Chapter 4- Embrace the Darkness

Bluesong had finally woken up from her episode, her head was throbbing. She was alone again, it was the mid-afternoon and the sun was high. "Ughhh," Blue groaned as she struggled to get to her feet. She lifted her hands to her face and wiped off the dry tears. Blue's feelings toward others weren't so harsh now, yet her anger wasn't fading away completely as it usually did but it was a formidable weapon that she could use to her advantage.

"I have to get to a village soon," Blue though, "I'm alone and I don't' even know where the tournament is!" Blue did not know where the tournament was being held, the she remembered that Li Mei had once said that Mortal Kombat would be held in earthrealm. "Then why in the world would Li Mei lead her to outworld?" She asked herself, "Oh great, I don't even know my way around outworld and now I have to go back to earthrealm. Well, I guess I better just look for someone who does know where and how I can get back to earthrealm."

Blue began to walk in no significant direction, her thoughts were on her loneliness and she could not think of a plan as to how she was going to get herself to how she was going to get herself out of outworld, finding someone that was also going to the tournament seemed to be the best choice. Alone, Blue walked until dusk. There was no village in sight; there was just a large forest that grew on the horizon. "Uh-oh," Blue sighed. There was no way around it, she had to enter the living forest. The living forest had a substantial amount of more gloominess than that of outworld; she could feel death drift out of the dreadful trees like oxygen.

Blue took her time in walking towards the forest entrance, she was in no hurry to be alone in the forest, it was almost nightfall. "Blue," Bluesong though to herself, "You must go into that forest whether you like it or not, remember, there might be a village on the other side, that is what Kabal said." "Alright," Blue said triumphantly, "I'm going into that forest."

The last golden rays of the hiding sun were no longer visible through the trees. Blue stood silently for a while letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, she definitely regretted not having a lantern. Every step that Blue took was a gamble and Blue hoped that she would make it through the forest alright.

Blue walked through the forest with great caution, her ever present weariness occupied her mind until she finally realized that she hadn't had a single thing to eat all day. In fact she really hadn't anything to eat since she and Li Mei had left the meadow. "Oh," Blue thought, "I really wish I hadn't thought about my hunger, my fatigue is catching up with me. I really don't think that I can go on any longer, but I have no where to sleep."

It was the first time Blue fully realized that she was completely lost with no food, no water, and no shelter. She didn't even have the direction to the important tournament, but she had to keep on going. "I'll make it some how," Blue thought, "I know I can make it. I just have to rest a little bit. Maybe if I sit for a while I will begin to feel better."

Blue searched for a safe place to sit, she found a nice grassy spot right by a tree that she could use to lean against. She sat down and closed her eyes to rest, the tree was not too comfortable but it was all she had.

Bluesong had only just begun to rest when she heard a human-like groan. Thoughts of Drahmin's face played on her mind, shiver ran down her spine. The groan was very near, it sounded like it was coming from under her. "What the-," Blue gasped as she turned around to look for the source of the sound. The tree was making the noise. The tree had a face and the face was emitting the awful noise. "What?" Blue asked aloud. She was both confused and terrified at the same time. Then, she remembered that Kira and Kobra had once mentioned the faces on the trees but Blue had only partially believed them.

Blue ran frantically back and forth amongst the trees checking for more faces, many of the trees did have faces. She felt their eyes on her as if they were watching her; she was being watched by the creepy trees with faces of anger. Bluesong began to run in fear.

The caution that Blue had once used as she walked through the forest was gone. She ran through the forest narrowly escaping collision.

Blue did manage to run safely for a few minutes until her luck ran out. As she was running, Blue dodged a tree but ran right into a person. At first Blue did not recognize the person as male or female, it was too dark to tell but when the person got off of the ground they lit a lantern which emitted a very large amount of light. A large perimeter was illuminated by the lantern.

Blue then recognized the person as a woman and the woman had wings.

"What is your name insolent fool?" the winged lady asked. "My name is Bluesong, call me Blue strange looking woman," Blue retorted. "So," the lady said, "First you almost break all of my limbs and then you proceed to mock me," the woman said. "You called me a fool first so-," Blue was Interrupted. "Silence," the lady said, "My name is Nitara vampiress of the night, you need not explain because explanations are useless. I much prefer to kill." Nitara reached behind her back and pulled out a dagger with a large blade. "You will repay me for your rudeness with your blood," Nitara yelled.

