CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Fusion of Fear
The rumbling of the explosions from fighting on the Earth shook the ground. Down underneath the ground, far underneath, even the inner core of Earth shook; small pieces of ground breaking off occasionally and falling. The pieces gently landed on that of Vegeta as he slowly opened his eyes. It was dark but that did not seem to bother him so much anymore. Everything was still and quiet as he became more conscious to his surroundings and slowly pulled himself to his feet. He looked around but could see nothing but emptiness. It felt as if he was inside a deep cavern. Everything was still. There was no motions, no movement, nothing, just him. It was very quiet and then he heard something; the faint sound of voices.
Vegeta took a step forward. As he did he stepped on what felt like delicate shell-type rock. It crumbled under his step and upon stepping a loud moan was heard. Vegeta stepped back. His eyes stared down only to realize that which he stepped on was the bones of what appeared to be a human or some figure. It only then occurred to him that everything around him was that way. He was in a sea, an ocean of nothing but bones. What had originally been silence were now soft moans through what appeared to be miles of bones. Even in death the dead still suffered, even without flesh, without organs and without the blood to sustain living life. Vegeta stood still as the sounds covered his mind, filling him up. He closed his eyes tightly to block it out but it still flooded in. They wanted him to hear it, to realize that this was his soon to be fate. They wanted him to feel what they were feeling, what they had been through. They wanted him to suffer.
Through it all, the voices he had heard from the beginning suddenly surfaced to his mind. They were still there. Vegeta looked around, but through miles of bones, the chances of finding figures to these voices seemed impossible. It then hit him that these voices were not in the piles of death. They were above him. Vegeta looked up to see that he was in a ravine. He walked to the wall of the cliff, trying to ignore the sounds of pain his footprints were leaving on those that suffered. He places his hand on the ravine. The cold rock made him feel alone as he stood there, for a moment in time, and stared at the design. The crevices, the cracks, the color; everything burned into his memory.
Vegeta powered up and began slowly pressing himself upward, his ki allowing him to hover up to the surface where the voices were. As his eyes suddenly saw that which was above him, his facial features became confused. There was nothing there. Vegeta landed on the ground and looked around. Had it just been his imagination or had he really heard voices? Vegeta looked around only to be startled when a figure, that of a demon appeared before his eyes.
“GET BACK IN THERE!” it yelled.
Vegeta staggered back as his memory reminded him of the pain he had been put through before by these monsters. He misjudged his steps as he fell off the cliff and back down into the ravine. The voices laughed hauntingly as he fell. Vegeta powered up to keep from hitting the bottom and came back to the surface once more. He now saw them clearly. Three demons sat in a circle playing cards. Vegeta landed as he watched. They seemed bored, out of place and certainly not too concerned with causing him any damage. Vegeta felt his anger rise. These creatures had tortured him everyday and night for what felt like years. He wanted to repay the favor. He felt his hands tighten into fists as he stood there burning their images into his memory. Before he could attack they suddenly disappeared from his sight. Vegeta paused as he shifted his eyes from side to side. Surely creatures like this had ki energy, but when he tired to sense it he found he could not. He stood there, almost in a fighting stance. He knew better than to drop his guard for one second. They would attack without mercy and who knows what they would do to him once they did. As he stood there in the dark, in the silence, he remembered this before. It was like it was happening again. He could almost feel the pain coming back to him; and then he stopped. The pain, the pain was still gone. Vegeta straightened up and looked down at his hands, into his palms. But how could this be? He was certainly not wearing the clothes that King Kai had provided for him and his hands, his hands were mangled. In fact his whole body appeared to be that of hell itself. Vegeta did not understand.
“There is no pain here anymore,” a voice said to him.
“No blood, no suffering,” another chimed in.
Vegeta looked but saw nothing. Where were these creatures? He did not know what to say, words just didn’t seem to be coming to his mind. Then a demonic figure appeared hovering in front of him.
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