Chapter 9: Into the pits of hell
Below the flames hissed and it seemed as if their dying light was the dying light of his own flickering life. He could feel the heat of the fire temple cooling slowly. He had destroyed four gods and had allowed the greatest enemy of the Earthrealm all the power he could ever desire. He had nothing left to do...
Suddenly without warning a great light flashed down from the open day light above. Electricity flickered running up the walls in a great white glow. He covered his eyes from the brightness he staggered back and almost lost his footing in the twilight. When he finnaly opened his eyes it had been the person he had been dreading all of this time. The thunder god himself stood there ready to slay him in fury. A coned straw hat was on his head, white silk clothing that rippled with electricity he looked at Subzero from under shaded flickering and dangerous eyes. He was angry, and the wrath of the storm showed in his face. The storm that he had caused in his search for the one who had stolen the map, the one who had started the cycle only to find that same one finishing it with ultimately the destruction of his own realm at hand.
"Do you realise what you've done?" he whispered. The voice was quiet yet had a static charge about it as if he were at any moment about to bursed into uncontrolled anger. Subzero was silent for a long time, he looked down at the floor unable to gaze the thunder god in the eyes.
"I was just earning my living" he replied very slowly. Slowly with great effort he raised his head, and with his own cold eyes he gazed fully into the eyes of the thunder god himself, prepared to resist the gods until his last breath.
"Your clan's ignorance and greed will cost this entire realm!" roared Raiden his voice booming across the cavern. Lightning flickered across the walls in his anger "You!" he spat as the storm died down pointing intently at Subzero with an electric finger "Must set things straight"
Many a mortal would have turned and fled at that shock, to see the full anger of the thunder god set against them. But Subzero was different, he had been changed by his ordeal and he himself had anger enough at the gods for their own ways to save him from cowadice. The way they looked down upon mortals, the way they never appeared to mortal men to prove their existances "Quan chi could simply be a lunatic sorcerer" he mumbled slowly "I have never heard of an elder god named Shinnoch... or of a place called the Neatherealm" he lied.
"Well," grunted Raiden turning away he chuckled to himself electricity moving slowly down his body "You'd better start believing in both... because you're going to the Neatherealm" he turned again slowly to face Subzero with force in his eyes "And you're going to bring the amulet back"
Subzero gazed away at the floor. He gazed at the flames below and wondered dimly whether it would be worth his while to jump in them. He looked better than he felt, and he knew it. But the horror of what he had done had caught up with him finnaly, and he realised with full knoledge that denile would no longer save him.
"We must act quickly" hurried Raiden perhaps having some suspicien's of the Lin kuei's thoughts "I have no dominian in the Neatherealm. You... are realitys only hope"
"I'll do it Thunder God" sneered Subzero looking down into the flames "But only because I have no choice"
"Then stand back..." whispered Raiden turning in a whale of wind. Lightning flickered from the tip of his white stave and struck out from all points in the chambour to a single blue vortex in the middle of the air. The bright light again almost blinded Subzero who had to cover his eyes from the light. Again Raiden turned to him but this time with a silent woe and sorrow in his voice as if the quest he was about to embark upon Subzero had no hope "This is a portal into the Neatherealm" he whispered "Once through, follow Quan chi and try to get the amulet before he gives it to Shinnoch"
Subzero nodded and returning his gaze he looked again at the Thunder God's face. The god lifted his head and for the first time Subzero could see the face. It seemed trouble and inside the white eyes that held no pupils he could see far away a raging storm of lightning and rain. Electricity flickered across his body and he spoke again "I also offer this advice... beware the Brothers of the Shadow. The Neatherealm is a place for lost souls. If you fail your soul will join theirs, and so will the souls of this entire realm..."
Turning from Raiden he gazed at the blue glowing portal in front of him. It lead he knew into the Neatherealm itself. From then on it was up to him. No god of the earth realm could venture into that place. It was up to him to try to undo the damage he had created. He looked once upon Raiden and saw him as a different person than he had always used to. Was he really actually trying to help the world?
Quan chi his only ally in this wretched temple had betrayed him. Where was his reward? Looking back at the portal he gazed into the blue swirling deapths and sneered the anger that had long been boiling up inside him again coming to the surface.
"Quan chi I'm coming for you you ugly bastard. I'll make you regret leaving me in the dark" tightening his fists he ran forward suddenly off of the bridge he leaped through the air diving into the blue vortex. His anger was strong, yet he would need it where he was going. The world passed away and Raiden watched behind him as he passed inbetween the realms.
In a moment the temple had gone in a flash. In the next, he had passed into darkness, a green light flashed in front of him and for a moment he thought he had seen the sorceror. Had it truly been Quan chi or was his mind playing tricks on him?
Behind him he turned for a moment to see the blue portal fade and dissapere. He was trapped here now. Raiden certainly wouldn't let him come back until he was dead or had suceeded in his final mission. Again, Subzero seemed to have no choice in the matter. He was a puppet on a piece of string. Before he was being wielded by a sorcerer, now he was being wielded by a god. He felt more like an object than a human being. A plaything for masters that he had no control over.
The surroundings he realised slowly seemed nothing like he would have expected them to be. This was not fire and brimstone he had come to expect of "hell". This wasn't a hellish room, the walls were constructed from metal in a futeristic style. The floor was concrete and it felt as if he had passed into the futere itself. Yet there was a certain atmosphere about the place. A darkness that pressed into the mind that proved otherwise. There was something certainly not right about it, something cold and sereal. Had Raiden sent him to the wrong place? The metal wall dipped diagonally away and then at the base dipped inwards where what looked like a door was set in place. It pointed outwards like a triangle.
He walked slowly over to it and looked it up and down. It seemed like a military blast door or something similarly like it. Was he in a military base, would he be set upon by soldiers as soon as he left this room? Pressing his hands on the door it opened and suddenly he realised with grim certainty exactly where he was and what he had to do...
Up above the sky burned orange with misty clouds that seemed too close to the ground and suffocated him with their presence. In the distance in every direction factory towers stretched up into the air like metalic monsters. Fumes hissed out of pipes and looking dimly below the windy concrete courseway, far below he could see highways, and motorways where strange creatures passed across the pavements and roads some shaped as human beings others were not. The air wasn't cold, neither was it hot damp or anything else. It was truly empty of detail. This place was inherintly evil, there was not another way to describe it. He knew imiediately now that this was hell, this was the Neatherealm. He had been here before and he remembered the emptyness. When each dream that the gods had created crumbled with their demises, Subzero had been pulled into this realm to Quan chi's quarters to escape his fate amongst the rubble.
