Author's note: Okay here we are again as always hope you guys enjoy, song for this chapter is:

BrunuhVille - Lumina


CHAPTER 3 : Worthy Opponent

Outworld's throne area, a large and open room with a big table in the middle containing the map of Outworld. There were a few torches around the table to light the map for when they needed to talk about strategy. The throne chair at the very end of the room. On it sits the new Kahnum, Kotal. Besides him were his councilors, Reptile and D'vorah.

"What's taking Baraka so long?, he should be back with her by now."- Asked the emperor frustrated.

"I said Baraka couldn't be trusted, he has always been Mileena's puppet."- Accused Reptile.

"This one asks for permission to go and see what is the problem."- Advised D'vorah.

"No, I've already sent out a group of tarkatans they should-"

"Emperor!-one of his soldiers rushed into the room- the prisoner has escaped."

"WHAT?- Kotal jumped of his throne- tell me what you've found."

"Yes emperor, we went to her cell as you commanded, when we arrived there we only found the corpse of Baraka with almost no meat on its bones."

"Damn that Mileena, I should have killed her when I had the chance. I was a fool to trust Baraka but to think that she would eat her own subordinate."- Kotal spoke out loud to himself.

"We need to capture her before she regains her strength and retaliates"- Hissed Reptile.

"Take soldiers and go to all the nearby villagers and search for her, bring her to me Reptile"- Said Kotal.

"Yes, emperor."- Bowed Reptile before leaving the room.

"This is bad D'vorah, with Mileena free she will surely seek revenge and cause more destruction on Outworld."

"Do not worry emperor, this one shall make sure to make her suffer once she's captured. We will find her."- Replied D'vorah.

"I hope you're right, for Outworld's sake."- Sighed Kotal.


Mileena's eyes slowly opened, looking at her surroundings only to find herself in a house. Everything was dark, not a single light was present. She got out of bed and started to look around. She took a glance at the window to confirm that it was still night.

"Where am I?"- Mileena thought to herself confused.

She started searching the kitchen, the other room and even went upstairs to check on there as well. Not a single soul was found.

"At least I can move now, I don't know how much I've rested or what happened but I need to find Raven and ask her."

Mileena walked outside the house and the first thing she noticed was that everything below her knees was white, engulfed in a thick fog that was roaming the ground. Everything was dark, not a single light was in sight except for the foggy ground, which made it somewhat manageable to see. She started walking around the ghost town stepping in puddles on almost every step, she couldn't see them because of the fog but she thought it must have rained a lot before her awakening. Walking through the deserted village, she stopped at every house she came across only to find them empty.

"Where is Raven?, The only thing I remember was that we got out of the castle and reached a village, was it a deserted village?, no, I remember seeing torch lights from the castle walls."

Mileena was confused, she kept walking hoping to find anyone to ask questions. When she got at the entrance of the village she looked in the far distance from where she remember the castle was located. Nothing, nothing was in sight, only darkness.

"The castle keeps lights even at night, am I on the other side of the village?."

Before she could answer her own thoughts a small giggle could be heard in the distance. Mileena instantly turned around trying to find out where it came from, for a split second the whole sky went white. This startled her, moments later a huge thunder roared, making the sound of an explosion. After the thunder noise, heavy rain started pouring. The fog on the ground was slowly fading away caused by the rain, when it dissipated completely, Mileena's eyes widened at what was on the ground. Pools and pools of blood everywhere, almost every portion of the ground was soaked with blood.

"Was there a massacre here while I was asleep?, why am I the only one alive then?."

Only questions came up to her mind and not a single answer to any of them. While she was trying to find a reason for all of this, there it was again, a giggle in the far distance. Even with the thunder roars and the heavy raining on top of her she could hear it clearly. She dashed in the direction it came from, running through puddles and puddles of blood on the way.

