They came upon the portal suddenly. It gaped wide; a slowly spinning vortex of mutating purple. It's mouth was an indistinct murky black. It stood as a startling anomaly blaring is alienness against the still snowy quiet that Kuai Liang knew so well. He studied it. He had been through a number of portals before, but that was some time ago now, and they had never been to the Netherrealm, and never in the current company. Noob Saibot was striding purposefully toward its yawning abyss. Kuai could not believe there was going to be no more discussion of this before the plan went under way.
"Wait." He said. The wraith turned slowly and set Kuai with his empty stare. "What am I to do in there? Should I just... follow? Or keep a distance?"
The wraith's shadow emerged from the ground. It walked up close to Kuai and pointed two fingers to Kuai's eyes then pointed to itself.
Kuai tried to glance around it to confirm what was meant with the wraith, the shadow gripped his chin suddenly and turned his face firmly to look into its own. Kuai's eyes widened in surprise as he felt the cold oily texture of its fingers. He knew the shadow had a substance to it, having felt its weight thrown at him in the past. This was much more strange though, much more personal. He allowed himself for the first time to consider that this shadow was also somehow part of his brother, part of who he was. He opened his mouth, but the shade pressed a finger to his mask for silence. It shook its head. Kuai regarded the flowing dark that made up the shadow's form with a steady wariness. He nodded though and the shade release him. It indicated that Kuai should follow and mimic it.
When he stepped through the portal, Kuai felt the world bend and distort around him. All his breath was ripped from him and he felt his head heave heavy with a sudden bombardment of grasping grips all reaching to take a piece of him. He clasped his skull, eyes wide as he tried to fight off the intrusions. A vicious stab of unbelonging resounded through his bones. A sudden urge to throw himself back through the portal spiralled through his mind. He felt invasive fingers reaching into him, and whispers beckoning him in a multitude of directions. Flashes of events spun wild before his eyes. Memories collided simultaneously and threatened to overload his senses. He tried to gasp and shudder for breath but could not. His heart fluttered furiously. He sent ice through his fingers, over his hands and up over all his skin. He let its cold familiarity run through him. He settled his mind, drew himself together and set his will firm and binding. Whatever this intrusion was, he meant to fight it as he would anything else. Immediately the whispers subsided and the taxation on his thoughts receded.
When he opened his eyes, he was kneeling on red compact earth. Everything around him felt tenuous, as if in a moment it might break apart. Red rock stood stark beside simmering pits of exposed lava that hissed and burst with occasional plumes of sulphurous steam. The sky above was empty and faceless, and Kuai could not tell if it belonged to the outside or inside, it was merely blank and half-obscured by fuming vents of black smoke. His attention focussed on his brother. Both he and his shadow were looking down on him. Kuai thought for a moment he saw something like concern in the wraith's eyes.
Kuai stood uncertainly and put a hand to his head.
"What...?" He trailed off when he remembered he was not meant to be speaking, and glanced around anxiously in case he had been heard. His brother tilted his head to one side.
Kuai stepped closer and kept his voice low,
"What was that?! You could have warned me! I thought my head was going to be torn apart!"
The wraith studied him,
"Warned you of what?"
Kuai tried to work out if this was another carefully crafted insult. He reflexively drew himself up and stepped away, assuming that Bi-Han again meant to make him look weak.
"Nothing. It's nothing." He said quietly.
The wraith kept his eyes narrowed on him a little longer. Then he turned away,
"No more words."
The wraith began walking. Kuai started to follow, but the shadow stopped him and indicated the jagged low cliff that ran along beside them. Kuai followed the shade, and the two hugged the crag with their footsteps, lingering in its shadow whilst the wraith walked openly along the corridor of flat earth bordered by a sea of bubbling magma.
The heat set Kuai's teeth on edge. It was nothing close to anything he had experienced before. It had a dry vivacity to it, and set the air shimmering over the boiling sea. It shuddered and heaved with a malice all of its own and clung to the heavy folds of his cowl and black tunic. He regularly sent chills of ice through his veins when he was sure it would not be noticed.
