Of Love and War
It was another regular day for the citizens of Earthrealm. Or at least it was for those residing in the Middle East and East of the world. While vast and rich in planets, and even solar systems, there was only one location in Earthrealm that Anomaly needed to conquer: The planet Earth. Their destruction would cause an imbalance in the furies and weaken the dimensional barriers of Earthrealm. That was but the first step in Anomaly's plan. What comes next will devastate the other realms. And eventually all of reality.
Buildings crash and terror befalls New York City as Anomaly's forces cause mass devastation. Anomaly laughs amonst the chaos, having a hold of Sylence, who attempted to sneak up on the sorceress. Torque attempted to attack her, before she uses Sylence as a shield. Torque stops himself in time, but is immediately surprised by the blade of her Naginata piercing through his abdomen as well as Sylence's. He gently places his hand on her shoulder before mouthing an apology. He leans further to grab Anomaly. She attempts to pull her naginata from their body, but she moves too slow as he slams his fist into Sylence's head. His fist then leads towards Anomaly's head. Taking on the full brunt of his attack, her body ragdolls against the nearby statue of the Special Forces central HQ. He grabs the naginata and breaks it in half. He then pulls it out of his body.
"How did that not kill her," Torque questioned. He then looks at the deep wound on his abdomen. "How did that not kill me?"
"I told you what would happen, Torque," Metric said. He stood by away from the Special Forces team comprising of Torque, Vapor, and Mikka Stone. Torque grits his teeth as he looks at Sylence's mangled body.
"Sylence. I promise you your death won't be in vain," Torque murmured. He looked at the others. "Get ready for the counter attack," he said. Anomaly rose to her feet and her injuries quickly regenerated with the blood that originated from Sylence's corpse. Metric smiles.
"She took the bait as planned." Suddenly, Anomaly's body felt like it was weighed down by one ton of iron. She fell to her knees barely able to move. Torque runs to her and begins to strike her over and over again.
"Thank your red witch for the heads up on how to stop your immortality. Your konquest ends in New York," he says as he continues to strike her. She simply laughs at his efforts. After minutes of still striking her, he begins to tire, but her laughter continues.
"She should be dead by now. How is she still not mush?" Mikka questioned.
"I expected her to have a counter to the blood, but she's still there. I didn't count on her surviving that many hits from Torque. Those arms were made to take on the might of a Centurion and Shokan combined."
"Unless," Vapor began. She flew towards the two of them and phased through Anomaly. She immediately realized what was happening and looked back at Metric.
"This is an illusion," she warned. "She's coming for you."
"That would just be too predictable," Anomaly said as she stood back to back with the woman. Vapor turns around and meets Anomaly's naginata. However, it completely phases through her.
"As is attacking me, Golden Witch." Vapor swipes her hand across Anomaly's throat. It immediately regenerates using the souls within her.
"Special Forces has upgraded since I've last visited this realm. Looks like I'll have to turn this around. You there!" She points to Metric and forms a ring of fire. "If these three fail because of your actions, you will perish," she says before firing the ring towards him. Mikka Stone jumps in the way and swipes at the fire. Instead of it being split, it passes through her and locks itself around Metric's heart.
"Contract by magic I assume?" Metric chuckled. "Your name, what is it again?"
"Most know me as Anomaly. As you can clearly see why," she boasted. Vapor attempts to use the opportunity to attack her, but she dodges the woman as if she had eyes behind her head.
"I'm somewhat of an anomaly myself," he stated. A bullet passes by him and strikes the woman in the forehead. The large gaping hole starts to regenerate and she looks beyond the man. Kurtis Striker and numerous armed men and women came from behind. They begin firing their rounds at her, but she stops them all as she twirls her naginata. Vapor continues to attack her as does Torque. With one twirl of her body, she finds herself flashing purple. She grabs Vapor's arm, surprising her and her allies. Immediately, she lights herself on fire causing a mass explosion. The armed warriors stopped their gun fire, but kept their weapons trained on her position. As the smoke clears, chunks of the bodies of Vapor and Torque were spread across the landscape. Anomaly's mangled body slowly regenerates using their blood and the souls residing within her. As she became whole again, she yawns.
"One warrior remains," she muttered. Metric's frustration was clearly visible to Mikka Stone. She continues to stay by his side, refusing to give in to the woman's use of fear. Anomaly waltz towards the woman before taking on a barrage of bullets once more. Yet this time, each bullet phases through her. Mikka takes a few steps back still attempting to ignore the fear put into her heart by Anomaly's unconventional abilities.
"Corporal Stone!" Metric shouted. She starts to turn her head. "Don't look back!" he instructed. "Skin Contact still harms her. And don't let her set herself on fire."
