Queen Sindel woke up to the sounds of muffled talking and many footsteps. She felt her hand began to shake a little as she sat herself up from her bed.

‘Is this another invasion I feared?’ she thought.

Many thoughts came to her mind. Many times has her castle be nearly invaded by her enemies, the army of a realm called Outworld. Sindel was a strong woman, but she only trembled in fear even if the name Shao Kahn, the Emperor of Outworld, was mentioned to her.

Years ago, he had managed to take over Edenia and kill her husband King Jerrod. Kahn had taken her in as his bride, but Sindel’s insanity couldn’t take it and she took her own life. As she did, she left Kitana behind in Kahn’s ‘care.’ It wasn’t until many years later afterwards that Kahn resurrected Sindel and wiped away all she remembered. Kitana herself was manipulated by Kahn, but that was another story. Kitana had managed to free Sindel from his control. How they managed to get Edenia back, Sindel will never know. Perhaps she will find out one day.

Sindel looked up at her wall mirror, which was directly across from her bed. She saw what remained of her resurrection; her pale eyes. They were once a pool of brown, just like her daughter’s, but now they were long gone. Sindel had grown used to it, and so had the people of Edenia, but sometimes she wished that they were normal again.

Sindel quickly shook the thoughts out of her head. Now wasn’t the time to think about it. She had to find out what was going on. She quickly got herself out of bed and grabbed her Kwan Do from the wall. She didn’t bother to put on her robe over her laced nightgown. She quickly opened the door, then stopped in her tracks as she saw what was really going on.

She saw her guards going down the hall. They were not running, but they were not walking either. Soon, she saw a group of them carrying an unconscious man. Sindel saw the wound in his abdomen.

‘So this is what it’s all about…’ she thought feeling a bit of sorrow for the man.

She waited for all of her guards to pass. When the last one did, she placed her Kwan Do against the frame of her door, then stepped out. As she did, she and her daughter Kitana ended up making eye contact.

“Kitana,” the Queen said in a bit of surprise. Then, she noticed the cloak her daughter was wearing.

‘So that’s how he was found…’

Sindel wondered if her daughter had told at least one guard if she had left the castle. She knew that her daughter would sometimes run off without letting anyone know. Why she would do that, Sindel could never figure out.

She then noticed her daughter bowing her head down a bit. It was as though she knew exactly what her mother was thinking.

“Mother, I…” Kitana started to say.

“We’ll worry about it at breakfast,” Sindel cut in.

The mother and daughter followed the guards to one of the guest rooms where their hired handful of doctors and nurses were waiting. Sindel was grateful that the medical team were always in handy. Usually someone in the castle would get hurt about once a week whether it was serious, or something that happened because of stupidity, which was rare.

As soon as everything seemed a bit settled and the doctors and nurses began working on the man, Sindel slowly approached her trustworthy General Rain.

“What has happened here General?” she asked him.

Rain looked over at her and briefly bowed his head to her. “Good morning your highness. The Princess has found this man in the nearest woods from the castle. He’s still alive, but we are not sure of his condition. And, to me, judging from his style of clothing, I do not think he is from this realm.”

“Really?” Sindel asked in a bit of interest. “I wonder how he got here…and who attacked him.”

“He could’ve been in those woods for hours, we are not sure.”

The Queen nodded. Then, she went into a whisper. “Out of curiosity, did my daughter inform you or any of the guards about her leave?”

“Actually, no my Queen,” Rain replied. “When she approached us to tell us about the man, we had thought she was a stranger. We could’ve killed her had she not taken her hood off. Any reason why she snuck out again?”

Sindel only shook her head.

After what seemed like hours, the leading doctor approached the Queen.

“My Queen,” said the doctor. “This man was fatally wounded. If your daughter hadn’t found him when she did, he would’ve most certainly not have survived.”

“Will he be okay?” Sindel asked.

The doctor sighed a little. “We are not sure. We are trying our hardest. It’s been quite a while since anyone has been in the same condition as he was. We will be working on cleaning and closing up the wound. From there, the only thing we can do is hope.

“My Queen…from the way things look, I don’t think he will make it overnight. If he did, it would be a miracle.”

Again, the Queen nodded. “I understand. Well, if he doesn’t make it, I will arrange plans for his burial.”

The doctor nodded.

Kitana only heard parts of the conversation, but more specifically the end of it. She looked over at the man on the bed, who was clinging on to life by a hair.

‘What a terrible thing,’ she thought with a bit of sorrow. ‘To die alone in this universe…’

***

The Queen and the Princess of Edenia were served breakfast by their servants about an hour later. Kitana looked down at her plate full of eggs and pancakes. Then, she looked back up at her mother, who took her first bite of pancakes with a golden fork.

“Mother,” she said. “What will we be discussing with the Ambassador this afternoon?”

Sindel looked over at her daughter. “Well, it’s not too much to worry about really, but rumor has been going around for quite some time that the Outworld army has been planning yet another invasion into our world.”

Kitana sighed. “Why can’t they just leave us alone? Hasn’t the Emperor gotten the message yet?”

“Unfortunately, he’s not giving up, even after he was finally overthrown after many years of Edenia’s merge with Outworld. My dear, we are more powerful now than ten thousand years ago. Our guards are stronger and better trained than ever. But we always, no matter what, have to take precautions, which is why we are meeting with the Ambassador, to discuss what precautions we can take.”

“I see,” Kitana replied.

Then, the thoughts of the wounded man came to Kitana. He hasn’t really left her mind much since finding him in the woods. There was something about him, but she couldn’t figure it out. Perhaps it was because of the possibility that, as the General mentioned, that he was from another realm. Kitana’s guess…possibly Earthrealm, where she had been to a few times before.

‘How did he get here to begin with?’ she thought.

The thing was, would she ever know? If he didn’t make it through the night, that question would have to be discarded from her mind forever.

Then, without thinking, Kitana spoke to her mother. “What about the man I found today?”

Sindel smirked a little. “Do not worry. I had asked the General to look after him.”

Kitana nodded.

“That reminds me,” the Queen continued.

‘Great,’ Kitana thought. ‘Here comes a lecture…’

“I was told that you had left the castle without anyone knowing about it. This greatly bothers me because this is not the first time that you had done this. It’s such a simple task to just tell one of my guards.”

The Princess bowed her head down and looked down towards her barely eaten food in shame. “I’m sorry mother. Honestly, I know that there is no excuse…”

But in truth, whenever Kitana did tell a guard that she was leaving, she was constantly questioned about where she was going and when she was getting back, stuff like that. The specifics were so down to the core, it greatly bothered the Princess. And many times has one of her guards accompany her to her destination whether she wanted it or not. Kitana could take care of herself, having many years of combat training, and always carries her two fan blades. But even with that, the guards still felt that one of them should go with her, even if it was a quick errand. As much as Kitana appreciated it, she still needed her alone time.

“My dear,” Sindel continued after a moment of silence. “I don’t mind if you leave the castle without telling me…but please, tell at least one of the guards. If anything happened to you…”

“Mother,” Kitana sighed. “You know I can take care of myself. And I know you can too.”

Sindel slowly nodded with a frown. “I know. But you can never be too careful. Now dear, let us finish breakfast and prepare of the Ambassador’s visit.”

“Of course mother.”

Then, Sindel’s head slightly tilted up fast. “Oh yes! I almost forgot to tell you! The Ambassador is bringing one of his daughters along to the meeting.”

“Really?” Kitana answered. “Which one?”

“His eldest. I believe her name is Tanya.”

To Chapter Three------>