Author's note: Sorry for the long break, I only write when I'm in the mood, otherwise it will be shit. As a compensation I think this chapter is the longest one so far, enjoy.
The voice of the nightmares
Back at Outworld's castle, shouts were coming from the throne hall:
"DAMN IT, DAMN IT ALL. Where is she hiding?"- Kotal yelled outraged.
"We searched every nearby village emperor but no sign of her."- Reptile hissed.
"This one thinks we should let her came to us."- D'Vorah advised.
"No, she's very cunning. I've served under her enough to know that she was already plotting the moment I've took her tittle, she will try and make me suffer for it. I would feel a lot better if we could find her, I don't want to underestimate her. Reptile keep searching for her, hire mercenaries, scavenge every last place. Do what you must, just find her."
"Yes emperor."
"D'vorah, how is the other thing going? Have you managed to get more information?."
"This one is trying her best, the records of any information in the castle library are all gone."
"You will go and ask the villagers, see if you can get anything, do not harm them or they will get scared and not talk. I will keep researching the library. We cannot let Mileena find out about them."
"Yes emperor."
Kotal was left alone, sitting in his throne thinking about the situation.
"I will not let your blind hatred doom Outworld Mileena. There are hidden things far beyond your comprehension that we must prepare for instead of worrying about vengeance."
"Where are we going?"- Raven said out loud from behind.
"A few days ago I past a ruined village before finding that cave in the forest, we might be able to find something there."- Zaraki answered.
"I can't believe you actually let him join us Mileena. Didn't you hate earthrealmers?"
"I do and I hate him but he's strong. He said he wants to fight, we can use him to get my throne back."
"What if he works for Kotal and this is just a trap to know where we are?"
"He could have killed us when we first fought. I will still keep an eye out for him, do not worry."
"I'm not worried about me, I'm worried about you."
"Me?"- Mileena asked confused before being interrupted.
"Oi, what are you two mumbling about?"
"Trying to figure out who you work for."- Raven plainly said.
"Huh?, work for? Don't compare me to cowards like you."
"WHAT?, what is that suppose to mean? Are you suggesting I'm one of Mileena's pets?"
Mileena walked in silence listening to the banter of Raven and Zaraki, not wanting to intervene unless it escalated.
Leaving the grassy ground behind they were now on a small dirt road, trees still as far as the eye can see. Towering them as giants, leaving small sunlight rays mix in with the green atmosphere of the forest. Mileena never saw so much green in her life, Outworld is mostly made out of desolate sands and dried out deserts with some swamps and jungles but none as green and lively as this one. Birds doing they singing choirs as a multitude of animals sounds joining in, each with their own uniqueness, all creating a harmonious and relaxing ambient. Everything around them was making Mileena feel relaxed and calmed, she would never admit but in her mind she was enjoying this. Lost in this new world of wonders that she never experienced she was still very cautious for any assassins that might be hiding on the trees, not wanting to embarrass herself any longer getting caught off guard. Raven who was walking next to Mileena took a glance at her, seeing that she was lost in thought.
"Empress, what's on your mind?"
"I do not understand, how do the assassins have access to Earthrealm?"
"Maybe they tracked us down from Outworld and used the same mirror we did."
"Why didn't they attacked us in Outworld then, while I was weak?, they attacked me almost instantly when I exited the cave I was resting, so why not do the same before?. Also, not even a day has passed since we both escaped my castle and there are already other assassins targeting us. None of this makes any sense."
"Empress...I...-"
"I see something up ahead."- Zaraki interrupted Raven.
"Were you going to say something Raven?"
"No, nothing...don't mind my rambling."- She said as she looked down at the ground.
Mileena was starting to get angry, it has been happening a few times now where Raven wouldn't speak what was on her mind and this was starting to irritate her. Raven was still a mystery to Mileena so any chance of finding out more about her she would take it. Minutes later they arrived at a small hut, Mileena went inside to see if anyone was there. It looked like a hunter's house, simple with a tiny bed, a table and some wood logs outside of it.
"Is this the village you were talking about?, do you even know what a village looks like?"- Raven mocked Zaraki.
"Are you incompetent? You think I don't know the difference?. This isn't it. It has to be further ahead."
"There's no one here. We can use it to rest a bit before continuing. I'm hungry, Zaraki take the wood and make a small fire."- Mileena ordered exiting the hut.
