Altar of Mortis

## Premise

"Before the heros can leave Mortis, the Son takes Esther captive in an attempt to entice Tai Lung into joining him to use their combined strength to overpower his Father and Sister. To this end, the Son casts Esther under the spell of the dark side.

Meanwhile, the Father attempts to stave off a disastrous showdown between his children and maintain the elements's increasingly precarious balance on the territoriet. Fearing that the Son may be unstoppable, the Daughter does the forbidden by taking Daniel to the Altar of Mortis, wherein is kept the Dagger of Mortis, a weapon capable of killing a Force wielder. The Son steals the weapon, and attempts to use it against his Father to steal his power and end his rule, but the Daughter sacrifices herself, placing herself in front of the blade. "

## Synopsis

As Daniel, Elida, Olivia, Sonic, Esther, Tai Lung and Leopard are about to leave Mortis' world, Tai Lung, while resting from this morning's ordeal, has a disturbing dream in which he finds himself back in the territoriet. What appears to be a mirror image of himself approaches him, only to reveal itself as Son, who asks Tai Lung to join him on the dark side of the kung fu and restore peace and balance in the Kung Fu Panda Wall. When Tai Lung refuses and turns away, Son turns into a monster and attacks him, jerking him awake. Esther walks into the room meanwhile. Suddenly the ship tilts and starts rocking wildly. But just as Tai Lung prepares to join Daniel at the controls, Son suddenly appears behind them, kidnaps Esther and jumps out of the shuttle. He shifts into his gargoyle form and flies off with Esther in his talons.

Running into the cockpit, Elida took over and chased after Son into a canyon of mist-shrouded rock spires, but Son puts on a burst of speed and disappears into the mist. Elida flies even faster and instead comes upon a strange tower supporting a huge glowing sphere. Just narrowly avoiding a collision with the structure, Elida is unable to control the shuttle, and it crash-lands back on the territory, in an area dominated by darkness. In the distance they can both clearly see the tower with the glowing sphere on top of it; Daniel assumes that's where the Son had Esther. Elida Claiming it was her fault the Son had taken Esther, Tai Lung prepares to go for the tower, but Daniel holds him back, desperately cautioning him not to let himself get lured into an obvious trap lest it would yield catastrophic consequences. He suggest consulting Father about how to proceed, but Tai Lung nevertheless leaves for the tower. While Daniel ponders how to reach the Father in the first place, he suddenly finds himself very close to the monastery. Inside her prison cell within the tower, Esther tries to free herself, she hears a voice and then she finds herself in the company of a creature which addresses her innermost doubts and fears. It questions where her Master is and claims that he won't come. Esther snaps that Tai Lung will rescue her. It releases her from her chains. It tries to convince her to forget her Master, but seeing that she will not willingly turn, it bites her in the arm. Clutching her arm, Esther collapses on the floor, the creature morphs back into its true form, the Son; his bite now infects Esther with the Dark Side of kung fu, and she undergoes a horrifying change.

Son thereafter joins his father and sister; Father expresses worry about his son's descent into the Dark Side and implores him to let go of it, whereupon Son lets loose with his anger and blasts Father with the dark element just as Daniel, Elida and Sonic arrives. Daughter who had heard the fight ran to help her father. Upon Father's sickbed, Daniel implores Daughter to assist him in stopping Son before he escapes the territory, but Daughter, saying it is not Son's fault as that is his nature, refuses to raise her hand against her brother. Upon his suggestion that she and Tai Lung should combine their powers to stop him, Daughter instead leads him to a cavern which contains an altar holding a blade formed by pure Force, which Daniel is meant to wield against her brother.

Meanwhile, Tai Lung manages to scale Son's tower and finds Esther waiting for him. Unfortunately, he discovers that she is corrupted by the Dark Side; Son infused her with part of his own soul, bringing out her insecurities and resentments along with her other more aggressive tendencies. She leaves Tai Lung a message: either join the Son or he kills Esther. When Tai Lung dismisses the threat she ignites her spear of water and viciously attacks him. Daniel, Elida, Sonic and Daughter confront Son in his inner sanctum, but he manages to separate them by directing Daniel into assisting Tai Lung. As Daniel arrives Esther turns and activates her shoto and begins to attack them both. During the fight Tai Lung turns to Daniel knowing that they could not defend themselves for long without either harming Esther or her eliminating them. Daniel then pulls out the Mortis Dagger he received from the cave altar and suggests they free Esther from the Son's influence. Esther, angered and knowing exactly what they have, continues fighting the masters to get the blade from Daniel. Meanwhile, Son and Daughter began a duel using their element powers to overpower each other. They later began shifting in and out of their beast forms. Soon however, they were interrupted by the recovered Father, who hurls them among the masters. Son turns his anger against his father, who is unable to prevail against him in his still-weakened state. During the whole ordeal, Esther got up and smirked as the Son uses dark element on the Father. Daniel throws the dagger to Sonic, but Esther dives, catches in mid-air, then runs up to the Son and hands it to him. Son thanks her and claims she is no longer useful to him anymore. Son taps her on the forehead, removing her life force and therefore killing her instantly. Her lifeless body collapses to the floor as her spear rolls out of her limp hand. Enraged, Elida lunges at the son, but is repelled by the element. Son then turns and prepares to plunge the dagger into his father, but Daughter steps in front of her father, taking the blade instead, she is mortally wounded. Screaming with sudden anguish, Son flees the scene as Elida rushes to Esther's side, only to find her eyes completely rolled back. Elida screams of sadness over her little sister.

With Daughter dying, the balance of the elements is upset, and the territory begins to descend into eternal darkness. Elida, kneeling beside Esther's lifeless body, begs Father to help her. Daughter uses Tai Lung as a conduit to channel the last of her life force into Esther, removing the darkness within her, bringing her back to life. Esther awakens, weak, but alive. Elida hugs her little sister and asks if she is alright, only to find out that she remembers nothing of what had happened to her. Father implores the masters to leave before Son can take their ship to escape the territory, and warns them that with the balance disrupted, the Dark Side and the dark masters will gain the upper hand in the Kung Fu Panda Wall. Unable to do anything else, the seven heros leave the mournful Father by the side of his daughter.