The Blood Code
*12 Years Ago…*
Shang Tsung sits on his throne with Mileena sitting along the left armrest. The members of the council (which consisted of Tanya, her father, and Jade at the time) sat in their respective seats alongside Shang Tsung. Before them stood Kotal K'etz, Ko'otal, and thirteen other Osh'Tekk warriors.
"Speak your peace." Shang Tsung ordered.
"With the freedom you gave to us for our victory in a tournament, we come to declare our complete allegiance to you, Shang Tsung." The Osh'Tekk leader kneeled before Shang Tsung along with his followers. However, his son Ko'otal stood tall and stared directly into Mileena's eyes. It wasn't a look of anger or hatred, but more of a sign of curiosity.
"It seems not all of your kind agrees." Shang Tsung responded. Kotal turns his attention to his son and gestures for him to bow before them. Ko'otal contemplates on whether or not he would comply, but he then proceeds to look upon Shang Tsung and the other council members.
"Ko'otal!" Kotal shouts.
"Hold your tongue, Osh'Tekk!" Mileena shouts. Kotal and Ko'otal look towards her, slightly intimidated.
"My apologies. I—"
"You are weak. You come here to bow before your slave masters as if we held your realm hostage. Yet your son stands before us like a true warrior. When I look at him, I see someone whose truly proud of who they are. When I see you, however, I see coward afraid to fight for the ones he loves so dearly. You call yourself a leader, but you're nothing more than fraud." Mileena ranted. Kotal stood up.
"I-I was just—"
"I was just thinking of killing you where you stand." Mileena threatened.
"I couldn't agree more." Shang Tsung responded. Kotal's eyes began to twitch as he stared at the two rulers. Mileena turns her attention to Ko'otal.
"I feel that making your son the new ruler of the Osh'Tekk is a more fitting punishment for the disgraceful coward that you are." Mileena then pulls out one of her sai and throws it towards the gap between Kotal's feet. "Unless anyone has any objections." Kotal stares angrily at Ko'otal then turns his attention to Mileena. He kneels before her once more and swears allegiance.
"We will protect and serve my s—our leader Ko'otal...with our lives, empress." He responds. Mileena, Shang Tsung, and the councilors all began to laugh hysterically as they ended the meeting with the former Osh'Tekk leader.
*Present day*
As Mileena looked around the courtyard, she was in awe by the size of K'etz's rebel forces. She was even more shocked by the betrayal of the Vaeternus race.
"Mileena Khanum."
"Kotal K'ezt." She responded. "I see you haven't learned from your son at all, have you?"
"We've killed a Kahn before, Mileena. You only succeeded his throne." He stated.
"You dare question the daughter of Shao Kahn about her power? I'm far more superior to my temporary predecessor." Mileena fires a pink projectile from her sais. However, Kotal uses a Sun shield to absorb the energy from Mileena's projectile.
"I've come prepared." Kotal confirmed. He rushes toward Mileena with the sun shield raised to the sky. The rays of the sun glistened upon the surface of the shield as his tattoos took had a golden tint.
Kotal swings his shield towards Mileena, but she's able to roll beneath Kotal. She performs an overhead split kick causing Kotal to stumble forwards. She followed up with her signature rolling thunder and tele-kick, forcing Kotal on his back. As Kotal attempts to rise from the ground, Mileena throws one of her sai at his shoulder causing him to jerk back.
"You were saying?"
Kotal stared toward the sun as its gleaming ray blinded him. He silently chants in an Osh'Tekk language before launching his sun disk towards Mileena. She barely avoids sun disk as it heads directly towards the courtyard wall behind her. Upon collision, a large explosion occurs. Mileena's eyes widened as she looked towards the explosion. A large, house sized gap was formed in the wall. As she was distracted, Kotal pulled his knee back kicked Mileena away. He arose from the ground and raised his right hand in the air. His tattoos began to emit a greenish-blue tint.
"That was the power of a Sun god. Now you will face the power of a War god." He stated.
Mileena looked into the air as she heard a flute like sound. Above K'etz was a weapon falling from the heavens. Its speed was too fast for Mileena to recognize what kind of weapon it was. However, upon the weapon falling into his grip, she was able to get a clear view of the weapon. Her eyes and mouth widened only to be compressed as she recognized the weapon as the Wrath Hammer.
"Oh, did you not expect to see this again? You were waiting for your father to return weren't you?" Kotal mocked. Mileena remained silent. "His magically Hammer left in the hands of the only other warrior capable of wielding."
"Simply wielding the hammer won't save you from your demise, Osh'Tekk." Mileena fades into nothingness as she teleports above Kotal K'etz. She stretches her foot out as she aimed for hiss face. He quickly guards against the kick with his left arm and proceeds to swing the hammer with his right arm. Mileena propels from Kotal's arm and narrowly dodges his attack. She tosses one of her Sai beside him and fades away once more.
Kotal senses Mileena's presence and swings his hammer in the direction of her sai. As she reappears, she faces the wrath of Kotal's attack as it slams into her chest. She is knocked multiple yards away as her blood soared across the courtyard. Mileena struggles to stand after the attack. It surprisingly didn't break any of her bones, though it did crack most of her ribs. Kotal looks intrigued by the odds of Mileena surviving his attack.
"I'm surprised you're still able to stand after that one, seeing how I used the power of the blood code to enhance the strike." Kotal explained.