"Huh? Who are you giving orders to?"- Zaraki said as he was doing what Mileena told him.
"Good thing that I've thought about it, you two wanted to leave at first light without any food. Do you guys have anything inside those skulls besides killing and fighting?"
"Just give us the damn food."- Zaraki growled while using his sword to start a fire with the wood he collected.
"Ugh, why do I have to keep sharing my food that I hunted with you?"- Raven sighed as she threw him a rabbit.
"Here, empress."- Raven handed another one to Mileena.
"Empress?"
Raven placed her hand on Mileena's shoulder, nudging her seeing that she was looking down at the ground.
"I..."
Mileena was having trouble finding the right words.
"What is is Mileena?"- She spoke softly raising Mileena's chin so that their eyes met.
"I'm...I'm glad you thought about hunting food before we left."- She struggled to say.
Raven widened her eyes in surprise hearing those words.
"Are you thanking me empress?"- Raven chuckled.
"Do not mock me- she turned her gaze away from Raven- I do not want you to think that your hunting skills go without notice."
"I wonder how many people have seen this sweet side of yours, empress."
Mileena ignored the continuous playfully mocking of Raven and started taking the fur off the rabbit. They all stood there waiting for the food to be ready to eat, when suddenly Raven broke the silence:
"By the way I've wanted to ask you. Have you even been in earthrealm before, empress?"
"Only once, long time ago with my father. It is forbidden to invade a realm."
"Why did you came here then?"
"My father only told me that a traitor fled to earthrealm. Thinking about it now I am curious to know who it was, doing something as big as an invasion on another realm for just one person, he must have been important but I was younger and didn't care at all for the reasons, I just wanted to kill people."
"Wow, even so young you had hate inside of you?"
"No, it wasn't hate. Back then it was all I knew, training day and night, fighting until I couldn't stand up then resting and trying to outdo myself.
"Why all that training?"
"Long before Outworld had a ruler, the strongest one had everything. My father trained me so I could fight along side him. We went and conquered all that we could, then we established the Kahnum tittle, which represented the ruler. When he died I took the tittle, but now Kotal stole it from me."
"Who killed your father?"- Zaraki asked.
"An illness"
"Illness?"
"It wasn't an ordinary illness. We invaded earthrealm and killed the traitor, but after we came back to Outworld my father wasn't the same. He started to become weaker and weaker as days went on, It was as if his muscles were aging at an extremely high rate."
"What caused the illness?"- Raven asked.
"He never told me, I kept asking but he wouldn't speak of it. I said I wanted to find out who did it to kill him but he said to me. It doesn't matter who did it, killing the culprit won't bring me salvation. This is the punishment for my mistake, I do not want you to follow the same path. Then, after he died I was so angry that I rallied up every soldier I had and was ready to destroy this realm but Kotal didn't agree with me so he convinced everyone to betray me."
Raven got up after hearing the story and with her back on Mileena she said:
"You hate an entire realm because of an illness? You want to destroy it even though your father said not to follow his mistakes? Do you know how stupid that is Mileena?"
Mileena was in awe, she should be filled with anger as to how Raven spoke to her but instead of wanting to kill Raven she was now questioning everything.
"I..."- Mileena tried to say.
"The food is ready, let's eat and find that village."- Raven interrupted.
Getting ready to eat Mileena took down her mask, he locked eyes with Zaraki for a moment and saw that he was examining her. Before Mileena could say anything Zaraki looked away at his rabbit and kept eating. She was surprised that no questions about her disfigured face came from him.
"Earthrealmer, if you have something to say about me speak up."- Mileena growled at him.
"Earth-what? I told you my name's Zaraki. What are you talking about?"
"You saw me without my mask on, were you not going to ask about my aspect?"
"I don't really care if you look like a monster, as long as you have the strength of one. The only reason you're still alive and I haven't killed you yet is because of that."
"How dare you!, you think I owe my life to you?"
"HAHAHAHAHA...you've finally gathered the guts to fight me again?"- Zaraki laughed as his hand went over to his sword.
"I will rid this world of your existence!"- Mileena materialized her sais in her hands, preparing herself to attack.
"STOP!- Raven jumped in between them- we are not here to fight each other. Empress stop making rage your first answer to everything."
Mileena found herself caught in the gaze of Raven, who slowly was calming her down by just looking at her in those clear blue eyes full of mystery.
