Walk by Faith
The remainder of the nearly destroyed buildings in Seido began to fall while some of the rubble had risen up. Kotal, D'Vorah, and Ferra fended off against the Seidan Resistance along with a few brave civilians as the other civilians crossed over into a portal to Outworld. They'd reached the 3rd Platform, trying their best to keep the civilians out of harms way. Li Mei struggled to move with the poison still not completely out of her system. She found herself lying on the back of the spider as it entered the portal as well.
"Keep them back until everyone is through!" Kotal Shouted. Numerous totems began to sprout around them. The civilians were unaware of why they were there, but D'Vorah understood all too well. Her face stretched as she smiled. A loud crash below startled them all. It was impossible for them to see what was occurring as they'd moved closer to the middle of the platform.
Kitana, however, saw it all as she leapt to the third platform. The fourth and fifth platforms crashed into one another below them. The shockwave began to split the other platforms apart. Though the platforms were not falling, they were moving further apart. Kitana used the winds from her fans to safely land onto the surface of the third platform. She ran towards the middle as she saw the portal that Kotal Kahn had opened.
"Why didn't you return with that girl like the others?" a voice whispered in her ear. Kitana was starting to shake her head.
"She killed Jade," Kitana wept as she pressed forward.
"She seeks to redeem herself," It continued. Kitana repeatedly slammed her fist into her forehead.
"Stop it. Stop it! Get out of my head!" She yelled.
"Not until I am freed," the voice declared. "She could've been the key to releasing me from this cursed place."
"If you would have stay away, Lui Kang wouldn't see me with such hatred as he does now. I will never free you, demon."
"And it will be you who pays in the end." As the voice finished, Kitana could no longer feel its presence—at least, for the time being. She grits her teeth tightly. She recalls Abacus' death. The letter N. ChaN? ANomaly? TaNya? Maybe even herself? All whom hear the voice of the One Being. Will they be the cause of Armageddon and the end of everything? She needed to find an answer.
Eris digs her fingers into her curly black hair. She continued to scream as her voice shook the realm. Chan, Anomaly, and Cassie did everything they could to block out the woman's loud voice. Anomaly quickly summons a fire ball and fired it at the woman. As it came into close proximity with Eris, the woman inhaled the fire. Anomaly was shocked by the sight. Eris inhaled before blowing the fire from her mouth toward the top of the platform. A ring of fire surrounded the edges and created walls too high for them to escape.
"At least we got her to stop," Cassie said as her voice trembled. She noticed that the fire was spreading quickly, burning the surrounding trees and grass. Anomaly's eyes grew wide as she watched the trees burn.
"No!" she yelled. Chan and Cassie looked back at the woman. "The people! Their souls are still connected to this platform!"
"Death would be better than this," Cassie said.
"How could you be so careless with their lives?" Anomaly questioned. Cassie punched the woman. She stumbled before stopping herself from falling over as the fire reached her heels.
"You destroyed our Realm!" Cassie shouted.
"The souls of Earthrealm remain in the Soulnado. Without it, they would find their souls transferred to the Dark Realms. Meaning if Armageddon succeeds, they may never return to our universe."
"Your cryptic jabbering means jacksh—"
"We have a problem here!" Chan interupts as the three of them leaned against one another. The flames were much closer to them now.
"What do we do?" Cassie asked. Chan closed his eyes imagining how far he could project his portal. He looks toward the direction Eris stood. He creates a portal below them. As the three of them fell through, they found themselves next to Eris as she remained atop of the floating building.
"No way!" Eris shouted. Anomaly swiped toward the woman, but she skipped backwards. She missed her step and slipped along the edge of the building. Anomaly runs toward the woman, but found herself going through a portal leading to the second platform instead. As she turned back to the portal, she saw Chan waving before closing it.
"That should keep her off of us for now," he said as the two of them rushed to the edge.
"What do we do now?" Cassie asked. Chan handed her his portal stone. "I can't let her get away," he said. He jumped and dived toward the woman. She opened a portal that lead somewhere else—a different realm.
As Chan fell through the portal she opened, the two come in between an onslaught against the Vampires in their home realm of Vaeternus. Many of their homes were still tarnish by the effects of previously being merged with Outworld. It seemed that their problems followed them back to this realm. Chan reaches forward, narrowly grabbing the weeping woman. One of the vampires, flying at a high speed, crashed into the boy. Both of them fall to the ground, with her lying atop of him. She raises herself up and opens her eyes. He could feel the tension coursing through her body as she raises her hand in the air, ready to claw the boy's heart out. She stops herself as she recognizes who he could be.
"Lui Kang?" she wondered. "You're suppose to be fighting in—" Chan throws the woman off of him before looking into the distance. He spots preparing to leave the realm. He creates a small portal along the ground and starts crawling through.
"I'm sorry," he says as he starts to reach the other side. The vampire grabs his ankles, halting his movement.
"Please!" she yells. "You can't leave us like this!" Chan focuses his chi within his feet. Sparks began to conjure around his shoes before causing a burst of light to boost him forward into Eris' portal. He looks back as the woman's grip loosens. Her face was crisp and dark as her body stiffened. Both portals close. The smoke and darkness was all he could see.
