From alt.games.mk Sun Jul 10 23:57:10 1994 Path: panix!zip.eecs.umich.edu!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!nntp-server.caltech.edu!mustang.mst6.lanl.gov!newshost.lanl.gov!usenet From: yol@lams.lams.losalamos.k12.nm.us (Jonathan) Newsgroups: alt.games.mk Subject: "The Scorpion Saga" (Part II of ?) Date: 10 Jul 1994 05:48:27 GMT Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory Lines: 256 Message-ID: <2vo23b$8pd@newshost.lanl.gov> NNTP-Posting-Host: transitory17.lanl.gov X-Newsreader: WinVN version 0.80 Part II Resurrection by Jonathan Harrell Blackness. Heat. Cold. Shivers. Confusion. I bolt to my feet. I look around. It is dark. Too dark to see anything. Where am I? Slowly my eyes adjust to the darkness around me. I can see the dim outline of a doorway. I walk toward it. I do not know why I am walking toward it. I just feel it is the right way. There are other doorways. Other doorways that look exactly like this one. I do not know why I chose this doorway to walk through, but it just seems right. I do not know where I am or how I got here. I do not know who I am. I do not know why I am walking through this door, but I am. I do not know where I am going or why. I just am. It is cold here. But at the same time it is hot. I feel hot and cold at the same time; it is a strange sensation. I do not like it. The corridor that I have chosen to go through is dimly lit by. . . what? There are no lights, no torches. Nothing to produce light of any kind, but still, they are lit. Dimly lit, but lit. Not lit enough to read by, but lit. I walk for I don't know how long or how far. I just walk. Finally I come to a large room filled with smoke that constantly emits from the many stones. This room is better lit than the first, but it is still dim. I still feel hot and cold at the same time. I don't like this feeling. I don't like this place, but at the same time. . . . . . . I do. It is peaceful here. But at the same time, disturbing. I am confused. I don't know what happened, why I'm here, who I am, what I'm feeling, how I'm feeling. . . ., I don't know anything. My mind is a complete blank. "Ah. So you are here at last," a loud, deep voice echoes all around me. "Who are you?" I asked, startled at my own voice. "I am one." "One what?" "One." "Are you God?" "I am one." "Where am I?" "You are where all beings go when they leave the earth." "Leave the earth?! You mean I'm -- " "Yes. Dead." "How the -- How did this happen? I don't remember dying." "You will, you will. Look over there." I look. I have no idea how I know where to look, because the man I am speaking to is only a voice, not a being. And he gives no indication of direction. I just know. The smoke starts to project an image. An image of a ninja, clad in blue and black, beating another man. It is a ferocious battle. I am horrified to watch this. Blood spurts out with every hit landed, I can almost feel the pain that the other fighter is feeling. The battle ends with the white-clad fighter's death. It is the most horrible and disgraceful death I have ever seen. The ninja rips off the other's head, spinal cord intact. Then, slowly, it all comes back to me. My training in the dojo, Ouji's gift, Riinkaito's murder, my battle, my death. "I'm going to kill that son of a bitch!" I holler. My voice echoing in the vacuous space surrounding me. "You cannot," said the deep voice. "Why not?" "Because you are dead," I sense a slight chuckle in his reply. "You cannot leave the other world once you are dead." I curse under my breath and continue to watch the image which is still being played. Only now it shows the Lin Kuei ninja speaking with another man. "Is there sound on this?" I ask the voice. "Do you wish it?" "Yes." " -- job well-done, my friend," the man Lin Kuei is talking to says. "I am not your friend," Lin Kuei say menacingly. "Now where is my payment!" "It will be coming to you shortly," says the man. "Just give me one more -- " Lin Kuei bursts out, "I thought you said you had it ready!!" ""I do, just give me time," the Chinese man says. "Look," Lin Kuei is very angry, "I killed that Scorpion for you. And the old man. Now where is my reward?!" So, Lin Kuei killed me for the money. Now I know what he meant by 'it's my job'. Now I really want to kill him! "It will come. I just have to sell a little more of this stuff," the Chinese man gestures to a brown paper bag inside his leather coat. "Then I'll have your money, okay?" "No. Not okay. Either you pay up now, Kane, or I will kill you too. Now what's it gonna be?" Lin Kuei hisses through I suppose clenched teeth. He is still wearing that cloth over his mouth, so I can't tell. "A -- all I have is the money in my pocket," he reaches into a very large pocket on his expensive coat and pulls out some Chinese notes. After examining them, Lin Kuei says, "You're short. By a lot." "I'm sorry. It is all I have. Please, just give me one more day," the man pleads. "No. Your time is up." With that, Lin Kuei grabs the man's throat with his strong hands and squeezes until the man's face turns a pale color and his body falls limp in Lin Kuei's arms. Lin Kuei lets the man fall to the ground, quickly scans the area, picks up the notes, and stealthily leaves. I turn around. "I must kill him," I say. "Did you hear that? He killed me for the money! I cannot live my eternal life here, knowing that I was murdered for money. You've got to let me go back. Let me get my well-deserved revenge!" I hear the voice exhale, as if pondering over something. "There is a way," he says. "I am listening," I say anxiously. " "There is a way to send you back to the earth. But the price is high." "I will give anything to have another chance at this ninja." "Come with me." Again, he gives no indication of direction, and I cannot see him. I just somehow know where to go. The feeling is strange, yet I like it. I like knowing what to do, and which is the right way to go, without being told at all. But maybe I am being told. Subconsciously, that is. Maybe this voice is sending me mental messages that tell me directions, even though