He had passed over these factories like a bird at high speed. The black smoke choked up into the skies the same as it had when Quan chi had called him. Yet this time he was in charge of his own body. This time it seemed that Quan chi had no power over him in this realm. It seemed that here he had his mortal body as a protection against the evil, yet he didn't know how long this frail thing would last in the harsh plains of the Neatherealm. He knew nothing of what to expect, and foolishly he headed out, under the orange sky, with no clue in the world of where he should be heading.
Below in the streets he could hear the noise of car horns being blasted, the screeching of demons and the cries of the dammed echoed distantly. The stone walkway seemed to reach out forever. In the distance he could see huge magnificent hammers smashing down on the walkways. Small dark figures threw objects underneath them, barrels and things he couldn't quite see in the dull orange light. Bodies maybe?
The wind blew against his mask and he stopped a moment as a great rush of wind passed over him. The bridge wobbled from side to side stones crumbling away at the sides and he struggled to keep his balance. He turned slowly round with great fear to see a sight that petrified him with fear and terror. Only in storys had he imagined such a thing and now he saw it before his very eyes.
A huge demon hovered on the platform, great black wings stretching out into the burning orange sky. It flapped them slowly from side to side, black clawed legs with red firy burning eyes. Black horns pointed out of its head and in his hand was a single glowing blue card rectangular in shape.
"Where are you heading mortal?" came the voice. It sounded like rusty nails; this penetrated Subzero with more fear than any of the elements ever had. The wings flapped slowly and menacingly from side to side, the voice seemed to echo in his mind if not across the distant building. He was in a tight situation here and he damn well knew it.
"I was just going for a stroll ... I'm under the protection of Noobsaibot" the name seemed familiar somehow, he remembered it dimly from his dreams and was praying to the thunder god at that moment that it would prove true.
The demon laughed the black wings stretching out with their own darkness that seemed to swamp him on that windy crag "Heh heh heh, I might have guessed it would be Noobsaibot who would bring a mortal to the Neatherealm. You should be more careful ... mortal. Mortals are not tollerated in the Neatherealm, if Noobsaibot hadn't told you that then he's more of a fool than I thought" the voice dug into his skin like needles. The demon's shadow seemed to grow swamping Subzero from head to foot until it seemed that he was in complete darkness. It was terrifying beyond belief and even Subzero was breaking out into a sweat at that point scaircely able to contain his deep fear of the being "Give him this from me" said the demon solomly "Its the keycard he asked for. If I were you I'd get him to give you a better explanation of how this realm works... or else you will end up in the prison of souls"
"Thanks very much" smiled Subzero quivering with fear, he took the card slowly in his hands bowed and stepped back.
The demon laugthed again "Not so quick on the uptake either, bow to me again mortal and I'll rip your lungs out. There is only one lord of this hell, and when the time comes you will instead bow to him. I advise you mortal again, learn fast, or get out before we consume you"
"What should I say in response?" quivered Subzero not wanting very much to have his lungs ripped out at that moment.
"Have mercy Oni. Make sure you get it right or we kill you. You are lucky that you came upon one with more of a mind than most. The others would just have tortured you to death"
"Have mercy Oni" said Subzero shuddering as the winds blew at him "That's better" hissed the demon and it flew off towards the sky the dark shadow leaving Subzero to mark its path across the ground below. It was impossible to describe what the experiance had been like for Subzero. The demon had filled him with inner dread, and fear. Meeting this thing, he knew that right from the beginning it waas a servant of darkness. It was true to evil, everything it did was in the logic that it would cause pain and suffering to another. If it took pity on something, it was only because it knew that that something could either cause pain to it, or had the power to cause greater pain to others... He looked the keycard up and down. It was blue and had a five pointed star with a circle round it on the front, the symbol of the devil. The marking seemed to glow red with fire as he looked at it, it seemed to rise up out of the blue card before he quickly withdrew his gaze and retured his eyes to the courceway.
This was not the best place for himself to dwell, this was his first observation. He was too exposed up here. A moment later and he could have another of those winged demons finding him with their tortures and burning red eyes. He realised now why the amulet meant certain death to his own realm. The beings of this plain were an army constantly squabbling over each other. As soon as they had a realm to invade they would soon put aside their petty differences and attack in one force. Once that happened there would be nothing to stop them. Not all the forces of the earthrealm put together could stop the swarms of hell. These demons were stronger than the elements, stronger than the gods themselves. It seemed strange that this sub realm, this outcast of realms had always lain under them, locked away from the earth realm and yet nobody ever trully feared its potency. It was a skeleton in the closet that if ever it broke lose from its chains would ultimately destroy the earthrealm forever. This was what Quan chi would do if not stopped, this was the conesequences of his own actions. He gazed up at the orange sky and it seemed as if the clouds were right next to him, and that with a little effort he could reach up and touch them.
He had read about the Neathrealm in the ancient tomes of the Lin kuei. Those books had always mentioned fire and damnation, but how could they truly be trusted to portray the truth? Perhaps Hell itself was always changing as the demons themselves changed? For this was not as the book put it "Fire and brimstone" or "The Pillars of Skulls" that it had made out. This hell resembled the earth realm, with huge industrial buildings and machinary. It was like a twisted and demonic version of his own realm, evil trying its best to resemble good and failing miserably.
Edging round a large circular grey building that looked like some kind of water tank he found a rusty metal ladder that he carefully decended grabbing tightly onto each ledge as the pins holding the ladder to the wall wobbled. It lead down he noticed to a small yellow platform that was attached to the water tank. A small computer was on the side, looking at it he realised that it had a keycard slot in the side. This was an elevator if he was not mistaken.
"I wonder..." he muttered carefully placing the blue card in the slot. He swiped it once and a series of codes came on the computer screen. The wind blew at him a moment and he had to close his eyes because of the sting of the harsh wind against his eyeballs. Green writing came up on screen with a list of floors. He picked the ground one withdrawing the card he waited slowly as the lift decended. It started with a jerk and slowly moved down the side of the building towards the busy streets below. He was coming out inside a backalleyway of some kind.
