"What is this place?" Smoke exclaimed, he and Noob stood on top of a volcanic hillside, gazing into a region completely engulfed in smoke and vapor, whispers of an unknown language echoed the landscape.
"Everyone thinks the Netherrealm is a simple region. A placed for the sinful and the damned to burn for eternity." Noob said, "Well...I didn't acquire the power of shadow by bathing in hellfire." Noob raised his hand, forming a ghost ball around his palm as Smoke watched in intrigue. He then looked over to the wraith's shoulder, the bleeding had stopped and the wound had shrunk at what felt like a span of a few hours.
"Your wound?"
"I feed off the evil of this place, it helps me recover from my battles. Ashrah would've needed to kill me, to prevent my strength from being regained."
"Since I've been reborn here, I've never felt more powerful."
"Reborn?" Smoke asked.
"I'm not like Quan Chi or Lucifer. I was never born a Netherrealm native."
"Like Scorpion and Drahmin, I started out as a different man in another realm. I was an Earthrealmer once."
"And just like me, you are a being reborn of the Netherrealm's darkest magic."
"I had never set foot in the Netherrealm in my youth." Smoke protested, "not until Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm."
"Yes, I remember that day...surely you remember your strength increasing tenfold during your travel."
"Yes...well I—" Smoke stuttered before being interrupted.
"Because you had been near the source of your power. My friend, welcome to the nesting grounds of the Enenra." Noob and Smoke teleported off the hill and to the nesting ground, strangely the cloud of smoke covering the floor was solid enough for the two to stand and walk on. Smoke felt his strength increasing, Noob Saibot felt it too, forming ghost balls that consumed the clouds, amplifying his power and accelerating the healing process.
"What are you doing?" Smoke asked. "The Enenras and Wraiths are sister demons." Noob responded with a deathly whisper.
"Like hellfire and Outworld ice, when they oppose, they can destroy each other...but when united, their destructive capabilities are unimaginable."
"So my power... am I—"
"Yes, you are part Enenra." Noob quickly responded. Even through the expressionless metallic faceplate, Noob can sense the shock and denial that Smoke was feeling.
"You honestly thought your power was an Earthly affliction? Scorpion drew his power from the Netherrealm's hellfire, Sub-Zero and his brother before him were descendants of an Outworld race—when you died in your original life, your soul fused with an Enenra demon!"
Smoke slowly turned, "Died? Original life?"
"You poor soul, I had almost forgotten...amnesia is one of the unfortunate side effects of the reincarnation process."
"However, it is fortunate for those who know how to take advantage of it." Smoke can feel his metallic skin loosen as he was engulfed in smoke; blood red eyes circling him as he can feel himself dropping down on his knees, like invisible chains on his wrists pulling him down. Noob was chanting a strange incantation as Smoke can feel himself going into a dream-like state amidst the chaos unfolding around him. Suddenly his vision jumped from the smoke covered region of the Netherrealm to the beautiful city of Prague. Still he can hear the echo of Noob's voice.
"You were born Tomas Vrabada, a middle class Czech boy." Noob said.
"You had a good childhood, loving family, great friends….all a kid could ask for." Smoke saw himself as a young boy, playing with his friends, spending time in his family, taking in the sunlight and beauty of the city that he called home.
"But then one night….you ran into the cult." Smoke could see himself being violently dragged off by strangled hooded figures, they yelled in a language he couldn't understand. He found himself inside the abandoned Saint George Church; the cultists had forced him into a white robe and pulled him towards a stone table surrounded by lit candles that barely brightened up the corridors. After laying him down on the table, the cultists recited an unknown chant before setting Tomas on fire. His body completely engulfed in flames as he writhed and screamed in pain, his robe and flesh burning away. Through his screams, he poured his pain and hate, causing the spells of the cultists to go awry. His body completely incinerated and in mere seconds, his cries of agony birthed a red-eyed, snarling creature composed of smoke. Through several dashes, it tore through the cultists, staining the walls with their blood and entrails. Though it seemed relatively fast, the creature made sure the cultists felt everything, that they died screaming in terror and pain the same way their captor did. When the cultists were disposed of, the creature vanished and what emerged was a reborn Tomas, now an adult with smoke evaporating from his skin, his hair now ash grey with the sides and the back also composed of constantly evaporating smoke. Tomas lifted himself up and knelt beside a wall, exhausted and confused, with no memory of what transpired.