It was wondrous to watch the light fade from his eyes. The skin once flush with blood and tan become pale, wrinkled and dried up. It was a slow process, as I wanted him to suffer, but every soul took a piece of him with it. A part of his life clasped in their hands as they reached out for the heavens with the expectation of freedom, only to be devoured by the construct of their nightmares.
Ermac was a creation of the purest Soul Magic. They would be bound to him as much as he was to them. Every soul that he drained from Shang Tsung made him stronger. All of the memories, skills, language, passions, love, hatred, every little thing that made you human, or otherwise, consumed within him and congealed into the mass that was the otherwise lifeless corpse that hovered over Shang Tsung.
Their bodies were in sync. Ermac over Shang Tsung and eyes locked. They say, after all, the eyes are the window to the soul. With each session, the window closed with heavy lids on Shang Tsung, but the empty stare cast down from the cold glass orbs of Ermac would be ever the same once complete.
The goal is not to kill my former partner, but to torture him. To destroy his will and relinquish all concept of power and identity from him. Soon, as the souls edge closer and closer out of him, with their claws clung to his eyelashes that tugged up and stretched his flesh into a pale old man, it would bring us to his own soul. The very thing he has hidden so deep within himself and yet creates the spark within the black orbs of his eyes that has struck fear in so many.
My eyes are dulled. Black and white, and nothing between. We born in the Nether Realm are not born with souls. We are just bodies, meat and bone that wander a world of torment until our heated husks are torn asunder by the Oni that litter the realm. Perhaps if I had one, I'd have felt bad about doing this to him, but I don't.
There was a stool by his side, to his left where I could watch the two one a meter above the other and this ritual day after day take the light from his eyes with my own. Sometimes I would speak to him, but there are no words that could be spoken when Ermac has devoured your very being.
"Ermac is the only construct in existence to be able to feel the presence of the One Being." I would educate Shang Tsung on occasion, tell him about the things I had learned from the sphere of Kronika. "A being made entirely of the souls he absorbs, originally created by Shao Kahn as yet another of his millions of hordes he used to surround himself with instead of fight his battles on his own."
You could see that something would try to ignite within him, but he would always be at a loss for words whilst undergoing these torture sessions.
"Ermac will devour every last soul you have consumed, including your own, Shang Tsung. Then with his strength, it won't be difficult to take over Outworld. However, as you know, it won't be that simple."
Ermac shifted and stepped down from the air to the opposite side of Shang Tsung as their connection was broken. His eyes would glow the brightest green I had ever witnessed after these sessions. Shang Tsung's eyes closed, unable to withstand the abuse it pressed onto him. He would be out cold until the next day, when another batch of souls would be consumed.
Until then, Ermac would dissipate and find himself in some location on the island. Where he went, I had yet to discover, but he was inquisitive. All the minds of thousands of men still yearned for answers, but his will was never greater than his creator.
In the tunnels once occupied by Goro, I found the room frequently used by the Naknada. Those creatures were now spread throughout Outworld to perform tasks specialized to them. There was no need for them here.
Alone in the room, I could overlooked a cavern with the skeleton of a large beast and a two meter round opening that brought in enough light to showcase it and the maps laid out on the table of the realms I had chosen to invade first.
Outworld.
Edenia.
Earth Realm.
The three easiest according to what I have planned.
Without leadership, both Outworld and Edenia will fall into chaos. There will always be people who try to rise up and claim themselves the saviors of these realms, but once chaos has taken over, it will be much harder for any one individual, let alone any faction to reclaim it. Havok, an agent of chaos, would be glad to see to that.
Fortunately, with the sight given to me by Kronika's sphere, there is a way to kill two birds with one stone.
"Approach." The shadows darkened at the entrance as three women were urged closer. "I have a job for you."
Kia, Jataaka, and Sareena. Without them, my escape would not have happened, but they believe it the other way round. Manipulation is the greatest weapon of a free-roaming sorcerer, and something that must always be maintained in order to keep control of the weak minded.
"I will send the three of you to Edenia to retrieve a gift for the Kahn of Outworld. Bring it to me first, so that we may ensure it is placed in an appropriate package for her."
"What gift is this, Lord Quan Chi?" Sareena narrowed her eyes. She was the only one of the three that I had more trouble with as it pertained to that maintenance of manipulation, but she was loyal to the Brotherhood of the Shadow.
"The head of the Queen herself."
No further word need be said. With a careful, fluid motion, I moved a chess piece from Edenia and tossed it to them. It was blue and crowned, much like the piece that represented King Jerrod. There was only one Queen of Edenia. Soon, there would be no Edenia to speak of.