Following the giggle, it led her to the house where she woke up. She stopped in front of the house for a moment to catch her breath, while breathing intensely through her mouth to get air to her lungs she heard the giggle again, confirming that it was coming from inside. She opened the door and stepped inside. Nothing, no lights, no giggles, nothing. The only sound present was the rapid droplets of water colliding with the wooden roof of the house. She was sure that the giggle came from here so she went upstairs to check what was there. Emptiness was all that she found, Mileena was starting to get frustrated, trying to think what do to from here she heard the entrance door closing. Sick of being played with this time she teleported through the corridors, reaching the stairs in mere seconds. Once she got down at the entrance of the house, there was a figure with its back towards her, the only thing that Mileena noticed was that the figure had long black hair. She approached it slowly and once she was near it she asked:

"Rav-"

The figure rapidly turned around and before she could ask anything Mileena's lips were sealed by Raven's ones. Her lips were cold as ice and rigid, the sudden kiss confused her but once she saw it was Raven she relaxed and gave into it. While kissing, Raven grabbed Mileena by the hips and started moving with her towards the bed, once on the edge of it she pushed her and jumped on top. Still kissing, Mileena couldn't stop thinking why Raven's lips were so cold, her hands went down and grabbed her legs, only to feel the exact same feeling, coldness, every inch of her skin was cold, like a corpse. Raven stopped the kissing and immediately went for her neck, this made Mileena move her head back, exposing her neck more to Raven. Watching the rain fall through the window she closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the kisses on her neck. Only that she couldn't, Raven's kisses were freezing her body, nothing was pleasant about it. This was starting to angry the former empress and when she opened her eyes she saw the sky go white again, seconds later a huge thunder roared and at the same time she felt a strange feeling on her stomach. She looked down to inspect what it was only to find a dagger stabbed in her. Shocked she started to trace her eyes from the dagger up the arm who was holding it until meeting the eyes of Raven, they were lifeless and hollow, looking like she was dead for a long time, that would explain why every inch of her skin was so cold. Mileena tried to talk but only blood was leaving her mouth. Raven pulled the dagger out, leaned in and grabbed her by the throat.

"Mileena, why do I see fear in your eyes?."- She asked while staring right into her eyes.

Raven stabbed her again, pulling it out to ask once more.

"Mileena, why won't you answer me?."

Trying to talk again only to choke on herself caused by the larger amount of blood coming from her mouth.

"Mileena why won't you whisper to me?."

Her vision was fading away, everything was slowly turning into darkness. She couldn't talk, she couldn't feel, she couldn't see, she could only hear Raven brutally stabbing her, the blood gushing out of her body and her name being called out.

"Mileena whisper to me."

"Mileena say somethin..."

"Mileena..."


Her vision was slowly coming clear again, once it was back, through the blinding light she caught a glimpse of Raven holding her by the shoulders.

"Mileena."

She instantly shoved her away and teleported to the other side of the room to a safe distance from her. A huge amount of light made her squint her eyes, it was daylight. Heavily gasping, her hands and eyes went immediately to her stomach, looking for blood or a wound, nothing was there. Her eyes went to Raven again, seeing her get up from the ground and cleaning her clothes from the dust caused by the fall.

"I know you've only seen me in the dungeon where there was little light, but I can't be that ugly, can I?."- She asked while chuckling.

"..."- Mileena didn't say a thing, she was just watching Raven, trying to figure out what was happening while still being on guard for any of her movements.

"Mileena, are you ok?."- This time Raven's tone was serious, seeing that Mileena was acting odd.

"What happened?."- Mileena finally managed to ask.

"I walked in and you were mumbling in your sleep, I thought you were having a nightmare so I tried to wake you up."

"A...nightmare...?."- Mileena whispered.

She was lost in her toughts, trying to process what happened. Once she felt a hand on her shoulder she was brought back to reality, her eyes met Raven's who had a concern look on her face.

"Mileena, you're sweating- her hand went to Mileena's forehead- did you catch a fever, are you cold?."

"No...It was...It was just...just a nightmare."- She said while still lost in the thoughts.

"Well don't force yourself, here, come wash your face and drink some water."- She signaled to the water bucket.

After she drank the water and regained her composure she finally walked outside. It was a clear sunny day, you could hear the animal noises and folks in the village talking and walking around. Mileena looked to the ground, there was only dirt, no blood puddles.

"A...nightmare..."- She mumbled.

"Have you regained you strength?."- Raven asked from behind.

This snapped her, looking down at her fist, gripping it with force.

"Yes, thanks to you, you carried me here."- She looked into Raven's eyes.

"Well, I only carried you form the village entrance to here."- She smiled.

"Allow me to repay you Raven."

Mileena started to walk towards the village's exit, followed by Raven who had a confused look on her face.

"I will give you the honor to fight me. Prove to me that you are worthy to work with me, not under me."

"Now you're talking empress. Let me go grab my weapon and I'll meet you on the hills outside of the village."- Raven pointed the way to Mileena.

