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The Rise of Shinnok in the Netherealm
Later in the millennium, a free-roaming sorcerer named Quan Chi approached Shinnok, aware of Shinnok's suffering for thousands of years in the Netherealm. In exchange for power and the position of ruling at Shinnok's side, Quan Chi agreed that he would free Shinnok from his confines and assist him in defeating Lucifer.The two waged a war against Lucifer and his minions, which lasted for centuries. Eventually, the war came to an end when Shinnok viciously slew Lucifer and took his seat as the new ruler. However, since the Netherealm had never been a living planet like the Outworld, Shinnok had nothing to rule over but a wasteland of fire and brimstone inhabited by grotesque demons. So he decided to create a physical world. He transformed the demons into a form as human as possible and tried his best to emulate the realm he wanted so passionately. But the Netherealm was and always would be a dead world, with its true form being hidden by its new ruler.
As a reward for freeing him and helping him defeat Lucifer's forces, Shinnok gave Quan Chi the position of arch-sorcerer, to rule at his side in the now-expanded Netherealm. If Shinnok could somehow escape from the Netherealm entirely, they could rule over a much larger territory. But the only way that would happen would be if Shinnok regained possession of the amulet. The Shaolin monks discovered the sacred Map of Elements and kept it hidden within their temples in China. Quan Chi spent centuries making one failed attempt after another to acquire the Map of Elements. Only a select few, including a Shaolin monk named Kung Lao, knew of the map's existence and the story it told.
The Mortal Kombat Tournament
Soon after Shao Kahn's takeover of the Outworld, an order of Earth's wisest men, in the Far East, received visions of the dark emperor. To prevent such an invasion of Earth, they created their own tournament. This tournament was known as Mortal Kombat, hosted by the Shaolin temples. Once every generation, warriors from around the world were invited to compete in it. If Outworld warriors could win ten tournaments in a row, Shao Kahn would be allowed to enter Earth and do with it as he pleased.
Shang Tsung, an Earth-born servant of Shao Kahn, eventually won the Mortal Kombat tournament. To please Kahn, Tsung not only took the lives of his opponents, but he took their souls as well. After repeated victories in the tournaments that followed, Tsung became overconfident. Before he could claim ten victories, Tsung's overconfidence proved to be his undoing, for Kung Lao, representing the Shaolin temples, defeated him.
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