The horizon dissapered behind the buildings and slowly the streets came up closer into view. A car sounding its horn zoomed passed splashing a figure in the darkness who called out with anger shaking his clawed fists. The wind swept at him from all directions apart from the water tank where at least from that direction he was wind sheilded. The horizon seemed slowly to move upwards as he moved downwards, and the sky itself seemed to follow him down trying even harder to crush him. He was startled suddenly by a fowel noise below, a voice, he peered over the edge.
"Stop!" growled the speaker below "Stop the elevator!" it hissed. Subzero looked at the computer and tried to find a way to make it stop. Looking over the edge he saw a strange looking human. A large horn had grown out of the front of its head, an old dirty tshirt was ripped all over and in tatters showing a hairy chest that itself had some strange green growth attached to it like a fungus. One eye was sewn shut and a small black tail came out of his brown mouldy trousers.
"Stop!" he growled again "Moy Frend is dawn there! Moy Frend! No!" he bursed into a howel of tears until Subzero suddenly realised what he meant. There was somebody under the elevator. He pressed buttons frantically but it was too late. With hardly a shimmer of movement he heard a scream from below, and the sound of cracking bone. He heard the blood leaking out as some kind of demonic skull was crushed like a walnut. Some street sleeper must have been asleep as the elevator had decended unaware of his danger. The elevator stopped and the blood leaked out from under the yellow platform under the horned creature's trainers. The horned creature came forward gazing firmly with one eye "Yoo!" it roared with red eyes and tears pouring down them, it snarled flickering a fawked tongue "Yoi killed moi frend! Yoi killed moi Frend!"
Subzero backed off "Easy now" he said quietly with no clear idea of how to back off the creature "I don't want to fight you"
"Naw" snarled the creature gazing with one bugged slimy eye, the horn looked deadly sharp in the dark back street alley. The orange sky just caught its edge so that it flickered in the strange eery light a deadly weapon.
"Naw! You killed frend! I oinli had one fwend, you die now... I kill you and I make yo die way he did!"
"I said get back!" roared Subzero
"Whatch gonna do mortal? I'll crush ya... cos suzi didnt loike me naw she didnt and now oive lost all of mi frends, moi only frends in this place and its all yur falt!"
"I can help you!" pleaded Subzero looking desperately left and right.
"I kill you" roared the beast leaping forward it opened its mouth wide to show razor sharp teeth inside. Subzero knew that this was going to happen and had no clue what tactic he should take. What was best way of killing a Neatherealm beast? Sidestepping he tripped the creature up head over the heel over his leg. Crouching down he kirate chopped the head with all his might. There was a crunch and blood sprayed up into the air all over his face and costume. The monster screamed and he backed off quickly the blood dripping from his face he smeared it away from his eyes. The head was completely smashed yet the corpse still frashed about maddly kicking from side to side. Subzero tried to wipe the blood off but it stuck to him like tar staining his beautiful blue costume. He cursed quietly watching the body beat its hands against the ground it rolled over and hit a dustbin that clanged in the dark. The screaming was high pitched now like a machine or kettle that was boiling.
Turning he ran away into the shadows afraid of what he had seen. He stopped on the pavement looking left and right, glancing back onece down the dark alleyway he could see the body still moving frantically in the dark, blood spraying everywhere across walls dustbins and the floor. He could hear it only faintly now the screeching was nothing more than a soft murmer.
Puddels of muck and oil lined the road sides. His feet sank into them up to the ankles he hadn't noticed until now how dirty his black boots were getting. Turning away he headed off up the road sticking to the shadows. The orange sky glinted off his face and already he looked more haggard than ever in his life. This realm was trully as hellish as all the legends went. The stones, the sky, the air were all an attack on his sanity. They begged him to turn to evil and then further, from evil to chaos. That was this realm's true intentions to remove every last drop of sanity from his blood.
The doors were barred up with wood so were all the windows as if this place had been hit by plague. The buildings were dark and mysterious with quiet wailing moans coming in from some of them. The sky pressed down on the inhabitants like a heavy weight. Never before had he seen such a horrible sky. It was disgusting, it would look good on a photograph nevertheless, yet the thing about it was how it oppressed the mind. It was pressing down on this world as if it was tired of holding itself up it seemed about to fall, and all the strain and pressure was reaching down into the ground. It pained his mind to look at it, the whole atmosphere of that realm made him feel guidy as the fumes from the tar and petrol reached his nose. The effect was one of the worsed experiances he had ever had in his life.
Ducking into an alleyway he watched as with a splash of oil and mud a car zoomed passed. The headlights shone out white in the black fog on full beam they glared the light bouncing down every crack and alleyway before returning to darkness as the vehcle headed on. Subzero waited a moment behind the wall, fingering the blood that was on his face. Already it seemed dry and hardened like a black scab, he peeled it off of his cheek to find a red rash where the blood had been. It itched like a sore, quickly learning that this blood was not good for him he got as much as he could off of his clothes and the rest of his body. His hands itched and he had nothing to wash them in. He tried the cleanest puddel he could find in the darkness, but they seemed only to make them more dirty and continue the itching further into his hands and his wrists. A voice spoke in the darkness and he looked up suddenly afraid of what his eyes might meet.
"Lookin for something?" it whispered dangerously. A blade gleamed in the shadows.
"I was just trying to wash my hands, have mercy Oni" he replied quietly the orange skies reflecting in his eyes.
The creature lauthed "I am no Oni you fool. It is rare that I find a mortal in these parts of the city... why don't you sell me your soul?"
Subzero backed off slowly "No thanks, I kinda need it" he replied quietly
"Why do you need it? You look pretty healthy to me, if you sell me your soul I can get you out of this place. By the looks of it I can see that you don't want to be here"
"I said no thanks" replied Subzero standing to his feet.
"No I insist" continued the voice in a soft dangerous whisper, it moved round him suddenly so that he had his back to the alleyway. It was deadly fast, so quick he hadn't even had time to respond. It was standing on the pavement, he could see it now. A huge muscly humanoid with horns sticking out of the shoudlers, a thin body and chest covered by netting that revealed many scars and wounds inside. One was still open, he could see part of the lung beating inside. The face was grizzly, huge red lips covered most of the head, horns had grown out too far covering the tiny eyes almost completely, both ears had been ripped several times. What was worse of all is that the thing stood almost one and a half times taller than Subzero and it held a large knife in its huge clawed hands.
