Mortal Kombat Story

Genesis: The Sacred Origins of Mortal Kombat

Long ago at the beginning of time, there existed only three core immortal and divine beings in
the entire universe; the Titans, the Elder Gods, and the One Being. The One Being gained his
power by draining it from both the Elder Gods and the Titans, consuming them in the process.
Eventually, the Elder Gods launched their attack on the One Being to save themselves. In the
end, the Elder Gods created six weapons called the Kamidogu. When they used the weapons,
the One Being split into many pieces, although its consciousness survived. The Kamidogu
became lost in six different pieces of the One Being. Eventually, these pieces became realms,
and life began to grow inside them. There were six main realms: Earthrealm, Netherrealm,
Outworld, Orderrealm (Seido), Chaosrealm, and Edenia, each with a representative Kamidogu
which held the essence of each realm. In addition to these, several other minor realms including
the two subconscious realms were created such as Osh-Tekk, Arnyek, Tarkata, Zaterra,
Vaeturnus, Hinpar, Xaa, Ilkan, the Dreamrealm and the Nightmarerealm. After the conflict, the
Titans would disappear from history for eons following their own brand of disagreement over the
fate of the realms and the mortals within them with the Elder Gods, until one of the Titans and
the Keeper of Time, Kronika, remained, leaving the Elder Gods to oversee the realms and
prepare to intervene if the merging of the realms is deemed illegally.
Over the course of time, the Elder Gods were aware of the fact that Outworld would one day be
a serious threat to the realms, declared that as a defense mechanism for all the realms against
a future Outworld threat and in order to keep the realms in check, they created and prepared at
any given time to invoke a mystical sacred contest as a competition between those realms that
would determine their fate held for once a generation per 5 centuries (500 years in total). There
were also certain stipulations added by the Elder Gods; such as their realms' warriors would use
their special abilities during the tournament, and once it had been declared, it cannot be
refused, and would punish those who would attack the defending realms and their fighters,
before, during, or after the tournament. They eventually decreed in addition, that the Grand
prize for the winner of the tournament would be that the champion of the aforementioned realms
would not age for 5 decades (50 years to be exact) until the next tournament and the merger
can be allowed if the tournament was won 10 consecutive times, thus it was coined into what
would be told as folktales throughout all the realms known as Mortal Kombat.

The Golden Peaceful Age of Onaga, The Dragon

King
At some unknown point in history, long after the creation of the realms, there existed an ancient
race of reptilian beings. This race was one of the first, and strongest races to be born yet called
Dragons. They were perceived by many to be the children of the Elder Gods themselves, true to
the fact that they exhibited traits that both species shared. High regard was held for Dragons,
and soon allegiances were formed between them and their Gods; two of the best known

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dragons were the later guardians, the Gold Dragon, Orin, and the Red Dragon, Caro, of both of
the future sons of the Edenian God, Argus.
In the realm of Outworld, however, a wind of change had arrived. Dragons once inhabited it, but
left Outworld for some reasons unknown. One among them decided to stay and master his
powers so he could rule the lands: Onaga the Dragon King, who became the first Emperor of
Outworld. Onaga unified an otherwise divided realm. The Outworld before Onaga's time was
divided into countless, squabbling kingdoms that lived in constant war with each other; the most
notable kingdom that still exists is the Shokan Kingdom of Kuatan, whose inhabitants had
recently overthrown the domain of the Korlovens and wiped out the latter's royal family. The
endless war between the kingdoms of Outworld was mostly due to the scheming of the Kafallah
Warlocks, who were the most powerful sorcerers of Outworld at the time. By influencing the
kingdoms of Outworld and shaping the reigns of the kings and emperors, their true agenda
came closer to realization: The Netherrealm's Conquest of Outworld. Eventually, their secret
was revealed and the Kafallah Warlocks were wiped out, but the Netherrealm army had already
arrived. In his campaign of unification, Onaga led Outworld in the fight against the Netherrealm
and won. It is theorized that the Kafallah Warlocks' schemes with the Netherrealm were one of
the primary reasons Onaga began to unite Outworld under one banner- to stop the Netherrealm
from playing "Divide and Conquer" and from picking off the Outworld kingdoms one by one.
With the aid of his close allies, one being the Z'ankarian Empire, Onaga began to conquer other
realms. He merged them to add that realm's power to Outworld and expand his ever-growing
empire. Onaga's secret to victory was his undefeatable and seemingly invincible army; Onaga's
Heart gave him the ability to raise the dead, allowing him to revive his dead soldiers
continuously. However, Onaga wished for immortality; using the last dragon egg, his followers
cast a spell that would transfer his soul into the tiny dragon inside and with it be granted eternal
life.
When the first dragons, the spawn of the Elder Gods, descended down into the realms, they still
had immortality, immense sizes, and incomprehensible powers they had while in the heavens.
However, over millions of years, as each generation of dragons were born, it soon became clear
that dragons had begun to become part of the mortal realms and that realms became part of
them. With each generation, their size shrank, their power weakened and their immortality
faded. Onaga was a part of the latest generation of dragons who had not inherited the power of
eternal life and the Elder God-like aspects that the eldest generations had. The dragon egg that
was used contained the embryo of a dragon from the eldest generation. If the spell had been
complete, Onaga would have been reborn in the body of an Elder Dragon.
It was at that point originally, that the Elder Gods, as they watched and governed over the
realms with untold wisdom and preparing to intervene if treachery came, chose Onaga's former
trusted advisor, Shao Kahn, to become the protector of Outworld as he once fought alongside
Onaga during the Netherrealm invasion. Like the fallen Elder God, Shinnok, who, unbeknownst
to the Elder Gods, was one of Kronika's children, making Cetrion his sister, siblings of Light and
Darkness, came after him, he too fell into greed and the lust for power, and a coup d'état was in
effect orchestrated by Kahn, who did not like sharing power. He then poisoned Onaga and took
control of Outworld for himself. Unlike Onaga, he was unable to rule his domain as a united
realm and the realm fell back into a patchwork of tiny kingdoms, and Outworld was in total
disarray and anarchy once again.

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For centuries even imprisoned in death after his treacherous betrayal by Shao Kahn, the
Dragon King would learn of his former advisor's ambitions, his lust for power, including his own
brand of conquest of the realms much to Onaga's fury; he, in time, would plan his retaliatory
strike to one day revive his physical body and reclaim what was stolen from him secretly. Prior
to the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament to be held in Earthrealm however, he plans to do so
by transferring his essence into an apparition as the course of time would pass. Onaga would
eventually seize the opportunity, by appearing to Shujinko, a young and a very promising warrior
who was set to be the chosen kombatant representing Earth in the aforementioned tournament,
even by claiming to be an emissary of the Elder Gods named Damashi. His goal, would be to
trick Shujinko into embarking on a quest to obtain the Kamidogu from the various realms and
placing them in the Nexus, a special location created between the realms to ease the travel of
the Champion of the Elder Gods and in turn, would give Shujinko a "gift" in which he can absorb
the knowledge and fighting skills of not only Earthrealm kombatants, but kombatants from other
realms themselves during his journey.

