Mortal Kombat Read Online Free Page B

touched. The air was damp and cold, and at times – a trick of the fog-diffused sunlight? – Shang Tsung could swear that the perspective was non-geometric and at times liquid. Things seemed closer or farther than they actually were, even objects at his feet. Trees that seemed straight from a distance were crooked and gnarled when he stood beside them. Rocks and cliffs that seemed lumpy and jagged from afar were smooth up-close. Only in the ruins of the temple did lines and curves and spaces appear correct and accurate. It was as though the place had been built as a fortress, a spiritual bastion to fight some corruptive influence – though, from the condition of the place and the Chou dynasty style of architecture, the battle had obviously been lost or given up many centuries before.
    Shang Tsung took a deep breath. The time for reflection and research had come to an end. At once elated and frightened, he stretched a spindly hand to his right and wrapped his fingers around the ivory handle of the poker. Dropping to his knees, he touched the glowing metal tip of the powder, and as a wall of flame rose around him he uttered phrases that the reliable Am-ho-tep claimed to have used:
     
To the land beyond, beyond, I wish to go.
From the dismal world of this and now.
To the timeless realm where chaos is order,
Where darkness is light and demons dwell.
Open your arms, Lord of the nether-reaches
To embrace your subject. Hear my prayer.
     
    The moment the last word had passed from his lips, Shang saw the flames quickly spread from a wall to a sea. They churned with a fury he had never imagined possible as they rolled on and on into the distance, not consuming the temple but erasing it, burning past where the island itself would have ended could he but see land instead of fire. Within moments, the fire stretched not only as far as he could see, but as far as he could possibly imagine.
    And then Shang Tsung didn't just smell a rank, wet odor in his nostrils – he felt it. He felt a presence, looked up, and saw masses of yellow and red, clouds or mountains of it. And in the midst of them, somewhere far off, he saw a pair of white spheres that grew large and then disappeared, leaving only blackness above the flames.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    " Another one? "
    "Yes, Lord."
    " Not one we have already seen... not another failure. "
    "No, Lord."
    " You're sure? "
    "Yes, Lord."
    A nearly invisible hand reached out and grabbed the little yellow demon by one horn. It lifted the portly, struggling imp in the air, his little feet and sharp-nailed toes kicking out from under his red robe.
    " Very sure? "
    "Yes, Lord," the demon said with all the authority he could muster – which wasn't much, at the moment. His big, cloud-white eyes opened wider, reflecting the fires that burned on the rocks and waters, in the caves and pits around them. "Lord, I saw him and believe that this is the one . The one you sent... not one of the deluded pretenders."
    The fierce, unthinkably old Shao Kahn, Lord of the Outworld, master of the Furies, and the king of the dark arts, brought the writhing demon nearer. " Ruthay, " he said in a voice that was deep and searingly hot, " the son of my sister, do you know what I will do if you are wrong? "
    Beads of bloody sweat erupted on the demon's parchment-thin yellow flesh. He folded his trembling hands together and held them out in supplication. "Yes, Lord. You will... will..."
    A blast of white came from the mouth of the dark shape that was the demon lord. The thin, fair cloud touched Ruthay's long-fingered hands and turned their skin blue. The hands stopped shaking as the icy breath froze them together.
    " I will freeze you, Regent Ruthay, and then cage you over a slow flame and allow you to melt. When you are a puddle, I will take away the fire and leave you a spineless, immobile mass for all eternity. " Shao Kahn bent close, his black eyes glowing the dullest, deepest red. " I repeat: are you sure? "
    "He... he... he..."