-Chapter 3: A Window Through Time
Groaning as he came to, Magnus shook his head and blinked his eyes several times. He was still lying on the ground in Kronika's keep, still a prisoner of this 'keeper of time' and still thoroughly confused by what was happening.
Nothing had changed... so far.
Slowly sitting up, Magnus found both Kronika and Geras staring at him. The keeper smiled in a very friendly manner, csomething the electromancer wasn't exactly up for reciprocating.
"I trust you are feeling better, Magnus Shadrix?" Kronika warmly inquired.
"No thanks to your bouncer." Magnus grumbled as he picked himself up. That's when he examined his body and realized he lacked the bruises and bloody wounds he'd sustained during the fight. "Hol' up... something's different." He said aloud.
"I rewound your body to it's prime state, prior to your fight with Geras." Kronika informed him as she touched down and walked over to the rising Magnus.
"Uh... Thanks. I think..." He replied, dusting off his arms. "Now what do you want from me? I got friends back in Earthrealm who're probably worried sick about me."
"You needn't worry about them, Magnus, not when the future is at stake." Kronika replied. Magnus threw her a quizzical look.
"The future?" He repeated with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes. More specifically, your future." Kronika answered. The ethereal woman started walking, Magnus following her every move. In the distance, Geras stood silently by, not moving because he was not hidden to. "I have taken the time to peer into the future, to study your life across multiple timelines. In each one you play a very significant role, but none of them are truly becoming of you."
"And how do you know me? How do you know they're not 'becoming' of me?" Magnus questioned. At that, Kronika turned and swiftly stepped over to him.
"Perhaps you should see them for yourself..." She suggested, a blue glow surrounding her hand as she waved it in front of Magnus. The electromancer stumbled as a blue halo surrounded his head, his eyes glowing as Kronika's temporal powers overwhelmed him...
Red lightning crackled and boomed overhead as dark storm clouds swirled and rolled in a turbulent manner. Outworld was in chaos, buildings toppled and ruined, smoke bleaching forth from unstoppable fires, dead and dying warriors of varying races lay scattered across the road. A bloody Kotal Kahn stood alongside Sheeva of the Shokan race, a scarce few Osh-Tekk warriors by his side.
Before them, clad in matching black and gold with crimson lightning glowing in their hands, stood Raiden and Magnus.
The duo of master and student looked far more threatening than usual, likely due to their dark attire and glowing red eyes.
"Outworld will yield to Earthrealm, Kotal Kahn!" Raiden declared in a booming voice. "You have befouled us for the final time!"
"Your Elder Gods will not stand for this!" Kotal retorted, clutching his wounded side.
"They will not intervene," Raiden replied, stalking forward, "I do not come with conquering intent, nor do I bring an army for invading as you did!" He declared. "I come only to exact justice for Earthrealm!" The thunder god shouted, lightning crackling down the length of his forearms. Magnus stepped alongside his mentor, electricity sparking within his hands and arcing across his body.
"Besides, they would not aide a dog of war such as yourself." He jabbed, cracking his knuckles. The observing Magnus was shocked by this behavior. Clearly circumstances had changed them, both him and Raiden, hardening them into cruel and violent men. Perhaps this is what would've happened had Magnus chosen to help the darkened Raiden with his plans instead of choosing to restore Mileena. His vision of the timeline slowly faded to white, but not before he watched himself and Raiden charge the Outworld kombatants, ready to deliver a deathblow to the realm...
The resounding thwack of flesh being struck, the whistling of wind as a body sailed through the air, the crack of rock as an impact occurred. With a groan, a dirty and tattered Magnus hit the floor of the koliseum, blood dripping from his mouth and a cut across his head. The electromancer struggled to rise, a steering pain flaring in his arms as he tried. He didn't have to wait long to get up as a pair of hands suddenly grabbed both arms and dragged him across the arena. A startled Magnus watched with wide eyes as those dragging him were revealed to be revenant versions of Shao Kahn and Kotal Kahn. The two revenant Kahns unceremoniously dumped him at the foot of a pair of thrones... on which Liu Kang and Kitana were seated. The two revenant rulers wore cocky, confident smiles as the broken Magnus was thrown before their feet, a bound, helpless Mileena looking on mournfully from her kneeling position by Kitana's side.
"The high and mighty Magnus... how the mighty have fallen." Liu mused. Magnus mustered no reply, coughing up blood that splattered across the smooth base on which they sat.
"Where is your thunder god, Magnus? See how he has failed you!" Kitana sneered from her throne.
"He did not fail me... I failed him." Magnus rasped. "Had I listened to him... None of this... would've happened..."
"The ravings of a delusional failure." Liu spat, rising from his seat. "You are weak. You are nothing!" A swift kick caught Magnus on the jaw, throwing him back. Mileena cringed, looking away as he lover suffered even further pain. Writhing on the ground, weak and wounded, Magnus could not find the strength to rise. Looking to his right, his tired gaze settled on Mileena, the true love of his life.
"Mileena... forgive me..." he weakly whispered as things faded to white, "I'm... I'm sorry... I failed you..."