Prophecies, Predictions, and Revelations

At an unknown time after Onaga's death, Shao Kahn now commanded the armies of Outworld
and carried the legacy in his own fashion of attacking other realms. The Edenian protector-God,
Argus, and his second sorceress-wife, Delia, had two children: Taven and Daegon. Argus also
had a third son due to an elicit affair from his first wife, a mortal woman named Amara, who
many years later became the traitor and an arrogant fighting Prince of Edenia named Rain,
making him, Taven, and Daegon, brothers. They fought alongside their father and the dragons,
Orin and Caro, repelling an attempted invasion by Shao Kahn.
At the time, there were endless revelations, premonitions, and prophecies of the future for all
the realms in which Delia frequently had visions. One of these cataclysmic events was the
Prophecy of Armageddon; the Judgement Day for all the Realms, where she predicted that the
Mortal Kombat warriors would one day grow too powerful and numerous and, if left unchecked,
their intensifying Kombat would bring forth the destruction of all the realms, and in turn, the
Apocalypse. Another legendary prophecy unbeknownst to the Elder Gods that Delia did not
foresee was the return of the One Being: it was decreed that if one were to obtain and fuse
together all six Kamidogu and the Sacred Amulet, they would be granted ultimate power, and
bring about the destruction of the realms even if Armageddon did not happen as well.
Regardless, Kronika was unaware that even if she was orchestrating her "New Era", she would
be more powerless if the One Being would return and not only consume the Elder Gods, but the
Titans, including Kronika in retaliation for their treachery.
Kronika, observing the catastrophic event, knew that this could be the key to her ultimate
agenda and then, in the course of time, use this as an opportunity to lay the foundations for her
"New Era". In her diabolical, and sacrilegious plot to get rid of the Elder Gods, and crush the
supposedly overpowered mortals so that the Titans would rule the realms and usher in the "New
Era" once and for all. The Elder Gods however, demanded that a safeguard be put in place in
order to prevent this from happening, one that would make use of the kombatants insatiable
blood lust, so that they would be drawn there to battle like moths to a flame, and left the task to

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Argus and his wife. Delia also foresaw that the climax would take place at a crater within the
Edenian Southlands; thus, Argus had a pyramid constructed underground at this crater, while
Delia created a Fire-Spawn known as Blaze, who would contain the power needed to stop the
Kombatants themselves.
Argus wanted all of the warriors destroyed, but Delia wished for a more merciful approach;
stripping the warriors of their powers. Some were great heroes, undeserving of death. They
decided that they would put their two children in competition, and whichever one defeated Blaze
would be gifted with the power to become the new protector of Edenia. On their way to
confronting Blaze, each brother would have to retrieve a sword and a suit of armor from one of
their parents' temples both in Earthrealm respectively. One suit of armor would mean that all of
the kombatants were destroyed, the other would mean that they were stripped of their power. In
effect, this would be a "coin toss" between Argus and Delia, to decide which outcome would be
achieved. What Argus or Delia didn't know, was that a third option was possible. If the "coin"
lands on the edge, the kombatants would neither be destroyed nor stripped of power, but their
powers would be enhanced. Unfortunately, what Delia did not foresee was that even if the
Armageddon event did happen, it would create an unbalance in the timeline. That would later be
a part of Kronika's hidden agenda that Armageddon could be the key to her ultimate vision of
her "New Era" where Chaos will reign and Order will be wiped from history.
Argus initiated the plan to save the realms and have the two brothers be summoned to Argus'
temple in Edenia, where they were ambushed and placed in stasis within the mountains
somewhere in Earthrealm, with a Dragon to watch over them. The Golden Dragon, Orin,
watched over Taven, whilst the Red Dragon Caro watched over Daegon. When Blaze gave the
signal, the Dragons would wake their protegee from stasis to begin the quest, unaware that the
real purpose of the quest was to test their sons' true nature, while Rain on the other hand would
later serve in the resistance but be denied command and join forces with Shao Kahn.

The First Earthrealm War: Raiden vs Shinnok - The

Fate of Earthrealm
Meanwhile as the the Elder Gods were governing the realms and being vigilant of any
treasonous actions that might come their way, Shinnok, like Shao Kahn in Outworld before him,
gave into greed and the illusion of ultimate power, wanted Earthrealm for himself. Having
profited from Blaze's enslaving by the holy men who remained faithful to Onaga, Shinnok
masterfully tricked the dragon Caro into thinking the signal had been sounded and convinced
the awoken Daegon that his parents were against him. Daegon killed both of his parents,
weakening Edenia and leaving it in a state of anarchy, which allowed Shao Kahn to invade it
without its Protector God opposing him. With the aid of others; those who were mind-controlled,
and like-minded Elder Gods, such as his cousin, Malebolgia. For instance of the latter kind;
dragons and other fallen celestial beings, Shinnok then turned his attention towards Earthrealm,
whose Jinsei could grant him the power to become invincible. However, the Elder Gods had
appointed the God of Thunder known as Raiden to protect Earth, secretly knowing that no
matter what actions he might take, he would be needed to prevent Kronika's vision for the future

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she envisioned and end her plans for a so-called "New Era" from coming to fruition. Between
the two of them, the First Earthrealm War began.
The conflict between Shinnok and Raiden was so fierce, however, that it brought Earth to the
brink of destruction and plunged it into centuries of darkness. The Elder Gods were angered
and aware of Shinnok's treacherous betrayal, only when Raiden discovered that Shinnok's
power was linked to his mystical amulet, which allowed him to weaken the borders of a realm
and therefore enter it without challenge and interference, keeping the Elder Gods at bay.
Raiden, given the choice of whether to destroy the allied Saurian civilization or risk handing over
Earthrealm to Shinnok, chose the former and stripped Shinnok of the amulet. With the aid of
Elder Gods, Raiden banished the fallen Elder God to the Netherrealm, knowing that it would be
a matter of time before their paths would cross once again.
In the aftermath of the war, the Saurian survivors received compensation from the Elder Gods.
A new home in the free realm of Zaterra. However, some of the Saurians decided to take refuge
in the Hollow Earth instead. The Saurian Race was divided: the Saurians who ventured to
Zaterra would rebuild their civilization until they too became a target to Shao Kahn's Empire,
while the surviving Saurians of the Hollow Earth endured underground without interference.
Raiden had created a massive temple deep within the mountains of Asia, currently known as
the Himalayan Mountains of Nepal, to house the amulet, and appointed four guardians to serve
as protectors of the amulet in order to prevent the unforeseen return of the One Being, should
the prophecy come true. Each of these guardians represented one of the elements of which the
realm was comprised, with one of them being the God of Wind, Fujin, and the remaining
elemental gods of Earth, Water, and Fire. As long as the amulet remained on Earth in safe
hands, Shinnok would remain trapped in the Netherrealm.
The exact date of the first devastating war on Earthrealm is unknown, but several theories and
interpretations vary from around 65 million years ago, the end of the Cretaceous period, the
most likely date, coinciding with the K-T event, which is when the dinosaurs became extinct; to
around 8,000 years BC, coinciding with the Flood Myths in Mesopotamian, Babylonian,
Christian, Hindu, and many more civilizations' myths[1] and also coinciding with the date of the
Edenian War, 10,000 years ago as well as, potentially, the destruction of Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu
and Hyperborea and the end of the Antediluvian Age of Earthrealm as a whole. In addition,
whether it's known as Hell, Tartarus, Hades, Gehenna, or Pluto, the date of origin of
Netherrealm too is unknown as it also existed since the beginning of time. Although it has many
names, it always held the same purpose: to act as the final home for those who have done
wrong.
When Shinnok awoke in the Netherealm, he found himself under excruciating pain and
insufferable misery inflicted by Lucifer, the "leader" of the fiery realm. He used the souls of those
banished there by Shinnok himself to torture the Elder God in retaliation. Shinnok was quickly
beaten and found himself in the depths of Hell for eternity. Shinnok's torture lasted for an untold
amount of years until he stumbled across a mysterious sorcerer by the name of Quan Chi. He
was once an Oni from the Netherrealm, transforming his appearance upon learning sorcery,
even gaining the power to travel through the planes of reality without suspicion and detection
from any of the Elder Gods or the Titans. Quan Chi told Shinnok that he would help him escape
from his prison and defeat Lucifer, only if Shinnok accepted his proposal; he would obtain power

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and the right to rule at Shinnok's side. There was one question that Shinnok had wondered;
Why did Quan Chi decide to help Shinnok in the first place.
When it was first created many years ago by the Elder Gods, the Netherrealm, which was made
of ten layers or "circles", was endlessly divided between countless lords and ladies of Hell, at
war with each other. They were easily contained by Lucifer. However, his fatal flaw was an
overdeveloped sense of pride that led to his downfall and rulership of the Netherrealm, as its
rulers oftentimes used that to their advantage. Although its rulers and their subjects were too
separate to be united as one, there were a few occasions when a hell lord or lady was powerful
enough to unite most of the Netherrealm under their rule. Alas, such rare unities didn't last as
some of the most notable Hell lords who had been able to unite the Netherrealm became its
kings and queens before Shinnok: Bael, Paimon, Beleth, Purson, Asmodeus, Vine, Balam,
Zagan and Belial. It became crystal clear that none of them were powerful enough to unite and
maintain their hold on all of the Netherrealm and its subordinates. That was the eventual truth
Quan Chi saw when he decided to aid Shinnok: a Fallen Elder God like him was the most
powerful being, strong enough to unite the Netherrealm as one and to put the endlessly warring,
treacherous, and conspiring Lords and ladies back in line so that real progress and change can
be made.
In a surprising act of desperation, Shinnok agreed and named Quan Chi Arch-Sorcerer. The two
waged war in the Netherrealm that lasted for centuries, until they eventually defeated his former
slave-master Lucifer, overthrowing him and took control of the Netherrealm. Shinnok was now
the ruler of the dead realm, but he wasn't content with his conquest: as the Netherealm is
nothing more than fire and brimstone, and he only rules over the grotesque demons and the
aforementioned rulers that once inhabited the realm. Shinnok wanted more, and Quan Chi
would make some arrangements as per Shinnok's desires to gain retribution and set the events
in stone.

