Disclaimer: The characters in this story and some places do not
	belong to me. I only own the characters of Veronica, Joel,
	Bridgette Spencer and Danielle. I only write these stories
	for fun and do not intend on copying anyone.

	This story is for Lisa and Christie whom encourage me to
	go on with my stories.This story would never exist if it
	wasn't for them Thank you Christie and Lisa :)

                 

Realm of Fire (part 1)

	The underworld. Realm of the souls of humans that have
perished. A young woman stood in the middle of the creepy place
that most people called hell. She remembered what her friend had
told her. She remembered her mission.
	It started when she was simply reading a book in the living
room of Kitana's Outworld palace. The fire was burning calmly in
the fireplace. A light wind blew through the open window, trying
to blow the fire out. The book was something to make her forget
about Johnny.
	Johnny was a casualty in a war between the Earths greatest
warriors and the evil Outworld emepror Shao Kahn. Johnny's soul
and millions of other human souls had been taken by Shao Kahn
and his minion during the merger. 
	Kitana had burst into the room suddenly and had informed
Sonya that when Kahn was defeated and the Earth returned to
normal,  everyone whom died during Kahn's invasion were
supposed to return alive. Unfortunately a group of souls never
returned. The reason was unknown. Johnny was possibly one of
those lost souls.
	Now Sonya must travel through the depths of the
underworld to save him and bring him back to Earth. 
	Flames shot out from piles of black rocks. A stream flowed
by Sonya's feet. The water had a strange smell to it. The trees were
bare and dead.  Lightning crashed from the dark clouds yet no rain
falls from the sky. This area of the underworld was  like a
nightmare. She wondered how anyone could survive in these 
conditions. 
	Sonya could barely see through the mist. An old house
could be seen through the fog. She cautiosly  walked towards the
house. The door was partially open revealing a dark 
living room that had not been used for a long time. A lantern sat at
Sonya's feet. The yellow light was somewhat comforting.
She took hold of the lanterns handle and pushed the creaky door
open. She proceeded into the house.  Paintings looked as if they
were about to fall off of the walls. 
	"Anyone here?" Sonya asked in a small voice.
	She continued to examine the house. The railing on the
staircase was  broken. Cobwebs sat in every corner.
	The level of dust was high. A silence shattering, evil laugh
destroyed  the silence. Her face was not visible behind the
shadows. 
	"Sonya, remember me?" She said looking over the high
balcony of the staircase. 
	It wasn't until the mysterious girl stepped into the rays of
the lantern light that Sonya recognised her. 
	"Mileena!" She cried. 
	Mileena grinned in malice. "You're going to regret coming
here when I'm done with you" Mileena growled. 
	A glint of silver. In each hand  Mileena held a nasty
looking sai.
	"Drop the lantern!" Mileena ordered. She threw on of the
sais at Sonya. 
	It slashed Sonya across the side of her hand. Sonya cried as
it tore her flesh. The lantern fell out of her hand, tt shattered to
pieces against the floor. The floor caught fire. It spread quickly.
The smoke hurt Sonya's eyes. The sai was stuck in a wooden wall.
Sonya grasped the handle and yanked it out. Mileena walked
towards her. Sonya watched  in disbelief as she stepped through
the flames. reality came back quickly though. 
	"Mileena is dead, thats why she can do that." Sonya
thought. She threw the sai back at the ex outworlder. It pierced
Mileena on the side of her waist. Suprisingly it damaged her. 
	"This was not supposed to happen." Mileena shirieked. She
fell to her knees clutching her wound. The fire died down and the
two of the were left in the darkness. 
	The glass remained on the floor. Sonya picked up a large
piece of glass with a sharp edge to it. She swiped it against
Mileenas face, leaving another wound across her face. 
	"Okay you beat me, please don't finish me off." Mileena
pleaded.
	"Why not?" Sonya snapped. 
	"This was a test to see how strong you were." Mileena said.
	She hopped up. Her wounds were gone. Mileena unlocked
a cupboard. In it was a rather dangerous looking sword. 
	"The hell blade is essential for what you must go through
to find Johnny." Mileena informed. 
	She handed it to Sonya. The handle was in the form of a
golden dragon. The blade was smooth on one side, jagged on the
other side. It looked a lot like a saw. 
	"The smooth side is too injure someone, the jagged side is
to chop someone straight in half Through muscle, bone and all."
Mileena explained. 
	Sonya felt extremely uneasy as she took the dangerous
weapon. She put it in her belt. The hellblade was strangely light.
	"Remember most of us CAN die, very few of 
us can't." She said. "Now you must get going for you have a long
journey 
ahead of you."
	Sonya nodded. "You are right, thank you for your help"
Sonya said. 
	She stepped out of the house. She turned back to the
Outworlder.  A warm smile came across Sonya's face. Mileena was
now a friend. 
	"Would you like to come?" Sonya asked Mileena. Mileena
shook her head politely.
	"I will stay here for now, I will keep an eye on you Sonya.
Good luck." Mileena said.
	Once again Sonya followed the path that would lead her
closer to Johnny. Many hours had passed since her encounter with
Mileena. Now it was just her and the hell blade in her belt. The
place was deserted. 
	"Where is everyone?" she wondered. 
	Sonya paused in the middle of the dust covered road to
catch her breath. The underworld was a wierd place. There was
just something not right about the place. Sonya didn't notice the
cracks expanding under her feet until it was too late. 
	She was standing on hollow ground. She fell through the
ground. It was an awfully long fall and when she landed it felt as if
she had broken every  bone in her body.
	Sonya looked around her. She had fallen into some
underground cavern. It was hot. The whole cavern was lit up with
flames shooting out of the cracks in the ground. Fire was
everywhere. It climbed up the walls and circled her. Sonya 
wandered around looking for a way to get out.
	She heard a sad and terrified cry come from a nearby cave.
Sonya had to see what it was. She entered the dank cave. Another
sob was heard. 
	"Hello?" Sonya asked.
	"Go away!" A young girl snapped. 
	"I might be able to help you." Sonya offered.
	"No go away while you still have the chance, he killed my
friend and he will come back for me soon" The girl warned. 
	The little girl was huddled in the corner. She was about ten
years of age with long brown hair and blue eyes. She had a tattered
purple dress on. The girl, Veronica, looked up at the pretty blond
woman in the blue tank top and black jeans and realised 
that she could help her. 
	Sonya smiled at Veronica. "Hi I'm Sonya." She 
introduced herself.
	Veronica stood up. "I am Veronica." She answered. 
	"Come, let's get out of here" Sonya said taking the little
girls hand. 
	As soon as the were about to rush out of the cave,
a loud roar came from the front. Sonya felt Veronica's grip tighten. 
What stood before them was not friendly. 
	It was a hulking beast with black fur and long claws. It
bared its teeth and let out a throaty growl before lunging at
them.Sonya knew he was after Veronica and knocked her out of
the way. Sonya took the blow for her and gasped as she lost her
breath. It was interested only in slicing Veronica into tiny pieces.
	Sonya remembered the hellblade and what Mileena told
her. Sonya swung the weopon around and hit the beast. She cried
angrily and sliced the creature in half. The crack if bone and
muscle were audible. It fell to a heap on the ground. 
	"That was easy." Sonya said and kicked half of the
monster. 
	"I know a way out of here." Veronica said and guided
Sonya to a bunch of rocks and a whole in the cavern roof. "This is
were I fell." Veronica added. 
	The two climbed up the rocks until they exited the cavern.
"How did you get in there?" Sonya asked. 
	"You have most probably heard of us. We are the lost souls 
and I am also a lost soul. When the merger was stopped and the
dark gates opened, not all of us escaped. A group of us were taken
by a population called the gloom kingdom before we could escape.
Us children were separated from the adults and we were
abandoned, left to wander about in the Underworld for ever. As we
wandered we fell through the hollow ground here and landed in
Red Flame Cavern. That's when we were taken by that creature. I
was soon the only one left because he destroyed my friends." 
Veronica explained, stopping her long story for a second. "He
marked us with numbers and everynight he would call a 
number and that was the child that he was going to kill. He ripped
them apart in front of us!"
	"You poor girl." Sonya sympathetically said. Sonya noticed
the number three on her arm. "Veronica do you know what the
gloom kingdom is doing to the other souls?" Sonya asked.
	Veronica shrugged. "I am not sure.. I think that they are
brainwashing them to make something called the Dark Forces. The
kingdom wants to take over Earth or something." Veronica
answered. "I know my way around here, I can take you to it."
                                 

