Purple shadows hung under red rocks. The mulling sulphurous sky glared with its constant low light. Hot air rose shimmering from cracks in flat black earth. A skyline littered with fallen monoliths of long forgotten factions mutated with distance so that stone looked like skulls and dull winds whistled with long moans through their mouths. Dark places at the edge of the eye were populated with skulking, bent over denizens, who fled before the wraith as he walked, but lingered long with jealous eyes after he passed.
Kuai Liang kept close to Noob Saibot. He had finally worked out an equilibrium that kept up his strength. Despite it eating into their precious time, his brother did not question him when he required that they stop for a few minutes after each hour of walking. Kuai Liang had no intention of being down on his game when they arrived at their destination. He wanted to be as strong as a mortal could be in the realm of the dead when they took their stand. For once, it seemed that the spectre saw the wisdom in this, and did not mock him for his choice.
His brother paused in his pace and pointed. Kuai stopped beside him.
"You see it?"
A flat topped hill crowned with part-crumbled standing stones broke the stiff flat horizon. A longer slope crawled up to the knoll and stopped squat and sheer on all other sides.
"Does Quan Chi know of it?"
"Probably, but most likely its an insignificant detail he won't think to recall." The wraith surveyed the hope this lit in Kuai's eyes. "But he'll know we're aiming for it. Everything that fears Quan Chi serves him in this realm. It only takes one ambitious slug from the dregs of the hierarchy for Quan Chi to know our every step. I have seen many already race to gain favour with him."
"What, since we've been walking?" Kuai glanced around.
"Indeed. Enough talking now. Do you need to rest?"
Kuai shook his head and they pushed on.
Strange clouds turned spirals above them and tilted the air into shades of darkness. As they climbed the shallow steps up to the hilltop, dust kicked up and skittered over the old worn stone. Kuai narrowed his eyes as a sickly warm wind cracked over the dead dry slope revealing half buried skeletons still decked in their proud finery. Sunken obelisks crowded on the peak and stood black against the burning skyline. The steps they ascended stopped as the hill flattened. An old low wall ran about the top and above this the hill curved up a little more until its true peak was revealed. A circle of stones, some twice the height of a grown man, stood in waiting silence.
Kuai stopped walking. His business was going to be defending all this position. He watched his brother ascend the last knoll like some phantom king come to regain an ancient kingdom. The shadows of the still stones stretched to him and bonded with him. He walked to their centre. The clouds above ran black and turned in slow circles. Kuai struggled to identify that strange spectral being with brother that had been with him every step of his childhood. The Bi-Han who had sneaked him out the temple, just so that he could see its buttresses against a white winter sky. The one who had covered up all his mistakes, kept him from the worst punishments the temple dealt, always stepped into any friction for him and taken the brunt of the blows whether it be from fellow students or the temple masters. He started on realising this. For the last three days, if one could call them that in the constant Netherrealm dull light, Kuai had woken up bitter and angry. Memories of his brother's disappointment in him and harsh reprimands had littered his dreams. He wondered if perhaps this cursed realm was playing with him, churning up frustrations from his past, as if stirring his enmity might give this place power over him. It was not always like that, he recalled. He always talked of being emotionless, of obeying, of trusting only in oneself, of no right and wrong but strength, but in everything he did, he shielded me – almost always at his own expense. He fought to the top of the Grandmaster's favour while all the while hiding the unorthodox inclinations of his brother. Only this morning I dreamed of when he said he would never go so far as to risk his life for me... but... all the evidence of everything he's done... points otherwise. His words always hurt and kept me from seeing that... But even until the very hour of his death, all his ambition was tapered and constructed to keep us both out of harm. Since I arrived in the Netherrealm he has threatened me in almost every way possible, insulted me, mocked me, and unfairly scolded me. But he has saved my life at least three times, carried me twice when I was unconscious, fed me, given me water... He thinks me naïve and foolish for believing that he can be saved. But my conviction is neither foolish or naïve. And it is him that has taught me that. Kuai watched his bother as he raised his arms to the dark sky above and began to chant in an ancient tongue. His mannerisms, his paucity of encouragement, his sarcastic insults... Kuai realised these were all things his own apprentice, Frost, complained of in him. We differ by fractions. He does not deserve this. He does not deserve to be caged in world where his survival depends on pleasing a megalomaniac necromancer.
