Those creatures were below me, pacing back and forth, circling each other. They were not aware of my sudden appearance in the strange window yet. I wondered what they were there for- if they were something else there so that I could kill them. I knew they weren't in any way concerning me other than perhaps good practice, but would I get into trouble with 'the master' for it?

So there I was, about thirty feet in the air, in a little hole, in my human form, my lower face from my nose down to my chest covered and wrapped in a thick cloth, I wearing something I could only identify as a ninja gi. I don't remember where I obtained it, or why I had it, but it was there for me to wear.

All of a sudden, every last one of the creatures backed up against a marble wall, whimpering and giving looks of pure fear. Only then did I see the woman walk through to the middle, right below and in front of where I crouched in the window. She was dressed in a purple leotard, with thigh-high purple boots and elbow gloves that were also purple to match. Taking out a knife, a sai, she said, "Somebody else is here."

I said nothing, and just froze were I was.

"No use hiding," the woman said calmly, "Oh, there you are- I see you."

I stayed still, just staring at her. After about ten seconds, I crawled back up the hole to the forest area I was in before. I don't know why I left, the woman just had a frightening air around her; frightening chi, you could say. And the way the animals, which looked so fearless, backed away from her, she could not be a trustworthy woman. I heard a sound, one that sounded like something piercing through air, when that sai came flying from the window, launching into a tree, which it stabbed into, lodging itself. I thought I heard a slight scream. I stared at the weapon, both amazed and frightened at the talent she posessed at being able to curve the weapon and throw it that far, almost killing me.

As I stared at it, a blue aura surrounded it, and it disappeared.

Out of the ground, she herself came, magically, somehow, right in front of me. Well, I had seen that before. Nonetheless, I was frightened only for the facts that she was a strange, mysterious woman, and that I was a young child. She obviously noticed that right away, as her stern eyes changed to those with mild curiosity in them, but a veil of arrogance prevented me from going any farther.

"Who are you?" She asked bluntly.

"I work for the Master, Shang Tsung," I replied.

"Ah, I see," She said, "You know he is not the true Master?"

I didn't believe her, so I contemplated a question to ask, and my young mind came up with "Well then, who is?"

"My father, Shao Kahn, the Emperor and Ruler of the Outworld, and many other realms is," she declared proudly, "And Shang Tsung is his servant."

"Okay," I replied a little stupidly, registering and blowing the information off at the both time. A part of me wanted to believe it, but another part of me just didn't, thought it was rediculous that a single thing could rule a whole realm, much less multiple ones, and rule them steadily.

"So," she continued, "what are you?"

"Huh?" I once again stupidly replied, for my mind had wandered whilst I was contemplating this supreme ruler, Shao Kahn.

"I see you are not human, child, what are you?"

"Oh!" I started, "I am a raptor-"

Before I could say anything else, she interrupted me with "Raptors! They were my FAVORITE species of creature when I was much, much younger! So, what part of Zaterra are you from?

"Zaterra? What is Zaterra?" I asked. I think I very much confused her, for the look on her face was absolutely dumbfounded.

"Zaterra is where all of the Raptors live! A long long time ago, they were from the Earth realm, but a war brewed strongly that realm between superior beings up in the sky. The Raptors had to leave in order to survive, and they left to another realm- the realm of Zaterra. But that was millions of years ago, I'm sure of it! There is no way you could have come from Earth! You are a child! I know that the Raptor's human forms grow with their regular forms!"

"Well, when I was little, my parents used to tell me that story, but I thought they just used it to evade from telling us that something had destroyed most of our species."

"Oh! I know!" she exclaimed, obviously not listening to me; dealing with her own conundrums in her head, "You must be from that one colony on the Earth Realm that remained oblivious due to the fact that they were covered by a shell of black magic, or something like that. . .no, wait, that was the Cytamaurians, yours was the colony that was just attacked a few years ago. Yeah, they stayed on their own accord as the realm was ravaged. I wouldn't know why, maybe they just didn't want to leave their homes."

She was talking to me like I was not part of that species. I didn't mind, it wasn't like I knew anything that she was telling me (mostly talking to herself, I'm sure) previously, anyway, it was new information, which I appreciate.

Then it clicked in her mind. She was talking to an eight year old boy she had found in a window, now in a forest. I'm sure she was wondering why the Hell she was doing that, so she stared at me for a few moments curiously, and then teleported away again, however not without saying, "I will see you, and who knows, I might be the last person you'll ever see," as a sort of cover-up ending for her accidental show of humane personality that I never saw again, by the way.

I was equally as confused, as this was my first time meeting her, the first time I had ever heard of the realm Zaterra, and the first

glimpse

of

HIM.