Father Dearest

Father Dearest

Shinnok stood laughing. The canyon’s walls resounded with his laughter. The laughter subsided. He looked down at his youngest son. He snickered as Rayden looked up at his father with pain filled eyes. Tears were brewing behind the former Thunder God’s eyes.

Rayden squatted down next to the body of a young blond female. Her face, arms, and legs were littered with dried blood and bruises. Slowly he raised her body up, gently raised her head, feeling for a pulse. He let out a small sob and pulled her against his chest. His pristine white robes blew in the wind.

Shinnok shook his head at his son and smiled. But there was no warmth in it. “This is your fault, you know? Interaction: Mating is not allowed. And you know that.” The tears finally made their way down his cheeks.

“I had permission! I am no longer an Elder God or the Guardian of Earth Realm, Fujin is!” His voice choked. “But you knew that…”

Shinnok laughed again. “It is your fault. Also your fault that I have no heir to the throne. Kahn is dead and I would never allowed such a pathetic fool claim my throne.” A twinkle lit the Elder God’s eyes. “Your mortal now…I could easily kill you now or make your mortal life a living hell.”
Rayden looked down at his wife’s body. He grew tired of being an Elder god. He was not allowed the same freedoms as he was when he was Earth’s god of Thunder and Lightening. Fujin had taken his place as the Earth’s God of Wind.
Rayden had only planned to visit with the mortals that had become his surrogate family. But after a while he and Sonia fell in love. The other God’s, after some pleading from the Former Elder God, was allowed the life of a mortal.
He and Sonia were married at the Temple of Light. They Were joined by Liu Kang, Jax, Kitana, and Sindel: who had made a special trip from Edina to witness the ceremony.

He had thought the Earth was safe, Shao Kahn was dead, Shinnok was imprisoned in the nether realm. But apparently his father escaped.

For the past year he and Sonia were trying to conceive. He had much like that part of being Mortal. And the thought of raising Children pleased him to no extent.

The way God’s created Life was two deity’s expelling some of their life force to create a new deity. And much of the time there was no love involved. Some times they had cared for their young, and only a few turned out to be like Shinnok. Rayden could not imagine creating a child, Mortal or Immortal and not love them.

He knelt back down, brushing some of the hair out of her face he winced as he saw a long cut leading down her left eye. Rayden looked up angrily. “Damn you!” In a fit of rage he flew at his father. Shinnok held up one hand and Rayden was stopped in mid air.

Suddenly long red tendrils shot up out of the Earth. Two wrapped around his wrists and two around his ankles. After he was secured the Elder God crossed his arms over his chest. He smirked as he watched his son struggle to get free. He began walking toward him.

“See what you’ve done? By making yourself Mortal you can’t fight back, against even the weakest of attacks. Without your immortality and powers you are nothing.” He continued to struggle.
Shinnok found pleasure in watching Rayden struggle to break free. Like watching a small animal trying to escape a trap.

Hour after hour the struggles grew less and less, until the Former God simply hung there. Eyes glairing hatefully at his father. “Bastard…” Rayden choked out.

“What?” Shinnok asked.

Rayden snarled. “BASTARD!” he bellowed at his father.

Without warning the Tendrils suddenly hot, hot enough to nearly sear the flesh from his bones. He bit his lip, squelching the scream that wanted to escape his lips. “No…I want to hear you scream.” Rayden spit at him.

“Do what you wish to my body…you’ve already destroyed my happiness. You can’t possibly do much more.”

A fifth tendril shot out of the ground, it wrapped around the white haired man’s throat and began squeezing.

After a minute or two his lips began turning a bluish hue. Then as quickly the grip was released. Rayden coughed and began gulping in air. Shinnok’s laughter resumed. “Mortals have to breath…God’s don’t.” Rayden already knew that…His “Father” was just trying to rub it in.

Shinnok grew tired of simply watching his worm struggle on the hook. He delivered a punch to the side of Rayden’s face. Blood and spit flew from his mouth.

For the rest of the day Shinnok continued this punishment. He slowed down for an hour. No sense in killing his offspring right away.
On the third day Rayden looked like he had been beaten for years. His long white hair was bloodied and matted with sweat and dirt. His once pristine white robes had turned pink in various places from the amount of blood loss.

Shinnok lifted his son’s head up, looking into the glazed filled eyes.
“This will continue for as long as possible. I will make you suffer every ounce of pain I had while in that damned nether realm. You will beg me to kill you. That’s a promise.”

Rayden managed to lift his eyes up to meet his fathers. “I am not afraid of you. You will not hear me beg to a monster like you.”

He smacked his son hard across the face, leaving a large hand print. “How can you still be defiant?! A mere mortal would have died for the pain alone!”
Rayden coughed. “The human spirit…Cannot be broken.” Shinnok growled angrily. He lifted one spiked boot and viscously kicked him in the stomach. Blood soaked through the robe and ran down to the ground in rivulets. Rayden made a gurgling sound and coughed out blood.
The torture continued for another day and night. He forced himself to slow down. He could tell Rayden was at Death’s door. Even though he had not heard his son beg for mercy, this was still fun.

Almost two weeks after his wife was murdered and his torture began he wished he were also dead. Shinnok would not let him die. He forced him to drink water and eat the food he had given him. Not out of love but out of hate. He did not want his son’s pain to end.

Shinnok had also laid Sonia’s body at his feet. Rayden could not bare to look down at her body. But he could smell her decaying flesh. That was the worst torture so far.

He noticed that Shinnok had not been back in a while. Thank the Gods! But he knew he would return soon. He closed his eyes tightly.

“Rayden, where are you?!” Rayden’s head snapped up, his white eyes widening at the sound of his name being called. It sounded like Sonia. That’s it…I’m going Crazy. The white, eyes began shimmering with tears.

“Rayden, where the hell are you?!” Sonia Blade stepped from around a boulder. Rayden’s pain filled mind went blank, then he finally managed to speak. “Sonia?” He looked down at where her body had been and it was gone.

Sonia gasped and ran over to her husband. “What the Hell happened?!” She wrapped her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly.

“Shinnok…” His throat felt like it was burning. She reached up, snatching at the glowing tendrils. They released their hold and Rayden crumpled against Sonia. Sonia laid him down on the ground. Sonia bent over him, caressing his cheek. She bent closer and suddenly her face seemed to shimmer.
“No…” He whispered as Sonia morphed into Shinnok. He let out a small whimper.

He snorted with laughter as he watched Rayden began to cry again. “That was wonderful! I could see the way your eyes lit up when you thought your precious mortal was alive!” His laughter grew louder.

Rayden felt his body being lifted back into the air again by the tendrils. Again his ankles and wrists were secured. His arms were pulled tightly together above his head. His legs were spread slightly.

After another hour of beating Shinnok suddenly stopped. “You won’t scream and beg me for mercy…but I thought of something that will. Physical pain can be forgotten but this will never be.” Rayden tensed up. What could Shinnok be planning? He was already to the brink of Death, what could be worse than…