How frail this realm's peace, and how vast the chasm of ignorance, Raiden thought with a frown. The briefing by the Earthrealm's military forces had been a miserable show of impotence, fear, and a complete lack of the basic teachings his own Order of Light had been practicing for centuries.

Truly, Earthrealm was a vast tapestry of culture and creed, for better or worse, and although this so-called "western world" wielded modernity like a bludgeon, they had traded the very foundations of understanding their own existence for mechanical wonders and technical conveniences. Spiritually, these so-called warriors were completely unprepared for Kombat, and it brought a cold chill to the thunder god's senses.

These were Lord Raiden's silent lamentations as he observed a squadron of flying craft just outside of the secure briefing space. They were hewn of electricity, fire, and steel, roaring from the nearby runway in practiced ascent and descent maneuvers. Impressive in their technical complexity, but giving only the illusion of strength to this spiritually lethargic portion of the realm.

"How long?"

Lord Raiden turned at the sudden inquiry, shaken from his contemplation. He looked down to see the uniformed female that had presented the Earthrealm military's limited understanding of Outworld and Shao Kahn's ongoing invasion. She no longer bore a grimace and stiff posture, as she had while presenting the imagery and video of Shao Kahn's various incursion points within Earthrealm's population centers. Instead, she looked up at him with an easy and sincere smile that seemed to glow out in the natural light.

"How long have you been protector of Earthrealm, I mean," she clarified.

While members of the Order of Light and the White Lotus Society had always shown proper respect to the lord of thunder, Raiden found that when his duties required he venture to farther reaches of the globe, the attitudes of the average human specimen in these thoroughly modernized cesspools of leisure and distraction were disappointingly juvenile. They always seemed completely unaware of the precarious nature of their existence.

Much like Johnny Cage upon their initial meeting on Shang Tsung's island, dealing with the ignorance of the uninitiated was a chore rather than part and parcel expected of the protector of Earthrealm. It was also this common experience that further widened the gap between he and Fujin's approach to interaction with mortals.

Expecting another tiresome exchange, Raiden returned his attentions to the horizon, crossing his arms with a practiced response.

"Since the beginning."

Not a hint of sarcasm, nor irony, Y/N simply smiled and gave a nod to the thunder god, "So I take it you've had many names over the ages, Lord Raiden."

His attentions returned with the barest raise of his eyebrows, not having expected sincerity. And indeed, this woman's demeanor reflected the incredible flame of chi exemplified in each of his own Earthrealm Champions. It was an infrequent sight outside of the Sky Temple and Wu Shi Academy, and thus brought a rare smile to Raiden's face.

"Precisely."

As the roar of fixed-wing engines drowned their conversation to any passerby, each reflected the subdued joy of their exchange in posture and expression, neither knowing that it would be decades before their next conversation. But for a moment, each bridged the chasm between the finite and the infinite through a shared smile.


Raiden carried Y/N across the stone threshold of the Jinsei chamber, his eyes fixed on the swirling mass of white and blue surrounded by his own depictions of the dawn of the latest age, the defeat of the usurper, and the remaining Elder Gods to which he owed everything. His footsteps echoed within the otherwise muted chamber, only the thrum of the very lifeblood of Earthrealm filled the air.

Stopping before the pulsating pool of clear glowing blue, Y/N began to stir, a soft smile playing on her features. As a coronal loop would jut from the surface of the sun out into space, so too did a thin tendril from the sphere of the Jinsei, passing through Y/N's form as would an arc of electricity. Raiden observed in utter shock, and gently allowed the woman's body to rest upon the stonework as more tendrils of energy reached and danced across her person.

Raiden had communed many times within the Jinsei, and knew that it was a powerful, yet delicate force. Something to be revered, an awe-inspiring source of life and light that powered his very being. Here it seemed to be reaching out, the heart of Earthrealm connecting with one of the mortal souls that shared its very essence, almost playfully. But of course, all mortals must have some connection to the Jinsei, he concluded thoughtfully. Within and without, life existed as one singular concept merely embodied within his Sky Temple. This, however, felt as if it were a reunion, or long awaited meeting. He then stood agape with disbelief as the woman's body seemed to levitate just above the stonework, suffused with the glow of life.

The thunder god found himself at a loss for words, and finally gave in to that which he had suppressed out of pure shameful denial since the start of this entire ordeal.

"I must consult with the Elder Gods..."


Throughout the scorched plains and towering molten crags of the hellish Netherrealm, a great awakening seemed to ripple through the hoards of demonic and monstrous entities. Those with sentience were on alert, some drawn instinctively towards Quan Chi's fortress, but all knew that something had been awakened. Something which had not held true power for untold aeons.

Across the Sea of Immortality, in the uppermost chamber of a foreboding black pyramid, the demon Quan Chi bowed his head, and allowed the amulet he beheld to remain suspended in the air as he stepped back in reverence.

Out of the acrid, swirling winds that whipped in cyclonic frenzy along the pyramid edge, bones began to knit together in the form of clasped hands, embracing the amulet where it remained. Around these bones snaked tendrils of meat and tubules of lipids and fat. A body began to take shape, and as stark white flesh seemed to unpeel as a woodworkers shavings returning to their mother block, the regal red crown of Quan Chi's Lord gleamed and materialized to announce the return of its bearer proper.

The Mad God, Shinnok, had been returned to his former strength. And as the decayed reddened flesh of his eyelids split to reveal piercing milky white, taking in his prison with now whole-being and sensibility.

"How long has it been...Scattered to the endless wastes," Shinnok unfolded his arms and stretched his newly restored form, appraising his movements with a slight smile of approval.

"Too long, my liege." Quan Chi stood, motioning his loyalty to the fallen Elder God with fist and curved arm at his front. "The Brothers of the Shadow await your command."

This pleased Shinnok, as he braced himself and turned his palms upwards in a clutching motion, allowing the power of his amulet to flow through him and spark particulate energies of red, white, and purple; the mighty yawn of an ancient dragon awakened at last.

"Then it will begin where I was last interrupted... Earthrealm's God of Thunder will suffer me once more."