Smoke & Mirrors
Explosions continued to rock the realm. On the fourth platform, Li Mei falls onto her back. Kotal looks around seeing the mayhem befalling the realm. One civilian, a child, fell from a nearby building. Li Mei reached forward, but her powers failed her. As the child neared the surface, a thick web was created between the street lights. The boy safely landed on the sticky substance. It begins to dissolve, slowly lowering the boy onto the surface. A large spider roams past the boy and returns to D'Vorah. The boy looks at the group, fear overcoming him. He runs away. To where, no one would know.
"You saved that boy," Li Mei said.
"He saved the boy," D'Vorah says as she points to the Spider. "This one awaits an answer."
"Isn't this your doing?" Li Mei questioned.
"Our people were forced off the platform," Kotal confirmed. "We are all that's left."
"Then this is the resistance," Li Mei said. She looks to D'Vorah. "My answer depends on Kotal's actions."
"You are not in the position—"
"D'Vorah!" Kotal raised his hand toward the woman. She stopped. "What is it you want?"
"Will you stick by your word?" she asks. "Will you help protect Seido?"
"No," Kotal responds. The girl frowns in disappointment. She tries to pick herself up, but she's still stunned.
"This one apologizes," D'Vorah said. "The venom will keep you down for up to another hour."
"Why?" Li Mei asked.
"Seido is not my responsibility," he said bluntly. "The citizens, however," he continued, "will be migrated to Outworld. That is, if you are will to help with this?" The girl, still lying on the floor, lowered her nose as best she could as the venom had reached her neck.
Chan observes both of the men. Hotaru and Abacus watched each individual, analyzing their movements and twitches. Shelia holds onto her shoulder while patting around her waste. The weapon she needed was lost. She looked at Chan who still held onto the Kamidogu Dagger. Chan was surprised that his trick worked. The Kamidogu Daggers was not like the actual Kamidogu, but its effects were more than enough for what he needed.
"Chan, you fool," Shelia growled. "You would bring an enemy lord to our position?" Chan looked at Shelia. Suddenly, he began to sense that the portal was shrinking. He dashed between the two men and dived through the portal. Slowly, it began to close. Abacus turns to chase after him, but Cassie slides toward the man with a green glow around her body and grabs him. She lifts Abacus by his shirt and slams her fist into his jaw, forcing the man onto the ground. The portal nearly diminishes before she grabs ahold of the ends and forces it back open long enough to find her way through. When the girl no longer in their presence, the portal closes. All eight of the warriors were in awe. It was no secret that the girl had the power to take on an Elder Lord, but why would she leave them to deal with the man instead? This was the question plaguing Takeda's mind, especially after her recent episode.
"That girl," Hotaru began.
"Hotaru!" Abacus shouted, spooking the man. "It is no surprise that the realm's defectors have returned. Eunomia will handle the girl accordingly." Hotaru had a look of doubt on his face. Kitana noticed. It wasn't something she expected, especially not from the Lord of Order. She'd heard stories of how he could control the future. Yet, his tone would have her believe otherwise.
"What is it that you're afraid of, Abacus?" Kitana asked. The Lord shook his head as he curled his fingers around his chest.
"Fear is an agent of Chaos," he said.
"If you have no fear of the future, why did you try to stop Chan from leaving? Why did you try to stop Hotaru from coming?"
"Don't antagonize him," Shelia growled.
"Wi-without Cassie, we're out of our league," Takeda stuttered.
"Like you said," Jacqui commented, "we're stronger together."
"We're still one short," Jin responded.
"Never doubt your abilities," Kitana said. "All we have to do is hold them off until Chan speaks with Eunomia."
"He isn't there to talk," Abacus said. A green orb formed in his hand. Sparks surrounded the orb and it began to glow. Kitana squints to inspect the orb. She notices the numerous green skulls floating inside—seemingly at peace. The man stretches his hand forward. Kitana feels her hairs twisting and a metallic taste invades her mouth. She remembered such a sensation. "You all will live because demand it! He will die because I allow it."
Kitana flares her fans open and twirls at high speeds. Jacqui notices and frantically taps on her brace. Takeda failed to read the Lord's mind and thus failed to act. Kung Jin was too late as well. Shelia turns away and begins to dash toward the opposite direction, but it was futile. Suddenly, all of them were slammed by a powerful wave of light from above. The impact cracks the ground beneath them and the loud crash deafens their screams. Kitana throws Mileena's Sais into opposite directs, drawing much of the light away from her. Tragically, it wasn't enough to protect the rest. As the wave of light vanished, the warriors slumped to the ground. Even Jacqui, who was able to bring up her protection in enough time, did not possess the technically advancements for an attack like the one used by Abacus. Kitana was the only one still standing as she stumbled out of her cycle.
"I'll finish her," Hotaru said.
"No!" Abacus shouted. Kitana wobbles to her left before falling to her knees. "She will stay, kill the rest."
"What?" Kitana said weakly. He can't kill anyone? Kitana thought to herself. She smiles. Slowly, she rises onto her feet and lifts her arms in a threatening pose. "So that's why you didn't kill Anomaly yourself."
"Her souls will prove useful in rebuilding our sacred realm. And once we revive those who perished, we will drive the denizens of the Chaos Realm out of our home."
"You lied," Kitana said. Abacus flicks his hair from his shoulders.
