Arcana | Kung Lao

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Synopsis: In which a haunted young man is saved by Kung Lao, a masterful warrior charged with his protection by the powerful Thunder God Raiden, and learns the truth about the power inside of him.
Warning(s): Explicit language, graphic death, blood, violence, gore, possible smut(?) more to be added in series...
Note: The MK reboot movie was cute but it would've been way better if it actually involved the Mortal Kombat—which will not be in this fic lmao—and I'll be mixing the movie's lore with the game's and some of my own ofc. Kung Lao stole the whole show every scene he was in for me and they did him so dirty so here's the fruits of that.
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"I keep having this dream," Nico began as he kept his striking evergreen eyes on the floor. His gloved hands clasped tight together. Whining under the stress of his grip.

He tapped his worn sneakers on the carpet with insistence. The noise, the pattern, meant to hold him in the moment. Yet, his mind, and something deeper within it, would not allow him to stay present. As he spoke of his dream, he was pulled from the stuffy room with dying sunlight. Snatched through a veil of green into his dream.

"It starts off with a woman," He could hear himself speak.

Nico stood at the edge of a deserted forest. He could barely see past the tree line. Despite the Aqua blue skies and sun against his back. If he squinted, he could see blood smeared across the pale, barren trees. Disembodied moans blared in his ears.

A putrid stench assaulted his nostrils. He covered his nose and mouth. The smell of rotten flesh had settled in his throat. He fought a wretch. An infant's cry startled him.

Time slowed as a dark-skinned woman in worn rags tripped over an exposed root. She yelped as she fell to her knees. Hugging a plump sac to her chest. Arms cradling the fabric protectively.

The infant's cries were just upon Nico's eardrums then. He inhaled a sharp breath as the cloth covering the baby's face slipped away. His dark skin held no warmth in it, almost a blackish gray in contrast to his mother's sun kissed complexion. His eyes were as striking as they were frightening. Emerald green.

The infant's mother sobbed over him. "You are a deceiver," She accused. "Born of the fallen God's amulet for my torment. You wear the face of my dead son. I know it is not my child...I know you are not my child." Her whimpers evolved into hissing lashes.

She looked up, her chocolate eyes tearing through Nico, and glared beyond the trees. "You wish to use my child as a vessel and I cannot allow it. The same way I cannot allow Shao Kahn nor his sadistic henchman Shang Tsung access to your power. Twisted God." She pushed herself to her feet.