The empty caverns of Goro's lair stretched deep beneath the island. The only point deeper was now sealed and salted, the catacombs of the now extinct Kytinn. Little did Quan Chi realize as the chain lowered us in the cage toward the entrance, of what secrets I had kept long after Shao Kahn's rule ceased.
Long ago when The Usurper Kitana, betrayed Shao Kahn, I was forced from my island between the realms. Being that I am not a free roaming sorcerer like Quan Chi, it is more difficult now to travel to my home than it was when my soul was bound by the magics imbued within Shao Kahn. It was that magic that allowed me to fight for Outworld in Mortal Kombat, but its the magic I gathered from his corpse that has given me the ability to travel to my island again, if at least to here.
Without Shao Kahn, my abilities may get me far, but with Outworld taken over by two of our greatest enemies, sorcerers like us will have a harder time staying alive if caught. We realized that though we are formidable together, we will need servants to pave the way and all attempts at our lives.
"Of those that I had at my side, I miss Goro the most." It was hard to remember but I divulged some of the stories between Goro and I before Kitana ruined everything.
"He was the greatest warrior in Shao Kahn's forces. Greater than General Reiko, better than Baraka, and even myself." Quickly, before Quan Chi could speak, I added, "and he protected me from everything, and everyone. Including Shao Kahn."
"D'Vorah was a force to reckon with, but her loyalty was strictly to the Hive, as she called it." Quan Chi regained some of the tales of having to work with D'Vorah under the pretense of Onaga's resurrection.
He revealed that he enlisted the agent of chaos, Havik, to fight in the coliseum to spread mayhem and mischief as they tried to collect the Kamidogu, but with them all destroyed, it saved him the time in doing so. It also rendered D'Vorah useless to him as she would soon stick to whatever great power came by next.
Quan Chi is the first free-roaming sorcerer I had met, and the first person to have ever escaped the Nether Realm. His knowledge of and ability to escape that realm alone would be an asset to me in convincing Kotal Kahn to take me into his forces. Under Kotal Kahn, I could earn my right to become a free roaming sorcerer and my plans to control the realms within the shadows would be far easier under the blind eye of a one track minded leader.
Shao Kahn was goal oriented, and stuck to one plan at any given time, but he knew who stood within his shadows and kept us all in line. No one could usurp him, except for a Goddess backed by another God.
After several small steps, we entered the throne room. Here a father was cleared by four great statues of Shokan warriors that all lead to the an immense thrown that Goro would sit on when he live on my island. These statues held the upper level, much like the strength of a Shokan could have lifted the weight of centaur of their heads.
To the immediate right, a fire trap with several prison sells carved int othe earth, for those that need to be burned free of their sin before the cold and dark cells deeper inside, or in preparation of torture. To our left, which is where I had guided Quan Chi, lead to another winding stair case and exit out toward another part of my courtyard, but beyond that, a room that most, even Goro, did not know existed.
The room had a long table, smaller than that in Goro's dining hall, but not unlike it. Chairs like the round table, stood at every precipice for secret meetings. At the head however, with an overlook toward the Pit grounds, another table stood with a map of Outworld and Earth Realm. The two realms Shao Kahn desired to conquer most.
This room had been carved out not long before Goro's betrayal. The Miner's they called themselves as the dug away through stone and dirt with all six of their arms. The Naknada were crafty and great slaves.
"Welcome back, Master Shang Tsung." The Kollector greeted us as I allowed Quan Chi to enter first as my guest.
"I have brought a guest, Kollector, to see what we have been working on."
Though the Naknada were strong and cunning creatures, they were tradesman, not entirely an army. Kollector had served well under Shao Kahn and would do so under me now. The table before him, over maps and pieces that would be used to play our games of chess throughout the realms, rested what looked like a body beneath a thick coat of cloth.
It was.
"In all of my years under Shao Kahn, I had worked on my science projects. This one had been my hardest to perfect." Quan Chi stood back as I spoke and introduced my latest project to him. "The last version was a little girl formed of magic and the blood of wretched woman named Skarlet."
"The woman in red?" Quan Chi asked, he may have seen her briefly at the battle in the kingdom.
"Yes. This one however, will prove to be a far greater asset."
"How do you make such constructs?"
"I have taken the blood and essence of tortured Tarkatans and previously, the blood of Skarlet, but for this creation, I have chosen a far better host to suck the life essence from."
With a slow, teased motion, my hand reached out for the edge of the heavy linen cloth and then pulled it away to reveal the body and face of a very familiar individual to all of Outworld.
"Kitana?" Quan Chi was shocked, no doubt.
"I was able to steal samples of her blood at the battle after I destroyed my last creation. This Mileena will be my slave without any thought of betrayal."
