Chapter12: The Bridge of Immortality
Across the city blocks from a distant tower three women watched as Subzero made his escape. Around their necks were three crystals of power. They were the personal guardians of the dark sorcerer Quan chi. Black silk bodices and dark boots the first to speak had black gothic hair. A head piece with a red gem shone on her forehead as she gazed out with electronic binoculars "Well" she said as if to prover her point "He's definitely a mortal... his soul is still contained within his body"
Her name was Kia, a metal boomerang was attached to her waist. Next to her with pure white hair stood the assassin Jataaka "A mortal cannot exist here with his soul intact" she hissed. Her voice was whispery and from inside her mouth crunches and clicks sounded as whatever teeth lay inside moved against each other. She grinned viciously suddenly and showed a normal set of teeth, the noise it seemed was a mystery.
"Unless Shinnoch allowed it to be" returned Kia after a good wait. She put the binoculars down and gazed into the distance at the fallen statue.
The third spoke with a mixture of dark hair with white streaks. She was strangely beutiful and did not quite fit in with the other two her name was Sareena "I'll inform Quan chi" she stated "The two of you continue to track him"
"Whatever pleases you mistress" hissed Jataaka with a grin, there was a click from somewhere deep in her throat and her pupiless eyes seemed to gaze eerily with no focus.
"Go and run back to dady" chuckled Kia "We'll cover for you here"
"Bitches" growled Sareena with a snarl "I'll kill you..."
"What a threat" shrugged Kia "You never were very inteligent were you Sareena? Try again and you might hit a sore spot... your own"
Sareena advanced with a growl but a hand caught her on the shoulder. She turned to gaze into Jataaka's white flickering eyes "Don't even think about it you little bitch" she hissed with a crackle in her throat "Touch her..." she hissed "And I will personal take out your eyes while you can still see through them"
Sareena whimpered like a dog and backed off. Turning she growled again and scattered away into the tower. In the darkness she came to a yellow teleporter almost exactly the same as the one in Noobsaibot's tower. Withdrawing the green crystal she held it up and dissapered a fearful tear in her eye.
After crossing the black walls of the city Subzero was into no mans land. He passed pace by pace through the marshes that lead towards the sea of imortality. Several times he almost fell into a bog or swamp. The footing was treacherous here, and his black boots got covered in wet sloppy mud. His feet sank into the ground with each step and when they emerged they gave a soft squelch. Above the orange sky burned down on him with never a sun to be seen. He wasn't even sure if this place actually had a sun or moon, how could it when it stayed in this constant nocturnal hell? The skies were swampped with orange clouds that glowed red as if outside of the world there was nothing but fire and death.
This was the place of lost souls who strayed too far from the city. He could hear their moans under the surface of the moss and grassy reeds. They were all moving slowly away towards the sea of imortality where they would be trapped "imortally" in that horrid putrid water. The souls begged for mercy, he could see them, their green lights flickering now and again out of the mossy banks and dunes. Yet in the Neatherealm there was no mercy, only death. He knew now for sure that it was time for him to acept where he was.
He was in the very bowels of hell itself. Here there were different rules to the earth realm. Demon law, here the creatures were not merciful or kind or had anything in them like it. The longer he stayed in this realm the more it would corrupt him, unless he addmitted what he was and where he was and who he was. He had to admit to himself subconciously he realised that he was a force from the Earthrealm, a neutral being. This the fact that he was neutral was the only thing that kept him alive in this rancid world. He had to admit also, that there were almost none like him. This realm corrupted and changes those who enter it and were once good, to the laws of darkness. They can have no love, hope must be ambition, freindship must be gain, kindness... has no place here. Yet as kindness has no place in that realm, and Subzero felt it dwindling away withing his own heart every time he turned a blind eye to his emotions... there were things in this realm that did not belong in the Earthrealm. The belief of pure Chaos seemed to have no place on the neutral ground. The Earthrealm was a neutral world inbetween chaos and love, the extremes perhaps could not fully ever exist there.
Subzero was closer to the darkness than ever he had realised before... yet he had to be strong and make sure that the darkness did not consume him forever. If so this realm would claim him, and soon his body would change with the dark powers in the air, he would lose his identity. He would be just like the rest of the demons and Oni, a being of pure evil. This was the fate that Raiden had warned him of and now with the mud and mist round his boots he felt much closer to it than when he had first jumpped through the portal. Before the 'Brothers of the Shadow' were just a group of words strung together. Now they had strong meaning in his mind, an unstoppable army of undead, a bastion of fear and demonic strength, it kept hell itself in line.
He trudged on through mud and grime for what seemed like hours on end. He had lost track of time in this realm. He did not feel shattered, meerly tired. He hadn't felt the need to sleep for a long time, yet still he felt stretched somehow, in someway beyond that of simple fatigue. It was the magic of the gods and this realm that had stopped him from falling into dreams. He felt tired but not sleepy. It was a constant effort to resist and try to stop the horrors of this place from truely corrupting him. The pinacle of strength in his mind that the demonic voices assaulted was his hope for freedom. His hope that soon he would return to his own realm and be free of this torture. His hope that one day things might work out okay for him. A time when he wouldn't be working for anyone.
