It felt like only moments ago that Shao Kahn's head had been cut from his shoulders by the Edenian alliance of Sindel, Ermac, Kitana and Jade. But despite that, he sensed that much more time had passed since then. His recollection of the time since his death was hazy, all blurred together as if years had transpired in a single moment; or as if the opposite had occurred. His once razor-sharp mind was dull, unclear on so many things...
"Welcome back, 'Emperor'."
Both the voice and the taunting, insulting way with which is said his title seemed to focus his mind in an instant. He was leaping off the surface he had been lying upon, his bare feet slapping the grated floor of the Flesh Pits with force enough to bend it, as he bore down upon this sorcerer who continued to insist upon earning his ire.
"Shang Tsung!" the former emperor snarled bestially, recalling every failure, every betrayal, every orchestrated and ineptitude-driven sabotaging of the kahn's power that had whittled him down over the last... he didn't even know how many years it had been since his death, but Shang Tsung had certainly been sabotaging him for many years prior to that.
His Wrath Hammer was not on-hand, but the almighty Shao Kahn hardly needed such an implement to crush the snake's skull beneath his heavy foot. Said heaviness was on full display as the chamber shook with each thunderous footfall that carried him closer to his enemy.
But the chamber went silent as Shao Kahn's footsteps ceased. Every muscle in his body was suddenly paralysed, incapable of so much as twitching. Or trembling. Loathe though he was to admit it, Shao Kahn, for the first time in many, many centuries, felt a pang of fear. Never had he been rendered so powerless, and it was in a mere instant. He didn't even know from where this petrifying magic had come. How could he prepare to contend with such a foe?
But his mind worked quickly, rationalising that if Shang Tsung or his unseen ally had wanted him dead, they would have left him to it. And his soul had been taken captive by the Elder Gods themselves. As skilled a sorcerer and necromancer as Shang Tsung certainly was, even he could not access such a captive without the direct assistance of an Elder God. And Shinnok had long since lost that status and power, meaning...
"Desist, Shao Kahn," commanded an ethereal female voice from behind the former emperor. The air rippled thickly as a female figure floated around to his front, her sandaled feet touching down on the ground beside Shang Tsung. At first glance, she was not at all imposing. A bald woman in a stark white robe, taller than the sorcerer but with a build that suggested she wasn't much of a fighter. It was the glowing blue eyes and organic golden fingertips that struck a chord with him.
"The mighty Shao Kahn, completely, helplessly immobilised," Shang Tsung mused to the newcomer. "Your power is no exaggeration."
"Underestimating me is a mistake my fellow Elder Gods made. And it cost them dearly." After responding, the woman returned her attention towards her captive, her expression remaining blank and neutral as their eyes met. "Greetings, Shao Kahn. I am Kronika, Elder God of Time."
Were he capable of moving, the woman's neck would be snapped in two already. The Elder Gods had long stood in the way of his grand conquest with their feeble 'rules'. These rules were easily circumvented, but it was frustratingly time-consuming to do so. And then, they had dare to take his soul captive upon his death in Edenia, denying him the right to a non-divine resurrection that so many others had enjoyed.
But then, he considered as he managed to calm himself, why was an Elder God presenting herself to him now? The Elder Gods were fools, to be sure, but they would not so brazenly risk reviving the greatest threat to their vision simply to torture him. No, this woman was driven by purpose to revive him and ally with Shang Tsung. Even devoid of intellect as they were, the Elder Gods saw much of what occurred in the realms. This 'Kronika' would not bring about this incredibly dangerous situation on a mere whim. For now, he must remain patient, observe and plot.
"No doubt, you have many questions. I have all the answers. If you are willing to play nice with your former associate, I am willing to grant you your bodily autonomy. If you abuse this control, however..." She stepped closer until he could feel her cold breath on his face. "...and I will extinguish your existence and reduce your soul to sand for my Hourglass. Do you understand?"
Unable to respond, either physically or verbally, Shao could only wait for her to decide he would obey, and then felt his forward momentum suddenly come back into reality, sending him stumbling forward a few steps before he could halt himself. Shang Tsung, the swine, chuckled at this humiliation. Kronika, meanwhile, continued unabated.
