Received: from PACIFIC-CARRIER-ANNEX.MIT.EDU by po10.MIT.EDU (5.61/4.7) id AA05832; Sat, 17 Feb 96 21:51:54 EST Received: from emout04.mail.aol.com by MIT.EDU with SMTP id AA29180; Sat, 17 Feb 96 21:51:52 EST Received: by emout04.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id VAA17191 for jevans@mit.edu; Sat, 17 Feb 1996 21:52:20 -0500 Date: Sat, 17 Feb 1996 21:52:20 -0500 From: Vctr113062@aol.com Message-Id: <960217215219_146994771@emout04.mail.aol.com> To: jevans@MIT.EDU Subject: Winter 6/16 ***************************************************************** My newly acquired retainers closed the doors behind Smoke as he kneeled before me in the polished stone chamber, once Pyre's, now mine by right of conquest. I sent the servants away with a flick of my wrist before addressing the teacher. "You may stand," I said, graciously. He did so, keeping his eyes downcast. "I want to talk to you about - will you stop looking at the damn floor?" He turned his head to the side. "That is not what I meant, and you know it," I growled, annoyed. "Lord Sub-Zero?" he asked, quite humbly. "I am the same person I was the day before yesterday. I've killed enough people so that killing one more is not going to change me." "My Lord, if I have offended you-" "I'll say this _once_ in terms a child could understand. As long as we are alone, I swear you may look directly at me and speak your mind freely without fear of reprisal. Stop treating me like... like..." "An esteemed member of the Hierarchy, Lord Sub-Zero?" he finished, calmly meeting my glare. "Yes, like an esteemed member of the Hierarchy whom you arranged to be killed in a death-duel." "In that case, allow me to observe how much you sound like him." Perhaps I'd been too hasty to grant Smoke freedom of speech, but there was nothing to be done about it now. "It is unfortunate that I could not attend the duel. I trust Pyre did not pose too insurmountable a threat?" "He was dangerous, but he relied on the Power too much." "I will also take the liberty of inquiring why you did not kill Sektor when you had the opportunity." "He is not a hunter. Not yet. When he becomes one, he can challenge me to a duel." "And if he decides to take vengeance your family instead?" "He does not know my true identity. I am the only member of my family to join the Lin Kuei. The others are safe from harm." "You are making a mistake." "That is none of your concern." "If you don't want to dirty your own hands with his blood, there is a small legion of intermediaries at your disposal-" "Is something wrong with your hearing?!" He fell silent. "Listen. I am going to tell you things. You are going to confirm or deny them. Do not attempt to deceive me, or-" "-you'll drain the vitreous humor from my eyeballs, and use it to preserve my severed tongue on the mantlepiece?" My gaze involuntarily moved to the set of jars and their fleshy contents resting on the black marble shelf. They would definitely have to go. "Stop interrupting and pay attention. I survived Pyre's wrath solely through the nature of my Power. Protective clothing alone would not have been enough to ward against his Fire. There were those who had tried; you told me that much. Only someone with the Power of an opposite attribute could hope to defeat him. Only Sub-Zero, the clan's sole Ice master, had a chance. "Pyre lied, but before that he was lied to. You talked to him about me. You're the one who led him to believe I was a beginner, barely able to control the Power." "True; however, nothing I said could have convinced him as thoroughly as the slipshod manner in which you bungled that assassination. That was quite brilliant on your part, leading him to underestimate you through a charade of pretend incompetence." Yes, I had definitely been too quick to grant Smoke free speech. "_You_ are the current topic of discussion. Weren't you the one who brought to Pyre's attention that I was 'refusing to accept assignments,' unless they 'had a certain prestige?'" "Alas, I cannot claim that honor. However, I did point that detail out to Hurricane and Toxin, as possible bait to lure Pyre and you into conflict. They could have passed the information along to Pyre in any number of ways." "Hurricane and Toxin?" I repeated, recognizing two names of the Hierarchy's ruling Triumvirate. "I thought they spoke only to other Hierarchy members." "Officially, yes. Unofficially, they do not desire to be sequestered. Knowledge is power, even knowledge gained from lowly unworthies such as this one. I meekly suggest that you share this observation with others strictly at your own risk." "They wanted Pyre dead because of that thing in his basement, didn't they? Pyre planned to make himself into... into..." "Not just himself; he