The ghost of a fallen goddess
Shang Tsung always enjoyed when the moment to reap the fruits of his labour came. Serving under Shao Kahn may frustrate him deeply, but the reward was satisfying, at least.
Souls. Shao Kahn had an unlimited amount of them thanks to his conquests. They were useful for all kinds of experiments, or, in this case, to keep one of his most useful underlings alive.
After earning Outworld a victory in the very first Mortal Kombat tournament against Earthrealm, the Emperor decided to allow the sorcerer to take some souls from his collection. It was unnecessary, since Shang Tsung already had his ways to find souls to consume, but he attributed it to how much Shao Kahn underestimated him. He enjoyed treating him like a dog, and that was his way of throwing him a bone to see if it would keep him obedient. It wouldn’t, of course, and Tsung would let the Emperor know that the moment he could finally overthrow him. But that day would have to wait, it was time to enjoy what he earned.
Shang Tsung was given access to a particular section of one of the many buildings Shao Kahn had just to recollect the souls he had accumulated during his conquests. Accompanied by two of the Emperor’s loyal Shadow Priests who were meant to supervise him, Shang Tsung walked through long halls full of shelves filled with jars in which the souls remained trapped.
The Shadow Priests lost count of how many souls from those jars Tsung absorbed, but the sorcerer himself kept the count of not just the ones he had taken that day, but of the ones he had taken in all his life. After all, each of those souls meant a greater lifetime, more power for him. And he wanted to keep in mind how much power he had at any point.
Sometimes, just before he finished taking over one of those souls, he could hear a scream. One of a tormented being who had been denying an afterlife and was about to be condemned to be nothing but a source of power for a wicked man from then on. And he knew exactly who they were too, given that he earned all the memories and knowledge of the souls he took. The first times he ever heard that kind of scream, long ago, Shang Tsung had felt more disturbed than he would ever admit. At that point, however, his only reaction was either indifference or a grin caused by being reminded of the power he held over others.
During his way through one of the hallways, Shang Tsung noticed a big door not long away, still part of the section in which he had been allowed to claim souls. It was watched over by quite a few armed guards, highlighting even more how Shao Kahn wished no one to enter there. And yet, he had permission that day.
The curiosity ended up winning Shang Tsung over. He entered the room behind that door, which the guards had no problem allowing. The Shadow Priests entered with him, closing the door behind them.
To Shang Tsung’s surprise, there was seemingly nothing special in that place. Despite its size, it was almost completely empty. The only thing which could be distinguished there was yet another jar in the middle of its floor, which contained a soul that didn’t seem any different from any other. Still, the sorcerer knew something had to be special.
He approached the jar and looked at it carefully. “Who are they?” he asked the Shadow Priests.
“Kreeya.” one of the Emperor’s dark sorcerers answered immediately.
Shang Tsung turned to that Shadow Priest, with an expression which reflected his surprise. “I understand you mean the same Kreeya who once ruled Fabir?”
The Shadow Priest nodded. “None other.”
It made sense. Only such a soul would be worth all that protection. It had to be one Shao Kahn was keeping for an important occasion and didn’t wish to lose. And of course, it was the soul of a protector goddess that, despite having lost her title, must have been quite powerful in life. And Tsung could be confident about that fact, given that even his business partner, Queen Vorpax, seemed to recognize the power of her mother despite how much she despised her.
Shang Tsung thought of everything he could gain from taking that soul, making Kreeya’s power and knowledge his. The temptation was so much that he didn’t even stop to think why Shao Kahn would just allow him to claim it.
After opening the jar, Shang Tsung began the same old process. He extended his arm towards the soul, summoning a green beam out of his hand which involved it. Soon, that soul shall be his.
He wondered if he would hear a scream this time. That one he would enjoy especially, not just for the reminder that a powerful being was now empowering him, but because claiming the soul of another former protector god would give him a taste of how it would be when Shao Kahn fell to him. It was only a matter of tim…
“You dare to try to take my soul.”
Those words quickly took Shang Tsung out of his thoughts. He noticed how Kreeya's soul had just entered contact with his hand, but for some reason he seemed unable to absorb it.