Kuai walked the circumference of the hilltop. The topography was as his brother had described. A river of magma looped about the foot of the hill on three steep sides. The only open ascent was up the winding stone steps on the tail they had ascended. He froze one of the stone steps with layers of ice varying in thickness. These would melt while he worked and give him some indication of how effective his powers would be here. He summoned a kori sword of ice and stabbed it down into the hard earth. He levered the ground up and watched as it crumbled to dust. He could use this against his foe, but it would be very labour and time intensive to do something effective with it on a slope this big. He thought again. He looked back up the slope. It would be worth it if he got more out of the effort.
He set off immediately collecting up the shards and remains of weapons. The whole place was littered like a tomb with the remnants of the dead, all of whom seemed to have been very keen to keep weapons with them as they perished. He broke open the ground with spears of ice and stabbed the old blades he collected hilt first into the earth beneath the small ring wall crowning the hill. When he had created a perimeter of pointed spikes, he went back to the slope and began cracking up the baked earth, taking care to leaver it up in large compact squares. He laid this carefully over his blades to make a hidden spike trap, sealing the gaps with moisture melted from ice. When he was done, the small wall had vanished, leaving what looked like a smooth unbroken gradient in the hillside that ran straight up to the standing stones. A wide line of loose dust and earth had also been cut into the lower slope that might hinder swift advancement up that side.
He began gathering up the most intact skeletons he could find, and piling their remains up near the hill top. As he worked he caught sight of red dust rising on the horizon. The hill offered him a wide view in all directions. The dust rose before the black forked smudge that marked Quan Chi's fortress in the distance. Kuai glanced up to the stone circle. Noob Saibot was marking patterns in the dry earth and squeezing black droplets of his own blood into the channels he made. He kept up a low chanting all the while. His shadow stood to one side and noticed Kuai watching. It vanished into the ground and arose liquidly beside him. Kuai took a step back, before realising it was not here to reprimand but to aid him.
"Impale these skeletons on pikes and set them up around the hill top. Drape them in any scraps of material you find."
The shadow moved to complete the task. Kuai returned to his test patches of ice. All but the thickest layer remained, and even that was thawing fast. He looked at the steps then the rest dust cloud moving ever closer. It would be cutting it fine, but he was sure he could ice the lot in the narrowest margin of time possible. If only there was more snow, more water – anything. He looked up at the whirling clouds above and narrowed his eyes.
Kuai looked back up to the hilltop. His brother was another black silhouette standing with the old stones. A purple glow was emitting from his hands and he drew it in concentric circles across the earth. Kuai surveyed his preparations one last time. It was a long way off odds he felt were in his favour, but he had a few tricks of his own he meant to add to the carnage. He judged the distance between the hilltop and the dust cloud moving over the land toward them.
"About ten minutes." He said to the shadow. It's face remained impassive. "If... if I tell you, does Bi-Han know?"
It narrowed its eyes at him, then nodded.
"Are you the same as him?"
The shade remained silent.
"He talks about you as though you are other than him."
Nothing.
"I find it hard to speak to him because I have always been afraid of disappointing him." That came out somewhat unexpectedly. Kuai blinked at his own blasé confession. The shade stared at him. It was out now so he might as well follow it up. "I wouldn't want to die without him knowing that I truly am thankful for all he has done for me. It can't have been easy, doing what he did. But I am grateful. I'm not here because I think I'm better than him. I'm not even here to try and save him. I'm here because I can never repay all that he's given to me." Kuai heard a pause in the low monotone chant above them. He glanced up and saw the wraith looking down at him. The distance was too great for Kuai to make anything of that look.
"Take them down into the flames when they come." Kuai's reminiscing tone was gone. He pointed to the river of lava. The shade nodded, something eager entered its otherwise empty face. It vanished into the ground. Kuai ice slid down to the bottom of the hill. The dust obscured the near slope and he could make out the unearthly howl of undead creatures as they pounded up the earth. He bent to freezing the lowest step, then held his hands steady, taking in more with the ice he blasted from his palms.