They met nothing but the empty wastes as they passed along in silence. The unusual weight of the armoured tunic covering Kuai's chest pressed the cloth beneath against his already hot skin. He wrinkled his nose, where the dark grey paint on his face itched as it met his sweat. All his personal discomforts flushed from his mind when he felt the slick oily grip of the shade on his bicep. It indicated. The crag broke away to rove off to their right, while Noob continued forward, his path taking him over a narrow rock bridge that connected this side to a peninsular beyond that stuck out into the angry lakes of lava. Kuai followed the shade's lead. The two kept a distance from the wraith, mimicking his stride as they trailed him.
As they descended down the slope of the bridge, Kuai saw his brother stiffen. Immediately he scanned the new bank for signs of movement. He saw nothing. When they reached the far side, Noob stopped before a large leaning rock that sent the path ahead into shadow.
"Show yourself." His voice was less ghostly here, Kuai realised. It sounded much more like Bi-Han and less an undead wraith. He followed the shade and they both flattened themselves against the rock face. The shade turned to Kuai and put up a finger for quiet, then motioned that Kuai should stay. It sunk into the ground until it was a black pool. The pool slipped forward, clearly summoned by the wraith, and scouted ahead. Kuai was left alone. His heart pounded as he truly contemplated what was happening. He was a mortal in the realm of the dead and damned, pretending to be the shadow of a wraith that without a second thought would kill him if it were not for his immediate utility. He steadied his nerves and kept his eyes trained on his brother, who stood very still and alert. All at once his posture relaxed and he folded his arms into an attitude Kuai knew only too well indicated his dismissive displeasure. A woman's voice yelped from around the corner, and she came into view, bowled over by a kick from the shadow. She was lean, pretty even, with dark tattoo markings curling about her pale face framed by two tone hair. Kuai was surprised to see anyone in this realm looking so human. He was wisely wary though, this was not a place one made assumptions lightly.
"What a coincidence! Fancy seeing you here, Bi-Han." Kuai started in surprise. He saw the woman peer behind the wraith and frown in his direction. Kuai stayed completely motionless. He had never heard anyone outside the Lin Kuei call his brother by his name. Noob did not appear pleased by the term of address either.
"Out of my way, demoness." He said coldly.
The woman dusted herself down and drew herself up. She held herself like a rangy wild cat and was fluid in her movements.
"Your introductions are polite as usual, I see." She sighed, "Really, with friends like you one need not have enemies." Kuai blinked. He saw his brother bristle and shift. Is that embarrassment? He could barely believe his own thoughts, embarrassment in front of me? This venture was becoming more surprising by the second.
"I have no friends." Noob hissed with a venom Kuai was only too used to, "When will you learn that you mean nothing to me, Sareena. We are pawns in a sorcerer's game. There is no kinship between us. Any cease in hostility is merely in accordance with his will, I assure you." His posture was arrogant, aloof, distant; one that Kuai knew only to well. His heart went out to this supposed demon in kinship.
"Indeed?" She took the rejection well, Kuai noted, better than he often did, anyway, "You don't fool me, Bi-Han. I know you have no desire to bow to Quan Chi. And so does he." Suddenly the dynamic changed. She was proud in her posture and Kuai realised his brother looked agitated and uncertain. "He commanded me to meet you on your return and escort you home. There are matters he would discuss with you. Not least of which is your loyalties, I should think."
"Liar." The wraith hissed, but Kuai could hear he lacked conviction in that accusation, "He would not send you. He knows you to be treacherous. I have done nothing to earn his suspicions."
She laughed and the sound made Kuai retract he premature sympathies, this woman was clearly very sure of her own position and possessed all the power in this exchange.
"I see." She said easily, "Are these the words you wish me to convey to him, then, when I explain your absence?"
Everyone present knew the noose was tied.
"Leave me." Noob spat, "I will report to Quan Chi. But not with you. Get out of my sight unless you want to go begging Quan Chi to reform a human body for you."
Kuai frowned in confusion. The woman only laughed.