"Very well, do not keep me waiting Raven."- Mileena's eyes met Raven's.

"Never, empress"- She grinned while turning her back and going inside the house.

Once Mileena was there, she checked her surroundings, inspecting the battlefield. It was a wide open space, with mostly dirt on the ground. Every now and then there was a patch of grass but even that was dry and burned out.

"No trees, no obstacles, nothing to sneak up on. It seems like this will be a straight up fight with not much tactics involved. Should be enough to test her strength."- Mileena thought to herself.

Stopping her train of thoughts she started to hear a sound from behind her, it was something flying, cutting the air and making a distinctive sound. When she turned around she barely got time to react and dodge it, it was an arrow. She was to slow and it scraped the skin of her cheek, under her right eye. A soft line of blood was starting to form on her cheek running down her mask. If she had been a second later, the arrow would have ended in between her eyes. After looking at the nailed arrow on the ground she tried to search for its owner from where it came from. Her eyes fell upon Raven, who was now dressed in black leather clothes with a cowl above her head covering most of her face except for her mouth, probably her assassin outfit. The only reason Mileena identified her as Raven was because of the long black hair coming out from the cowl over her front part, the back part of her hair was being hold by the cowl. She had a bow in her hand and was steadily walking towards her while preparing another arrow. The next second she was gone, leaving only a black cloud of her figure before Mileena heard again that distinctive sound of an arrow cutting the air from behind. This time she teleported away trying to gain distance and see where she was, but Raven was too quick, Mileena could only see her for a split second before hearing the sound of arrows coming from different directions. No matter where she teleported it was the same, she would teleport trying to look for her but seconds after she did that the sound of arrows were already coming from behind, leaving her no time to look back, only to teleport away again.

"Tsk, she's quick but speed isn't everything in a fight."- Mileena thought to herself.

After a few minutes of constantly teleporting away, avoiding arrows and trying to figure out what to do she finally thought of something. This time she stopped teleporting and once she heard the sound again she braced for it and let the arrow impale her shoulder, the strength and its speed made her spin around, which she used to her advantage, throwing a sai instantly when she faced the way the arrow came. She hit her target in the chest, once her eyes fell upon Raven, Mileena instantly teleported in the air in front of her.

"There you are!."- She grinned while landing a kick straight to her head. Making Raven tumble through the ground several times.

Mileena's hand went over to her shoulder, taking the arrow out of her and breaking it with her grip.

"Your sneaky tactics won't work again, the moment I was able to lay eyes on you was the moment you lost, Raven."- She growled, happy to finally be able to see her and to not be the prey anymore.

Raven got up and took the sai out of her chest, she threw her bow and grabbed a dagger out of her belt, she started playing with it while looking at Mileena.

Something was odd about her, she was constantly engulfed in her black aura, coming out of her body like smoke. This made Mileena think for a bit but there was no time to waste, she had to get close before Raven could escape again, she materialized two sai in the hands and teleported in front of her. Mileena impaled Raven with both her sai, she gazed at her but couldn't see her face, because of the black smoke coming out of her and the cowl hiding most of her face except for her mouth, which had a grin. This confused Mileena and the next thing she felt was a hard kick on her head from the side. Sending her rolling on the ground a good distance. She instantly recovered from it and ignored the pain, trying to see who hit her, It was Raven.

"How?, I pierced her and she was in front of me, how did she managed to attack me without me noticing she was gone?."- Mileena tried to figure out what was going on but Raven kept on with her assault.

She had her bow again, releasing an arrow straight for Mileena's head before fading away. The former empress caught the arrow with her hands but didn't react to Raven's knee who was now right in front of her. Raven hit Mileena on the face, making her head hit the ground with such force that it almost left her unconscious. Raven jumped in the air trying to land on top of her with her dagger, Mileena teleported away only to go straight into yet another kick from Raven.

"She's really fast, I'm having a hard time keeping up with her movement."- She thought while trying to teleport away from Raven only to get hit again the second she thought she got away.

Mileena was now angry, she teleported again, instantly turning around to pierce on her back with one of her sai, she managed to impale her again. With no time to be happy she pierced her right side with the other sai only to feel like she indeed impaled another person. Before she could see who it was another kick came from the other side, sending Mileena rolling over once more. Now on the ground, heavily hurt, and coughing blood, with wounds from arrows scraped over her entire body, Mileena could hear Raven closing the distance between them, when she was right next to her she tried one last thing. She teleported on Raven's back, grabbed her by the chin and pulled back, exposing her neck. She instantly materialized a sai in her hand and dug it ferociously in her neck repeatedly. This made Raven collapse on the ground. Mileena got up and looked over, no blood was coming out of her, and before she could ask herself why, she felt the cold metal head of an arrow right on the back of her head, touching her skin.

