"I don't know how we do this, but we have to."
Kotal Kahn, Nightwolf, Fujin, and Raiden stood in a circular formation in a bed of desert with only the night sky to illuminate them. Raiden continued, "your leadership and partnership is deeply needed Kotal Kahn, as is yours Nightwolf. As protectors of Earthrealm, Fujin and I rely heavily on you to maintain the balance of life and death, good and evil here in Earthrealm, just as we desire of you Kotal Kahn, in Outworld."
"Now you talk of balance?" Kotal pressed.
"I too seek redemption for my mistakes. The millions that have suffered because of my ignorance, my arrogance, I don't desire that for either of you." He added, "but I do desire some semblance of an agreement between us all to move forward on better terms."
"What of Liu Kang, the Spectre, and the Lin Kuei?" Nightwolf pressed as Kotal had.
"Worry only for yourself in this matter, Nightwolf. There is no need to concern yourself with what you have no control over. I will deal with finding Liu Kang, Scorpion and mending the bridges we have only just begun to rebuild with the Lin Kuei."
"Can we all agree to use this moment to begin to mend bridges with one another? May we not forget the past, but carve a better future for Outworld and Earthrealm." Fujin entered with the question that needed to be answered by all, not just the two before the Gods, but the Thunder God himself.
"If you maintain this pact as I, then you will have my word." Kotal spoke first, then Nightwolf nodded his answer and that was all that needed to be done.
For a moment the four stared off toward one another, ground broken and unsure how it could be repaired, or even if any of them desired to, but so long as one would mend the Earth, they all would.
That was the hope.
Awake in the den, the grey sky peered its ugly head into the grim room Kotal Kahn was given to sleep in. Unable to really sleep, he waited until the gold of the sun would break the bands of grey and a knock came at the double wide's door.
Outside was the Sheriff who needed no permission to enter. He was a silent bear of a man, tall and broad and commanded the same presence Ko'atal might have in Outworld. His eyes scratched the surface of Ko'atal's face, but he needed to dig deeper into that mind.
"What you've done to my people pales in comparison to what those whiteskins have, but it is still worth the vengeance of the Matoka." He started.
Ko'atal stopped him.
"I slaughtered your people, and your Nightwolf. I am the big cat and you are but the wolf, but if you're looking for certainty–" he was waved off.
"No, I don't care about certainty of your desire to work with us. It is for selfish reasons that you do, and I do not agree with it, but Nightwolf is of higher mind than us all and I will follow him, but so should you."
"I will follow the Nightwolf to the depths of hell, to the Great Spirit himself and take back what is rightfully mine."
"A person? You seek ownership of this woman? Is she commodity or heart?"
This gave Ko'atal pause, so the Sheriff continued.
"I don't know if I believe in the spirit realm as faithfully as the Nightwolf must, but I know that you do not either, and that is why you will fail."
"Then how do I do this? I have to."
"I cannot stop you, and that is why the Nightwolf has agreed to be your guide in the spirit world, but I only ask when you finally see the Great Spirit face to face and it asks you what price you're willing to pay to have what you claim is rightfully yours, you answer with nothing."
"And if I don't?"
"Everything is connected from the living and the spirits, the bear and the tree, the hare and man alike. You rip one thing out of place and it all comes crumbling down. The white man will learn that one day, and you will learn that much sooner."
"We'll see." Ko'atal then followed the Sheriff out into the grey Earth that awaited them.
It was only noon and the young man would be burned at nightfall to the chants of the elders.
With a stretch of his arms to the sky and sight of Nightwolf headed down the road with several of the village children at his heels, Ko'atal took in the moment, the words and smirked.
"So, you don't want me to disturb the natural balance of the spirit world you barely believe in?"
"I am still Matoka. I protect and service my people. Should something happen to the Nightwolf, who knows how that would affect us and our land here."
"Faire enough."
Ko'atal rested between lines of mobile homes and doublewides that were as kept as the tribe had means given to. He could see what would be roads displayed between, one as Nightwolf travelled came from the forest line, and went straight toward the epicenter of the village, as others intertwined small aisles between wooden homes and other mobiles. An elder, eyes greyed and hair white moved with urgency to the Sheriff and reached for Nightwolf.
"Aina has gone missing. Someone last saw her getting on a horse!"
"She wouldn't." The Sheriff dismissed him. "I'll file a missing person's report."
"No." The Elder stopped him, older, but strong in spirit, his eyes met Ko'atal's and then back to the Sheriff. "She must be going to the Smith's house."
