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Kung Lao had seen plenty of odd and weird things in Outworld.
More than his fair share, it felt like.
And more than one person should ever view in one lifetime.
It had started with stories, both verbal and written, and then it moved to him seeing it all for himself at the Tournament.
And even then, even when he thought he had seen the worst that Outworld could throw at him, there was even more to unravel in the aftermath.
"Everything looks odd to you because you've never seen it before - you're an outsider."
Jade had used those words to chide him with after one too many remarks.
And while he had initially fought her on that perspective, Kung Lao did eventually admit that she was right.
This was her home-realm after all.
He probably wouldn't appreciate it if someone came to Earthrealm and spouted the same things.
But then again, as far as he was aware, Earthrealm didn't have what he was seeing right now.
Kung Lao had gotten up early to take advantage of the cool morning, which was not something he regularly did - at least not in Earthrealm. But he had learned early on that the Outworld afternoons were borderline scorching, and anyone not accustomed to the heat would be quickly put down by it. And since he didn't want to risk going a few days without some form of training, then he needed to aim for the morning.
Otherwise Jade would drag him out to spar with her under the guise of getting some fresh air.
And he had already passed out from the heat once before.
The morning had been calm and cool, the perfect set up for some stretching before he got into his full routine.
But less than an hour later, the faint crackling of thunder in the distance caught his attention.
He knew Outworld was prone to storms just like any other realm.
But what he was seeing in front of him was anything but what the other realms had.
Giant, glowing clouds were growing over the horizon.
They were green in color, however, bringing forth a stark difference against the blue sky that remained between them and him. Even from a distance, he could spot the white lightning that seemingly erupted inside of the clouds; and the bright flashing of light brought attention to the misshapen appearance of the formation overall. Darker streaks of green that spread across the rolling clouds looked more like veins than separation of shapes.
They were beginning to look less like clouds and more like an entity in some way.
And the fact that he could see them growing at an alarming rate right in front of him did not help with the imagery.
One second, it had been clear skies.
And the next, there was something advancing upon him, something unnatural.
Like the crude hand of a God that was curling its fingers over the atmosphere.
The blue sky was engulfed and as the storm rolled closer, Kung Lao could see the horizon line blur with even more streaks of green.
It was beginning to look like a wall was forming itself in the distance now, threatening to close off, threatening to isolate his surroundings.
Thunder was rumbling low in the air.
The wind was picking up as well.
He heard an eerie whistling in it as the outer bands of the storm ran across the courtyard around him.
The wind felt hot on his skin.
There was a weird tension in the air, almost like there was a physical thickness to it that made it difficult to breathe.
And what had once started on the horizon was very quickly making its way towards him.
Kung Lao didn't know if it was fascination or fear that was keeping him in place.
The green streaks that ran down from the clouds twisted and contoured in motion, reminding him of the screaming souls he had once seen and heard of from the Soul Chamber. The eeriness reminded him of just that - vengeful souls trapped and sewn together into an amalgamation.
"LAO!"
The sharp call of his name, followed by the sharper fingers digging into his arm snapped him out of the ominous trance.
He felt himself get yanked around and felt another hand latch onto his other arm.
To say that he was relieved to see Jade was one thing.
But to then see the panicked look on her face was another.
"What are you doing?! Get inside!"
It wasn't until he heard her yelling did he even realize just how loud the storm had gotten around them.
Jade didn't give him a chance to respond as she grabbed him by the hand now and pulled him back towards the palace.
He didn't hesitate to run back with her.
Kung Lao had always admired the architect and structure of the palace, noting that it was a residence well suited for the Right-Hand of the Empress; but with the growing storm, it no longer seemed so grand in size. And now he found himself questioning just how well it would be able to hold up against the sharp winds that were now howling behind them.
It was shocking just how quickly things had grown to ear-piercing volumes.
By the time the two of them made it to the palace, and made it inside, they were having to fight the wind to close the doors behind them.
Thunder was rumbling around them now, settling itself above them.
The first instance of it cracking through the air made the entire structure feel like it shook under the pressure.
While Kung Lao could catch his breath now, he didn't feel quite as safe inside as he thought he would.
"What were you thinking?!" Jade pressed, as she turned to him now; her face was tense in a mix of both anger and concern.
She reached up and ran her hands over her hair, smoothing back the strands that had been pulled loose by the raging winds.
"There's no way you didn't see the danger in that!"
"You told me to study Outworld more," Kung Lao replied, noting now that his own ponytail had almost been pulled completely loose by those same winds. "So I was out there... studying it."
Jade made a soft scoffing sound at him.
"That's not what I meant and you know it," she sighed. "I meant study things that you didn't understand - and wouldn't kill you."
