Backstage Pass to Mortal Kombat

Chapter 25 - Stitched Red Dragons

[[Hope you guys like this chapter! I'm gonna keep writing, cause I'm really into this right now. So you might be getting another chapter today...dunno. Enjoy!]]

One year later…

Warmth flowed in waves from the fire, crackling and whipping with ease into the night sky. It looked like an orange and red mountain in front of me, though I knew it was just because I was sitting below the flames. My blue eyes followed the sparks that sprung from the fire, swirling and flying like fireflies. Hah, I snorted in my mind, a pun.

Finally pealing my eyes away from the fire, I ignored the conversation Johnny, Cory, Walter, and the rest of the fighters were entertaining as we all sat on this beautiful beach. I was extremely thankful to be on a beach again; it felt like home. It was weird, calling Edenia my home, but that’s what it was. If I were to go back to America, in the Earthrealm, I wouldn’t have anywhere to go. My aunt and uncle had offered for me to live with them…but now I’m eighteen, would they still want me there? I had hardly spent any time with them before my parents’ deaths.

Well, I won’t be eighteen for long the thought crossed my mind as I stared up at the pale white orb cradled in the sky. It was the biggest moon I had ever seen. It was also the brightest; lighting up the beige sand below, turning it white beneath our feet. Everything seemed to either turn black, silver, or white in the moonlight, except those around the fire; we were orange.

It was hard to believe we would be leaving here soon, heading off to wherever we were going next. We all had passed the test today; it was a mental strength test. We all had to figure out a way through a giant maze, fight opponents, and dodge booby-traps all while trying to get out of the maze within sixty seconds.

I didn’t want to leave this place…I finally felt at peace here.

Soft tide washed onto the sand, creating a gentle ‘whooshing’ noise, like a background sound to our loud mouths. Tonight was a night off – the first in many months. With a bag of marshmallows on my left, and a bag of miniature hot dogs on my right, I was content in my pink pajamas with monkeys on the shorts and tank top.

“Never imagined you as a ‘pink’ person,” Johnny kept sniggering at me, glancing down at my pajamas whenever the confusion overwhelmed him.

I simply shrugged, “Last time I went into town I saw them. They felt different from anything I wear nowadays, so I bought ‘em.”

Walter spoke up then, “Leave her alone, Johnny…it’s not her fault she’s just a kid.” A few of the other fighters joined him in laughter.

“I’ll have you know my birthday is in three days. I’ll be nineteen.” I narrowed my eyes as Walter around the fire, wishing that if I ever were to gain laser vision, now was the time.

Cory, sitting on my other side on the bench the men were using, gently nudged my shoulder with his knee. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

I looked up at him, “I told you now, didn’t I?”

Then a conversation I really would have rather avoided rang out, pulling everyone enthusiastically in. They leaned together, talking like I wasn’t there watching them all, glowering as every one of their faces.

“Where can we get a cake?”

“Mmm, cake…feels like forever since I had cake.”

I piped up, “But I don’t want c–” only to be talked over.

“I don’t care what you want, I want cake! You’re having cake, kid.”

“What about wrapping paper…” Johnny mused. “I think we’ll have to use our pillow cases.”