Kitana's spirit and Kuai Liang reentered Earthrealm through the Nexus, finding themselves within a forest. As soon as they returned they were met with the fear Raiden, who scowled at them. Kitana was quick to try and fight him yet her punch went right through him. The thunder god laughed, "This is what comes to those who wish to start trouble with Earthrealm!"

He turned to Liang, "It is almost a shame to see you with them now, Sub-Zero. I should've seen this coming, though." Kuai remained as stern as ever, "I'm only with her because you've become deranged." Raiden was quick to shoot a lightning bolt at the cryomancer when he least suspected it, "If you're against me, you're against Earthrealm." Liang was shot but refused to go down. He glared at the thunder god, "It'll take more than that."

"You will is commendable," Raiden commented, "but it is in the wrong place!" As he said that, the zombified corpses of Kabal, Stryker, Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Sindel, and Kitana surrounded the Lin Kuei grand master. Kuai gasped, "What…what did you do?!" Raiden answered nonchalantly, "I have made stronger warriors out of fallen failures."

Kitana couldn't help but stare at her resurrected corpse. It was a pale gray with blanked out white eyes. Bits of flesh were missing from the corpse revealing muscle tendon and even dirt covered bones. She reached out to the corpse yet her ethereal hand merely went through. She pulled back in shock as the corpse hissed at her.

"As princess of Edenia I demand you relinquish my corpse at once," she demanded yet Raiden shook his head, "You are no princess, haven't you heard? The Elder Gods appointed a new leader…Shao Kahn."

Her worst nightmare was cemented as reality when he uttered the name of her adopted father. She looked away in denial, "There's no way Shao Kahn has control of Edenia! I refuse to believe you!"

"I'm afraid so. Think Kitana, would you rather have Shao Kahn rule over your home realm or would you prefer to stop me? If you align with me, I'll help you kill Shao Kahn again."

She offered her hand until Liang told her to call it off, "Stop! Think about it, Kitana…he's manipulating you just as Quan-Chi and Shao Kahn did before! According to Sareena you said you wouldn't be under anyone's control. Show me you weren't lying."

Raiden provided a counterargument, "No Kitana, he's an assassin! Though he might say he's changed, a Lin Kuei never changes. They always endanger those around them. Just look at the cyber initiative." Sub-Zero tried throwing out a punch yet was stopped by Kitana's corpse, who twisted his wrist. He pleaded Kitana to help, "Kitana I know you have your peoples' best interest at heart…but Raiden doesn't!"

Raiden then revealed his trump card, gesturing to Liu Kang's corpse, "I can bring him back. I can bring back both of you…you can finally live as king and queen of Edenia together but only if you take up my offer."

Kitana looked at her former lover's corpse with regretful eyes. If she were she able to cry in her ghastly form she would. She then turned to Sub-Zero who was forced onto the ground by her own body. It was a tough decision yet she turned to Raiden, "Place my spirit back into my body, then we have a deal."

Sub-Zero tried to convince her yet Raiden sent out a bolt of lightning that silenced the Chinese ninja warrior. Raiden laughed as he pulled out his cracked amulet, "You should've listened to Sub-Zero." She quickly grabbed the fans from her zombified corpse, finding that while she herself couldn't harm people directly, she could use weapons instead. She jabbed the fans right into Raiden's shoulder blades, ripping straight through them, "I did!"

He dropped the amulet after the attack. He tried shocking her yet it was no use as her ethereal form made her near impossible to hurt. The thunder god knelt down onto the ground to look for the amulet but was met with a fan blade just barely missing his neck. He quickly grabbed his amulet while warning, "This is far from over! Once you get back to your clan you're in for a surprise!" With that he was gone in a flash of lightning along with his revenant warriors.

She quickly came to the aid of Sub-Zero, "Are you okay…?" He pulled himself back up with a groan, "I've been better." He looked around, seeing that Raiden had fled, "I guess he really has gone mad."

The spirited princess nodded solemnly, "I guess so. I was so close to taking his offer too. The chance to see Liu Kang again…the chance for us to rule together…that's what I've always wanted since I first met him."

Liang looked to her with sympathetic eyes, "He was like family to you, yes?"

"As strange as it sounds…yes, he was like family. More than any other family member I've known in my life. Only person whom I've felt closer to was Jade and…"

"The loss of a best friend is one that can hurt the most," Sub-Zero replied while thinking of Smoke, "I'd know. I've lost both of mine."