The face was mangled like that of a Tarkatan and her body, nude and nubile revealed Kitana's breasts, bone structure, flesh and muscle, legs and feet, everything that made her human, and stripped away all that defined her as the Goddess she was.
"This Kitana will be my protector."
"You said," Quan Chi approached her and began to caress her flesh as if she was made of wax and not real. He could not believe it as he spoke, "the last girl was a child."
"Because her host was practically a child. Only through magic am I able to bypass the aging process and create a body to my liking. I chose Kitana as she might be would she be younger than the Goddess."
"Like the Edenian Princess?"
These words struck me odd. I had seen the woman named after the Goddess, but never her face, and never up close.
"Are you suggesting that the Kitana born of Sindel is the same Kitana that rules over Outworld?"
"Yes," he admitted, but then shook his head, "and no."
Curious and curiouser.
"Do explain, Quan Chi."
"Kitana and Lord Liu Kang are the creators of this timeline. Crafted it to their liking, but they are not from this point in time. Kitana hides the Princess in Edenia because she is the same Kitana that will become the Goddess Kitana and Ruler of Outworld if she is left unchecked."
"Madness." This was unbelievable, and yet so far from reality that it was almost plausible.
"In the original timeline, Raiden is the Protector of Earth Realm, and Liu Kang, the champion of Mortal Kombat." he continued, though abbreviated. His story must be extrapolated to understand how to change this world's history further. "They defeated a Titan known as Kronika. With Kronika's hour glass, time can be reversed, even destroyed."
"Fascinating, and yet some how I am not sure if I believe you." This was all too much, but in any case, if it were or was not, we would still need to carve the realm to how it needed to be.
With this Mileena, it would confuse the citizens of Outworld, most definitely Kitana, and would be far easier to warp events and people to my liking if I had a Queen to carve it out for me. However, Quan Chi, though a free roaming sorcerer was still left unprotected.
"I have the Naknada, and Mileena," I narrowed my eyes and grinned as the cloth covered and hid my project once again. "What do you have, Quan Chi?"
"In my visions from the Kytinn caverns, I saw a being of immense power, but a being of power no greater than it's creator." He stepped closer and I could see a green aura form from his bare white hands.
"What do mean by this?"
Without another word, Quan Chi forced me back, my body buckled under the weight of his magic and the pain that coursed through my veins was like that of a hook that dug the very souls imbued within the catacombs of my flesh out and into the open world.
The pain was almost too much as soul after soul escaped my body. My eyes were blinded by the green light of their energies and my maw agape as their fingers scraped my flesh to escape and yearned for his power.
He rumbled a deep spell that shook the core of my being until I thought I would die. When darkness overcame me and the cold ground of dirt, stone, and rug smacked my face, I took a second to breath and then feel, like worms, the souls that still quivered within me. Those poor unfortunate souls, in vain, in need of freedom, all accounted for that I desired to be. It seemed he had not stolen them all, but the amount he did was far more than I would have liked.
"Stay down, Shang Tsung." Quan Chi bellowed as the green energy began to form physical matter. "You will be fine in a few moments, but I wouldn't get up lest you be sickened by the aftermath of my spell."
A long drawn gasp of a thousand souls screamed inward as their arms tugged on the stale air around them as if the dust that cluttered into our lungs would hold them to this world. The last soul, as I looked up, my body turned to see this horrid spell in action, clawed tightly against the lower jaw of this mummified creature.
A naked male form, shriveled, dried, and dead by any account convulsed and plumped with both life and cloth. Leather straps, read and black linens. Quan Chi had formed a creature of his own before me. In my time, Shao Kahn had once thought of using the souls I have stolen to form a being constructed of the dead warriors we had slain over the years, but I had failed once without his knowledge. The energy needed to create this being was far too great for me at the time, but for a sorcerer that had survived and escaped the Nether Realm? It was liked nothing for him to tear me apart from spirits and flesh.
The dead dull eyes of this mummified construct began to glow green and strapped, leather and cloth wrapped around it almost like like ancient Kahn's buried beneath Outworld.
With it's last gasp into the dried lungs of this corpse like being, it spoke the words of a thousand warriors that begged for freedom.
"We are many." It spoke with all thousand voices as one. "We serve one."
"You will serve me." Quan Chi was first to speak and its eyes carried the weight of a thousand men toward him. "I am Quan Chi, sorcerer of the Nether Realm, and your master, Ermac."
What foul creation have you brought tainted my island with, Quan Chi?
"With the combined power of a thousand champions and warriors from all across the realms, you will serve to protect me and do as I command without question."
Ermac brought its hands together, almost like a prayer, but formed the symbol of power over peace, a fist over an open palm, and beneath a black and red leather and linen hood, nodded in complete compliance.
"Together, Shang Tsung, we will destroy the realms."
What have I done?