Uhm... keep in mind this was during a phase

So, I was digging through my Google Drive, when I found this prologue to a story I wrote two years ago. Yes, I did rip-off the Mortal Kombat characters, but I tried to expand the lore myself within a separate universe. Uhm... Enjoy? (actually readable version in comments); STICK-KHAN WAS NOT THE FIRST TO ATTACK STICK-REALM… BACK BEFORE THE REALMS, THERE WERE THE ELDEN GODS–BEINGS WITH POWERS BEYOND COMPREHENSION AND WISDOM THAT STRETCHED EONS. THESE IMMORTAL BEINGS CREATED THE REALMS AND REMAINED BENEVOLENT IN THEIR EXISTENCE. HOWEVER, THERE WAS ONE AMONG THEM, STIKNNOK, WHO BECAME CORRUPTED BY HIS LUST FOR BEING THE STRONGEST OF ALL THE ELDEN GODS. HE BELIEVED IF HE COULD CONTROL A REALM ALL BY HIMSELF, RULE IT WITH AN IRON DICTATORSHIP, THEN HE WOULD BE UNQUESTIONABLY THE STRONGEST AMONG THEM ALL. HE SET HIS EYES ON THE LATEST REALM CREATED BY THE GODS: STICK-REALM. HE WAGED A FIERCE BATTLE AGAINST THE APPOINTED DEFENDER OF THE REALM AND DEMI-GOD OF THUNDER, STICKDEN. THE WAR BETWEEN THE TWO LASTED A MILLENIA, AND PLUNGED THE PLANET OF EARTH INTO A DEEP CENTURY-LONG DARKNESS THAT CAUSED THE DESTRUCTION OF MULTIPLE CIVILIZATIONS. DURING THIS TIME, STICKDEN DETERMINED THAT THE SOURCE OF STIKNNOK’S POWER CAME FROM A GOLD AMULET WITH AN EMERALD ORB IN THE CENTER THAT THE ELDEN GOD WORE ON THE BELT OF HIS ROBE. IN A DESPERATE ATTEMPT TO PREVENT THE LOSS OF ANY MORE INNOCENT MORTAL LIVES, STICKDEN MANAGED TO STEAL THE AMULET AWAY, DRAINING STIKKNOK’S POWER INTO IT, AND LEAVING THE GOD A SHELL OF HIS FORMER SELF. WITH THE HELP OF THE OTHER ELDEN GODS, WHO HAD REMAINED OUT OF THE CONFLICT AS TO TEST STICKDEN’S TRUE WORTHINESS AS THE PROTECTOR OF STICK-REALM, STICKDEN BANISHED STIKNNOK TO A DESOLATE WASTELAND DEEP WITHIN THE BOWELS OF THE DIVINE REALM (WHERE THE ELDEN GODS RESIDE): A REALM KNOWN AS HELL. YOU SEE, THE REALM OF HELL IS WHERE THE ELDEN GODS CHOOSE TO HAVE NO DOMAIN OVER. THUS, THE DEMONS WITHIN IT FIGHT EACH OTHER TO BECOME ITS RULER. OFTENTIMES, A DEMON WOULD ASCEND TO BE THE KING OF HELL, JUST TO BE MERCILESSLY AND VICIOUSLY DETHRONED BY THEIR MINIONS. WHEN STIKKNOK FELL INTO THE PITS OF HELL, HE WAS CAUGHT UNDER THE RULE OF THE CURRENT KING, LUCIFER. LUCIFER WOULD TORTURE HIM WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE DAILY AND NIGHTLY, AS TO BREAK THE FALLEN ELDEN GOD’S WILL AND SPIRIT. STIKKNOK, POWERLESS WITHOUT HIS AMULET, COULD NOT DO ANYTHING AGAINST THIS TORTURE. MEANWHILE, KNOWING THAT THE AMULET RETURNING TO STIKKNOK WOULD BRING ABOUT ANOTHER GREAT WAR BETWEEN THE