Chapter 9

Reptile awakened to the sounds of birds chirping a serenade over head. His eyes slowly adjusted to the tents dim interior and his nose took in the surrounding smells. Wherever he was, it was very peaceful and warm and the ground beneath his felt soft and natural. He wondered if he was dead.

"You're awake," a vampire girl said leaning over him. She took a rag from a bucket to her side and gently placed the damp cloth on the Raptor's head. "I'll fetch Mistress Nitara. She wanted to see you when you awoke."

Reptile stretched out an arm as the young one fleed, but his claw barely brushed her tunic. If Reptile had the strength, he'd of pounced upon the young Bat-wings and forced her tell him where they were. But at the moment he was weak, and it took all his strength to stay awake.

Old wounds began to ache. The gash in his shoulder and stomach sent steady agony through his body. A pain in his side told him one of his ribs had cracked, though he wasn't sure when that had happened. Looking over his injuries, he realized his upper body had been bandaged. How strange, he thought. Good but strange, why would his captors save him? Already he was tired, and let his head rest on the ground.

Reptile couldn't believe his next visitor: Bat-wigs! Alive and unharmed, dressed in a white kimono and carrying a tray that smelled delicious. Doubtful, Reptile checked the air. He was this new comer simply looked the same as his Bat-wings. But the winds held her smell, her unique scent.

The vampire slunk down to his side and stroked the scales on the tip of his head tenderly. "It takes very specific method to kill one of us," she explained, sensing confusion. "If bodily injury is too severe however, we will enter a kind of comatose state so our body may regenerate."

Reptile understood, there were other species in the vast landscape of Outword that were capable of the same. "Your realm?" he asked weakly.

Bat-wings gave a toothy smile. "The soil you rest on is my home as well as yours. Welcome, Reptile, to the realm of Zattera."

"Zattera?" he questioned, the name tasting familiar on his tongue.

"Eat," Bat-wings said, producing a bowl of chopped meat stew down. "Then we may talk."

The pains of hunger forced other thoughts away. Reptile ate the stew down in a single gulp. And while it didn't satisfy his hunger, it did lend him the strength to stand.

Bat-wings brought Reptile out of the tent and into the bright sun. All around him where small Bat-wings scampering about and elderly Bat-wings talking. Moving through the village, Reptile noticed vampires women performing morning chores and men engaged in sparing matches.

A new emotion swelled with in the Raptor: sorrow. This is what his life may have been, if his species hadn't been exterminated. This is what his life should have been, and he suddenly grew bitterly jealous. Why should these vampires be blessed with so much and Reptile so little. They had everything: friends, family, even their own realm. And he was alone, as he'd always been.

Bat-wings finally brought Reptile out of the hot sun and into a stone temple. Cool air chilled his scales and paranoia told him this was a trap. But, he had little value for his own life, so the chance of knowledge was worth any risk.

Bat-wings ignited a torch and illuminated one of the paints that covered the temple's walls. It depicted a civilization, the people roughly resembling human lizards.

"Your species, Reptile, lived in Earthrealm before the humans ever walked the lands. My kind have the ability to traverse the realms, and so we made contact with your race often."

The torch moved to a painting of two, heavenly creatures. God-like beings, two either carved from ivory or ebony (or some material similar).

"However, in the heavens, Lord Raiden waged war against his brother: Shinnok. For millennia, the battle continued, until the Elder Gods decided to intervene. They gave Raided a choice." She swallowed. "To banish one as powerful as Shinnok to the bowels of the Netherrealm, they would require a great tribute. They would require souls."

The flame moved to another picture of the civilization, but in this one: chaos had engulfed the before peaceful species. Destruction rained down from the sky and destroyed the Raptor's buildings. Vaguely, corpses sprinkled the ground.

"Lord Raiden caused death and destruction to rain down from the heavens. The Elder Gods stole the souls of the dead and used that power to trap Shinnok."

The next wall illustrated the Raptors exiting a portal and settling in a new home.

"Fearful, what few of you kind that survived the purge fled into this realm to rebuild. Your kind are some of the most adaptable I've ever seen. You're of a race of survivors. But, it seemed another force would once more intervene."

The final picture displayed a demonic figure with the face of a skull, standing amongst a ruined landscape. The sky above was dark and angry.

"It wasn't long before Shao Kahn entered this realm. We vampire fled underground but the Raptors weren't as lucky. All were killed by his extermination squads, save I suppose for you."

"No," Reptile whimpered. "No, Skull-mask saved me. Skull-mask raised me. Skull-mask would revive my people when he'd gained enough power."

"Reptile think about it."

"No," he snapped. "You're lying. That's all you do. You're lying."

"Reptile, try to remember back to your childhood. Think past the brainwashing, the lies. I've manipulated you before but…but this is different. You…you saved me. I'm in debt to you."

Reptile's claw swiped the vampire's face, causing four deep gashes in her cheek. "You're lying," he roared, his voice trembling. "Straw-hat, Skull-mask, they couldn't have done it."

"I speak the truth."

This time when his claw swung, Bat-wings caught it.

"I swear on my blood," she soothed.

Reptile collapsed to his knees. Try as he might, he could find no deception in the vampire's words. Skull-mask, the emperor he had served blindly his whole life, had been the avatar of his misery.

And Straw-hat, that pompous, self-righteous, monster. That deity that had slaughtered Reptile's family for "a greater good". Sorrow swiftly transformed to focused rage as Reptile discovered a new purpose in his life. He was going to kill a god.