Shinnok roared in his demon form. Never had he been so enraged in his life. The amulet was in his possession. His domination of the realms had to be, but a mere mortal managed to enter his realm and steal it from him. How could this be? His name would be synonymous with embarassment for all time for this folley.

At this moment, Sareena began to stir. She had been knocked out by Shinnok with his powers after saving Sub-Zero from Quan-Chi. Her intention was to follow him out of the Netherealm, to finally be free of this worm ridden filth of a realm. To her absolute horror, she found herself inside Quan-Chi's sanctuary with her master in his demon form. She would hang for sure.

Shinnok sensed that Sareena was waking up and turned toward her. She could feel his burning eyes looking over her. It seethed on her skin, and she could already feel the fire lapping at her. She shook in fear. The thought of begging for her life occurred to her, but instead she chose to back away even though there was no escape.

Shinnok growled, stomping toward her. Finally, he rushed at her and slammed her against a wall. Then, with his huge hands, he grabbed her and threw her off the platform on which they stood. Sareena screamed as she kept falling. Shinnok jumped off and fell after her. Sareena landed hard on the steel floor at the bottom, while Shinnok landed with a loud thud on his feet. Sareena groaned in pain, not even bothering to get up. She was literally sweating blood due to the stress she was experiencing. Her life would end for sure. Shinnok just kept staring at her, his rage imminent. Finally, he spoke.

"Sareena, what is your excuse for your treason?" he asked, a demonic tone evident in his voice.

Sareena did not speak, instead choosing to remain silent in her shame and fear.

"Talk, woman!" Shinnok screamed, kicking her. Sareena screamed in pain at the force of the blow.

"You were hoping to escape from the Netherealm, were you not?" he asked. It was more than that, though. Sareena had no clue as to why, but Sub-Zero sparing her life touched her. Her whole life she had never known mercy. For someone to show that kindness, especially in fierce battle, didn't humiliate her for some reason. It ignited a fire in her soul. An interest of some sort. When one lives in hell, they reach for anything that is even remotely heaven. Of course, she also wanted to escape the Netherealm. She wanted out of this place more than anything, but she was also drawn to the Lin Kuei assassin. All of these thoughts crossed her mind, but she did not speak.

Shinnok all of a sudden transformed from his demon form to his seemingly human-life form. He hovered towards Sareena. She shook in fear every inch he took towards her. He used his powers to lift her into the air so they could make eye contact.

"Because of you, my sacred amulet is once more out of my possession, as is my chance to free us all from this damned realm," said Shinnok. "Because of you, I have lost all contact with the sorcerer Quan-Chi, who is perhaps our one hope of ever escalating to see the surface. Because of you, the mortal who made this all possible is out free. It seems as if he did not care for your safety. He was too busy trying to save his own hide."

Sareena hid it, as she did all her emotions, but Shinnok's words crushed her. She knew they were true. "So, tell me, Sareena," he continued. "What should I do with you?"

She still remained silent. She wished Shinnok would just get her fate over with. They both knew what would happen. Shinnok was torturing her and loving every second of it.

"Sir, do with me whatever you wish," she uttered.

"So shall it be," said Shinnok. "It's a shame, Sareena. You were a very loyal servant." At this, Shinnok used telekenesis to slam Sareena into the wall again. Then, Shinnok used his power to transport her somewhere……

X X X

When Sareena awoke, she was on heated ground naked. She stood and attempted to cover any sensitive part of her body. She looked around her. Pillars of skeletons emerged from the lava that seemed to surround her. Immediately, she felt sick when realized where she was: the 5th plane of the Netherealm. Here was where the worst of souls were tortured in ways never thought possible. She felt like crying, but didn't. She then jumped in shock when she heard a splash come from the lava. A creature had emerged from there. It was inhumane by all means, as its flesh was barely covering his visible skeletal system, and he had two heads. One resembling a dragon and the other a rotted human face with no eyeballs or tongue, but very sharp teeth. Sareena stood in a fighting stance, not willing to go down without a fight, though she couldn't help but feel ashamed as she forced herself to uncover what she was hiding.

The demon gave her no second chance. It ran at her, roaring all the way. Sareena dodged it, but then the demon backhanded her, knocking her down. As soon as she was done, the demon jumped on top of her. Sareena struggled and cried out, but it wouldn't get up, as its weight was immense compared to her own.

The monster cried out in a deep voice, and at that moment at least ten monsters emerged from the lava, some carrying weapons. They all surrounded her, and smiled a bit.

Sareena then realized what the monsters were planning to do with her. They desired her. Sareena shook her head and screamed, squirming even more under the monsters. This pleased them, as they began to roar in unison, almost sounding happy. The monster on top of her started to move his bloody skeletal hands up and down her flesh, feeling on her curves. Sareena was stimulated by this, but felt dirty. She struggled to get the monster off of her, tears in her eyes as she did so, but then one of the demons kicked her in the head. She felt dazed and slowly began to black out, in a way thankful that she was. She accepted the darkness fully as it enveloped her. She did not want to feel what she knew was coming….

X X X

She awoke in immense pain. Immense could not describe what she was feeling. The incineration being put on her due to the lava all around. As Sareena continued to writhe in agony, her own screams suffocated and the lava going down her throat all the way inside her, she cursed. Once the demons were busy letting loose their sick desires on her, they had dumped her inside of the lava. She couldn't breathe, and the burn continued. She had never known such torture, and could do nothing but squirm violently as the lava contiued to eat away at her. She could not even swim out if she tried, and felt herself sinking lower and lower and lower into the lava, continously burning and suffocating. She prayed for death, a third death, but knew it would never come, and the torture of that thought was that much more.