When he had finished and climbed back up to the top, each stone step was coated with a thick layer of ice. He felt a strength and confidence that had been missing for the entire duration he had been in this realm. He realised it was something to do with that confession. Letting that go, and knowing it had been heard... it was as though something crushed and anxious within him had been set free. He breathed easily. He felt himself again. He did not need to be wearing blue, or to be called by a codename to know who he was. He did not need to measure himself up to his brother's abilities, or worry about fitting into the strict confines of Lin Kuei expectations. He was something apart from all that – something independent that knew exactly where it wished to be and why. I think I have always known, a small voice in him confirmed. I've always known that the things that mattered... weren't the things they told me mattered. And that the standards they wanted me to live by... conflicted with something deep inside. Something that was precious to me. Something I was taught to be ashamed of. But... of the two of us... I am the one confident enough to be concerned. They told me it was weak to care. Weak to trust. Weak to ask if there was a difference between what we can do and what we should do. It's not weak. It's hard. It would have been so much easier not to fight them, not to fight you. In a kind of irony... you were the role-model that taught me to live for those I cared for even at great personal cost. That's not weakness. That's the strength in you I've always admired, even if you somehow never noticed you possessed it.
A swarming mass of hellion beasts beat across the crack backed earth. Leather winged, twisted horned, flat snouted, cloven hoofed hybrid denizens mingled with things darker still that wrapped themselves in thin veils of beauty. The air vibrated with the chorus of their clamour.
Sub-Zero stood alone at the top of hill looking down on the hoards of the Netherrealm. He picked up a javelin from the haphazard stash lined up in the ground before him. He pointed an arm to mark the trajectory, then ran his hand down its length summoning ice all along its body. He hurled it. It sailed like a single arrow signalling the beckon to war. The high curvature of its arc took it straight down in front of the advancing horde. It hit the ground with an almighty crack and ice splintered from it, rapidly spreading as a wide sheet over the ground. The creatures on the front row screeched and backed away from the unnatural sight. Their unforgiving affiliates behind did not stop however. The air erupted into squawks and screams as the lesser creatures were churned into the grinder of the wave behind. Their bodies went down in a blur of dust. The splutter of their cries was subdued into the crack of bones and meat breaking under feet. Sub-Zero's face set hard as he watched. The next wave stumbled as they slid on the ice. A number of their ranks rose into the air, beating bat-like wings to rise above the fray. Some of the winged creatures were skull faced with cavernous eyes and long clawed fingers. Others were startlingly beautiful women, hair loose and flowing, complexion unmarred even amidst all the savagery about them.
Kuai frowned. Anything flying was going to avoid almost every trap he had set. A large number of the second wave were going the same way as the first as they slipped and slid on the ice into the claws and remorseless feet of their compatriots. Something fire breathing had pushed to the font and was making quick work of the ice. Kuai raised a hand to shield his eyes against the bright of the flaring orange sky. He picked up another javelin and hurled it toward a flying beast. The target cartwheeled out of the way, though the effort threw it off balance. Kuai hurled another and this once tore a whole through a wing, but did little to slow the advance. All of a sudden a dark purple vortex appeared swirling above one of the bat-winged women, the shadow, Saibot, dropped out of the portal and plummeted to the earth with the flapping harpy pinned in it's grasp. They hit the ground as one, and Kuai heard her neck and spine crunch with the force of the fall and the shadow on her back. Saibot vanished as soon as it was done. It dropped out of another portal, seized a creature and disappeared with it into a second portal. Kuai heard a scream come from the direction of the river of magma. He felt a grim glow of satisfaction. A hellion faced beast beat its wings fast and reared up before him. Kuai forced his palms together and shot it with a blast of ice. It froze above the ground and dropped as soon as its wings stopped beating, shattering into red shards of frozen blood when it hit the floor.
The main body of the hoard had progressed to the base of the hill. Those that had attempted to use the steps cut into the slope were slipping uncontrollably back into their comrades. Kuai curled his wrist in an arc, summoning a great ball of ice. He wrapped it with his second hand strengthening its weight and size then bowled it straight down the slope. He slid along and dealt another down the hill. Both balls rumbled as they spun, turning faster and faster before exploding into shards on reaching their target. He was rewarded with the cries and roars of demonic beasts rearing from the lethal shards. All these attacks were picking out single targets in amidst waves that just kept rolling however. Kuai could not even see an end to the ranks before him for the dust and mad fluttering and snarling colliding below.