Bluesong's anger was flooding back to her. Normally, she would have tried to run away but she hated this vampiress too much to run. Blue was going to stand and fight even though she was unarmed and probably could not withstand too many dagger slices and stabs. Blue entered her fighting position. Nitara was not impressed by Blue's bravery, she readied her dagger, she raised it up closer to Blue's neck. Blue readied her fists, when, in the blink of an eye, a large roped spear hurtled through the air. It hit Nitara's dagger, knocking it out of her hand. The roped spear quickly retreated to its place in the darkness.

Nitara and Blue stared in the direction from which the spear had come from; their eyes were fixed on the darkness. Slowly a figure immerged out of the pressing night. Blue could tell it was a man, he was tall and muscular. As he slowly approached, the light lit up his features. He, like Sub-Zero, was dressed as a Ninja, he held the spear that had saved Blue in his had. He spoke with an intriguing voce, "leave her alone Nitara." The man stepped in front of Blue shielding her from the vampire woman. "I do not wish to fight you, it is the stupid little girl behind you whose blood I wish to spill," Nitara growled. "If you wish to spill her blood Nitara," said the man, "You must first spill mine." Nitara looked at him coldly. "Fine," Nitara said, "I will leave, but know that the girl is no longer safe within my presence." Nitara slowly backed away. As Nitara was leaving, Blue looked at the man and thought to herself, "Why would this stranger offer his life before mine? He doesn't know me and I do not know him, yet I feel like…I feel like I know his past and he knows mine all too well." Nitara had left, and the man was turning to leave too.

"Wait," Bluesong called, "Wait, you saved my life." "I know," said the man, "I was there." "Why did you do that, you don't even know my name," Blue said. "I just felt that I had to save you," said the man, "My name is Scorpion, what is yours?" "My name is Bluesong," Blue replied, "You can call me Blue. Where are you headed?" "Blue, huh?" Scorpion asked, "I'm headed to earthrealm for a tournament." "Mortal Kombat?" Blue asked knowingly, "Why are you going there?" "I'm going because I'm meeting up with an old friend of mine, Quan Chi," Scorpion said sarcastically. "Why," Blue pried.

Blue immediately felt sorry for asking g this question. Scorpion's eyes, which looked absolutely, breathtakingly, ghastly, filled with pain and rage the same way Blue's did the day that Li Mei had asked about her family. Blue knew why Scorpion looked this way but she wanted to hear the story anyway.

Scorpion spilled his story to Blue. He told her how Quan Chi had murdered his family and framed Sub-Zero's older brother. He told her about how he was killed by Lin Kuei ninjas and brought back as the true monstrosity he was now, a hellspawn spectre. He also told her how he killed Sub-Zero's older brother due to Quan Chi's deception, and how he never escapes the guilt. Blue knew his feelings. Finally she knew someone like her, Scorpion's soul burned the same way as, yet it was much more powerful. It was more horrible than hers. Bluesong could no t help wanting to help Scorpion. She wanted to steal his pain but she did not know how, but if she did she would.

Blue, in turn, told Scorpion about her family. She could not help crying when she was done with her story. She even told Scorpion that she too wanted to kill Quan Chi; she didn't know why she just did. Blue also told Scorpion that Li Mei had left her and Kira, Kabal, and Kobra had tricked her after they saved her from Drahmin and Moloch.

"You know Drahmin and Moloch?" Scorpion asked. "Yes. Why?" Blue said. "No reason," Scorpion said lazily, "Just more of my enemies."

Blue wanted to go to Mortal Kombat with Scorpion. He could even help the earthrealm fighters in their fight for good. She couldn't conjure enough courage to ask Scorpion if she could go with him, it had been easy to ask everyone else. It just blurted out, "Scorpion, can I go with you to Mortal Kombat? I was going but I don't know where it is and I can't get out of outworld and-." "Yes, you can come with me," Scorpion said somewhat shyly. He wasn't used to company, "We will start traveling tonight." "Tonight?" Blue asked, "But, I haven't stopped traveling since I got here and I haven't had anything to eat." "Hold on," Scorpion said. He reached into a large bag that was slung over his shoulder and pulled out bread and dry meat. He also unhooked a large drinking pouch from a hook on his hip. "Here," he said, "Eat, drink and then we will begin to travel." "Thank you so much," Blue said as she began to scarf down meat. Her stomach was overjoyed at finally having food. "Why do we have to start traveling tonight though?" asked Blue, "It's so dark." "If it's one thing I've learned by being attacked so much during the day, it's to embrace the darkness, use it as a shield from your enemies," said Scorpion.

It made sense to Blue. They would travel during the night, and day if possible.