"As you wish, Bi-Han." She glanced once more with suspicion towards the shadows where Kuai crouched, before turning and walking away with a cool bounce to her step. Kuai remained very quiet, trying to make sense of the encounter. A moment later his brother's shadow formed beside him. He found himself both disturbed and relieved by the sight. The two crept closer to the wraith, who turned his head slightly toward them,
"There's been a change of plan," the wraith said softly, "We're making a brief detour."
"You're not serious? You can't be thinking of going to Quan Chi's fortress!?" Kuai's mask was close to the wraith's ear as he tried to keep his voice as quiet as possible.
"It is too soon. I cannot let him suspect this early. We will not make it to the location in time. We must go to him. Reassure him that all is well."
"We? You want me to go with you? Are you crazy?!"
"You will not be suspected if you remain with me. What will cause suspicion is reports of me in multiple places at once. My shadow is not in the habit of straying far from me."
"But, Bi-Han, Quan Chi will know! Surely he will sense that I am alive-"
"Hush."
The word was strangely comforting. It reminded Kuai of older times. Times when he put his worries aside and trusted in his brother to solve situations for him. It felt difficult to hand all the responsibility back to him now. He was used to relying on himself. An entire temple of assassins and those in training looked up to him as Grandmaster and put that trust in him. It had been a daunting responsibility to take on but one that he had taken extremely seriously. Despite being the one who had always pushed to distance the brothers since his death, Bi-Han somehow expected Kuai to slot back easily into being the child that had traipsed around behind him. He's more a captive to the past than I am, Kuai thought in frustration.
"It is some way to the fortress from here. Quan Chi will be expecting me to move more quickly than I can with you. I usually teleport short distances and make the journey swiftly. It will take some hours to do by foot and the way is treacherous. Be wary. Sareena may be spying on our progress at intervals and reporting back to her master." Not our master, Kuai noted. This 'Sareena' was certainly right that Quan Chi had long been usurped in Noob Saibot's mind.
The wraith began walking again, this time with a much more brisk pace.
The light did not change in the Netherrealm. There seemed to be no sun, no moon, nothing to mark the passage of time. There was only the constant red half-light set on a baked world. As they walked its highlands dipped with molten pools and streams of brilliant lava, Kuai became conscious of a faint monotone high noise that held in his ears. The further they walked, the more the tone split into dissonances and a multitude of pitches. He realised with a slow sickening dawning that the sound was the chorus of constant screaming. He shuddered, shaken by the thought of the picture that must generate such a cacophony. The wraith looked at him. Kuai could read nothing in his eyes. There could have been indifference there, amusement, fear... Far off in the distance pricks of glowing light rained down to the earth, sending the dark hills before it into shadowy dances as firelight lit up the bleak black crags. Kuai turned to his brother in dismay. The wraith tilted his head and spoke quietly,
"There is much here you do not know. Keep it that way. There are circles, plains, and abysses that stretch to an eternity. You lose nothing by being in ignorance of them."
Kuai did not press this. Instead, he focussed on walking. The heat about him was increasing.
He could feel his tongue hot and dry in his mouth. He soon pressed a constant sheen of ice over his skin, but this would melt in seconds leaving him drenched and further hit by the temperature rise evoked from the humidity.
Shortly, they paused again,
"The quickest path is through a wood." The wraith raised a finger close to Kuai's face and indicated as one might a child, "Do not touch anything in there. Understood?"
Kuai nodded. He could feel his irritability at being spoken to in such a way simmering as hot as the heat he felt prickling through all his skin.
He soon found 'wood' to be a charitable description of the sight before him. Gnarled dead trunks twisted to form a darkness that was crowned in the dusky sunken colours of crisp foliage. Kuai hesitated, reluctant to enter beneath the eaves of the cruel branches. The forest edge curled away to his left and right. The bright brimstone bubbling of choked thick rivers glimmered at the further limits of his vision.