The demons dissipated in a whisper of shadow that melted from their feet, cast from the candelabras. Wherever there was shadow, they would be able to sneak into Edenia unnoticed. The three of them eradicated the scourge known as D'Vorah, it wouldn't take them long to do the same with Edenia's last known rule.
Just enough time, in fact, to check on the other construct created out of Shang Tsung and I's deadly alliance.
On the table were a lot of different trinkets, maps and papers. Spells to study, chess pieces to move throughout the ancient maps of Outworld, Earth Realm, and Edenia, but also one of the trinkets being a round wooden box. Inside was soft red silk that wrapped twice over a white sphere that seemed to glow through the cloth with a dim light that reached out from its fragile glass core.
It was a dangerous orb to wield, and even more so to bare. Kept in its dark confinement, I retrieved the palm sized box and stepped from the light that now faded as the moon curved over this magical island.
Goro carved a grand niche for himself here on Shang Tsung's island, but a great warrior forced to live in the dark depths while Shang lived in the lap of luxury above? It's no wonder he eventually betrayed the bound sorcerer. Shang Tsung did not wield enough control over Goro to keep him from making this grave mistake of betrayal. That would not be repeated by me.
There were two holds for prisoners. One that stretched far from the throne of Goro down a deep winding cavern that held nine cells and one marvelous torture room where I kept Shang Tsung, and then just to the right of Goro's dining hall. Sure, there are scattered cells throughout the lair for overflow, but these were the designated spots for prisoners with the most access to torture devices and other means of suffering that were apt for my next weapon.
Inside the cell, beyond the dining hall, to the right of the entrance, I kept her naked, save for a cloth around her mouth, and hungry. She looked like animal and she was one. Her body sometimes lunged for the cage when I would bring her food, a mortal from Outworld usually. It was not for free, however. Each feeding session meant she would have to learn something, something that would tie her to me, and yet, when I am ready to set her loose onto the world, would allow her to carry herself much like any other creature in existence.
These training sessions were torture for her, as all she cared about after days of hunger was the flesh that quivered at the sight of her. First they'd find some mere glimmer of hope to be locked away with an attractive and naked, nubile form of female flesh, a mate to suffer with, but the moment her jaws would widen and the cloth would fall, so too did their hearts and their bowels, and their hopes for a quick and painless death.
Mileena would be my greatest weapon once she is ready.
"Are you ready to eat, Mileena?" This time, there was no young child, or young adult to offer her, nor a session of education to assure she would stand on her own two feet amongst a crowd beyond these darkened halls.
"Yes." She growled. Her voice at first was just like that of animals. Much like the Tarkatan children before they were able to somehow enunciate into common words. This strange guttural version of language, but she was different. She was already in near adult flesh, constructed by Shang Tsung to take the nearly perfect form of Kitana. Her lips were formed, and full of blood and beauty, but her mouth stretched with scars that clung tight over sharp fangs that would occasionally poke through the seams. When she spoke, it was more obvious, when she smiled, she was Tarkatan.
"Where is it, Master?"
"I have nothing for you here, Mileena." Rarely did I use her name, so as her eyes perked at these words as opposed to howl and bang on the rusted metal pipes that held her to this cell, I knew I had trained her well in knowing something more, something better was to come and needed to be earned.
Her eyes were quickly distracted and darted as the shadows moved behind me. My hands held together behind my back, my upper body turned just enough to see the three assassins as the formed a meter away with a crude and bloodied burlap sack. Once it was dropped, I noticed Sareena was first to dissipate. The others followed as they knew payment with me would always come when I was ready to give it.
"Are you ready to leave this cage?" The key, silver and rusted presented from my hand once retrieved from behind my body. It would release this foul construct before me, a true test of her loyalty.
It should be noted, though Mileena is slim, and often starved, my own body would be easy for her to tear apart. A sorcerer's fate is not that of a fighter, nor an individual plentiful in muscle. She could easily kill me, but these training sessions have taken months to wear her down and months more to teach her where her place is in my grand scheme. She must be loyal, she must follow, or she will die like the last Mileena.
Skarlet was no Kitana, and this Mileena is vastly superior to the child Shang Tsung constructed for Shao Kahn.
She nodded. Bound her jaws in purple cloth and backed away from the cage that had held her for many months. Slowly I had opened it and let the cage door hang open like a slack jaw or broken arm, then stood back. It took her a moment to really assess the situation. It was fascinating to see this creature try to think like a normal being, try to understand simple human concepts like freedom, even the veil of it.
