The moon waned overhead, the dim reflection of the sun off its pale skin enough to send a light tingle through the veins of Nitara's wings as they stretched out to their full span and lifted her into the damp air.
She scanned the desert, each ripple of dry flesh lightly tapped with feint drops of rain from the shy clouds through those thin silver cuts that opened from their celestial bodies. Daegon marched ahead until the canyon opened up and the fault lines of Edenia pushed upward into jagged cliffs. At his side, the former Shirai Ryu pupil, Forrest his name was, marched behind Daegon.
There was an outcrop covered in dry brush and large rocks that loved over the oasis of sand which melted into crag, into rock, into the perfect place to set up camp.
She watched Daegon kick the sand loose, like he tried to uncover something and survey the large area with his hand to explain something to the mortal. This would be the spot of the final battle. Where the fate of the realms was decided. She wasn't impressed by it, but he promised a violent awakening of a pyramid that would rise in the center of this spot. Only when Taven and Daegon were close would it draw the pyramid from the ground and the final battle begin.
Her wings folded as she dove to the ground with them. After a smooth landing behind Daegon, she accosted him, "just how sure are you that this is the spot?"
He reached down for the sand, to her it felt cool under the moon and yet steam emanated from between his fingers as he crushed it in a fist. The same that fell sparkled like glass and shattered at his feet.
"We're standing where I'll defeat Blaze. The top of the pyramid." He answered.
"How much longer do we wait?" Forrest prodded.
"If my brother were here, it would have been over by now." He turned left to Forrest, "I think we've batted the hive enough to make it happen soon."
"If it were the Shirai Ryu, you'd be dead right now." Forrest assured. "Master Hasashi doesn't wait."
"Raiden, the fool, does. My brother will listen to him. They'll build their forces and then I'll still be here when Blaze emerges." Daegon answered.
Nitara wasn't there at the siege. Nor was Forrest, but the word that travelled the camp was of the death of Outworld's Li Mei, and Edenia's Queen Kitana. It was a morale boost for the boys, but Nitara wondered if that was more than just batting the hive. Forrest was right, if Daegon had targeted the Shirai Ryu directly, rather than sending the Tekunin, or Black Dragon, or any of his followers, Scorpion would have already challenged him. Raiden was smarter than that, but how far does that mentality reach within his followers?
She could see the writing on the wall. What if Daegon didn't win? What happens when Blaze is defeated? In the shadows she watched for hours as Daegon spoke to himself, not even to himself, but to a hidden figure that would present itself to him to guide him, to threaten him, to assure him of his fate at this pyramid. Though she never saw the entity, and perhaps convinced of his insanity, she followed them.
During the siege, she deactivated Jax, his arms programmed to become dead weight when they needed him prone. The only two that could program him was the black and grey machine Triborg, responsible for Kitana's murder, and herself. She wondered if Daegon saw her as disposable as Jax was to them too. Just another pawn in this game of chess.
"What is your end game, Son of Argus?" She prodded.
As she stared up at the moon in wait for an answer, she felt his great weight press down on her into the cold sand. From out of the sky a pink energy ripped open and the new Queen of Edenia, Mileena darted like lightning with a heel kick into Daegon's chest.
She threw him off as he rolled away and turned over onto her back to lift her wings from the sand. In one quick swoop, Nitara hoisted herself far above the sudden battlefield and watched as Mileena brandished two sharp sais and cut away at Daegon, who blocked them, or dodged them. Forrest rushed in, only to find a swath of blood spit at Mileena from the gash she opened across his chest when she had meant to slash Daegon's throat. He had dodged in Forrest's direction and used the man as a shield. Lucky for the mortal he'd survive, but she was amused at how easy Daegon would cast out his followers.
The half-Tarkatan was savage. She was an animal and Nitara admired her for it, but ultimately she knew Daegon would triumph. Mileena stabbed Daegon's shoulder and pressed the sai in deep enough for the two side prongs to pinch his flesh, then leapt up like she'd use it as a step, only for him to grab her like a barrel and slam her back down into the sand. The Sai hit nothing important, easily pulled out with a painful scream from Daegon, but as a half-God, it would heal fast.