Saibot had taken down many of the flying creatures, but a couple were straggling through to the top, and many more had appeared from the bulk of the horde below. Kuai waited until one was close enough and jumped, shooting forth a blast of tice that caught the beast full force and sent it shattering down to its death. As he did so however, another came up to his left and raked at him with knife claws and a curdling howl. The long nails scored through the black cloth of his garb. The harpy had made a mistake of its own. It had now closed the distance between them. Sub-Zero stretched out a hand and grabbed its throat. It screamed and lashed at his arm. His brother had fitted him with heavy though. Kuai slammed the beast down into the ground, its skull thudding hollowly against the earth. He summoned a dagger of ice and slit its throat quickly and silently. It gurgled once as it bled dry. The blood stained the already red soil and seeped into the open cracks in the hard surface.
The third wave of the army had broken forth and made significant progress up the hill. They were nearing the strip Kuai had ripped the shell of the earth from. Feet scrabbled at the dust as hellish beasts clawed their way upwards. He frowned as pointed pincers and curled claws stretched and tugged in firm for grip, easily moving over the obstacle he had hoped would buy him more time. He saw Saibot vanish into the ground. He looked behind him. The shadow reappeared next to the wraith and immediately raised its arms, no doubt required for whatever part of the ritual was occurring. Kuai grimaced. An advancing battalion of winged beasts were coming up fast and the wave on foot were moving much more swiftly than he had hoped. He was momentarily at a loss. All at once however, the combined weight of the beasts on foot shifted the dug away soil, dislodging the structure of the ground below. A shudder went through the earth and a line of dust plumed orange straight up into the air. The lower half of the hilltop collapsed and the screams and howls of creatures rolling back into the raised weapons of those behind clattered through the air. Kuai raised his eyebrows at the good fortune, but was quickly preoccupied by the winged denizens approaching.
He froze one and caught it by a leg before it fell, hurling it into another. He formed a long kori sword and took off the ankles of another. It screeched, showering him in the tattered remains of its limbs before dropping to the ground and clawing away from him. Sub-Zero stamped down on its spine then severed its neck. Its head rolled off down the hillside. He turned quickly, pulling his weight through the motion to sweep his sword through the air. His blade hacked part way through a leather winged creature, scarlet skinned and stunted horned. The steel got caught part way through its bone and he brought its body slamming down to earth. He planted a foot on its ribcage and wrenched his sword back. It took several tries before he tugged it out, the thing beneath him now screaming and writhing in agony. He punched straight up into its jaw and the impact snapped its skull back. It fell silent immediately, neck contorted at a strange angle. He brought his sword up quickly to fend off from the barrage of claws and nails that had got closer as he finished off his last victim. He booted another beast in the stomach and it skidded head over heels backward in a confused mesh of wing and limb. Sub-Zero hunted its retreating path and trapped the fingers on the tip of its leathery wing beneath his foot. The thing screeched beneath him, black, pupil-less eyes wide in terror as he bore down on it. He grasped the beast by one of its horns and pulled. He only stopped when he heard the sound of its spine shattering as it separated from its rib cage. He pulled the head clean off and bowled it into another demon bearing down on him. He cleared the rest of the space about him with spinning slash of his sword and focussed on taking off anything that dangled within reach. Soon the air was heavy with a fine mist of blood that rained fast and thick onto the earth.
He could not get clean kills and was only able to hack at anything that hung low enough in the air. Any creature that was maimed however, dropped lower still in altitude and lost something more vital to his ice blade. His face set grim and his eyes wild as a frenzy directed his arms and he set into combinations that tied his free hand to his weapon arm. He clasped one beast by the neck and ran it through the stomach with his blade. He flying punched another as it dropped lower holding the bloodied stump of a limb he had cut off moments earlier. He flipped his blade and held it reverse grip to stab behind him as a sly fiend crept up on him. As he cleared the area and steeped up the carnage about him, he was able to pause, steady his breathing and survey the scene.
The chaos on the slope below had forced a new group to try climbing the steps. Much of the ice had melted by now and this was proving a popular choice. Kuai bowled more balls of ice down at them, but many of the imps were sprightly and leapt over the ice. Those unlucky enough to be further down took punishment instead, but this did little to halt the advance of those in front. Kuai positioned himself at the top of the narrow staircase, kori blade in hand. The first creature hesitated when it saw him standing in full black and looking over the slitted steel confines of his mask. Kuai stuck it in the throat and it died before it could scream. The next one barked in alarm and jolted back. A wiry, half naked imp behind it batted it out the way and leapt forward. It sprung straight for Kuai's face. He swung the ice blade straight through it and it fell to the ground in two halves, insides spilling slick on the stone steps. While he was distracted however, two more had latched themselves to his legs. Kuai acknowledged the rocket his heartbeat had taken. If he went down, it would most likely be under the sheer mass of his enemy. He threw his sword into the head of the next creature and used his free hands to raise ice through his legs, stopping the sharp teeth that sought a way passed his greaves. The creatures shrieked and dropped like fat ticks from his limbs on feeling the ice that flowed through him. He channelled the ice up through his arms and pushed it forth, sending a catastrophic wave of freezing air straight down the steps. The front four creatures froze into one solid block that began to roll angularly back down the steps, bowling everything out the way.
