"Cold?", she thought, looking around, "Holy shit". All around her was nothing but snow, inches of thick snow. The wind was blowing hard around them, and snow was continuously falling down. Addilyn's face was freezing, and she was sure her face was completely red.
"It would have been great to have known we were going into a blizzard", Addilyn popped off at Raiden, rolling her eyes in the process.
Raiden glanced over at her, his blank expression not changing, "We must get going, the Lin Kuei are waiting for us"
"The Lin who?", Addilyn asked, a confused look began to take over her face.
Raiden didn't respond to her question and began walking towards the woods that were in the distance in front of them. Addilyn sighed, her loose crop tank top was a horrible idea of an outfit. Wrapping her arms around herself, she began to rub her arms, doing anything to get herself warm. She hated being cold. Looking up, she saw Raiden was already way ahead of her.
She began running towards him, "Thanks for waiting for me!", she yelled, feeling annoyed.
"You must keep up, Addilyn", Raiden said, "I do not have time for you to fall behind".
"What's the hurry?", she asked.
"We are late", was his only reply.
"You couldn't have transported us to our actual destination then?", Addilyn replied smartly. Much to her dismay, he said nothing back and continued to walk through the forest.
The forest was beautiful. The trees were enormous and the snow laid perfectly among them. The forest also was helping with blocking the wind, so she was grateful to being a little warmer. Where were they going anyways? And why did she get so unlucky to be the one who had to be trained in the freezing arctic weather?
"Why didn't I pack a jacket or at least a hoodie?!", she cursed herself. Her bag, which was extended on a thick strap arcross her torso, began to start feeling heavy. They had been walking for a while. Getting distracted with her thoughts, she began to not pay attention to what was going on around her, causing her to run right smack into Raiden's back, almost falling to the ground. His body was completely stiff and did not move even when she ran into him. It appeared that he had stopped, which was why she ran into him in the first place.
"Woah, sorry man", she apologized, feeling startled.
"We're here", was his simple statment.
Addilyn looked around, but saw nothing but continuous forest. "I don't see anything", she replied, looking around in every direction.
Raiden looked over at her and reached his hand out, touching the nape of her neck, they then zapped away.
Seconds later, they were on flat ground. Addilyn tried to balance herself, almost falling over. She officially hated Raiden's zap transportation. It made her feel sick to her stomach.
"Maybe a heads up next time you plan on doing that?", she asked, looking up him.
"Ill note that", he responded, looking over.
Addilyn nodded and stood straight up and began taking in her surroundings. The flat ground was covered in stone, with traces of snow in patches around their feet. In front of them was a huge castle that seemed to go on forever. She could see parts of the lit up castle going on all the way over to the mountains around them. The trees around the castle had lanterns hanging from them, lighting up the courtyard. Statues were on the corners of the courtyard, one of them stood out more than the others. There was a staircase that led to the entrance of the castle, to right of it was a huge statue of a man with an angry expression on his face. He was sitting in a crisscross position, with both hands out, fire was blazing out his hands. Next to the statue on each side, was a coffin, the top part of the crypt was cut out, exposing a skeleton dressed in brilliant attire that resembled something like a high priest.
Addilyn cringed, "How lovely", she thought out loud.
"Come", Raiden said, taking another step towards to castle.
Before she could udder a reply, the doors to the castle opened. A group of what appeared to be men dressed in blue, silver, and black attire walked down the steps towards them. All of them were wearing ninja-like masks that covered up the nose and mouth, except for the man walking in front. The man leading the group of men was wearing no mask and his outfit was different. His color theme was the same, but the top part of his torso was exposed, the blue part of his uniform crossed over his chest in an X form. He was incredibly muscular and fit. His hair was dark and thick, and he had full beard to match. His eyes were a foggy pale blue with almost no pigmentation. Down his right eye, was a red scar, it went from almost the top of his forehead, down to his beard. He was strikingly handsome. As they got closer, Raiden took a step forward towards the leader. The leader stopped in front of him, bringing his arms in front of him, and nodded at the thunder God. Raiden nodded his head in acknowledgement.
The leader then spoke, "Lord Raiden, we have been awaiting your arrival. I hope you ran into no problems on your way here". His voice was deep with only a slight hint of rasp.
"I ran into an issue on my way picking up the girl. Kotal Kahn has not been too cooperative these past few days", Raiden replied to the man, his voice remaining calm as ever.
Raiden then turned to Addilyn, moving over so she was in view of the leader. Raiden then turned back to the man, "Sub Zero, this Addilyn Voss, she is an excellent fighter. I have been observing her for a while and I believe she will become one of the best with your help. She's quite the brawler".
The man she assumed was Sub Zero, began to observe her. He eyed her up and down, different expressions crossed his face. Some looks were impressed and some seemed more disapproving. She blushed a deeper shade of red than she was sure she was, her face becoming hotter every second. Hell, at least some part of her body was now warm.
After a few more moments of him observing her, he turned back to Raiden, "She will do just fine. She is in very capable hands here".
Raiden nodded, "I trust that she is, Kuai Liang. I must be going now. The Elder God's grow restless". The two men full on faced each other, and bowed.
Raiden looked back at Addilyn, "You will be taken care of. You will be taught all you need to know. I expect that the next time I see you, you will already have advanced greatly".
Addilyn began to panick, "Hold up! You're leaving me...here? I thought you were sticking around to watch me in the progress!". She wasn't really comfortable with being left behind with a bunch of strangers. Not that Raiden was less of a stranger, but she knew him better than any of these people.