"I cannot lie," Abacus says before nodding to Hotaru. The man raises his weapon and rushes toward Kung Jin. Kitana slides in the way before falling onto one knee from the pain in her right ankle. Hotaru slams his naginata down, but his attack is stopped as Kitana lied back onto the boy. Hotaru turns his attention to Jacqui beside him. Kitana uses the wind from her fans to boost her forward, but she's kicked back by Hotaru. The distraction from Kitana allowed a barely conscious Jacqui to fire a shockwave from her arm brace. Hotaru stumbles backwards, barely able to stay on his feet. The angry guardsman raises his left hand. A small ball of fire conjures in his hand before he fires the ball into the ground below. Kitana quickly crawls towards the girl and reaches out to her.
"Grab my hand!" Jacqui weakly reaches out to the girl. As their hands latch, Kitana slides the girl away as fast as she could. It was not fast enough as the ball of fire lifted from the ground. Though it passed between the girl's legs, the molten pebbles from the ground lands on her legs causing a few severe burns. The girl yelled as she fling the hot rocks off of her legs. Kitana tries her best to cool off the girl's legs with her fans. She turns to see if Shelia was still awake, but the girl was out cold. Jacqui would soon follow after her as the pain proved too much for the girl to handle. Kitana looks to Takeda, hoping the get him to hear her thoughts, but there was nothing.
Kitana felt light on her feet. She rose up and found herself being pulled away from the children. She stares into the glowing orb. She knew it was what drew her to the man. Her will was gone. She looked at Hotaru who raised both hands in the air. Suddenly, a ball of light came towards them. The heat from the giant ball of fire caused Kitana to slightly turn her head as it burned her eyes.
"My truth is the only truth," Abacus said. "Eunomia will live. She will win."
"You're Wrong," a voice called. Tanya appears from Kitana's Shadow and walks forward. The Edenian was spooked by the girl's sudden arrival. Hotaru recognized the girl. Abacus only recognized her resemblance to Anomaly. She stops as she comes close to Hotaru. "Eunomia will not see the fight to the end."
"And Anomaly will?" Abacus mocked.
"There is another who will win the final bout," Tanya clarified. Hotaru readies his weapon, standing in front of Abacus. Tanya smiles.
"I will not let you pass," Hotaru threatened. "Not on my life."
"I'm not here to help my mother," she said. Abacus frowned as his deduction was corrected. "I'm here to rescue my queen." She raises her Naginata in the air. Hotaru prepares to swing his blade. Tanya's body combusts before forcing its way into Hotaru. The man stumbles backwards, barely catching his balance. As he turns around toward Tanya, he looks up to see his Fire Ball falling closer to Abacus, who had a faint purple aura surrounding his body. Hotaru pulls his naginata back and thrusts it toward the girl, with his Chi to enhance his speed. However, the girl moves out of his way before swiping her blade down. Hotaru's body flies back. Kitana was surprised by the strength of the man's chi. It was obvious to her that Eunomia had been training him to face Tanya. She told her Tanya only needed six months of training before she'd be a match for her. Hotaru put his all into preventing the girl from cutting him in two. It was his sacrifice that caused his fireball to blow everything away. Kitana covered her ears and closed her eyes to prevent the blast from blinding or deafening her. The heat from the blast made her and the unconscious Earthrealm warriors feel drenched in their sweat. As the Fire lit up the platform, Tanya twirled her naginata to push the smoke toward the opposite direction to protect the others from inhaling the smoke. She stands face to face with Kitana before kneeling before her.
"Queen Kitana," she said. Kitana fell to her own knees. She tilts the girl's chin up before placing her hand over her head.
"Are you ill?" Kitana asked. Tanya grabbed her wrist and pulled the girl's hand away.
"I've come to rescue you. I request that you leave this realm at once," she said.
"You speak so formal," Kitana complimented. "Why?"
"Edenia," she said. Kitana tilts her head. "We can save it! We can save our realm!"
"We always could," Kitana responded. Tanya shook her head.
"We could separate the realm from Outworld, yes," Tanya confirmed. "But we can restore Edenia to its original state. Even more so than we could on the other side." Kitana leaped from the ground.
"When did you go there?" she asked. Tanya raised herself up.
"I will tell you everything. The same things only Chan and Anomaly knew," Tanya promised. "That will only happen if you agree to rule Edenia as King Jarrod and Queen Sindel once did."
End of Chapter 17
In this weeks author's note, I want to do something a bit different. Rather than an update, explanation, or appreciation post, I feel this is the perfect chapter to showcase how deviations and differences have affected the story. While overall, nothing major has changed, this chapter was suppose to be a lot different before the summaries for the previous chapters were fully fleshed out.
The major change with this chapter lies within the name "Smoke & Mirrors." Originally, the ones who would show up would be Smoke and Raskal (an OC character who appears in Compromise, Redemption, and Anomaly). Smoke would make his debut appearance to assist Shelia by facing Hotaru while Raskal would appear to assist Kitana by reversing the fire ball toward Abacus and telling her of Edenia's return. Why were these two cut? Smoke has other obligations for the story, and I felt inserting him for the sake of a name drop would diminish the efforts put forward by Kitana. Raskal is not new to helping someone in battle at the last minute, however he has never had any try interactions with Kitana throughout the story, making his appearance lack any real reasoning. Tanya has ties to Kitana, Anomaly, and Chan. Not only that, but my previous story, Reklaim, had already established the possibility of Tanya being strong enough to face off against Seido's forces with just a few months of learning her powers. It was these reasons that she was chosen to the official replacement for both.
There will be more things like this in the works, including Chapter 19 which I've already begun writing alongside chapter 18.
(Upcoming-Who's Law)