Cap 1. The escape

"Life in OutWorld is hard. It has always been so, perhaps because of the various conscious races that are always engaged in territorial, religious and racial disputes. And yet, this world continued to exist always led by a Kahn. It is said that the first Kahn was Onaga the Dragon King who ruled for several millennia until his death. He was succeeded by the second Kahn, Shao Kahn, who, like his predecessor, sought to conquer the other 5 fundamental Realms: Edenia, EarthRealm, NetherRealm, OrderRealm and the ChaosRealm,

The first Kingdom to fall to the OutWorld was Edenia which after the tenth defeat was at the mercy of Shao Kahn's legions, however the people of Edenia preferred surrender and humiliation to go to direct war against the great army of the OutWorld, it was simply not worth it. This annoyed Shao Kahn, who had loved to lead his loyal troops and fight an open war, however he had won more than a Realm that day, he had "taken away" the weak King of Edenia Jerrod. With Queen Sindel as his wife and her daughter Kitana, Shao Kahn was able to gain credibility with the Edenian people, subduing them and integrating them into the OutWorld.

Edenia had fallen, the next was the EarthRealm or simply the Earth for its inhabitants. The first Tournament was held in Southeast Asia in the year 1490, the warriors defending the Earth, advised and led by the demi-god Raiden fell. The same story is repeated 8 more times until the tenth tournament was held in 1990, where Liu Kang "The Chosen One" defeated the great champion of OutWorld Prince Goro and the ambassador Shang Tsung, thus thwarting the plans to conquer the Earth. Shao Kahn's fury that day had destroyed several Kingdoms, that day the sorcerer Shang Tsung would be executed for incompetence, however the great cunning of the sorcerer saved him that day. One last tournament, an all or nothing. If the Earth won, the OutWorld would not bother again, needless to say what would happen if the Earth lost, right?

The Earth warriors, confident of their recent victory against the OutWorld, accepted the challenge, however since the challenge did not have the supervision of the Elder Gods, the challengers could set the rules as they pleased, including having Shao Kahn himself fight in the tournament. Despite the traps and challenges, the Earth champions prevailed by defeating Shao Kahn's champions. The Emperor's fury could not be contained. In an act of betrayal of the agreement between Raiden and Shao Kahn, the Emperor and the vast armies of the OutWorld invade Earth from a portal located in Northern China where the Temple of Light and the Jinsei Room were located.

However, the forces of the Earth managed to defeat the legions of the OutWorld, the difference in power was overwhelming, the Tarkatas ordas, which were always used as light infantry by the commanders of the Outworld fell before the firearms of the soldiers of the Earth. The Shokan and Centaurs, two heavy races within the Outworld army with feuds that have lasted for millennia were in the same army also fell to the superior fire of the human artillery and finally the professional Outworld troops composed of Outworld humans and Edenian mages were the last to suffer the fire of the Earth humans, however the latter managed to withdraw from the battle and return to Outworld. While the forces of both worlds fought, Shao Kahn and Raiden had a final kombat where Raiden was victorious and the Emperor was killed. With the Emperor dead, the Outworld generals ordered a full retreat of their forces. It was a great victory for Earth, yes, but at a great cost, Earth's champions died in addition to countless lives of soldiers and civilians whose numbers reached 1.3 million dead. This lightning battle provoked an alliance between the different power factions on Earth: Special Forces, Lin Kuei, Shaolin and Shirai Ryu. These forces would collaborate in search of the defense of the Earth .

Back in the OutWorld, the death of Shao Kahn left a power vacuum in the Empire, because there was no one with such power of the fallen Kahn, naturally, who should have such a right to rule should be one of his descendants, however, the Princess of Edenia Kitana had betrayed the OutWorld and had also fallen in battle, who would take the crown of the Empire would be the new daughter that Shang Tsung had created with the approval of Shao Kahn a few years before the war, the Outworld Princess Mileena, a "construct" created from Kitana's genes and the genes of the Tarkatas. The fierce princess was devoted to her father, when he died in the war, she mourned his loss, this act surprised the imperial advisors and generals, how was it possible that a beast-woman felt sadness when she devoured several servants and soldiers in the palace? Finally, despite their doubts, the councilors proclaimed her Kahnum of the OutWorld and Edenia was the third Empress.

