Goro: Prince of Shokan

Chapter 4: Regret and Responsibility

I awoke and observed father as he looked at mothers corpse.

It took me a while to get it all through my head, since I took quite a beating, but in the end I finally figured it out.

" I am extremely disappointed in you Goro, " my father said with disappointment. " You had a responsibility, you told me you would stay in the Kuaton palace to protect your mother,"

" I wished to help in the frontlines King Gorbak, " I addressed him so when I knew he thought I didn't deserve to be his son.

" No excuse, you directly disobeyed the order of a king. " father yelled. " If only the Centaurs were not threatening the palace I wouldn't have sent Kintaro in there. "

" I returned to defend the palace, " I assured father. " Didn't I Kintaro. "

But my former teacher merely grunted and turned away. I deserved all of it.

" Goro! "

I turned to look at father just as he struck me across the face with his massive backhand. " Being a King isn't about excitment and adventure Goro, it is about doing whats right for your people, whether it be in the frontlines or stuck behind a wall. I thought I had taught you all of that, but I see now you are not willing to learn. You will never be a King. "

Those words were quite painful but as I shokan I refused to show any feeling and I knew I deserved

it anyway.

I attended mothers funeral. It took place in the royal throne room of the Kuaton palace.

Father got up to say some words by the throne. " My sweet Mai is no longer with us, she ruled fairly by my side

and cared for all of the Shokan people. Despite the Centaurs continuing attacks Queen Mai was always willing to try and settle things with them without violence . She lost her life trying to make peace between all of us. And for that she will always be remembered. "

Durak, father, Baros, and I all sat up near the throne on the other side of the lava moat in the chamber

while the others who were less close to mother sat across the moat including Kintaro, Karakas, Verox, Marrow, and fathers other wives. Some Shokan then proceeded to pull the ropes which began the ceremonial lowering of the coffin into the lava. We all sat for a moment of silence as the last of the coffin and Queen Mai was engulfed by the flames on the lava.

For the following years father and I were never really close. He refused to accept me and began to

pay attention to Durak more. The biggest thing about being a king was repsonsibility and I completely ignored that fact, which father reminded me of many times before the Battle of Kuaton. I was eventually ignored so much that life almost became the life of a normal Shokan. He told be I had to mine in the mines of Shokan. Mining various substances for Verox to make into weapons for the future attack against the Centaurs. Tensions were high between both races.

I mined for several centuries, I soon became 750. Working like a slave along with other Shokan, though they volunteered.

It was strange knowing as my father no longer accepted me that I no longer had any say on military operations, negotians or anything involving the centaurs other then the race against them in the race for weapons production. It was strange knowing I was no longer had the power to claim any Shokan rubies that we found. I was one of the common shokans.

" King Gorbak? " I said.

" What is it Goro? " father said annoyed.

" We are running out of proper metals and substances in the mines to make weapons with. Some of our men are dying by risking their lives to go into cursed areas of the mines, "

" Goro there is no option, this is our only choice. We cannot attack the Centaurs because theres no telling how powerful they could be now. We can't assume they have less weapons then us, we have no way to prove it "

I growled, but I knew there was no way I could convince him to attack for the sake of the Shokan.

I returned to the mines as a frustrated group of Shokans quickly ran up to me ," Prince Goro! Prince Goro! the Shokan named Morrow, he is your companion, is he not?"

My eyes widened.

" He was squised," the Shokan said as I investigated the scene. A boulder on his back, on his head, and a sharp rock pinning down his leg. Plus a mess of blood. " The ceiling gave out and colapsed we all ran, but it seemed like only he was in danger, he would move left, the rocks would fall near him, he would move right, the rocks would fall near him. "

" Impossible..." I said in awe.

" It is all true we all saw it happen. "

" these disasters and tragedies in the mines must end, slaves we are, we break our backs trying to keep these Centaurs away. "

I looked at Morrows body again, " literally. "

" We can't assume the Centaurs have more weapons than us," the Shokan to my right said, " like King Gorbak said. "

" There's no way to prove it. " the Shokan to my left said.

I stared at Morrows body with anger. " Yes there is. "

That night I snuck out of the palace. Through the canyon and to the other side of the canyons.