"Well that's a very small list."
Jade rolled her eyes at him, before she moved her hands to her temples.
"In your defense, I wasn't expecting something like this to-"
Another roar of thunder rolled on top of them.
It sounded louder, and felt even more powerful than the previous one did.
Kung Lao felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up at the sound, at the vibrations all around them.
"It's too loud up here - and it's only going to get louder," Jade spoke, as soon as the noise died down enough for them to hear each other. "Let's head downstairs; it'll be quieter, and we can continue this conversation."
He had no complaints and gladly took her offered hand.
If anything, he just wanted to get away from the rattling windows and doors around them.
As they moved across the entrance hall, Kung Lao noted that the expansive windows that decorated the hall were already shuttered closed; some of them were even braced to provide further protection and stability - which, ironically, did not make him feel safer.
The sight of them did make him realize that someone here must have seen that storm coming in a lot sooner than he did.
Jade lead him into the connecting corridor and continued towards the other end of the palace, bypassing the lounge rooms that opened on both sides of them.
Or at least, the lounge rooms that were usually open.
Each room opened out onto a connecting balcony, when then overlooked the surrounding courtyards below.
They were lounge rooms during the morning and evening, but they were more like sun rooms during the hot afternoons.
Jade enjoyed laying out on the balcony chairs during that time to relax and get some sun.
After one nasty bout of sunburn, Kung Lao avoided them altogether.
The lounge rooms were open when he had left that morning, but now the balconies had been sealed off, and the doors were braced.
Even then though, he could hear the heavy doors shaking with every rumble of thunder above them.
The two of them continued down the corridor, which now felt much longer than it usually was, and far more ominous as well.
He didn't realize just how much of the palace depended on natural lighting.
It was much darker than he remembered it ever being - even at night.
They reached two opposing staircases once they hit the end of the corridor.
To no surprise, Jade lead him to the one that went down.
With as many times as he had stayed here with Jade, Kung Lao didn't think he had ever gone to the lower floors before.
She usually had him staying upstairs with her, in her bedroom.
The raging storm above them became quieter and quieter the deeper they descended.
By the time they hit the bottom floor, it was a muffle of sound above them.
It was still a loud muffle of sound, but a muffle nonetheless - and certainly not as loud as it had been when they were up top.
The room they had stepped into looked to be a study of some kind.
There were plenty of books and bookcases to fill the room, as well as a few studying tables scattered around; each table was adorned with a different stacking of books on its surface. It reminded Kung Lao of the old study rooms back at the White Lotus temples, where most of the monks who stayed there worked on translating and recovering old books that were on the brink of becoming dust.
There was also a comfortable looking couch, perhaps for long-term reading.
He knew Jade liked to study in her free time.
He just assumed she did most of it in her room, which was also filled with books.
"Okay, so... what is that?" Kung Lao finally asked, now that the two of them could hear each other. "Because that's not normal."
"To you," Jade reminded, as she released his hand and turned to face him now. "It's a - let's just call it an energy storm."
"An energy storm?" he repeated, finding the name to be rather... simple, given what he had seen out there. "It looked pretty serious - or is this one of those Outworld things that aren't as serious as they seem?"
"They can be very serious," Jade affirmed. "I've seen the aftermath of one that took out an entire city."
That did not make him feel any safer.
"Okay so what exactly is an energy storm then?" Kung Lao questioned.
He watched as Jade seemed to roll his question around in her head.
She was probably trying to figure out how to explain it to someone not from Outworld.
"As you know, Outworld is not exactly a stable realm," she started. "The magic keeping this realm together has a tendency to fluctuate, and what that means is sometimes there's an excess of energy that gets released from it. So then that energy builds up until there's enough of it to form into a storm like the one outside. They can be dangerous if the proper precaution is not taken - such as just now. While you were lucky to see it coming when you did, even then you caught it a little too late."
He didn't like that.
Kung Lao hated the idea of what would have happened if he hadn't spotted it when he did.
But if seeing the storm when he did was considered seeing it too late, then what was the safest chance?
Was there some early warning system he had somehow missed?
Especially since it appeared that everyone inside of the palace seemed to know it was coming before he did.
"I take it you're familiar with them then?" he asked.
"I grew up around these things," Jade reminded. "We always had proper shelter to protect ourselves from these storms so we were never in any real danger - so long as we were inside, anyways."
This seemed like just another instance where she wasn't as bothered by something in Outworld as he thought she should be.
"And because I know you, there's no need to worry," she continued, although a bit late on that front. "This palace was built with these storms in mind, so it can readily withstand whatever gets thrown at it."
Okay, that did make him feel a little better about the whole thing.