The armies of the Netherrealm stood on the brink of annihilating the combined forces of Earthrealm and Outworld. They stood in perfect rank formation, countless hell beasts ready to tear the realm down to its foundations. At the front of the horde, the infamous revenant rulers, Liu Kang and Kitana stood tall, gazing down at the world they would conquer. Beside them stood their trusted lieutenants: Kung Lao, Jade, Kabal, Sindel and Stryker, each of them just as ready to wreck havoc and deliver death to this unlikely alliance.
"They are weak. We will fell them where they stand!" Kitana declared.
"We will... with our newest ally leading the charge." Liu added with a cunning smile. Behind him, the hell beasts parted rank to make way for another individual, who walked right up alongside the revenant rulers.
Much to the horror of the observing Magnus, it was himself, now a revenant like the rest of them. His skin was gray, his eyes an evil shade of red, his armor dark like all of theirs. His hard, villainous gaze fixed on the realms before them, he stood ready to invade just like the rest of them. Raising his fist high and summoning a bolt of red lightning, Magnus gave a warcry as the forces of the Netherrealm rallied behind him...
Stumbling away from Kronika with a cry as the visions faded, Magnus clutched his head and groaned as he returned to the present.
"What... What were those...?" He wondered, gasping for air. They seemed so real and so lifelike.
"Those were your futures in alternate timelines. They are realities where different choices and different problems resulted in turning you into a far darker man." Kronika told him. ""Do you still think they might be 'becoming' of you?" She cheekily wondered. Magnus shook his head.
"No... I would never want to experience those." He quietly replied. The keeper of time smiled at his answer.
"As you can see Magnus, I'm trying to help you. Help me fix this timeline before it ends up like the others." Kronika implored him. The electromancer thought for a moment and spoke up before she went on.
"Surely this one will be different," Magnus interjected, "I've made different choices than in the others, right?" Kronika tilted her head.
"Indeed." She softly agreed. "Would you like to see your future? Your future in this timeline?"
"Please! I need something wholesome..." Magnus agreed. With another warm smile, this one slightly more disconcerting to Magnus, Kronika waved her hand as another blue aura enveloped him...
The woods were enveloped in the dark of night. Clouded skies let no moonlight through. Everything was dark... save for the flashes of crackling light that erupted periodically.
Magnus watched as an even older version of himself, bearded and wearing tattered versions of his white robes, sprinted from tree to tree as he generated bursts of electricity to block incoming shots from an unseen opponent. Suddenly, from out of the gloom, two shining sais flew from the dark, only to be stopped dead as Magnus generated an EM field, keeping them suspended in mid-air. With a shriek, Mileena burst from the night and tore through Magnus' field, her stretched out, high-heel clad foot driving right into his chest and throwing him back. Recoiling with a groan, Magnus struggled to defend himself as Mileena unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks. Older Magnus looked like he didn't want to do this, like he was clinging on to some hope that this fight would not end the way it was going to... but hope had long since died and all Magnus had to hold on to were ashes.
A sweeping kick put Magnus on his back, giving Mileena the opportunity to pounce on him and drive a sai deep into his shoulder. Blood spurting from the wound as he grimaced in pain, Mileena drawing her second sai and pressing it against his throat.
"You... You took everything from me!" She growled, partially out of anger and partially out of some other inner turmoil. "You let our daughter be killed!"
"I know... I failed." He admitted. "I failed you, I failed Arashi, I failed everyone. Everything has fallen apart because of me... what more can I do to atone?" He weakly asked, a lone tear escaping the corner of his eye.
"You can trade your life for hers!" Mileena cried, screaming in anguish as she raised her sai high, the vision fading to white as she readied to kill him...
"NO!" Magnus screamed, falling to his knees as the vision faded. He clutched his face, trying to scrub the horrifying images from his memory. "No! No no no...! Tell me that isn't true..." He groaned, looking up at Kronika, desperation in his eyes. "Tell me!" He cried, desperate to fix this. Kronika smiled a sad smile.
"I am sorry Magnus. But I have seen this timeline through to its end. And this is the end for you." She quietly replied. Magnus' shoulders slumped, his gaze downcast. That was what he had to look forward to? A lost child and a disintegrated relationship with Mileena. "This was not the destiny I had in mind for you." Kronika said, relating to him.
"And what do you know of me? You called me an anomaly." A depressed Magnus asked.
"Yes... but you have proven so much more than I first imagined." Kronika responded. "But now you see the reason why I have brought you here. I want to help you, but I can only do so if you help me." Her words put a fresh spark in the electromancer and he looked up with a curious gleam in his eye.
"How?" He wondered incredulously.
"Life has always been about balance. It always will. However, the balance I established was upset by Raiden's victory over Shinnok." Kronika told him. "The Elder God's demise threatened to undo everything. But then you came along."
"Me?" Magnus repeated quizzically.
"Your appearance in this timeline proved to be an unexpected anomaly. And your efforts to resurrect Mileena and restore her to the throne of Outworld ended up creating a new balance, one where Raiden's darkness contrast yours and Mileena's light." The keeper stated, slowly floating away as she became engrossed in her own dialogue. "And then you purged that darkness from him... and destroyed the balance." She added in a regretful tone. "Without this balance, all lives, not just yours, are susceptible to a grim and dark fate. For when there is too much light, too much darkness always follows it. But I have found the key to restoring this balance. And that key is you, Magnus Shadrix." Kronika revealed.
Author's Note: the plot thickens like leftover soup! Smack those favourite and follow buttons if you want more!