"Tch...you shall find your battles once we get to my castle."- Mileena growled looking away.
"If they dethroned you that means they are strong...I can't wait."- He smiled while sitting down.
"They are not! They are a bunch of cowardly traitors. Vermin that I will not grant them the mercy of death."- Mileena now furious said as she was looking at her clenched fist.
Everyone was eating in silence, every bite and then there was some mocking between Raven and Zaraki but as for Mileena, she was lost in her thoughts.
"Alright, let's get a move on. I want to reach it by night, hopefully not to sleep on dirt."- Zaraki said as he started to take the lead again.
All three of them started walking, Zaraki and Raven next to each other and Mileena further back still hung up on what Raven said.
"So, what are you?"- Zaraki asked looking at Raven.
"What kind of question is that?"
"Mileena is an empress or whatever, and you're with her so are you her underling?"
"Yeah she wishes, but no, I'm an assassin."
"So, a coward then?"
"What?"
"You kill people when they are unprepared, seems like something a weakling would do."
"If I can sneak up and kill you without being noticed, doesn't that make you the weakling?"
"HA, you got a point there. So how did you end up with this assassin Mileena?"
"I was locked in my dungeon when I met her, she helped me escape and she tagged along until we find the one who hired her."
"HA-HAHA, some assassin you are. Can't even kill a locked prisoner."- Zaraki mocked Raven.
"I could have, I just chose not to. But, to give her some credit she was actually in very bad shape, even though she tried to hide it. Isn't that right, empress."- Raven playfully called her tittle.
"Tch..."- Mileena hissed looking away.
"Then Mileena put me up for trial."
"Trial?"
"Yes and I passed Mileena's test of strength."
"WHAT? You lost to her?"- Zaraki asked confused.
"...Her abilities caught me off guard."- Mileena mumbled to herself.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA, maybe I gave you too much credit."
Mileena was starting to get really angry caused by the constant mocking from the two. But calmed down when seeing Raven smile at her. Mileena sighed under her mask and kept walking along side her.
The three of them arrived at a village, or what once looked like a village. Everything was in ruins, seems like the village was burned down. All the wooden planks of some of the walls that were barely standing were scorched, just touching them was enough to make them fall and turn to charcoal. Raven had an uneasy feeling since seeing the village from a far. Now close to it something seemed familiar, before she could give it a second thought or talk about it with Mileena, all of a sudden something changed. In a blink of an eye everything went black and the ruins were no more, all the burned houses were back to normal. She got even more frighten when she looked down at her hands and feet, she was a little girl. Looking around trying to find answers she noticed that it was night, confused as she clearly remembered it to be day time just a few minutes ago. The only light present in the village was coming from the fire of a burning house nearby. Raven's attention went there as she heard a soft, quiet, soothing chuckle in her ear. She started looking all around her but no one was present.
Further into the village Mileena noticed that only Zaraki and her were walking, she turned around and saw Raven at the entrance, she was on her knees with one hand covering her face and the other one on her throat but that wasn't what made Mileena feel uneasy, huge amounts of black shadows were coming from her body like steam, since her hair was just as black as the shadows it made it looked like her hair was growing, expanding itself over the ground and air alike but in reality it was just emitting shadows through it. The shadows on the sky started engulfing everything around, in just a few moments the whole village was covered in darkness making it look like complete night. Zaraki suddenly noticed this and turned around to ask them about it, he then saw that Raven was the cause of it.
"Oi, you losing it?- he asked Raven, seeing her in the state that she was- HA-HAHA, I guess I'm gonna have to put you down."- He smiled unsheathing his sword, getting ready to attack.
"No!."- Mileena growled, extending her hand in front of him.
This stopped Zaraki from continuing with his intentions. Mileena carefully started making her way towards Raven through the thick darkness that was in the air.
"Raven, what is wrong?. Are you okay?."
Raven turned around when she heard her name and saw the shadow from her nightmares getting closer, calling her name. The shadow's voice was so dark and high pitched that sent shivers down her spine. The closer the shadow got, the hotter the scar on her throat burned.
"AARRGH!"- Raven screamed in pain, griping her throat to try and stop the burning.
Mileena stopped walking and widened her eyes in shock seeing what was happening, after Raven started her screams dozen of clones were crawling from the shadows that were roaming the ground, like dead people arising from theirs graves. They didn't look like her normal clones, these ones were completely dark, no resemblance to Raven whatsoever. These were pure black shadows, all of them equipped with daggers.