20 years of misrule, starvation and strong rebellions from the minor Kingdoms of Vaeternus, the Vampire Kingdom and Zaterra, the Kingdom of the almost extinct Saurians, caused general unrest among the main imperial ministers but even more when they learned of another plan to conquer Earth. There were several conspiring ministers among whom stood out Counselor D'Vorah, Minister of Intelligence Reptile and General Kotal who while orchestrating a possible coup d'état, were surprised by Kahnum and Baraka leader of the Tarkata tribe. With no other options, the conspirators acted and succeeded in capturing Mileena and assassinating Baraka. General Kotal was proclaimed as Kotal Kahn of the OutWorld promising new reforms for the people of the Empire and also to improve the damaged relations with Earth.

However, ever loyal Tarkatans have released their rightful Empress, thus causing the OutWorld Civil War, there were some interest groups who saw this conflict as beneficial to their plans. The Edenians led by Rain and Tanya, longed for the freedom of the Kingdom of Edenia so they offered their services in exchange for Mileena to free Edenia.

Not only the inhabitants of the OutWorld were interested, the Black Dragon led by the Australian criminal Kano, a clan of mercenaries from Earth saw the opportunity to profit from this war, by selling weapons and information to the sides they would ensure that this civil war would be prolonged and thus get as much wealth as possible.

After 5 long and bloody years of civil war, D'Vorah and an Earth agent managed to capture a Mileena, who was then executed by D'Vorah's hand in the satisfied eyes of Kotal Kahn. With the serpent's head severed, the rebels scattered to the far reaches of Outworld. The Tarkatan, Shokan and Edenian races that supported the uprising were severely penalized while the ringleaders of the movement were kept hidden from the bounty hunters.

To ensure loyalty within their main Champions, Kotal gave them the title of "Imperial Lords", they would have a lot of power within the Outworld, pacifying the regions that openly supported Mileena's rebellion. There were 5 Lords with different roles:

Lady D'Vorah, a humanoid-insect creature of the Kytinn race who always remained loyal to Kotal , is the Prime Minister and right hand of the Emperor.

Lord Ermac, a "Konstruct" of Shao Kahn, was a corpse deposit of 1000 souls of fallen warriors united in it. His role consisted in the collection of taxes, because after several years of civil war, the imperial coffers were dry and it was necessary to increase taxes, so the emperor appointed Lord Ermac to maintain the loyalty of all the collectors of the OutWorld.

Lord Reptile, said to be the last of the Saurians, this creature was given a task: to create an intelligence and espionage network within the OutWorld and outside the EarthRealm. Its agents were at various points on Earth spying on various groups and persons of interest that might be a threat to the weakened OutWorld, and their investigations were aimed at Raiden, Earth's protector god with more aggressive pretensions against the other Realms.

Lady Ferra and Lord Thor, this pair of symbiotes were entrusted with the role of guardians of all the forced labor camps for the rebels who joined them in Mileena's rebellion.

And finally Lord Erron Black, a human mercenary from Earth, unlike the other Lords who had sworn blind loyalty to the Emperor years before, Black was more rebellious but loyal to the Emperor, however when the opportunity for power and wealth arose, he accepted and swore blind loyalty to the Emperor. His role was related to the emperor's new projects, to modernize the armies of the OutWorld to be able to face the Earth, which was closer to the offensive than the defensive. So his task was to buy weaponry and technology from Earth.

With his 5 royal lords at his side, Kotal Kahn could regain the stability and confidence that would allow him to carry out his projects, which could be summarized as modernizing the OutWorld and bringing it into a new era of harmony and peace.