"You've lost, empress."- Said a familiar voice that confused Mileena even further.

She turned around to meet the black-haired woman but this time she didn't have the black aura emanating out of her like she previously had.

"Raven?."- She confusedly asked.

Before Raven could say anything she looked back again on the ground, seeing that Raven was still there, the black aura engulfing her before she was completely dark like a shadow, slowly fading away into thin air. She turned her gaze on her again and before she could ask, Raven said:

"Clones, shadow-clones to be more precise."- She said with a smile, looking at how confused Mileena was.

"This whole fight you've been fighting my clones all along, I was enjoying the show from a distance seeing if u could beat them."- She explained while withdrawing the arrow that was pointing at her face.

"I told you didn't I?, the targets that underestimate me are the easiest to kill but that's besides the point. I'm very impressed, most people can't even beat a single clone one on one. You've not only managed to keep up with the clone in front of you who's only purpose was to distract you while my other ones were shooting at you from a far but you've also managed to only get scraped by the arrows of my other clones that were shooting at your vital spots, they are not a fast as me but they sure are accurate, so to not only avoid them but to use them at your advantage to take out one of my clones is incredible. After you took down the first clone and got hit by a second one you started to suspect something. Your second assault was even more incredible than the first one, you've managed to kill two of them. Once I saw that I had to intervened, that was the only opening I had, you've let your guard down when you didn't know why there was no blood coming out of "me", a few seconds later and I would have been the one defeated, you truly are scary, empress."- She kept her grin while explaining it all to Mileena.

The former empress was angry, she had lost to mere clones and was being toyed with. As much as she wanted to end Raven's life she couldn't deny the fact that she was defeated.

Raven grabbed Mileena's chin who was looking down, defeated and broken, lifted her head up so that their eyes would meet.

"So, am I worthy, empress?."

"How many more secrets do you still possess Raven?."- She growled.

A big smile was forming on Raven's face.

"I'll take that as a yes- she walked past Mileena and started walking towards the village- let's head back empress, I will treat your wounds."

"I don't need your help, these are just scratches."- She said struggling to move caused by the pain coming from them.

"Sore loser are we?, came on don't be like that, here let me help you."- She let Mileena lean on her for support while walking back to the village.

Even though Mileena was burning with anger, something about Raven made her defeat taste not as bad as she would have thought. Maybe she was happy to find someone strong enough for her revenge quest.

The sun was almost setting off in the distance, they've been fighting for quite some time but it only seemed like a few minutes. Once inside the house Mileena sat on the bed and Raven went for a bucket of water and some rags. When everything was ready Raven sat next to her, took the rag and place it in the bucket. With the wet rag in one hand and Mileena's hand in the other she started to gently place the rag over the wounds on her arm, cleaning them of the coagulated blood from the battle. The room was in complete silence, no one said anything the only sound was the rag rubbing her skin and then dried out of water to be replaced with clean one. A few moments later, the only wound left to attend to was the one on her cheek. She turned Mileena's head to face her but when she saw her mask she frowned. While attending the wound she would glance often at the former empresses eyes who was looking at her the whole time. Mileena could see her frowning and asked:

"What troubles you Raven?."

Raven's hands dropped the rag and her hands went to Mileena's mouth, grabbing the mask and gently sliding it down.

"I don't like when you wear your mask- her fingers were slowly tracing her lips- I really like you lips, empress."- She whispered to her.

Mileena allowed the touch, enjoying the soft and delicate finger of Raven caressing her lips. Moments later Mileena's hands went over to Raven's cowl. Taking it off and releasing the long hair that was being held. She started to run her fingers through Raven's hair, mesmerized by how beautiful it was, dark as the coldest night but soft to the touch as the warmest daylight. The way Mileena touched her hair and looking at it made Raven's cheeks start to heat up, leaving her looking away with a big blush on her face. While inspecting every fiber of her hair, captivated by it as if they were different from each other, she traced them with her eyes until she reached the ones over her neck, there she saw a scar just below the middle part of her neck, over her sternum. It was very small, barely noticeable, it was a little big bigger than a pin-head, the skin around the scar was whiter that her normal tone. That's the only reason Mileena noticed it.