"RAVEN!."- Mileena yelled at her, trying to snap her out of it.
"RAVEN!."- The shadow lunged at her.
"NOOO."- Raven yelled back, not wanting the shadow to get her.
Hearing their master in pain, the shadows jumped at Mileena and Zaraki from all directions, attacking them ruthlessly.
"Was she always able to summon so many?."- Mileena said confused by the sheer amount of clones surrounding both of them.
"Huh?, again with these cheap ass tricks?."- Zaraki asked while starting to slice the clones that were trying to attack him.
Raven raised her head, seeing the people from the village fighting against monsters. She felt as thought she had seen or lived this before. Distracted by all the screaming and fighting of the villagers she didn't noticed that the shadow was now in front, looking down at her.
"Raaa...veeen...- The shadow calmly called to her but Raven couldn't put a face on the shadow despite its voice being familiar."
Raven immediately turned around and started running as fast as she could.
Mileena was running towards her but was stopped by the clones, parrying the attacks and piercing two of them with her sais in the process.
"RAVEN!."- Mileena yelled again seeing that the shadows coming out started to surround and engulf her, after that she dissipated into thin air.
The shadow clones kept lunging their assaults onto her but Mileena now furious started throwing sais in all directions, each and one of them finding its place in a clone's head. Then she started to ravage the rest with her fingernails.
"WHERE IS RAVEN?"- Mileena fiercely shouted at the clone that was on her grip.
The shadow clone didn't respond, it just kept trying to attack her even though its hands couldn't reach her.
"AARGH"- Mileena yelled as she crushed the clone's throat with her hand.
"I'm not in the mood for games, Zaraki stop playing and let's finish this. I need to find Raven."- Mileena's tone was very serious and full of anger.
"Huh?, playing? These weaklings aren't even good for that. But, they are starting to get annoying."
After a few minutes of combat, they managed to take down all the clones. Zaraki walked to Mileena who had her back on him.
"UGH!"
Mileena grunted as Zaraki took out the daggers that were stuck on her back. She braced herself for the mocking that would come from him but he just took out all the daggers from her and just stood there, looking around in the darkness.
"Tch...these clones are far superior to the ones I've faced before."- Mileena said, drawing out her sai from the last shadow clone's chest.
"Now where to?"
"The air is still filled with darkness so she has to be nearby."- Mileena replied looking around.
Raven kept running not looking back until she ended up in a house, she went to a corner and sat down, trying to hide.
"Sweet...lost child."- A soothing voice was now next to Raven.
It was the shadow but this time Raven wasn't scared, maybe it was because of its voice, the voice that got her full attention.
"Do you know why you are having all these nightmares my sweet Raven?"
The massacre of the people of the village could be heard in the house, the yelling and the sound of metal blades cutting through skin filled the air.
"No, I want them to stop."- Raven said covering her ears with her hands.
"It is because your heart has grown weaker, you've lost your purpose child."-The shadow grabbed her hands from her ears to make sure she was listening.
"But do not fear, for this is what I've been waiting for all these years. Keep getting weaker, for I shall be waiting in the depths of your nightmares for the right moment."
The voice gradually went from soothing to the creepy high pitched one and before Raven could escape again, the shadow stabbed her throat in the exact sport of her scar.
"Warm...I feel warm. What is this? I got stabbed, why is there no pain?"- She said as she slowly closed her eyes.
When Raven opened her eyes again she found herself looking at Mileena, who was holding her face in her hands.
"Raven, Raven wake up."
"Ugh...Mileena?, what happened?"- Raven asked confused.
"The shadows are vanishing, finally. Not being be able to see anything was getting annoying."- Zaraki said looking through a window from the house.
"Are you okay Raven?"
"Yes...I think, my head hurts."
"You went into a frenzy, you seemed like you were in pain."
"..."- Raven didn't respond, she just looked at the floor not wanting to see Mileena's eyes.
"Can you stand up Raven or should I assist you?"
"I'm good, more or less. Thanks."- She replied, getting up still feeling a bit dizzy.
Mileena helped Raven stand up and they all went outside, searching the village. None of them knew what they were even looking for.
"How are we going to get to that realm of yours?"- Zaraki asked.
"I do not know, I thought we might be able to find something here."