had the entire Lin Kuei clan in mind." I could envision the horror. Pyre's Power was lethal enough. Combined with an artificially strong physique, he would have been unstoppable. Worse, there was no telling how long his lifespan might have been extended, if the frail flesh of his aging body were transformed into cold metal. None could have escaped his will. He would have destroyed the clan one by one, replacing each member with monstrous, mechanical things of grease and wire. "Smoke, I understand that Pyre's removal was necessary, and that I had to be the one to remove him. But why trick him into tricking me? Why didn't you ask me directly to challenge him?" He chuckled slightly, more rueful than mocking. "People make better pawns if they never realize they are on someone else's chessboard." The quote hung in silence. After about thirty seconds, Smoke's eyes shifted from misty serenity to charcoal unease. Perhaps he felt the chamber's temperature drop from that of a cool fall day, to hover well below the freezing point of water. "There is one other reason I called you here," I told him, quietly. "I wish to make it explicit that _you owe me_ a blood debt for Pyre's destruction. It is a debt that I may claim from you at any time, in any manner I so choose. Is my meaning clear?" "Quite." "Good. Get out." He left. There was one last debt to which I had to attend, a debt that I owed. It could not absolve the stain on my honor, no more than Pyre's destruction could, yet it was something that had to be done. The next morning I set out in secret for a small fishing village, five days' travel away. ***************************************************************** #This realm is not for living mortals.# The skull hovered above my motionless form. It examined me on a multitude of plains at once: physical, psychic, spiritual. It riffled through my memories as if they were sheets of paper in a notebook. Whatever allowed it to peer into my soul worked both ways. Inside the black fire of its eyes, I sensed a terrible presence old as life itself, utterly ruthless, the eternal nemesis of all that drew breath. The vortex in those eyes pulled at me. I squeezed my eyelids shut; the call remained, tugging at the corners of my mind. What was left of my will vied against it. (Kill me if you must, but don't expect me to surrender!) Even as the thought took shape in my head, I could sense that it was not going to harm me. It didn't have to. All it needed to do was bide its time. It waited for its due from every living thing, with the ageless patience of a force of nature. #Why do you resist? What do you have to live for?# It shook me to realize what a good question that was. Why did I struggle to survive? There was nothing I took pleasure in doing. There was no one I particularly cared about. My brother? He was an adult now, responsible for his own destiny. Aside from a desire to protect him when he was younger, there has never been any true bond between us. Smoke? The closest thing I had to a friend used me like a gaming piece. The Lin Kuei? It is to laugh, or would be if I had the capacity. Honor? I'd wanted to stand above all the other predators like me, but I wasn't truly any different. I'd killed a harmless fisherman, an act that made me indistinguishable from a common cutthroat. Power? Glory? Such things didn't matter to me. What did that leave? The presence above extracted images and words from my memories, replaying them so vividly it was as if I'd stepped back in time. One scene after another was reviewed and disregarded, until it reached something very recent. (...you failed Ultratech.) (Shang Tsung is dead.) (You didn't kill him, did you?) (A technicality.) Quivers of interest raced through the presence. (~A dark time comes upon us, Sub-Zero. You played a significant role in the setback of Shang Tsung's evil schemes; now, you are one of the few mortals who can thwart his current plans.~) (Shang Tsung is dead.) (~No longer.~) The dragon skeleton, once dispassionate, had become intrigued. (YOU'VE ALREADY FAILED US ONCE, INSECT. YOU DON'T DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE!) #A second chance to do what?