Time has been like kind grandson come to tend care for its ancestor, for what came before, but fate as has been crueler.
It is 1495, Five hundred years before Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade would partake in the ancient rite to defend Earthrealm in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Fifty years ago, Kung Lao, now labelled 'The Great' defeated the sorcerer Shang Tsung. Without Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung claimed to fight for Outworld under the current Kahnum, Kitana. However, that was a lie.
In an attempt to reclaim his thrown, Shao Kahn had tried to sabotage the tournament, but Kung Lao was destined to become champion. That seems to be where destiny chose to end its tight grip on time.
This new timeline, better than its predecessor, is not without evil and not without turmoil. Every good choice is responded to with an opposite reaction. How Liu Kang has chosen to carve time, I did not expect, but as a former master, I can be proud in the choice he has made, no matter fate's hand in it.
Together, at the behest of the White Lotus Society, we have met many times to discuss fate, destiny, time itself. The choices he has made, and not just Liu Kang, but Kitana. Tonight, as I stare back at him with the eyes of the a father proud of his son, they wilt at the broken furrow of his brow that sinks like an agent of time in the blood sea.
As tea had been placed before us, I offered him the opportunity to drink first, and then took mine. With careful consideration, and considerate of our server, a young monk in training, we waited for him to pass before our words echoed the room provided to us.
"What troubles you Liu Kang?"
"Kitana."
As I understand it, Kitana and Liu Kang have begun to drift apart. Though I have merged my energy and my status as a God into and infused within Liu Kang, Kitana was only given a remnant of that as Liu's request to allow her the ability to withstand the eons with him. It was a suggestion I gave him, and perhaps another mistake I had made before this new timeline.
He added, "we have not spoken, Raiden, for ten fifty years. Not since The Great Kung Lao defeated Shang Tsung and the sorcerer's deception was discovered."
"A deadly alliance with Shao Kahn was imminent. Some people simply make bad choices, no matter who, no matter when. She could not have expected otherwise."
"She knew well before the tournament. It was Kitana, Raiden, not just you and I that ensured Shao Kahn's interference did not help Shang Tsung win the tenth tournament started long before Kitana decided to claim the throne."
This is true. People's choices are hard to understand when they refuse to let you in. Liu Kang and Kitana seemed like the perfect couple to shape time, and steer the realms into a better future, but ultimately that was nonsense. There is no better future, no greater peace for the realms. When one world ends, something else begins. When one evil is snuffed out, it only serves to bolden another.
"Raiden," he took another sip of the hot tea and in his eyes, I could see the old Liu Kang. "Would you compete in Mortal Kombat, to serve Earthrealm alongside Kung Lao against Outworld?"
"It would seem our roles have changed, Lord Liu Kang. It is true that in our timeline, Kung Lao dies at the hands of Goro in the tournament that began the new streak, however, things are not as it was." This had to be pressed, "Kitana has no intentions of invading Earthrealm. She is a good Kahn, and she is your eternity."
"I do not mean to defeat Kitana, Raiden, merely to help her understand the choices I have made."
"To stand back as I had and only assist the realms as needed? I believe she already understands, Lord Liu Kang." A small grin, to see man in my position, to see him, with all his godhood still consult with me. "It is not understanding she needs, Lord Liu Kang, it's acceptance."
"We watched the realms unfold, saving what we could from Onaga, and then Shao Kahn, but no matter who we saved, another would fall. Edenia stands, but at the cost of three other realms. Onaga falls, but yet Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn still live. Kronika, Shinnok, and Cetrion do not exist in this timeline, yet Quan Chi still tampers with the realms as he did then. Where he is, no one knows, but the evils of our past still plague the present."
"That is a fate worse than death, Lord-" He raised his hand in what I thought was to decline the next serving of tea, but was actually to stop me.
"Please, Raiden. Call me Liu Kang. You have earned that."
"I have made many mistakes as well Liu Kang. I could only help as best I could, and I serve you to do the same. Kitana understands this, she just hasn't accepted it."
"That is why I wish for you to enter the tournament, to join with Kung Lao to defeat Goro. Shang Tsung will not enter this time, he has disappeared, but Kitana still means to win, if only to ensure the stability of Outworld and the protection of Edenia."
"I have seen you make bolder and better choices than I, Liu Kang. I will fight for you, but know that sometimes fate is a crueler mistress than destiny. Somethings cannot be changed."
"Then let us pray to the Elder Gods that Kung Lao's defeat is not one of them."
It was Liu Kang's destiny to help shape the realms, but it may not be his fate. It was mine to protect Earthrealm, but my true fate is unknown even to me when I was a God in his place. Kitana must learn that not all things can be saved, though she knows that evil cannot be stopped, all the things she holds dear must be allowed to unfold as they do. You cannot save your grandparent from dying, only accept that one day they will. That is the lesson she has yet to learn. The question remains though, what is her destiny, and fate? Not even Liu Kang knows.
Not even the Elder Gods.