The Imperial Age of Shao Kahn and the Reign of

Terror
Like Onaga before him, Shao Kahn sought to expand his power and create his own empire
through conquests of other realms. When he took over the throne, his first priority was to
eliminate those loyal to Onaga: promising "peace", he lured the high council of the Z'ankarian
Empire, one of the key allies to Onaga, in a false sense of security to a meeting at Dragon
Mountain, and from there, he killed them all.
After deposing of those loyal to Onaga and his order, he then began to attack and conquer
many smaller realms, slowly building up power over thousands of years. Eventually, he built up
enough strength to conquer every realm equal to Outworld's size and gain even greater power
beyond any mortal imagination. The known realms that he conquered were: Zaterra, Arnyek,
Tarkata, Hinpar, Vaeternus, and Osh-Tekk. He laid eyes upon the two most important realms,
satiating his hunger and power in his bid for imperial domination.
One of these realms, was the lush and fertile realm of Edenia. Taven and his brothers Daegon
and Rain, fought alongside their father and the dragons Orin and Caro, repelling an attempted

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invasion by Shao Kahn in the realm of Edenia many years ago. However, after the battle, Taven
and his brother Daegon were put to sleep by their father Argus, who intended to send his sons
in a quest to save the realms from Armageddon were sent to Earthrealm, encased in stone to
protect them from harm and assigned two guardians by the name of Orin and Caro. Shortly
afterwards, Daegon was mistakenly awoken prematurely by Blaze as Shinnok took advantage
of his jealousy towards his brother by making him kill his parents, Delia and Argus, with the
god-slaying weapons that were meant for Taven and Daegon during their quest to use against
Blaze. Shao Kahn's armies were set to invade Edenia, but in order to merge the realm, Shao
Kahn had to do so sacredly in Mortal Kombat. If he succeeded, he would merge the two realms.
Despite the Edenian warriors' best efforts, and with the Protector God Argus dead and Taven
and the dragons in Earthrealm, Outworld won 10 consecutive tournaments and Edenia's blue
skies were ripped apart as the portals began to open allowing his army to invade the
defenseless realm without opposition.
Shao Kahn then proceeded to annihilate the ruler of Edenia, King Jerrod, take his wife Sindel as
his queen, and adopt her daughter Kitana as his own. After Sindel convinced Shao Kahn of her
daughter's worth, Kitana was trained to join his personal guard, and as an assassin. However,
realizing that the safeguards afforded by the Elder Gods through Mortal Kombat are but fiction,
seeing the effects of Shao Kahn's reign on the Edenians, and knowing that Earthrealm would
one day be next, Sindel chose create a ward which would give protection the Elder Gods
couldn't so Earthrealm wouldn't suffer as had Edenia. As she was planning to initiate the ward,
she ran afoul with Quan Chi in Outworld's desert. The sorcerer accused the empress of
"distracting" Shao Kahn, murdered her, and staged her death as a suicide. But with her dying
breath, Sindel uttered the incantation needed to create the barrier that prevents Shao Kahn's
entry into Earthrealm. But Shao Kahn, not willing to let his beloved queen go so easily, held her
soul in Outworld, thus stopping her transition to the afterlife. After Edenia and the
aforementioned realms added to the newly-established Outworld empire, Shao Kahn turned his
attention and prepared to do what Shinnok failed; to conquer the one realm, in which many
considered to be a jewel and Edenia's ally for so many years; the conquest of Earthrealm. With
Edenia and Earthrealm under Shao Kahn's command, his conquest of the realms would be
completed and final. As before, Shao Kahn would only be allowed to take Earthrealm if he and
his warriors won ten of these tournaments in a row. Also, the wisest men from the Far-East,
received the visions of Shao Kahn's invasion of Earth, appealed to the Elder Gods, knowing that
it was imminent, that Chaos will be unleashed and the unstable forces and Furies will be
unbalanced. The Elder Gods agreed to the appeal of the wisest men, and so, the tournament
was officially declared. Thus, begins the Age of Mortal Kombat.

The Age of Mortal Kombat - The Mortal Kombat

Tournament and the Outworld Invasion
Before the events of Mortal Kombat itself, Shao Kahn had sent Shang Tsung to establish the
tournament between his forces and Earthrealm's. Long ago, Shang Tsung was once chosen to
represent Earthrealm, but due to his own treachery and betrayal of the realm, instead joined

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forces with Shao Kahn as the emperor taught him the dark arts, such as the ability to steal the
souls of the other warriors. Realizing that the Tournament Masters caught him for treason, the
Elder Gods cursed him with an old age reduction spell, stripping him of his youth. The sorcerer
knew that the only way to regain his youth and immortality is by stealing souls in an attempt to
regain his favor with the emperor.
As time passed, Raiden rallied the best fighters of Earth into the secretive White Lotus Society,
an established group consisting of Earthrealm's finest martial artists whose sole purpose was to
hone their fighting skills, discerning a champion once every decade as preparation in order to
defend Earth in the tournament. At the time, Shang Tsung had once again became the Grand
Champion after amassing a few victories, only to lose the title to the Great Kung Lao, one of
those warriors chosen to defeat Shang Tsung and become the Grand Champion, but out of
mercy he spared the sorcerer. Knowing that this mistake would be his undoing, it became clear
to the Elder Gods that Kung Lao only kept the title for one generation and after facing the
Temple Master's students and the Temple Master himself, Shang Tsung officially became the
Tournament Master and by doing so, corrupting the tournament, thus setting up Kung Lao's
downfall to his then-new secret weapon, a Shokan prince named Goro, who quickly dispatched
and killed Kung Lao allowing the sorcerer to consume his soul and Goro claimed the title,
winning that, while continuing the 8 tournaments giving the Outworld warriors nine consecutive
victories, prompting Raiden to one day guide the future chosen warriors trained in order to win
the tournament and save Earthrealm from conquest, as this would be Earthrealm's last hope for
freedom.
Prior to the tenth tournament, Shang Tsung unknowingly made a deal with Quan Chi on
Shinnok's behalf: the deal was that if Quan Chi can help Shang Tsung's Shadow Priests in the
proposed resurrection of Sindel if Shao Kahn's plan to merge Earthrealm with Outworld through
the tournament has failed, Shang Tsung in return could give the sorcerer the information on
where Shinnok's Amulet is located. In order for Shinnok's plans to come to fruition, as per what
Shinnok needs back in the Netherrealm, Quan Chi had set up the feud between the two rival
clans: the Lin Kuei and the Shirai Ryu, by recruiting their respective clans' representatives,
Sub-Zero the Elder (Bi-Han) and Scorpion (Hanzo Hasashi), as an insurance policy in case
Sub-Zero failed, to kill each other while he brought the rest of the Lin Kuei to destroy the whole
Shirai Ryu itself, and then gave him the map which contains the Temple of Elements from the
Shaolin Temples. Sub Zero, after succeeding his mission, proceeded to venture through the
temple of Elements, defeating the four elemental gods, including Fujin, but as he was about to
obtain the amulet, Quan Chi out of nowhere, snatched it first and explained its true purpose as
an act of "congratulations" leaving Sub-Zero fully dejected and deceived after Quan Chi
returned to the Netherrealm later to give the fake amulet to Shinnok, whilst he kept the original
for himself.
However, Raiden confronted the Lin Kuei warrior and revealed to him his mistake by allowing
Quan Chi to possess the amulet knowing full well of the consequences of Earthrealm's
destruction due to the Lin Kuei's ignorance and greed. Reluctantly, Sub-Zero then proceeded to
enter the portal to the Netherrealm and retrieve the amulet from Shinnok; he was successful in
his mission and preserved the peace of all reality for the time being unaware that he had stolen
the duplicate amulet. Somehow, that daring task caught Shang Tsung's attention as he was

