Mortal Kombat: Timelines

Chapter 3

Black.

That's all there was. Until he awoke.

Aric groaned in pain as his eyes fluttered open, he was on the ground and on his stomach. He slowly pushed himself up, his joints and muscles felt stiff and they hurt. Once up, he looked around and saw he was in a place of ruin and he looked up toward the sky but all he saw was endless black with flashes of lightning and thunder rumbling.

"Where in Argus am I?" he asked himself as he looked around him.

Then he doubled over and gripped his gut and started to cough violently, then proceeded to throw up blood. He felt like his insides were on fire and it was not ending, it was unbearably painful. His body held a faint green glow as the pain increased, he looked at his hand and saw the Emerald Jinsei burn in his palm but it was faint.

"What's wrong with me?" he wondered.

He looked around his surroundings one more time and it finally clicked, he figured out where he was. He was in the Void, a place beyond the realms and time. He heard legends about this place but he didn't think it was true, including the fact that it is impossible to escape it.

It is held by the strings of many timelines throughout space, making that much weight immeasurable and it made it impossible to leave once locked in behind its barrier.

He got to his feet and walked toward the edge of the Void, he was hunched over and still gripped his gut. The entire place was in ruins and he couldn't fathom why, he ignored all his thoughts and weakly made his way toward the barrier.

He reached the edge of the Void and banged his hands against it, causing ripples to pulse out. He banged his hands on it again and increased force with each strike, he then sighed and collapsed to his knees.

"I'm never getting out of here." he said softly in despair.

He sparked the Emerald energy in his palm and eyed it carefully, then he slowly remembered what Raiden said about Jinsei energy.

All forms of Jinsei are connected. Since you carry the Emerald Jinsei, it means you can connect and tap into other forms of Jinsei surrounding the realms.

"Tap into?" Aric thought out loud.

He then decided to sit in a lotus position and started to concentrate. He slowly started to harness the power of the Emerald Jinsei, his body started to glow in a faint green energy. He groaned in pain as his insides started to burn agonizingly but he forced himself to fight through it.

Then the faint green glow turned to a dark green color, he fought through the pain and pressed his hands together and exhaled deeply. Then he jumped up and formed all the built up energy into his palms before blasting it toward the barrier, it hit the barrier and celestial boom echoed all around him and arcs of energy were being ricocheted from the barrier.

He was fighting against infinite strings of timelines and realms, all that immeasurable weight. He increased the power of the blast and it started to twist around as energy was still ricocheting off the barrier, he was losing strength fast and he needed to at least make a dent big enough.

"Come on!" he yelled in desperation.

Then the barrier was breached throughout its inifinte strings, a portal started to form as the energy blasted its way through the barrier. That motivated him further despite losing strength and getting tired, he then summoned the last portion of energy and blasted right through the barrier and a portal sprung to life.

A portal. But it wouldn't hold forever, it would close soon again.

He wasted no time and dived right into the portal, at first it was dark but then a flash hit him before he was launched forward into the strings of infinite timelines. He screamed out of surprise as timelines sail past him like memories, he heard voices, talking, spanning realms and endless timelines.