Chan could still hear sniffling within his vicinity, but he couldn't detect her location. The boy looked around as only the moon in the sky kept the woods before him visible. The boy used his dark flare to light up the area. As the slow projectile ventured forward, he could hear foots steps coming from behind him. As he turned, the footsteps became louder and faster. He entered a defensive pose to prepare himself for the threat. Before he knew it, the girl ran directly into him, falling over him in the process. Chan grabs onto the girl's wrists to keep her in place. She struggles before locking eyes with the boy and putting him into a deep trance. Chan, finding himself unable to move suddenly, fell on his back.
Chan opens his eyes and raises himself up. He looks around, observing a new location. Beside him was Eris, hugging onto his arm. He ignored her presence, however, as he was awed by the realm's design. It had become familiar to him all of a sudden as he thought back—
"Don't!" Eris interrupted. "If it were not for my survival, I would have you think about whatever you want. What I don't want is to be send back to the past because of you."
"What?" Chan questioned as he turned his attention to the girl.
"Very few individuals can enter this realm voluntarily. Most call it a thought room. The truth is that this realm exists through our sleep. It is known as the DreamRealm." Chan stared at the girl with contempt.
"Why did you bring us here?" Chan asked.
"Why are you talking to me instead of killing me?" Eris responded as she became teary eyed once more.
"Kill you?" Chan questioned. Soon, shadows of the young man appeared around them. Among the shadows was a scarred individual with long claws on his right hand. The man held onto his hat as he tilted his head to the side.
"You fool," Eris said.
"Should we leave?" he asked.
"We only have two options now. We stay and fight the dream demon, or we leave and fight the masked man. Either choice would mean our death."
"What's the best choice?" Chan asked.
"Not choosing," Eris responded as she released the boy. She starts to run away. Chan reached out to the woman, and the army of shadows chased after her. The speed of the demons were too quick for the woman as they cut off her route. Chan chased behind her, but gets caged in by the scarred man.
"Now where are you going?" the man hissed. Chan opened a portal inside the cage, but it was immediately dispersed.
"What?" he questioned.
"This is my house now," the man chuckled as he walked closer to Chan.
"Pull us out!" Eris said as she struggled to keep the shadow demons back. "We're at a disadvantage here! We'll have to take our chances with Vorhees." Chan gruntsed before using his chi to disturb his body.
As he opened his eyes, he saw a tall masked man standing above him with a rusted machete. Chan looks over and sees Eris rushing pass them toward her next destination as she opens a new portal. The masked man picks Chan up by his neck, weakening his power. Chan couldn't understand why both entities were able to take away his abilities, even with his chi being infused by them. However, something clearly caught the man's attention as he released Chan and disappeared in a stream of mist.
As Eris's portal began to shrank, Chan concentrated on its position and created a portal to widen it. The boy picks himself up and lights his feet with a solar flare. Sparks burst from his feet and he propels himself forward. He dives through the portal before allowing it to close and finds himself in a new realm.
The shaolin landed in a desolate realm full of corpses and weapons. Everything seemed as if it had existed long before Chan could remember. Why had no one cleaned the realm since the event? Did it's denizens still exist? Even the upkeep of the realm portal was better than he'd imagined. Suddenly, he began to see parts of the world much clearer. Certain statues and symbols littered through the realm. Many locations he'd seen frequently for over a year.
"This is Outworld," he said to himself. He shook his head. "No, this is Edenia. But...how?" Chan looked around for Eris but could not find her in sight.
Close your eyes and open a new portal. Chan was spooked by the voice that called to him. He looked around and saw no one.
"What do you want?" Chan questioned.
My freedom, the voice responded. Close your eyes and open a portal. I will guide you to her location.
Chan reluctantly followed the voice's orders. He closed his eyes tightly and reached out. As he opened the portal, he took a few steps forward. He opened his eyes as he arrived on the other side of the portal. Eris stared like a deer in headlights. Immediately, the woman started to skip away.
"Stop!" Chan yelled. Eris finally did as he asked. Chan quickly walked toward the girl, ignoring the scenery around him. He firmly grasped the girl's shoulder and turned her around. She kept her eyes closed tightly as if she were afraid to look at him. "Are you a Seidan too?"
"There is no order, only Chaos," she said repeatedly. Chan shook her, trying to get her full attention, but the girl didn't stop.
"Hey!" he shouted. The girl immediately opened her eyes. The piercing yellow color in her iris seemed to stun Chan. He didn't move. All he could feel was the sweat running down his face and the harsh, rapid thumping of his heart. It was then that the Shaolin experienced death.
End of Chapter 19
Just a reminder, I will be taking a longer break before releasing the next chapter, which begins a new arc for the story: Chaos Realm Arc. The ending of this upcoming arc (chapter 26) will mark the halfway point of the story. As you may have seen in this past few chapters, the world of Mortal Kombat will be opening up a lot more as we build towards Armageddon. I already have the conclusions for all of these characters written out, so I can begin showing bits and pieces of their involvement in the story without having to create entire chapters explaining what's happening in the rest of the realms. I don't see myself making any major changes are deviations to the plot at this point as doing so will complete screw up the remainder of the story. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll be returning in May.
(Upcoming—Blank Canvas)