# (To kill Shang Tsung,) I answered. (Why? What do you care?) It cared a great deal. Again, the link between the dragon skeleton and myself flowed in the other direction, and I saw the sorcerer Shang Tsung through its inhuman eye sockets. What it knew, I knew. Shang Tsung was mortal once; to a certain extent, he still was. There was nothing he craved more than immortality. Thirst for everlasting life had consumed and corrupted him ten centuries past. It shaped his deeds to this day. He made deals with dark gods and demons to prolong his years. The more he dealt with them, the more he became like them. He hunted the souls of common mortals to appease his unholy patrons. They kept him young in exchange for his service. As time passed, they demanded more from him. Five hundred years ago, he took control of a Tournament of cosmic significance. He sought to pervert it and turn the world into the face of Hell, all so that he could go on living. If there is one thing Death cannot stand, it is a rebel. It hated Shang Tsung for eluding its grasp, long after the sorcerer's time should have come. And it despised his evil plans. Left unchecked, Shang Tsung's schemes would eradicate all life from my world; but without Life, there cannot be Death. Shang Tsung fought to overturn the Cosmic Furies' balance, a balance of which Death was a part. That was when I recalled a very good reason to continue my struggle for survival. I'd committed myself to assassinating the most dangerous killer known to walk the face of the earth, more powerful than Pyre, more brutal than the entire Lin Kuei clan. I'd come close, but never touched him. My rightful prey was still alive, and I owed myself the duty to kill him. Twin beams of liquid black jet streamed down from the skull's eyes. The onyx substance collected on my chest, gradually spreading until it enveloped my entire body. Its touch was cold, whipping like the blast of an arctic wind against skin soaked from a glacial spring. It felt wonderful. The dark matter slid off me and vanished into the gravel. I felt giddy, lightheaded. Gone were the agony of crushed bones grating underneath my skin and the helpless weakness of lifeblood streaming from my veins. Sitting up made me dizzy for a moment. Looking down on myself, I saw new scars underneath my stained, torn uniform, where the gaping rents in my chest and abdomen had been. Incredulous, I placed two fingers on the side of my neck, and felt a solid, regular pulse. I was alive. The dragon skeleton had healed me. #You may pass.# It took a certain amount of effort to stand. Though my physical injuries had been mended, I still felt fatigue from my long journey, and my psyche had barely had the chance to replenish itself. "I will not be in your debt." #Death does not acknowledge debts incurred or received. My will falls upon all mortals with equal weight. It is my will that you enter, alive. Whether you shall leave is for you to determine. Remember that your soul cannot depart this realm without a living body to carry it, and those who sleep in Limbo do not awaken among the living.# The skull turned away from me, lifted by its lithe neck into the same S-curve position it had taken before. Its nigh-tangible waves of Power waned, while the black motes of fire in its eyes subsided into ordinary shadows crowding the eye sockets. I reached toward the cavern entrance. The unyielding, invisible barrier I'd felt before was gone. I strode through, into the darkness beyond. My mind and soul were fixated with new purpose on the desire to escape Limbo, find Shang Tsung, and kill him. ***************************************************************** My first official act as a newly titled member of the Hierarchy was to take a leave of absence. It had been months since I'd last visited my younger brother. His seventeenth birthday was approaching rapidly. I ought to be present for the celebration, or so I kept telling myself. In hindsight, I think I was just looking for something to do that didn't involve treachery or killing. It was strange, returning to my former home dressed in peasant garb. The clothing didn't feel right; it was too awkward and restrictive. The long sleeves chafed like a pair of manacles. They partly sealed me off from the Power, a disturbing sensation that bothered me more the longer I endured it. I knew that calling the Power when my face was unmasked would be complete folly, but rolled the sleeves up anyway. My younger brother wasn't home. He'd disappeared again, after finishing his schoolwork and chores. Apparently, he was hard at work on some big project, and very excited about it. He'd been salvaging scrap parts from every source imaginable for weeks now, taking them to an unknown place and doing unguessable things with them for hours on end. Little brother had even hinted that his ambitions might help him earn a respectable living sometime soon. He wanted to be a scientist. To that end, he was taking Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Industrial Design, and any other such courses he could cram into his scholastic regimen. His grades were excellent. Perhaps, if he got a scholarship, he could pursue his dream at a university. I set out for my brother's makeshift laboratory, taking care not to be seen. I'd kept its location secret for over four years