Getting closer. I passed a corner and spotted the castle in the distance. Outside were two guards. "Centaurs" I growled , " I hate these guys. "

They began walking my way. I quickly pressed against the stone wall to blend in with the shadows.

I waited untill they got closer, they laughed and joked as they neared me, " How many Shokan does it take to..." the centaur never finished his joke as I snapped his neck. The other Centaur charged at me. I leapt high into the air as he did and he missed me, ramming himself into the stone wall. A huge stone block fell from the wall when he rammed it and plummeted down toward him. He saw it coming however and reached his arms out to catch it. I quickly grabbed onto the wall with four arms to gain control of my decent and leapt off again towards the centaur. I landed on the rock with all my weight as I pushed it down into his back, breaking it.

He gasped and cried in pain. Before he could alert the guards I quickly took the rock off his back and smashed it into his skull, killing him. The Centaurs built their castles similar to the ones in Earthrealm. The walls were completely even and I could not scale them. I dived into the moat and ripped off the gate under there to make another entrance into the castle. I swam extremely fast with four arms. I soon ended up in their armory. The weapons seemed endless as they went down the wall, although I noticed their craftsmenship worsened the further down the wall I got. I took a spear from the rock for safety measures as I journeyed further into the castle. I finally came to a huge doorway that apparently had people talking inside. I lined up a shot and flung the spear through the guarding centaurs head as he turned to see me and he dragged his body out of site. I then quickly jumped into the doorway and hid behind a pillar to spy on the meeting.

" Nonsense! " A Centaur yelled.

" No I swear your majesty, they all died. "

" All of them? "

" Yes I assure you sir. They had to go deeper to get metals, the mine is empty of any of it."

" The mines extend into Shokan territory, " an advisor said.

" It must've been them dirty Shokan." the King said.

I tried to look around the pillar to get a look at his face but I would reveal myself.

" We have no choice but to attack them as planned, more men are dying, these incidents, they are bizzare, " the King said.

" As for you Morato, I've had about enough of your nonsense advice about creatures, guards, take him to be executed!" the King ordered.

" Please no,King Motaro I speak the truth."

The guards grabbed him and dragged him out of the throne room, as soon as they were out of sight the advisor screamed.

" Woah guards I meant execute him in the dungeon, " King Motaro said.

A pool of blood spreaded outside the door where everyone could see after another scream of pain. " guards?"

Then a Centaur emerged from the door. His skin was a pale grey. " What the hell!" King Motaro exclaimed.

The Centaur had many open wounds, some rocks stuck in them. Blood spurted from them.

King Motaro and his guards were quiet for a moment. It wasn't untill the undead Centaur was close did King Motaro spoke up,"kill it...KILL IT!"

The Centaur guards attacked it, the zombie centaur tried to latch on to them but they shoved their spears through it.

Then it got back up. I think it's time for me to take my leave while they are distracted. I hid outside the throne room.

" What kind of sorcery was that. " the guard said. " It was like they were dead but still alive, as if their soul was ripped from them. "

" Those mines are not safe, we must attack the Shokans, Commander Oratnik, gather the Centaurs near the wastelands to attack Kuaton once again. They have gone to far. We must find out what kind of magic they are using and put an end to it by force."

So the Centaurs are planning an attack, I got my information, time to leave

I ran through the halls, trying my best to not get attention drawn to myself. Near the exit I heard moaning.

I looked around to see four zombies closing in on me. Who in their right mind is ressurecting the dead, Motaro seems to think it is us Shokan using magic. One spat blood at me which I sidestepped. They all jumped on me but I managed to throw em off, I than picked up all four with each of my four hands and smashed their heads together into bloody gunk. I ran from the palace and back to headed back to the Kuaton palace without any apparent detection from the Centaurs. No longer would my people be slaves in the mines. This information would let us attack the Centaurs. I had learned responsibility.

Authors note: I'd like to note that this chapter isn't overly supernatural because there are supernatural things in Mortal Kombat like this,(i.e. Zombie Liu and Undead netherealm guys).This is not a horror story, there is a reasonable explanation for the zombies. Next chapter will have lots of action including Goro vs the King of Centaurs.