TWO, STICKDEN BROKE THE AMULET INTO FOURTHS AND BURIED THE PIECES THROUGHOUT ASIA, ASSIGNING A GUARDIAN TO THE DIFFERENT PARTS, EACH GUARDIAN REPRESENTING ONE OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS: EARTH, WIND, FIRE, AND WATER. IT WAS AFTER CENTURIES OF TORTURE AT THE HANDS OF LUCIFER, THAT A SORCERER AND NECROMANCER NAMED STICK-CHI INTRODUCED HIMSELF TO STIKKNOK. HE EXPLAINED THAT HE WAS A TRAVELING SORCERER, WHICH MEANT THAT HE COULD VISIT ANY REALM AND NOT BE DETECTED BY ITS GODS. THE TWO STRUCK A DEAL THAT, IN EXCHANGE FOR HELPING STIKKNOK OVERTHROW LUCIFER AND EVENTUALLY GETTING HIS AMULET BACK, STICK-CHI WOULD RULE ALONGSIDE STIKKNOK AS THE RULERS OF ALL THE REALMS AND BE THE MOST POWERFUL DEITIES IN EXISTENCE. THUS BEGAN A GREAT AND LONG LASTING WAR BETWEEN LUCIFER AND HIS ARMY OF DARKNESS AND STIKKNOK AND STICK-CHI’S RENEGADE BAND OF LOWLY DEMONS WHO DESPISED THE RULING OF THE KING. THE BATTLE LASTED A NEAR MILLENIA, BEFORE FINALLY STIKKNOK WAS ABLE TO SLAY LUCIFER AND BECOME THE NEWEST KING OF HELL. BUT, THERE WAS NOTHING TO RULE. UNLIKE THE FUTURE CONGLOMERATION OF REALMS THAT IS BAD REALM WHICH WAS RUN INTO BEING A WASTELAND BY ITS RULER STICK-KHAN, HELL WAS NEVER A LIVING REALM. FROM THE BEGINNING, IT WAS ALWAYS NOTHING BUT SCORCHED GROUND AND FIRE EVERYWHERE. STIKKNOK TRIED HIS BEST TO CREATE AN ILLUSION OF THE REALM HE SOUGHT AFTER, EVEN GOING AS FAR AS TO MAKE HIS DEMONS APPEAR HUMAN, BUT IT WAS NOTHING MORE THAN A MERE MIRAGE. THIS IS WHEN THE HUMAN SORCERER STICK-SHUNG, WHILE ON A RECONNAISSANCE MISSION TO SCOUT NEW REALMS FOR THE NEW STICDENIAN EMPEROR STICK-KHAN TO CONQUER, STUMBLED ACROSS THE ILLUSION OF EARTH. EAGER TO PLEASE HIS MASTER WITH NEW ALLIES AND NOT SEEING THE REALM OF HELL AS WORTHY OF KHAN’S NEW EMPIRE, SHUNG STRUCK A DEAL WITH STICK-CHI. DURING THE LAST STICK KOMBAT TOURNAMENT HELD BY SHUNG, BAD-REALM’S CHAMPION, PRINCE STICORO SLAYED THE STICLIN WARRIOR, STICK-LAO, ALLOWING SHUNG TO ABSORB HIS SOUL. WITH LAO’S SOUL ALSO CAME ALL OF HIS KNOWLEDGE, AND AMONG THAT INFORMATION WAS THE WHEREABOUTS OF ALL FOUR PIECES OF STIKKNOK’S AMULET, AS STICKDEN HAD CONFIDED IN LAO THE LOCATIONS, IF EVER THERE WAS A NEED TO ACCESS THEM. ARMED WITH THIS CRUCIAL KNOWLEDGE, SHUNG PROPOSED THAT HE WOULD CREATE A MAP FOR STICK-CHI WITH THE FOUR AMULET PIECES MARKED, IN EXCHANGE FOR BEING ALLOWED TO USE THE FAKE ISLAND THAT STIKKNOK HAD CREATED FOR HIS TOURNAMENTS (AS THIS WOULD KEEP IT AWAY FROM THE PRIVY EYES OF THE ELDEN GODS). STICK-CHI EAGERLY ACCEPTED THE CONDITIONS, AND THUS, NOW HAVING ACQUIRED A MAP WITH THE LOCATIONS