"You, Shao Kahn, are among the greatest threats to the stability of the realms. Entire rules of reality were set in place to keep you in check. Only a truly mighty warrior and genius intellect could inspire such-"
"You will not manipulate me with this shallow ego-stroking, fool. Get to the point."
"Even in the face of my power, you remain undaunted. Good. Let that courage drive you in my service."
"Your service!?" he spat. "You will need more than mere threats and honeyed words to earn my assistance, Elder God."
"Of course," Kronika grinned in a manner that suggested she felt she was in total control. "It is neither of those things that compels you. It is opportunity. Shang Tsung and I have granted you this. I retrieved your soul from your cage, and he built it a new home."
At this suggestion, Shao Kahn looked at his hands. He hadn't had time to take in his physical state, save for his head being once more attached, as he bore down upon Shang Tsung earlier. But now, he could make note of two important things:
First, he was unclothed. A natural state for a resurrection, he supposed, and he most certainly had nothing to be ashamed of being exposed, but the attempt to humiliate him in such an infantile manner was still deserving of his wrath when later he saw an opportunity.
Second, his body was rather different now. His build was a little bulkier. Dense, brown scales covered many parts of his skin - particularly on his arms, legs and back. His fingers were now razor-sharp, more like avian talons than human fingers. His toenails were similarly serrated and hard. Jagged spines ran up his left forearm. Two centaur-like horns had sprouted from the sides of his now thicker skull. And there was an unseen heat burning deep within his chest that he had never felt before, even when subjected to Liu Kang's dragonfire. He even realised from memory that his voice had become more guttural, more intense.
"Admiring your new body, 'Emperor'?" Shang Tsung asked smugly. Before the obvious question could be asked, the sorcerer provided the answer. "I could hardly put you back into your old body, could I? You wouldn't last long in a rotten, headless husk, after all. So, I crafted a new one for you in my Flesh Pits. Your death proved your physical limitations, so I took it upon myself to help you... transcend them. I took what remained of Onaga's... materials, and used it to infuse you with dragon essence. With this, your might and magical prowess should increase substantially."
Curious to test these claims, the revived emperor approached the table on which he had been returned to life. It was the same kind Shang Tsung had decorated his Flesh Pits with, designed to withstand the thrashing of any sort of abomination he blighted the realms with. He recalled destroying many of them in a rage after his defeat in Earthrealm, thanks in part to the sorcerer's machinations. Even now, however many years later, he could still recall the exact strength he had needed to use to break them. This one crumbled with a mere fraction of the effort.
As he looked back over towards Shang Tsung and Kronika, he noted the sorcerer's trademark grin on full display. "Something else to say, have you, sorcerer?"
"Only that it is ironic. Many of your greatest foes - the Elder Gods, Onaga, Liu Kang, even Raiden to a lesser extent - all harness the power of dragons. And now, so do you. I wonder, then, if you can now match the power of such foes. I eagerly await the chance to test this."
"I am no mere guinea pig for your experiments, Shang Tsung," Shao Kahn growled, thrusting a threatening talon Shang Tsung's way.
"Indeed," the sorcerer responded, unconvinced. How things had changed since the sorcerer had begged his master for another chance when Liu Kang had bested Goro. "Regardless of my ambitions, I trust you will find this new body more than satisfying as you make your grand return to the realms. I do believe I have done some of my best work here."
Shao Kahn looked over his scaled, spike-riddled arms. "You called this your greatest work?"
"Your ego never ceases to amaze, former emperor," the sorcerer responded, rolling his eyes. "Some. Mileena is my greatest work. She has come a very long way since last you laid eyes on my daughter."
Shao Kahn should not have found Shang Tsung's claim of Mileena being his daughter as frustrating as he did. He needed to calm down, let the sorcerer's words bounce off of him, and snap his neck when later he saw the chance.
"Indeed, Mileena is unparalleled among my works. But... she is a close second." Shang Tsung indicated theatrically behind Shao Kahn, who turned see one of the last people he wanted to see right now. Or, given her history, maybe she was exactly who he wanted to see.
"Sindel." The Edenian Queen didn't so much as flinch at her former husband's animalistic growl. There was truly no fear in her purple eyes. Said eyes caused a short moment of confusion, as Shao had not seen Sindel's eyes without the stark whiteness of the undead in ten millennia. He barely recalled what her true eye colour even was anymore. Had they been purple, blue, brown like her daughter's? Whatever the case, they shouldn't be that anymore.