"Come on... a soul isn't worth that much. Let me give you something in return..." the voice was low and wet like slime, it came from the hige lips that seemed to want to grip him and suck everything that he had in him out of him.
"I don't want to sell my soul" replied Subzero not backing off an inch.
The huge lips creased into a smile "I can take it by force you know" it whispered. Blood he could see now was dripping slowly out of the mouth. A large droplet pusated a moment before dropping down into a murky pool below.
"I'm well armed" replied Subzero.
"So am I" laughed the demon "We enjoy a struggle"
He could see them now, more dark shapes came out of the shadows towards him. Ten of them in all, each of them with their own hideous shapes. Most of them in some way resembled humans but some of the creatures were so far beyond human shape at all that they could only be described as alien forms.
"We want your soul... now what do you want in return?" whispered a sluggish voice from the darkness "We need your soul... its all we want" said another higher voice like a witch or hag yet with that same rasping tired quality as if all happiness and hope had been sucked out of the creatures.
Subzero had had enough. He couldn't take on all of them at once and every single one of them was taller than he was, stronger than he was and was armed with weapons he couldn't possibly comprehend. Turning he ran away into the darkness. Through the alleyways he heard the shouts behind him as the demons followed. He could hear the steps behind him. His foot slipped a moment in a puddle and he almost fell. It became deeper and slowed him down the water spraying into the air as his feet passed through them. The huge demons passed through the puddel with ease, he didn't dare to look back for if he had, he would have seen them cross through the water as if it were foam.
Soon a wall loomed up closer to him in the darkness. He would try and climb it, this seemed hopeless but it was his only chance. But before for he could even attempt the climb a shape flashed in front of him in the darkness. A metal foot glinted on the floor and he tripped flying head over heels he landed against some dust bins "I got him!" screemed a demon "I got him! It was me!" The demons approached and stopped just in front of him contained by the power of their leader the huge lipped creature, it smacked the metal footed creature to the back and snarled at it before turning back to the fallen Subzero. Its control over the rest of the pack was strong, his very actions held them back. Yet one wrong move on his part and they would all turn on him. These were pack laws, yet so much darker than the ones of earth. They contained no love, or freedom. They were all prisoners of that one dark realm.
"We've got him boys" said the lipped figure, blood dripping down its face like drool "We'll have full bellies tonight... lets feast"
He heard their foot steps coming towards him and he closed his eyes in dread... there was a quiet thud. And Subzero squinted his eyes waiting for the blow to come, his body was tense. The sound was next to him, yet nothing happened. He shoudler felt wet against the ground. Gazing up slowly he looked across the black shapes of the demons in the darkness. Their faces showed fear, they were terrified, they backed off at once. What had happened that could terrify a beast of the Neatherealm?
"Have merci Oni" they whispered. There was a dark shape in front of Subzero, it walked forward slowly and looked at the red lipped leader. It was shorter than the demons all of them, much the same height as Subzero himself. Yet the body was as black as night. It was darker still like a vortex of shadow. It was not possible to describe how dark that body was.
"Bloodfeed I think isn't it?" said a cold emotionless voice "Or whatever pathetic name you've called yourself since we last met"
"Have merci Oni" whispered the lipped creature stuttering and quivering with dread
"And pray what have you caught today, let me look over it a while before I let you destroy it... I am intrigued to see what you've caught"
The black shadow turned towards him suddenly and gazed with piercing blue eyes at his blood stained face. The eyes were like ghosts bouring into him, Subzero gazed back helpless and terrified.
"A mortal?" muttered the shadow quietly to himself, he turned suddenly to the lipped creature "What are you doing with a mortal Bloodfeed?"
"Have mercy Oni, we found it skulking about the city streets, we only wanted to play with it for a bit before we took its soul... its not often master that we find such a catch"
The shadow turned back suddenly to Subzero, the darkness like with the demon on the roof top seemed to spread out making everything arround him darker. He gazed down at Subzero with blue eyes that seemed to be the only light coming from that all consuming darkness. Yet they were like mosquitoes, and seemed to draw in much more other freindly things than the cold light that they gave out.
"Can you speak mortal?" asked the shadow
"Have mercy Oni" whimpered Subzero quietly
"What are you doing here?" interrorgated the shadow again after it realised that Subzero in his current state wasn't going to say anything unless he coaxed it out of him.
"I was told to bring this card to a Oni named Noobsaibot" Subzero said weakly withdrawing the blue card. The shadow snatched it away and gazed over the inscription. Again he turned to Bloodfeed with a cold air "You didn't realise it seems that this mortal is under my protection?"
"Have merci Oni!" ,whimpered Bloodfeed backing off "I never knew honest! Please spare me General! Don't kill me again like you did last time!"
"Don't worry... I won't kill you" said the shadow again, never once did the tone of voice change in a highly noticable way. It always stayed at the same cold level of speach, never flickering with fear, with joy or with anger "But perhaps your freinds might think differently of my mercy"
In a second the black shadow outstretched a hand forward, he pointed it at Bloodfeed's legs. They inploded and the creature screamed in pain falling to the floor. The legs swelled bubbling up before bursting with flesh and blood to reveal the bones themselves inside.
"As you promised... your minions will have full bellies tonight"
They licked their lips turning on him slowly they circled round, they edged towards him in his painful stupor.
"Please No!" screamed the large lips spitting blood across the floor. The iron legged minnion spoke in a whisper as the blood drained out of his body "Not so hot now are you bloodfeed? Always knocking me aside..."
"Yesss" said the Hag "How does it feel to be on the end of your own blows?" and suddenly they set upon him with claws and teeth tearing his body apart. Flesh and gore went scattering across the walls and his voice howled in an unearthly scream as his own minions devoured his body, searching for what little soul was left inside of it. The shadow turned to Subzero slowly with not a flinch in movement. It outstretched a single hand "Come ally, it seems you are lucky presently... for what luck there is in this realm you are lucky to receive some"
A black portal appeared in the wall and Subzero took the shadow hand in his own. The black shape pulled him to his feet. The hand felt cold, and it seemed to touch him somwhere else stronger. He felt the presence of the hand on his own much stronger, on the wall where his own shadow lay. The experiance was much stranger than he would ever have expected. Together they entered the portal and with a flicker it closed to the unearthly screams of Bloodfeed.