Forrest rushed in for a punt to the head, a poorly gauged move as Mileena rolled back. Daegon staggered as blood spilled from his shoulder. The scent was strong and invited the vampire. To taste the blood of the Gods was almost too much temptation for her, but she waited in the air. She would see this through. This was Daegon's punishment for batting the hive.
The half-Tarkatan launched from the sand and climbed onto Daegon a second time. Her maw widened and her jagged teeth glistened under the moonlight. Nitara secretly cheered her own, loving such ferocity in a creature. Daegon had one arm between his chest and Mileena's, and the other reached to hold her back from taking a fatal chunk out of his skull. It was a grotesque struggle of spit and blood, gnashing of teeth and guttural cursing between the two before Daegon brought his squeezed arm up around Mileena's neck, which made it easier for the other to do the same.
He brought her down on the sand again, this time with himself on top of her and began to press Mileena into the sand like it were her death bed. Sunken in, choked hard, she screamed and gasped, choked and scratched at him.
This was it, Nitara thought. For all of her efforts to avenge her sister, the poor girl would now die beneath the ogre of a man that was Daegon. Her body contorted, her face changed from its perfect pale complexion to several shades of depravity. He pressed harder on her, her smaller frame nearly buried in the sand.
Only seconds remained of Mileena's life. Nitara watched on until a flash of light blinded her and nearly struck her to the ground. It was a hot flash of lightning that shot from the grey clouds above. She raced to the cliff's edge to hide and watch on. That bright light formed into the Thunder God.
Raiden shot Daegon with a heavy arc of white lightning that nearly singed him to the bone until he finally pulled off of Mileena. His body was then dragged across the sand with shot after shot of lightning from the staff of the God. Daegon rolled like a rag doll to Raiden's whim.
Forrest, desperate and useless, charged Raiden's back, but a God always knows. Raiden planted his staff and cracked his energy against Forrest's opened chest to send the man flying back.
Nitara, hidden behind the foliage, mused at the sight of all this bloody vengeance. Satisfied with his work, Raiden released Daegon, who seemed out for the count, though not dead. He caught Mileena in a rage as she lunged for the fallen body to finish the job. Raiden held her tight, held her back, and fell with her to the sand as she screamed and cried.
This was enough for Nitara and she pressed her wings against the damp air to fly backward out of sight, out of mind.
Back at the encampment half a mile from the site of the pyramid, she landed on the outskirts of the tents. Hers was the furthest right corner tent, where her pet was caged for her return.
Inside she could stretch her wings of the heat and static electricity that rippled through her veins and then looked to slack body of Jax. With his arms attached and the programming worked against him, he couldn't move far. They were dead weights that arched with a metal plate and programming pad over his neck and upper back to connect the two massive cybernetic arms. Still, someone deemed it necessary to chain him to the tent pole.
When he woke to the noise and confusion, he felt her cold breath on his neck.
"What are you doing?" He leaned his head, though couldn't see her.
He could here beeps and chirps, but it wasn't to free him.
"I cannot let you go, you know." Nitara whispered back.
"Then what are you doing?" He repeated.
"When the time comes, my pet," he leaned in so he could see her face, the pale beauty of her near dead curves and reddened eyes. "I want to make sure you have as much a chance as anyone."
An amputee, he could feel his arms like they were ghosts that stung and burned at his cauterized wounds, but only when the arms worked to his advantage did he feel whole again. Most of the time, they were nothing more than metal weights that imprisoned him until they wanted him to move things, or guard something, or do whatever they desired.
That dead weight lifted quickly with a surge of electricity that sparked and teased his bode from head to toe. His fingers clenched and moved, his arms were his to command after she pulled away.
"Do as I say until the day comes, and they won't know any better." She warned, "or you'll see your little girl's severed head before you can even lift those arms at them."
He understood. She moved around to face him, wings folded in, eyes narrow and downcast at the man she had harbored since his capture.
For his loyalty, he now could have a chance at regaining his freedom from Daegon, and from her. Come the day of the final battle, she'd fight Raiden and everything he had to offer, and she'd fight Jax. She realized something that night that the battle wasn't Daegon's to win, but anyone's.
Once the pyramid formed, she would seize her moment.