"Then how did you get here?"
"We found an odd mirror in a cave and when we touched it we woke up in that forest."
"This house..."
Raven stood in front of an old small house, compared to the rest of them weirdly enough this one was in a reasonable shape. Both Mileena and Zaraki watched how Raven seemed to be in a trance, looking carefully at the house's exterior before walking inside. They both followed her inside, the house was filled with all types of dried plants, books and scrolls all over the table and floor.
"Ugh!..."- Raven raised her hand to her face before falling on her back.
"Raven, what is wrong?"- Mileena managed to catch her before she could fell.
"My head is starting to hurt."
"Do not lose yourself again, stay with me this time."
"Ugh, it has something to do with this house. I can't describe the feeling, I feel like this is familiar to me but I don't remember ever coming here."
"Come with me Raven."
Mileena took Raven outside and let her rest against the fence of the house at the entrance. She put her hand on Raven's forehead. This made her crack a faint smile.
"Being so worried doesn't suit you at all. I like the cold empress."- Raven said as she starred straight into her eyes.
Mileena wasn't smiling, she had a serious face looking at how Raven was struggling to get each breath of air into her lungs, her eyes barely open looking really tired.
"I do not know how to help you Raven. Seeing you suffer does not please me."
"I'm not in pain just a bit exhausted, empress. Go and search the house, maybe you can find something. I'll catch my breath and join you in a moment."
Raven closed her eyes, trying to rest a bit as Mileena walked back into the house.
"What's with all this weird stuff in here?"- Zaraki said as he was inspecting some of the objects in the house.
There were a lot of books stacked up on the table and on the ground, the shelves had some of them but most were thrown around the whole house. Mileena was still confused as to how this house and the objects inside it were in a reasonable state, the rest of the village was almost burned down with nothing distinguishable.
"I do not know but all these plants and books, they look like witchcraft ingredients."
"Witchcraft?"
"Yeah, witches, wielders of powerful magic and curses. I used to know this witch who visited my castle asking for supplies. Wait, what is this?"
Mileena found a sealed scroll with something that got her attention. It was a metallic cylindrical shape with the skull of Shao Kahn in the middle.
"This is my father's insignia. What is something like this doing here?"- She asked herself confused.
Mileena came outside with the scroll, taking a better look and inspecting it on the light outside, though it helped very little as it was almost night time.
"So what is it?"- Zaraki asked, looking at the object over Mileena's shoulder.
"I do not know, I have never seen anything like this before but this is without a doubt my father's insignia."
Raven was still sitting on the ground when suddenly:
"Raaa...veeen..."- A voice could be heard coming from within the house followed by a soft, quiet, soothing chuckle.
Almost as if being hypnotized she got up and went inside the house again, going past Mileena and Zaraki who were occupied trying to figure out what was that mysterious scroll. The moment Raven set foot inside, the interior of the house it completely changed, everything was in its place, all the books and scrolls were well organized, there were candles over the table that well lit the house giving it a very cozy feeling. There were no objects thrown all over the floor, it now looked like someone was actually living in the house. Raven looked back at the entrance door only to see nothing, a black void was beyond the door. She turned around and slowly started walking around, looking at the different books, objects and plants organized in the house. Some had inscriptions over them but most were without label. Raven got startled when two very cold arms gently wrapped around her neck, embracing her from behind. With a warm voice the shadow whispered to her, it's lips almost touching her ear:
"It makes me so happy when you visit me my sweet Raven."
"Visit you? What do you mean?"
Raven didn't know what to do, she just stood there listening to the shadow. She was still scared but the seductive tone in the shadow's voice was making her unable to do anything but listen to it.
"You used to talk to me so much...but as time passed you dreamed less and less of me, ignoring me when I called for you. I was so sad Raven."
"You mean the nightmares?"
"Ahhh...the sweet nightmares that hunt you. Those are your doings, something you cannot escape from."
"Why? Why am I having them now?"
"Impatient as ever my sweet Raven. I just-"
"You just want to kill me? Like in the last nightmare?"
"Raven...you are hurting me, I just wanted to calm you down but your fear for me made it look like I was the monster."
"Are you not?"
The shadow let out that soft, quiet and soothing chuckle that Raven kept hearing in the village.
"Tell me my sweet Raven, do I still frighten you?"