He stood quiet a moment listening to the unhealthy winds that swept across the misty marshes. In the distance he heard mutterings. He listened; the old mutterings of a women came to his ears from a distance, he could see her shape through the mist by a black tree that had lost all but one of its leaves. She wobbled along with great white hair streaming over her shoulder, a small brown cloak she had wrapped tightly round her body.
"Here I am trudging through mud and slush, in the worst of places... never a care for an old lady like myself, those devils should learn some manners"
Subzero stood and again he felt that atmosphere of helplessness. Here was something strange and unexpected, just when he himself thought he was getting to come to terms with this acursed realm, something like this would happen. What was an old woman doing out on these moors? "Hello there!" he called across the soggy stretches.
"Hallo dear!" she called back "What are you doing in such a place as these here marshes? You must be freezing, young man if your mother was here she would have a fit!"
Subzero approached her as she waddled along far quicker than she could have done herself he arrived next to her and looked down on her. Her hair was fluffy like cotton wool and stretched out high over head and was tied back in a single huge bun with a brown piece of cord. A stick was in her hand and she had a bag round her waiste as Subzero stood in front of her frowning. He could feel the Neatherealm pulling on him, begging him to turn to darkness and rip her apart. This force of goodness here, where there was so much evil was a threat to him "No!" he thought arguing back "Maybe she can help me find the way!"
"Do you know the way to the bridge of imortality old woman?"
She looked up with a frown of white eye brows "I'm not that old ya know! You are a rude one! Well as a matter of fact, yes I do I've just been down there only a moment ago... had a message for Shinnoch I did but I wouldn't go there just yet if I were you! The soldiers wouldn't even let me past the gate! Rascals, me journying all this way and I can't even get my job done! Some people are just so unsympathetic"
"What do you mean wouldn't let you passed the gate?" asked Subzero with a worried glance
"Didn't you hear the noise? There's soldiers and machines stamping arround everywere over there! It seems like there's a whole garrison of soldiers ready and at arms to defend from against even an army, if I didn't know any better I'd say they were about to be attacked by Leviathan's mob"
"What do you mean a whole garrison!" ,gawked Subzero "I'm supposed to be passing through that way!" he roared hope shattering briefly before his eyes.
"Keep your voice down dear! Deary me you are a noisy one. Is your name Subzero by any chance?"
"Yes" replied Subzero grimly "If it means anything to you other than my ability to kill"
"Oh no of course not dear! I'm glad I found you what a stroke of luck! I've got a letter for you here" bending into her bag she passed him a small envelope with a red seel, he took it pensively and looked at the writing on the front
"To Subzero - Neatherealm".
"A bit of luck from Madame Ditdoe, she always likes to be fair so she wrote one for Shinnoch as well, but the man at the gate wouldn't let me in. You can give it to him if you like?"
"No thanks that will be quite all right" replied Subzero staring at the envelope "Who are you old women?"
"Piff's mi name, don't you worry about the long version, I prefer Piff anyway. I'm a messenger. I must say again that it was much a good stroke of luck finding you here and all, you've made my workload a lot easier you know! Some people! They really can't write down decent addresses... there was this one person who just gave me the letter!" Subzero wasn't listening he, looked the letter over up and down turning it over in his hands "I tell you that was a tricky find... no address nothing! But I'm sure you a youngster won't want to be hearing all about me, so I'll just be going now... you take care now young Subzero and put something warm on! You must be freezing! Dear me"
Waddling away Subzero watched as she staggerd cougthing as she went with great puffs of white air in the cold. Once she dissapered into the mists and was gone Subzero turned to look at the envelope. Picking at the paper he undid the seal and looked inside, with cold hands he withdrew the message and looked at it. It was in flowing script the ink seemed to have a tinge of green to it.
"Dear Subzero, if you're crossing the bridge of imortality why not put some of my ointment on as a keep safe? It really does stop bruises you know! - love Madame Ditdoe"
He chuckled quietly in the orange light of the sky, the first smile he had pulled in what felt like a very long time. He stampped his boots bringing them out of the mud for a second. He looked about again for the old woman but he couldn't see her, he cursed himself for not asking to have a look at Shinnock's letter. Holding letter and envelope in one hand he crunged them into a ball with his hands. Freezing them with his hand he cracked the paper so that shards of it fell icily down into the mud where with his foot he stampped them further down into the muk. Nobody must see what he had received.
"Madame Ditdoe" he murmered softly "And I thought at one point that all that was a dream..."
