Seekers of Darkness
The area was scorching hot. Subzero's cool body radiated among his colleges. So their comfort was tested as they leapt to different platforms to avoid the eventual descending of the platforms. Subzero and Smoke leapt to a platform separate from the others. They looked at them with concern. Taven placed his hand on their shoulders. Subzero sighed.
"What are you doing here?" a voice hissed. Subzero looked around. His allies were still helping one another get atop of the platform. He focused on the different platforms around them.
"What is it, Kuai?" he wondered.
"I heard...the Grand Master," he said suspiciously.
"While I wouldn't doubt that his soul resides here, he wouldn't be on this plane of the NetherRealm," Smoke said.
"You're right, but—"
"Kuai Liang." Another voice called to him. Smoke could see the voice troubled the man.
"Bi Han?" he called.
"Are you saying our dead are here?" Smoke wondered.
"Where's Frost, Asher?" a new voice called. The Half-Cyborg warrior looked toward the platform to his left where a new group of warriors approached. At first, they seemed like shadow figures. However, the shadows would leave their bodies. Around them on different platforms existed those they've called their brothers and sisters in the past. Among them, the previous Grand Master, Bi Han, Grand Master Oniro, his father, his Grandfather, the original Frost, and even Shelia's perished comrades.
"This can't be possible," Asher uses his cybernetic eye to examine the former members. "No, they're living beings."
"This is the doing of another. Arm yourselves and fight whatever they are," he instructed. "We will not allow ourselves to fail."
"Yes!" the Lin Kuei warriors shouted. They did as he said and engaged their apparitions. Subzero takes on the former grandmaster while Taven faced his family. Smoke fought Oniro. Asher took on Frost and Shelia's former team. They fared better than they expected, despite being outnumbered.
"You reversed the program?" Oniro exclaimed.
"No," Subzero said.
"You bastard," Smoke grabbed the man and tossed him into the lava pit.
"No!" Asher shouted.
"They aren't real," Subzero said before looking at the man Smoke would throw over the pit. Smoke had a disturbed look on his face as one of their own living warriors plummeted below.
"Damn you, Oniro!" he shouted before grabbing him from the neck and dashing around the platforms. When he stopped, the man's body was unrecognizable.
Asher sprung a spike from his wrist and stabbed it through Frost's heart. He used his reading to ensure he wasn't attacking his own man as Smoke had. It was definitely her. As the spike returned to his wrist, he turned to see one of their former mates stab a member in the hips before throwing him over. Asher rushed to the edge of his platform and slid below it. He attached a grappling hook on the edge of the platform and dived toward the warrior with his thrusters. As he grabbed the man by the legs, he reeled himself back to the surface with his automated hook.
"You see, brother," Bi Han started, "the program was the right decision. Had he been without his heart, he would have left him to die a warriors death and instead focused on the other warrior we would throw after." Subzero used his power to freeze his brother and look for the warrior in question. However, he was able to protect himself relying on his own reflexes. "How could I forget," Subzero said.
"Grandmaster," Asher shouted. Subzero looked to Asher. Suddenly, the young warrior's face lit up. He frowned and beckoned for the man to come to his platform. He did so along with the other warriors. Taven would be the last to land on the platform.
"He is not among us," he said. Subzero raised his brow.
"It is another one of Shinnok's tricks," Subzero said. The members looked at Subzero.
"We should've known," Smoke said. "But how does he know about what's happening outside of the NetherRealm?"
"Perhaps through the Brotherhood of Shadow?" Asher said.
"Who?" Taven asked.
"Shinnok's cult of worshipers," he clarified.
"My brother would seek asylum with such a man?" Taven muttered to himself.
"No," Subzero said. He conjures an ice sword and stabs it through Smoke's chest. The warrior stared in shock, grabbing Subzero's shoulder.
"What are you—"
"Taven isn't aware of our true mission," Asher said. "You failed to recognize that, even though there are strict orders from the Grandmaster to keep Shinnok's current status as a fallen Elder Lord hidden from Taven. Those who would reveal such were to be assassinated. In the instance that the Grandmaster would reveal this information, you were to be the one to kill Taven to prevent him from defending the former Elder Lord. That was a memory you were unable to know off. Meaning.
"Huh," Smoke huffed before vanishing. The other apparitions did the same, including Taven himself.
"Excellent call, Asher," Subzero praised.
"How did you know something was off? You said they were real." one of the warriors wondered.
