Creation of a Soulless Warrior
Upon his return to Emperor Shao Kahn's palace in Outworld, the sorcerer Shang Tsung expected a punishment worse than death. He knew his only hope would be to try and convince the emperor otherwise. To his surprise, however, Kahn was more forgiving than anticipated.
"So," Kahn said to the wallowing Shang Tsung from his mighty throne, "the Deadly Alliance has failed?"
The sorcerer flinched. "Yes, my lord." He and Quan Chi had believed they had finished Kahn long ago, but it had turned out that they had only killed a decoy. Now, Kahn rubbed it in, taking a clear majestic pleasure in his servant's failure.
"Well," Kahn bellowed, "this is excellent news, sorcerer."
"Yes, my lord,"
"Now I will strike, Shang Tsung! The warriors of Earthrealm will still be reeling from the damage you and that pathetic Quan Chi caused with your futile little alliance. They will not be expecting an attack from the mighty Shao Kahn the Conqueror for a while yet, but I will attack fast. My army will be so swift I will have taken both Earthrealm and Edenia before either can call for aid."
Shang Tsung looked up at his master, bewildered. "And what would you have of me, my lord?"
The Emperor glared down on the sorcerer with a look of great disappointment,
"Ah yes." He'd clearly forgotten all about Tsungs presence in his excitement. "Sorcerer you betrayed me, you even thought you'd killed me. But, recent events notwithstanding, you had always been a good servant to me. To which end I have one very special task for you, Shang Tsung."
"Anything you wish my lord. I will only beg of you, and thank you for showing me mercy in the face of my wrong doings, my lord."
"Indeed," the emperor purred. "You have been loyal to me in the past, but that is not the case anymore. I can no longer give you my undivided trust. You understand that?"
"Yes, my lord"
"I need a man who can command my Outworld troops and who will obey my every command without question."
"Yes, my lord."
"Sorcerer, I require you to create me a warrior."
"What?" the sorcerer started, "but how?"
"Using the souls of one hundred men Shang Tsung – I wish you to make me a warrior like no other. Use every bit of power you have, Tsung; just make it happen. You have proven your treachery once, and once is enough. This warrior is to become my right-hand man, he must be able to protect me when my back may be turned, cowardly sorcerer. He must be able to command one-thousand men! But most importantly of all, Shang Tsung, he must be able to manipulate the black arts and wield enough magical power to rival yourself."
"My lord?" Shang muttered in self-doubt, "My lord, I…"
"Do it, Tsung!" The emperor stood before his great stone throne. "Do it, or Die." The colossal ruler sat back down in his seat or power and watched and waited for the sorcerer's reply.
The sorcerer slumped. "Yes, my lord," he said, before turning and leaving the room.
The work Shao Kahn had asked for wasn't as toilsome as Shang Tsung had expected it to be. He worked in the Soul Chamber beneath Shao Kahn's palace. Souls of tens of thousands floated around the vast, glowing chamber where Shao Kahn kept all the souls he had taken from the warriors he had killed in battle. Stored for dark purposes such as this.
Tsung first found the body of one of the emperors own fallen warriors. A typical fighter's body, fairly well toned, light skin colour, and this particular body had emerald green eyes and tousled jet-black hair.
Features mattered not to Shang Tsung, however, the body was merely a vessel. The hardest part of the job came next. Tsung was to absorb the souls floating around the chamber then transfer them through his own body and into that of the vessel, which was lay flat and sprawled face up on a stone slab in the centre of the chamber.
One hundred souls the emperor had asked for and one hundred souls Shang Tsung had given to the still lifeless body. Yet nothing happened. The sorcerer cast a shadowy palm over the warrior's deflated chest.
"Souls of the darkness, awaken!" Tsung commanded between incantations, but nothing happened. Frustrated, he tried again. "Souls of the darkness, AWAKEN!" Again, nothing. The sorcerer started paced, starting to sweat. His life was on the line here, and for once, he couldn't deliver.
"Shang Tsung!" came the familiar booming voice of the emperor, although he was not in the chamber.
"Yes, my lord," Shang whimpered,
"Come to me. Bring my new soldier."
As instructed, Shang Tsung made his way to the throne room, two guards followed him carrying stone slab with the warrior vessel. The guards placed the stone gently between the emperor on his throne and the standing, trembling sorcerer.
"Why does my creation not awaken, Shang Tsung?"
"I do not know, my lord? It should have. I did everything you instructed."
"Let me tell you why, sorcerer. To animate this new breed of warrior will require the soul of one exceptional warrior, as well as the souls it already contains."
"But what such soul exists, my lord?" Tsung asked, twitching at his collar nervously as he guessed at what his master was about to say. "There were certainly no such souls in the Soul Chamber."
"Ah, but there was when you were down there, Shang Tsung."
"How do you mean, my lord?" Tsung asked dryly, knowing the answer.
"DO NOT FOOL WITH ME, SORCERER!" Kahn stood once more before his seat before sitting back down and regaining his composure. "That is," he continued, "I know of how you and Quan Chi brought Liu Kang's life to an end. And that you achieved the ultimate goal of adding the Champion of Mortal Kombat's soul to your ever-growing collection."
"Yes, my lord," Tsung groaned.
"That soul, Shang Tsung, is the key to bringing this warrior before us to life! Use it, and I shall spare your pathetic life this time."
"Yes, my lord." The sorcerer cursed his master in his mind. He felt as though this whole creation of a warrior task had all been just a charade, a means of making him hand over his most prized trophy to the emperor. A trophy even Kahn himself had never been able to attain. That trophy being the soul of his longtime nemesis: Liu Kang. But then, Shang thought, even the creation was another way for Kahn to get at him. He knew he should be thankful to be spared his life, but this felt like a murderous stab all the same: the ultimate humiliation of the Great Shang Tsung.
With a moment's reticence, Tsung began to pass the soul of Liu Kang from himself to the vessel. Shao Kahn had demanded he do it in front of him. No tricks.
The process went smoothly enough. But Shang Tsung got one up on the emperor. He only allowed half of Kang's soul to pass through. Also, Tsung made sure that only the kindred, compassionate, merciful part of the champion's soul went into the making of Kahn's new soldier. The sorcerer himself ensured he retained Kang's aggressive, battle ready instincts – the part of Kang's soul that contained the killer instinct that led him to victory four times in Mortal Kombat.
And so it was that Shao Kahn's warrior came into being. Kahn had his new commander garbed in a uniformal red and black ninja's suit – another masked assassin in the eyes of Shang Tsung. But to an impressed Shao Kahn this ninja was better than all those others. This one was a sorcerer and a ninja in one, who could fight hand-to-hand with man or men, and could even control his surroundings with the dark art of telekinesis.
One of the first things the emperor had done was to have a stone disc embedded with a green gemstone attached to his warrior's belt. The green stone was enchanted and would enable Shao Kahn to control the mind of his commander from any point in Outworld. With that stone, Shao Kahn could have his commander wreak havoc in any place he liked.
Kahn named his commander Ermac. Ermac, Commander of Outworld, the man with one hundred souls would become one of the most feared men across the realms. Ermac, the man with one hundred souls, but not one he could call his own.