It has been thousands of years since Shao Kahn's takeover of Edenia. Chronos has roamed Outworld as a mercenary ever since. He has been in solitude once again, until the opportunity arises to recruit someone new...
Chapter 2
Part 1
Damsel In Distress
It was a surprisingly sunny day in Outworld. The sunshine reflected off the rocks and the small pools of water. Chronos walked through the deserted plains, without any purpose at the moment.
His escape from Shao Kahn's clutches had brought him nowhere. His life was already supposed to be finished, but somehow his life was prolonged. It made the pain of loneliness even greater. He grabbed his medallion, flipping it over to see Kitana's face. To give him hope. It had been almost four thousand years since he saw her.
"Still desperate to find her?"
"I am. It's what drives me."
"But it has been so long. She might have found…"
"I know. But I need to see her again."
He knew that there was a chance that Kitana had found new love. It would ruin his life, but at least he would know if he still had a chance or not. He quickly unsheathed his hilt, forged his sword and cut a fly in half, flying behind him.
"Well, that was unnecessary."
"It keeps me on edge. In case…"
He swung his sword again, slicing an invisible foe in half.
"…that happens."
Over the years, not only he had become stronger and faster, he had developed a new sense, that could detect people, even small flies, only by their slightest movement. Not the sound or sight alerted him, but the movement of the air.
"I'm going north, over the mountains. To see if anyone needs his dirty work done." Chronos said to himself. Talking helped him to keep his sanity.
"Of course. But you know Tarkatan bandits lure on lone wanderers, right?"
"But you know who I am, right? So that shouldn't be a problem."
He took off, heading north for opportunities to work.
Samantha was playing outside with her brother, sword fighting with wooden sticks. Her studies consumed a lot of time, and this was one of those few moments she didn't need to learn.
"Samantha! Jonas! Dinner's ready!"
They threw the sticks away, walking to their hous for their dinner. The long fighting had made hem hungry.
"So, Samantha?"
"So what?"
"Does our mother already know? You know, about…ehm…"
"No, she doesn't. She'd freak out if a smart woman like me, trained martial arts to become just like her father."
"But I know it. Your best friend knows it. Even your father knows it. Hell, he's even encouraging you to become an assassin."
"I'm doing what I can to help this family."
"Sure. It's that. Right."
Samantha was, besides her study, training to become an assassin. She wanted it, because she was bored by school, but actually wanted to become her father. He was a mercenary known in most of the poor regions of Outworld, now happily retired and married to a great wife.
"Hi mom! What's for dinner?" Samantha asked.
"Not much. Just some rice with corn." her mother answered.
"Hey, everything that keeps me alive, is good enough for me." Jonas added.
They sat down at the table. They didn't have much, but everything necessary to live a good life.
"Markus! Dinner's ready!"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm coming, woman. A man's got to enjoy his rest."
Samantha's father joined them soon, with a happy face. He was always happy, so happy it was almost scary.
"So, Samantha," her mother started, "how are your studies going?"
"You know, the usual." she answered.
"What does usual mean? You do parkour over all the buildings?" her father said.
"Don't say that, Markus. She's a woman, not suited for such… useless activities."
"Ah, come on, woman. It's not like she's paralyzed or something. She can take care of herself."
"No, she can't. She's a woman. She should be taken care of."
Samantha got frustrated with her mother. Her father and brother joke around when she's vaguely describing her day, and she didn't even mind. She saw that as 'you're not inferior to us, but equal'. But her mother was a woman that was weak and insecure. She only went out of the house when she needed to water the plants.
"Mom, Samantha can really take care of herself. She punches a guy at school when necessary." Jonas blurted out. Their mother wasn't pleased with that.
"Samantha, is that true?"
"Well… only when they can't stay away from me." she responded, but her mother disapproved of it.
"Samantha, you will not use violence in any way! Do you understand?"
"But mom…"
"No buts! To your room!"
"Ah, come on, woman. She acts purely out of self-defence, not out of revenge or something."
"Doesn't matter, Markus! Violence is violence."
Samantha went up to her room. It wasn't empty, though. She could entertain herself for hours. Her prize jewel was her sword. It was carved from pure titanium, engraved with the words 'The sword isn't a tool. It's an extension of your body.', sheathed in a minimally decorated, yet great sheath. It was made by an old man she met once.
"Take this, my child. It'll be a great gift to your family. Or even for yourself."