Raven didn't answer straight away, she stood there thinking about what Mileena told her, "Fear is a heavy burden." and with a shaky voice almost as if trying to convince herself:
"I...I'm not afraid."
"Mmmm...-the shadow gently started tracing its index finger over Raven's lips- I can sense the fear on every individual cell you have on these sweet, delicate lips of yours my sweet Raven."
Even though the shadow was not using any force at all in touching her, Raven was still feeling uncomfortable. She was very confused, the arms that were around her neck and the gentle finger running down her lips were very cold yet her voice was so soothing and warm that she felt unable to resist anything she would ask of her.
"Why are you so cold?"
"Am I?"- The shadow grinned as she gently started kissing Raven's neck from behind.
"Or, is it you who is extremely hot?"
"When I touch you it pains me as well Raven, it is burning me, your warmth is unbearable. Yet, no matter how hard I try, I am unable to remove my hands from your skin. It is you who is the true monster here, torturing me with this delicious agony."- As she said that her hands left Raven's neck and went over to her belly, digging its fingernails in her skin.
This made Raven hold her breath as the shadow started to gently scratch her skin, her legs were giving away, almost falling back but kept still by the shadow's grip. The shadow stopped the kissing and started using its tongue, slowly licking the soft skin of her neck. Raven wouldn't admit it but she was starting to ignore the cold nature of the shadow, and focused on how its tongue going slowly up and down her neck felt, even going as far as to start enjoying it and wanting more of it. Feeling her tiny, soft hairs on the back of her neck being licked by that unbearable cold tongue almost made her completely lose it. Raven gathered all the strength she had left and managed to get words out of her mouth:
"Who are you?, what do you want from me?, why am I having all these nightmares?, why-"
"Shhhh..."- The shadow gently pressed its finger over Raven's lips, silencing her.
"You must have...so many questions...oh, my lost child."
The shadow firmly dug its teeth into her skin in between each words leaving its mouth. Going from the neck, all the way to her delicate shoulder. Every time its teeth came into contact with Raven's skin her body unconsciously twitched and shudder. It was painful because the shadow was using quite the force in its bites but at the same time it felt very pleasant and Raven didn't know why. She had her eyes closed but could feel the droplets of blood sliding down her smooth skin accompanied but the shadow's tongue licking them away before biting again in a different place, creating new drops.
"It has been far to long since I've tasted your skin. Ahhh...if only we had more time."- The shadow let out a soft, quiet, soothing chuckle.
"What?"- Raven asked confused as she felt the shadow releasing her from its gentle embrace.
"Dream of me and hear my voice, my sweet..."
"Raven!"- Mileena shook her, seeing that she wasn't answering.
"Huh?...Yeah."- Raven finally responded shaking her head.
"I'm okay, my head doesn't hurt anymore."
"..."
Mileena looked down, the entire house floor that was covered in Raven's black shadow was slowly falling through the tiny cracks in between the wooden planks, leaving the floor visible again.
"What's wrong Mileena?"
"Nothing, come outside I've found something from Outworld."
"What? Why is something like that here?"
"I do not know but this isn't a normal house, all the rest are nothing but ruins yet this one still has a structure. Not to mention your head hurting when you walked in here."
"Yeah there is definitely something here but I can't think what could it be."
"Let's go outside Raven."
"Yeah, I'm right behind you."
Before exiting the house Raven took one last glance backwards at that ruined interior of the house before following Mileena. She raised her hand to her shoulder and neck, trying to feel any marks but nothing was there, her skin was just as smooth as she remembered.
"Empress, what are you doing?"
"Looking for something that has not been burned out while there is still a glimpse of light, we need to make a fire for tonight."
A few minutes later Mileena returned with a bunch of wooden planks in her hands.
"Mileena this is useless."- Zaraki said throwing her the scroll.
"I'll take another look later, for now let's just make a fire and get some rest."
The three of them stood outside the house, around the warm fire. This time there were no rabbits to eat, just the orange light and the cracking noise of the wood burning was in the air.
"Is there a bed in this house?, I'm tired of sleeping on the ground."- Zaraki got up and walked back into the house.
Mileena looked at Raven who was starring at the fire intensely, lost in her own world.
"There's only one bed so I'll leave the ground to you two."- Zaraki shouted from inside the house.
Raven didn't noticed that Mileena was next to her, only when she place her hand on her shoulder she sensed it and got startled, almost jumping out of her trance.