“What…” it was all he could say. He had never seen anything like that.
Once again, that voice only he could hear spoke.
“I have just been gone for some thousands of years. A mere blink. But it seems like it’s quite a lot for you, mortals. Enough for you to forget who I am, enough to believe that Kreeya’s soul is but a rotten corpse, ready to be consumed by insects.” she spoke with an angry yet cold tone. “You have no idea how fortunate you are that I am unable to make you pay for this insolence at this moment. Oh, but fear not, I do not forget the likes of you. Your punishment will come one day. For now, learn your place.”
After hearing those words, Kreeya’s soul suddenly emitted an orange light which made Shang Tsung feel a strong burn in his hand. That, alongside the shock he felt, made the sorcerer fall to the ground.
Shang Tsung couldn’t help but instinctively crawl on the floor in order to get away from that thing. For someone like him, who had experienced souls as nothing but defenseless, such an experience was his equivalent of seeing a ghost.
The Shadow Priests who had accompanied Tsung were quick to act. They ran to the jar and closed it before Kreeya’s soul could get out of it. After making sure she would stay trapped, they turned to Shang Tsung, who had just managed to stand up from the floor.
“What was that!?” exclaimed Shang Tsung, as frustrated as still shocked, perhaps even scared.
The two Shadow Priests exchanged a quick sight. One of them nodded to the other, allowing them to answer.
“It is said that the foolish goddess of Fabir had a vast knowledge in magic, one she tried to use to make herself untouchable. She mastered the control over her own body, mind and soul, and developed many defenses over all those attributes.” they explained. “What you have just experienced is the defense means of her rotten soul she’s still able to use. No one has been able to break through them, except for Emperor Shao Kahn.”
Shang Tsung took some moments to calm down and think about what he had been told. As much as it hurt him to admit, it was logical. Gods were beings that held more power and knowledge than that he or most mortals could imagine. It wasn’t all that surprising that one thought it convenient to develop means to prevent her soul from ever being taken, at least not from those who didn’t have enough power or knowledge to break through her defenses.
But there was something he still wondered.
“If you knew, why didn’t you stop me?”
There were some noticeable seconds of silence before one of the Shadow Priests answered. “We were distracted. We promise not to commit that mistake again.”
Idiotic excuse. No, Tsung knew far better than to buy that. He actually didn’t take long to deduce the actual reason, the same reason why Shao Kahn had allowed him to be there in the first place.
He had just tried to claim the soul of a fallen goddess, a being like Shao Kahn, when she was in the weakest possible state. And yet he still failed, his magic proved insufficient to surpass the one Kreeya used to protect her soul. If she could still overpower him easily, so could Shao Kahn.
He could already imagine how amused the Emperor would be once he was notified of Tsung’s attempt, his laugh filling the whole room. It was enough to make the sorcerer’s blood boil, to curse his current master deep down with all his will.
Shang Tsung would decide to go back to his quarters after taking a significant amount of other souls, still full of anger. The only thing that relieved him is that he was confident he would make Shao Kahn pay for that and every other humiliation.
Here's a little WIP I have just made. It's mostly to elaborate a bit on the abilities of my version of Kreeya, but I hope it will also be a fun read! 😄
A curiosity that I think it's worth to comment here is that when it comes to Kreeya's powers (other than the orange energy I'll show her able to use in her HeroForge's designs), I have decided to give her the theme of corrupting abilities that, on paper, could be seem as meant for good:
-She can create life -> She uses it to create beings who she sees as nothing but tools and makes them worship her
-She has abilities which seem purely defensive, being able to protect her body, mind (I should specify how it works for these other aspect another day) and soul from all kind of attacks -> She uses it to be untouchable while harming other people (although in this instance in particular she used it for defense, to be fair).
This is also partially inspired by an ability of the original Kreeya from Mortal Kombat: Conquest, who in her debut episode was able to basically nullify Shang Tsung's magic due to her necklace, which seemed to be some powerful object there. Here she just doesn't need anything like that, it's her own power.
I hope this simple story may still be an interesting read for y'all! 🫡