Below the flames hissed and it seemed as if their dying light was the dying light of his own flickering life. He could feel the heat of the fire temple cooling slowly. He had destroyed four gods and had allowed the greatest enemy of the Earthrealm all the power he could ever desire. He had nothing left to do...
Suddenly without warning a great light flashed down from the open day light above. Electricity flickered running up the walls in a great white glow. He covered his eyes from the brightness he staggered back and almost lost his footing in the twilight. When he finnaly opened his eyes it had been the person he had been dreading all of this time. The thunder god himself stood there ready to slay him in fury. A coned straw hat was on his head, white silk clothing that rippled with electricity he looked at Subzero from under shaded flickering and dangerous eyes. He was angry, and the wrath of the storm showed in his face. The storm that he had caused in his search for the one who had stolen the map, the one who had started the cycle only to find that same one finishing it with ultimately the destruction of his own realm at hand.
"Do you realise what you've done?" he whispered. The voice was quiet yet had a static charge about it as if he were at any moment about to bursed into uncontrolled anger. Subzero was silent for a long time, he looked down at the floor unable to gaze the thunder god in the eyes.
"I was just earning my living" he replied very slowly. Slowly with great effort he raised his head, and with his own cold eyes he gazed fully into the eyes of the thunder god himself, prepared to resist the gods until his last breath.
"Your clan's ignorance and greed will cost this entire realm!" roared Raiden his voice booming across the cavern. Lightning flickered across the walls in his anger "You!" he spat as the storm died down pointing intently at Subzero with an electric finger "Must set things straight"
Many a mortal would have turned and fled at that shock, to see the full anger of the thunder god set against them. But Subzero was different, he had been changed by his ordeal and he himself had anger enough at the gods for their own ways to save him from cowadice. The way they looked down upon mortals, the way they never appeared to mortal men to prove their existances "Quan chi could simply be a lunatic sorcerer" he mumbled slowly "I have never heard of an elder god named Shinnoch... or of a place called the Neatherealm" he lied.
"Well," grunted Raiden turning away he chuckled to himself electricity moving slowly down his body "You'd better start believing in both... because you're going to the Neatherealm" he turned again slowly to face Subzero with force in his eyes "And you're going to bring the amulet back"
Subzero gazed away at the floor. He gazed at the flames below and wondered dimly whether it would be worth his while to jump in them. He looked better than he felt, and he knew it. But the horror of what he had done had caught up with him finnaly, and he realised with full knoledge that denile would no longer save him.
"We must act quickly" hurried Raiden perhaps having some suspicien's of the Lin kuei's thoughts "I have no dominian in the Neatherealm. You... are realitys only hope"
"I'll do it Thunder God" sneered Subzero looking down into the flames "But only because I have no choice"
"Then stand back..." whispered Raiden turning in a whale of wind. Lightning flickered from the tip of his white stave and struck out from all points in the chambour to a single blue vortex in the middle of the air. The bright light again almost blinded Subzero who had to cover his eyes from the light. Again Raiden turned to him but this time with a silent woe and sorrow in his voice as if the quest he was about to embark upon Subzero had no hope "This is a portal into the Neatherealm" he whispered "Once through, follow Quan chi and try to get the amulet before he gives it to Shinnoch"
Subzero nodded and returning his gaze he looked again at the Thunder God's face. The god lifted his head and for the first time Subzero could see the face. It seemed trouble and inside the white eyes that held no pupils he could see far away a raging storm of lightning and rain. Electricity flickered across his body and he spoke again "I also offer this advice... beware the Brothers of the Shadow. The Neatherealm is a place for lost souls. If you fail your soul will join theirs, and so will the souls of this entire realm..."
Turning from Raiden he gazed at the blue glowing portal in front of him. It lead he knew into the Neatherealm itself. From then on it was up to him. No god of the earth realm could venture into that place. It was up to him to try to undo the damage he had created. He looked once upon Raiden and saw him as a different person than he had always used to. Was he really actually trying to help the world?
Quan chi his only ally in this wretched temple had betrayed him. Where was his reward? Looking back at the portal he gazed into the blue swirling deapths and sneered the anger that had long been boiling up inside him again coming to the surface.
"Quan chi I'm coming for you you ugly bastard. I'll make you regret leaving me in the dark" tightening his fists he ran forward suddenly off of the bridge he leaped through the air diving into the blue vortex. His anger was strong, yet he would need it where he was going. The world passed away and Raiden watched behind him as he passed inbetween the realms.
In a moment the temple had gone in a flash. In the next, he had passed into darkness, a green light flashed in front of him and for a moment he thought he had seen the sorceror. Had it truly been Quan chi or was his mind playing tricks on him?
Behind him he turned for a moment to see the blue portal fade and dissapere. He was trapped here now. Raiden certainly wouldn't let him come back until he was dead or had suceeded in his final mission. Again, Subzero seemed to have no choice in the matter. He was a puppet on a piece of string. Before he was being wielded by a sorcerer, now he was being wielded by a god. He felt more like an object than a human being. A plaything for masters that he had no control over.
The surroundings he realised slowly seemed nothing like he would have expected them to be. This was not fire and brimstone he had come to expect of "hell". This wasn't a hellish room, the walls were constructed from metal in a futeristic style. The floor was concrete and it felt as if he had passed into the futere itself. Yet there was a certain atmosphere about the place. A darkness that pressed into the mind that proved otherwise. There was something certainly not right about it, something cold and sereal. Had Raiden sent him to the wrong place? The metal wall dipped diagonally away and then at the base dipped inwards where what looked like a door was set in place. It pointed outwards like a triangle.
He walked slowly over to it and looked it up and down. It seemed like a military blast door or something similarly like it. Was he in a military base, would he be set upon by soldiers as soon as he left this room? Pressing his hands on the door it opened and suddenly he realised with grim certainty exactly where he was and what he had to do...
Up above the sky burned orange with misty clouds that seemed too close to the ground and suffocated him with their presence. In the distance in every direction factory towers stretched up into the air like metalic monsters. Fumes hissed out of pipes and looking dimly below the windy concrete courseway, far below he could see highways, and motorways where strange creatures passed across the pavements and roads some shaped as human beings others were not. The air wasn't cold, neither was it hot damp or anything else. It was truly empty of detail. This place was inherintly evil, there was not another way to describe it. He knew imiediately now that this was hell, this was the Neatherealm. He had been here before and he remembered the emptyness. When each dream that the gods had created crumbled with their demises, Subzero had been pulled into this realm to Quan chi's quarters to escape his fate amongst the rubble.