"Both?"

He continued on, "Smoke was my best friend, but in a way so was Bi-Han. He was the only family I've known since I was kidnapped by the Lin Kuei. He could be prone to violence yes, and he might've had a disdain for the Shirai Ryu that was irrational yet he was never what he is now."

Her ghostly hand went on his shoulder, "It's an awful feeling when you know someone has changed but you can't let go."

Kuai then coldly said, "I have let go. It's in the past now. I can't change what life is now to think I could, would be a foolish gesture. I've long since given up on Bi-Han…and I'm not sure if I can hold out for Tomas either."

Their roles were reversed as Kitana's near dead optimism shone out, "I wouldn't say so. You of all people should know hope never dies."

His frozen exterior gave way to a warm smile, "I guess not. We should make our way back to the Lin Kuei compound if what Raiden said holds any water. I know a fast way there." The two made their way out of the forest, heading up north to the Lin Kuei's main compound.

Back in Outworld, Goro along with his Tarkatan horde made it to the center of the Living Woods with their prisoners in tow. Within the center was an ancient stone temple with overgrowth covering most of it. The only part that seemed recently used was the entrance. Goro marched in first with the horde following second.

This massive complex appeared to only have one main area, yet this was a gargantuan room surrounded by thousands of mummies. These mummies were all warriors who were long dead. Their bodies might've been mummified but their age was still obvious. Goro and the Tarkatan knelt as they placed Sheeva and Erron on altars.

Goro got up and raised his arms, "We are gathered here on this ceremonious day to sacrifice these traitors to the true ruler of Outworld!" Both of them soon awoke yet were being held down by the brutish half-breeds. They struggled yet their cries were ignored.

"We sacrifice them in the hopes that the great dragon egg may hatch in their deaths," Goro continued as more Tarkatan walked out with an egg the size of their torsos being carried upon a pedestal. A familiar robed figure handed Goro two ceremonial daggers on a throw pillow. He raised the daggers in the air as he stood between the two alters that had Kotal's two warriors upon them, "We honor you today, Dragon King, in the hopes that you may save us from Kotal Kahn's dark reign!"

"Now what in tarnation are ya doin'," Erron asked as he looked at all the vicious faces around him. Goro explain, "It is stated that those with those with dragon blood within them will be able to inherit the power of the Dragon King. It's how I got my arms back. With this sacrifice I'm hoping to gain full power and no one will be able to stop me! I will reclaim the Shokan's glory!"

He was ready to stab the daggers into his victims until a voice cried out, "Ssstop!" Reptile emerged from invisibility standing in the middle of the massive hall, "Goro! I challenge you to Mortal Kombat!" Every Tarkatan in the room turned to the Zaterran with their teeth flashing at him.

Goro laughed, "Is that so?" Reptile squinted at the Prince of the Tarkata, "Yesss it isss. Unlesss you're ssscared of what happened with you and Kotal isss going to happen again, that isss."

Goro place the daggers on the ground and motioned for his men to stand aside, "I'll have to give this cretin what he wants, then."

The Tarkata cleared up an area for the two to duke it out. They were all cheering, not for Goro or Reptile, but cheering for the sheer fight itself. It began out with Goro throwing out a punch. Reptile leapt up above it to then crawl up on his arm. His claws dug right into Goro's skin. He held back his pained grunts as he grabbed Reptile and smashed him into the ground. Reptile got back up and spat acid right into Goro's eyes. This left the crafty Zaterran enough time to trip the Shokan up. He jumped up onto Goro's chest ready to spit acid into him yet Goro grabbed him by his ankles and squeezed. Reptile's bones could be heard cracking under the pressure. Nonetheless he continued on by slashed Goro's chest, leaving three claw marks.

Goro threw Reptile off as he went into the crowd of Tarkata. They threw him back in almost instantaneously. This left him no time to react to Goro kicking him into the side of a nearby alter. It seemed victory was just out of his grasp until he noticed one of the sacrificial daggers up on the alter. He snatched it up and threw it into Goro's chest. Goro winced at this yet chugged on with a determined look in his eyes. He tried to ram into Reptile yet he went invisible, leaving Goro to ram right into the alter. He soon reappeared behind Goro with the other dagger in hand. He slammed it right into the Shokan's back and slid it through his spine.