now. Little brother tended to be startled whenever I interrupted him at his work, but I did rather want to visit him. After all, if not for my service in the Lin Kuei, he wouldn't have had the luxury of choosing his own destiny. I wanted to see what he was doing with that luxury. Dusk had fallen by the time I reached his secluded lab. Its windows were boarded on the outside, covered on the inside. The rickety shed appeared deserted. I knew from memory that the interior was lit up with electric lights. Little brother had even created a specially hot, blue-white light designed specifically to attract nighttime insects and incinerate them. Wires underneath the device suspended a removable tray filled with crumpled and charred insect bodies. Since my brother was almost certainly in the middle of some complex experiment, I decided to enter silently rather than knock and risk disturbing his concentration. Picking the outside lock with a wire in my pocket, I eased the door open... and stepped into abhorrence itself. Microscopes, mineral formations, and many of the old beakers or test tubes had been hastily stashed away in boxes and corners. In their place, wires, springs, electronics and metal lay strewn on every available surface. Several were connected. A few had flashing lights, powered by long cords connecting them to a rectangular box with knobs and crosses on a three-legged stool. On the central table, little brother bent over his work. He delicately guided a small, rickety blowtorch along a metal seam, his eyes shielded by a battered welder's mask. When I took a closer look at the thing with the seam, I felt something twist inside, like a knife cutting through my kidney. It was an arm. An artificial arm. Its steel coating housed inner sheaths of tensile rubber. Blue tubes streaked across the underside in place of veins. One end tapered into a hinge-jointed wrist, then spread and split into a set of thin fingers. Soft foam padding was protectively wrapped around each finger joint. Little brother interrupted his welding for a moment and touched something inside the elbow. The hand flexed of its own volition. A surprised hiss whooshed through my teeth. "Hm?" Little brother glanced up from his creation. Noticing me, he turned off the blow torch and lifted the welder's mask. "Oh, it's you. Long time no see. Hey, what do you think of my science project? It's worth half the course grade, you know, so I have to get it ready by the deadline tomorrow morning. It- what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" When I stared at the thing in his hands, I saw the yellow-black horror in Pyre's basement. This place was a shadowy, low-budget mockery of that forbidden underground chamber. It was insane. It was an obscenity. Was this what my brother did with his freedom, while I tread the path of the Lin Kuei? Creating mockeries of life? Did he also share Pyre's mad dreams of merging his body with soulless machines? "That thing you are making is evil." Revulsion spread through me. I held back the impulse to retch as I took a step closer to my brother and the perversion he cradled like a newborn. "This? But it's only an object-" "You will destroy it at once!" "What?" A dismayed expression spread across his face. "I am the elder brother. Do not question me. Get rid of that vile-" "Are you kidding? I told you, it's my final project! I'll fail Advanced Electronics if I don't-" "Do not worry about the class. You will be withdrawing from it, and any classes like it. And you're not going to attend a university if they fill your head with this filth!" "_What_!?" His grip on the corrupt device tightened The disgust that had been building within me came to a peak. Before he could say another word, I lunged forward to snatch the despicable thing, wrenching it from his hands and dashing it against the wall. Its joints fell off their hinges. Fingers separated from the hands, scattering about on the floor. Oil dripped like blood from the broken atrocity. Little brother cried out as if one of his flesh-and-blood hands had been shattered. "AAAAH! It took three weeks just to attune the frequency of-" "I am not going to let you squander your soul on mechanical atrocities!" The shock in his eyes gave way to anger. "Get out. Get out of my lab!" "This place, these things you've studied have possessed you. I won't lose my only brother to-" "Get OUT!" he shouted, directly in my face. His entire body was had become tense, almost as rigid as his blasphemous metal construct. My self-restraint snapped. I never should have let him set up this experimental pit. It had defiled him, changed him into someone I could hardly believe was my kin. The mistake had to be remedied. Now. Walking straight past him, up to the