"She knows not to." The Sheriff pushed on. "Follow me, I've got a car."
"Wait!" The old man held Ko'atal's attention, if only for a brief moment to stare into him before he and the sheriff were out of reach.
"What's going on?" Nightwolf joined him.
"Go, find her." He kept his words tight, there was no time to delve deeper. He'd have his moment.
Sat in passenger, Ko'atal tried to comfortably confine himself in the modern vehicle, entirely unfamiliar with it. The Sheriff pressed faster with as much horse power he could with Nightwolf sat in the back.
Off road, through the forest and toward the plains that raised like ripples of flesh into hills toward the cities of less civilized men, Nightwolf urged them forward, he could sense it, and Ko'atal could smell it.
Fear.
Anger.
Absolute human destruction.
He knew them well.
Five miles out, she was on a brown and white horse, its hooves gracefully tapped along the skin of the earth with great speed, but the vehicle was that much faster and with a hard turn, forced the horse to stop as it wheezed, scraped and scarred the earth with its mechanical legs.
The house wasn't much further, in fact just over the hill and the roof was visible from Ko'atal's vantage point in the vehicle. She joined the Sheriff outside the vehicle, her eyes bitter and narrow, her hair blackened and vengeful down to the battered heart in her chest.
"Come on." Nightwolf urged Ko'atal out of the vehicle.
"You shouldn't be here!" The Sheriff pulled her close as she banged on the drums of his chest with her screaming and fists. "Your brother wouldn't want this."
"What do you know of what he wanted?" She screamed, angered, and the venom of a snake in her spit. "I hope they die a miserable death, I hope they know what it's like to live like this!" She spate at the house above the hills.
"Let's go back." The Sheriff held tight, but could only for so long before her spirit in bitter dissonance broke from him.
She banged on the car, Nightwolf at her side to comfort, but there was no comfort when you lose everything. There is no comfort when the world is wrong and your heart knows there's nothing that can be done to right it.
"I know of your pain, but–" Ko'atal tried, but with her immediate hissing of contempt for him, he realized that all he had to offer was acknowledgement. He knew her pain, but there was no getting better from it, there was no answer yet even for him years later, so how could he comfort her something he hadn't found?
"Take the horse back." Nightwolf urged, he would ride with her and the Sheriff back to town.
The ride back, the grey smog of sky that hung like a dead mirror down at him, with only the grace of the horse to comfort him and remind him of home, Ko'atal moved with as much speed as the horse would allow, with no desire to return quickly.
Too quickly however, night had come and in the woods the pyre was ready. The ritual must start.
Seven elders adorned in the paint and headdresses of their past, but clothed too closely to the present as the world took more and more from them to truly reach into the spirit realm alone. The drums pounded low and built like thunder, their chanting latched onto the currents of the wind to travel far, to the wolves, to the Great Spirit, to open the portal.
Ko'atal stood beside the Sheriff and would occasionally turn to see his reaction, always stoic. Nightwolf danced and chanting. His abilities would help open the portal, to send the young man return to nature as the fires danced to the drums across the wrappings, into the flesh.
Ko'atal turned toward the young woman, her arms folded, face bitter and tried desperately to be as stoic as the Sheriff. Together they watched as the fires burned brighter slowly until that thunder roared and the winds answered back louder.
Her hand, he noticed, pressed against his. It was a mindless gesture, her eyes on the fire, and in his hand a necklace with a wolf's tooth. He noticed it was larger than any wolf he had known, and reached for her eyes with his, but she would not return them.
"Don't think about it." Through gritted teeth she answered, "I am supposed to give away my brother's belongings to those he cared for. I'm supposed to wait, but, I can't hold on to this anymore."
Before he could speak, she pressed forth toward the flames to watch closely as the last of her blood entered the spirit world.
Ko'atal turned the tooth in his palm, raised it to observe it closer and then tucked it around his neck. He didn't care for their tradition as much as Nightwolf might, but he understood the need she had to do this.
"When does it open?" He could feel the energy around him shift and the air changed, the world had begun to connect the realms, but nothing had yet showed that a portal had opened, that he would finally cross.
"Enough." The Sheriff added, "this is a funeral."
Nightwolf danced. The tribe chanted. The young woman watched and Ko'atal waited until the skies opened and his flesh burned like the corpse. The fires of hell had awakened around him, even as the waking world still held him firmly in place.
The body burned. The young man's and Ko'atals.
If this is how I do this, it must be done.