"Hey, Lou, you got a sec?"
Liu Kang suppressed a sigh as he came to a stop. He had long since given up on correcting Johnny Cage's mispronunciation of his name. And of his use of the monk's family name in place of his given name. He supposed he couldn't really hold the American's ignorance of the Chinese language against him; even if he had acted in Hong Kong in the past and had learned at least one of his mastered martial arts from a Chinese master.
"Yes, Johnny Cage?" the monk replied as politely as he could.
"Hey, you said that Raiden guy is the God of Thunder, yeah?"
"I did."
"Not just God. The God of one specific field."
"Indeed."
"So, there are other gods then?"
"There are. Earthrealm has five elemental gods - Lord Raiden; Fujin, God of Wind; Kojin, God of Fire; Suijin, God of Water; and Ugajin, God of Earth."
"Good to know. And that's it for Earthrealm?"
"That's it, yes."
"And this Outworld that Shang Tsung and Goro came from?"
"Technically, Shang Tsung's origin is in Earthrealm, but go on."
"So, Outworld must have its own gods, right?"
Liu Kang was honestly surprised that, unlike Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage had very quickly accepted his and Raiden's claims about the existence of a godly pantheon they had never heard of. And more than that, he had continued to ponder the implications of what he had been told and now sought confirmation for his surprisingly accurate theories. It seemed he may have been wrong about this man.
"It did. Once. After his first extraterrestrial conquest, the realm of Edenia, Shao Kahn was challenged by Outworld's Guardian God. Their battle is said to have been a clash of epic proportions, culminating in Shao Kahn's victory and the death of Outworld's Guardian God."
"Damn. That tough, huh?"
"That is just one version of the tale, though. Another is that Shao Kahn himself was the Guardian God, as he is believed to be of the same race as the Lesser Gods."
"There are two versions? You can't just ask Raiden?"
"I have. But even he doesn't know the truth of the matter. Ultimately, it is irrelevant. Shao Kahn is the master of Outworld, Guardian God or no. All that matters is that he must be stopped."
"If Earth has five gods of its own, then what about Outworld? Doesn't it have more than just its Guardian? At least, in the past?"
"No. Each Lesser God was assigned to their own realm as a Guardian God. Earthrealm's other four gods were originally Lord Raiden's counterparts in other realms. Once their realms were conquered by Shao Kahn, he merged them into Outworld. Some of those realms' Guardian Gods died in battle to prevent Shao Kahn's conquest. After a certain point, those that remained surrendered their realms, rather than risk death at Kahn's hands. Those four came to Earthrealm out of respect of Lord Raiden's proactive nature. They now protect Earthrealm, as well as a powerful artefact that could spell doom for all the realms."
"You Shaolin have got a lot on your plates, huh?"
Cage's casual response to all that he had just learned indicated an easy-going nature, and perhaps a low IQ. Having always been taught to be charitable with others, Kang chose to believe only the former. When he thought of it that way, it was almost amusing.
"There are other gods left, aside from Earthrealm's, though, right?"
"Another observant question," Kang replied, impressed. "Yes. Each of the remaining realms still has their Guardian God. Well, except Chaosrealm. The people of that realm reject the notion of religion entirely, so Kochal finds worship in the Netherrealm instead."
"That's Hell, right? I guess that makes sense. Their name sucks, though."
"I suppose."
"And you mentioned 'Lesser Gods.' Are there, like, 'Bigger Gods'?"
"Elder Gods, yes."
"So, they're the top dogs? There's no one above them? Like, in Greek myth, you've got the Olympian Gods, right? But, they all came from the titans, who came from even more primordial entities."
Liu Kang stared at him.
"I played Hercules in a show for a couple years," Cage elaborated.
"I see. Well, to answer your question, no. There is no one above the Elder Gods. There are no titans or greater primordial forces. The Elder Gods created the realms themselves."
"And they represent, what, time and stuff?"
"Exactly. They are the manifestations of greater primordial components of reality itself. Cetrion, Elder God of Life. Shinnok, Elder God of Death. Kronika, Elder God of Time. Just to name a few."
"And while Raiden and the others are looking after the realms, what do the Elder Gods do all day?"
"That is not for us mortals to know, I'm afraid. Ours is to simply trust in their judgement."
"Yeah, I've heard that before... I hope they don't just watch over us like a council of creepy Santas. What I do in my own home is my business."
Liu Kang pinched the bridge of his nose and hoped his interpretation of that comment was inaccurate. Putting that aside, though, Johnny Cage had surprised him with some of his questions. He had to admit that his first impression of the actor was that he would be quite closed-minded, but he was actually rather eager to learn about the pantheon of gods he'd never known existed.
It felt strangely fulfilling to have someone to teach like this. Perhaps, that was what drove Master Bo' Rai Cho to teach him. He found himself hoping to have more opportunities to teach Johnny Cage and others like him about similar matters, fleeing quite confident in his knowledge of the cosmos.
Little did he know, however, that there had been a single other entity in existence with the Elder Gods prior to the creation of the realms. Of course, there was no way he could have known about an entity whose very existence was a well-guarded secret from all but the gods.
Fuck Dom and Shawn's Greek myth insertions and claims that Raiden is a demi-god.