Goro gasped, unable to respond to this quick enough. Soon the Tarkatan crowd started chanting, "Finish him! Finish him!" Reptile went with their wishes as he pulled out both daggers and sliced off all four of Goro's arms. Then he chopped off his head for good measure. The exiled prince and enemy to Outworld was no more.

Reptile held both daggers triumphantly in the air with a grin on his face. The Tarkata cheered him on, not caring if their old boss had died. They now had a new one. Reptile's victory was short lived as he noticed the large egg was starting to crack.

Reptile turned to the egg with curiosity. Suddenly it shot out a beam of light at the unaware Zaterran. He didn't even have time to scream as the light basked around him. When it dissipated, Reptile was slowly mutating. His scales turned darker and much stronger than before. His height increased to him being even taller than Goro as his face then morphed into a more dragon-like appearance. His teeth grew sharper and longer, his snout stuck out more, fins coming from the back of his head popped out along with massive horns. Finally wings grew out from his back, cementing that Reptile had just become host to the now reborn Dragon King.

"This…was not how I foresaw returning," Onaga said as his first words, "I thought my pawn would've done so for me yet this works too." The Tarkatan horde looked upon the Dragon King with delight. They bowed beneath him.

Less enthusiastic were Erron and Sheeva as they looked upon the supposed true ruler of Outworld with fear. "That ain't good," Erron commented. Sheeva agreed, "It just makes things worse." The Dragon King grabbed a set of armor from the wall. The armor consisted of a helmet, harness, and armored loincloth. It was similar to Shao Kahn's yet the helmet was more open faced and it had openings for Onaga's horns.

After placing on his armor, Onaga turned to Sheeva and Erron. He sneered at them, "You will bring me to Kotal Kahn at once. I wish to negotiate with him."

"N' by negotiate do ya mean murder," Erron asked sarcastically. The Dragon King bent down over the outlaw, "Were it Shao Kahn, then yes. But Kotal seems like a reasonable man. If he allows me to rule, I might be able to help him with his Earthrealm problem."

Sheeva agreed to his proposition, "Very well, we'll let you see him." Erron looked at her with a doubtful look, "Didn't even bother askin' me what I thought a' that?" Sheeva scoffed at him," Tch, your opinion doesn't matter."

"Harsh."

The Dragon King silenced them both, "If he wants access to my army, he will agree. Speaking of which…"

He dramatically raised his massive arms at the mummified corpses as a green essence flew in through the entrance. He gave a sharp toothed grin as he saw the energy flow in. Erron looked at the energy with a concerned look on his face, "Now uhh…where'd you get all those souls from?"

"The Living Forest, obviously. Didn't you ever wonder how those trees were living?"

Erron rubbed his chin, "Can't say that I have, no. I just thought they came with the land.

The Dragon King explained, "Nope. They were keeping the souls of my army until the time would come to resurrect them along with myself!"

The army knelt before their master. Now his forces had considerably doubled when you consider the Tarkata were with him too. The Dragon King motioned towards the door, "Come along, then. We have business to take care of."

Sheeva, Erron, the Tarkata, and the immortal army marched out the entrance in a massive blockade. The only person who didn't leave was the robed figure who kneeled over Goro's corpse. He rubbed his chin, "Not quite how I was hoping for that to go but this works too. I now have a replacement for Moloch."

The robed figure removed the hood, revealing the devious Noob Saibot beneath it. He folded his hands in a pleased manner, "It might not be what I wanted, but the return of the Dragon King will keep Outworld out of the Netherrealm's problems. With Raiden and Kotal being so distracted they'll never see me coming."

He snapped his fingers, calling forth his loyal slave Enenra. He motioned to Goro's corpse, "Take the body to the Netherrealm. Keep it there. We don't want what happened to our other revenants' bodies to happen to Goro's. We'll resurrect him as an Oni."

Enenra bowed before his master and hauled the corpse off into a portal. Noob followed soon after, feeling quite confident in his now unfolding plan.

As Outworld toiled, Edenia prospered under Shao Kahn's rule. It might seem surprising, but a forceful leader was just what they needed in their time of crisis.

Yet all was not well as Ermac heard a voice in his head calling out his master. This voice was louder than any of the others, showing the mark of a powerful spirit. Ermac tried to fight the inner doubts in his newly built in private chamber yet it cried out too loud. The construct let it out in a yell that could be heard through-out the entire facility.