He had passed over these factories like a bird at high speed. The black smoke choked up into the skies the same as it had when Quan chi had called him. Yet this time he was in charge of his own body. This time it seemed that Quan chi had no power over him in this realm. It seemed that here he had his mortal body as a protection against the evil, yet he didn't know how long this frail thing would last in the harsh plains of the Neatherealm. He knew nothing of what to expect, and foolishly he headed out, under the orange sky, with no clue in the world of where he should be heading.
Below in the streets he could hear the noise of car horns being blasted, the screeching of demons and the cries of the dammed echoed distantly. The stone walkway seemed to reach out forever. In the distance he could see huge magnificent hammers smashing down on the walkways. Small dark figures threw objects underneath them, barrels and things he couldn't quite see in the dull orange light. Bodies maybe?
The wind blew against his mask and he stopped a moment as a great rush of wind passed over him. The bridge wobbled from side to side stones crumbling away at the sides and he struggled to keep his balance. He turned slowly round with great fear to see a sight that petrified him with fear and terror. Only in storys had he imagined such a thing and now he saw it before his very eyes.
A huge demon hovered on the platform, great black wings stretching out into the burning orange sky. It flapped them slowly from side to side, black clawed legs with red firy burning eyes. Black horns pointed out of its head and in his hand was a single glowing blue card rectangular in shape.
"Where are you heading mortal?" came the voice. It sounded like rusty nails; this penetrated Subzero with more fear than any of the elements ever had. The wings flapped slowly and menacingly from side to side, the voice seemed to echo in his mind if not across the distant building. He was in a tight situation here and he damn well knew it.
"I was just going for a stroll ... I'm under the protection of Noobsaibot" the name seemed familiar somehow, he remembered it dimly from his dreams and was praying to the thunder god at that moment that it would prove true.
The demon laughed the black wings stretching out with their own darkness that seemed to swamp him on that windy crag "Heh heh heh, I might have guessed it would be Noobsaibot who would bring a mortal to the Neatherealm. You should be more careful ... mortal. Mortals are not tollerated in the Neatherealm, if Noobsaibot hadn't told you that then he's more of a fool than I thought" the voice dug into his skin like needles. The demon's shadow seemed to grow swamping Subzero from head to foot until it seemed that he was in complete darkness. It was terrifying beyond belief and even Subzero was breaking out into a sweat at that point scaircely able to contain his deep fear of the being "Give him this from me" said the demon solomly "Its the keycard he asked for. If I were you I'd get him to give you a better explanation of how this realm works... or else you will end up in the prison of souls"
"Thanks very much" smiled Subzero quivering with fear, he took the card slowly in his hands bowed and stepped back.
The demon laugthed again "Not so quick on the uptake either, bow to me again mortal and I'll rip your lungs out. There is only one lord of this hell, and when the time comes you will instead bow to him. I advise you mortal again, learn fast, or get out before we consume you"
"What should I say in response?" quivered Subzero not wanting very much to have his lungs ripped out at that moment.
"Have mercy Oni. Make sure you get it right or we kill you. You are lucky that you came upon one with more of a mind than most. The others would just have tortured you to death"
"Have mercy Oni" said Subzero shuddering as the winds blew at him "That's better" hissed the demon and it flew off towards the sky the dark shadow leaving Subzero to mark its path across the ground below. It was impossible to describe what the experiance had been like for Subzero. The demon had filled him with inner dread, and fear. Meeting this thing, he knew that right from the beginning it waas a servant of darkness. It was true to evil, everything it did was in the logic that it would cause pain and suffering to another. If it took pity on something, it was only because it knew that that something could either cause pain to it, or had the power to cause greater pain to others... He looked the keycard up and down. It was blue and had a five pointed star with a circle round it on the front, the symbol of the devil. The marking seemed to glow red with fire as he looked at it, it seemed to rise up out of the blue card before he quickly withdrew his gaze and retured his eyes to the courceway.
This was not the best place for himself to dwell, this was his first observation. He was too exposed up here. A moment later and he could have another of those winged demons finding him with their tortures and burning red eyes. He realised now why the amulet meant certain death to his own realm. The beings of this plain were an army constantly squabbling over each other. As soon as they had a realm to invade they would soon put aside their petty differences and attack in one force. Once that happened there would be nothing to stop them. Not all the forces of the earthrealm put together could stop the swarms of hell. These demons were stronger than the elements, stronger than the gods themselves. It seemed strange that this sub realm, this outcast of realms had always lain under them, locked away from the earth realm and yet nobody ever trully feared its potency. It was a skeleton in the closet that if ever it broke lose from its chains would ultimately destroy the earthrealm forever. This was what Quan chi would do if not stopped, this was the conesequences of his own actions. He gazed up at the orange sky and it seemed as if the clouds were right next to him, and that with a little effort he could reach up and touch them.
He had read about the Neathrealm in the ancient tomes of the Lin kuei. Those books had always mentioned fire and damnation, but how could they truly be trusted to portray the truth? Perhaps Hell itself was always changing as the demons themselves changed? For this was not as the book put it "Fire and brimstone" or "The Pillars of Skulls" that it had made out. This hell resembled the earth realm, with huge industrial buildings and machinary. It was like a twisted and demonic version of his own realm, evil trying its best to resemble good and failing miserably.
Edging round a large circular grey building that looked like some kind of water tank he found a rusty metal ladder that he carefully decended grabbing tightly onto each ledge as the pins holding the ladder to the wall wobbled. It lead down he noticed to a small yellow platform that was attached to the water tank. A small computer was on the side, looking at it he realised that it had a keycard slot in the side. This was an elevator if he was not mistaken.
"I wonder..." he muttered carefully placing the blue card in the slot. He swiped it once and a series of codes came on the computer screen. The wind blew at him a moment and he had to close his eyes because of the sting of the harsh wind against his eyeballs. Green writing came up on screen with a list of floors. He picked the ground one withdrawing the card he waited slowly as the lift decended. It started with a jerk and slowly moved down the side of the building towards the busy streets below. He was coming out inside a backalleyway of some kind.