As soon as they entered, the world fell into hot, turbid darkness. All instances of light faded to dim, weak monochrome. The creak of slow wood filled the air. Despite the steeped sweat on his brow, the thick heat down his neck, and the weariness he felt creeping through him, Kuai instinctively moved his footsteps as an assassin. His toes edged around the dead matter littering the dry earth, so as not even to stir a leaf. He could hear the soft exhale of his breath through the vents of his borrowed mask. The shapes of the trees were curious, tortured somehow, and stretched, as if in pain. In the filtered films of light he glimpsed stranger shapes still. Knots in old branchwork that recollected features – here a bulbous, round nose, there the contorted lips of a wide open mouth, here the unseeing eyes of smooth empty bark. The wood groaned all about him. In the depths of that moan there were patterns of language, half-obscured by overgrown voiceless trees. Kuai Liang stopped himself as his hand reached for his brother's arm. He slowed his fast breathing and maintained his steady step. The sound came again, this time clearer. The rustle of dead leaves were the whispers of a thousand voices. Their words were indistinct lamentations moving on the air, filling up the thick dark with their secrets.
When Kuai looked again to his brother, he saw the wraith's unearthly, glowing white eyes stand clear in the gloom. The shadows shifted about him sliding up and over trunks and roots, swirling about him and slipping in and out of him. Kuai felt a riveting loneliness at that sight. He knew a closing, overwhelming abandonment and could not see the kinship of the infernal creature before him with the brother he had once cared for. The figure walked on under the roaming arms of the groaning trees. Kuai saw the darkness gather quickly behind him and lurched forward, unwilling to loose his only guide in this realm. As he did so, the bulky armour on his arm snapped a thin twig. A piercing scream rent the air apart. The explosion of sound ignited into a torrential flurry of feathers in the branches above. Kuai stared down in horror at the twig he had snapped. It bled fast and red onto the forest floor. He backed away as the scream distilled into a single repeated, shrieking question,
"What have you done!? What have you done to me!?"
He stumbled back in horror and the mad flutter of wings all about him unfolded into fast fluttering shapes that began to swerve and dive, pecking madly at the leaves of the screaming tree. The voice returned to its agonised pitch, asking for pity, for mercy, for its thin crinkled leaves to be left just so. Kuai Liang fled from the scene, feet taking a thunderous route through the wild trunks. Instinct kept him lithe, fast and breathless. He took a straight line and put as much distance as possible from that unnatural scene.
When he broke open into the scarred red landscape beyond the forest edge, his vision was blurred with faintness and his heart was pounding in his chest. He glanced back and saw a cacophony of raven winged humanoids diving in and out the high foliage somewhere above the depth of the wood. His eyes refocused when he saw shadows slither live and liquid from among the writhing roots of the forest. He backed off. The shadows slid together into a figure and Noob Saibot stepped forth whole into the wan Netherrealm light.
"I told you not to touch anything."
Kuai Liang only stared at him.
As they continued their path, Kuai felt himself faltering. He had asked nothing of the wood or its occupants, but the encounter had disturbed him. His mind kept wondering back to that confused question, that utter despair and desolation, that begging to know why further torment was being done. Kuai shook his head. He could feel himself physically drained by the heat, the distance, the lack of water, the unforgiving pace, the long hours since he had last eaten or slept, and the oppressive, inexplicable weight that this alien place forced at all times upon his mind. He realised that, in death, it might well be that his brother experienced none of these difficulties, and in his usual arrogance, may well have forgotten that a mortal did. The idea of admitting his physical limits to Bi-Han made Kuai feel veritably sick. He warred for some time in his head. The rational part of him knew that for the mission to be a success he was going to need to be in good form, and that good form meant looking after himself – rest, sleep, eating, drinking. He was a tough warrior, but he was human, unlike anything else in this cursed realm. His pride seemed to be a lot taller than he remembered it being. He could hear it screaming with all those tortured Netherrealm souls every time he considered stopping the wraith. A dread inside him realised his pride might be strong enough to kill him. It would be ironic, he thought, to die of exhaustion in hell.
He pushed himself on even though his limbs felt increasingly sapped of strength. He tried to force himself to endure the heat without summoning ice, willing himself to accept that the momentary relief would only add to the problem when the ice melted. Spots danced across his vision and he only vaguely recalled the twisting shapes of his surroundings. Mockeries of mountains leant lopsided and played with the horizon, sometimes appearing to be close and other times far away. No living thing grew, and only the shadows interrupted the red that caked all in its burnt cloak.
