For years, the Wu Shi Temple had been a place of discipline, training, and spirituality. Warriors of different generations walked its halls seeking to perfect body and mind. However, among monks, champions, and apprentices, there was one person who rarely wielded a weapon.

You.

You were the temple's head cook. Before dawn, you lit the stoves, preparing the rice, soups, and teas that nourished all the inhabitants. Your work was simple, quiet, and, for many, went unnoticed.

For everyone except Liu Kang.

The Keeper of Time didn't remember exactly when it began. Perhaps it was one morning when he saw you distributing food to some young monks with a patient smile. Or perhaps when he found you working late, preparing hot remedies for several warriors wounded after a mission.

All you knew was that, little by little, he started finding excuses to visit you.

He would ask if you were missing any ingredients. He offered to carry sacks of rice, even though he could move mountains if he wanted. He even began showing up during the quietest hours of the day, when the rest of the temple inhabitants were training.

At first, you thought he was simply being kind. Then you started noticing details.

The way he lingered longer than necessary, listening to your stories. How his gaze softened every time you laughed. The way he seemed to memorize your every little habit, from how you arranged the knives to how you tasted the food before serving it.

And the more time he spent with you, the worse it was for him. Because Liu Kang had faced gods, titans, and threats capable of destroying countless realities, but nothing had prepared him for falling in love.

He found himself thinking of you during important meetings. Imagining conversations that never happened. Searching for your presence among the temple gardens as if you were a star impossible to ignore.

Sometimes he watched the flow of time and contemplated millions of different futures. In too many of them, you were there, sitting beside him sharing a simple meal, walking along the temple paths at sunset and smiling... Always smiling, and that was dangerous.

Not because loving was wrong, but because Liu Kang knew the weight of his responsibility. He had sacrificed too much to protect the kingdoms. He had seen how bonds could turn into wounds.

And yet... He couldn't stop.

Over time, he began to look for any opportunity to be by your side. He accompanied you to the market. He helped grow herbs for your recipes. He even learned some culinary secrets just to impress you, although his attempts ended up provoking more laughter than admiration.

To his surprise, those laughs became his favorite sound.

And while everyone else believed that the champion of Earthrealm was focused on preserving peace between the realms, the reality was much simpler.

Liu Kang was hopelessly in love with the temple cook. Not with a legendary warrior, not with a deity, not with someone destined to change the fate of the universe... Just with a kind person who made tea when he was tired, who fed everyone without expecting recognition, and who had achieved something no enemy had ever managed.

Stealing the heart of a god.

One afternoon, as the sun painted the temple rooftops gold, Liu stood watching you work in silence.

For the first time in a long time, the Guardian of Time didn't think about the future.

He didn't think about wars. He didn't think about responsibilities.

He only thought of you.

And he understood that, among all the worlds he had created and protected, none seemed as precious to him as the one where he could remain by your side.

I have contemplated countless possibilities throughout time... and in all those I truly wish to preserve, you appear...