"Oh...Mileena, hey."- Raven tried to fake it away.
"..."- Mileena just stared at her in silence.
"Come on empress. Don't look at me like that."
"I...I do not want anything bad happening to you Raven."- Mileena struggled to say.
"Is that your way of saying you're worried about me?"
"..."- Mileena didn't answer, she just looked away at the fire.
Raven could see that Mileena wasn't herself and probably because of what happened to her.
"I don't want to sleep."
Mileena turned her attention to Raven.
"For the past days, every time I sleep I have nightmares. I don't know why but it started recently."
"Raven they are just nightmares, they are not real."
"You have no idea how real they feel."- Raven raised her hand to her face.
"..."
Mileena didn't know what to say, she got closer to Raven and grabbed the hand that was on her lap, squeezing it tightly. Even her was confused as to why she did that. Raven was looking at her hand before she returned the squeeze to her. This made Mileena happy on the inside, feeling the touch of Raven.
"Mileena, what happened while I was unconscious?"
"...I think you have a greater power that is still dormant inside you Raven. You engulfed the entire village in your shadow and summoned an entire army of clones, far more powerful that the ones you have right now."
Raven's eyes widened hearing what happened.
"Did I really do all that? Summoning more than five clones is enough to make me feel dizzy and I've never used the shadow around me for anything that wasn't to teleport away."
"Do not let that power control you Raven."
"I wasn't even aware I was using any of my power, the only thing that I remember was me being a child running away from the monsters that attacked this village."
"What?, you saw what happened here?, how? Did you lived here?"
"No, not that I know of. Now that you mention it my head hurts when I try to remember my childhood memories. The earliest one I can remember is me hunting in forests for food, I don't even remember how I learned to hunt. Anything before that is a mess of blurry things. Why can't I remember when I was a child?"
"Has this only happened since we came here?"
"I'm not sure, I never thought about it before any of this happened."
They both stood there in silence, watching the fire burn the wood planks as each of them were lost in their thoughts.
"After I get my throne back, I will help you control your power."
"How?"
"Through physical training, I will push you to your limit, forcing your hidden power to come outside. That way you can train yourself to control it."
Raven thought about it for a few seconds before saying:
"I thought you were going to invade earthrealm after you got your throne back."
"..."
Mileena didn't say anything, she just squirmed a little which got Raven's attention.
"Empress, what is it?"
"It is nothing."
Raven left Mileena's hand and tried to touch her back but was stopped by her.
"Let me see."
"I said it is nothing."
"Mileena, let me see."- Raven's tone now was serious, leaving Mileena no option but to comply.
She turned around, exposing her back full of wounds to Raven who gasp at the sight of it.
"Empress, you can't keep getting caught off guard like this."- Raven said as she inspected her wounds.
"Do not lecture me Raven."- Mileena growled at her.
"I'm not trying to mock you Mileena."
"I am fine, wounds like these will not slow me down."
"Drop the act, some of them haven't even closed yet, I'm surprised you are still conscious."
"..."
Raven got up and wondered around the village, looking for something. Before Mileena could ask anything she saw Raven near a well, using the bucket that was near it to get some water before walking to her. She torn off a bit from her clothes to make a rag and dipped it in the water bucket before cleaning Mileena's back. Her body was twitching when the wet cloth made contact with her skin.
"Do these tiny wounds hurt you empress?"- She was playing with her.
"Who do you think I am Raven?"- Mileena tried to hide it but Raven could tell that it was hurting her.
After Raven cleaned Mileena's wounds she gently started tracing her fingers over her back in between the wounds not touching them.
"You know...Hearing your stories about how u have fought all your life, I thought your body would be full of scars."
"..."- Mileena didn't respond, she was focused on Raven's fingers gently touching her skin.
"Your skin is so smooth empress."- Raven said as she kept tracing her fingers all over Mileena's back.
"My body regenerates faster than normal so no scars will be left given the right time to heal."
"Mmmm...Well I did all I could, your wounds are cleaned."- Raven took her hands off Mileena and sat down next to her.
"You..."- Mileena tried to say.
"Hm?"- Raven replied confused.
"You have my thanks, Raven."- Mileena said as she was looking at the fire, not wanting to see Raven's eyes.
"..."- Raven was a bit surprised after hearing that, she didn't say anything, just smiled looking at the fire with her.