***

	The door slammed shut causing the three survivors to
shudder. 
	"If only I could somehow inform Sonya of King Spencers
evil scheme" Johnny thought to himself.
	Standing behind Johnny was Bridgette, a pretty woman
with short black hair and green eyes. Joel stood next to her. He
also had black hair and had blue eyes. They watched angrily as 
the evil sorceress Danielle and the even more evil King Spencer
of the kingdom of Gloom took a seat. 
	"You have attempted to escape us." Spencer said in his
deep voice. The trio just glared at him. 
	"You will never escape, you will become allies of the
gloom kingdom and you will assist the dark forces in the takeover
of Earth." Danielle laughed. 
	"Get lost bitch." Bridgette snapped. 
	"Shut up!" Danielle shrieked.
	 A gigantic outburst of energy escaped from the sorceress
smacking Bridgette across the room. Joel rushed to his friend.
Johnny continued to glare at the evil couple. 
	"Give it up you fool, you and your friends are the only ones
left. We will brainwash you and you will join the forces." King
Spencer said. 
	"Never." Johnny growled. 
	Satisfied grins appeared on the evil people. 
	"Very well." Spencer said. 
	Suddenly a powerful gust of hells green magic flew past.
Green magic is the most dangerous of the 7 colour magics. It burns
whatever it touches. Johnny jumped out of the way. 
	"Joel, Bridgette look out." Johnny warned. 
	Joel and Bridgette quickly leaped out of its path. The magic
burnt a whole through the palace wall and amazingly through 
the city walls. The trio escaped through the gap leaving the
astounded king. 
	"Get them!" Spencer ordered.
	Dark Force members ran after the fugitives. Johnny raced
through forest foliage. He ran faster and faster. The branches tore
at his skin ans the moist leaves on the ground were slippery and
hard to run on. Johnny had to continue running, even if his legs
were tired and his lungs felt as if they were on fire. He stopped.
The forces had luckily given up on catching him for now. Joel and
Bridgette were behind him taking in large portions of air. 
	"We must continue to find the dark gates" Johnny said.
	"We must go. The forces know where we are and Spencer
will send more search parties soon." Bridgette said. 
	"Who knows what sort of beasts they have turned the others
into" Joel said. 
	"We can beat this, we will protect our home from these
evils." Johnny said. 
	His friends nodded in agreement and they set out on their
adventure. The problem was that they weren't going to be alone for
long


TO BE CONTINUED.......