Kuai stumbled. The shadow stared at him. Kuai put his head down and walked on. For the second time he felt himself swung roughly back against a solid substance, head cracking back, whilst his vision reeled a moment too slow. He heard himself groan at the impact, but still brought his arms up to defend himself. His movement was sluggish.
"What is wrong with you?" The wraith hissed in a conspiratorial undertone.
Kuai said nothing. His swimming vision focussed on the wraith's bright eyes. He tried to summon all his remaining strength to present a coherent face behind which to hide.
"You're ready to drop!" His brother recoiled in surprise and disgust.
Kuai swayed as the wraith released him,
"I am not." His voice sounded cracked and exhausted. He felt himself grabbed roughly by both arms and tugged in a direction.
The next thing he felt was the cool welcome splash of water on his face. He grasped eagerly for the water but was fought down by strong arms. For a moment his lips quivered in anticipation, then the rim of a vessel was offered to them and he drunk long and deep. He made a noise when the water was taken from him.
"Not too fast." He heard his brother's voice and relaxed in its safety. The water sent cold spikes of reality through him as he recalled where he was and who he was with. He jerked upright when he realised his head was being propped up. His vision swam but he scrambled away quickly. He saw that he was in a darkened cave, almost spherical in shape and lit only by the dull light of magma away beyond its low entrance. The wraith was knelt on one knee with a shallow bowl of water in one hand. His shadow stood looking down on them both, posture unreadable, arms folded. Kuai reached a hand for his face and realised it was maskless. He felt caged and hunted with his back to the dead end of the cave. He could his own heartbeat loud in his ears.
"You neglected to remind me of your mortal status." The wraith said with dry amusement.
"I do not need your pity." Kuai snapped, surprised at his own vehemence.
"No..." The wraith continued in his insufferable, entertained toned, "But you do need
sustenance."
Kuai's face burned in flustered anger.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, little brother..." The wraith drawled. This was the first time the undead spectre had ever called him 'brother'. Kuai did not miss its very deliberate use, a distinct parallel to an earlier life where the older brother had always called him out as weaker. His faced stormed with a real anger he would have acted on had his limbs not been so sapped of strength. The wraith saw the fury in his face and laughed.
"Enough of this. Sleep, Kuai Liang. You are no use to me in this state."
Kuai fumed in silence. His eyes strayed of their own accord though and lingered on the dish in the wraith's hand. The wraith tilted his head and a low chuckle passed from him. His shadow stepped forward, retrieved the bowl and handed it to Kuai.
"I trust you can acquire water to drink." The wraith gave. Kuai nodded, removed a glove and chilled the air, summoning condensation to his fist and pumping ice into the small vessel. The fractals melted in moments to clear water. Before he sipped, he caught a glimpse of himself in the still, pure surface. He was surprised to see his brother's reflection looking back at him. The cowl and grey paint pushed past surface detail and brought out the strong familial resemblance. For just a fraction he felt lost, like his identity was slipping away from him, like he had really become the man who's name he had taken, who's identity he had assumed long before this foolhardy expedition into the Netherrealm. He drank and sighed as the cool water spilled welcome down his parched throat.
"Now sleep. When you wake I will have food you can eat."
"You're leaving?" The words escaped him before he could think.
"Only for a short while," The wraith mercifully did not exploit his concern, though Kuai doubted that was a conscious effort. "The creatures of these parts know not to cross me. I will keep the cave entrance covered at all times just to be sure. Nothing can be trusted here."
A soporific lethargy was seeping into Kuai's limbs,
"It's... a lot hotter here than I thought it would be," He said sleepily. He watched through half closed eyes as his brother considered this.
"I..." The wraith's eyes narrowed as if struggling with something, "I... vaguely recall." Kuai tried to blink his eyes open, he wanted to be awake to hear that human sounding admission. "I came here once as a mortal... it... it was... hot, I think. And the ice only melted..."
"... and became humid." Kuai murmured.
"Yes..." The wraith considered, "I had to keep a continual layer of ice over my skin but the effort was very draining. In the end I worked out times and places that were cooler... took regular breaks and always set off with ice layered thick over my vital organs..."
"I didn't think of that." Kuai admitted.
