All along the paths of the temple the fresh snow mounds that peaked into delicate edges were squashed, stained, and many of them embedded with the prints of bodies that had fallen into them. The shapes of men stared back at Ashrah as she stepped out to breathe the frozen air, free of the dim lit and abysmal mood of the Lin Kuei.
Bi-Han had begun to reclaim the clan night after night and each night he'd take more than the one before it. Even now, as she stared into the grey haze of the night sky she could feel the wraith's presence. She thought, should she find him, her sword would pierce his chest and her demon affliction would be purified and all of the Lin Kuei saved by the death of the original Sub-Zero yet again.
She'd be demonized however, by the current one.
It may very well be worth it, however, but for now, she only desired silence, the cold, and a moment alone.
She would be granted only one of those things.
"Running away?" A small voice reached out from behind her.
The demon turned to find the woman Frost, the sole female member of the Lin Kuei. Together they moved to a quieter part of the grounds, at the gates and spoke.
"So, are you?" Frost pressed.
Ashrah only had one set of clothes to wear, a white, long-sleeved kimono with gold linen and belt. She blended into the white, but not so much beneath tonight's grey sky. Frost was adorned in a simple natural colored robe, almost like a cheongsam, but loose, tied with a strap of linen. Ashrah noticed the knee high boots she wore, black, leather, with blue touches here and there were laced tight on the girl.
"Are you?" Ashrah returned.
"No." Frost shook her head. "I am going to be the Sub-Zero one day. It's not going to happen if I'm killed in my sleep."
Beyond the gate was a forest, and all of this not unlike Hanzo's Dojo of the Shirai Ryu, though the Lin Kuei resided in a province of China, and Hanzo in Japan, some might mistake them for similar professions. Ninjas, assassins, samurai, what was any of it to foreigners like Fujin, Ashrah, Sareena, Kung Lao and those that came to aid the Lin Kuei, even when it wasn't asked.
Still, so similar, Frost could look out and almost mistake the icy forest for that of the mountains the Shirai Ryu hid upon. She wondered in this moment if Takeda and Hanzo had the same problem. Had Bi-Han harassed them too?
"Don't think so much." Ashrah guided her, but the words fell flat in the air before Frost.
The girl narrowed her eyes and sought the puzzle in Ashrah's, but couldn't piece it. "Death? Murder? Genocide? Don't think about it?"
"I mean–"
"I'm a serial killer," Frost stopped her. "I've murdered people because I was told it's what we do. Now our clan is being murdered one by one." She added after an ugly pause, Ashrah unable to break in with any guiding thought, "is this really how the realms are defended? Everyone covered in blood and everything is life or death?"
"I've never competed in Mortal Kombat, but I can tell you that not everything is about fighting, or killing." Ashrah tried to best understand.
As a demon, she would never fight in the tournament. She could fathom that Frost might never had fought for Earthrealm as she was female and the Lin Kuei was still drenched in the clouds of men. Could she become Sub-Zero and change it all? Was all of this really just meant to be life or death?
Every little thing?
"Bi-Han is here." Frost admitted, "he's been here every night and somewhere in the forest he watches us, or inside in the shadows. You can't stop it, you can't kill what's already dead. It's just an endless cycle of murder and violence and vengeance."
"The wraith can be slain. The sword I wield has that power, Fujin, Raiden, they both have that power."
"Not Sub-Zero?"
This gave Ashrah pause. She knew little of the clan and even less of the younger brother to the wraith she had hunted for many years in the Netherrealm. There, things weren't as they were in Earthrealm where life and death was at the snap of a finger. In the Netherrealm, death was just another plane of existence for some, and for others, a punishment they would suffer for eternity like Quan Chi.
"What would you do, as Sub-Zero?"
"Take your sword and kill him." Frost answered, and eyed the blade at Ashrah's hip. She made no attempt for it, but if she could, she would. Ashrah realized this and held a hand against it.
"Would you not ask the Gods for help?" Ashrah pondered.
"Fujin and Raiden, or the other useless gods in Earthrealm?" She explained, "where was Raiden when the Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu slaughtered by Quan Chi? Why hasn't Fujin taken out Bi-Han yet?"
Ashrah knew the answer, but Frost had already explained it. Should she become Sub-Zero it would be her duty to slay the wraith. It's why Ashrah, though if she could she would, hadn't squared against the shadow in the two nights prior. There was more to all of this violence than just that.
It started to piece together for her. All of these people with so many powers, each and every one of them had some strange pull on the realms. If one piece of the balance was disturbed it could completely tip the scale for another.
Inside, nearly one third of Earthrealm's forces slept and waited for instruction for the coming war. The other waited in the States with Sonya Blade, and the third half in Japan with Hanzo Hasashi, perhaps just as poorly, or better protected as Sub-Zero and Fujin tried here.
What would happen if she slayed the Wraith and Sub-Zero took offense to this? Would that upset the balance? Would she, a demon of the Netherrealm be forced to kill Sub-Zero in self defense?
Already the rift of war tore at the realms, she could feel the crack of reality slip apart even with what little power she held as a demon. Sareena would feel that too, but would the Lin Kuei, Shirai Ryu, or Special Forces? Could humans feel these effects of constant Mortal Kombat?
She wanted to explain these thoughts to Frost, but it wasn't her place. The girl seemed to be headed down the right path to it, but it wasn't for her to teach. She was Lin Kuei, not Ashrah's student. Instead, She leaned against the gate and stared back out into the forest as she felt the wraith stare back in the cold dark distance. The blade pulsed at her hips for it could feel him near, but her hand distanced from it.
"When the time comes, it must be Kuai Liang that kills his brother." Ashrah uttered under the cold mist of her breath.
"Or Scorpion." Frost added, almost like a question as a strange light flickered in the forest ahead of them.
What emerged was the radiance of a God. A clear white light that cackled like thunder and crisply whipped out into the sky in thin lines of lightning.
Raiden emerged from the tree line with Hanzo, Takeda, and others under and part of the Shirai Ryu. Rough for wear, Frost ran to find the grandmaster for only he could welcome them past the threshold.
As she watched this great display, Ashrah felt the sword, which pulsed like blood after a race quickly subside. The feeling of the wraith's eyes upon her faded and the hair on her neck settled. Bi-Han would not dare strike tonight, she hoped.