The horizon dissapered behind the buildings and slowly the streets came up closer into view. A car sounding its horn zoomed passed splashing a figure in the darkness who called out with anger shaking his clawed fists. The wind swept at him from all directions apart from the water tank where at least from that direction he was wind sheilded. The horizon seemed slowly to move upwards as he moved downwards, and the sky itself seemed to follow him down trying even harder to crush him. He was startled suddenly by a fowel noise below, a voice, he peered over the edge.
"Stop!" growled the speaker below "Stop the elevator!" it hissed. Subzero looked at the computer and tried to find a way to make it stop. Looking over the edge he saw a strange looking human. A large horn had grown out of the front of its head, an old dirty tshirt was ripped all over and in tatters showing a hairy chest that itself had some strange green growth attached to it like a fungus. One eye was sewn shut and a small black tail came out of his brown mouldy trousers.
"Stop!" he growled again "Moy Frend is dawn there! Moy Frend! No!" he bursed into a howel of tears until Subzero suddenly realised what he meant. There was somebody under the elevator. He pressed buttons frantically but it was too late. With hardly a shimmer of movement he heard a scream from below, and the sound of cracking bone. He heard the blood leaking out as some kind of demonic skull was crushed like a walnut. Some street sleeper must have been asleep as the elevator had decended unaware of his danger. The elevator stopped and the blood leaked out from under the yellow platform under the horned creature's trainers. The horned creature came forward gazing firmly with one eye "Yoo!" it roared with red eyes and tears pouring down them, it snarled flickering a fawked tongue "Yoi killed moi frend! Yoi killed moi Frend!"
Subzero backed off "Easy now" he said quietly with no clear idea of how to back off the creature "I don't want to fight you"
"Naw" snarled the creature gazing with one bugged slimy eye, the horn looked deadly sharp in the dark back street alley. The orange sky just caught its edge so that it flickered in the strange eery light a deadly weapon.
"Naw! You killed frend! I oinli had one fwend, you die now... I kill you and I make yo die way he did!"
"I said get back!" roared Subzero
"Whatch gonna do mortal? I'll crush ya... cos suzi didnt loike me naw she didnt and now oive lost all of mi frends, moi only frends in this place and its all yur falt!"
"I can help you!" pleaded Subzero looking desperately left and right.
"I kill you" roared the beast leaping forward it opened its mouth wide to show razor sharp teeth inside. Subzero knew that this was going to happen and had no clue what tactic he should take. What was best way of killing a Neatherealm beast? Sidestepping he tripped the creature up head over the heel over his leg. Crouching down he kirate chopped the head with all his might. There was a crunch and blood sprayed up into the air all over his face and costume. The monster screamed and he backed off quickly the blood dripping from his face he smeared it away from his eyes. The head was completely smashed yet the corpse still frashed about maddly kicking from side to side. Subzero tried to wipe the blood off but it stuck to him like tar staining his beautiful blue costume. He cursed quietly watching the body beat its hands against the ground it rolled over and hit a dustbin that clanged in the dark. The screaming was high pitched now like a machine or kettle that was boiling.
Turning he ran away into the shadows afraid of what he had seen. He stopped on the pavement looking left and right, glancing back onece down the dark alleyway he could see the body still moving frantically in the dark, blood spraying everywhere across walls dustbins and the floor. He could hear it only faintly now the screeching was nothing more than a soft murmer.
Puddels of muck and oil lined the road sides. His feet sank into them up to the ankles he hadn't noticed until now how dirty his black boots were getting. Turning away he headed off up the road sticking to the shadows. The orange sky glinted off his face and already he looked more haggard than ever in his life. This realm was trully as hellish as all the legends went. The stones, the sky, the air were all an attack on his sanity. They begged him to turn to evil and then further, from evil to chaos. That was this realm's true intentions to remove every last drop of sanity from his blood.
The doors were barred up with wood so were all the windows as if this place had been hit by plague. The buildings were dark and mysterious with quiet wailing moans coming in from some of them. The sky pressed down on the inhabitants like a heavy weight. Never before had he seen such a horrible sky. It was disgusting, it would look good on a photograph nevertheless, yet the thing about it was how it oppressed the mind. It was pressing down on this world as if it was tired of holding itself up it seemed about to fall, and all the strain and pressure was reaching down into the ground. It pained his mind to look at it, the whole atmosphere of that realm made him feel guidy as the fumes from the tar and petrol reached his nose. The effect was one of the worsed experiances he had ever had in his life.
Ducking into an alleyway he watched as with a splash of oil and mud a car zoomed passed. The headlights shone out white in the black fog on full beam they glared the light bouncing down every crack and alleyway before returning to darkness as the vehcle headed on. Subzero waited a moment behind the wall, fingering the blood that was on his face. Already it seemed dry and hardened like a black scab, he peeled it off of his cheek to find a red rash where the blood had been. It itched like a sore, quickly learning that this blood was not good for him he got as much as he could off of his clothes and the rest of his body. His hands itched and he had nothing to wash them in. He tried the cleanest puddel he could find in the darkness, but they seemed only to make them more dirty and continue the itching further into his hands and his wrists. A voice spoke in the darkness and he looked up suddenly afraid of what his eyes might meet.
"Lookin for something?" it whispered dangerously. A blade gleamed in the shadows.
"I was just trying to wash my hands, have mercy Oni" he replied quietly the orange skies reflecting in his eyes.
The creature lauthed "I am no Oni you fool. It is rare that I find a mortal in these parts of the city... why don't you sell me your soul?"
Subzero backed off slowly "No thanks, I kinda need it" he replied quietly
"Why do you need it? You look pretty healthy to me, if you sell me your soul I can get you out of this place. By the looks of it I can see that you don't want to be here"
"I said no thanks" replied Subzero standing to his feet.
"No I insist" continued the voice in a soft dangerous whisper, it moved round him suddenly so that he had his back to the alleyway. It was deadly fast, so quick he hadn't even had time to respond. It was standing on the pavement, he could see it now. A huge muscly humanoid with horns sticking out of the shoudlers, a thin body and chest covered by netting that revealed many scars and wounds inside. One was still open, he could see part of the lung beating inside. The face was grizzly, huge red lips covered most of the head, horns had grown out too far covering the tiny eyes almost completely, both ears had been ripped several times. What was worse of all is that the thing stood almost one and a half times taller than Subzero and it held a large knife in its huge clawed hands.