This came to the attention of Shao Kahn, who stomped right into the chambers thinking Ermac may've been under attack. He saw nothing instead, "What is the meaning of this noise, Ermac?!" He turned to his creator with pleading eyes while kneeling on the ground in pain, "Something…is trying to overtake us. Trying to turn us against you…"

Shao Kahn shut the doors behind him and then turned to Ermac with the most serious face he could muster.

"I have expected this day for a long time," the ruler said with a hint of actual fear, a rarity for Shao Kahn, "your body acts as a vessel to many souls."

"We are aware of this."

"Yet one soul was the one I prized most, the soul that completed you," he explained, "that one soul was the soul of King Jerrod, former ruler of Edenia. He must be trying to break out of his prison."

Ermac couldn't believe this, "You mean…we are the reborn form of King Jerrod?" Shao Kahn vehemently denied, "No! You are not! You just have his soul, you are not Jerrod himself. If you ever become Jerrod, I will not hesitate to finish what I started so long ago." Ermac gulped, "But…but how do we control it? His voice is too strong for us to ignore!"

Shao Kahn looked him in the eye, "Then get stronger. That's all I can tell you." Ermac crossed his legs and took a deep breath, "We will work on it with meditation, then." Shao Kahn walked out soon after.

He shut his eyes only to hear the voice call out to him yet again, "You do not need to listen to him, Ermac." Ermac decided that reasoning with the voice of Jerrod might work, "He is our creator, we are loyal to him until the very end." Jerrod's voice sighed, "Shao Kahn is not worth such loyalty. Though he might be on the Elder Gods' chain, it is only a matter of time before he breaks free."

"If that should ever happen, we will follow him until the very end."

Jerrod couldn't believe what he was hearing, "Blind loyalty will get you nowhere. If I cannot convince you then I fear I might have to take control."

Ermac took major offense to someone trying to control him so using all of his might he expelled the spirit of Jerrod from within, "We are not your servant. You are a king with no throne! That throne belongs to our master now."

"Your master is a deranged bloodlusted dictator! He earned the throne through spilling blood and savagery!"

Despite the former king's best efforts, Ermac's servitude to Shao Kahn did not waver, "Sometimes you must use such savagery to get a foothold in a broken realm such as this. A pacifist has no place in Edenia anymore."

Jarrod realized that trying to coerce Ermac was useless at this point so his spirit vanished to see who else but the now current king, Shao Kahn. He flew into the throne room feeling determined to remove Shao Kahn from the throne.

Shao Kahn was taken aback by seeing Jarrod's soul in his throne room. Soon his shock turned to humor as he cackled, "Come for your throne, Jarrod? Might be a little hard if you're already dead don't you think?"

The former king was undeterred by Shao Kahn's mocking, "You've taken everything from me, my life, my own family, but I won't let you take my throne like this! Not without a fight!" Kahn's small cackle turned to boisterous laughter, "Fight?! You?! Don't make me laugh! Even when alive, you were no match for me! Your soul can do nothing to me!"

Jarrod realized that he was right he couldn't do anything against Kahn in this form, "I don't have to. I'll organize my people just as I did before. You won't stop me." Shao Kahn rested his head upon his hand with a smug smirk growing larger, "Do you really want to instigate a rebellion in a realm that's already been through enough? I thought better of you Jarrod. I never thought you'd try to reclaim your throne in such a petty manner after Edenia has struggled so much."

"It's only struggled because of your acts!"

"And I'm making up for my acts, can't you see," Shao Kahn said trying to appeal to the soul of the former king, "these people need me more than they need you I'm afraid."

Jarrod did not stand down to Shao Kahn's words, "I refuse to bow to your regime! It might seem good now, but I know you'll send these people through turmoil just as you always do! Just as you did with my wife and daughter…"

"Don't make me laugh, Jarrod! Though you might be Kitana's biological father, I am her true father! I was the one who raised her for over 10,000 years! She would not be who she is now without my influence, whether good or bad."

Jarrod tried to argue with that, yet he couldn't. Shao Kahn was right. She never knew her real father until he was long dead. She might've had her suspicions but with all things considered, Shao Kahn was her father far longer than Jarrod ever was. He knew he could retort with what he did with Sindel, "True as that might be, you kidnapped my wife and forced her with you against her will! You forced her into a marriage through brain washing, and forced yourself upon her before throwing her away like some tool! That's irredeemable!"