biggest table covered with the most components, I consolidated my inner strength and brought the edge of my hand down upon the table's center. My blow split the wood into splinters. Spare parts thrown by the recoil clattered against the walls and floor. They did not all come to rest before I attacked the next stand. I shattered glass, tore the pages out of textbooks, ripped out wires, and crushed plastic dishes under my heels. Whole notebooks filled with arcane symbols in my brother's handwriting became shredded, their pieces tossed amidst the confusion. He tried to intervene, but I pushed him aside. He tried reasoning with me, then pleading; I paid no attention to his hysteria. I continued the rampage until every breakable thing was destroyed, then smashed the electric lights on the floor, inadvertently starting a fire. It spread quickly, fueled by stray trails of oil, instantly consuming all the books, notes, and paper I'd thrown around. Little brother tried to rescue a sheet filled with grids of numbers. Sternly, I took hold of him and dragged him out of there. He resisted violently, wriggling like a fish on a hook. The fire curled brighter and hotter, suddenly bursting into a huge conflagration that licked every corner of the rundown old shed. Flames consumed everything. "NOOOOO!!!" my brother screamed. He curled his left hand into a fist and jabbed his elbow backward, catching me unprepared with a strike to the solar plexus. My grasp weakened enough for him to wrench loose. For an instant I worried that he might try to dash back inside, but he just stood there, staring at the burning shed. Firelight glinted off two trails leading down from the inner corner of each eye. "It is for your own good," I told him, gently. He turned around and ran, sprinting at top speed into the light woodlands nearby. I decided to let him go, for the time being. He'd been through a lot. Moreover, I had to watch over the fire, to ensure that it destroyed everything without spreading beyond the shed. It would be easier if I could freely use the Power to contain the blaze, in which case I didn't want any witnesses. Once that was taken care of, I returned to my former home and settled things with the rest of the family. My brother was to drop out of the science courses at once, and he was not to enroll in any university. None of them objected to my decrees, for I was Lin Kuei. Little brother could not relocate away from the village without my consent. The next day, I tried to talk to him again. He stared straight ahead the whole time. Attempting to explain why this was best for him got no response. "Would you at least look at me when I'm speaking to you?" I asked, growing somewhat exasperated. His turned his head. Something was different about him. His hands were so tightly clenched that the color drained from his knuckles. There was a new stiffness to his muscles, and a remote, windy look to his sienna eyes. Those eyes glared at me with unmitigated hostility. "I hate you," he whispered. It was the only thing he would say. I'd originally planned to visit for the rest of the weekend, but somehow there didn't seem to be any point in staying. ***************************************************************** Once I passed the dragon skeleton's tapering tail vertebrae, the passageway's width diminished. Light from the cavern's mouth faded. I advanced cautiously into the darkness, feeling my way along. At times the stone corridor was so narrow that I had to turn sideways. It curved, sometimes rising, sometimes descending, until it came to an end before a blank wall of stone. Examination by touch revealed an open passageway to each side. I chose the one on the right, ripping a shred of cloth off my leg cuffs and setting it down before I entered. The passageway veered, turning back on itself, and finally branched into three different routes. Picking the center one, I pressed ahead into a dead end. After retracing my steps and taking the left corridor, I encountered another nexus, this one with four different options. I'd wandered into a damned labyrinth. I was dearly in need of a light source. It had never before been my nature to carry flint, matches, or anything else that created Fire, yet now I was forced to reconsider the wisdom of my prejudice. The dragon skeleton's healing and the cavern's relative coolness had given me an opportunity to rebuild my inner storehouse of the Power, but my elemental aspect extinguishes heat or light instead of creating it. Something smoother than rock or gravel crunched underfoot. Bone, by the feel of it. It seemed to have come from something human-sized or larger. Tooth marks peppered its surface. Every once in a while I came across another, cleanly picked set of