Two lone warriors stood in the middle of a endless desert. It was clear their battle was over. The tall hulking warrior dropped to his knees in pain. The second man stood, fists clenched, heart racing,
"Face it Kahn, you're through. You're finished." he said inbetween desperate gasps for air.
The man on his knees, the warlord Shao Kahn, lifted his head, fitted with a ornate helmet fashioned from a human skull, and stared into the fierce eyes of his opponent, Liu Kang. As he stared, forgotten souls, trapped in the mysterious past of the blood stained desert, whispered shouts of "FINISH HIM..." onto the howling wind. Liu Kang grabbed the large skull medallion on Kahn's chest, and pulled him closer, face to face. Filled with powerful anger, but trained in benevolent ways, Liu Kang spoke,
"You have no army, no kingdom, and no power... I let you live so you can preserve whatever dignity you have left. That much is your right..." Kahn saw in Kang's eyes a determined intensity he'd never seen in his opponents before, usually... he'd see uncontrollable fear.
Liu held Kahn close for a few painfully long seconds to let his words fully sink in. The blistering wind blew waves of dusts over the barren, rocky landscape; the two fighters, seemingly unaffected as the dust stuck to their bruised and bloodied bodies.
After what seemed like a eternity, Kang dropped Kahn onto the dry cracked ground, and slowly, solemnly walked away into the distance.
Kahn stayed, lying on the ground in shameful defeat. His broken body pulsed with paralysing pain. However, deep inside his twisted malevolent mind... a peripheral thought surfaced.
Quickly that single thought became a dangerous idea which, even quicker, became a sinister, cunning plan that overwhelmed him with an insatiable desire to laugh.
A small wicked chuckle escaped his lips, caked with dust and dried blood.
"Is that your best...?"