Chapter One - The Day the World Stopped.
It was nightfall over Waco, New Texas. In the middle of a small scrapyard filled with old and rusted cars of various shapes and sizes was a lone man sitting down, taking a long and heavy draft from a cigarette. His hair scruffy and greasy, a rough stubble and dark brown battered clothes showed he was a man who had fought through many battles. This man was Kurtis Stryker. Originally a high serving member of the NYC police force, everything changed after that day. The day when the world stopped.
That day came with no warning. A full blown riot was in place. Something about a change in law being deemed as evil and far too radical. A good hundred or two people teemed in the street where the riot was taking place, they were shouting out various slogans and insults, none of them really understandable as everyone seemed to be wanting to yell over each other. Sighing deeply, Stryker ordered his police riot-squad forwards to prevent the people from breaking free and entering the law building, then it happened. It only took less than five seconds to take effect but then people began dropping, police and protesters alike and along with that happening, everywhere began to mist up, a dark green-like otherworldly mist which blocked out sight entirely. Stryker shielded his eyes from the mist and when he opened his eyes again the mist had now gone and everything was silent. Looking around, he felt his stomach drop. Everyone was on the ground, their skin pale and their bodies completely motionless. Panicked Stryker bent down to a nearby officer and tried for a pulse. Nothing, he moved on, person after person checking each and every pulse. There was nothing. Within the space of less than ten seconds everyone he could see was now dead. Then the sound came back to his ears, car sirens blared out from crashes at an almost deafening rate. Looking up confirmed even more terrible news, a sole plane was dropping out from the sky, straight towards the very street he was standing on.
Running from the now doomed street the same horrifying view could be seen everywhere, smartly dressed business men slumped across tables, young women lying face down on the pavement motionless and even babies in pushchairs, dead and cold to the touch. Hearing the deafening sound of the plane smashing into the area where he once was he looked backwards, flames billowed from above the building-tops. Panicked, Stryker began running back to the station. Half an hour later, out of breath and scared about what was going on, he slammed open the front doors of the main LAPD office to be greeted with the same scene of the dead. Defeated Stryker slumped onto the floor shaking. No… this was a dream, a nightmare. Of course it was, simply just a nightmare, theres no way such a thing would ever happen. Never ever ever ev… Suddenly something caught his eye, from where he was, he could just see one of the waiting rooms and there appeared to be a man dressed in white, flicking through the pages of a 'Theft' help leaflet. Still shaking, Stryker could only think of one thing and he staggered to the room, unsure of who this man was or even if he could help him. Quickly though he made note of his standard issue pistol and popped open the holster so he could grab it quickly if needed.
"Angel?" The man looked up a Stryker and shook his head, a look of distain quickly flashing across his face. He motioned for Stryker to sit, still perusing through the leaflet casually. Still unsure of the man and what he even wanted, Stryker complied and sat down on one of the stations blue chairs. A quiet minute passed, for some reason the stranger seemed really interested in the leaflets. Stryker used this time to look over the man more closely. The stranger seemed to be wearing a large white-banded straw hat which covered the top half of his face. He also wore a large white, almost priest-like robe. Looking back at the strangers face, Stryker could see that this man was indeed old. Finally the stranger put dow the leaflet and faced Stryker.
"My name is Raiden, God of Thunder" On a normal day Stryker would have pushed people with these statements into a pile called 'Lunatics'. However today was not a normal day. The man continues " You have been chosen to save Earthrealm"
Everything had snowballed from that moment on. Within less than a week everything that Stryker thought he knew about the world was made out to be a lie, religion, politics and even many concepts of science were thrown out of the window to be replaced by the ideologies of the Elder Gods, the knowledge that the government knew that something of this magnitude was coming and yet did nothing about it. During that time he was with a bunch of other 'Chosen Ones'. This group was a motley crew consisting of special agents with knowledge far beyond anything Stryker could ever dream of, men with special hidden otherworldly powers, a princess from another realm entirely and even a straight to dvd action star.
They trained together for a while, readying for a battle within a completely different realm against a man only known to Stryker as 'Shao Kahn'. It was here that Stryker though regained some of what he had lost. He learnt they need only release the souls, and the many downed people would rise once more. There was still hope left.
It had been several years since that battle where Shao Kahn was killed and the sould returned to Earth… Things should have returned back to normal. They didn't… Not by a long shot.