Rescue Pt. 2
As Jade and Kitana maneuver through the shadows, they notice the feeble state of those imprisoned in the mines. It had been fifteen years since she last saw the mines. So much had changed. She noticed many unfamiliar faces whom outnumbered those Shao Kahn imprisoned years ago. Unlike past prisoners whom were the lowest of the low, most of the new prisoners were primarily made up of civilians and prisoners of war.
Although the mines were originally created for those who could escape a normal prison, its main purpose is to depower those whose magical capabilities would pose a threat to the emperor. There was one a time when Shang Tsung had to spend his days in the mines—actually twice. Both times occurred when he failed to defeat the Earthrealm warriors for two separate tournaments. His only safety net was Tesla's use of the Time spell which pushed time 100 years forward. A spell which drastically reduced the length of time it would take to train someone like the Great Kung Lao. A spell which ultimately gave Reptile the upper hand after the match was delayed to the day the spell would occur.
The effects of the cobalt depend on the power of those around it. Some may lose all ability to use magic while others would become powerless overtime. For Kitana, Jade, and the Centaurs, it prevents them from using magic temporarily. For someone whose magic is a strong as Tanya's, it reduced their power low enough to give them an edge over the other inmates. This is why the torture room exists; the only place in the mines where magic can be used; the only place where you can break a person mentally to the point of no return.
Kitana struggles to effectively sneak across the mines whilst carrying Tanya on her back. Jade does her best to take things slow enough to allow her to catch up, but fast enough so that they're able to escape before the next shift change. Kitana's body begins to wear down from the combination of Tanya's weight and the cobalt suppressing her energy. As Jade notices, she stops to help take Tanya off of Kitana's back.
"I appreciate your help, Jade." Kitana thanked with a smile. Tanya began to wake. She murmured some words under her breath. While definitely conscious, she was still groggy and weakened.
"Don't talk." Jade whispered. Tanya peered her eyes to Jade.
"You've…come…" Tanya whispered.
Kitana looked around and noticed some of the prisoners staring at them. They seemed somewhat frightened by their presence. Most were physically famished. Many of them also seemed to be disfigured or maimed. The prisoners in the mines were in a worse state than they were fifteen years ago.
"L-lets go." Kitana commanded. Jade nodded as they walked to the next pillar. Kitana peaks around the opposite side of the pillar as she waits for Jade to make it. Kitana places her focus on who seemed to be a member of Nitara's race. However, upon further inspection she realized that it was just another prisoner from one of the many realms Mileena and Shang Tsung conquered during the past 15 years.
"Mileena!" a voice roared. Kitana looked to her left and guarded her chest and face with her arms. Jade and Tanya also focused their attention on the man. Motaro stood before the two. His chest nearly covered his face in the eyes of the three. As with the rest of his race, he only had two legs rather than four.
"Minotaur." Kitana responded.
"Do not dare talk down to me, Mileena. It was your father whom cursed my race in favor of the dying Shokan." Motaro shouted.
"However did your race become part of the cleanup crew for the mines?" Kitana mocked. Motaro frowned upon her mockery of him. Suddenly, he had a dumbfounded expression as he stared into Kitana's eyes.
"You?" Motaro questioned. He then looked toward Kitana's right hip and noticed her iconic fans held by her waist band. He frowned again. "You."
"Miss me, Motaro?" she asked. Two other Centaurs arrived and stood behind Kitana and Jade. Just as with Motaro, they also only had two legs. Motaro signaled them to halt their attempt to execute them on sight.
"All of this time I thought you died." Motaro stated.
"Was it like I didn't exist?" Kitana joked. "Let's just say I performed a spell gone wrong trying to defeat Earthrealm. I never anticipated that pathetic sorcerer losing to Knightwolf."
"Why are you here? Why are you dressed like Mileena?" Motaro looked to Jade and points toward her. "And why is she escorting our prisoner from the mines?"
"You really are out of the loop aren't you?" Kitana muttered. "Do you even know what's going on beyond these mines?"
"We only care about one thing, our promise." Motaro responded. "A promise in which neither Mileena nor our new so-called Emperor kept."
"What promise?" Jade asked. Motaro turned around 360 degrees.
"Mileena my race to its natural form and in return we'd stay our hand of Shokan blood." Motaro responded. "I've been able to strike a deal with the son of Kotal K'etz. D'Vorah was tasked with hunting her down and taking her into the torture room."
"Let me guess, you expect D'Vorah to force Tanya into reversing your curse. Am I correct in my assumption?" Kitana responded with a smug look on her face.
