"The hardest thing in this world to do is to accept." Kenshi spoke softly over the dull crinkle of the fire between he and Ermac.
Each sat on a log and faced one another, though mostly downcast toward the flame. The night sky was crisp and cool and just the perfect temperature for Kenshi to enjoy the low flame, though Ermac, dead flesh, could feel nothing.
"Born into the this life, you know only it and cannot accept anything but." Ermac added, "we feel the turmoil that churns your soul and tears at the very fabric of your existence."
"I've made my choice." Kenshi resolved, Sento leaned against the log with blade faced away from the flame, and his eyes cast up to the full moon as the winds began to pick up. "It isn't easy, especially with family, it's not easy. I've had to accept that."
"You are the sword of your ancestors, you are your family, Kenshi." Ermac floated to his feet with elegant grace on the winds of change and gazed up with Kenshi to the stars. "We can feel it."
"Feel what?"
A gust nearly brushed Kenshi from the log. His first thought was to hold the blade close as not to lose it and in the distance of darkness, only able to sense the world around him and the bare pale moon that gazed back down at him, he could feel another presence, not dead like Ermac's, but alive, and powerful.
The fire hissed and gasped until the crinkle of light ceased and silence fell over the embers. Kenshi raised to his feet, turned toward the presence and held a hand on the grip of Sento, but he dared not strike. It would not let him pull.
"Fujin, God of Wind, Protector of Earthrealm." Ermac addressed the presence. "Sonya Blade, Special Forces."
"Been a while, entity." Fujin returned the gesture. "We are here for Kenshi."
"On what business?" Kenshi prodded.
"Raiden." Fujin need only speak his brother's name and Kenshi was ready to follow.
With hesitation Fujin turned toward Ermac, the many souls that bubbled within the husk of dried human flesh stared back at him, not all evil, but not all good. Ermac responded with a nod and followed aside Kenshi as a portal of wind had swirled to swallow the group whole.
Arizona, the desert, close to Flagstaff were miles and miles of nothing but sand, cacti and the sparse sign of life. There Fujin had unwound the portal and freed the three to greet four others that waited for them around yet another fire, but this one roared and bustled with life. The need for heat was present, but the need for urgency was what creased each flicker of light and tail of fire that licked and whipped up at the warm night sky.
Nightwolf, Kung Lao, two Kenshi were familiar with, but the other two were not native to Earth Realm. Smoke of the Lin Kuei clan and Bo' Rai Cho of Outworld.
"Welcome back, Kenshi." Bo' Rai Cho was first to greet him, a hand on the shoulder.
He nodded and sensed and could hear that the roaring flame now knew to diminish into a dull cackle so that they may all gather round and discuss the great importance that Fujin sought them for.
Kenshi stood beside Sonya Blade and Smoke. Arms folded, each of them and listened.
"There have been whispers in the wind as to the location of by brother Raiden." Fujin said, and Ermac picked up.
"We cannot sense the third God of Earth."
"No, I do not believe him to be in Earth Realm, otherwise I would have found him sooner."
"What of Jax?" Sonya added. "My partner is still being held by the Black Dragon."
Smoke chimed in, "the Lin Kuei can assist in his rescue, but it is also important to find Raiden first."
"What if this whisper is just a dead voice?" Kenshi added.
"The wind carries many voices, as many as Ermac holds captive within its shell." Nightwolf glared through the flame as it stabbed at the heat between them.
"We are many, but we do not concern ourselves with the voices of the wind, but merely the lives within us."
"Then you have no loyalty." Nightwolf pushed on.
"Our loyalty is to existence. We accept life and the importance of it."
"My ancestor died," Kung Lao interjected, "because of the tournament's foul corruption at the hands of Quan Chi and the Brotherhood of Shadow. The only one that has tried desperately to save us all, to save time itself has been Raiden."
"Not just Raiden has helped, however it is my brother with many debts and many secrets that weigh on his shoulders. I believe that they have come to collect when the recent tournament ended." Fujin spoke, Nightwolf added.