Kuai had another fractional moment to catch his breath. He was hot, he realised. Very hot. His vision swam slightly even when he stood still. He pumped iced over his limbs, letting it lie as a thick layer over his torso as Bi-Han had suggested. He wiped sweat from his brow and narrowed his eyes to survey the picture before him. The crumpled bodies of winged beasts littered the hilltop and slope. The dust was finally settling after the landslide and those caught beneath it were beginning to recover and start back up the hillside. The hillside steps were still a jumble of flattened bodies and the giant iceberg of solid enemies had rolled to a stop at one of the corners, for the time being blocking the route. Just as he was settling his assessment, he heard renewed cries and commotion coming from below. He could see nothing amidst all the red dust and bodies. The crowds parted however and out of the sand kicked air came three women.
They walked proudly and easily, heels crunching the bodies of the fallen as they strode. One, Kuai was disappointed to see, was Sareena. She looked in her essence here – like she belonged with these two women, like she was born for this battlefield, like she lived and breathed the gore and grime of an army in confusion. She was clad in close-fitting tough red leather and was cutting the air with two kama that twisted with flicks of her wrists. To her left was a woman with tattoos that curled up her cheeks and long dark hair that splayed like spiders webs across her shoulders as she moved. She spun boomerangs between her fingers and walked with steady purpose in her stride. Her black garb on pale skin marked her out like a domino against the hazy battlefield. To Sareena's left was a woman with flyaway white hair that billowed like new steam as she walked. Dagger like markings set on her cheeks stood out cream on brown. She was willowy and lithe but defined lean muscles stood on her arms as she twirled a sword in her grip. The three moved forward with a smoothness that was unnatural, a beauty that was disturbing and an intent that was deadly.
Sub-Zero set his teeth together. Having faced Sareena alone, he did not like his chances of taking these three on together. He glanced around, looking for anything he might use to his advantage. His skeletal puppet army of bones on sticks rattled thinly in the low wind. He glanced up to the stone circle and saw Noob and Saibot raising their hands to one another, engulfed in purple energy. He looked back down. He did not even have the element of surprise since he had given himself away to Sareena. They would know not to expect Noob Saibot's skill set from him. Instead of rising in panic, he felt his world slow in gradual acceptance. If it must end this way... there are worse ways to go, he thought. At least I am back where I belong – between those I love and their death. I could not save Bi-Han. I could not save Smoke. I could not save Cyrax. They all fell. The weight of my failure... might at last be cleansed by this, my death as I finally pull through for someone. It was easier to look down then. Easier to watch as the three demons stalked up the hillside towards him.
"Our master is displeased, Noob Saibot." Laughed one woman. As she turned her boomerangs in her hands, Kuai could see serrated blades inset in their edges. He paused at her words though, and hid is surprise deep in his cowl. His eyes flicked instantly to Sareena but her face revealed nothing to him.
"He told you – stay – in – the – fortress!" This was said by the third demon with an almost sing-song tone to it. The whole unnerving experience was heightened by Kuai's confusion as to why they seemed to still think he was his brother when Sareena knew him not to be. Perhaps she cannot tell us apart and has not yet worked out which I am. His eyes followed them warily as they begun to circle him like starving wolves.
"Such an ungrateful little spectre," The first purred, "Raised from the dead, given powers most of us would dearly rrrrrelish... but its still not enough."
"Did no one ever teach you to choose your moments wisely, spectre? If you make a jump for power, you better be verrrrry sure you can seize it."
"Have you heard of the ninth plane, spectre? It is a special place just for those like you; a place reserved for betrayal." Kuai thought he saw Sareena shudder as one of her fellows spoke these words. "Do you know what is done to traitors in the Netherrealm?"
"I don't think you will like it."
"Not one bit."
"Tell him what it's like, Sarrrreena."
Sareena smiled with difficulty. Her posture was languid and unreadable to Kuai.