"When I called Subzero 'Grandmaster' neither the previous Grandmaster nor Oniro looked my way. It would be impossible for them to know about the Lin Kuei's current structure as the Grandmaster does not engage in contracts personally as Subzero does," he explained.
"So, where's Smoke and Taven?" another asked. Everyone paused. The platform they stood on reached a balcony near the second floor of Shinnok's Spire. The leapt off the platform one by one, with Asher helping the injured warrior down.
"I'm reading numerous lifeforms behind this door," Asher said.
"Kill them all," Subzero commanded. "Move floor to floor until Shinnok's amulet is found." The group nods before moving in around the door. Asher nods, and one of the members charges toward the door.
As they burst through, they were greeted with numerous monstrosities. Gargoyles, the undead, and numerous Oni warriors raised their arms and rushed toward them. The two groups clashed, with the Lin Kuei having the upper hand. Subzero ripped through his enemies with his ice axe. One of the gargoyles grabbed ahold of his face and clawed his eye. Asher grabbed the creature by the wings and channeled a stream of electricity into its body. It bleeds internally, with some seeping through its eyes and nose. As he tossed it aside, he fired a shotgun blast into the legs of an undead. Subzero grabs it from the neck and rips corroded spine from it.
"Don't touch your eye holding that," Asher said, staring at Subzero's bleeding eye.
"I know," he said. One of the warriors moves to his side after cutting one of the Oni down. The guards move in, keeping the pressure on the Lin Kuei warriors. The attacks became overbearing now that they were defending Subzero. They noticed their enemies specifically targeting the man after realizing the change in their strategy.
"We shouldn't be fighting like this," Asher grunted.
"Spread out!" Subzero commanded. "Do not sacrifice yourselves for me. The mission must go on."
"Right," they obeyed in unison. As they took an offensive approach to the guards, a new set of enemies appeared. They were of a humanoid appearance similar to that Brotherhood's own members. However, these would have dark red markings around their eyes similar to the Oni.
"Demons," Subzero cursed. "I'll handle them." He watched on as five of them would surround him. Asher's face drops, but he knew he couldn't make the same mistake again. One of the warriors hesitates, which proved fatal as a Gargoyles cut open the bottom of his stomach. A bit of the man's intestine crept out. As he tried to push it back in, the smell of his blood drew the undead and Oni toward his direction. Though futile, he doesn't give in as he still attempts to face the horde. A few other members use the opportunity to take out the distracted enemies.
"For the Lin Kuei! Push on!" he shouts in pain as the undead pick at his body. Asher grits his teeth, taking his anger out on the Gargoyle who caused the man's death. As he stomps on its back thinking about all that'd occurred to that point, he senses two others within their vicinity. They were not like those they were fighting. One was a Lord, the other was…
"Smoke!" Asher shouts.
The room becomes foggy as the Lin Kuei warrior silently poses behind one of the demons. As it turns around, he quickly snaps its neck. One dashes behind him at an unnatural speed, only to get gut punched. A small ball of smoke is left behind on the demon's abdomen. Smoke attacks another before the explosion of the smoke ball sounds off. Smoke teleports the demon above Subzero, who stabs it through the chest using the frozen spine. The demon's body slams onto the ground as Subzero's arm gives in. He freezes the demon before stomping atop of its head. As one runs toward Smoke, he conjures another ball and throws it at the demons feet. This one appears behind Smoke and soars across the room as he roundhouse kicked the demon in the gut. A Lin Kuei warrior swipes at the demon's throat with its dagger and moves in to help take on the remaining three.
"Took you long enough," Subzero said.
"The platform Taven and I boarded fell before you ever rose to the top." Smoke said. "What happened here?"
"Worry about me later," Subzero said as he defrosted the axe to form a broad sword instead. With it, he fought the demons, having the edge with the help of his companions. Asher distracts the demon with a flash bang. Subzero was slightly affected, leading to Smoke taking out the demon closest to him. As he comes back to, he thrusts his blade into another demon. The frost from the blade spreads throughout the demon's body before turning him into an ice sculpture. He shatter the body, with the shard forming projectiles to take out the last demon. With their foes vanquished, the warriors rested.
"What fools," Shinnok said to himself as he watched the assault on his castle. The fallen Elder Lord closed the visual portal in front of him lied back on his throne. "So they've chosen to come for me after all. No matter, they will be taken care of just like the rest."
"Lord Shinnok!" The voice he heard spooked him.
"Have I gone mad?" he wondered. "You sound just like—"
"Yes," the voice said. "It's me. We need you. I...need you."
End of Chapter 29
(Upcoming—Wrapped in Black)