"Right," she sighed. Mikka readies her blades. Anomaly smiles and stops walking. Stryker signals the others not to fire. Mikka runs towards Anomaly who readies her naginata. Mikka swings at the woman and the sword starts phasing through her. Anomaly swings her naginata down. It collides with Mikka's second sword, and with a quick motion, Mikka releases her grip from the blades and slithers behind Anomaly. She wraps her arms around her in a full nelson hold. Anomaly attempts to break out, but fails to escape the strength of the woman. She break Anomaly's neck with the move, but refuses to let go until Anomaly could no longer regenerate.
"Great, keep at it as long as you can. A few of us are on the way," Stryker said as he and 1/3rd of the armed forces ran towards her. Anomaly awakens and tries kicking the woman's shins to keep her off. Yet, Mikka didn't stop. She wraps one leg around Anomaly's and they both fall to the ground, with Anomaly lying face first. Anomaly grunts as she struggles to escape the woman. As stryker's men approach, Stryker places specialized handcuffs on her hands. Anomaly laughs.
"What's so funny b—"
"A great plan for any other Edenian," she interrupted. "But not for this one." Anomaly ignites her left leg. As she starts to explode, Mikka taps her shoes together and the two teleport many kilometers high into the sky before Anomaly explodes. Metric watches in awe as his entire team had been decimated. Both corpses fell from the sky, but Anomaly's corpse began to regenerate using not the blood, but the souls within her body. She perfectly lands on her feet.
"There's something that's been bothering me," Metric said, "when your body repairs itself, it also repairs the clothes you wear."
"Of course it would, why would I walk around in rags Earthrealmer?" Metric places his finger beneath his bottom lip.
"How is that possible? Blood can regenerate your skin, but I don't see how it can regenerate your outfit."
"That's because this outfit was forged using the millions of souls I've taken throughout the millennia. Including the lives I've taken in this city." Everyone was disgusted by the smug attitude she had while saying that last sentence.
Stryker wasted no time punching the lady into the ground. She immediately hops up and takes on the full brunt of his taser. She holds onto her life for as long as possible while trying her best to roll her wrist around to circulate the current of electricity. She flattens that same hand and turns it so that her palm faces the sky. She closes three of her fingers to that only her middle and index finger were stretched out. The current leaves her body and goes directly into Strykers head. The current violently bounces around his skull. With an agonizing scream, Stryker's head finally bursts. His crimson blood runs down her body as his falls to the ground. Anomaly then takes out the rest of his men with a series of unnaturally strong physical blows. Each dropped one by one as if they didn't understand what was happening. Anomaly finally looks at Metric and snaps her finger.
"Contract terminated." Metric's eye bulged from his head and a painful, burning sensation surrounds his heart. As he collapses and his vision fades to black, he learns one last thing about anomaly's power. Something he could not tell anyone anymore as he passes. Anomaly looks at the rest of the armed forces, whom seemed lost with both of their leading men killed in action. Anomaly bows.
"Now that you all have seen my power, I shall give you two options. Serve me in life or serve me in death." she announces. The soldiers seemed uneasy by the ultimatum. Anomaly points to the top of what remained of the Special Forces building. "In their resides a coward. One you would call Fang. Leader of the Special Forces. Shoot him out of that building." Some of the soldiers begin to take aim, but they are thwarted by infighting between those who choose life and those who choose their duty. Anomaly shakes her head in frustration. "The skitish nature of Earthrealmers has always pissed me off."
She points her finger towards the top of the building and shoots a fireball aimed towards Fang's room. The man jumps out of the window and grabs her fireball with his bare hand. Anomaly was shocked. She didn't expect him to catch the fireball, let alone jump out of the window to face her. As he lands on the ground a dozen stories high, he tosses the fire back toward the group of armed soldiers. The fiery explosion bread screams loud enough to muffle the crumbling debris around them. As the noise began to die down and the smoke begins to thin out, fire surrounds a larges portion of the area they stood at.
"How useless can they be," he said as he massaged his wrist.
"You would kill your own men because they don't lick your boots? At least they weren't my men." Anomaly said.
"The charade is over with you being here. The Special Forces is dead. That doesn't mean my time is up."
"Who are you working for?"
"That's none of your concern, witch," Fang responded. He digs his fingers into the ground and tosses a chunk of the concrete toward the woman. She destroys the debris, but falls for his distraction as he grabs her ankles from beneath the ground. She looks up as she senses someone coming her way. Immediately, she's kicked in the face and knocked out cold.
Slowly, her dazed vision starts coming back to her. She hears the muffled voices of numerous men and women believing that they have the advantage. However, they seem to also be arguing with Fang over his treason against the American people. A third party could be heard trying to mediate the commotion, to no avail. One of the soldiers raises their weapons toward Fang until they see Anomaly's eyes reopening.
Fang, realizing this as well, runs towards the woman with his claws and prepares to finish her off. However, he feels a sharp pain strike him in the back of the head. A wet substance fell from his forehead where a gust of wind whistled. As he tumbled over, he peeked behind himself and saw the one who'd ended his life. Holding his smoking pistol towards Fang was Sergeant Capitol.