Mileena grabbed the scroll and place it in front of the fire, observing it.
"What's that?"- Raven said pointing at something that was sticking out form the bottom of the scroll, it was only noticeable because of the fire lighting it up.
"It looks like the metal scroll is just a place holder for some kind of paper inside."- Raven said as she examined it more thoroughly.
Mileena grabbed the paper from the bottom and stretched it all out, laying it down on the ground, next to the fire. It was pretty long with letters that started coming out form the Shao Kahn's skull insignia all the way to the end of it.
"This is not normal paper."- Raven said as she started to touch the supposed paper.
"Is this made out of...hair?"
Tiny fibers of hair were all wrapped together forming what is looked like paper.
"Mileena what is this?"
"Through trial of blood, I, Shao Kahn shall grant you passage to my world."- Mileena read the inscription out loud.
"What does it mean?"
"I knew a witch once, she used to tell me that blood was a requirement for curses and spells. The stronger the blood the more efficient and powerful the curses were."
"Okay, so is this a spell or a curse?"
"I do not know. The inscription says passage to my world, it has to be Outworld."
"Maybe, but how do we activate the spell?, do you know anything about witchcraft?"
"No...but if this thing wants blood, then I shall give it blood."
"What are-"
After Mileena said that she materialized a sai in her hand and sliced the other, throwing her blood all over the inscription. They both looked closely at the letters now covered in Mileena's blood for something to happen.
"Tch...is my blood not strong enough?, or maybe it needs more."
"Stop."- Raven took the sai from Mileena's hand as she was about to keep slashing deeper.
Raven's eyes traced the inscription letters starting from the bottom all the way up to the metallic scroll.
"Maybe it doesn't need more blood, maybe just in the right place."
She used Mileena's sai to create a superficial wound on her palm, squeezing her hand into a fist and letting a few droplets of blood fall right into the Shao Kahn skull insignia's mouth. The moment Raven's blood made it inside it's mouth, the skull closed instantly, separating the paper from the metallic place holder. The letter from the inscription started to turn to a red tint, a few seconds later the letters were glowing with a very intense red color absorbed by the blood that was covering them. The ground started shacking, making both Mileena and Raven lose balance, falling down. The red hairs of the paper started expanding in every direction like a spider's web, clawing itself in the ground like it was some sort of root. When it finally stopped growing, the letters fell down through the ground, leaving a wide open abyss.
"What the hell are you two doing, what's with all this shaking?"- Zaraki came outside feeling the sudden ground shakes.
"I think we managed to activate the spell."- Raven said looking into the void that was now on the ground.
"What is this?- Mileena asked confused as she got closer to take a better look- there is nothing coming from it, no sound, no light, nothing. I can't distinguish anything, it is so dark that everything looks the same."
Mileena got up and grabbed the scroll, looking at Zaraki and Raven.
"Are you ready?"
"What?, you want to jump inside of it?"
"What other choice do we have Raven?"
"What if it's a trap?, what if it doesn't take us to Outworld? What if-"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA...finally things are getting interesting. We can figure all that crap out once we see where we end up. If you're shitting your pants feel free to leave."- Zaraki smiled, getting ready to jump.
"...Calling me a coward."- Raven said to herself looking at Zaraki very angrily.
Mileena didn't say anything she just stood there in silence until Raven set her eyes on her, then she simply extended her hand.
"Empress..."- Raven said looking at Mileena's hand and her eyes full of determination.
Feeling empowered by those eyes alone she grabbed Mileena's hand and squeezed it tightly. Mileena smiled under her mask after feeling the touch of Raven's skin again. She looked at Zaraki and they both nodded. All three of them jumped into the black abyss without a second thought. Immediately after jumping everything went black, Raven didn't know if she had her eyes closed or open. She felt weird, not feeling like she was falling nor standing up, just floating in the darkness that surrounded her. She couldn't smell anything, couldn't hear anything, couldn't say anything, couldn't feel anything, not even Mileena's hand, that warm hand that convinced her to dive straight into the unknown. She slowly started to lose consciousness and just when she was about to pass away she could hear something ever so slightly, almost inaudible. A soft, quiet, soothing chuckle.
To be continued...
Thank you for reading. Reviews of your thoughts about the story are always appreciated, it doesn't take much of your time but it means a lot to me. Consider leaving how you felt about this chapter once you were done reading it.