The smell of rancid meat and blood, residing in the harsh breath of something. A harbor of disgustingness. A close body kept poking at her like a vulture upon a corpse. Kalliste weakly flickered her eyes as the blazing sunlight hit her, she violently shifted her body off the bed and onto the ground. It was a Tarkatan that hindered around the room, just observing her.

"Empress Mileena requests your presence!" A grueling Tarkatan speaks at her fallen body, after giving the message, they leave. Kalliste covers her head with her hands as she presses tightly against her skin. She slowly stood from the wooden floors, her eyes filled with dried salt, and her skin still stung.

Kalliste quickly dressed herself, her arms bare as the breeze and temperature had been increased, summer was already here. She wore a corset tank top, laced, black leggings, and a harness wrapping around her arms and legs. One look in the mirror made her bitter, touching her skin that was blistering, red spots all over. Her eyes dwelled in darkness, it made her outraged remembering being tortured by Kotal. Growing pure hatred for him.

Noticing her left arm, usually a black veiny tattoo marked that spot, but it seemed to have become smaller in time, almost immediately.

The hanging pain she had throughout her life had slightly disappeared.

On her way to corridors, the brim castle she wandered through, it was warm as it was a brand new day, passing by guards of the Red Dragon along with Tarkatan forces. Kalliste heard a distinct conversation from afar as she grew closer to the supposed throne room.

Into her view, Mileena conversed with a tall, brooding man; muscular, grim and stoic. He had no pupils, his eyes were the only bright thing about him. Kalliste proceeded to walk closer into the elongated room. Her mere presence causing the two to pause their conversation. Mileena glanced at her.

"Ah, dearest Kalliste. Feeling better? Yet, you look like a crispy piece of meat ready to be eaten." She smiled, flaunting her repulsive teeth - Kalliste had slightly forgotten that she was half Tarkatan, she had the lust for eating just about anything. Kalliste gazed away in slight amusement.

"Who is this, Mileena?" The man beside spoke, asking as he glares deeply at Kalliste.

"This is my latest recruit, her name is Kalliste. She's served my father before his passing." Mileena replies. The man seems emotionless, yet, Kalliste could tell that he didn't appreciate her presence, unwelcoming her with his intimidating set of eyes.

"And you're confident that you can let this girl into your court?"

"If she unwilling to cooperate, I'll just disembowel her, and have her for my meal instead." Mileena eyed Kalliste unnervingly.

"-I will serve you empress Mileena so that you may be Kahn of Outworld. -I despise Kotal. He burned me and he deserves a painful death." Kalliste said dimly, planting her hand on her chest as a reverent being... A noticeable darkness engulfed Kal's eyes, Mileena slightly smiled, starting like Kal's confidence in brutality.

"Good. We'll need that grim confidence of yours. now Kalliste come." Mileena said as the intimidating man: Reiko he seemed to be filled with a menacing visage. He glared down at Kalliste - she felt small but he had a similarity to Shao Kahn. Upon closer look at his appearance. Black markings crossed his eyes down to his face, black hair just on top of his head, and his armor decorated with spikes and red fabric.

Kalliste went by Mileena's side waiting for her command.

"I will address our current situation to overthrow Kotal's regime. - As you know, Prince Goro, our champion once served the Osh-Tekk fool, yet he has betrayed him, siding with us. Now, I depend on Reiko's assistance in deposing Kotal."

Kalliste complemented for a bit, taking in her information.

"So, Reiko leads your regime...?"

"He is my advisor, he is the only one I can trust. Do you question my authority?" Mileena said bitterly, rising from her seated throne.

"Of course not, empress. I'm simply learning." Kalliste addressed dimly. Mileena sighed, her thoughts reside elsewhere. Kal's mindset upon another subject she wishes to bring up. Kalliste extends out her hand, gesturing to get the empress's attention.

"If I may, empress, speak to you of another matter...?" Mileena's face clenched with impatience.

"What is it?"

Kal's eyes drift into a more sadden tone, clawing her nails into her skin. "Is it possible to scout for Kollector...?" Kalliste dimly asked. Her voice was doubtful and delicate. Mileena swatted her hand in the air in ignorance, rolling her eyes.

"Why should you? I'm sure if he's been captured by Kotal's forces, he's likely to have been executed already." Kalliste roved her eyes away from the conversation, sedately sulking in impassiveness. The look on her face sparked a curiosity in Mileena. "You long for that thing, don't you?" Mileena's words curled in amusement, she smiles with her grizzly teeth.

Kalliste rose her head in exasperation. "It doesn't resolve in that matter! - Kollector served your father for 25 years! He is Shao Kahn's most loyal servant. You don't wish for his service?" Kal's voice raised in volume, but a raspy tone followed in the end. She overall annoyed and angry. Mileena continued to be impatient as she held no interest in Kollector.

"-Despite that... It's not entirely in my interest to find and rescue that creature. My only concern is to kill Kotal and have Outworld for my own." Mileena says arrogantly.

"But-"

"Enough! Do not pester me about Kollector, I will hear no more of your moaning. Leave." Mileena declares as she excuses Kalliste provoking presence from her sight. Kalliste sighs grimly and leaves the room like a pouting toddler.

Passing through the arched doorway, alongside, she glances to her right where the hovering specter; Ermac lingers near the throne room. He watches her pass by, glowering in the dispirited air.

Kalliste continues to wander the place, upon looking out to the tall, glass windows, she sees that she resides in a golden desert, it was big, slightly different from what she usually would be used to. Her mind and intellectual was considering clouded by anguish and desperation for something. Completely uncertain of the fate of Kollector drove her mad. Longing for some confirmation.

Leading herself beside a slightly open room, a gap that she explored through, the audible muttering caught her attention. As she gazed inside the opening, Kalliste queried of certain familiar faces. Reiko and... Goro. She hid herself against the wall and proceeded to listen.

"-Osh Tekk are substantially weaker in darkness."

"You know, Reiko, I've killed an Osh-Tekk before..."

"That was when Shao Kahn and the imperial army were at your side, Prince Goro. Now we rely on patience and strategy."

"First, our enemy must believe they can win..." Their conversation ended, hearing glasses clink together. Kalliste was about to peer into the opening of the doorway when she felt a cold air wash over her. Ten thousand souls observe her.

"Do you query for the attention of Reiko in shadows?" A ghastly voice said from behind her. Kalliste stood abruptly and strode away from the room where Goro and Reiko resided in. She faced Ermac who called out to. Kalliste glared at him in irritation, swatting her hand in a way for him to quiet down.

"-I don't query for nothing," Kalliste told him and proceeded to walk the other way.

"Your soul holds sullen frustration." Kalliste stopped, she held an interest in his certain ways of observing others by their souls. He seemed to be unprecedented from anyone she had met.

"What is it you know about my soul...?" Kalliste asked, gazing in sharp curiosity in him.

"It is held by darkness, lingering since your birth."

"That... I'm aware. But what darkness? I've always been truly confused by what's inside of me. Now it seems that it's disappearing..." Kalliste gazes at her hands, complementing more of her past and self.

"We are uncertain as we are but mere acquaintances."

Kalliste sighed harshly and strides away from the conversation, leaving the harbor of souls in the corridors.