OF THE FRAGMENTS, ATTEMPTED TO CAST A PORTAL TO SAID LOCATIONS. HOWEVER, THE MERE PRESENCE OF STICKDEN’S GUARDIANS PREVENTED STICK-CHI OR ANY OF STIKKNOK’S DEMONS FROM SETTING FOOT IN THE SANCTUARIES IN WHICH THE PIECES WERE HELD. IT WOULD HAVE TO BE A HUMAN TO RETRIEVE THE PIECES OF STIKKNOK’S AMULET. BUT NOT JUST ANY HUMAN; A HUMAN POWERFUL ENOUGH TO DESTROY THE GUARDIANS. A WARRIOR. SOMEONE WHO STICK-CHI COULD MANIPULATE… DEEP WITHIN THE HEART OF CHINA, THERE IS A CLAN OF ASSASSINS NAMED THE STICK-KUEI. THIS BAND OF ASSASSINS ACT SOLELY ON THE DEMENTED NEEDS OF THEIR CLIENTELE. THE GRANDMASTER OF THE CLAN SELECTS THE FUTURE WARRIORS FROM THE YOUNG OFFSPRING OF ITS MEMBERS. EACH MEMBER OF THE CLAN POSSESSES A UNIQUE ABILITY THAT MAKES THEM STRONGER THAN THE AVERAGE MAN. ONE OF THE MOST RECENT GRADUATES OF THE TRAINING PROGRAM IS STI-HAN, CODE-NAMED STICK-ZERO: A FOURTH-GENERATION ASSASSIN. THE ART OF CRYOMANCY, THE ABILITY TO CONTROL ICE, HAD BEEN PASSED DOWN ONTO HIM FROM GENERATIONS BEYOND. ALSO CREATED AROUND THE TIME OF THE STICK-KUEI WAS NINJUTSU, TAUGHT BY THE WISE SAMURAI TAKEDA IN JAPAN. SEEING HOW HIS IMPERIALISTIC GOVERNMENT NEEDED STRONG WARRIORS, TAKEDA BEGAN TO FORM SEVERAL NINJA CLANS THROUGHOUT ALL OF JAPAN. BELIEVED TO BE THE FIRST AMONG THEM WAS THE STICRAI-RYU. THIS IMMEDIATELY MADE THE STICRAI-RYU AND STICK-KUEI MORTAL ENEMIES, AS THE KUEI WAS SEEN AS AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE EMPEROR OF JAPAN. SHORTLY AFTER THE WAR BETWEEN THE TWO CLANS BEGAN, MASTER TAKEDA WAS MURDERED, NOT BY BATTLE AS WAS DEEMED AN HONORABLE DEATH, BUT BY THE COWARDLY ACT OF POISONING HIS HERBAL TEA. THIS LED TO THE APPOINTMENT OF A NEW HEAD OF THE RYU, HANZO STICASHI, KNOWN TO HIS NINJAS AS STICKION, DUE TO HIS SWIFTNESS AND DEADLINESS. AFTER STICKION’S TAKEOVER OF THE STICRAI-RYU, THE TIDES OF THE CLAN WAR CHANGED AND SOON THE KUEI WAS BEING PUSHED BACK INTO THEIR MAINLAND OF CHINA. IN AN ACT OF DESPERATION, THE GRANDMASTER ORDERED AN AMBUSH ON THE BASE CAMP FOR THE RYU DURING A MUTUALLY AGREED UPON TIME OF PEACE, THUS BREAKING THE KUEI’S CODE OF HONOR. THE AMBUSH WAS A SUCCESS, WITH NEARLY ALL OF THE STICRAI-RYU NINJAS BEING SLAUGHTERED, INCLUDING HANZO STICASHI AND HIS FAMILY. THIS WAS STI-HAN’S FIRST MISSION, AND SOON THE STORY OF HOW HE WAS THE ONE TO SLAY THE STRONGEST NINJA, STICKION, IN COMBAT SPREAD ALL THE WAY UP TO THE GRANDMASTER, WHO DEEMED HIM ONE OF HIS TOP ASSASSINS. NOW A NEW BUYER EMERGES. A BUYER WHO WILL EMBARK STICK-ZERO UPON A JOURNEY THAT WILL TEST HIS MIGHT, HIS WILL, AND BRING HIM TO FACE HIS PAST…