"Based on your attire, you're working with Mileena right?" Motaro asked. Kitana didn't respond. "You're the true heir of Shao Kahn. The people wanted you to rule the realm even when Shao Kahn was still in power. If you allow us to use Tanya's magic to return us to our former glory—"
Kitana pulls out her fan and slices off the head of the nearby Centaur. Motaro and Jade were baffled by her actions as she did so without hesitation. There was no remorse in her eyes. There was no fear, no anger, and no tension.
"You had your chance years ago when my father gave you the offer of killing the Great Kung Lao after Goro & Kintaro refused the offer in favor of keeping their lineages alive for the day Sheeva becomes fertile." Kitana confirmed. She then tossed one of her other fans at Motaro, who ducks to avoid it.
Jade passes Tanya to Kitana. She pulls out her pole and proceeds to strike the other Centaur beside her. Without her magic, she's not strong enough to actually kill them with her pole, but it was enough to stun the centaur before her boomerang accurately struck its temple. She rushes grab her boomerang and pull it from the centaur's skull, but she finds herself struggling to take it out. Another nearby Centaur stood behind Jade. He clenched his teeth as he raised his spear above her head. Kitana tosses Tanya to the ground and uses her other fan to detach the centaur's hands.
As he wails in pain, the other centaurs outside the mines as well as many of the mines guards are put on high alert. Two of the centaurs from outside the mines rush inside. Mileena increases her focus on the Centaurs' faces. She notices their frantic nature of the Centaurs as they hear what sounds like the suffering of one of their own.
One of the Centaurs notices the slight rattling of the bush in which Mileena and Rain occupied. He gets on all fours and fires a green energy ball from his tail towards the two. Mileena freezes up as the attack gets closer. Rain wraps his right arm beneath Mileena's breast and pulls her flat on the ground along with him. The ball of energy destroys the bush, but completely misses them both. Rain uses the opportunity to use a deadlier lightning strike onto the Centaur, burning him into a dark crisp. His allies seemed to ignore him as they spot Motaro escaping the mines. Behind him were many of the prisoners within the mines being rallied by both Jade and Kitana.
As Tanya shimmies out of the mines using the wooden beams for support, she looks towards the crisp Centaur. She reaches her hand towards the corpse and absorbs the heat from it, causing the body to harden and crumble into ashes. Tanya then uses what strength she can gather to shoot a powerful ring of fire from her finger tips though the heart of a Centaur. Due to its high temperatures, the blast also mortally wounds one of the prisoners behind him. Tanya became aware of what had occurred and decided to try and leave the area.
Mileena rises from the ground and glances toward Motaro. His presence starts to send Mileena's mind into a frenzy. He eyes become bloodshot red as inhales his scent. Mileena places both of her hands onto the ground as her pink aura circles around the floor. She focuses her attention solely on Motaro, ignoring everything that was occurring around her. Rain is a bit started as notices the slobber hanging from her sinister smile.
Mileena teleports beneath the ground as her pink aura disperses. Rain looks around to see where she went. He then spots Motaro and sees Mileena appearing above him. She slams her leg directly between Motaro's horns. However, it wasn't strong enough to damage, especially not outside the mines. Motaro aims his tail towards Mileena, who was still smiling. He fires a point blank energy blast at her, but his attack narrowly misses as Jade uses her pole enhanced with magic to move his tail away from Mileena.
Motaro grabs Jade by the neck and raises her in the air. He then uses his tail to knock Mileena away. Gathering the energy in his fist, he punches Jade directly in the face. The impact of his attack crushes her skull, instantly killing her. Motaro smiles as he tosses her lifeless body towards Kitana and Tanya. The two of them smile as Tanya disengages the illusion she placed on Motaro. It was then that he realized the person he killed was one of his own.
"You should've never left the mines, Minotaur!" Kitana shouted. Her, Tanya, Jade, Mileena, and Rain all surrounded Motaro with their weapons and magic in hand.
Seeing no way out of the situation, Motaro makes the impulsive decision to attack Kitana first. Jade quickly stops him using her Shadow kick. She then swings her pole diagonally across his jaw. Rain slashes his blade diagonally across Motaro's chest revealing a deep, crimson scar. Tanya infuses her hands with fire strong enough to cut through steel to cut off both of Motaro's horns. Mileena jumps into the air and windmill kicks Motaro in the jaw. As his body sways towards Kitana, she knocks him down with her pretty kick. Motaro attempts to rise back up, but he's knocked back down by Mileena's fist.
"We win." Kitana chanted in her best Shao Kahn impression. Mileena's crimson colors in Mileena's eyes began to fade away. Rain looks onto her and releases a sigh of relief. Tanya begins to stumble from exhaustion, prompting both Jade and Rain to catch her.
"We got you." Jade stated. Tanya smiled at them both.
"I'm surprised you're here to rescue me, brother." Tanya joked.