"Not quite," the sorcerer asserted, stepping out in front of the kahn and motioning for the queen to stand by his side. It brought to mind the day Shang Tsung had presented her to him when first she was resurrected and brainwashed. "This is not the Sindel you know. And I mean that quite literally."
After a few seconds of silence, seemingly having his deductive reasoning patronisingly tested by his former lackey, Shao spoke one of two conclusions that could be drawn, based on the two that had revived him: either she was Sindel somehow pulled through time, or... "You have cloned her."
"Very good," Shang Tsung confirmed in the most demeaning tone he could. He was practically begging to be murdered. Perhaps he did want to experience death at the hands of his own 'creation'. "My process has come a long way since I created Mileena. With her favour as empress following your... accident, I continued my research in the palace and in Vaeternus. There is not a drop of tarkatan blood inside this one. She is one hundred percent pure Edenian in every way, save for her loyalties."
At this assertion, 'Sindel' sauntered forward, her high-heeled boots clacking seductively with each step as she approached the man her genetic template had once submitted to. Her eyes were hungry, adoration and desire clear in her half-lidded gaze. It was a look the real Sindel had never given him, despite her best attempts while under Shang Tsung's influence. The true emotion simply had not been there behind her eyes, no matter how much her enchanted mind had believed that was the case. The clone snuggled up close to the draconic man's right side, where his arm was free of dangerous spikes, and wrapped her arms, as he had always desired the real Sindel to willingly do so.
"As you can no doubt surmise," Shang Tsung continued, finally giving Shao some credit, "her loyalty to you is baked into her very soul, not simply slathered over it. She is not your tool because we force her to be, like Sindel was. She is your tool because that is all she desires in this world. Isn't that right, Empress?"
"Completely right, Shang Tsung," the woman affirmed, sounding exactly like Sindel, only happier than he had ever heard her. "I am whatever my beloved Emperor desires of me. He is my lord, my husband, my master. I am his property to be used as he sees fit. Such is what his all-encompassing power deserves." Not an ounce of dishonesty or duress could be found in the woman's loving declaration.
"How truly demented, Shang Tsung," Shao said, feeling almost like their old partnership was back on, the emperor praising his subordinate for another job well done.
"I aim to impress," Shang Tsung bowed, evidently rather pleased that his hard work was being praised.
"But such a prize cannot come without a cost. What scheme are you two hoping to bribe me into joining with this?"
Kronika, who had waited silently, patiently, for quite some time now, finally had an excuse to return to the conversation. And she did not seem happy thanks to her would-be co-conspirator's words. "It is no mere 'scheme', fool; it is a grand plan."
Kronika waved her hand and the four were whisked away in a storm of golden sand to some strange chamber with a similarly stark aesthetic to her attire, but the centre of the room was dominated by an enormous hourglass, mysterious machinery rotating hypnotically in the background, seemingly powering the device.
"This is the Grand Hourglass. We Elder Gods are embodiments of primordial forces no mere mortal can hope to comprehend. My domain is time. It is through this device and my connection to it that time itself exists and functions in this universe. It dictates the flow of time, and can influence the events therein. It is through this device that a New Era can be forged."
"Unless you plan to gift this device to me, your reasons for explaining all of this elude me," the emperor admitted, using it as an insult to push Kronika into slipping up somehow, or at least getting to the point quicker. It seemed one who held dominion over time itself had little regard for the comparatively short lives of those beneath them.
She appeared, for a fraction of a second, to be annoyed by his interruption. But she managed to suppress these feelings and continue. "The current direction of time is distasteful. Interference from other realities, the continued victory of the forces of Earthrealm over their enemies, the flagrant disregard for the natural order through constant resurrections. All of it is a disgrace to what should be a perfectly isolated, perfectly balanced flow of history.
"In my New Era, all of that will change. I will dictate the flow of time, the order and outcome of events. There will be no outside contact, no returns from death, and a true balance between the forces of 'good' and 'evil'. Everything will align to my perfect design. That is where you come in. You will be my enforcer, Shao Kahn. My mightiest general. You will ward off the forces of Liu Kang that will seek to prevent the birth of my New Era. And in that New Era, you will never be dethroned as Emperor of Outworld. You will regain supreme and keep Raiden's ilk in check."