"Who gave you this?."- She softly asked while reaching out to touch it.

The moment Mileena's fingertip came into contact with the sensitive skin over her scar, she instantly vanished, appearing a few feet away from her. Covering her neck with the clothes to hide the scar, with a cracking voice she nervously said:

"Nothing, It's... it's nothing. Just an old scar from the past. I have a lot of them from different contracts that went wrong."- A forced smile was on her face.

She was lying, Mileena got a pretty good chance of seeing her body back in the dungeon and it was completely smooth to the touch. She fought her in battle and seeing for herself how fast Raven was, there is no way any of her contracts would go wrong. Mileena got up and started to walk towards her, looking her in the eyes, she saw that Raven was getting more nervous with each step she took. When she was in front of her, Raven was looking down. Mileena lifted her chin up, making eye contact with her.

"Raven-"

She was interrupted by screams of villagers outside. They both went to outside to see what happened. Three tarkatan soldiers came into the village, killing everyone they stumble upon.

"There she-"

One of the tarkatans tried to say before an arrow was nailed straight into his skull. Mileena glared at Raven who withdrew her bow and smiled at her. When she looked back all three tarkatans were dead on the ground. All with one arrow impaled into each of their heads. Raven's speed left Mileena perplexed.

"This is bad, they will know where we are. We need to get away from here and find another place to stay low"- Said Raven while looking at the former empresses shocked expression.

"That coward, he sends his pets because he's afraid to face me."- Mileena started to growl.

"Mileena, we need to move, now."- Raven snapped her from her thoughts.

"Where?, if soldiers were in this village that means he sent soldiers to every other one nearby."- Said Mileena.

"There is still a bit of sunlight, let's just go and see where we end up at night."- Advised Raven.

"Very well. Let us go."

They both departed from the village in the opposite direction of the castle. A few hours of walking through the desolate and unforgiving lands of Outworld when the darkness of the night hit them, making orientation very hard since they couldn't see anything in front of them.

"I can't see a damn thing."- A frustrated sigh escaped Raven's lips.

"I can see a bit, my eyes can see through the night but it doesn't make a big difference."- Mileena said.

"We should have reached it by now."

"Reach what?."- Asked Mileena.

"The cave."

"A cave?, in the middle of this nothingness?, why would there be a cav-"

"Huh?, you found it?."- Asked Raven.

"I'm not sure, I can see a group of big rocks together in front of us, is it that?."

"I don't know, let's go find out."- Said Raven.

They kept walking for a few more moments until they reached the rocks, they started to inspect the surroundings, looking for an entrance.

"A-ha, here it is!."- Informed Raven.

"Let's go inside and see what we find."- Said Mileena

"Agreed."

Raven took the lead and they both adventured inside. Going down stairs for quite some time they started to see a faint light in the distance. The kept going down until the stairs stopped, a long passage was now in font of them, the light was a torch hanging on the wall.

"Why is there a torch here?."- Asked Mileena looking at Raven.

"How should I know?."- She replied.

"You're the one who knew about this cave, also how did you know?."

"Well...when I woke up and you were still sleeping I went around the village asking. Some of them told me about a cave in the far north of here- Raven explained- anyway, let's keep going to see what's at the end."

Minutes of walking later they finally reached a wide open circle like area, It had the size of a large room. A few torches hanging on the circle walls. In the middle of it was a huge mirror, double the size of Mileena and Raven. The slowly approached it and they both noticed that neither of them were in the mirror.

"Is this a mirror?."- Asked Mileena.

"If it is, why can't we see ourselves in it?."

Mileena reached out to touch the mirror and when her fingertips made contact with it. A huge light emanated from it, making both Mileena and Raven cover her eyes. After the light slowly toned down they gazed upon the mirror again. This time it was an image, a blurry image, just like watching at the surface of a lake with the waves distorting the image.

"What is that?."- Mileena asked looking carefully at it.

"Only one way to find out."- Raven grinned while taking Mileena's hand and storming into the mirror's image with her.

When they both went through it, a huge wave of light illuminated the cave before the mirror turned back to normal, no reflections, no lights, just an old odd mirror in the middle of an abandoned cave.

To be continued...


Thank you again for reading my story, please review it and tell me if you liked it or not, it really means a lot to me. Hope to see you all in the next chapter.