"No... well that doesn't surprise me. Ingenuity in the moment was never a strong point of yours."
"And patience was never yours."
"Hah. Be quiet now and rest."
Kuai's eyes tripped shut and he curled his body up defensively as he let himself lie on the hard ground.
"What about Quan Chi?" His eyes flickered open, as his mind fought to still work through the problems they faced though his body objected, "Isn't he expecting you? If you don't turn up-"
"Kuai Liang!"
"Sorry. Yes, I will sleep. Sorry."
Sleep did not belong to the realm of the dead and, as such, did not behave normally. Kuai Liang discovered this to his dismay when he found himself immediately almost lucidly present in what he hoped was his own mind. His first thought was one of relief. Familiar blank snow banked up around him, broken only by the long, regular shadows of dark pines. A stiff Himalayan wind kicked up old flakes and pushed them as it wished, causing shifts in the shapes of the drifts about him. He looked up and saw the familiar great grey stone bulwarks of the temple walls. He smiled at the safety they evoked, a stability and certainly so far removed from the oddities of recent. His brow furrowed when he saw the banners upon the stout watchtowers though. They belonged to the previous Grandmaster. Slowly, all the associated safety and calm drained from him until he was left only with dread. What was this? What was he meant to be doing? Was he late? The thought of earning the Grandmaster's ire chilled him and set a fast pace in his heart. He looked down, his arms wore the thin wiry muscles of childhood and his figure had the awkward lean of starting adolescence. Why am I outside the walls? I'm not allowed to be here, if they find out I- but he had been outside once before he came of age. He recalled now as he turned and looked over his shoulder. A young, powerfully built man stood with hands on his hips, dressed in a tunic the shade of deep winter skies before thick storms,
"Are you happy now?" As he spoke, cold air funnelled through the vents on his mask. Kuai hoped he could one day have one like that. He always liked the way the cold streamed out of his brother's mask, it reminded him of mythical beasts from plays and old stories he had read. There was a light to his brother's expression that set Kuai at ease. His previous concern smoothed away in the comfort of that immovable presence.
"I never dreamed that it looked like this! Our temple is the most beautiful building in the world!"
"Hah!" His brother scoffed, "You've never even seen another building before."
"I've seen them in books and paintings," Kuai said defensively, "And none ever looked like this. From the outside, it looks like a fortress! And look at the way the snow tries to stack up the sides but cannot reach, and the trees are all dwarfed by the towers. Nothing can defeat the Lin Kuei!"
"Alright, we have a true lover of architecture among us. Let's get back before someone realises you've gone."
"Do we have to? Can't we stay just a bit longer? Looking at the temple from here... I feel so free."
His brother glanced at him,
"What do you mean?"
The young Kuai sighed and without really thinking said,
"I don't know... I never thought about it until now but... those walls have always been there around me. I like the feel of them not being there. I like the wind. I like the cold. I like the way the snow crunches without there being stone underneath. And I like there not being anyone to tell me off."
He let out a muffled cry as Bi-Han gave him a playful but weighted punch to the shoulder,
"I can still tell you off, moron. Now come on."
His brother's face had something serious and concerned still lingering in it Kuai recalled. All faded to the calm of pale snow though and the memory fell away.
Kuai sat up quickly. He felt as though only a few minutes had past, but knew from the rejuvenated feel of his limbs that it must have been considerably longer. It was darker than he remembered it being.
"Bi-Han?" He received a deadening punch to his shoulder. He swore as he nursed it. His brother's shadow stood next to him, eyes narrowed. Kuai turned away muttering.
The wraith entered moments later carrying a suspect looking long bone fleshed with charred meat.
"What is that?" Kuai recoiled.
"Definitely cooked." Noob offered it to him.
"Are you crazy? Is that human?"
"It's food. Eat it or go hungry. I don't care which, but if you can't stand upright and fight I'll kill you myself."
That sobered Kuai right up. He remembered he was in the heat of hell, that his brother was dead, and that all he had was a fool's mission and a fool's hope. He knelt and breathed slowly. He recalled that first feeling of standing beyond the temple walls and the freedom that went with it. He was here under that same freedom, he reminded himself. He was here because he chose to be. He reached out and took the meat. He ate silently. When he was done, he filled his bowl with ice and drank its cool water. He replaced his mask.