"My father…would never raise his…to his own daughters." Mileena responded. Green energy began to form around her body. Her injuries began to disappear slowly but surely as she regains her stature. She stretches a bit to ensure that all of her injuries were healed. Kotal frowned upon the results.
"Shang Tsung's doing I assume? No matter." Kotal responded. A few of the Tarkatans fighting in the area rushed to her rescue and placed their focus on Kotal K'etz. He chuckled at the futility of their aggression.
"Protect the empress with your lives." One of them growled. Mileena looked at Kotal and smiled as he was outnumbered. Kotal's tattoos began to glow red as he pulled out Shang Tsung's Kamidogu blade.
"You leave me no choice. I will now show you the power of a Blood god." Kotal stated. He stabs his chest with the Kamidogu, slightly startling the Tarkatans. He proceeds to slide his blade horizontally as if he was attempting to carve his own heart out. As he pulls the blade away from his chest, he raises his hands into the air.
Mileena looks above as she prepares to see what else he has up his sleeves. She notices that a weapon does not appear. She returned her attention to him as he continued to stare into the sun. She alternates between him and the sun in an attempt to figure out exact what he was doing. She directs her Tarkatan allies to assault him while he was vulnerable. Once they were in close vicinity of the Osh'Tekk, she chose to follow suit.
As she came close to meeting with them, a powerful beam of light crashed into the ground. The light surrounded Kotal and the other Tarkatans. The power of the beam causes a minor earthquake which causes Mileena to fall onto the ground. As she looks into the air, she sees many other beams falling towards the courtyard. The beams indiscriminately slam onto both enemies and allies alike, causing the exact same impact. Multiple Vampire, Osh'Tekk, and Tarkatan warriors escaped from the area through means of flight or the gap caused by Kotal's earlier attack.
As the dust clouds caused by the attack began to clear, Mileena arose from the ground. She looked around the courtyard seeing many of the remaining warriors lifting each other to their feet. Those who didn't survive were reduced to skeletons. She looked towards Kotal to see if he took himself out as well. However, he was very much alive. He fell to his knees as the power of the blood code drained a vast amount of his physical energy. He was definitely vulnerable.
"I've got you now." Mileena teased.
She charges toward the weakened Osh'Tekk with both sais in hand. She leaps in the air as she prepares to penetrate him. Nitara arrived in the heat of the moment and tackled the half-breed to the ground. Mileena looks toward the woman, who still held onto her. Mileena attempts to bite the woman's shoulder, but upon doing so Nitara bites her neck. Mileena pushed her away as she retreats a few yards back.
"Have you finally decided to run away?" Nitara asked. Mileena looked upon her angrily as she rubbed her bleeding neck.
"I give you the opportunity to reclaim your realm and in return you betray me?" Mileena questioned. "I allowed your race to live. Even after knowing of your rumored participation in my father's death."
"You would've killed us anyway." Nitara responded. "You only kept us alive to learn the truth of what happened to Shao Kahn; a truth that you will never be able to handle."
"That's a lie!" Mileena shouted. She flinched as she continued to hold her neck.
"If you really wanted to help all you had to do was destroy the Portal Spheres that allowed Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung to unfairly claim the realms of those who refused to fight in their tournaments." Nitara claimed. Mileena frowned.
"Treason and deceit are the worst offenses one can commit in Outworld. Your entire race will fall to a fate worse than Zaterra's. But not before I finish Kotal K'etz." Mileena stated. She charged for Kotal once more. Nitara shakes her head and flies toward Mileena. Mileena throws one of her Sai at Nitara, who easily dodges it.
"How pathetic can you be, child?" As Nitara came into Mileena's vicinity, she swiped her claw towards her face. Upon contact, Mileena's body faded away. Nitara looked around the area to see where she could've gone. She snaps body towards the location of Mileena's Sai. Much to her dismay, Mileena was right behind Kotal. Kotal peaks in her direction as he struggles to stand.
Mileena twirls her Sais and fires a powerful energy blast at Kotal. Nitara darts toward the blast crossing her arms over her face. Ancient Vaeternus text appeared on her hands. Upon impact, a pink explosion occurs around Nitara. She emerged from the smoke and continued for Mileena. She scoops Mileena by the ankle and ascends above the height of the castle walls.
Mileena directs her sais toward Nitara and attempts to fire multiple energy blasts at her. Nitara's incredible speed and flexibility allowed her to dodge with ease. She flies towards the walls of the castle courtyard as Mileena starts to feel exhausted.
"No fair! This is NOT how you treat your empress!" Mileena yelled. She continued to try and slip from Nitara's grip, but was unsuccessful. As Nitara reached the outside of the Courtyard, she decides to descend to the ground below. She decides to drop Mileena ten feet above ground and slowly ascends once more.
"You are the empress no longer. Heed my warning, half-breed. Cease your claim to the throne once and for all." said Nitara. Mileena kept her eyes trained on her as she forced herself back to her feet.
"What are you saying, traitor?"
"Find a new hobby!" Nitara responded menacingly.
End of Chapter 3
Yes I know this chapter is a week behind. There is a reason for that though. Next week is finals week for me and that means lots of studying, lots of school work, lots of stress, and barely any time to sleep or do other things. Heck, I can't even guarantee that Chapter 4 will be released next week. However, when these classes end, I should be able to post chapters on a regular basis again.
(Upcoming—The Heart of Man)