see the men staring each other down. He wore black cargo pants and a black hooded sweatshirt. What looked to be a faint yellow tribal looking scorpion was embroidered up the left sleeve. The hooded sweatshirt was loose on the man but there was no masking the defined muscles this man had that rivaled his opponents.
The two stood in silence for a moment before the hooded man spoke in a harsh accusing tone.
"Cold blood Sub-Zero. That's what it had been when you snuffed my life from me!" he snapped aggressively. "My life was one thing but the death of my clan... my own wife and child! You are nothing but a monster!" the hooded man declared. His words spit from his mouth with a degree of fierceness. He almost trembled with the pent up rage deep within.
Sub-Zero seemed to snarl as his face showed his own building hostility. He felt his body drop dramatically in temperature as he prepared for the inevitable confrontation. At that very instance he looked beyond his aggressor to the terrified face peering at him from behind a turned over bench seat. She grasped the edge of the seats white knuckled and paralyzed with fear and for a brief second in his life, Sub-Zero's thoughts were on some one other than himself.
"This can be settled elsewhere Scorpion," Sub-Zero replied harshly.
The white vacant eyes of Scorpion glanced in the direction where Sub-Zero had allowed his own to wander for just a moment. He caught sight of the young girl then snapped his attention back to Sub-Zero.
"You are scared the children may get harmed? What about MY child! Did you take that into account when you murdered them?" he barked in a hysterical manner.
Sub-Zero tensed.
"You are blinded by your own rage! You accuse me of a crime I am not guilty of," he corrected.
This only seemed to infuriate Scorpion further.
"How dare you preach your innocence!" Scorpion replied, his words flowing like venom.
Sub-Zero knew there was no changing the specter's mind. Without hesitation Scorpion outstretched his arm. Those who were still conscious and watching the fight take place screamed when they saw the skin in the palm of Scorpion's hand split open and a small 5 inch spike slide its way out. It snapped forward like a bullet right for Sub-Zero but before it could hit its mark, Sub-Zero threw himself out of the way just in time to save his skin but not the fabric of his dark leather jacket. It split along the shoulder as the coiled spear drove passed.
Sub-Zero reached out and grabbed a hold of the chain that followed the spike that whizzed past and yanked Scorpion to the ground. With the spike and chain still in hand he swung Scorpion into the ceiling where the windows crashed and broke. Scorpion pulled himself from Sub-Zero's grasp and got to his feet with an intense rage filled scowl. He lunged at Sub-Zero and sent the two of them through the back of the bus and onto the pavement outside.
Again, there were screams from those inside the bus still trapped.
Sub-Zero felt a searing pain rise through his body. He staggered to his feet but Scorpion was already standing strong a few feet away.
The sickening smell of diesel filled the air as the fuel tank poured its contents out onto the street. The little girl, still trapped inside screamed for help. Sub-Zero turned his attention to the terrified child.
Scorpion only shouted for them all to shut up.
"Not here Scorpion!" Sub-Zero pleaded. He never cared for a mortals life before but something unnerved him. He wanted no harm to come to this child.
Scorpion roared in anger. "YOU ARE NOT THE HERO, MURDERER!" he snapped and without warning both hands reached out and two spiked chains shot from his hands. Sub-Zero leaped back as one slammed into the ground at his feet. He reached out and grabbed it. It froze instantly. In a clean snap it shattered into pieces. The broken chain shot back into Scorpions hand.
Sub-Zero smirked but that was replaced with a look of concern when the spike and chain mended within Scorpion's flesh instantly and came for him once again. Sub-Zero did his best to evade but the blind hatred inside Scorpion fuelled an anger that he could not escape. He felt his insides burn as a spike drove clean into his chest. It lodged around his spine and he felt himself be pulled towards Scorpion. The two now faced each other.
"This doesn't make us even," Scorpion told the gasping Sub-Zero who collapsed to his knees when Scorpion pulled his chains from Sub-Zero's body.
The girl in the bus screamed as Sub-Zero fell to his knees holding his chest in agony.
Scorpion looked to the hysterical child still inside the bus. He scowled once again. "So this is what has you feeling something other than self worth? I'll show you what it looks like to lose a child, monster," Scorpion barked as he raised his hand to his face and pulled his very flesh off his bones. The girl's eyes went wide in sheer terror at the skull that stared at her and the other trapped passengers.
"I can't leave witnesses" Scorpion muttered and flames erupted from his skeletal mouth.
In a last ditch effort, Sub-Zero picked himself up rushed to the small girl's side. The immense heat was suddenly replaced by a chill as a shield of ice came over the two of them. He couldn't hold back the flames for long. When Scorpion finally ceased his attack and pulled the skin back over his face. He walked to where Sub-Zero now lay beside the child while everyone else lay torched and burned to a crisp.
"Still selfish" Scorpion snapped as he looked down at his fallen enemy. His eyes fell upon the face of the young girl who no longer looked scared but as angry as he had once been.
Scorpion stared at her for a moment. "He had it coming," he mumbled and patted the girl on the head but as he did, he winced as he felt his body ache from the inside. He starred at the girl in shock.
Sirens echoed in the distance. He starred at the young girl with a weary expression as his eyebrows caved inwards slightly. With that, he simply vanished into thin air. The young girl finally pulled herself free from debris of the bus. Despite the mess she was relatively unharmed apart from a few scratches and developing bruises. She touched her hand to Sub-Zero's face. His eyes opened slowly and he looked at her. He felt the corners of his mouth lift into a slight smile. Something he couldn't remember doing for a long time.
"Thank you" she said as a tear rolled down her face. He placed his own hand on hers. It felt almost uncomfortably cold but she did not pull away. His body went limp and his eyes fade to white. A hand came through the busted out window above her and pulled her from the burning bus and into the arms of another firefighter. They wrapped a blanket around her and she felt safe once again. As the paramedics took over she heard one firefighter say to another that she was the only survivor.