"I am ready."
The wraith nodded and they stepped out into the world beyond. Immediately, hot stale air hit him and caused Kuai to wrinkle his nose. A thin sulphurous stream bubbled by the cave mouth. The sky above was striated shades of orange, thick lemon yellow and remorseless red. All the shadows went to purple under its strange colour. Kuai recalled his brother's words from last night and flexed his fists in his gloves, he forced the cold through his veins and build a thick wrap of ice about his chest.
Kuai saw horizons pointed like the ribcages of fallen giants. Speeding toward those skylines were rivers of blood that contorted with the faces of those fallen long ago. The low moans of their agony slunk by with the slow flow of the stream. Rock and baked, cracked earth reared in slumped stacks that had shaped themselves to the suffering all around. They resembled shocked skulls and grasping fingers, like a body newly burned and disbelieving. Kuai wondered if that had been his brother's expression as he died here; prematurely brought to this realm and roasted to death by the undead servant of Quan Chi, Scorpion. He hardened inside with cold anger. His anger was only momentary as he looked at the howling skull rocks. Bi-Han had died here alone, far from the realm of mortals, and the peace of the winter they both loved. He had died with the sight of what was about to come lined up about him ready to take a piece of him. I should have been there for him. I should have been there to stop this. I am here this time. You're taking your own fate into your hands once more. This time I won't let you do it alone. Even if it kills us. You're not alone this time.
The fortress reached as a spiked, black crown clawing for a dawn that never graced the sky. The red ripples of sliding lava lit its obsidian obelisks with the memory of flames.
"Nice place." Kuai Liang whispered.
"Quiet!" Bi-Han snapped. Kuai heard something like fear in his brother's voice. His insides sunk. His brother was not easily disturbed. This was going to be every bit as bad as it looked. "In there, if you so much as breathe and it's heard..."
Kuai looked at him with sudden concern. He was definitely going to have to breathe. He had not thought of that as a problem until now.
"Don't worry." The wraith read him easily, "I have everything under control. Just do exactly as you're told and there will be no problems. Understood?"
Kuai nodded shortly. His eyes returned to the pinnacles of the fortress.
"Follow behind with Saibot when we first enter. Do as he does. When we are before Quan Chi-"
"Can't I stay outside? It would be so much easier, I could at least stay outside whilst you went in to see Quan-"
"Don't interrupt me."
"Sorry." Kuai said without thinking.
"When we are before Quan Chi, walk beside me. You do not have to mimic my movements, but only look straight forward. And do not look the sorcerer in the eye. I will deal with all else. It is imperative that you do this. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Bi-Han." He said automatically, then retracted in realisation, "Sorry, I mean-"
"Quiet. From now on, only quiet."
Kuai immediately bent himself into stealth, ready to move in perfect silence. The wraith shook his head in exasperation and strode boldly forward. Kuai hesitated before following suit. All his instincts cried for him to move with an assassin's stealth. As the black towers loomed closer he had to keep reminding himself that in this place he was not Lin Kuei. He was the shadow of a creature that prided its place in a demonic hierarchy. Noob Saibot did not sneak anywhere he could stride through and look down on another creature as he did so.
Kuai felt giddy as they walked the steep ascending path that wound up to the fortress. Magma rose to giant globules and burst in rains of fire far below them. Above, the sheer fingers of cruel towers cast all into deep shadow. For the first time, Kuai felt comforted by the way these shadows writhed and bent about this brother, collecting in his footsteps and shaping themselves to his will. This is his place, he kept reminding himself. He knows what he's doing. The fortress looked so large from the outside. So much larger than the Lin Kuei Temple. He thought of Bi-Han sneaking him out to see the temple in all its glory. I hope you sneak us out of this place as well as in. One too many of us has already died in this forsaken realm.
Author Note: Lots of imagery drawn from Dante's Inferno for this story. Next chapter also draws on old English fairy stories. And MK Mythologies of course. In lots of ways this is a parallel to Mythologies :)