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invited to compete in the upcoming tenth tournament, with secret orders from the Lin Kuei
Grandmaster, which was to assassinate Shang Tsung and win.
Two years later, Earth rallied some of its best fighters in order to win the tournament and save
Earthrealm; among those chosen warriors were: the Shaolin Monk, Liu Kang, Special Forces
agent, Sonya Blade, and Hollywood Star, Johnny Cage. Those three fighters with the help of
Raiden, despite the other two's own motivations, such as Sonya avenging her partner's death at
the hands of the diabolical mercenary group the Black Dragon and their nefarious leader, Kano,
and Johnny Cage fighting for his Hollywood pride, Liu Kang's was the most noble one, since
Goro had defeated his ancestor during Shang Tsung's corruption within the tournament itself
years ago. Fortunately for the Elder Gods, the long-unforgettable rivalry between Liu Kang and
Shang Tsung during the tournament would also be necessarily needed in shaping their own
destiny for Earthrealm; as all it took in the foreseeable future was cunning, treachery and
teamwork with Raiden, to prevent Kronika's vision for the future she envisioned and end her
plans for a so-called "New Era" from coming to fruition as well.
In the end of what was such a grueling but a spectacle of a tournament, the Earthrealm warriors
succeeded in the defense of Earthrealm as Liu Kang became the new champion of Mortal
Kombat, dethroning the Shokan prince, and defeating the Sorcerer to claim the title as well, thus
resetting Outworld's counter to 0 officially ending their streak in the Tournament once again, yet
their victory would be short-lived. In the aftermath of the tournament, both Scorpion and
Sub-Zero fought each other again, and in somewhat of a grudge match between the two,
Scorpion slew Sub-Zero in retribution for his own death by the other's hands, sending his soul
into the the Netherrealm and turned him into Noob Saibot for Sub-Zero's defiance of his ill-fated
and inescapable offer to join him and The Brotherhood of Shadow in the process. At the same
time, Sonya, Johnny Cage, and Kano battled Goro, only for Raiden to save Johnny Cage from
his demise, leaving Sonya and Kano to be captured by Shao Kahn's forces as bargaining chips
to prepare for the Outworld Tournament.
Despite Shang Tsung being unable to deal with his failure on Earthrealm in the tournament,
Shao Kahn ordered the Tarkatan horde led by their fiercest, savage, bloodthirsty, and brutal
leader, Baraka to attack the Wu Shi Academy; the horde raided and killed most of Liu Kang's
fellow monks, including his Shaolin Masters, sending a direct message to Raiden and the
Earthrealm warriors whether they accepted or refused the offer for a new tournament to be held
in Outworld. This massacre enraged Liu Kang so much that it became very personal alongside
Kung Lao, the Great Kung Lao's descendant who bore his namesake, Johnny Cage and Major
Jackson Briggs, who was in search of his missing subordinate, Sonya, as well as the
newcomers like, Kuai Liang, Bi-Han's younger brother who took on the mantle of Sub-Zero after
his brother's death at Scorpion's hands, along with his Lin Kuei comrade, Smoke, the ninja
specter himself whom he learned of his "reappearance" entered the fray just to keep watch on
him, followed them into Outworld.
During the false tournament, Scorpion realized that this Sub-Zero is a merciful warrior as well as
the younger brother, vowed to atone for his misdeeds by being a vigilante to protect him. Around
that time, Kitana learned of her true past and heritage and the fact that Mileena, was cloned
from Shang Tsung's insidious flesh-pits, without her consent. Kitana slew her "sister", but was
charged with treason and later escaped. In rescuing Sonya, Shao Kahn's scheme was thwarted
and the Earthrealm warriors prevailed, with Liu Kang defeating Shang Tsung, Goro's supposed

9
Shokan "successor", Kintaro, and the emperor Shao Kahn himself. Unbeknownst to Raiden and
the Earthrealm warriors, the tournament in Outworld was a diversionary trap set by the emperor
in an attempt to break the rules set forth by the Elder Gods themselves as Kitana had
forewarned. Despite his frustration with the failed attempts at taking the realm through the
tournament however, Shao Kahn retaliated by resurrecting Queen Sindel on Earth and stepping
across the dimensional portal gates to claim her, thus successfully merging it with Outworld, and
commencing its invasion of Earthrealm.
At one point, prior to the invasion, Shao Kahn attempted to merge Outworld with the
Netherrealm to solidify their newfound alliance, but the biggest problem for the emperor was
that the former "demon" and member of the Brotherhood, Ashrah, had slain most of his allies in
an effort to purify herself of the corruption within the Netherrealm, which allowed Scorpion to
escape the insidious hellhole and roam the Earth. Scorpion would also initially work for Shao
Kahn for a short while, but realizing that Sub-Zero was among the chosen warriors, he turned
his back on the emperor and joined the battle. In secret retaliation, Shinnok had sent Noob
Saibot under secret orders prior to the conflict originally was sent to monitor the tournament
battle in Outworld, but then to join the conflict by working first with the emperor, and then bide
his time to strike. In addition to Noob Saibot, Shinnok also resurrected Mileena in an attempt to
keep watch on Kitana in an attempt to bide her time to strike once again in Shao Kahn's service.
In another conundrum, after Sub-Zero and Smoke returned empty-handed following the
Outworld tournament, the Lin Kuei Grandmaster furiously attempted to convert them as he did
to the others in Sektor and Cyrax into subservient, ruthless, soulless and emotionless killing
machines, as part of the Lin Kuei's Cyber Initiative program for their failure. Sub-Zero and
Smoke however, refused to take part, and despite Smoke's recapture and transformation by
force, Sub-Zero was marked for death by abandoning his clan, but during the battle, he and
Smoke would join forces once again and defeat both Sektor and Cyrax. In addition, others such
as riot-control officer Kurtis Stryker, the only survivor of a once-populated city conquered by
Shao Kahn, was told by the Matoka Shaman Nightwolf after receiving Raiden's vision to join him
and the other defenders after learning the true meaning of his ignorant survival, and Kabal,
enraged by a scarred face, relying on his respirators after his betrayal by his fellow Black
Dragon members, vowing ultimate retribution also joined the conflict.
Shao Kahn immediately prepared for the invasion by sending out his extermination squads, his
fellow warriors like Ermac, as well as Kano, who attempted to train his forces by using
Earthrealm's own weapons against them, Sindel's protector and Shokan, Sheeva and Rain, as
well as his favored race, the Shokan's hated rivals, the Centaurs, led by their head-centaur and
general, Motaro to eliminate the remaining surviving resistance, and sent Kitana's childhood
friend, Jade and the Saurian ninja warrior, Reptile to apprehend her, even if it meant executing
her, only for Jade to turn on Reptile and they, along with Rain, joined the Earthrealm warriors,
unbeknownst to them, with mysterious allies like Noob Saibot and Scorpion, but with others like
Kitana, Jade, and Rain, rallied themselves for the first time in a fierce battle where tensions are
mounting and pressure is building, as their fate, and the fate of Earthrealm rests upon their
hands.
The conflict between Earth and Outworld however, gave Kitana and Jade the opportunity to
reach out to Sindel in turning her against Shao Kahn, and in a decisive battle between Liu Kang
and Shao Kahn for the second time, the threat to Earthrealm came to an abrupt end as the

10
emperor was severely wounded, weakened, and defeated, had retreated into Outworld, but not
before he captured his consolation prize, and that was Smoke himself. Most importantly upon
Shao Kahn's defeat after the conflict, Edenia was freed from Outworld's grasp and returned to a
whole independent realm for the first time since Kahn conquered Edenia so many years ago.
Shao Kahn's final attempt to conquer Earthrealm has failed once again, the tournament and the
battle was over, as the Earthrealm warriors were finally victorious...for now.

