Only a few blocks away from the prison me and my allies were held in just moments earlier was Shao Kahn's personal library, and at this point, we were just now standing outside its door. To my surprise, we were not ambushed on the way there.

"I wonder what kind of stuff we'll find in there."

"Well, you do have a point there, Cage," I said, holding my index finger up.

"We could learn a lot here," Liu pointed out.

Kitana just looked a bit uneasy. It was as if Raiden's words were finally sinking in, and she did not want to enter.

"You look worried," Liu told Kitana, putting a hand on her shoulder, only to have it quickly batted away by her.

"I'm fine, Liu! I didn't ask you to comfort me!" Liu just looked at her.

"You know, Kitana...you're a bad liar."

Kitana quickly turned and glared at me.

"Kitana, it's obvious to all of us that you're not fine. Emotions are easy to read," I told her.

"I have no emotions!", she darted back. "And I'm certain Raiden sent you to accompany me so that you could falsely turn against my father!"

"Hey! I know nothing about your father...or step-father, or anything like that. I know just about as much about this realm as the rest of my allies here." I had to defend myself from that verbal attack. Kitana just gave me a funny look.

Kung Lao opened the door, and everyone else followed, Liu and Kitana entering last.

"Welcome to Shao Kahn's personal library," a man dressed in some weird robes said. "This library was made a public library just yesterday by Shao Kahn's orders. Make yourselves at home." He must be the librarian.

Upon entry, we hit the books. If Kitana looked uneasy a few moments ago, that was nothing compared to what she looked like then and there. She looked like she was about to freak out.

Jax picked up what appeared to be military-related books. Cage, on the other hand, was picking up books at random from the shelves.

"Point me to the history section," Kung Lao asked the librarian, who showed him where it was.

Having nothing in particular to want to look at, Smoke and I just went back and forth, speaking with our allies.

"DAMN! That was one hell of an army the last ruler of this realm had!", Jax shouted.

"Outworld's army right now seems to be pretty damn tough," I replied.

"But this army from the last ruler had NEVER been defeated in battle. They never had a casualty on their side." I just raised my eyebrow at that comment.

"Check this out," Johnny Cage said from behind us.

"What is it?"

"Outworld's only form of entertainment is fighting to the death."

"People here seem to think they're pretty damn macho," Smoke said.

"Yeah, but the only place they do this is in an arena owned by Shao Kahn, himself. And he watches these fights."

At that moment, Kung Lao went to our table.

"You guys will not believe this!", Kung Lao shouted.

"Shang Tsung...was born on our realm. His father was a Shaolin Monk, and is native to our realm. His mother is part Takrata, and she was once a necromancer in the Shadow Priests, and she's native to Outworld."

Almost all of us gasped.

"His mother's the reason his victories in the Mortal Kombat tournament were in the name of Outworld, despite his Earthrealm birth, as well as the fact that he was in league with Shao Kahn for thousands of years."

"That explains a lot," I told Kung.

"Sure does."

"THIS CAN'T BE TRUE! THIS CAN'T BE TRUE!", we heard from the other side of the library.

Our heads turned. Sure enough, it was Kitana's voice we heard.

"No wonder she was worried...," I said. "Raiden's words must have sank pretty deep."

"They're sinking even deeper now," Kung pointed out.

We saw Liu embrace Kitana, and this time, we saw Kitana return the embrace.

We walked all the way to the table where they sat. From a woman I initially thought to be an emotionless assassin, she was actually sobbing into Liu's chest. Then, she looked to all of us when we approached.

"Everything Raiden said...every damn thing...it's all true!"

We looked to the two books sitting on that table.

"I'll skim through this a bit."

Well, this book is a record of Shao Kahn's conquests, written by him, by the looks of things.

"Kahn actually wrote this?", I asked Kitana.

"It's in his handwriting."

I briefly skimmed through every page. It was about 160 pages, and about the last sixty or so were blank. Looks like it's incomplete.