Reaching into the folds of his costume he searched as he walked across the marshes. He clasped the bottle and felt the smooth glass, the delicate crystal structure. He gazed at the writing on the formula, that same tinge of green was in the ink that he had seen on the letter. He journeyed out into the marsh, with some confidence that the gods he hadn't killed were probably rooting for him because otherwise they'd end up dead.
The room was dark and filled with Shadows. A white face almost luminescent was lit by light from a square gap in the roof. Moonlight, or maybe something else was its source "approach Sareena" it commanded. The femenine shadow came forward across the bridge with a bow and stood to attention in front of the sorcerer Quan chi. He drummed his fingers once on the arm rest and then gestured as if for her to go on. She spoke somewhat flustered.
"Sir, a mortal has escaped from the Prison of Souls. He is headed toward the Sea of Immortality"
"A mortal?" chuckled Quan chi with a laugh as if the statement were meaningless. He was about to retort and punish Sareena when quite suddenly she continued speaking.
"Yes" she continued with a half stare "A mortal with the ability to freeze"
Quan chi gasped and sat up suddenly his eyes wide with shock "Alert the Keepers!" he shouted "And send a full garrison to intercept! Make sure that he does not cross the bridge!"
"The keepers?" said Sareena quietly amused at her master's fear "But he is just a mortal! Certainly I can dispose of him myself..?"
"Do not question me Sareena!" hissed Quan chi with a warning glance "And more importantly, do not fail me! We have toyed with the ninja long enough"
"Master, is this the ninja Scorpion that you told me would destroy the elements for you?"
"No Sareena... it is not" spat Quan chi standing to his feet he glared fiercly at Sareena as if the question had been an insult "... you will die if you speak another word"
She bowed quickly and with swift feet she hurried out of the room. Quan chi watched her as she ran "No Subzero... I will not have you ruin my plans" gazing down at the amulet he watched the shiny surface for a moment "Heh... Raiden's game... fool"
The bridge of imortality. It stretched out for what seemed like eternity across the misty sea. He was there now, he crouched down just on the other side of an abandoned building. The windows were boarded up and the walls were yellowed with age and most of the roof had fallen in. The sky always orange effected the house in the strange unreal and altogether unsecure way it effected everything in the Neatherealm. The shadows of the corners seemed to lengthen and grow sharper. The building would have looked halmless in his own realm, but here it looked threatening and dangerous like all things did under that emberous twilight. He could hear the voices of the first two guards not far away. They had that same synthasiser like tone in their speach as if part of them were machine. He forced open the door with as little noise as possible. Through a large crack in the wall on the upper floor of the building he got a clean view of the bridge and the pyramid in the distance. Soldiers he could see were everywhere. Marching moving back and forth, they were all Brothers of the Shadow recently transferred from the Prison of souls.
Little did they know that their former master was dead. Little did they know what Subzero had planned for them. His mind was active in the darkness he undressed and through the cold rubbed the ointment over his body shivering over the rotten floor boards like a runaway child. Yet deep down inside he was looking forward to the killing and he knew it. He was looking forward to getting his revenge on the Brothers of the Shadow. He wanted to kill them all yet he didn't know why, every last one of them he wanted to see fall before his power. He rubbed the ointment down his legs and up his arms furiously pushing it further into his skin. The stuff seemed endless in supply even from the tiny crystaline bottle and when finnaly he had covered his whole body, he looked down to find that there was hardly a drop in the surface of the crystaline bottle. It was enchanted in some way, yet more than he origionally suspected for imiediately he could feel its power working into him.
As he put his clothes on he could feel something happening arround his body. A hardening of skin and even bone it seemed. It sank into him, not sticky or sweaty in any way or irritating, the stuff just seemed to sink in even better than water. Like air even. He stepped slowly away feeling the resistances of his body become even harder. He felt as hard as stone, as hard as titanium tougther even still. He clutched himself a moment in sudden pain that stretched right throughout his entire body. He cried out in agony stepping from side to side bending he swaggered like a dying man he felt his back bending in shape. Every bone in his body suddenly clicked at once starting from the toes in his shoes they crackled followed by the ankles, knees hips, and the whole of his spinal chord crackled in a long line like the playing of a Marimba. His neck clicked and the pain released.
Swaggering he stepped inbetween the beams by acident he felt the rotting wood give way. The roof colapsed and he shouted out as the wood and planks fell away they landed with him and on top of him on the stone floor below. He lay emotionless beneath the rubble breathing heavily, his body felt different somehow. With a heave he pushed the wood off of him. A plank with a nail embedded through it was resting on top of his head. He gazed at it ahwile and realised that it hadn't even made a mark on his forehead. Taking it he wacked the nail against the palm of his hand. There wasn't even a mark. It didn't even draw blood.
Reaching into the folds of his robes he took out the Urn of strength. He opened it up and sipped the clean water inside. He felt the strength flow ebbing through his veins and he grinned to himself with malice "Now I am a god" he laughed wiping his lips with his sleeve. He felt fantastic. Turning he kicked the rubble off of him with manic laughter and charged streight at the wall as if every enemy that had ever existed for him was in that old rotting brickwork. It parted easily under his strength and the broken stones and mortar were flung aside the house colapsing behind him he ran faster than he had had ever run before a blue blur towards the bridge.