The Second Earthrealm War: The Netherrealm's

Offensive Invasion
During his time in the Netherrealm, Shinnok rallied an army of allies to help him avenge his
losses after the first Earthrealm War and at the same time, keeping track on the progress of
Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm before and after the tournament. With the help of his
disguises and his minions in Earthrealm and Outworld, and with the aid of the traitor of Edenia,
Tanya, Shinnok escaped to the newly restored independent realm of Edenia, setting the stage
eventually for his return to the heavens. Shinnok proceeded to kidnap Queen Sindel and
Princess Kitana in the process of ruling with an Iron Fist as much as he could in his takeover of
Edenia for the second time, (the first time was Shao Kahn) as part of his scheme to launch his
declared attack on the Heavens as an act of vengeance, including murdering several of the
Elder Gods and many of the lesser gods like Raiden as his prime target, for his suffering in the
Netherrealm for millions of years, and to finally end their conflict that they started eons ago once
and for all. However, the remaining gods, Fujin and Raiden, whom had survived the ambush,
escaped to Earth, where they rallied the Earthrealm warriors to assist them and the Elder Gods
in the secondary Earthrealm conflict. But unlike the last one against Shao Kahn following the
aforementioned tournament and the Outworld Invasion, this time, they are up against Shinnok
and his minions in the Netherrealm Invasion. Thus, the Second Earthrealm War began.
As the war raged on, this time with the help of Earth's warriors, Scorpion and Sub-Zero battled
inside Goro's Lair and the ninja specter emerged victorious. Just as Scorpion was about to kill
his foe, Sub-Zero convinced him to spare him by conveying the truth, not only that he was being
deceived and neither he nor his brother, that he killed so many years ago had nothing to do with
his own death and the death of his family and clan. Scorpion realized that he was telling the
truth that he did not commit the heinous deed and wondered who did it, until it was revealed in
front of him that it was the sorcerer himself who was the true mastermind in being hired by the
Lin Kuei, behind the death of his family and clan the whole time. Just as when the sorcerer
Quan Chi was about to do the same to Scorpion where he was believed to have been killed,
Scorpion, enraged by this revelation, charged towards Quan Chi as they both were sent to the
Netherrealm, and thus the specter was on a manhunt for the sorcerer. This time, he is out for
vengeance in which he vowed not only to protect the future Lin Kuei warrior of Good as
atonement for killing his brother once more, but to finally kill Quan Chi for the death of his family
and his clan. Meanwhile, Tanya attempted to imprison Liu Kang in a cave within Outworld, but
Liu Kang escaped her devious trap, and after a long arduous battle between the Fallen Elder
God and Earthrealm's champion of Mortal Kombat with the help of Raiden and Kitana, the war

11
came to an end as Liu Kang prevailed once again, defeating Shinnok, and emerging victorious
in saving both Earthrealm and Edenia, leading to Shinnok's re-banishment to the Netherrealm.
In the aftermath of Shinnok's defeat throughout the war, Kitana had regained the throne of
Edenia once more, and despite Mileena's demands of her status, she was imprisoned in its
dungeon, while the Black Dragon's remaining survivor, Jarek, tussled with Jax and Sonya over a
cliff. Kai began to ponder his own path with the Lightning staff that Raiden had given him. In
Edenia, Kitana and Goro attempted to arrange a peace treaty between the Shokan and the
Centaurs, only for Kung Lao to ceremoniously strike Goro in retaliation for his ancestor's death
in the tournament years ago, but in the end, Goro and Kung Lao settled their differences and put
their animosities aside much to Kitana's pleasurable surprise. Elsewhere, Cyrax was rescued by
Sonya and Jax and with their help, restored his humanity freeing him from his brainwashing and
his control from his former Lin Kuei clan and invited him to join the Outerworld Investigation
Agency. Johnny Cage, knowing that the resurrection was permanent, began to resume his
former life, but also knowing that he will be needed to defend Earthrealm whenever a huge
threat presented itself. While Liu Kang was visited by Kitana as thanks for saving Edenia in the
Shaolin temples, Liu Kang refused her kind and generous offer to be its king and chose to
remain on Earthrealm to ensure its safety. In the ascension into the heavens, as the Elder Gods
appointed Raiden as an Elder God, Raiden in turn, then appointed Fujin as his successor as the
new protector of Earthrealm. Little did Raiden realize, that the appointment as an Elder God
would prove to be a curse for him that he would be unable to protect Earthrealm and his chosen
warriors. Even worse, he would be forbidden to protest to the Elder Gods, as a new threat would
one day emerge to threaten the realms themselves.

The Deadly Alliance: Formation and Retribution

While in and escaping from the Netherrealm after suffering his own beatdown at the hands of
Scorpion, at the same time deceiving the fellow Oni warriors in Drahmin and Moloch, using a
secret portal returning to Outworld, supposedly regaining his dark strength once more, Quan
Chi discovers much information about its past, via unlocking the secret of the ancient rune
stone, including the existence of the Dragon King's immortal army. He approached Shang Tsung
with an offer to join forces, thus forming The Deadly Alliance. Quan Chi established a Soulnado
so that Shang Tsung would consume them in order to sustain himself within his own fortress at
Sun Do with the agreement that Shang Tsung would use some of the souls to re-animate the
army for their total domination of the realms. Together, with their combined strengths, they
planned to overpower their two foes who could one day prevent their devious conquest. Their
targets were Shao Kahn in Outworld and the other, the only one who could possibly stop them,
Earthrealm's Mightiest Warrior and Champion of Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang.
In Outworld, after the failed invasion of Earthrealm, Shao Kahn was previously humiliated and
almost became paranoid of his consecutive defeats and setbacks, with most of his subordinates
abandoning him as this only made him easier for his elimination. They first approached in a
false show of allegiance to the Emperor before they attacked him, seemingly killing him in his
weakened state. Unbeknownst to the Deadly Alliance however, it was later revealed that the
Shao Kahn they killed was a clone, and the real Shao Kahn had escaped death once again and

12
would begin scheming to reclaim his throne. Then they traveled to Earthrealm via a mystical
portal to double-team and kill Liu Kang, while he was honing his skills at the grounds of the Wu
Shi Academy by masquerading as Kung Lao while the real Kung Lao had plans of reforming the
White Lotus Society.
In order to protect Earthrealm once again, Raiden, in disgust and defiance of the Elder Gods'
wishes for interference, forfeited his seat as an Elder God and rallied the Earthrealm soldiers on
Shang Tsung's Island once again after the traitor revealing to be a member of the Red Dragon
clan, Hsu Hao, destroyed the Outerworld Investigation Agency's portal with a miniature nuclear
warhead, recalling the events much to the shock of the others of Liu Kang's death that led up to
stopping this impending threat. Also included in the battle were newcomers Frost, Li Mei and
Nitara. Nitara's realm, Vaeternus, had been merged into Outworld against her will years ago,
whereas Li Mei was trying to free Sun Do from the Deadly Alliance with Kano as its
slave-master for constructing Shang Tsung's Palace. Others joined the fight as well, including
the newly restored Cyrax (now working for the U.S. Special Forces Unit with Jax and Sonya), as
well as Kenshi, a warrior who unlike Scorpion, had been blinded by Shang Tsung's treachery
and like Scorpion, who sought revenge against the sorcerer. Frost was also included in the
conflict, but her real intention was to become the Grandmaster of the newly reformed Lin Kuei
clan from Sub-Zero after he defeated and banished Sektor when he aggressively took the title
by slaying his father, the Grandmaster.
Unfortunately, these heroes were unable to stop the Deadly Alliance, as the two sorcerers
overcame all foes, with Kung Lao and Princess Kitana trying to avenge Liu Kang's demise, but
failed as Shang Tsung and Quan Chi at last for the very first time since their previous setbacks,
defeated both Kung Lao and Kitana, destroying the majority of the opposition, with most dead or
fleeing with certain reasons and managing to put their insidious plan to near fruition. But their
plans would soon to be their undoing however, that the prophecy would be fulfilled and that the
Dragon King would one day return to re-impose his dominance once again.

