Chapter Eight: Welcome to Outworld

With Earthrealm's victory in the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament, the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung devised a plan to host a new tournament in Outworld. If Earthrealm loses this competition, Outworld will absorb it, but if they won, Shao Kahn would abandon his claim to Earthrealm forever. Seeing that their last victory had saved Earthrealm, Raiden, the protector of Earthrealm and the god of thunder, refused the proposal. There was no need for any more bloodshed. However, an evasion of the Wu Shu Academy quickly changed the god's mind. During the Tarkatan's strike, Shaolin monks, as well as the military officer Sonya Blade, were kidnapped and are being used as leverage so Earthrealm would have to participate in the tournament to save them.

Once Raiden had informed the Elder Gods that he accepted Shao Khan's terms, the warriors of light immediately set off to Outworld. Raiden, Johnny Cage, and Jax entered Shao Kahn's throne room, but stood at the entrance to have a quick chat before making their presence known. Jax's sight landed on the emperor as he sat on his throne.

"I assume that's the big man himself."

"The wrestler guy? With the cow skull on his head? And why aren't the Kung Fu Twins here helping us?"

Without looking at the actor, Raiden answered his question, knowing who Cage was referring to.

"I sent Liu Kang and Kung Lao to free their Shaolin masters. I expected..."

When the thunder god did not finish his sentence, Jax and Johnny both turned to him. At first, Raiden just had a blank expression on his face, but then his head jerked back and he closed his eyes.

"Uh-oh."

"What do you mean uh-oh, Cage?"

"He's got the look. The "I see the future, it isn't pretty," kinda look. You know what I mean."

"Maybe it's a vision that could help us."

"Or maybe it's something terrible. Oh god, what if he sees my agent quitting on me!? That would be a big blow in my career!"

While Jax and Johnny argued, Raiden opened his eyes. Yet, when he did, Earthrealm's protector realized that he was not in Outworld anymore. Or at least his mind was not. This was not like the other visions Raiden had seen. Most of them were just images and voices, but this... it was as though he were in a dream. A very realistic dream.

He once again saw the Pyramid of Argus, the same place that he had seen in his first vision back at the tournament on Shang Tsung's island. There was a major difference, however. There was no one around, not even the bodies that Raiden remembered had been littering the ground. Fire roared from the top of the pyramid catching the god's attention. The flames flew about aimlessly, even violently as if they had a mind of their own.

Raiden felt a strange energy surging from the fire and knew something or someone was up there. He went up the steps of the pyramid and stood before a large fire pit. As if knowing someone was near, the fire settled down seemingly as to not injure their unexpected visitor. Deep within it, Raiden could barely see the outline of a figure taking form, a woman he believed. It was hard to say with the flames in the way, but once the being started talking, it confirmed the gender.

"Forgive me, Lord Raiden."

The woman's voice was like silk, yet the sadness she felt was clear as she spoke. She stepped forward just enough to show her face, but her eyes were covered by some sort of veil. The lady looked familiar to Raiden and he found it strange that he could seem to remember if the two had met before.

"What is it that you seek forgiveness for?"

"I have made a terrible mistake. My foolishness may very well mean the end of the realms."

"What do you mean?"

"If you truly desire to stop Armageddon, Liu Kang is not the answer. The answer you seek has yet to show itself."

"Then tell me where it is."

"I am sorry, but I cannot. That is for you to find out on your own. My presence here has already interfered with the timeline and..."

The woman suddenly stopped and looked around as though she thought someone was coming. Raiden did the same, but he saw no one.

"I am out of time."

Raiden looked back at the lady, who was now starting to disappear. He opened his mouth to speak, but the woman held her hand up to stop him.

"I know you have questions. Questions I wish I had the answers to. This may very well be the last time we speak to each other, so if we do meet again, I promise to tell you everything I know. Farewell, my lord."

"Wait..."

Raiden had no time to stop the woman before he was pulled back to reality. He grabbed his forehead and would have fell to the ground if Jax and Johnny had not caught him by his arms.

"Woah, easy there, Thunder Dude. We got you."

Ignoring Cage's nickname for him, Raiden told the actor and Jax that it was okay for them to let go of him and he stood up on his own. Once they made sure the thunder god was alright, the soldier was the first to ask Raiden about his vision.

"Do not worry about it. It is nothing to be concerned about at the moment. Our focus should be on the tournament and locating Sonya Blade."

Jax looked at the god skeptically but nodded. He was worried about his partner above all else.

"She better not have a scratch on her."

"Wait, this is a tournament!"

Jackson stomped towards middle of the room, determined to find Sonya. Raiden reached out to stop him, but it was too late. Shang Tsung had already spotted the African American.

"Ah! The Earthrealm delegation has arrived. And we have a volunteer for First Kombat."

Jax stopped and looked at the sorcerer in confusion.

"What?"

Shao Kahn looked to his Tarkatan followers.

"The tournament will begin!"

Meanwhile in another part of Outworld, there was a forest filled with dead trees and corpses. Crows had made a home here and some were currently feasting on some of the bodies. They gnawed and pecked at the maggot infested flesh and at one point, a few of the birds started to fight each other for the food. It was a terrible scene, but it was one that played too often for the people of Outworld to not care about it anymore. As the crows were enjoying their feast, one of them snapped their head up as though they heard something. It jerked its head in all directions, looking for something or someone who was not there.