"Stop!" shouted the guards pointing strange guns forward but he was too fast for them and every second he grew stronger from the power of the Urn. Leaping through the air over the green shots he flipped round in a ball higher than he had ever jumpped before. He landed behind a guard who he held in place as a shield. The second brother of the shadow fired killing the guard he held instantly. Leaping forward like a tiger he stood on the guard's shoulders with a grin and with both hands twisted the head round so that it broke with a snap of neck bones. His hands were like the Golems with imeasurable strength his legs were like the wind god. His mind was like the water god and his anger was like the Fire god's wrath.
The body landed to the ground and he jumpped off with a spurt of energy. He felt better than ever before, he felt fantastic, he felt incredible his body was strong and impenatrable. He was fast, he had skill and powers over ice. Before him Noobsaibot's minions stretched across the bridge and he charged streight towards them and there was no fear inside of him.
Ice and shattered corpses flew high into the air as Subzero broke through deep into the ranks of the enemy. They shot at him and indeed they tried, but it was useless. He dodged through the beams splitting skulls and killing everything he came in contact with. He was losing himself.
Huge red robots with great red legs and shaped heads attacked him with machine guns and flame throwers. They were the keepers, the territorial guardians of the pyramid, like Nazdrak but tougther, but under his powers of strength and body from the Urn and Madame Ditdoe they were nothing to him. He destroyed them easily darting inbetween them backflipping and cartwheeling like death himself. Jumpping up he ripped the metalic heads off with his bare hands electricty and lightning flickering aross his arms and body. He dimly felt the sensation of pain yet it was nothing to him. He polar blasted the machines as they came at him freezing and shattering them into the sea below in an instant. The Brothers of the shadow again came at him in masses as he journeyed across the bridge but they were no match for him. He used many of the death needles in that battle, and never recovered them in his fury.
Heads ripped and armor and guns clanged to the ground as each adversary fell to his power. Everything on him had the power to kill, his arms his head his legs his feet his hands his arms his fingers. With incresed strength and body every part of him had been excellerated to such a digree that killing became easy. Blood spilled across the ground and the bridge became a ground of blood and bones. He watched one of the wretches briefly who fell down into the swampy deapths below. Huge green plant like tenticles reached up out of the waters and dragged him down screaming where boney hands and finger below ripped him and his soul apart.
Blood was all over Subzero's fingers and costume yet it did not itch like before. He enjoyed it, he wanted to create as much destruction to this realm as possible. He wanted to destroy this realm and bring the sky down on it as Noobsaibot had predicted. He wasn't even thinking streight most of the time. He failed to notice how his voice in the orange glow of the sky above when growling in that harsh mannor and unholy way, seemed to sound as if through its own synthasiser. He failed to notice how with his hands he ripped apart bone and flesh and tore the bodies of his enemies apart with no mercy.
Breaking the last of the machines apart the Brothers of the shadow ran away fleeing for a moment. Up ahead a dark helmited rider approached on the back of a what looked like a dragon without wings, a champon, a knight of Shinnoch come to slay him in the name of darkness. The creature he rode breathed fire from its mouth an roared as it approached coming out of the gates of the temple itself. No matter what they frew against him he would destroy it as easy as anything else. It came charging faster and faster towards him like a whirlwind. Withdrawing one of the deathneedles in his hand he held it pointed towards the floor below emotionless. He roared suddenly as the figure came close and threw it forward it sped through the air like a bullet.
It penetrated the knight's armor and he fell off of his mount backwards strugling on the ground in agony. Jumping high into the air as the creature breathed flame where he had stood, he landed swiftly on its back. Withdrawing another black needle, the head of the creature now behind him as he sat, he raised it into the air gleaming and plunged it down lodging it inbetween the vertivbrates of the creature's spinal chord. It slumpped to the ground and he felt the tail pass away between his legs as he landed to the ground. The creature running on howeled in a blind panic breathing flames in every direction it could.
Walking passed without a second look he smiled as the Black Knight exploded in a messy fountain of blood smoking black armor brains and organs. He grinned as the remaining forces of the brothers of the shadow coward before him he failed to notice how they hailed him with "Have merci Oni" but he was still relentless. There was no mercy for them as they would have no merci for him. With cold hands and death on his white breaths he killed each and every one of them in turn as they turned fleeing. He frew with malice their frozen corpses into the terrible sea below, where the souls within took them with opened boney arms. Running on he crossed the last stone slabs and stood still gazing up at the pyramid in front of him reaching up into the skies.
Its tip pierced the orange clouds. Walking slowly forward as the great door in front of him opened. He entered into his final destiny. Quan chi's humble abode. It was time to make an end to the sorcerer's crimes and his own forever.