remains. Tiny creatures also scuttled in the darkness - bats, mice, and insects, by their sound. They were the first natural life I'd encountered since arriving in Limbo. A tenuous map, maintained through constant concentration, existed in my mind. There was no way of knowing how accurate it was. The slope underneath my feet fluctuated so much that I could be walking directly above or below my last steps. Sometimes I thought I felt a mild breeze from above, blowing down into my face even when I was pressed next to a wall. Attempting to walk into the source of the wind, I encountered one cul-de-sac or hub of passages after another. Moments waned into what felt like hours. Monotony began to set in. The map in my mind became unclear. I was losing track of direction, depth, and time. My foot touched something soft and thin. Kneeling down to touch it, I felt flexible, somewhat ragged fabric underneath my fingertips. It was cloth from my own uniform. I'd traveled in a great circle. ***************************************************************** There was something wrong with the rose I had sculpted out of Ice. Its leaves drooped, and the central blossom wouldn't spread properly no matter how many times I retouched it. The more effort I invested in molding the flower, the more listless it became. I'd been trying for hours, unsuccessfully, to recapture the life of my childhood creations. Perhaps distant memory pictured them more vibrant than they actually were. I was in the process of taking the sculpture apart, planning to start again from scratch, when I detected a localized increase in the room's arctic temperature about five paces behind, accompanied by a familiar whiff of charred ash. "You should not apply the Power to such trivial pursuits," Smoke advised, disapprovingly. "There are other ways to make ice sculptures. The Power should not be channeled unless you have no other recourse. You still rely upon it too much." "Why have you come? I did not summon you," I sighed without turning around. Deciding to try a different flower, I willed a fold of ice to become a violet leaf, heart-shaped with a finely toothed margin. "Ignore my warning at your peril." "Answer the question!" "Unit LK-4D4 has disappeared. It was supposed to be destroyed, but someone had removed it before we could force our way into Pyre's laboratory. I think Sektor may have stolen it." "He's still recovering from two broken arms. How could he steal anything?" "He could have hidden it before your battle with Pyre." "Pyre would not have let him do such a thing. You are attributing a great deal of cunning to a young hothead too witless to properly control his mouth." "Perhaps." "Don't be so quick to rule out whatever party 'discovered' that the metal atrocity was missing. There could be others in the clan who are sympathetic to Pyre's cause. He revealed his secret to me; who knows how many were aware of it all along?" "A point." "Is that all?" "Not quite. There is also the matter of your brother." "What makes you think I have one?" The violet's stem had a kink, as though it had been stepped on. "You forget, Sub-Zero, that your grandfather was my instructor, once. He died before you were old enough to remember him, but we knew each other well. I'm the one remaining Lin Kuei who knows who he was under his mask. I know who you are, and who your brother is. It came to my attention that a Hierarchy member has personally forbidden a certain citizen to leave the village. A brief investigation confirmed my suspicions." "The matter is none of your concern." Instead of creating each petal individually, I decided this time to shape the entire blossom at once, in hopes of making the whole appear more coordinated. "Does it please you to use your authority like a tyrant?" "No. Nothing has pleased me for many years, since the night we first met." Smoke became quiet for an extended period of time, while I concentrated on honing the violet's stamen to hairlike thinness. When he addressed me again, his gruff, husky voice had lost its caustic edge. "You are crushing the dreams of a very intelligent young man." "'Dreams?' Nightmares would be more apt! I will not let those foul artifacts of metal and wire possess him!" "Technology is not inherently evil. It is a type of Power. Like any other Power, it can be used for woe or weal. Do not confuse Pyre's insanity with your brother's science." "I see no difference." "You are making a mistake." "_That will be enough_!" The violet shattered into pieces under my fingers. I turned and glared at Smoke. His eyes were darker than usual, like burnt wood instead of grey coals. "Leave, and do not approach me again unless I send for you!" He left. It would be the last time I spoke with him for two years.