my conscious mind is not aware of it. Whatever it is, it is fascinating. He leads me into a room identical to the previous one, only this one has more smoke, and is better lit. Maybe the smoke is the light source. "The only way possible to go back to earth, is to go without your soul." "I am sorry?" I say, confused. "You must leave your soul with me. So you will not be alive when you return to earth; you will be dead. Or to phrase it better, undead." This sounds intriguing. But what's the price? He said there was a price. "The price," he said, "is that you may never know your family again, and you must remain on the earth, undead. . . , forever." "Forever. . . ?" I do not much like the sound of that. But, then again, I will have my revenge. But to never see my family again? "Can I think about this for a while?" I ask. "Certainly," he says. "You have eternity to decide." I cannot sleep. I am lying here, thinking over my choices. I can remain here, in the other world, where all souls remain once they leave the earth, and know that I was murdered without any honor whatsoever. I can choose to go back to earth, get my revenge on Lin Kuei, and live forever on the earth without a soul, and never see my family again. Either way, I won't be content. I restlessly shift around on my straw mat on the floor. I cannot decide what to do. I do not like the sound of either choice. I wish I had not been murdered. I know what I'll do -- I will decide in the morning. I wake up early. I guess you could call it 'wake up', but I never slept last night. I'm not even sure if it's day or night. There is no sky, so I cannot tell. I have decided what I shall do. I shall return to earth. Yes, I know what I will be facing, living forever with this curse, not seeing my family. But I will get my much-deserved revenge against Lin Kuei. I go into the room where the 'voice' took me yesterday. It still looks the same: lots of smoke, semi-dim light, rocky walls. "Have you decided?" the voice catches me off guard. "Yes, I have," I say. "Then, what is your decision?" "I choose to go back to the earth, and get my revenge on Lin Kuei," I say semi-confidently. The voice sighs, "I knew you would choose that. Very well. You do realize the results of your decision?" I nod. "Very well," he sighs again. "Come with me." Same feeling. Same feeling of direction I had before. This time, we go to a room with crescent shaped mirrors on the walls. Hundreds and hundreds of mirrors. I see a thousand Scorpions. Then, over in the far right corner of the room, I see a large, wooden chest and a portal of some sort. "As I said before, you must give me your soul," the voice says. "Okay," I say hesitantly, "What do I do?" "You? Nothing. Just remain still. I'll do the work," he pauses. "Are you sure you don't want to think this over first?" "I already have." "Very well." I feel a strange sensation throughout my body, which begins to emit a thick mist. I soon realize that the green mist is my very soul. It travels in circles around me, and then meets at a point. Then it all comes together in a large, green, misty ball, floating in the air. Then, in the blink of an eye, it is gone. I scream. I am looking in a mirror at myself, and what I see horrifies me: Instead of a head, there is a dark, gray, snickering skull atop my shoulders. The rest of me is totally human, but my head. I cannot stand to see this, but, in a moment's time. . . , I can. The skull sitting on my shoulders now seems. . . normal. Smoke encircles me. When it leaves, I find myself wearing a ninja suit, identical to the one worn by Lin Kuei, except it is yellow. Why yellow? Of all colors, why yellow? I dislike yellow. Why not red? Or black? I like black. "I chose the uniform myself," the voice says, "so you can now mock your murderer with its cowardly yellow color. Do you like it?" If it were possible now, I would be smiling, for I love the idea. But I cannot, because of my skull head. No matter. I still feel happy, in a vengeful kind of way. "Yes," I hiss. "I am ready. Now may I get my revenge on this Lin Kuei?" "He is called Sub-Zero by his fellow ninjas. Make sure you call him by that name." Sub-Zero. That would explain his powers of ice. The wooden chest opens, and a black hood with a yellow mouth-cover floats out towards me. I put it on. I look in the mirror. My head is no longer just a skull. With the hood on, I have blue human eyes, and human skin. I take the mask off. With it off, the skull is back. I put the mask back on. Human skin, human eyes. Only now my light blue eyes are a bright white, with no pupils. I walk over to the mirror and peer closely at my eyes. They are still white. But now they are changing colors again. Now they change from bright white with no pupils, to dark red, with no pupils. Next they change back to their original blue color. The voice must realize my confusion, because it says, "Now that you are undead, your eye color varies." I nod, taking it all in. He continues, "You will be equipped with one weapon, and one teleporting attack. You will know how to perform these maneuvers when you return to earth," the voice says," And, counteracting your enemy's power of ice, you will possess the power of fire, with which you shall finish your foes. Before you leave, know this: There is an evil sorcerer by the name of Shang Tsung. He is holding a tournament of Mortal Kombat on his island, in the center of the Lost Sea. You will find Sub-Zero there, where you may do battle with him and get your revenge. You will have to fight and defeat five other contestants before doing battle with him, however. Good luck, Scorpion." "Thank you," I say. "You have been very good to me. I will not forget it." "No, you won't," he says. "You will remember me, the other world, and your wife and child for as long as you live--eternity. And you may never see us again. Are you positive you want to go through with this?" "Yes." "Very well. The resurrection has been completed. You may now step through the portal." I step through. Next. . . . . . . . Preparation--part III in "The Scorpion Saga."