Sub-Zero: Origins

Landslide

As the weight of the rocks crushed him, Kuai Liang felt the ground beneath his feet give way, and he began to fall amidst a ton of dirt and boulders. A small stone bounced off his forehead, but he did not register the sudden shocking pain. To his right, he caught a glimpse of Tomas flailing in frantic confusion before becoming invisible; the rockslide carried them downwards for several seconds until at last, they both crashed into solid ground. A large stone landed on the Cryomancer's ankle, and he felt the bone crunch under its weight as it pinned him facedown to the ground at the outermost layer of rubble. He howled but quickly stifled the sound, twisting his body to face his predicament.

A mound of rock and debris rested on his foot. With a frustrated grunt, Kuai Liang tried to army-crawl from the cave-in, but the rock pinning him held him fast. A thin stream of blood now wept red into his eyes. His fingers gingerly brushed what felt like a large gash at his hairline, and though he cringed at the inflamed tenderness, he merely wiped the blood away in annoyance. He couldn't be bothered with that right now. Tomas was nowhere to be seen. The Cryomancer suspected the worst, and if he was right, he needed to hurry in order to save his friend. If he wasn't too late, that was.

He concentrated his powers into his left palm, the hand that was closest to the pile, and aimed it at the offending rocks. A blue-white jet of cryogenic energy surged into it, and then a sheet of ice spread over and through it until all the rocks froze into solid chunks of ice. With his free leg, he kicked the one that pinned him to the ground. Like fragile glass, it exploded into razor-sharp shards. The Cryomancer shielded his eyes as the slivers of ice rained around him and zipped past his head. A second later, he was free. Unfortunately, his foot was crushed. He couldn't tell if the landslide had broken it or just badly sprained it, but whatever the case, his tabi boot stretched uncomfortably over the swollen joint.

With a pained grunt, Kuai Liang loosened his boot and forced himself to stand. His foot angrily protested, but he ignored it and forced himself to put weight on it to limp around the rubble. He gazed around and saw that he stood in some sort of a naturally occurring underground cave. Rocks and boulders from the landslide formed a tall wall that stretched to the twenty foot high ceiling and blocked out nearly all traces of daylight. That would hold Sektor off for a while. But once Kuai Liang and Tomas' bodies weren't found, the hunt would be on again.

"Tomas?" he whispered loudly, not daring to speak in his normal voice lest he risk another cave-in or worse, alerting the Lin Kuei to his presence. "Tomas!"

His eyes frantically scanned the rubble for some trace of his best friend. He started to yank smaller rocks from the pile, vaguely worried he was inviting more debris to collapse on them both, but working diligently nonetheless. He had to know. He had to know if Tomas was alive. But after ten minutes of searching without success, he began to accept the inevitable. Kuai Liang collapsed into the dirt in disbelief. How could they have come so far only to lose now? He rubbed his still-bleeding forehead with his dirty hand and sighed. God, please don't let him be gone.

"Fine time to disappear," he muttered, hoping his pr̆ítel would hear him, reappear, and counter with one of his usual smart-mouthed remarks. He wasn't particularly surprised when he didn't get his way. A peculiar, familiar pain crept into his throat and strangled his ability to swallow. It was bad enough to lose Bi-han. He didn't think he could stand losing Tomas as well, and on the same day at that.

Then he wistfully glanced at the pile one more time. This time, in the tiny stream of daylight from above, his eyes caught sight of some strange looking rocks peeking from the pile about a foot off the ground. He was certain they weren't there before. Kuai Liang scrambled to them on all fours, and instantly saw that they were gray and black with dust like the other rocks, but they were shaped like narrow cylinders. He ran his bloody hand over them and realized with surging relief that they weren't rocks at all, but human fingers.