This routine would continue. She was blind, deaf, and all she could feel was pain. Once in a while, she could tell a demon coming to swim her out only so that it could use her for sexual purposes once more, and then toss her back into the lava. It was always a humiliating thing, but as time went on, she could tolerate it because she guiltily thought of Sub-Zero every time it happened. In a way, it was like a short-lived joy for her. She could not hate him for leaving her here. He had his reasons, she was sure. It took many a year, but Sareena adapted to life in this hell. She was eventually able to gain her eyesight and hearing back and her fighting skills had increased with her strength, and she was able to fend off the demons that attempted to attack her in any way, putting them through an unmerciful fate. What horrified her was when she gained her sight back. Eventually, she saw she had lost all of her human form. She was now a grotesque monster with no flesh, no hair, just a boiled charred body. She found that she couldn't even talk right. Her voice had been lowered to deep grunts. Out of pure rage and anger at her position, sometimes she would throw herself into the lava to cause pain to herself, or sometimes she would attack another Netherealm demon, putting them through the same torture she endured her first days here. She tore them apart, leaving them in pieces. Sometimes, it would end up she herself who would get beaten, but no matter. She would fight another day.

Indeed the Netherealm took its toll on her very sanity. It not only tortured her physically, it ravaged her mental stability. She couldn't do anything but endure the hell of getting tortured, torturing others, and even torturing herself. Death had to be somewhere across here, but she never found it, and she never would.

And when she got at least 10 seconds with no harm around the corner, she often thought of Sub-Zero, the one man who showed her any type of kindness not in the line of duty.

Indeed, those who must endure Hell for many years will fall in love very easily.

X X X

Kia and Jataaka stood on the Prison of Souls balcony, overseeing all of the operations. They would not admit it to anyone, but they missed Sareena and secretly conversed about her recent betrayal and all the possible reasons for it.

"She was in love with the ninja," said Jataaka.

"Impossible!" said Kia. "No one can fall in love here. It is a useless feeling."

"True," said Jataaka. "But…..I am not sure."

"Yes," said Kia. "Jataaka, if you had a chance to escape from here, would you?"

"Without question," whispered Jataaka. She didn't want anyone knowing that fact, even though everyone who resided in there thought the same.

"Sometimes I wish it was I who had defeated Quan-Chi," said Kia. "It must have been satisfying for Sareena to land that blow on him. I know it would have been for me."

"Why?" asked Jataaka.

Kia remained silent. Jataaka nodded, knowing what Kia meant. Quan-Chi not only saw her as a servant, but as a tool. A tool of pleasure. Many times, he demanded that Kia pleasure him or else she would die. He did this behind Shinnok's back. Shinnok may have been a sadistic ruler and master, but he would never force a servant to humiliate him or herself like that. Had he found out about such sinful things, he would have Quan-Chi killed. Of course, Kia was too ashamed to talk about it, and only Jataaka and Sareena knew about it, but even they kept silent about it. Honor among warriors. It was times like these Jataaka was grateful to have a grotesque appearance.

"I must see her," said Kia. "Excuse me." She would be quick about it.

X X X

Sareena bit into the demon's chest and ripped off a whole slab of its skin off. It roared in pain. Sareena then head-butted the demon into the lava.

"Impressive," said a voice. Sareena turned to see Kia. She then spoke in the Oni tongue so Sareena could understand her. Kia knew she could not speak the human language no more.

"I need to ask you something," she asked. "Why did you betray our lord Shinnok?"

Sareena replied in the Oni tongue, grunting and growling.

"Of course, escape the Netherealm," Kia acknowledged. "But the ninja…..did you feel something for him?" At that, Sareena roared and rushed at Kia, but she blocked it and kicked Sareena in her chest, then performed a roundhouse at her face, knocking her to the ground.

Sareena got up slowly and glared at Kia.

"Now you see the price of betrayal, Sareena," she said. "These human emotions make things complicated. Our world is here, and that's how it will always be."

Sareena spoke in the Oni tongue, translated: "Why are you here, Kia?"

"To see you for what you are and to remind myself of my own loyalty, and why I keep doing this," she answered. "Is it worth it?"

"For all I've been through here," replied Sareena, "I have come to see that there are things worth living for. The emotion I experienced for that short while, and to deliver a punch at our wretched sorcerer's face, in a way was all worth it. True, I wish I wasn't here, but I'm glad I was able to experience. See, I no longer need to serve Shinnok, instead I remain either being tortured or torturing. You still serve a master, Kia, and I would not trade places with you for a second. Anyway, you should thank me. I took care of Quan-Chi for you. Now he can't put you through the humiliation that he did. Although if you are here to treat me this way, I wished I hadn't, so that I could continue to see you sell yourself like the pompous whore that you are."

At that statement, Kia went silent. Sareena took this opportunity to punch her in the face and that flip kick her into lava, but Kia quickly grabbed onto a pedestal and climbed on the platform, and ran and ran. Sareena wasn't sure, but she thought she saw tears come from Kia's eyes.

Perhaps her words were a bit harsh, but they were true. The point is, they all wanted to be free of the Netherealm. But they never would be…..somehow, whether it was being tortured or serving Shinnok, they were all imprisoned in more ways than one.

CHAPTER 3 COMING UP!!