In the Himalayan Mountains of southern Asia, in the serene tranquility surrounding the Shaolin temples several miles outside Liu Kang’s shrine, a lone bolt of lightning slammed into the earth, sending bits of dirt and grass into the air. Amid the debris stood a solitary figure, a being of servitude to the Elder Gods until he is chosen to become one of their own, the God of Thunder and Lightning, Raiden. Strings of electricity scurried up and down his exterior like ants over a butterfly plucked of its wings, only without the intention of doing harm. Unbeknownst to Raiden, however, were the deaths of two of his chosen only a handful of miles beyond his site. He had only arrived at the temples to pay respects to the Shaolin who had fallen before Liu Kang, their shrines located in a more vacant area. Before he could even lift a foot, however, a massive fissure was torn into the atmosphere just five yards or so in front of him. From the portal stepped an unfamiliar being, one Raiden could not identify materially, but spiritually he identified the aura of evil and wicked amounts of necromantic power buried deep within his sinful soul.
The being stood at no less than eight feet, a full foot and a half above Raiden’s six-foot, six-inch frame. A faceless obscurity was set beneath an iron headdress, which was fashioned into a form faintly similar to a horse’s skull set on its muzzle. Scarlet-dyed scraps of what had to be some sort of animal skin hung at random points from the headdress, adorning it in some sort of macabre ornament. Luminescent scarlet eyes were suspended at about an inch below the brim of the headdress. Blackened armor covered his shoulders, torso, and legs, leaving only a scarce bit of the underlying flesh visible around the flanks. A single foot-long iron spike protruded from each of the two shoulder guards, and smaller, three-inch spikes jutted from his large leather boots at oblique angles.
" Identify yourself, creature," Raiden’s thunderous voice commanded. The newcomer simply glared impassively at the Thunder God. "Identify yourself, or return to whence you came."
A putrid stink was carried from the emptiness beneath the being’s headdress, a nauseating blend of the stench from the furnace of a crematorium, dead rodents, and animal feces. "They call me the Overlord, but you may refer to me as Death!" the entity bellowed as he threw his arms out and his head back, an echoing laugh stemming from him. Immediately recognizing this individual as an imminent threat, Raiden called upon his element and thrust his arms out, wrists connected and palms vertical. A huge surge of electricity exploded from his palms like a flood through a weakened dam, the beams intertwining and growing in intensity before hammering into the Overlord’s torso with an earsplitting *crack!*
The immense shaft of entwined electricity propelled the Overlord backward, through half a dozen trees before slapping him up against the side of the Shaolin temple. Muffled screams sprung from the Overlord’s empty countenance as the bolts burned through his colossal form, channeling underneath his armor, through his pores and into his veins, surging through his arteries as if it were the crimson substance that gave him life. Once it struck his heart, the screams halted.
After several seconds, the Thunder God suspended the electrical outpouring, the thin strands of lightning returning to the exterior of his form, running up and down his mass persistently. His sparking eyes stared impassively at the fallen, stationary form of the Overlord. When the malevolent entity rose with ease, those gleaming orbs widened, and the threads of lightning flowing up and down him began to move erratically; this was his indication of shock. The same electricity flowing around his own form soon emerged on the Overlord’s body, and the scarlet orbs beneath the ominous being’s headdress transformed to the same electrical facade as the Thunder God’s.
Forcing himself out of his stupor, Raiden thrust an arm into the air, and with a crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning to his open hand, his legendary lightning staff materialized, and his fingers coiled around its fine surface. In moments, the Overlord emulated the Thunder God’s actions, throwing an arm into the air and summoning a staff identical to Raiden’s from the Heavens. Without delay, the pair dashed toward one another like a couple of quarreling rams. Raiden hoisted his staff above his head, and as if gazing into a mirror, his malicious likeness mimicked his movements. The voltage-enswathed staves smacked together with impressive force, a deafening clap of thunder detonating upon contact. Neither of them hesitated in performing as needed.
Raiden took a step back and swept his staff along the ground in front of him, while the Overlord plunged his into the dirt, impeding the rod’s path. Raiden lifted his staff and spun around, swinging the lightning rod around his form before jabbing it out like a pool cue, attempting to skewer his opponent. The Overlord, however, sidestepped the attempted attack and smacked Raiden in the back of the head, sending him staggering away. With much finesse, Raiden turned in mid-stagger and while facing his opponent and performed a graceful back flip, landing some yards away, making his botched attack appear as nothing more than an evasion. Raiden swiftly swung the staff around his body and with a motion of his hand, directed the Overlord to initiate an offense of his own.
Complying with the God, the Overlord trudged toward him, feigned a level prod with the staff, then spun around as Raiden took the feint and thrust the weapon out, hitting Raiden in the sternum, and then swept the end of the staff along the ground, knocking Raiden onto his backside. With the impulse to ram one end of his staff into Raiden’s chest overtaking him, he jabbed at the grounded Thunder God’s torso but was met with the soft soil as Raiden rolled out of the way.
Kipping up, Raiden rammed the furthest end of his staff into the Overlord's exposed ribs, swiveled on his heels and kicked into the pit of the Overlord’s leg, sending him onto a knee. The Overlord, however, regained his poise and pivoted on his knee, again sweeping across the dirt. Raiden back flipped over the attack with the intent to smack the Overlord in the chin with his feet, but the vigorous being was already evading the attack with a back flip of his own.
Virtually no time passing between their concurrent landings, the pair charged one another again. The Overlord jabbed his staff out, and Raiden sidestepped, swinging his pole towards the back of the Overlord's headdress. The spiteful entity dropped to a knee, avoiding the attack while sweeping his staff along the dirt. Raiden leapt over the sweeping shaft and swung his staff downward, but the Overlord was already countering as he lifted his staff in both hands and blocked Raiden's strike. The Overlord acted quickly and swept one foot along the ground, kicking one of Raiden's feet out from underneath him, sending him stumbling backward. The Thunder God turned his stumble into a flip, and as he descended, sank one end of his staff into the dirt and propelled himself through the air, feet first. The dropkick struck its target in the chest, sending him onto his back, but as Raiden soared over his fallen form, the Overlord pushed himself to his feet and spun around with a wild swing of his staff, narrowly missing Raiden’s throat as the Thunder God swayed back.
Reacting swiftly to his opponent's wild swing, Raiden punched his staff out and wedged it in between the unprotected area of the Overlord’s side and the armor covering his abdomen, hauling him overhead and onto his side, the rough landing stunning him and knocking the staff from his grasp. The staff disappeared as it was enveloped in thousands of bolts of electricity. Raiden raised both arms to the sky, and immediately a wide expanse of gray clouds draped over the sun, smothering its brilliant light in murky twilight. The subtle breeze formerly flowing through the area was extinguished completely, the entire area dark and stationary, bar the listless movements of the dazed Overlord and the actions of the Thunder God.