Across the city blocks from a distant tower three women watched as Subzero made his escape. Around their necks were three crystals of power. They were the personal guardians of the dark sorcerer Quan chi. Black silk bodices and dark boots the first to speak had black gothic hair. A head piece with a red gem shone on her forehead as she gazed out with electronic binoculars "Well" she said as if to prover her point "He's definitely a mortal... his soul is still contained within his body"
Her name was Kia, a metal boomerang was attached to her waist. Next to her with pure white hair stood the assassin Jataaka "A mortal cannot exist here with his soul intact" she hissed. Her voice was whispery and from inside her mouth crunches and clicks sounded as whatever teeth lay inside moved against each other. She grinned viciously suddenly and showed a normal set of teeth, the noise it seemed was a mystery.
"Unless Shinnoch allowed it to be" returned Kia after a good wait. She put the binoculars down and gazed into the distance at the fallen statue.
The third spoke with a mixture of dark hair with white streaks. She was strangely beutiful and did not quite fit in with the other two her name was Sareena "I'll inform Quan chi" she stated "The two of you continue to track him"
"Whatever pleases you mistress" hissed Jataaka with a grin, there was a click from somewhere deep in her throat and her pupiless eyes seemed to gaze eerily with no focus.
"Go and run back to dady" chuckled Kia "We'll cover for you here"
"Bitches" growled Sareena with a snarl "I'll kill you..."
"What a threat" shrugged Kia "You never were very inteligent were you Sareena? Try again and you might hit a sore spot... your own"
Sareena advanced with a growl but a hand caught her on the shoulder. She turned to gaze into Jataaka's white flickering eyes "Don't even think about it you little bitch" she hissed with a crackle in her throat "Touch her..." she hissed "And I will personal take out your eyes while you can still see through them"
Sareena whimpered like a dog and backed off. Turning she growled again and scattered away into the tower. In the darkness she came to a yellow teleporter almost exactly the same as the one in Noobsaibot's tower. Withdrawing the green crystal she held it up and dissapered a fearful tear in her eye.
After crossing the black walls of the city Subzero was into no mans land. He passed pace by pace through the marshes that lead towards the sea of imortality. Several times he almost fell into a bog or swamp. The footing was treacherous here, and his black boots got covered in wet sloppy mud. His feet sank into the ground with each step and when they emerged they gave a soft squelch. Above the orange sky burned down on him with never a sun to be seen. He wasn't even sure if this place actually had a sun or moon, how could it when it stayed in this constant nocturnal hell? The skies were swampped with orange clouds that glowed red as if outside of the world there was nothing but fire and death.
This was the place of lost souls who strayed too far from the city. He could hear their moans under the surface of the moss and grassy reeds. They were all moving slowly away towards the sea of imortality where they would be trapped "imortally" in that horrid putrid water. The souls begged for mercy, he could see them, their green lights flickering now and again out of the mossy banks and dunes. Yet in the Neatherealm there was no mercy, only death. He knew now for sure that it was time for him to acept where he was.
He was in the very bowels of hell itself. Here there were different rules to the earth realm. Demon law, here the creatures were not merciful or kind or had anything in them like it. The longer he stayed in this realm the more it would corrupt him, unless he addmitted what he was and where he was and who he was. He had to admit to himself subconciously he realised that he was a force from the Earthrealm, a neutral being. This the fact that he was neutral was the only thing that kept him alive in this rancid world. He had to admit also, that there were almost none like him. This realm corrupted and changes those who enter it and were once good, to the laws of darkness. They can have no love, hope must be ambition, freindship must be gain, kindness... has no place here. Yet as kindness has no place in that realm, and Subzero felt it dwindling away withing his own heart every time he turned a blind eye to his emotions... there were things in this realm that did not belong in the Earthrealm. The belief of pure Chaos seemed to have no place on the neutral ground. The Earthrealm was a neutral world inbetween chaos and love, the extremes perhaps could not fully ever exist there.
Subzero was closer to the darkness than ever he had realised before... yet he had to be strong and make sure that the darkness did not consume him forever. If so this realm would claim him, and soon his body would change with the dark powers in the air, he would lose his identity. He would be just like the rest of the demons and Oni, a being of pure evil. This was the fate that Raiden had warned him of and now with the mud and mist round his boots he felt much closer to it than when he had first jumpped through the portal. Before the 'Brothers of the Shadow' were just a group of words strung together. Now they had strong meaning in his mind, an unstoppable army of undead, a bastion of fear and demonic strength, it kept hell itself in line.
He trudged on through mud and grime for what seemed like hours on end. He had lost track of time in this realm. He did not feel shattered, meerly tired. He hadn't felt the need to sleep for a long time, yet still he felt stretched somehow, in someway beyond that of simple fatigue. It was the magic of the gods and this realm that had stopped him from falling into dreams. He felt tired but not sleepy. It was a constant effort to resist and try to stop the horrors of this place from truely corrupting him. The pinacle of strength in his mind that the demonic voices assaulted was his hope for freedom. His hope that soon he would return to his own realm and be free of this torture. His hope that one day things might work out okay for him. A time when he wouldn't be working for anyone.