Deception: The Dragon King Returns With Absolute

Power
It had taken Shujinko years to complete the quest Damashi had given to him but finally, Shujinko
had collected the sixth and final Kamidogu from Edenia. Shujinko placed the Edenian Kamidogu
on the altar in the Nexus with the other five. After the Kamidogu had been collected, and facing
Scorpion, now as the Champion of the Elder Gods as well, back in the Nexus, Shujinko began
to wonder why the six Kamidogu were not transported to the Elder Gods as he had been told, it
was then that Onaga emerged in the Nexus to confront Shujinko revealing him to be the avatar
Damashi all along. Onaga reveals his true plan of obtaining ultimate control over all that exists
once he claims Shinnok's amulet, currently in possession of the sorcerer Quan Chi, while using
Damashi to manipulate him nearly 4 decades ago. Shujinko immediately escaped from Onaga
into the Earthrealm portal and blamed himself for all the events following his return, as he knew
that in order to redeem himself, he had to continue his training after all the knowledge and skills
he had gained to prepare himself for the final battle against Onaga, knowing that his journey

13
was far from over. To Shujinko prior to Onaga's sudden reappearance however, a new
revelation came from out of nowhere.
It was revealed as the battle between the Earthrealm Warriors and the Deadly Alliance raged
on, that Nitara had manipulated Reptile from his original orders, and that was to protect Shao
Kahn. When the Deadly Alliance slew him, but was unaware that Shao Kahn's created clone
acted as a decoy, he vowed to avenge his emperor by destroying the Deadly Alliance, only to be
swayed by Nitara into attacking Cyrax in an attempt to use him to find the Portal Sphere that
bound Vaeternus to Outworld inside the Lava Shrine where Blaze was imprisoned years ago
and forced to guard the egg that Onaga was hibernating inside. Reptile was enraged by Nitara's
deceit and vowed vengeance upon her, until the egg hatched; and thus the Dragon King
resumed his physical form by merging within Reptile's body, fully completing his part of the
retaliation plan, with the remaining one being the destruction of Shao Kahn.
Meanwhile, Raiden (with his allies laying dead on the entrance of Shang Tsung's Palace
including Hsu Hao whom was killed by Jax in retaliation), refusing the Elder Gods' wishes to
interfere, faced the Deadly Alliance alone. Despite managing to hold his own for a time, he was
ultimately defeated by their combined power. With their victory in hand, though it was
short-lived, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi quickly turned on each other, each looking to grab all
the power for themselves mainly for the reason that Shang Tsung wanted Quan Chi's amulet
knowing that the spell contained the words "He who possesses the Amulet, commands the
Army". Quan Chi emerged victorious, but the Sorcerer's victory was also short-lived, as the
Dragon King returned to Outworld attempting to retrieve Shinnok's amulet with the army
pledging allegiance to Onaga, even without the spell contained on the amulet.
Much to Quan Chi's shock and fury, he tried exceedingly to stop him and the quickly recovering
Shang Tsung and Raiden aided as well, forming an impromptu alliance against the greater
threat. This attack was successful in the short run, but quickly the Dragon King quickly was
making his advance towards them. Realizing that they were unable to defeat the Dragon King
even with their combined power, Raiden released all of his godly essence to a practically atomic
explosion, destroying the temple and its surroundings, sacrificing his life. But that explosion also
destroyed the Soulnado that Shang Tsung wanted to use to replenish his strength via the souls
including the soul of Liu Kang among the others allowed them to roam free. Unfortunately, this
sacrifice too was in vain as the explosion had little to no effect on the revived former ruler of
Outworld who was now in possession of Shinnok's amulet which had been held by Quan Chi,
unbeknownst to them that the sorcerer managed to escape back into the Netherrealm and
leaving Shang Tsung and Raiden to die in the explosion.
Sometime later, Raiden's essence, now corrupted from his encounter with Onaga and tainted
with Onaga's dark magic, gathered again in the Earthrealm. He had now became furious and
enraged even more with the way Earthrealm's inhabitants always took their protection almost for
granted, and when he learned that Shujinko had foolishly unleashed the Dragon King by
attaining the Kamidogu of the realms for him, his patience for the mortals had been fully
exhausted to the very point that Raiden decided that now was the time that he was going to
punish those who placed Earthrealm in harm's way, including brutalizing and slaying those that
would threaten the realm.
Raiden first started with Shujinko himself for his errors that caused the destruction of the realms,
but Shujinko was able to escape and survive. Then, he turned his attention towards Liu Kang's

14
corpse, desecrating his own tomb and removing his body from the grave, Raiden took it to an
underground temple that belonged to an ancient sect of cult-like necromancers called the
Houan, whom he had destroyed centuries after Shinnok's imprisonment and defeat eons ago
during the first Earthrealm War. Raiden spoke the enchantments the Houan had used to control
their revived undead which was etched into the temple's walls and infused it with a thunderclap
of lightning to revive his fallen friend and ally, thus binding Liu Kang's body with the enchanted
shackles, making him the undead zombified enforcer of Raiden's will, and was sent to wreak
havoc on those he believed did harm to Earthrealm for their defiance of the way they had
treated it.
Onaga revived the previously deceased Earth warriors as his pawns along with a newly-forged
alliance with the Tarkatan horde, the imperial guardsmen from the Orderrealm led by Hotaru and
used them to prevent Edenia's army and others from interfering with his plans while he
searched for the spells that would allow him to fuse the Kamidogu together and grant him
supreme power. However, just as he was about to do so, Shujinko rallied the remaining warriors
like Seido's resistance leader Darrius, ex-Seidan Guardsman and mercenary Dairou, two new
Black Dragon recruits Kira and Kobra, now led by Kabal after being convinced by Orderrealm's
rival realm, Chaosrealm, led by its cleric Havik in embracing their chaotic ways during their
scuffle with the Red Dragon's warriors in Mavado, and Hsu Hao among others to turn against
him, and in a moment absorbed their combined fighting power.
Empowered beyond the Dragon King's own expectations, Shujinko shattered each of the six
Kamidogu, the source of his invulnerability. Weakened and in defeat, Onaga attempted to
retreat only to vanish into thin air. As it turned out, Nightwolf carried, traversed, ventured, and
absorbed all the sins and traveled deep within the Netherrealm itself. Using a method of
knowledge passed down to him by his forefathers called the 'Sin Eater', Nightwolf drew a
binding symbol on the ground and chanted the ancient words that drew the spirit of the Dragon
King. When the spirit of the Dragon King appeared before him, knowing that he had carried the
burden long enough, Nightwolf released all the sins of his people into the mystic symbol, and
their weight bound Onaga to the Netherrealm, thus freeing Earthrealm from the corruption that
he had harbored for so long.
However, Onaga's defeat would be short-lived as well, as it would lead to a much bigger and
devastating conflict as it was during the time of the Dragon King's conquest of the realms, the
prophecy predicted by Delia was going to be fulfilled.

Armageddon/Judgement Day: The End Of All The

Realms
Prior to Onaga's return and his reconquest of the realms long ago, Caro mistook the loss of
Blaze's contact, possibly when he was kidnapped in order to watch over the Dragon King's eggs
as the signal to begin the race due to Shinnok's misdirection, Daegon had been awakened
prematurely for centuries. He discovered after demanding from his parents what the true aim of
the quest was, though he was unaware of the fact that their parents attempted to fake their
deaths to reveal their sons' true nature, Daegon became obsessed with the power which would