"Edenia...Zaterra...some unnamed realm where the Vampires were native to...The list goes on and on. And Earthrealm's next..."

Meanwhile, Kung Lao skimmed through the other book.

"Shang Tsung is mad...to clone someone using DNA samples from Kitana and a Tarkatan...this is just terrible."

"That book was in Shang Tsung's handwriting...and he did that under the orders of Shao Kahn, too," Kitana pointed out.

I sat down next to Kitana.

"So, in that book I skimmed through...which one of those realms has to do with you?"

"Edenia..."

"Hmm...I didn't read in detail. Want me to do that, or you wanna tell us?"

"I can tell you all," Liu cut in. All eyes were turned to him, save Kitana's.

"Edenia was a very beautiful realm. Very similar to Earthrealm, too. Except the life expectancy of Edenians is thousands of years."

Liu stood and continued.

"Ten thousand years ago...Edenia was in a similar situation that Earthrealm is in now. Shao Kahn had his eyes set on invading Edenia. And Shang Tsung had won nine tournaments in a row against Edenia." His eyes then shifted to Kitana.

"At that time, Edenia was ruled by a benevolent couple; King Jerrod, and his wife, Queen Sindel. During what would be Edenia's final tournament against Outworld, the couple had their only child; the heir to the Edenian throne." He looked to us again. "They named her...," he paused, before shifting his eyes back to Kitana, "...Kitana." His eyes shifted back to us.

"Then, all hell broke loose. Shang Tsung won the tournament, and Shao Kahn entered Edenia, but King Jerrod would not let his realm fall without a fight. He declared war on Shao Kahn's armies."

Kitana stood from her seat. "My father's armies...my REAL father's armies...fought valiantly against Shao Kahn's...but ultimately failed. In the end, only two men stood. My father, and Shao Kahn." She paused to wipe away tears that were actually falling down her face.

"Shao Kahn murdered my father! As his prize, he forcefully wed my mother, who he made a widow, and adopted me as his daughter! My mother couldn't take it, so she killed herself, and Kahn withheld her soul as his trophy of his victory over my father!" At this point, it looked like she could no longer hold back her tears.

"And he forced you to train to become a personal assassin, correct?", I asked. She nodded.

"And he suspected you may turn against him, so that's why he had Shang Tsung create Mileena from your DNA and that of a Tarkatan, correct?", Kung Lao asked. She nodded.

"So now's the time you need to decide your allegiance. Do you wish to stay loyal to Shao Kahn, after all he's done to you?", I asked. "Or do you wish to stand up and fight?"

Kitana gave me a puzzled look. "It's your decision, and there's nothing we can do about it," Liu pointed out.

"Shao Kahn will kill me if I betray him," Kitana said, with a hint of fear in her voice.

"Well, look at us, Kitana! We know Kahn's gonna rape and pillage our realm! You see any of us wanting to take it?", Jax shouted.

"You'd better think about it real hard, girl, 'cause we're here to kick Shao Kahn's ass, and if you want to betray Shao Kahn after learning about the shit he did to you and your realm, then you're one of us!"

Her eyes shifted to each one of us. We gave her a look that sort of persuaded her.

"If you join us, Kitana," Liu said, "then we've got your back until our last breaths."

Again, she looked to each one of us, and then to Liu.

"After what Shao Kahn did to me, and is about to do to all of you...," she let out, with a short pause afterward, "...and knowing the fact that you all are here to take him down..., know that you all need my assistance, which I will gladly give you."

At this moment, Liu hugged Kitana, which Kitana returned, and suddenly, it turned into a whole group hug, with Kitana in the middle.

"Okay guys, enough!", she cried, giggling.

Eventually, the group hug broke off. "Well, didn't Raiden say to meet him at Outworld's Imperial Capital of Xiaohua?", Cage asked.

"Come to think of it, he just told me that...but since you all seem to be headed there, I'll show you all the way."

After we left the library, we all followed Kitana. Only a few miles away, and we'd be in the heart of Outworld.