Suddenly, something just appeared out of nowhere. Something circular that was swirling green and black. The crows shrieked furiously and quickly flew away as two forms were coming out of the strange object. Two men collapsed on the ground, one with silver hair and the other with black hair, and the portal closed behind them. With a hand over his mouth as though he were going to puke, Tundra was on his knees and trying to steady himself before he really did hurl. Going in between realms was not as easy or as comfortable as one may think and that little trip of the duo's made the cryomancer want to throw up his insides.

To make matters worse, Kuai's right eye was now blinded. He prayed to the gods that it was only temporary. Tundra ripped one of the sleeves of his shirt and wrapped it around his head to cover his injury. It will have to do until they reach a town to get supplies. They had no time to get their things from the inn before departing to Outworld.

As Kuai was tending to his eye, he looked over at Tomas, who has not said a word ever since they got out of the portal. The gray ninja was lying on his side with his eyes closed and he was sweating profusely. His skin even looked a bit flushed. Was he sick? The cryomancer reached over to his friend.

"Tomas, are you ok...Ah!"

Tundra had barely touched Smoke before his hand got burned. Tomas' skin was extremely hot and little puffs of smoke were emanating from his body. The yelp Kuai let out in pain caused Smoke to open his eyes and his sight drifted to his comrade. Shakily, the silver-haired warrior placed his hands on the ground and tried to force himself up, but he failed to do so and fell right back to the earth.

"On second thought, the ground feels nice."

A cold hand rested on the gray ninja's shoulder. Kuai had encased his arms in ice so the heat resonating from Tomas would not burn him again. The cryomancer helped his comrade up into a sitting position to see what was wrong with him.

"How bad is the pain?"

"Tundra, it is nothing..."

"How bad?"

Smoke sighed. At times like this, he would usually lie and say that he was okay to move on, but this time, the silver-haired man could not hide his discomfort.

"To be honest... it hurts just to sit up like this. I think I may have a fever."

"This is strange. You have never been sick before."

"I know. But we cannot just sit here. We have to... have to..."

Tomas was unable to finish his sentence before his eyes rolled into the back his head. Luckily, Kuai was still hanging on to him so his upper body remained upright. Smoke's whole body went completely limp in Tundra's arms and his breathing quickened. This was not good.

"Tomas? Tomas, wake up!"

The cryomancer patted Smoke on his cheek a few times and called his name, but he got no response from the gray ninja. Maybe there was a nearby village with someone who could help Tomas. There was not much Kuai could do, especially out in the middle of nowhere. As he was gently lifting his friend up so Tundra could carry Smoke on his back, he suddenly heard a voice. It sounded like... humming?

In the distance, Kuai could see someone coming their way. The stranger was plump man with long black hair tied back into a ponytail along with a beard. He took a swig of his beverage, which Tundra assumed was alcohol seeing how the man stumbled, and then continued to hum. Besides the drink he held, the man was also carrying a short staff. He did not seem aware of the two ninjas just a few meters away.

"Go outside, she says. It will be good for you, she says. Can't a man have a drink in peace?"

With that, the newcomer lifted his flask to take another drink from it, but it was empty. While the man was preoccupied with his beverage, Tundra laid Smoke on the ground and unfroze his arms. He did not think it was a good idea for anyone to know about his powers yet. Tundra then stood up and waited for the beer-bellied man to approach him. Unfortunately, the stranger was still desperately trying to shake something out of the flask.

"By the gods..."

Irritated, the cryomancer stomped towards the stranger. He was not going to let some drunk waste time that he nor Smoke had.

"Excuse me!?"

Kuai called out to the plump man, finally drawing his attention away from the empty flask. He looked up at Tundra and gave him a big toothy smile.

"Oh! Hello, my friend. Is there something I can assist you with? You look dreadful."

Usually, Kuai would have said some smart retort, but he chose to ignore the drunk.

"Yes, well, it is not me you should be worried."

Tundra looked back at Tomas, who was still unconscious. The stranger followed the cryomancer's gaze.

"As you can see, my friend is terribly ill. If you could point the way to the nearest town, I would appre..."

Tundra turned his head back to look at the drunk, but the man was no longer standing in front of him. Kuai looked all around him and soon found the stranger kneeling by Smoke. He had his hand on his chin as he looked over the unconscious form beneath him. Mist started to form around the cryomancer's hands, readying himself in case the man tried to harm his comrade.

"There is no need for that, cryomancer."

Kuai's eye widened. How did this drunk know about his powers? Did he see when Tundra had ice on his arms? Oddly enough, Tundra allowed his power to recede in his hands. He still kept a close eye on the stranger as he examined Smoke.

"Do not even think about trying anything."

The drunk just laughed at Tundra's threating tone, which annoyed the cryomancer greatly.

"I will keep that in mind. But really..."

The man then placed one of his hands under Tomas' legs and the other on his back. Kuai expected the drunk to jump back once he made contact with Smoke's flesh, but nothing happened. He was not at all affected by the heat that radiated from the gray ninja.

"Your friend needs to be treated. There is a village not far from here. A place called Sun Do, where I reside. There is someone there that may be able to help."

With a small grunt, the drunk lifted Tomas up bridal style. He then walked back over to where Kuai stood.

"Come now. There is no time to waste."

"How do I know that I can trust you?"

"Well, if I wanted to harm either of you, I would have done so by now. But you do have every right to be suspicious. I have not even told you my name, yet I am inviting you to my home."

"So... what is your name?"

"You may call me... Bo Rai Cho. Master Bo Rai Cho."