15
be granted to him immediately set up the Red Dragon clan under his leadership to represent
Caro that awoke him, he then used and enslaved him in order to create portals for his insidious
ends with his ultimate prime objectives with which were to find Blaze and assassinate his
brother Taven in order to claim the prize for himself.
Although the Red Dragon were also a powerful crime organization, it was caught in a civil war
with its stubborn rival clan, the Black Dragon and plotted their extermination secretly and use
the Special Forces to do so. Around that time, the Red Dragon also began experimenting on
their own clan members to create a hybrid of real Red Dragons as test subjects as well and
attempted to do so to Kano, but Kano would later know that they were going to fail.
When Taven was finally awoken at the correct time during Onaga's return by Taven's protector
Dragon, Orin, he was constantly ambushed by Red Dragon warriors, primarily within his father's
temple. Eventually, Taven made his way to the temple's main chamber to speak to his father,
only to find the weapon that was meant to be there had been stolen, before he was captured by
the Tekunin under the leadership of Sektor and escaped their captivity. As he finally made his
way to his mother's temple, which was now occupied by the Lin Kuei, when they formed an
uneasy truce with the Tengu clan, he managed to find the suit of armor that had been placed for
him. After he aided Sub-Zero in fending off Noob Saibot's shadow warriors along with Smoke,
now rescued to serve his brother's own ends, he then proceeded towards the Red Dragon's
stronghold in Charred Mountain to learn of what happened to his parents and how Daegon
became so obsessed with the power of Blaze in his hands.
During this time, Quan Chi, under Shinnok's orders, assembled the other Evil warlords,
including Shao Kahn, Shinnok, Onaga and Shang Tsung. Quan Chi had managed to discover
that the power that Blaze contained would be passed as a gift to the one who defeated him in
the process. To ensure that Taven would not interfere in their insidious plan, Quan Chi killed
Orin on the spot. Shinnok even offered Raiden a deal with which he would accept, only in secret
to discover his intentions. He also made a deal of his own with Shao Kahn, that he would
eliminate and prevent Taven from completing his quest, Shao Kahn would honor Earthrealm's
independence when his forces are victorious, but the deal backfired when Taven confronted
Raiden and beat some sanity and sense into the fallen Thunder God. While the Forces of
Darkness united in order to claim this power for themselves and their own egotistical ends, the
Forces of Light also united, and with Raiden's semblance of sanity left, joined in as well in order
to stop evil, and claim the power for the betterment of the realms, thus culminating in the
inevitable Judgment Day for all the Realms itself; the Battle of Armageddon, and just as Delia
had predicted at the crater within the Edenian ruins, the defining prophesied conflict came to a
head.
As Taven made his way to these ruins, he encountered Blaze who revealed the true nature of
the quest: to either use the power to destroy all of the kombatants, or simply strip them of their
power except for the heroes that did not deserve to die. Blaze also revealed that their
Judgement Day/Armageddon would be upon all the realms if they had stolen the prize and
defeated him instead of the foretold warriors, thus the quest would be a colossal failure. Daegon
not only revealed that it was he who had killed their parents over the prize, with the very
weapons their father Argus created to be used against Blaze (as it became apparent that
Daegon was the one who had stolen Taven's sword), he also told Taven that Shinnok warned
him that their parents made the decision to assist Taven and not Daegon, in which he was

16
envious of. As the Sons of Argus fought within the ruins with tremendous ferocity, Taven was
victorious and Daegon was defeated, but at a huge and terrible cost.
Meanwhile, the warriors clashing within the crater were suddenly stopped as the huge pyramid
placed by Argus millennia earlier rose from the ground, with Blaze, now empowered and huge in
size, waiting at the top. The warriors began to make their way to the top, fighting and turning on
each other in order to claim the prize. Taven took his sword and made his way onto the top of
the crater himself in order to defeat Blaze. In the end however, it was not Taven as he was
destined in order to prevent Armageddon who defeated Blaze much to his disbelieving horror
and the shock of all the kombatants themselves, it was none other than the supreme ruler of
Outworld, Shao Kahn, thus as Blaze had forewarned, Armageddon was about to be unleashed
upon the realms.

Renaissance With Unforeseen Consequences

After the Battle of Armageddon ended (while the Kombatants from both sides are dead leaving
Taven and Daegon's fates unknown as well), left Raiden and Shao Kahn the only two survivors.
Defeated and about to be dealt the final blow, Raiden used his last attempt to cast a spell on his
amulet, now shattered, to contact his past self and quote "He Must Win!" before he was killed;
thus Kronika's Armageddon plan for her "New Era" had been foiled...for now.
In the events of the first tournament (historically the tenth), Raiden's past self appears with Liu
Kang in the Mortal Kombat tournament hosted by Shang Tsung, now armed with visions of the
events from his future self when his amulet first cracked. After the first two rounds of the
tournament, with Johnny Cage defeating both Reptile and Baraka, Raiden and Liu Kang met
with Cage and explained to him the reason and purpose of Mortal Kombat, which he refused to
believe at first. Johnny Cage then finds Sonya Blade (whom Johnny Cage had flirted with
earlier) while she was contacting the Special Forces, and he offers to help her out. Initially
hostile, Sonya warms up to Johnny Cage after he saves her from Kano, during which time
Johnny Cage begins to understand the truth in Raiden's words and took it seriously. Later,
Sonya rescues Jax with assistance from Raiden. The Thunder God then explains to the four
Earthrealm warriors his visions he possesses and what they foretell.
Later, Raiden receives more future visions whereby he sees the ninja specter Scorpion killing
Sub-Zero and a new warrior forming (now known as Noob Saibot). Raiden confronts Scorpion
and requests he spare Sub-Zero's life, offering to ask the Elder Gods to restore his clan, the
Shirai Ryu, back to the mortal realm. this causes Scorpion to accept the request but his request
would later be short-lived. In Shang Tsung's Throne room, Scorpion later confronts Sub-Zero,
(after fighting Sektor and Cyrax), battled him in The Netherrealm and there defeated Sub-Zero,
honoring Raiden's request not to kill him, until Quan Chi appeared and shows Scorpion visions
of Lin Kuei forces attacking the Shirai Ryu clan and Sub-Zero killing his wife and child reminding
him of his goal for vengeance. This enraged Scorpion, causing him to renege his deal with
Raiden, and killing Sub-Zero much to Quan Chi's delight. He returns to the Throne Room in
regret holding the burned skull of Sub-Zero and disappears enraged much to Raiden's dismay.
Cyrax is later contracted by Shang Tsung to kill Johnny Cage, but is rebuffed by Raiden for
doing so. Cyrax defeats Johnny Cage in their match, but honors Raiden's wish and lets him live,

17
much to both Sektor's displeasure and Shang Tsung's dismay. Cyrax is confronted by Sektor
regarding the interaction, but defeats him in a brawl.
Meanwhile, Kitana attempts to kill Liu Kang, but is defeated and spared. Later, Liu Kang then
defeats Ermac, Scorpion, Quan Chi, Goro and Shang Tsung in the tournament. However,
despite their short-lived victory, Raiden's amulet cracks further. Disappointed with Outworld's
defeat, Shao Kahn orders Shang Tsung's execution, but relents after being given the proposal of
holding a second tournament in Outworld. During the events of the tournament, Kitana learns
that Shao Kahn lied to her and the fact that she was replaced by Mileena as his "true daughter"
while Jax, Johnny Cage, and Raiden attempt to rescue Sonya. Along the way, Sub-Zero's
younger brother and Smoke infiltrate Outworld to learn of the original Sub-Zero's fate, while
Ermac maims Jax. However, due to Raiden's assistance of Smoke, Sub-Zero instead
undergoes cybernetic transformation, inadvertently altering the timeline. Even worse, because
of Sonya's rescue by Jax earlier, Kitana instead was taken to the Colosseum. Raiden attempts
to substitute Kung Lao as the champion of the next tournament, only for Kung Lao to be killed
by Shao Kahn after defeating Kintaro, leaving Liu Kang to be the champion of Mortal Kombat
two times in a row.
Despite Liu Kang's seemingly fatal victory over Shao Kahn, the latter launches an invasion of
Earth. In this new timeline, Queen Sindel supposedly created a magical ward in her death,
preventing Shao Kahn from stepping foot in Earthrealm and claiming that realm as well. Quan
Chi resurrected Queen Sindel, removing this barrier. Among the response teams would be riot
cops Kabal and Kurtis Stryker. Although Stryker managed to defeat Kintaro, Mileena, and
Reptile on his own, Kabal suffered severe burns from Kintaro. Meanwhile, after defeating Ermac
(unbeknownst to Stryker that Kabal disappeared), he was recruited by Nightwolf to aid Raiden in
defending Earth. However, it was revealed that Kabal has been recovered by Kano only to
escape from Outworld. After defeating Sub-Zero (now a cyborg), fending off Sheeva, and
assisting Smoke in helping him, they both joined Raiden's defenders, composed of Liu Kang,
Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Kitana, Cyber Sub-Zero (his humanity having been restored), Jax
(now with cybernetic arms), Jade, Smoke, Nightwolf and Stryker. Sub-Zero, working undercover,
confronted Sektor and retrieved the intelligence from his data-banks. As Sub-Zero gained
information from Sektor, he learned that Quan Chi was sacrificing Earthrealm's souls via a new
soulnado to merge Outworld with Earthrealm, and confronts his older brother, Noob Saibot,
allowing Nightwolf to halt Quan Chi's ritual. However, the interference causes Shao Kahn's
forces to assault the headquarters of the Earthrealm warriors, where everyone (except for
Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Raiden, and Liu Kang surviving the ambush), are killed by Sindel,
with Nightwolf sacrificing himself to kill the empress.
During these events, Raiden, after failing to convince the Elder Gods to interfere, travels to the
Netherealm in an attempt to convince Quan Chi to join forces with him against Shao Kahn,
offering the souls of all the fallen Earthrealm warriors in exchange. Before he did so, Raiden
beats down Scorpion for siding with Quan Chi. However, Quan Chi laughed, and mocked the
powerless thunder god, revealing that he already had these souls as part of Shao Kahn's
agreement, thus fully solidifying their alliance. Quan Chi then summons these souls and pits
them against Raiden. Raiden successfully defeats six of the reanimated souls in his fury
towards the sorcerer, while Quan Chi remarks at how Shao Kahn has already won. On hearing
this statement, Raiden realizes that Shao Kahn has to win because by conceding to Shao Kahn,