"I don't know…"
"You got your fathers eyes, you know that."
She turned around. Her father was looking at some statues for decoration.
"How do you know my father?" she said while turning around, but the old man was gone.
"Samantha! Hey, Samantha." her father yelled. He saw the sword. "Where did you get that?"
"I'm sorry. I got it from an old man, but I'll just… throw it away."
"Don't. Consider it a gift. I'll take it for now, since your mother is so strict about your safety. I'll give it to you when you're home."
"Thanks, dad." she said, before going home.
She stayed in her room all night, reading some books and, frankly, comics from Earthrealm. One of them was about a superhero called Superman. The human race didn't know any people with real powers, only people who could break a wooden plank with their heads. She fell asleep to the comics, dreaming about what Earthrealm would be like, about the future. But she was also haunted by a nightmare. A nightmare soon to come true.
Samantha woke up. She was awoken by a sound from downstairs. Her parents were still awake, reading and such. She went to the bathroom to wash her face, when a small thud came from downstairs. There was a scream, but soon that too was shut by a unknown intruder. She ran to Jonas room, along with her sword.
"Jonas. Jonas." she whispered.
"What, Samantha? I hope it's important."
"I think there are people robbing us."
"Serious? We should keep silent then. We can overpower them from behind."
But that plan soon fell apart when a pair of masked men stormed in the room. They knocked Samantha unconscious, causing her to bleed internally and stabbed Jonas in his stomach. He quickly bled to death while the bandits searched all the rooms, but found nothing. Samantha woke up, but could barely open her eyes. She listened to the conversation amongst them.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing, man. These people are poor as shit."
"But their house is so big. How could they afford it?"
"The man we just killed is a retired mercenary. He bought this house from his winnings, but the rest of the gold was gone."
"Look, we can teach each other history, or we can decide what to do now."
"Right. You know what, let's just torch the building."
"Torch it?! But…"
"Nobody's around. There won't be anyone to help these poor suckers."
"Alright, let's burn this place down!"
Samantha tried to crawl away, but she slipped back in unconsciousness.
Chronos was walking along a small, dirt road. It was evening and the sun was setting. He was drifting away into his mind, when one of his nightmares visited him again. He quickly focused on the real world again, when he noticed a house on fire.
"Looks like someone could use your help."
"Indeed.", Chronos responded. He ran towards the house, noticing some thugs running away from it. He would catch them later, but for now, his goal was to save any residents inside. If they were still alive. The house was seriously burning, but Chroos decided to jump inside. He didn't care for any burns marks or excruciating heat. He had felt worse.
He ran to what was supposed to be the living room. He saw two bodies, not killed by the fire, but killed by the thugs. He ran upstairs, searching all the rooms. He eventually found one room that, also, had two bodies inside of it. But one of them wasn't dead. She was still breathing.
"Come on, girl. Let's get you out of here."
He lifted her up in his arms, taking what presumably her sword and started running for the stairs. But the stairs had fallen apart, and the only way down was to jump.
'Well then, let's jump.", he said, before crashing through one of the walls, flying through the air and landing quite safely on the front garden of the building. He was just in time, because the house fell apart. It was gone. The girl woke up, mumbling something unintelligible. Chronos noticed a wound on her head, indicating that she'd been hit by one of the thugs, but not hard enough to kill her.
"Ugh… I feel… weaker." she said. She was dying by internal bleeding. Chronos had to do something. He suddenly remembered something Sonorch said during one of his first fights. He was the God of Death, but Death had, at least in his own vision, some pretty neat tricks. So he could save her. He placed his hand on her head, focused on the wound and started healing it. The longer he did, the more the girl opened her eyes, until she was fully restored. She immediately took the sword and swung it, but Chronos instinctively dodged it.
"You! Get away from me!" she cried.
"Well, that's one way to thank your saviour."
"You're not my saviour!"
"That house, or more accurately, the ashes of that house, tell a different story."
She lowered her sword, but still kept it ready, in case the guy in front of her was a vulture, grabbing the leftovers of all the others.
"Relax. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help you."
She still was suspicious, but his deep, calm tone did comfort her. She sheathed her sword.
"What is your name, girl?"
"Samantha."
"And how old are you? Because you don't look that old."
"I'm nineteen."
"That's pretty young. But yeah, I became a mercenary when I was twenty-ish. Well, hello, Samantha. I'm Chronos. I'm…"
"Wait, you're Chronos? Thé Chronos?"
