As the clouds began to drift slowly away from one another as friends eventually do, I peered down the into the city beyond the coliseum to find the fire of my former life travel aimlessly along the market square.
Liu Kang was always aimless. From the first time I met him on Shang Tsung's island, he never really knew his path in life. Even today, it seems he is a man that has desperately clung to whatever present he stepped into, with no desire for change.
It was my desire for a better future carved by our hands that drifted us apart as the clouds above us, but ultimately we were always better allies than lovers. If I am to remain Kahnum of Outworld and continue to hold the realms steady, Liu Kang's aid may be necessary from time to time. He is, after all, the protector of Earth Realm.
It wouldn't take long to reach him, half an hour perhaps? It would be easier to send for him, but still my body refused to move and my words wouldn't ask my guards to retrieve him. It is one thing to make peace with Raiden now that I have been in his position and saw that in the past, and present Raiden has always done his best, and what he felt was right. Liu Kang on the other hand, has taken apathy, or perhaps not that, but non-action in the face of life altering events. Kung Lao would never have stood idly by.
There may no longer be love between us, and I'm quite all right with that, but can there still be some semblance of partnership?
My thoughts were disturbed by a great bang on the portal doors of my chamber. Now high in the castle that once belonged to Shao Kahn, I could look over Outworld, the coliseum, it's city, and hide from my problems, if only for a time. This one chose to come to me.
"Enter, General Sheeva." She was always allowed in, but it was courteous to knock.
"Kitana Kahn," she lowered herself in deference, waited for me to allow her to rise, and then approached. "Ko'atal has landed in the Drylands and will soon take his caravan of traitors to Motaro's keep in the Centaur Hills."
"Thank you Sheeva." This was good news. Ko'atal would travel by land and take more time to reach the Hills than it would to cross the sea. Ships do not tire.
"What would you have us do, my Kahn?"
This was a strange position to be in and it gave me moment of pause. For a second look, I could see Liu Kang drifted off into the distance of the city, no longer within sight. The people of Outworld had begun to lose faith in me and even cheered Shao Kahn upon arrival. The poor and the homeless rallied behind him because he promised them things he would never give them. What little I can do, I have done as best as I can to provide for the people of Outworld, and the other realms, but with Ko'atal now having amassed an army of his own and the allegiance of Edenia, my grip on this realm would soon loosen.
It is not a pleasant idea to think about ending Ko'atal's life, nor the fighting those that followed behind him, save for the Centaurs. He is an honest man and a man I know capable of doing Outworld right, but his is a warrior.
In order to maintain order in this realm, I have to be the one in control. Ko'atal needs to understand that, but how can such a message be conveyed to someone who has already lost faith in me? How can this message be conveyed to those that believe he is now the true Kahnum of Outworld?
"Kitana?"
She broke my focus and I glances up at her, my dear friend and General of the Shokan army.
"We march." These are not words lightly spoken.
The air tensed around us like a muscle that pulled itself in before the ultimate climax of relaxation that may never come. She knew what this meant, and so did I. This is war, and this is how I must maintain my power.
"When?" She stared into my eyes for the answers even I searched hers for.
"How long until they reach the keep?" She hip undoubtedly landed at the edge of the Living Forest, but no man would dare to enter that entanglement. The hills were vast, and the drylands greater. They would have to travel around the forest and up the Drylands to reach the Centaur Hills, and even then, Motaro's keep was snug along the shoreline where the grass grew taller than a would be very difficult to reach on foot for an army, and no Centaur would dare let anyone, let alone a Kahn on their back for the journey.
"Take your best men and women and go tonight. Take our fastest ship."
"They would be half way to the Keep by the time we landed."
"Cut through the forest."
"The Living Forest, Kitana? Are you serious?"
"He will ensure we get through safely." We didn't need to speak his name. It was best not mentioned at all to ensure the secret was kept between us, but there was no way I'd let Ko'atal leave without a pair of eyes and ears on that ship to send news back.
You do not declare war on my kingdom and get away free, Ko'atal.
"Cut through the forest and bring Ko'atal and the traitors back to me alive. They will swear fealty, or they will rot in the dungeon."
"The Centaurs?"
"Kill them. All."
That muscle relaxed as she closed the doors behind her, but this moment, this tension would last until I saw Ko'atal back in the city.
Can we make this work, Ko'atal?
Must you choose war?