"I will check in on you throughout your progress, but I cannot stay here. In the mean time, do as your told. You are destined for great things, Addilyn", Raiden finished, turning his up to the sky. He raised his hands and bolt of lightening shot out. Before she had time to object, he was gone.
"Oh boy", she thought, "this is going to be...interesting...". She was brought out of her thoughts by someone touching her shoulder. Looking up, it was the man Raiden had called Sub Zero.
"Addilyn", he said, "Come this way, you seem cold".
She nodded in reply and followed him. The men made way for their leader to walk through, her close behind, and after they passed all the men, they lined up in perfect form, walking back with them. Addilyn felt overwhelmed. She was cold, nervous, and completely unprepared. What had she gotten herself into? They climbed the steps up to the castle and she could feel the warm air from inside radiating on to the front of her body. She held back a moan of happiness, she had never been so happy to be in a warm place.
Walking into the castle, she quickly found that it was brilliantly decorated. Torches lit up the big entry room, the carvings on the wall were precise and beautiful. The ceiling was high and the architecture was very ancient Chinese. It was stunning. There were many big doors and hallways that went through to the other parts of the huge temple.
Sub Zero stopped walking, and turned to his men, "I will see you all on the training grounds within the hour". "Yes Grandmaster", the men all replied.
They then all bowed to him and went the other way.
Sub Zero turned back to Addilyn, "Come this way, I will show you around", he then held his arm out in the direction he wanted her to walk. She walked slightly passed him and he began to follow.
"This place is beautiful", Addilyn commented, taking in the scenery around her.
Sub Zero nodded in agreement, "Yes, this temple is centuries old. Many Lin Kuei warriors have resided here. It is an honor to be in such a place".
Addilyn then took notice of what the other warriors called him, "Grandmaster...is that what your men call you?", she asked.
Sub Zero replied, "Yes, I am the leader of the Lin Kuei. My men follow my lead and do as I order. I am in charge of making them strong and keeping things peaceful".
"Sounds like a tough gig", she replied, raising a brow. Being a leader of anything sounded like a pain in the ass honestly. She was never one to jump up first and take the lead of anything.
Sub Zero chuckled darkly, "Being the leader of anything is never easy, Addilyn Voss".
Addilyn did her best to control the blush that threatened to form on her face. She loved the way his voice sounded when he said her name. She hated that she was developing a crush on someone she hardly knew. "Why can't I be one of those people who isn't into anyone? Like an asexual or something", she thought in her head.
They continued to walk through hallways and climb up stairs, she already knew she was going to get lost fast in this place.
She noticed out of the corner of her eye that he would glance at her and look her up and down every once in a while. She wondered what was going through his head.
He then spoke up, "I take it that our mutual friend did not inform you of the conditions you were about endure?".
"Huh?", she replied, confused.
"Your outfit isn't exactly tundra appropriate", he responded, nodding his head towards her outfit.
She blushed a deep shade of red, "Uh...yea...not exactly the same weather here as it is Texas". She had went from summer weather in Texas being 88 degrees, to negative degrees.
The grandmaster then stopped in front of two huge doors, "This will be your room for the time being", he pushed the doors open and held out an arm to show her in.
Walking in, she was amazed at how nice and big the room was. Nothing like what she had at home, it put her old bedroom to shame. The room was about 5 times the size of her old room, and the ceilings were high just like in the entry way of downstairs. There was a queen size poster bed in the corner of the room with black poles around it. The sheets were crisp white and the fancy rug that covered the wood floors matched the bed. A big mirror was hung on the wall on the other side of the room, with a dresser to match. And ice crystal like chandelier hung from the high ceiling.
"Umm, wow...do all your warriors have this nice of a room?", she asked, amazed with what she was seeing. She had honestly expected a small bunker that she would share with several other people.
"Depends on their ranking. Some do and some don't. You however are a guest in this place. I like to treat my welcomed guests well", Sub Zero replied, arms crossed, watching her observe the room. He was amused with her reaction.
"Well, I have to say that I am impressed, Grandmaster", She said leaning against the wall, taking her bag off her shoulder and placing it onto the ground. Her achy shoulder thanked her.
He then began to explain her arrangements, "I have your room set up close to my room. I am the room right down the hallway. I want to make sure that everything is taken care of for you at the time being. It's easier to have you close to me. If you need anything, you can sometimes find me there. If I'm not, find someone else, they will help you".
"Sounds great", Addilyn replied, "Uh...thanks. I know this is inconvenient for you. I appreciate you helping me out, Grandmaster".
"I'll do what I can for you. I won't always be able to be this friendly with you though, so I wouldn't get too used to it", he informed her, his voice sounding more serious than before.
Despite her confusion, she nodded, "Oh..uh yea, I won't".
He then continued, "I am the one who will be training you, so I will have to be tough with you. You will be treated just like any other Lin Kuei warrior. You will wake up early in the morning to train, you will eat breakfast, and you will train more. Then you can have your break. I will have Frost inform you of other things you will have scheduled throughout the day".
"Frost?", she questioned.
He answered, "Yes, Frost is my second in command. She is in charge of our female Lin Kuei, she will also be training you".
"Cool, I suppose I look forward to meeting her as well", Addilyn replied, she wasn't sure if she was happy there were other females, or if that made her more intimidated.
Turning to the door, Sub Zero spoke, "Alright, I have matters to attend to. Dinner will be served within 2 hours, I will have member come get you at that time. You may explore if you like, but do not cause me any trouble".
"Sure thing, Boss", Addilyn responded, crossing her arms, still leaned against the wall.
Sub Zero gave her a slight grunt in response and then disappeared out the door.
"Oh Lord", she thought out loud, "I don't think I'm ready for this".