"If I'm someone else, I'd like to know that. But yes, I am Chronos."
Samantha instantly felt safe around him. He had a big reputation around here.
"Hey, is there somewhere around here that I can rest, Samantha? Because, you know, your house isn't the best place to rest."
"Yeah, I do. It's a little secret of mine. Come along."
Chronos followed the woman to a hill. It was a strange hill, with some kind of bowl inside it. But the bowl wasn't just empty. It was a training court, with nearly everything that was useful.
"So this is a secret?"
"Yup. Well, for my mother. She despises women who are strong."
"Then she wouldn't like my girlfriend."
"Who?"
"No one. Forget that I said that."
"Fie. Hey, I'm going to change behind that wall. Do you mind?"
"No, not at all."
He sat on a bench. It had been another long day of running and saving people. It was a daily routine. He noticed four armour stands, three of them were standard armour, but one of them was strange. Like it was custom built.
"Hey, that armour over there. It doesn't seem standard."
"Oh yeah." Samantha began. "It was built by my father. Someone paid him to build it. But the guy never showed up to get it. Weird world."
Chronos walked towards the armour. It was shining black, along with a latex suit underneath it. It was in perfect state, with pre-carved cuts in them, attached with what seemed nothing. He put his hand on the armours chest plate, when it suddenly shattered into bits, flying into the air. It recollected in the middle of the court. Samantha had just finished changing and ran to Chronos, but she was promptly thrown back by a shockwave.
"You treat ladies that way?" Chronos said. The armour charged to Chronos, and before Chronos hit it face-first with his fist, shattered and rebuilt behind him.
"That's a nasty trick, you know that?"
Chronos pulled his sword and cut the armour in half, only to see it recover and hit Chronos in the face. Chronos was barely moved, but another clean hit dazed him. Chronos tried to hit him, but shattered and rebuilt behind him again. It was obvious the armour was not playing fair. Chronos would cheat, but how was the question. The armour tried to hit him again, but Chronos grabbed his arm and head-butted it. It simply went through the armour, that rebuilt and gave Chronos a head-butt of its own. He didn't back down, but simply cut off the arm of the armour. But that didn't do anything. It shattered and created a new arm.
"Damn it, this is some unfair BS!" Chronos said. He pierced the armour's chest plate. It didn't shatter, but it just stuck in there. The armour suddenly shattered, but it didn't rebuilt. It kept floating for a while. After a long time, it started to collect on Chronos body, shaping the armour again, and in the process vaporizing Chronos' clothes.
"This is new." he said. The armour was real comfy, comfier than it looked. And light. While he was examining his new, shiny armour. Samantha just woke up.
"What the hell happened?"
"The armour was awoken, I guess. Now it is mine. I guess I defeated it."
"Well, whatever it was, it's done right."
"Yeah. It's done. Hey, just a question. Is that your sword?"
"Yup. It's mine. I've been training with it for years."
"Good. Because I'd like you to join me."
"What? Why?"
"My previous outfit wasn't suitable for the purpose I have in mind. With this armour, I'm both better equipped and unrecognizable."
"Unrecognizable for who?"
Chronos didn't want to tell that he had fought Shao Kahn thousands of years ago, and that he was searching for 'his' daughter, Kitana. And there was another problem. For four thousand years, he has no clue where to find his palace. He didn't even know where he was, because whenever he wanted to ask, people either tried to murder him or ran away in fear.
"Just… someone." he lied. "And besides, with a companion, I look a lot less solitary."
"Oh, oke. Yeah, sure, I'll join you."
"Alright. And just an unrelated question, where is Shao Kahn's palace?"
"It's almost at the other side of the realm, east. Why?"
"Because we're going there."
"What?! Why?!"
"There is some unsettled business I have to finish."
"With who?"
"An acquaintance from a long time ago."
Samantha didn't ask any more questions. It was obvious Chronos didn't want to share his past. But she did notice his medallion. At the front was the logo for the Elder Gods. But at the back was an unidentified person, with some blue accents. Samantha didn't know what or who it was, but she didn't want to know who it was. It was Chronos his own business. They headed for Shao Kahn's palace. It could take years before they'd reach his palace. But if they did,
Chronos would take back what was rightfully his.
A quick upload of another part (creativity boost). As always, let me know if I nailed it or failed it. Feedback well appreciated.