He stood quiet a moment listening to the unhealthy winds that swept across the misty marshes. In the distance he heard mutterings. He listened; the old mutterings of a women came to his ears from a distance, he could see her shape through the mist by a black tree that had lost all but one of its leaves. She wobbled along with great white hair streaming over her shoulder, a small brown cloak she had wrapped tightly round her body.
"Here I am trudging through mud and slush, in the worst of places... never a care for an old lady like myself, those devils should learn some manners"
Subzero stood and again he felt that atmosphere of helplessness. Here was something strange and unexpected, just when he himself thought he was getting to come to terms with this acursed realm, something like this would happen. What was an old woman doing out on these moors? "Hello there!" he called across the soggy stretches.
"Hallo dear!" she called back "What are you doing in such a place as these here marshes? You must be freezing, young man if your mother was here she would have a fit!"
Subzero approached her as she waddled along far quicker than she could have done herself he arrived next to her and looked down on her. Her hair was fluffy like cotton wool and stretched out high over head and was tied back in a single huge bun with a brown piece of cord. A stick was in her hand and she had a bag round her waiste as Subzero stood in front of her frowning. He could feel the Neatherealm pulling on him, begging him to turn to darkness and rip her apart. This force of goodness here, where there was so much evil was a threat to him "No!" he thought arguing back "Maybe she can help me find the way!"
"Do you know the way to the bridge of imortality old woman?"
She looked up with a frown of white eye brows "I'm not that old ya know! You are a rude one! Well as a matter of fact, yes I do I've just been down there only a moment ago... had a message for Shinnoch I did but I wouldn't go there just yet if I were you! The soldiers wouldn't even let me past the gate! Rascals, me journying all this way and I can't even get my job done! Some people are just so unsympathetic"
"What do you mean wouldn't let you passed the gate?" asked Subzero with a worried glance
"Didn't you hear the noise? There's soldiers and machines stamping arround everywere over there! It seems like there's a whole garrison of soldiers ready and at arms to defend from against even an army, if I didn't know any better I'd say they were about to be attacked by Leviathan's mob"
"What do you mean a whole garrison!" ,gawked Subzero "I'm supposed to be passing through that way!" he roared hope shattering briefly before his eyes.
"Keep your voice down dear! Deary me you are a noisy one. Is your name Subzero by any chance?"
"Yes" replied Subzero grimly "If it means anything to you other than my ability to kill"
"Oh no of course not dear! I'm glad I found you what a stroke of luck! I've got a letter for you here" bending into her bag she passed him a small envelope with a red seel, he took it pensively and looked at the writing on the front
"To Subzero - Neatherealm".
"A bit of luck from Madame Ditdoe, she always likes to be fair so she wrote one for Shinnoch as well, but the man at the gate wouldn't let me in. You can give it to him if you like?"
"No thanks that will be quite all right" replied Subzero staring at the envelope "Who are you old women?"
"Piff's mi name, don't you worry about the long version, I prefer Piff anyway. I'm a messenger. I must say again that it was much a good stroke of luck finding you here and all, you've made my workload a lot easier you know! Some people! They really can't write down decent addresses... there was this one person who just gave me the letter!" Subzero wasn't listening he, looked the letter over up and down turning it over in his hands "I tell you that was a tricky find... no address nothing! But I'm sure you a youngster won't want to be hearing all about me, so I'll just be going now... you take care now young Subzero and put something warm on! You must be freezing! Dear me"
Waddling away Subzero watched as she staggerd cougthing as she went with great puffs of white air in the cold. Once she dissapered into the mists and was gone Subzero turned to look at the envelope. Picking at the paper he undid the seal and looked inside, with cold hands he withdrew the message and looked at it. It was in flowing script the ink seemed to have a tinge of green to it.
"Dear Subzero, if you're crossing the bridge of imortality why not put some of my ointment on as a keep safe? It really does stop bruises you know! - love Madame Ditdoe"
He chuckled quietly in the orange light of the sky, the first smile he had pulled in what felt like a very long time. He stampped his boots bringing them out of the mud for a second. He looked about again for the old woman but he couldn't see her, he cursed himself for not asking to have a look at Shinnock's letter. Holding letter and envelope in one hand he crunged them into a ball with his hands. Freezing them with his hand he cracked the paper so that shards of it fell icily down into the mud where with his foot he stampped them further down into the muk. Nobody must see what he had received.
"Madame Ditdoe" he murmered softly "And I thought at one point that all that was a dream..."
Reaching into the folds of his costume he searched as he walked across the marshes. He clasped the bottle and felt the smooth glass, the delicate crystal structure. He gazed at the writing on the formula, that same tinge of green was in the ink that he had seen on the letter. He journeyed out into the marsh, with some confidence that the gods he hadn't killed were probably rooting for him because otherwise they'd end up dead.