"I can't quite recall..." Sareena laughed, but it sounded mournful and hollow, "I'm beginning to think I might need another visit." She suddenly swung her kama with lightening speed, slicing off the hand of her fellow demon. A boomerang dropped to the ground. The hand fell after it with a curious, sickening thud. The dark haired demon screamed in agony. The fingers of the fallen hand twitched and the bright white of the bone stained brilliant scarlet. A fraction of disbelieving confusion reigned, then erupted into violence. The one armed demon lashed out with her remaining boomerang, hacking forward at Sareena who had to step up and catch the blade with the curve of her kama.
Sub-Zero used the advantage to pause and focus his mind on the kata his brother had shown him before entering the Netherrealm. It had been intended to inform his movement rather than mimic a whole fighting style, but even a little of it now might give him an extra edge over his opponent. He pulled back first into a defensive stance to force himself to think in the new style. He took an open palm guard but kept his fingers tight together. He even allowed an ease in his posture that came when he thought of his brother's pride and condescension. The white haired demon sprung forth and thrust her sword straight toward him. He batted it aside with a tight block, using the tough gauntlets to protect him from its edge. The blade was short and twisted quickly back round with more flexibility of movement than Sub-Zero had anticipated. He leaned back in time to see a blur of a line as the tip passed just before his eyes. The disorientation left him open to the return swing. Acknowledging the lost high ground, he dropped suddenly into a low kick. He hit his mark and the woman hissed as her leg went out from under her. As she fell, Sub-Zero leant in and double punched her in the jaw and stomach. He did not wait after they connected, and let his body execute a full line of the kata his brother had showed him. Alone, the moves had appeared to be small ineffectual looking blocks, but with an opponent in close they became a fast succession of deadly strikes. His palms cut into his enemy, finding vital points at the end of his strikes. Each hit set reverberating flinches in his opponent that prevented her from recovering her balance. He finished the combination with a solid punch from his rear hand that sent the demon flying. She hit the dry, stained earth and skidded along it, dust cast out beneath her as she fell. He stood straight and stalked over to her, laughing softly. There was fear in the woman's eyes but it steeled to determination.
"You laugh, Noob Saibot, but I have suffered defeat at your hand before – does it look like it has hindered me much? You are a fool to defy Quan Chi. Learn to serve him, and all other power – even resurrection itself, will be granted to you."
"And what of freedom?" He growled, for a moment forgetting that it was not truly him that she spoke to.
"Overrated. You were a pawn in life – you do not have half as many commitments in death. Quan Chi is not an unreasonable master."
"Stop talking at him and kill him, Jataaka!" The one handed demon screamed across to them as she dodged sideways out of the path of Sareena's kama. Sub-Zero tilted his head and drew back his fists. He was surprised to see his opponent, Jataaka, raise a hand, as if to stay him,
"It is said you once showed mercy to Sareena and spared her life. Why did you not spare Kia and I? What was it she had that we did not?"
Sub-Zero paused in confusion. This was not something his brother had ever spoken of before. Sub-Zero did not even know until recently that a mission during his brother's lifetime had taken him to the Netherrealm, let alone the events that had taken place there.
"Did you ever think that, had you extended us the same courtesy, this picture, right now, might look different?" She gestured. Kuai looked at Sareena, kama whirling through the air, her fellow demon admirably holding ground with her bladed boomerang as the stump of her wrist bled profusely onto the ground. "Call this your own comeuppance then."
Sub-Zero whirled back round in time to see Jataaka tilt her sword toward him. A flash of light erupted from the weapon. The speed and his shock were so great that he instinctively jumped back, leaving an ice clone of himself behind. The laser bounced off the ice and reflected back to cleave a hole straight through the fallen Jataaka's neck. Her eyes opened in surprise and confusion. She looked at him stupidly as if trying to understand something, before her eyes rolled up into her head and she dropped back dead to the floor. A perfect cauterised circle sheered all the way through her throat to show the ground beneath. He surveyed her body emotionlessly for a moment. He turned abruptly, placed the heels of his palms together and froze the demon called Kia. Sareena opened her guard wide and double sliced with her kama, taking Kia's head clean off before booting her body so that it shattered into pieces.
"Revive from that!" She spat at her former colleague. She bent over to catch her breath and looked up at him, "You're his brother, aren't you." Sareena wiped sweat and blood from her face and studied him with stubborn eyes. "He was raging about you taking his name when he first returned with our mast- with Quan Chi after the Mortal Kombat tournament." He said nothing. She nodded briefly, "You remind me of him when he first came here."