Five years had passed since Kotal's victory in the Civil War, a change was in the air in the imperial cities, hunger and poverty were diminishing considerably, the harsh code of justice-maintained order in the streets and reduced violence. Things seemed to be going very well in the Empire under his leadership, until his head rolled down the stairs of the imperial palace..."

"Looks like I'm unemployed"- Imperial Lord Erron Black said, looking from afar with his spyglasses pointed at the Great Imperial Palace.

With his tool he could see in the distance the imposing pyramid of Osh-Tekk culture where several figures could be distinguished in the esplanade of the pyramid. Adjusting his tool better, Erron watched in surprise, as the Emperor's head was decapitated by a Shokan battle-axe, behind the imposing figure of the Shokan were the rest of the Imperial Lore who were executed one by one by the "tarkata-blades" of the Tarkatan warriors except for D'Vorah.

Erron was already shocked at that moment, but what he saw next really made him say...

"Oh shit, that bitch came back to life...and she didn't come alone"- He said it out loud from the top floor of his residence that was half an hour away from the Palace's domain. What he saw was none other than Mileena herself throwing her Sai blades at the bound body of D'Vorah, who judging by her facial features was screaming in great agony.

From where Black stood he could watch through the spyglass as the Emperor and the Imperial Lords were executed by a diverse group of rebels. Tarkatans, Shokan and, Mileenas? There were several Mileenas on the upper floor of the palace, they were very easy to distinguish from the rest of the rebels, as these women had their characteristic pink-black battle clothes, most of them carried their Sai swords although some carried other various weapons such as battle axes or war hammers.

In the main part of the upper part of the Palace, there was a Mileena that stood out from the others in the place because she was wearing a war helmet very similar to the one used by Shao Kahn when he was alive. This Mileena was speaking to the people, it was a speech, perhaps. Erron could not hear anything from where he was, he could only see from the spyglass how this helmeted Mileena excitedly showed the public the decapitated head of Kotal and then threw it down the stairs. The audience did nothing but celebrate and shout the name of the empress returning to rule.

"Well it looks like I'll have to pack my bags, back to Earth" said Black as he watched the spectacle unfold in the distance. "Ironic" is what Black thought as he walked down the stairs, he considered the escape as a funny thing as well known are the mercenaries and criminals who escape from Earth and flee to OutWorld for" better job opportunities" .

He entered his personal room. He looked for a large leather backpack that was in his closet. In the backpack he began to store important objects among which stand out his latest treasures that he had obtained in a previous mission weeks before, it was a set of Edenian jewelry, consisting of several rings with large diamonds and other precious stones, necklaces made by talented artisans with the most beautiful metals of the OutWorld, bracelets with beautiful designs ranging from flowers to dragons through the classic skulls, a very common and very popular design in the OutWorld, there were also other pieces of jewelry made of fine and expensive materials. This huge set of jewelry she wrapped it in a black cloth bag, then stuffed it into her backpack.

"I won't leave here empty-handed"- thought the ex-Lord as he placed them in the backpack. After the treasures he proceeded to put away a couple of books that were very different from each other. The first was large and old brown, this was one of the most precious books of Shang Tsung, Erron Black got it 12 years after a mission in one of the abandoned fortresses of the sorcerer. The disadvantage of this book was that it was written in Chinese, that justifies the second book that he kept, it was a more modern book in comparison, in this one was the information translated from the first one, in the second one were the secrets of magic and alchemy that the sorcerer investigated. There were also annotated important locations of interest that acted as gates between dimensions. This last piece of information came in handy for the mercenary, the dimension gates allowed the summoner to move between dimensions without being detected by the Raiden God. There were some locations that he could easily identify, most of them were in Asia, mainly in China, as well as Japan and Tibet. He also found points of interest in America, the mercenary identified one of these portals in California. Finally he found one last portal, however this one did not say the exact location as the previous ones, this one said "Mother Miranda". When Erron translated from Chinese to English 6 years ago he overlooked this peculiarity, simply noted it down and continued.