The room was dark and filled with Shadows. A white face almost luminescent was lit by light from a square gap in the roof. Moonlight, or maybe something else was its source "approach Sareena" it commanded. The femenine shadow came forward across the bridge with a bow and stood to attention in front of the sorcerer Quan chi. He drummed his fingers once on the arm rest and then gestured as if for her to go on. She spoke somewhat flustered.
"Sir, a mortal has escaped from the Prison of Souls. He is headed toward the Sea of Immortality"
"A mortal?" chuckled Quan chi with a laugh as if the statement were meaningless. He was about to retort and punish Sareena when quite suddenly she continued speaking.
"Yes" she continued with a half stare "A mortal with the ability to freeze"
Quan chi gasped and sat up suddenly his eyes wide with shock "Alert the Keepers!" he shouted "And send a full garrison to intercept! Make sure that he does not cross the bridge!"
"The keepers?" said Sareena quietly amused at her master's fear "But he is just a mortal! Certainly I can dispose of him myself..?"
"Do not question me Sareena!" hissed Quan chi with a warning glance "And more importantly, do not fail me! We have toyed with the ninja long enough"
"Master, is this the ninja Scorpion that you told me would destroy the elements for you?"
"No Sareena... it is not" spat Quan chi standing to his feet he glared fiercly at Sareena as if the question had been an insult "... you will die if you speak another word"
She bowed quickly and with swift feet she hurried out of the room. Quan chi watched her as she ran "No Subzero... I will not have you ruin my plans" gazing down at the amulet he watched the shiny surface for a moment "Heh... Raiden's game... fool"
The bridge of imortality. It stretched out for what seemed like eternity across the misty sea. He was there now, he crouched down just on the other side of an abandoned building. The windows were boarded up and the walls were yellowed with age and most of the roof had fallen in. The sky always orange effected the house in the strange unreal and altogether unsecure way it effected everything in the Neatherealm. The shadows of the corners seemed to lengthen and grow sharper. The building would have looked halmless in his own realm, but here it looked threatening and dangerous like all things did under that emberous twilight. He could hear the voices of the first two guards not far away. They had that same synthasiser like tone in their speach as if part of them were machine. He forced open the door with as little noise as possible. Through a large crack in the wall on the upper floor of the building he got a clean view of the bridge and the pyramid in the distance. Soldiers he could see were everywhere. Marching moving back and forth, they were all Brothers of the Shadow recently transferred from the Prison of souls.
Little did they know that their former master was dead. Little did they know what Subzero had planned for them. His mind was active in the darkness he undressed and through the cold rubbed the ointment over his body shivering over the rotten floor boards like a runaway child. Yet deep down inside he was looking forward to the killing and he knew it. He was looking forward to getting his revenge on the Brothers of the Shadow. He wanted to kill them all yet he didn't know why, every last one of them he wanted to see fall before his power. He rubbed the ointment down his legs and up his arms furiously pushing it further into his skin. The stuff seemed endless in supply even from the tiny crystaline bottle and when finnaly he had covered his whole body, he looked down to find that there was hardly a drop in the surface of the crystaline bottle. It was enchanted in some way, yet more than he origionally suspected for imiediately he could feel its power working into him.
As he put his clothes on he could feel something happening arround his body. A hardening of skin and even bone it seemed. It sank into him, not sticky or sweaty in any way or irritating, the stuff just seemed to sink in even better than water. Like air even. He stepped slowly away feeling the resistances of his body become even harder. He felt as hard as stone, as hard as titanium tougther even still. He clutched himself a moment in sudden pain that stretched right throughout his entire body. He cried out in agony stepping from side to side bending he swaggered like a dying man he felt his back bending in shape. Every bone in his body suddenly clicked at once starting from the toes in his shoes they crackled followed by the ankles, knees hips, and the whole of his spinal chord crackled in a long line like the playing of a Marimba. His neck clicked and the pain released.
Swaggering he stepped inbetween the beams by acident he felt the rotting wood give way. The roof colapsed and he shouted out as the wood and planks fell away they landed with him and on top of him on the stone floor below. He lay emotionless beneath the rubble breathing heavily, his body felt different somehow. With a heave he pushed the wood off of him. A plank with a nail embedded through it was resting on top of his head. He gazed at it ahwile and realised that it hadn't even made a mark on his forehead. Taking it he wacked the nail against the palm of his hand. There wasn't even a mark. It didn't even draw blood.
Reaching into the folds of his robes he took out the Urn of strength. He opened it up and sipped the clean water inside. He felt the strength flow ebbing through his veins and he grinned to himself with malice "Now I am a god" he laughed wiping his lips with his sleeve. He felt fantastic. Turning he kicked the rubble off of him with manic laughter and charged streight at the wall as if every enemy that had ever existed for him was in that old rotting brickwork. It parted easily under his strength and the broken stones and mortar were flung aside the house colapsing behind him he ran faster than he had had ever run before a blue blur towards the bridge.