Sub-Zero looked down the hill. The army had made good progress while he was distracted, every trap he had laid further down had been sprung and they now moved unhindered.
"If you mean to help us, get to the higher ground and-" He stopped her with a hand on her upper arm as she began to walk to the summit, "Watch that..." He pointed to the discolouration in the earth that marked the hidden spike trap. She blinked, then nodded. She leapt nimbly and landed on the high ground. Kuai watched his brother and his shadow pause to look to her. She stood still and they locked eyes. Kuai saw both of their shoulders relax. He wondered at that. He had a hard time imagining Bi-Han being compassionate even in life. No one took Lin Kuei missions more seriously than him. He found himself thinking back to what Jataaka had asked; about Sareena being spared while she and Kia had been ruthlessly dispatched. Bi-Han, you seem to have a lot of complexity to you given your self-professed commitment to personal power at all costs.
He surveyed the circle of skeletal scarecrows surrounding the crown of the hill. He had vaguely thought that perhaps the appearance of large numbers might strike some fear into the oncoming army. He had not calculated on the limited intellectual capacity of some of his opponents, nor carrot and stick effect of offered power and eternal torment that Quan Chi held over these creatures. The hellion beasts clawing their way up to him did not even view him as an enemy, it seemed. They saw in him only an obstacle and a stepping stone. Time for a new use for my long dead friends. He let forth a wide jet of ice, using the skeletal figures like fence posts to support the ice he sprayed between them. A thin barrier of ice hung between the lolling bone scarecrows. That'll freeze at least the first row. He sped about the circumference of the hill top creating an thin ice barrier all around it.
By the time he finished, the first creatures had reached his barrier. The ice shattered when the first victims touched it and absorbed its power. He summoned a kori blade and stood in the breach, cleaving the victims into shards. Very quickly there was a flood and screech of beasts all about him. He threw his weight behind the weapon swinging it a full circle about him then round and down over his head. The burst of blood and crack of snapped bone followed in the wake of his blade and showered everything hot red. He swung again, alternating sword blows with blasts of ice. His eyes suddenly shot to pin pricks and the skin of his face stretched in a silent scream. A full hand of claws raked deep down his back through already open wounds. In his single-minded dedication to the fight, he had neglected to notice the beasts climbing up the cliffs around the hill top. Some had been frozen by his barrier, but others still had forced their way through the gaps. He was quickly becoming surrounded. He tried to make his retreat back up the hill, but had trouble covering behind him with the pressure of the demons and imps surrounding him.
"Hurry!" He heard a voice behind him. Sareena had jumped back down and was helping to cleave a path for him. Her kama cut through limbs like new grass, sweeping graceful arcs framed by the maimed screams of those who fell to her blades. Sub-Zero backed into the space she made. All about them new shouts of terror begun. Sub-Zero and Sareena leapt to safety above the spike trap as beasts all about them broke through the earth covered defences to be impaled on the blades of ancient warriors underneath. Sareena raised her eyebrows as the chorus was echoed behind and all around them. Bodies mangled quickly into stacks against the spikes as the rows behind pushed forward before the lines before could pull back from the threat. Sub-Zero's face was grim despite the success of the initiative. The corpses soon stacked so high that the steel defences simply disappeared beneath the mass of mangled flesh. New enemies begun to scale the piles.
"Is Noob going to do something impressive any time soon, or did you two just want an ostentatious grave in the Netherrealm?"
Sub-Zero had little time or patience for Sareena's sardonic remarks.
"We will know when he is done. Until then..." The situation was looking more dire by the second. He took a deep breath. Sareena winced, her mind flying no doubt to the unpleasant consequences of joining the brothers in defeat.
There was no time for talking after that, or thinking. They aimed for killing blows as the first creatures crawled over the wall of bodies. Sareena kept up a swift routine of decapitation whilst Sub-Zero froze the top layer, keeping the wall ever higher. Soon their enemy were coming from all sides however, and they had to pull back to keep Noob Saibot's ritual covered. Kuai glanced at him. He was oblivious to the carnage about him, all his power and thought focussed on his task. Sub-Zero set his jaw. He and Sareena took a side of the circle each.