While theoretically a solid plan on Kronika's part, Shao noted that him never being dethroned could hardly qualify as 'balanced'. If anything, it was simply swinging the pendulum to the opposite side, away from the current state of affairs. But even without noticing that contradiction, he'd never believe that Kronika would fulfil her end of the bargain. It was the nature of their kind to offer friendship with one hand and cradle a dagger in the other. And the other man in the room knew that well after various alliances with Shao, Quan Chi, Shinnok and the like had all been built upon that exact foundation.
The two men's eyes met once Kronika turned her back on them to face the Hourglass and continue her tirade. As the sorcerer shrugged, it became apparent that, for the first time in a truly long time, the two former allies were of one mind: this woman was mad, ego-driven, determined, and powerful. She could be used as a tool for either, or both of them to achieve something grander than either had ever thought possible before.
"And why is it you fear Liu Kang, especially?" Shao asked. "For as skilled as he is, he was dead when last I heard. And even returned to life, the Earthrealmer should be old and feeble."
"Liu Kang is a Fire God now," Shang Tsung explained.
"A Fire God? How?"
"He petitioned the Elder Gods for divinity to deal with future threats. They acquiesced."
"Then, you granted him divine power!?" Shao turned his gaze upon the self-proclaimed Elder God of Time.
"While you were deceased," Kronika responded, adding venom to the mention of his defeat in Edenia as she turned to face the man and the feeble creature that clung to his mighty form, "the Liu Kang of a parallel reality crossed the boundaries between realities to seek assistance in his own universe. My counterpart there had already made her move and been bested by him, according to my spy. Fujin, conspicuously, left this detail out of his report upon their return, suggesting that Liu Kang's group were making secret preparations to oppose me, should they find sufficient reason to believe I was making my own bid for dominance.
"I will not make the same mistake as my counterpart, Shao Kahn. You will build an alliance from the shadows until the time is right for me to begin. Then, you will defend my Hourglass, while I work to reset the timeline and forge my New Era. Once the process is complete, I will systematically erase Liu Kang, Raiden and all the other thorns in our collective sides. Forever."
"And the Elder Gods?"
"They are already dealt with. Shinnok was eliminated by Raiden, and I personally saw to the destruction of the rest."
"One Elder God against all the rest? Surely, you jest."
"No force in all of reality can compete stand against the immutable march of time, Shao Kahn," Kronika asserted, once more freezing him in place, powerless to do much but watch as the Sindel clone moved in reverse, walking back away from him, her motions the same as those she had used to seductively approach him earlier. It seemed Kronika could to more with time than simply halt it. She released the two in short order, leaving the clone confused as to where she was, only to then repeat much of her earlier seduction towards now a far less affected Shao. "I trust you no longer doubt my ability to eliminate my kin."
Thinking it best to adopt a façade of subservience, Shao swallowed his pride and took a knee, his 'living payment' doing much the same beside him. "Tell me what you would have me do, Kronika."
"I told you he would acquiesce," the sorcerer teased from outside of Shao's line of sight, and the range of his arm.
"Indeed," the Elder God agreed. "Rest assured, Shao Kahn, my New Era will be a utopia for all of us. It will require a great deal of groundwork to be set in place before we can properly begin. But it is only a matter of time."
Shao Kahn was already formulating a list of potential allies to bring to Kronika's (or, actually his own) side in the near future. Kronika thought she was stacking the odds in her favour, but she was actually empowering him to do the same. He would play along, for now. He would enjoy his new bride and his new power while he laid the foundation for his true return to power. He would put Liu Kang, Raiden, Sindel, Kitana, Ermac, Mileena, and everyone else who opposed him to the sword.
And then, he would turn his attention towards his new benefactors. The two would pay for the humiliation they now forced him to endure. And then, the Hourglass would be his to command. History would be his to mold. Raiden, Liu Kang, Shang Tsung, Onaga, Kronika... There were so many names to be erased from history as Shao Kahn ruled all.
Let's cap off 2023 with the beginning of the M1K reimagining in Universe M. If the universe titles confuse you, you can find a timeline for the setting on the DeviantArt/AO3 version.