CHAPTER TWO
- White Lotus Society Temple -
- Hung Su Province, China -
The night before it happened, Kung Lao had had a hard time sleeping. He'd woken up numerous times throughout the night sweating, having to drink several canteens of water to stay hydrated. He couldn't shake the nightmeres he'd had from his head. Visions of his Shaolin brother Liu Kang writhing in agony, letting out screams of pain before two hands grabbed his head and snapped his neck. He had only told Master Quing about the visions, needing someone to talk to but not wanting to bother or scare his fellow monks. Master Qinghai had advised it was nothing to worry about, probably just a random occurrence.
Kung Lao sat up on his bed, simple blankets adorning the floor, keeping in Shaolin tradition. Though he'd left the monastery after age eighteen, he had stayed true to the teachings and traditions through all the years. He watched the sun rise through his window for a while before slipping on his monk pants and robes. He then proceeded with his traditional morning stretching, pulling his ankels together and bending over touching his head to his shins. He parted his legs horizantly going all the way down touching his groin to the ground. His faced winced in pain. Early morning stretching always works out the kinks, he thought to himself. After some upper body stretching, he walked over to his table and grabbed an elastic band, wrapping a ponytail into his hair.
He walked outside and across the upper cement platform of one of the living halls his room was located in. He stood in the corner for a while gazing to a courtyard in the distance, as some of his pupils underwent Shaolin fist posing drills from Master Qinghai. Lao glanced around, checking out the construction that was going up. Several halls that were going to be used for dinning, living, and various martial arts training. Several courtyards being used for praise to Buddha and growing fruits, vegetables and rice. They had even began construction on a special martial arts hall that would specifically hold tournaments, as Kung Lao had organized matches with fighters from other temples in order to give his students different sense of competition and concept of what fighting an unknown opponent would be like. He smiled. All was going according to plan with the re-assembling of the White Lotus Society.
Dropping his body to the cement, he sat cross-legged falling pulling himself into meditation. His mind soon turned to a pure whiteness, pushing away all outside thoughts. As he fell into a deep meditation, the noise from the monks exercising soon drowned out, he could not feel the slight breeze pick up, nor the summer Chinese sun roasting down on the monastery. For a while he sat in perfect harmony, conscious clear and free from earth's desires and troubles.
However these feeling of peace did not last. Returned soon the visions of Liu screaming as if being tortured, before a hand on his chin and one on the skull twist his neck sideways. The visions shook Kung Lao violently out of his meditation. His body shook, but he forced himself to breath deeply and concentrate to re-achieve his perfect zen. Try as he might though, the feelings were still coming back to haunt him. He opened his eyes and stood up, returning his gaze to the courtyard where the monks were practicing. I have to leave, I cannot stay here…he thought. May Buddha give them safety.
At around noon, the monks came in and gathered around the dinning halls as rice bowls filled with mixed rice and various fruits and vegtables were distributed. They sat, not at tables, but in small groups of semi-circles on the ground, with their individual food bowls and canteens of water placed in front of them. Kung Lao had spent the whole morning in meditation, but felt the presence of Qinghai walking up the steps without having to even open his eyes, and of stood as a sign respect. As Master Qinghai got to the top and the two men bowed to each other, smiling.
"Buddha be blessed" they greeted each other.
Qinghai looked at him sympathetically. Kung Lao shook his head.
"It hasn't been helping?" he asked.
"No" Kung Lao responded to him, "We need to talk"
"Very well", Qinghai said, looking grimely at the ground, as the two men entered the dinning hall together.
As the monks sat on the floor, Kung Lao and Qinghai sitting at the back of the hall, on the floor as well representing that no human is above another. While the two masters ate, out of hearing distance from the other monks, Lao turned to Qinghai with a serious, albeit sad look on his face.
"Master Qinghai, I need to make sure, I won't rest until I know".
"You don't trust that he would be able to take care of himself, even if a situation arouse in which he was in danger?", Qinghai replied.