"Step-Brother." He grunted. "I'm here upon Kitana's request." Tanya chuckled at his response.
"Whatever helps you sleep at night, as the Earthrealmers would say." She responded. Jade and Rain carried her away from the area as Kitana and Mileena stayed behind.
"How…" Motaro whimpered. Kitana smiled and curved her hand around her ear toward him.
"How…?" she mocked.
"There would be no way for you lot to physically defeat us with no Magic." He confirmed. "So how can you kill us so easily?" Kitana moves her hand to the bottom on her mouth and leans closer to Motaro.
"Let me let you in on a little secret." She chuckled. "Had you simply eaten the cobalt, it would've nullified the effects of the curse placed by the Shokan." She responded. Motaro was disgruntled by her response. "Not impressed? Well, I did forget to mention Eva's curse as well."
"Eva?" Mileena questioned.
"You remember Eva don't you, sister?" Kitana questioned. Motaro clenched his teeth. Kitana took noticed and laughed.
"Face it, coward. Just as your extermination of the Shokan race has permanently damaged their faith and morality, so has the curse they've placed on the Centaurs. When you saw me, you saw my father. And that doubt, that hesitation you felt while in my presence, was your biggest downfall." Motaro attempted to retaliate, but he passed out before it was possible.
"You still haven't explained this…Eva…to me." Mileena stated.
"She's one of the people who helped us defeat the Brotherhood back on Earthrealm. Do you truly not remember her?" Kitana questioned.
"I don't remember anything during the tournament besides your last words and the outcome." Mileena responded. Kitana wrapped her arm around Mileena's neck as the two stared at the unconscious Motaro.
"Don't worry sister, you'll learn about her real soon. But first, we need to send our friends at the castle a message." Kitana stated.
*At the Throne Room…*
K'etz and Nitara sit side-by-side on the thrones of Mileena and the deceased Shang Tsung. Before them, two Vampires spar with one another, displaying the power giving to them through DNA obtained from the members of the Red Dragon. While K'etz trains his eyes on the Vampires, Nitara keeps her eyes on him. As one of the vampires pins the other onto the ground, K'etz applauds her victory. Nitara continues to stare at him.
"Your people are very skilled. Even under the restrictions of none lethal attacks and no flying, they're able to deliver such feats of strength that no other has before. You all may even be strong enough to defeat Shao Kahn." K'etz praised. Nitara simply frowned.
"Where is the orb?" Nitara questioned bluntly. K'etz looked at her and smiled.
"What's the rush, Nitara?" K'etz deflected.
"How many of your people are you willing to sacrifice by keeping us here?" she asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Our survival depends on those we feast upon. You've already stated that you have no plans of invading other realms, so we no longer have leftover corpses. The only other way for us to obtain blood is through the living." She explained.
"When Mileena faces judgement, I shall give you the location of the orb." K'etz responded. He arises from his seat and walks to the window overlooking the Courtyard.
Nitara bites her index finger with her fang and points her finger directly towards K'etz. The two vampires were sparring before turned their attention to Nitara. As the Ancient Vaeternus symbol appeared on her hand, K'etz learns closer onto the window.
"You may get your wish sooner than you think." K'etz commented. Nitara relaxes as the symbol disappears. She walks over to the window to see what's going on. She smirks.
Outside of the courtyard, directly outside of the front gate, were pikes spread apart from each other. On them were the heads of the many centaurs that existed in Outworld. Lacking the power they once had due to Kahn's spell, their demise was inevitable.
However, what they saw in front of the pikes was a chained Motaro mortally wounded and barely alive. Both of his horns were gone and based on the look of his head, it wasn't a very clean removal. Upon closer inspection, they notice a message carved onto his chest with the word: "Who's Next?"
End of Chapter 7
Over the weeks I have adjusted some plotlines for how this story will go and these changes are affecting the speed at which I release these chapters. Now it's possible that I will at least finish this arc of Reklaim before 2018, but depending on how many chapters I decide to stretch or cut for this arc and based on the rate of how I've been releasing chapters I can guarantee nothing.
I'm still mainly conflicted about what I plan to do after chapter 9 of the story. At first a cut version of chapter 8 was supposed to come before the next chapter, but I found that version to be unnecessary filler that could be spread across the other chapters. Then chapters 10-12 were going to be an entirely different story that was connected but at the same time not connected which would cause possible confusion. Chapter 13 is currently chapter 9. And chapters 14-17 were flashback chapters which would work for this arc, but I found that they'd have a better relevance later in the story (though two of those chapters are completely scrapped). Based on what's left, either this arc will end in November or some of the cut chapters will be reworked in a way of extending the arc, but only if it's necessary.
(Upcoming—Maneater)