The Netherealm was truly a hostile and dangerous place. The only way one could describe it is 'hellish' and it was truly hellish. Large earthen spikes joust out of the ground like demonic towers. Flowing rivers of molten earth provide the only light for the desolate, inhospitable wasteland. Only demons and damned souls could call this place home, but all called it Hell.
Scorpion sat in his lair, torches lighting up a large black scorpion with a dragon symbol between its pincers behind him. He was resting after an extensive training session, his breath coming out in deep even breaths as he tried to calm his mind and body. His mind would have none of it however, bursting with enraged and violent thoughts. They only had one common trait, Quan Chi. The pale skinned sorcerer that had slaughtered his entire clan and even his wife and child. He clenched his fists as he remembered the man's pale tattoo covered face. The image never ceased to enrage him, making his blood boil and his heart to pound.
A sound came from somewhere nearby.
Scorpion opened his pure white eyes, looking out into the harsh landscape. Not far away from the only place he called home a small number of lesser demons crowded around something. He looked down at them with distaste. These beasts were nothing but mindless creatures who wandered the realm to torment and feast on the poor damned souls they could find. To him they nothing but maggots to be destroyed under foot.
He gathered his swords and headed out to see why these creatures dared gather near his 'home'. But in reality he was going to vent his frustration and anger on the unsuspecting Oni. He walked towards them drawing the longer of the two swords, reading himself to slaughter the creatures. The Oni were to busy paying attention to something in the center of the group to notice the specter march toward them before many of them had already fallen.
The first two he came up against were swiftly cleaved in two by the specters blade, their upper halves falling to the ground several feet away from the rest of them. Before the rest could even turn their heads he had decapitated one of their brothers while sending his fist into the intestines of another. Seeing that this black and yellow clad ninja was trying, and succeeding, to massacre them what remained of the group readied to counter-attack. But it was far too little far too late.
One fell after the sharp edge of Scorpions weapon sliced through its throat, a crimson river pouring from the wound. Another was sent flying ablaze from a flaming uppercut from the specter, the impact with the rocky ground snapping it's spine in several places and a sharp shard of stone into it's heart. The final beast leapt in retaliation at the attacker only to be knocked from the air like a fly. The demon scrabbled back onto its feet and quickly found its throat cut and its upper body flying through the air leaving behind its legs and intestines.
Scorpion looked at the bloodshed around him his mind still in an angry haze. "Quan Chi!" he roared at the black smoked filled sky above. His heart pounded in his chest his slick, bloody hands clenching into tight fists. He punched a small rocky spire next to him, reducing it to mere rumble. 'Why wouldn't the sorcerer just come and face him? Why did he have to suffer in such a way?' He thought his mind overburdened with anger and grief.
A small noise broke him from his mental questioning. He looked behind him seeing nothing. The small noise sounded again this time he heard it clearer. He looked down and saw a small bundle of black cloth lying on the ground. He moved a small flap of cloth carefully revealing a small face looking back at him wearing a cute toothless smile. The baby laughed again reaching up to him with his small pudgy arms. Scorpion lifted the bundled baby from the bloody ground cradling him in his arms. The baby reached up and grabbed at his mask pulling at it with an incredible amount of strength for a child only a few months old.
He looked down at the baby, his white looking at the child's blood red eyes and the small tuff of ebony hair on his head. Something about the child made the specter smile behind his mask. 'Hello little one. How did you get here?' he asked the baby in his mind, getting another laugh in response. "What's your name little guy?" he asked. The child looked up at him with large eyes as if he was amazed by the question.
The fluttering of falling paper caught Scorpions attention. He looked down at the ground beneath the child finding a small pile of cards. He kneeled down picking up one of them. The card showed a picture of a man in mourning next to three golden cups lying on their side while two more stood nearby; the Roman numeral for five was printed at the top. 'Tarot cards?' he thought slightly confused to why such a small child would be left with fortune teller cards. The bay in his arms pulled the card from his hand and looked at it before chuckling and waving it at him.
Scorpion once again smiled at the antics of the little one. "Fine, that will be your name then. Tarot, that's your name." he stated happily to the little bundle in his arms. And with that he made his way back to his lair, Tarot making small squeaks and other noises the entire way.