"Is that why we went to the basement?"
"It's more for the energy resistance than for protection," she corrected. "It's also quieter down here, as you've no doubt noticed."
It was quieter, that was for sure.
But now he was a little concerned about the energy resistance she had mentioned.
Energy resistance to what exactly?
"We'll be here for a while, so have your pick of the place," Jade offered, as she gestured to the room around her. "It's not much, but you would not believe the struggle it took to get some of these books on the shelves. Money wasn't an issue, and yet, I still had issues."
Despite her earlier agitation with him being outside in the storm, she seemed somewhat nonchalant about it now.
Kung Lao chuckled at the remark.
"You should've told me you were a collector," he replied. "I could've grabbed something from the library before I headed over."
"And have you get caught stealing?" she teased.
"We have copies, no one would've noticed anything missing," Kung Lao assured. "I mean, probably anyways - it would've been for a good cause."
Jade laughed as she turned away and headed further into her study.
"I don't think you stealing a book for me would go over as well as you think it would," she remarked.
"I think it would," he replied. "I mean, a lot of people say you've been the best thing for me, so I think they would look the other way."
"That's because I enjoy dealing with you."
"Which not a lot of people can say," Kung Lao reminded.
Another roar of thunder from above caught his attention and he glanced over his shoulder at the vibrations that still managed to make their way down to them.
For a moment, he had forgotten about the storm entirely.
"How uh- how long do these storms normally last?" he questioned.
"It varies," Jade answered with a shrug. "Some of them go for a few hours, some of them go on for a few days - it depends on the energy that built the storm. We just had one not too long ago actually, so this one shouldn't last long. Of course, there is the possibility that it could soak up the residue from the previous storm, in which case, that could fuel it into going on for much longer. It's difficult to tell this early on."
Kung Lao watched as Jade gathered some of the stacked books and moved them back to one of her bookshelves.
"I will say that, from my own experience, that storm moved in fast, which usually means there's a strong eye behind it," she continued. "We'll know more about it in the next hour or so - but I would still recommend making yourself comfortable in the meantime."
Easier said than done.
Kung Lao made a slow walk around the study, noticing that there were two doors that lead out of the room.
Given the size of the palace, he wasn't surprised that there would be more to it down here.
Sometimes he still couldn't wrap his head around how big these Outworld palaces could be.
And this one was considered small, like it was just the gardener's home.
Jade was pleased with it though.
As much as she enjoyed living in the Outworld palace with Kitana, she was equally thrilled about having a place of her own as well.
"It looks like you're stuck here with me until this storm blows over."
There was no denying the enjoyment in her voice as Jade spoke.
Kung Lao couldn't help but to laugh at her persistence, at her ability to ignore the ongoing storm upstairs.
But she did say she had grown up with them, so they were probably more of an annoyance to her now.
She had only been concerned about it before because he had been out in it.
"You know, I told Fujin I wouldn't be visiting for long, just a few days," Kung Lao started.
He casually made his way over to where Jade was putting the loose books back into their respective places on the bookshelf. To him, there seemed to be no real method for her choosing their placement, but he knew her well enough to know that she always had a method; she always had a rhyme and reason for why she did the things she did.
"But it looks like that might not be happening."
"I'm sure Lord Fujin will understand," Jade chuckled. "After all, he's a storm God himself, isn't he? I'm sure he has created storms like this before; he must know what they entail."
She was right.
Any time Fujin or Raiden got into an argumentative spat with one another, a storm was guaranteed to form - whether either of them were aware of it or not.
They were never big storms though.
They were always just very loud, and very bright.
"So we have to stay in here until it blows over for certain?" he asked once more, just for assurance. "No chance of sneaking out?"
"Not unless you prefer to be stripped down to the bone by raw, untamed energy," she offered, as she set the last book in place and dusted her hands off on her tunic.
Jade turned to look at him before she crossed her arms and leaned against the bookshelf.
There was a rather amused look on her face now.
"Are you already thinking of escaping?" she asked. "Do you not like the idea of being stuck inside with me for an indefinite period of time? That doesn't sound like the Kung Lao I know."
And the teasing accusation got another laugh out of him.
"It's quite the opposite in fact," he replied, as he moved to mimic her posture. "I just wanted to make sure that I had a guaranteed excuse for my absence - for whenever I return to Earthrealm. You know how everyone assumes us to be."
"Us?" Jade playfully repeated. "Don't you mean just you?"
"You think I come to Outworld on my own? For days at a time? For fun?" Kung Lao asked in return.
She shot him a grin before she leaned in towards him.
"Why don't you tell me why you come to Outworld then?" Jade offered. "Or better yet, show me."