Shao leaned forward, staring the ghostly apparition down, "What you say is true, Jarrod. I did indeed force her into marriage but to properly rule the realm I needed to. The rules of Mortal Kombat stated that the spouse of a realm's deceased ruler, should they exist, must either be killed or taken in by the new ruler as either a spouse or soldier to fully claim ownership of the realm. If not, then the spouse claims full leadership of the realm. Besides, I never forced myself upon her. She killed herself before I could do such a thing."

"It would've been more merciful to kill her than do what you did! Just as you said, she killed herself she was so distraught!"

Shao Kahn shrugged that off, "I brought her back, didn't I?"

"In a bid to conquer Earthrealm," Jarrod reminded him, "I don't understand what happened to you, Shao. You held such promise as the new ruler of Outworld all that time ago. The two of us were close back then but then when the Zaterrans tried invading your realm…you lost it."

"The power I felt in making them bend beneath my will felt exhilarating," Kahn explained while getting caught up in remembering it, "Queen Komodai bowed before me as I struck her head with my hammer! It was the first taste I got of conquering a realm and I knew I needed to do it again!"

"So why did you conquer my realm next," Jarrod asked despondently, "why would you ruin the good relations between us just to conquer Edenia?"

"It felt good," Shao Kahn answered, "that's all there is to it. Something about conquering realms made me feel as if I was on top of the world! The power I felt coursing through my veins could not be recreated! I needed to feel it and your realm was the first to trust me! That's all there is to it."

Jarrod was dumbfounded by this, "You…you committed all of your acts just to feel the rush of it? How good could it have made you feel?"

"You don't get it, Jarrod! You never felt it, it's like…something was pleased when each of the realms were merged and was granting me more power with each realm merged. I know now it was the One Being manipulating me…making me feel the power of each realm conquered!"

Jarrod growled his pacifism having been torn away, "You fell to the manipulation so easily! You've thrown away everything just so you could feel that power!"

"I didn't understand either," Shao Kahn said, "I never knew why Onaga was so obsessed with merging until I felt it for myself. Once you get that feeling, you never want it to go."

"I'm taking my realm back now, Kahn!"

Shao Kahn's smirk turned to a full grin, "You want it? You can take it!" Jarrod tried to tackle Kahn yet he responded by then absorbing the soul of the former Edenian king leaving nothing in his wake, "You can have it by being a part of me."

This left Shao Kahn alone in his throne room, left only to ponder the words that Jarrod said to him and his past actions. Did he even feel bad over all he had done? Did he not care? Without the One Being's influence looming over him it could be possible that Shao Kahn could feel remorse yet he did not show it. Instead he cackled thinking of what Jarrod said to him, pushing it all aside.

Yet Shao Kahn would not be as alone as he first thought, as he heard footsteps just outside the throne room.

Author's Note: Okay so, I don't normally do these unless it's me apologizing for not keeping a steady schedule or it's the beginning or end of a story but I felt the events of this chapter could probably use a little more explaining. I've always wanted to know more about the backstory of Outworld and its rulers. The most we ever usually get is, "Onaga was evil until Shao Kahn killed him. Shao Kahn is also really evil." Well why did he kill Onaga? Just for the sake of taking over Outworld? Why did he want Outworld? Just for power? I wasn't satisfied with any of those answers, so that's why there have been flashbacks to various times in Shao Kahn's life and why there's a lot of talking about it in this chapter. I know Mortal Kombat: Conquest covered a lot of it, but that's pretty much noncanon these days. There will be more elaboration of just why he took over Outworld in later chapters along with more on Shao Kahn and Onaga's falling out, and maybe Jerrod and Kahn's relationship before he went power crazy. I don't it was ever explained why Kahn ever took over Zaterra, so in this fic it's because they attacked first. Also I'm not trying to make Shao Kahn a tragic villain with all this backstory, far from it. I'm just trying to add a bit more to him since this story centers around him and his quest. That's not to say it's a redemption story either, I'm not sure if that's the route I want to go down either. Either way I'd like to thank everybody for keeping up with the story so far, happy that people like what I've been doing with it. Until next time, stay tuned for the next chapter (whenever that is).