Sub-Zero felt jaws clamp over his unprotected calves and hissed in pain. He stiffened his limbs in ice, forcing off the teeth on his legs, but also lowering his guard to do so. Several bodies hurled themselves at him and he went down under the squirm and slide of their writhing bodies. He roared as something latched onto his throat. Another clawed at his chest. Weight pounded down with repeated intensity as bodies buckling like flapping fish flew onto him. Everything became hot wriggling pressure. A smell like charred wood and rotting flesh cloyed his senses. Hot blood traced down his face and mixed with sweat and grime. The clash of teeth bounced over his face. His muscles in various places protested the crunch of nicked fangs and scrabbling claws. All other sounds deadened as the weight of bodies mounted. Everything became dark and the heat unbearable. The pressure on his chest pushed down hard and he heard a crack as the last of the ice over his torso cracked and splintered into pieces that would melt in seconds. Soon it was not the teeth that bothered him but the crush. He felt the air squeezed out of his lungs and forced burning through his aching throat. He found he could not expand his ribcage for the pressure on top of him. His eyes bulged. He could not even move his mouth for the foul body pressed hard against his face. He knew the heat, the dark, the pressure, and the sudden inevitability of death. Was this what it was like as he burned you alive?
He was faintly away of a high distant noise. At first he could make nothing of anything. His air starved mind could only make out light and sound. Both of these, however, increased. Soon he realised he could see the sky. Like the smoke clouds of a city on fire. Always red. Like the guilt on our hands. The Lin Kuei. Bringers of death. He found the weight on his chest lessened and was able to move off the crushed dead corpses smothering him. Everything that could move was fleeing back over the wall of corpses with a smattering of shrieks following them. He stared around in confusion. His first thought was that Bi-Han must have saved him, but he saw the wraith struggle to feet while his shadow cleared corpses from the earth where they stood. Immediately Noob Saibot bent to continuing his ritual. Sub-Zero glanced around for Sareena. He spotted a particularly large corpse pile and dug through it. As he tugged bodies off, he was rewarded by the gasping intake of breath.
"Get them off me!" She screeched, "Get them off!" Sub-Zero helped her out. She clasped her shoulders and kept rubbing, then touched her throat, then shuddered. Her kama were gone. "I thought that was the end – I thought that was it... You keep saving me, Sub-Zero!" Sub-Zero did not bother to correct her confusion. He had already returned to surveying the scene. His instinct was impressing a slow dread on him. "How did you do it? How did you fend them off?"
"I didn't," he said sourly.
He realised where the increasing dread was coming from. Now that he had regained control of his senses, he could feel the shudder of the earth beneath him. The entire hill quaked in rhythmic time like the skin of a giant war drum. He blinked as a swathe of dizziness slipped over him. He was bleeding from a number of places, including teeth pricks on his neck. He stemmed the flow by chilling the blood and thinly freezing the wounds, but could feel the grinding shudder of exhaustion trying to curl through his bones. He fought it down with iron will and a hard grimace.
The ground trembled and the wall of corpses around them shook like animated puppets at every beat. He glanced at Sareena, and saw her eyes fixed forward. She had the look of one who knows what is to come and yet prays for it not to be so. She turned and struck him straight in the face with an expression of imploring terror. In that moment, Kuai Liang understood why Bi-Han had spared her. There was something raw and honest in those eyes. Something in agony, something desperate, something stubborn, something terrified. Something that looked all too much like a mirror. She looked back to the barrier. Kuai Liang followed her gaze.
The piled corpses flew to one side as a giant club beat them out the way. The back swing cleared another stack into the air, bones crunching as rag-tag bodies went up like autumn leaves in the wind and crumpled back down hard in twisted, broken, unrecognisable shapes. The remainder of the barrier was bowled away by an enormous iron ball on a chain. The chain was snapped back by its owner, a great creature, blue skinned, thickly muscled, hunched over like a primate. It tilted a head and blinked with yellow glowing eyes. A third eye peered out from its horned forehead. The owner of the club stomped up beside it, a hideous monstrosity all devoid of skin and clad only in the raw tones of its fleshy muscles. It's face was obscured by the mockingly donned mask of an old samurai warrior. Between these immense oni was the true source of Sareena's fear. Quan Chi himself strode toward them.
Author Note: Thanks once again for the reviews and comments you're writing, they continue you to be a great inspiration to me both on Fanfic and on Archive of Our Own! Only one chapter remains after this one, but I will be updating the Epilogue that follows it at the same time so as to round of the story nicely for followers.