Sub-Zero: Origins

Memory Lane

About ten feet away from where the renegade Cryomancer landed, he heard Tomas groan. "This was a wonderful plan," he drily remarked.

"You're alive, aren't you? And it bought us some time," Kuai Liang snapped.

"Yes, but I think it shaved ten years off my life." He started to laugh hysterically then, so Kuai Liang craned his neck to look at his friend in puzzlement.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I haven't had that much fun since the time we tied up Sektor and Cyrax to a tree in the forest and then poured honey on their heads," he replied with a giggle.

"I was twelve, and as I recall, our punishment wasn't that funny," he said. "My father beat me within an inch of my life. And then we had to do calisthenics in front of Oniro for the rest of the day." He sat up, brushing the snow off his tunic.

Tomas grinned. "But it was worth it. And if those blázni weren't after us, I'd like to take another run down the mountain. That," he paused as he looked at Kuai Liang, "was fun."

Kuai Liang faintly smiled back and shrugged. His friend had a point. It was a little fun. He'd almost forgotten what that felt like. He looked down at his hands, which were both screaming in pain. They were a tattered mess, oozing blood around bits of foreign debris such as pebbles and ice chunks. Bruises from the fight in the Temple and from their mad escape attempt were already forming on his fingers. His injured ring finger, he immediately saw, twisted unevenly from the knuckle to the tip, clearly dislocated. Without a word, he gripped it, ignoring its throbbing protests, and popped the bone back into place. He groaned, but bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut to stifle the pain. Pain is the mark of a weak mind, he told himself repeatedly.

Tomas watched him intently. "That looked like it hurt."

"It's nothing," the Cryomancer muttered as he tried to will the pain away.

"We should bind that. Immobilize it." The Czech man got to his feet, wiped the snow from his clothes, and rummaged through a tiny compartment built into his belt. He fished out a small roll of gauze.

"I'm fine," the younger man grumbled stubbornly.

"Yes, but you're just asking to injure it again leaving it loose."

"My pr̆ítel-"

"Wrap your finger before I kick you in the ass, zatraceně." There was a hard edge in his gray eyes that Kuai Liang seldom ever saw. He knew that Tomas was serious. With a disgruntled sigh, he held up his good hand, silently beckoning him to throw the bandages to him. The other obliged, and one-handed, the Cryomancer started winding the white cloth around his ring and middle finger.

"So what now?" he asked as he worked. "What's your plan?"

"My plan is to put as much distance between us and them as we can," Tomas said.

"That's it?" he angrily scoffed as his nostrils flared outward. "I thought you had a real plan to get us out of here."

"Right now, we need to keep moving. It won't take them long to catch up with us. But we need to find a way to get to Shang Tsung's Island, or maybe even to Outworld itself. Maybe we can set a trap for Sektor or Cyrax to see how they got there." He started walking downhill through the trees, looking intently at the details of the terrain that the moonlight afforded him.

Kuai Liang, now following him, asked, "What is Outworld? I don't remember learning about any place called Shang Tsung's Island, let alone Outworld, from any of our geography classes."

"That's because it's not on Earth," the other explained. "Earth is but one of many dimensions. Outworld is another dimension. Shang Tsung's Island is a kind of middle ground between them. Like Purgatory."