"The Matoka have kept an ear to the ground, and our sights to the skies. The Great Spirit has not sensed Raiden since last he spoke with Kotal Kahn and myself just after the Mortal Kombat tournament."
"So, what do we do? Where are we going?" Sonya, impatient, shifted her stance and turned to Kenshi as if the blind would have the answers, and to her other side was Kung Lao, with no answers.
"We must accept the position we're in, the world we have created." Kenshi proposed, "Raiden has done this to us all with the best of intentions, but even so, his debts now mount on our shoulders like the weight of my ancestors burden me."
"Yes, my brother's goal was to carefully craft a better world for all the realms. With Kotal Kahn, Liu Kang, and Raiden missing, it is that much more difficult to stabilize all that we've maintained to this point." Fujin said, but Bo' Rai Cho followed up.
"The Brotherhood of Shadow has begun to rise in Outworld, currently protected by Kitana and her guardians, but that does not account for all the realms."
"Here in Earth Realm," Nightwolf piped up, "the Black Dragon have reared their ugly faces yet again, but not just them."
"Where is he?" Kenshi refocused. "We must accept that no matter what, where, and when, forces of darkness will always be alive and well no matter what form they take. We must instead focus inward one what we can handle. So, Fujin, where is Raiden?"
"I can only suspect on the thin line of leads I've received, but three unconfirmed sources have indicated that the Thunder God, my brother, is trapped in the Chaos Realm."
"Not much is known about this realm." Nightwolf added. "It is too dangerous for any of us to enter."
"Any of you." Ermac stared back and spoke up.
"Even for you." Bo' Rai Cho returned. "You are the embodiment of order. The chaos of thousands of souls all in sync and in harmony within one single entity. Should you enter the realm of Chaos all that you are could easily tear apart."
"Do we accept our fates then?" Kenshi proposed, "do we stand here and mumble as the very fabric of the realms begin to tear themselves fiber by fiber? I can feel it, but only together can we stop it."
"Then we must rescue Jax." Sonya quickly shifted onto that train of thought.
"Yes, I concur." Smoke continued, "Jax is an important member of the Special Forces, alongside Sonya, Kenshi, and Cyrax. If one of the forces of darkness that threatens us is here and can be stopped fast, then I saw we extinguish that fire first."
"Thank you." Sonya nodded.
"I am with them in this decision." Kenshi agreed.
"Then we split for now," Fujin directed, " we must gather others and convene here again as a greater force before we make our decision on how to find Raiden."
"What of Liu Kang and Kotal Kahn?" Bo' Rai Cho pondered. They could not be forgotten.
"Yes, we must find Liu Kang!" Kung Lao asserted and Fujin returned with a smile.
"It would appear our objectives and those partaking in them have begun to form. Bo' Rai Cho and Kung Lao, you must seek out Liu Kang." He added, "Nightwolf and I will rescue Kotal Kahn from the Nether Realm."
"It will not be that easy." Nightwolf warned, the scars of battle still worn on him. "The realm itself exiles all of who do not belong."
"We must." Fujin assured, even uncertain as he was of Kotal Kahn's fate, let alone their own. "Leaving Kenshi, Smoke, and Sonya Blade to rescue Jax and deal with the Black Dragon.
"Not just," Smoke interjected, "we will have Sub-Zero and Frost at our side."
"I'll activate Cyrax." Sonya chimed in, determined, ready to move forward.
"This is it then." Kenshi nodded.
"What of us?" Ermac pondered.
Fujin turned toward the entity and stared in a long pause as the fire grew between them. When it came to him, the whites of his eyes lit and he responded, "you will follow Kung Lao and Bo' Rai Cho. I have a feeling you'd be more useful with them than either of us."
Ermac accepted its new place in the world.
Kenshi, tense, ready to embark, but his feet still uncertain if the path he had chosen was the right one.
Either way he had no choice but to accept it.