The other soldiers around them were in shock. Not just by how Capitol was able to sneak past them all without being seen, but also by his very presence as he's been deceased for decades. Before they could react and take him out, a flash of yellow light comes across them all. Their bodies begin to crumble down as they're cut in half. The individual reveals himself to be Darrius, resistance leader of Seido. More of the soldiers attempt to jump him, but their efforts are useless as he easily takes them all out. He sees one more person and tries to strike them, but he's easily knocked back. He tries to attack them again, but is once again taken down. Anomaly slowly rises up and Darrius moves closer to her to keep her safe. Anomaly's vision clears up and she looks past his shoulder.
"Another challenger?" Anomaly questions. She sees the medallion along his belt and remembers the ones held by Lui Kang and Kung Lao. "A Shaolin Monk?"
"That I am. Kung Lao was my teacher," he said. Kai remains still while Anomaly prepares to fight him. "That's won't be necessary," he says, holding his hand out before closing it.
"You've seen what's happened here."
"All of it," he responded.
"And you still don't feel I'm a threat?"
"This is clearly not a winning situation for me. However,…" Kai monologues to Anomaly.
The special forces members try to listen in but notice none of Kai's words are being sounded out. Whatever it was that he was saying had clearly shook Anomaly. She took a few steps back, covering her mouth in disbelief. He continued to speak as Sonya rewinds the video on another computer.
"He destroyed his communicator," Sonya told everyone.
"Why would he do that?"
"It's very unusual indeed," Shujinko remarked. "Perhaps it was something only he foresaw on the battlefield that he doesn't want revealed to us. Though, that still would not explain why he'd communicate this information to her."
"Carlos!" Sonya commanded. The man quickly rose up from his seat. "See if you can power up a satellite feed for us to see what's going on out there."
"On it," he said. The bulbs on the powered MOKAP suit begin to shine. After a few seconds, the suit transforms into the attire of the Protector of Earthrealm, Raiden. Using his temporary power, he activates the nearest satellite and focuses the trajectory towards New York. The layout in the overview was completely different from what's actually shown in the video feed. Johnny yelled in the background, prompting Sonya to rush toward him. She didn't expect him to be so close behind her so fast and he bumped her to the side. He places his hand on the monitor and stared deeply into the screen. Numerous bodies and decimated structures littered the feed.
"Johnny," Sonya called bluntly.
"All this death and destruction," he muttered. "How can someone that dangerous be allowed to invade Earthrealm? Isn't she an Outworlder?"
"She's an Edenian," Aylin said as she walked into the room. Everyone was on guard as they still didn't know how she escaped her cell. "She has a right of passage to Earthrealm. Had she still been Outworld's champion, Shao Kahn wouldn't need the Tournaments to take over Earthrealm."
"So we have no one to help us?" Johnny questioned. Sonya interrupts them as the video feed focuses on Kai. His lips moved slowly, but not clear enough to know what he was saying. Anomaly stood frozen not knowing how to respond. Slowly, the man began to combust into flames and ash. As he finished his monologue with the woman, he vanished. Anomaly closed her eyes and looked toward the ground.
"What just happened?" Sonya questioned. She looked at Aylin, who only shrugged.
At the site of the battle, Anomaly shakes her head in frustration before focusing her attention on her Army. Sergeant Capital, Darrius, Metric, Fang, and Kurtis Stryker. It was too small to be a true force to be reckoned with, but it was enough temporarily.
"Darrius!" she called. The man nodded. "Do you still know the location of the portal here that leads to Seido?" Darrius rubbed his hand across his bald head.
"I destroyed that portal years ago before being killed at the hands of that Former Lin Kuei girl," he said.
"Pitty," she responded. "I guess I'll have to create one myself." Anomaly uses her power to begin burning the bodies of the fallen Special Forces members. Metric and Capitol were sickened by her inhumane treatment of their former allies, but there was nothing more they could do. The flames from their bodies starts to form a vortex. It turns green and begins to form itself into the sky. The vortex starts to form into that of a Soulnado and begins pulling on the bodies of the surviving civilians in the city.
"What power is this?" Fang questioned.
"The power of a Sorcerer," Anomaly responded. "It's not strong enough. Next stop, Europe."
End of Chapter 1
After years of writing and planning, I've finally made it to releasing Ressurection: Mortal Kombat; the final story in the MKR Series. It will be the longest of them all comprising of 52 (planned) Chapters all divided into 5 separate Arcs, with Earthrealm being the first. After practicing a new writing method with Rise of the Shirai Ryu & A Woman of Wonder, I will be much more consistent in writing this story compared to past stories, including Redemption: MK which was pretty much completely written before it was released. This story will have 2-4 week breaks in between arcs (with the biggest break happening after the second arc) to give myself time to rest and not encounter burnout, but overall you can expect 1 chapter a week and this story will be completed before the end of 2023. I hope you all enjoy.