"Stop!" shouted the guards pointing strange guns forward but he was too fast for them and every second he grew stronger from the power of the Urn. Leaping through the air over the green shots he flipped round in a ball higher than he had ever jumpped before. He landed behind a guard who he held in place as a shield. The second brother of the shadow fired killing the guard he held instantly. Leaping forward like a tiger he stood on the guard's shoulders with a grin and with both hands twisted the head round so that it broke with a snap of neck bones. His hands were like the Golems with imeasurable strength his legs were like the wind god. His mind was like the water god and his anger was like the Fire god's wrath.
The body landed to the ground and he jumpped off with a spurt of energy. He felt better than ever before, he felt fantastic, he felt incredible his body was strong and impenatrable. He was fast, he had skill and powers over ice. Before him Noobsaibot's minions stretched across the bridge and he charged streight towards them and there was no fear inside of him.
Ice and shattered corpses flew high into the air as Subzero broke through deep into the ranks of the enemy. They shot at him and indeed they tried, but it was useless. He dodged through the beams splitting skulls and killing everything he came in contact with. He was losing himself.
Huge red robots with great red legs and shaped heads attacked him with machine guns and flame throwers. They were the keepers, the territorial guardians of the pyramid, like Nazdrak but tougther, but under his powers of strength and body from the Urn and Madame Ditdoe they were nothing to him. He destroyed them easily darting inbetween them backflipping and cartwheeling like death himself. Jumpping up he ripped the metalic heads off with his bare hands electricty and lightning flickering aross his arms and body. He dimly felt the sensation of pain yet it was nothing to him. He polar blasted the machines as they came at him freezing and shattering them into the sea below in an instant. The Brothers of the shadow again came at him in masses as he journeyed across the bridge but they were no match for him. He used many of the death needles in that battle, and never recovered them in his fury.
Heads ripped and armor and guns clanged to the ground as each adversary fell to his power. Everything on him had the power to kill, his arms his head his legs his feet his hands his arms his fingers. With incresed strength and body every part of him had been excellerated to such a digree that killing became easy. Blood spilled across the ground and the bridge became a ground of blood and bones. He watched one of the wretches briefly who fell down into the swampy deapths below. Huge green plant like tenticles reached up out of the waters and dragged him down screaming where boney hands and finger below ripped him and his soul apart.
Blood was all over Subzero's fingers and costume yet it did not itch like before. He enjoyed it, he wanted to create as much destruction to this realm as possible. He wanted to destroy this realm and bring the sky down on it as Noobsaibot had predicted. He wasn't even thinking streight most of the time. He failed to notice how his voice in the orange glow of the sky above when growling in that harsh mannor and unholy way, seemed to sound as if through its own synthasiser. He failed to notice how with his hands he ripped apart bone and flesh and tore the bodies of his enemies apart with no mercy.
Breaking the last of the machines apart the Brothers of the shadow ran away fleeing for a moment. Up ahead a dark helmited rider approached on the back of a what looked like a dragon without wings, a champon, a knight of Shinnoch come to slay him in the name of darkness. The creature he rode breathed fire from its mouth an roared as it approached coming out of the gates of the temple itself. No matter what they frew against him he would destroy it as easy as anything else. It came charging faster and faster towards him like a whirlwind. Withdrawing one of the deathneedles in his hand he held it pointed towards the floor below emotionless. He roared suddenly as the figure came close and threw it forward it sped through the air like a bullet.
It penetrated the knight's armor and he fell off of his mount backwards strugling on the ground in agony. Jumping high into the air as the creature breathed flame where he had stood, he landed swiftly on its back. Withdrawing another black needle, the head of the creature now behind him as he sat, he raised it into the air gleaming and plunged it down lodging it inbetween the vertivbrates of the creature's spinal chord. It slumpped to the ground and he felt the tail pass away between his legs as he landed to the ground. The creature running on howeled in a blind panic breathing flames in every direction it could.
Walking passed without a second look he smiled as the Black Knight exploded in a messy fountain of blood smoking black armor brains and organs. He grinned as the remaining forces of the brothers of the shadow coward before him he failed to notice how they hailed him with "Have merci Oni" but he was still relentless. There was no mercy for them as they would have no merci for him. With cold hands and death on his white breaths he killed each and every one of them in turn as they turned fleeing. He frew with malice their frozen corpses into the terrible sea below, where the souls within took them with opened boney arms. Running on he crossed the last stone slabs and stood still gazing up at the pyramid in front of him reaching up into the skies.
Its tip pierced the orange clouds. Walking slowly forward as the great door in front of him opened. He entered into his final destiny. Quan chi's humble abode. It was time to make an end to the sorcerer's crimes and his own forever.