Finally she stepped through. It would not do to see this form flutter through the realms as she was. There was clothing for her in one of the altars behind me, blue and black, much like her Goddess counterpart's favorite colors.
That was the point.
On another alter settled a box, a bigger one, but about enough to hold ten pounds of something wonderful, something that would destroy Outworld and Edenia in one fell swoop. Within the sack would contain the item that the box would hold as a gift for the Kahn of Outworld.
"Retrieve that for me." She followed orders and obtained the box. "Now do not consume what we will keep inside here. This is not for you."
She did not like that, but she dared not defy me. She would have all the flesh her heart could consume once she reached Outworld, that would be my payment to her for this job, but no, this gift needed to reach it's recipient intact.
"You will go to Outorld, and you will seek the Kahn, Kitana and give her this gift."
"Kitana?" She did not know. She couldn't understand anything of this Outworld. "She will take you in, without question. You will know her instantly. When you are granted audience with her, you must present this gift to her. Only then will I return you here safely, and free you from the cage, Mileena. Do you understand?"
She nodded.
"How will you know?"
Hidden in a small cloth satchel the palm sized box was retrieved from around my waist and presented to her. The silk unravelled and within it the glass sphere was about the size of your index finger and thumb rounded to meet at the tips. Just bigger than the human eye, and just small enough to fit in the box.
"This will allow me to see through your eyes. It is a seeing stone, and not all of them are accounted for, so this mission must be quick, for I do not know who else is watching."
Through magic, her left eye absorbed the stone and despite a slightly more glossed over look, seemed no different than the right eye. It gave her little to no pain. There were two of these stones in Goro's lair. The other was used as a paperweight for the map of Outworld, made dull and uninteresting enough for Shang Tsung not to recognize, nor desire. There were seven of these, and so my urgency was honesty.
"Go, now!" With that, she was whisked away through green flame of my own doing that allowed her to transport to a warehouse once used by Shao Kahn, now abandoned with his death.
Back at the table, I knew it would take time for Mileena to reach her goal. She would be confused, and possibly like an oni in an ill prepared village. She would feast first, then complete her task. Here I could watch her, but until she truly embarked for the coliseum and royal palace, there was no need, she would be loyal to me as all my subjects have been trained to be.
As that thought pulled itself so cleverly from my brain, I felt my spine crack inward and my thin muscles harden to protect me as my body slammed into the edge of the table.
Behind me, as I turned quick to see my attacker. It was not Shang Tsung, he was locked away, nor Ermac, my construct of souls, nor even Mileena, but Sareena, vile bitch assassin. Several times I had seen the cogs of treason turn in her eyes, but never thought she'd betray her own sisters.
She truck me with a dagger that stabbed into my flesh and rocked my ribs from behind, possibly parted my muscles, but it did not strike vital organs. With a deep groan, I fell to the crowd with a loud crash. Wood, glass, paper and cloth all smashed to the floor. The table turned onto its back. My body climbed atop it as our eyes locked and she prepared what she had hoped would be the killing blow.
"You will abuse no one, Quan Chi!" She screamed as she cast the dagger down upon me.
It struck through bone, shattered the calcium and stuck between white and green energy as a skeletal hand reached out from the floor between us and stopped her strike mid-blow.
She was taken by surprise. She did not expect me to wield this power even though I looked weakened, it was mere my mortal body, girl, nothing more, nothing less. The skeletal hand, with dagger stuck inside the middle finger launched itself toward her and before it could grasp her throat, the bitch dissipated in the shadows.
She formed at the at the edge of the table, where a small glass orb had shattered beneath her feet. The Seeing Stone, now only six in existence, and only three others had been found. This item was not easy to obtain, and my rage bellowed with green energy as it lifted my fragile form and hovered over her as Ermac might.
She was startled and staggered back, but as my hands motioned the skeleton to grasp her, she disappeared one last time in the shadows of the room.
My body fell and the blood spilled down my waist, stained my leather pants and down to the knee high boots until the floor dripped with my life's essence.
This would heal, in time, but it would cause my plans to become even further out than desired. Worse yet, as my eyes cast down on the shattered remains of the stone, my ability to see Mileena's mission through was crippled. The only way now would be to either trust her completely, or follow her to Outworld.
Are you ready to be alone, Mileena?
Have I beaten you into submission enough that the fear of my wrath will tether you to the chains that bind your wild nature?
Return to me and Outworld will fall.