"It's not that, it's just…"
"You still feel that the threat to him is real, and more then just a bad dream", Qinghai finished the sentence for him. Kung Lao just stared at him, giving a look that Qinghai interpreted as a "yes".
"So, you're really going to go then, aren't you?"
"Yes…I won't have peace until I know for sure". "After Liu beat Shang Tsung in the Mortal Kombat tournament, Shao Khan sent hordes of his Tarkatan warriors into earth realm to rip apart the Shaolin temple for revenge. Many of the monks were killed, Liu managed to protect a few…But had I been there, perhaps most of the temple would have been saved. I wasn't there however, I was away trying to put up the suspensions up on the first White Lotus Society. I'd had a bad feeling before and it turned out to be truth. Out of guilt I followed Liu into Outworld to fight Shao Khan in his all out battle. As a result, the White Lotus never really got past it's tentative beginnings. So you see, we are in a very similar situation now. I don't won't a repeat of that incident".
Qinghai stared at the floor, pondering for a second, then turned back to Kung Lao.
"Very well, after lunch I'll pack the horse while you get ready".
The two men then returned to their food, and ate out the rest of their meal in silence from each other.
Kung Lao emerged from his living quarters, later in the afternoon. He was, however, not dressed in monk robes, but in his fighting outfit. Mandarin dark blue button up jacket, oversized archaic cotton wushu pants that tucked into his cutsom made boots. They were thicker and therefore sturdier then standard normal monk shoes, making it more comfortable for intense endurance fighting. Broadsword slung horizontally across his back. He walked down the cement steps of the living hall and over to the shade where Qinghai had tied up his horse and was getting it ready.
"I've packed you enough food and water for the trip…Are you sure you have to-"
"It's a must." Kung Lao retorted.
"It's difficult however, as we're still in the middle of constuction of the temple and-"
"You'll be fine without me," Lao interrupted him, "You know how I want the project finished. Besides, you're the sole master now, conduct the exercises as you so choose."
Master Qinghai looked down for a moment realizing he could not change Kung Lao's mind.
"What should I tell the students?" Asked Qinghai.
"Just tell them I went on a goodwill trip with peace offerings."
And with that Kung Lao sped off, headed toward the Wu Shi academy with prestine urgency.
- Wu Shi Academy -
- Zhu Jing Province, China -
By the time Kung Lao arrived at the trainning grounds of the Wu Shi academy, he knew immediately that something was wrong, almost feeling it in the air. He hoped off the horse, tying it to a post outside the temple then, ran through the gate. As he entered, he saw the Shaolin Monks moving in a typical funeral tradition, signifying that someone had just died, and right at that, it hit him hard. It was Liu. He ran to lei tai and saw the body laying in the middle. He approached slowly, cautious. No need to rush what he already knew had happened. He walked over and bent down, picking up Liu Kang's body and holding it in his arms. His neck he been snapped in half. Having been a Shaolin Monk, Kung Lao held his emotions in. He shed no tears. After a few moments he laid Liu's body back down and shut his eye lids with his fingers.
"At least he looks better then he smells" Lao thought to himself out loud.
"Yea, dead guys usually look better then they smell" a voice from behind him retorted.
Kung Lao smiled, instantly recognizing it.
He turned to find a tall man with long white hair. It was Raiden, the God of thunder and protecter of Earth. He stood there almost arrogantly, glancing down at Kung Lao hunched over Liu Kang's body.
"So, you can't interfere unless the rules are broken, huh?", Kung Lao inquired.
"No, I can't. But the rules were broken…", Raiden replied.
"So why didn't you interfere"
"I'd been appointed status of Elder God, which means I couldn't do anything reguardless." said Raiden.
"What happened to the promise that you'd always watch over us and protect earth?" asked Kung Lao.
"Settle down Kung Lao, I've come to help you. We're gonna get Shang Tsung back for this…"