"Come on... a soul isn't worth that much. Let me give you something in return..." the voice was low and wet like slime, it came from the hige lips that seemed to want to grip him and suck everything that he had in him out of him.
"I don't want to sell my soul" replied Subzero not backing off an inch.
The huge lips creased into a smile "I can take it by force you know" it whispered. Blood he could see now was dripping slowly out of the mouth. A large droplet pusated a moment before dropping down into a murky pool below.
"I'm well armed" replied Subzero.
"So am I" laughed the demon "We enjoy a struggle"
He could see them now, more dark shapes came out of the shadows towards him. Ten of them in all, each of them with their own hideous shapes. Most of them in some way resembled humans but some of the creatures were so far beyond human shape at all that they could only be described as alien forms.
"We want your soul... now what do you want in return?" whispered a sluggish voice from the darkness "We need your soul... its all we want" said another higher voice like a witch or hag yet with that same rasping tired quality as if all happiness and hope had been sucked out of the creatures.
Subzero had had enough. He couldn't take on all of them at once and every single one of them was taller than he was, stronger than he was and was armed with weapons he couldn't possibly comprehend. Turning he ran away into the darkness. Through the alleyways he heard the shouts behind him as the demons followed. He could hear the steps behind him. His foot slipped a moment in a puddle and he almost fell. It became deeper and slowed him down the water spraying into the air as his feet passed through them. The huge demons passed through the puddel with ease, he didn't dare to look back for if he had, he would have seen them cross through the water as if it were foam.
Soon a wall loomed up closer to him in the darkness. He would try and climb it, this seemed hopeless but it was his only chance. But before for he could even attempt the climb a shape flashed in front of him in the darkness. A metal foot glinted on the floor and he tripped flying head over heels he landed against some dust bins "I got him!" screemed a demon "I got him! It was me!" The demons approached and stopped just in front of him contained by the power of their leader the huge lipped creature, it smacked the metal footed creature to the back and snarled at it before turning back to the fallen Subzero. Its control over the rest of the pack was strong, his very actions held them back. Yet one wrong move on his part and they would all turn on him. These were pack laws, yet so much darker than the ones of earth. They contained no love, or freedom. They were all prisoners of that one dark realm.
"We've got him boys" said the lipped figure, blood dripping down its face like drool "We'll have full bellies tonight... lets feast"
He heard their foot steps coming towards him and he closed his eyes in dread... there was a quiet thud. And Subzero squinted his eyes waiting for the blow to come, his body was tense. The sound was next to him, yet nothing happened. He shoudler felt wet against the ground. Gazing up slowly he looked across the black shapes of the demons in the darkness. Their faces showed fear, they were terrified, they backed off at once. What had happened that could terrify a beast of the Neatherealm?
"Have merci Oni" they whispered. There was a dark shape in front of Subzero, it walked forward slowly and looked at the red lipped leader. It was shorter than the demons all of them, much the same height as Subzero himself. Yet the body was as black as night. It was darker still like a vortex of shadow. It was not possible to describe how dark that body was.
"Bloodfeed I think isn't it?" said a cold emotionless voice "Or whatever pathetic name you've called yourself since we last met"
"Have merci Oni" whispered the lipped creature stuttering and quivering with dread
"And pray what have you caught today, let me look over it a while before I let you destroy it... I am intrigued to see what you've caught"
The black shadow turned towards him suddenly and gazed with piercing blue eyes at his blood stained face. The eyes were like ghosts bouring into him, Subzero gazed back helpless and terrified.
"A mortal?" muttered the shadow quietly to himself, he turned suddenly to the lipped creature "What are you doing with a mortal Bloodfeed?"
"Have mercy Oni, we found it skulking about the city streets, we only wanted to play with it for a bit before we took its soul... its not often master that we find such a catch"
The shadow turned back suddenly to Subzero, the darkness like with the demon on the roof top seemed to spread out making everything arround him darker. He gazed down at Subzero with blue eyes that seemed to be the only light coming from that all consuming darkness. Yet they were like mosquitoes, and seemed to draw in much more other freindly things than the cold light that they gave out.
"Can you speak mortal?" asked the shadow
"Have mercy Oni" whimpered Subzero quietly
"What are you doing here?" interrorgated the shadow again after it realised that Subzero in his current state wasn't going to say anything unless he coaxed it out of him.
"I was told to bring this card to a Oni named Noobsaibot" Subzero said weakly withdrawing the blue card. The shadow snatched it away and gazed over the inscription. Again he turned to Bloodfeed with a cold air "You didn't realise it seems that this mortal is under my protection?"
"Have merci Oni!" ,whimpered Bloodfeed backing off "I never knew honest! Please spare me General! Don't kill me again like you did last time!"
"Don't worry... I won't kill you" said the shadow again, never once did the tone of voice change in a highly noticable way. It always stayed at the same cold level of speach, never flickering with fear, with joy or with anger "But perhaps your freinds might think differently of my mercy"
In a second the black shadow outstretched a hand forward, he pointed it at Bloodfeed's legs. They inploded and the creature screamed in pain falling to the floor. The legs swelled bubbling up before bursting with flesh and blood to reveal the bones themselves inside.
"As you promised... your minions will have full bellies tonight"
They licked their lips turning on him slowly they circled round, they edged towards him in his painful stupor.
"Please No!" screamed the large lips spitting blood across the floor. The iron legged minnion spoke in a whisper as the blood drained out of his body "Not so hot now are you bloodfeed? Always knocking me aside..."
"Yesss" said the Hag "How does it feel to be on the end of your own blows?" and suddenly they set upon him with claws and teeth tearing his body apart. Flesh and gore went scattering across the walls and his voice howled in an unearthly scream as his own minions devoured his body, searching for what little soul was left inside of it. The shadow turned to Subzero slowly with not a flinch in movement. It outstretched a single hand "Come ally, it seems you are lucky presently... for what luck there is in this realm you are lucky to receive some"
A black portal appeared in the wall and Subzero took the shadow hand in his own. The black shape pulled him to his feet. The hand felt cold, and it seemed to touch him somwhere else stronger. He felt the presence of the hand on his own much stronger, on the wall where his own shadow lay. The experiance was much stranger than he would ever have expected. Together they entered the portal and with a flicker it closed to the unearthly screams of Bloodfeed.