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the Elder Gods would intervene and punish Shao Kahn for merging the realms illegally without
having won 10 consecutive tournaments. Raiden returns to Earthrealm and explains his plan to
Liu Kang, however, Liu Kang, delusional with grief mistrusts Raiden and goes to face Shao
Kahn.
Perhaps for Kronika however, it could be a second chance for Chaos to reign supreme once
more, as Raiden, knowing that if Liu Kang wins the battle against Kahn, Armageddon will ensue,
attempts to stop Liu Kang, fighting and defeating him. Undeterred, Liu Kang refuses to back
down from these unforeseen consequences. Raiden inadvertently kills Liu Kang while trying to
stop him from fighting Shao Kahn. That was an even greater mistake that the Thunder God
would regret and be haunted for the rest of his life. Raiden loses to Shao Kahn voluntarily, only
for the Elder Gods to intervene and grant him tremendous power. Raiden defeats Shao Kahn
who is attacked by the Elder Gods and is taken away for punishment, thus ultimately ruined
Kronika's Armageddon plan as she raged at the Elder Gods, especially Raiden for ruining her
plans once again.
In the aftermath of the whole debacle, Raiden vows to rebuild Earthrealm with Sonya Blade and
Johnny Cage, the last remaining Earthrealm warriors. Worse, even though Raiden had indeed
stopped Shao Kahn from merging Earthrealm with Outworld, he would unknowingly suspect that
Armageddon could still happen, but with Shao Kahn gone, Raiden cannot foresee another force
of circumstance might one day unleash it, and that still altered the timeline. However, Quan Chi
and Shinnok decide to use the chaos to their advantage to make their plan successful in order
to claim both Earthrealm and Outworld in the name of the Netherrealm for themselves.

The Next Generation: The Future of the Realms

A few years following Shao Kahn's defeat, Shinnok escapes the Netherrealm and launches an
invasion of Earthrealm. Shinnok personally goes to Raiden's Sky Temple with the intent to
poison the Jinsei, the life force of Earthrealm. Shinnok nearly imprisons Raiden and Fujin within
his amulet, only for Johnny Cage to intervene and knock the amulet from his hands. Shinnok
incapacitates Cage's companions, Kenshi and Sonya Blade, but Johnny manages to hold off the
former Elder God and passed the amulet over to Raiden. With the tables now turned in their
favor, Raiden imprisons Shinnok within his own amulet. At Fujin's recommendation, the two
gods take the amulet to the Elder Gods, seeking their guidance.
Soon after, Johnny and Sonya travel to Quan Chi's fortress in the Netherrealm, hoping to take
down the necromancer and his revenants before they can cause any more trouble. In the fight
against Quan Chi, Scorpion, and the revenants of Jax and Sub-Zero (now returned to a human
form), Johnny Cage is stabbed, and Quan Chi begins summoning a revenant as his soul leaves
his body. Sonya manages to defeat Quan Chi, however, and Raiden is able to reverse Quan
Chi's spell, saving not only Johnny Cage, but also returning Sub-Zero, Jax, and even Scorpion
to life.
In the years that follow, Johnny and Sonya marry and have a daughter, Cassie, and later
divorce. Scorpion revives the Shirai Ryu clan while mentoring Kenshi's son Takeda, and
Sub-Zero becomes the new Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei after killing Sektor.

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Twenty years after Shinnok's defeat, Johnny Cage assembles a new team of fighters composed
of Cassie, Jax's daughter Jacqui, Takeda, and Kung Lao's cousin Kung Jin. After undergoing a
training exercise with Sub-Zero which was meant to test the teamwork and effectiveness along
with Cassie's leadership, they are deployed to Outworld to resolve a civil war between former
empress Mileena, who has obtained Shinnok's amulet, and Outworld's current emperor Kotal
Kahn, with whom Earthrealm had ceasefire known as the Reiko Accords.
Meanwhile in the Special Forces base on Earthrealm, Sonya captures Kano and forces him to
reveal where Mileena is keeping the amulet. Armed with this information, Cassie's team aids
Kotal in recovering Shinnok's amulet and capturing Mileena. After executing Mileena, Kotal
decides to keep the amulet in Outworld's hands, and takes Cassie and her friends hostage to
prevent Raiden from retaliating despite the violation of the accords. Kotal's second-in-command
D'Vorah, who is revealed as a double agent for Quan Chi, steals the amulet. Cassie and her
team escape captivity, and inform Sonya of D'Vorah's intentions.
Jax and Kenshi, aided by Sareena, lead an assault on the Netherrealm and manage to capture
a weakened Quan Chi, who is brought back to Earthrealm and held at a refugee camp.
Scorpion, having learned from Sub-Zero the truth of Quan Chi's involvement in the deaths of his
family and clan, not only ended the feud between the two clans, but infiltrates the refugee camp
alongside his clan with the intent of assassinating Quan Chi, defeating Kenshi, Johnny and
Sonya in the process. As Scorpion prepares to kill Quan Chi, D'Vorah arrives with the amulet.
Quan Chi manages to finish a spell moments before being beheaded by Scorpion, releasing
Shinnok from captivity. Weakened by the Shirai Ryu's previous attack, Johnny is taken prisoner
by Shinnok and D'Vorah. With the aid of Quan Chi's revenants, Shinnok and D'Vorah assault the
Sky Temple, where they subdue Raiden. Shinnok then enters the Jinsei and corrupts it,
transforming himself into a powerful demon in the process.
Cassie's team pursues Shinnok, only to be intercepted by Kotal Kahn and his army. They tried
telling him about Shinnok's return and Kotal decides to kill them, hoping to appease Shinnok
and buy time to bolster Outworld's defenses. Sub-Zero and his Lin Kuei comrades appeared just
in time to repel the Outworld forces and congratulating Cassie's team for their teamwork and
bravery, granting them ultimate consent to save Earthrealm. At the Sky Temple, Jacqui and
Takeda occupy the revenants, while Cassie and Jin enter the Jinsei chamber. There, Cassie
defeats D'Vorah and Shinnok, and rescues her father. A grievously-wounded Raiden then
purifies the Jinsei, stripping Shinnok of his powers and forcing the revenants to withdraw. Sonya
and her soldiers arrive, and the Cage family reunites.
Some time later, the revenants Liu Kang and Kitana are revealed to have assumed leadership
of the Netherrealm in Shinnok's absence. Raiden, hinted to have been corrupted in the process
of purifying the Jinsei as a final warning, presents them with Shinnok's severed, yet still living
head tells them that they will face "fates worse than death" if they threaten Earthrealm.

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