Chapter 5- what a dragon has to do- Kane

The platter Goro lifted was that of a heart… the size of a small chicken I would have to say. "My father wished for his heart to be eaten by me. Yet it is tradition among dragons. Should one become my cousin, he must have Shokan in him!" he explained.

I watched him take a large sword and slice the heart in half, thankfully there was no more blood left in it. But… what was to come, not even I was ready for! He placed half on a plate and gave it to me. "As leader of Earth Realm Dragons, you must join me in tradition. Should you refuse my father's heart, it will be war!" Goro stated.

Oh… great. Eat a heart, yet I can add that to my monster resume.

Goro looked to me and toasted his half. "To my father, and to my Earth Realm Cousin" he spoke.

"To our gracious and honorable hosts" was my reply. I closed my eyes as I took in the organ. I kept saying to myself 'tastes like chicken, tastes like chicken, tastes like chicken'

Luckily, being a dragon I could swallow it whole. And not worry about chewing.

Goro did the same we consumed our piece at the same time and looked one another in the eyes. He smiled.

"You are true to your honor. My father would be proud to know of dragons like you" Wow… sincerity!

I sat back down and smiled. "Thank you for letting us come here, and not jumping to a conclusion"

Goro nodded yet looked to me bitterly. "Why did you declare war on us?" he asked.

"Us? Whoa, dude you got it all wrong!" Cena spoke up.

"John!" I scolded. He stopped talking. My attention was turned back to Goro. "We didn't declare war. Who told you we did?" I asked.

Goro stated there was a wise man that came to him and the elders, stating since Mortal Kombat was won, Earth Realm would declare war on the Shokan people led by Liu Kang.

This was the first I have heard of it. "What did this wise man look like?" Taker asked, rather curious as to whom this was.

Goro shook his head. "No one saw, he wore a black robe and his hid his face from sight. He said Earth Realmers would come, and you did… yet I do not see the victor of Mortal Kombat with you"

Taker smirked. "He ran from us, stating he wouldn't follow Kane" Taker explained.

Goro's fists slammed the table in anger. Making everything on it jump. Even me! "He dares talks back to you! He should be killed!"

"He will be dealt with my me." I replied. No doubt Goro here would have sent out a search party for Liu and have him torn limb from limb… how could I explain that to Rayden?

Goro smiled realizing none of us had eaten… well… any real food. He and the other uncovered the platters, showing odd yet wonderful food!

"Wow" Sara whispered as she gazed at the bounty.

"How can you have all this when nothing grows?" John asked.

Goro laughed saying we are on the mining side of the realm. "Ever since Mortal Kombat ended and The Emperor was killed, things have become prosperous all around" We didn't hesitate to dig in, quite frankly I was hungry… and for some odd reason I wasn't sick after the heart incident. The food was cooked over an open flame to perfection. John was really enjoying him self, he talked it up with some of the elders and asked how they became what they were. The story was rather interesting and the Shokans had a link to earth realm!

"How did you get here? And how are you dragons?" John asked.

The elder smiled to him. "Long ago, we were like you. Pure dragons and lived on Earth Realm" he stated.

The table quickly became silent. "Really?" Batista asked.

"Yes, it was many, many moons ago this had happened, during the first mortal Kombat. Dragons were hunted down by mortals who feared us that was until it came. A bolt of lightning ripped open to another realm. Outworld at the time, but it was lush and beautiful. Queen Sindle was Empress and gave us another realm to live and prosper on. Many years would pass when the realm we lived on was different than what we were use to. So we had changed. Our wing grew into another pair of arms, our size became smaller and our fangs change to suit the new diet we had. We became this. What you see now"

"Whoa" I whispered. "So really. We are cousins!" I told Goro.

He smiled and nodded. "We haven't seen or heard of you in thousands of years. We learned of mortals inner creatures being dragons. But didn't understand why."

I was rather shocked to these people; they do indeed love to battle, fight and what not. Yet when you reach a common ground with them, they are just like you or me. Just much bigger, stronger and an extra set of arm. We had very interesting dinner conversations, Goro spoke of his Shokan history and family, and I talked about my own. Yet the conversation soon shifted to Sara and Taker.

"Are you mates?" One elder asked when the conversation had died.

Taker smirked and nodded. "She's my wife," he said.

"Good, we worried there weren't enough females for you. I see two here, do you have more?"

Taker was trying to hold back his laughter. "I only have one mate, and she's right here. We have two children already together"

"Yes, we're very happy too" Sara replied.

Goro looked rather confused. "Only single births?"

I was getting the feeling they didn't really know we were in our animality forms. "Yes, single births" Sara replied. "To ensure the child grows up healthy and strong. If we had many children at once, some could be neglected and may die. So one at a time works well for us," she explained, she did that well. Making it sound like it was in dragon terms.

The elders nodded in agreement with her. "Healthy children are very important. What about you?" he asked of me.

"Oh… No, I don't have any of my own yet"

They all fell silent. "None! You are the leader… did he take your mate!" Goro demanded as he stood from his seat.

"NO! No… my mate is at home. She resides… when I am away" oh man, something is telling me we ought to get the hell out of here. One of us is going to slip up sooner or later.

Goro turned to the young girl, Shannon. "Who is your mate here?" he asked.

She couldn't speak; she was so nervous and scared. But John spoke up for her, placing one of his wings around her.

"Oh man, she's all mine" he smirked.

Nice cover Cena.

When the meal was over, we figured we had established our mission and completed it successfully. We were about to leave when it was all shot to hell, thank to Liu Kang…