"Very well, I don't need anything else" - said the mercenary. Leaving the backpack on the edge of the bed, he went to a trunk and from it he took out his ever reliable lever-action rifle, he has had it since he arrived in OutWorld in 1877, and so far it has proven to be more than reliable. He took the gun and its respective ammunition, took the common bullets and the "special bullets" from both the lever-action rifle and his two revolvers which were already in their pistol holsters strapped to his thighs and placed them in a leather pouch and placed them next to the rifle in the backpack.

"Time to get out of here" - he said as he pulled out a golden medallion that was on the nightstand where he left it before going to sleep. He put it around his neck. Then from the same bedside table he picked up a small notebook where were the transportation points between dimensions, long before getting the list from Shang Tsung , Erron already had an extensive list of travel points, simply after translating the wizard's list he added the new locations.

"I need my laptop" - Black remembered, the device was located on the first floor, in the kitchen.

"Texas, here I come"- he said it with some joy, he would return after 2 years to his old Texas, there in that State was his so much appreciated property, a big house with a large expanse of green land, there in that house were his great treasures of a lifetime of work, several chests full of jewelry, coins, armor and weapons of incredible monetary value. Erron considered this great treasure as his insurance for a retirement... or for a very long vacation because his lifespan was greatly prolonged thanks to an Edenian parasite that Shang Tsung had given him in payment almost 150 years ago.

As Erron prepared to pick up his computer, his ear heard a door crashing down on the first floor, the crash put Erron on alert. There were the screams and grunts so characteristic of Tarkatans followed by a female voice shouting with great authority, this female voice was very familiar to Erron, it was Mileena. She was coming for him, and if he did not hurry he would share the same fate as the other Imperial Lords. He searched through the leaves desperately as he heard the savages opening door after door on the first floor.

When he found the blade with the desired location, he proceeded to recite the necessary chant while he cut his hand with a razor and smeared his blood on one of the walls in order to activate the portal. As he chanted the melody, the footsteps came closer and closer to his main room. In his desperation he did not realize that the melody he sang was not the correct one as the location of "Texas" was between "Shanghai" and the mysterious location of "Mother Miranda".

"Come on Black, open the door to your Empress!"- shouted the female voice on the other side of the door as Erron recited the wrong tunes.

"Skarlet told me that your blood was exquisite, I want to corroborate that"- Said in a less furious tone the new self-proclaimed Kahnum - "If you surrender without resistance I will spare your life in exchange for your servitude, maybe you will like it... Like the first time we met Black"- She said it in a mocking and sensual way.

Concentration and patience were Erron's strengths, it was what set him apart from any other type of mercenary in the OutWorld. As the fearsome woman shouted her threats, he opened the portal. The portal was a black hole with golden edges. Without thinking twice, the mercenary was about to enter the portal, but not before leaving a small "farewell" gift.

He lit the fuse of a dynamite charge with his lighter.

The explosive was lit and ready to explode in 15 seconds, he threw the explosive on the bed as he entered the portal but not before saying a proper goodbye.

"Sorry My new Kahnum, but I already follow a greater cause. Myself" - He said mockingly, self-assured as he entered the portal that would mistakenly lead him to his home.

The portal had closed just in time when the door of the room was knocked down by Tarkatan soldiers, 6 soldiers escorting Mileena entered looking everywhere for the last Lord.

The Tarkatan are a very savage and brutish species of the Paramos of the OutWorld. When the OutWorld invaded the land, the Tarkatans were the first to attack the defense lines and the first to die. Several of these had the firearms that the Black Dragon had sold to the Emperor and yet they were more than incompetent at using them. One of these tarkatans found this small red rod with a spark on a thread, the tarkatan saw it interesting, took it from the bed and as if it were a dog with a bone, went to see his superior in the room.

"Classic of Black"- said one of the many clones of Mileena that was in the room while he saw the stupid tarkatan approaching her with the explosive- "When I get my hands on you you damn repellent human..."

Kaboom.