Prologue
Emperor Doale collapsed in a heap onto his throne, the cold metal seat and backrest coming into contact with his back and hamstrings. Even the large black cape drooping from his shoulders didn't stop the cold from seeping through. And they call this a throne, he thought bitterly. Feels more like an ice block to me.
Doale's dark eyes pierced the dimness of the room. His throne sat upon an elevated platform made of marble - or was it tile? He never knew cause it was always so goddamn dim in here. At each end of the rectangular shaped platform, a guard stood dressed in rusty battle armor that covered their upper bodies, groin, and shins. Each one of them stood in attention, focused and unmoving with only one order - protect the Emperor.
Doale scoffed at the idea of him needing to be protected. Had he not proved himself to his empire already? He'd single handedly murdered both of his parents in their sleep. The fortune they had to pass onto him was far to valuable to wait until they died of natural causes, so he'd decided to speed up the process a little. Just a quick slice of the knife across their throats in the dead of the night and the deed was over in less than a minute. Nobody could've heard him anyway, the kings snoring was so damn loud.
Doale smirked, remembering the incompetence of his parents. Sure, they helped to expand their empire by developing the T3, which stood for transdimensional teleportation technology. Under their leadership, they led the empire to conquer world after world, dimension after dimension but they were blinded for their own greed for power to effectively plan a strategic method to conquer the civilizations of dimensions. But Doale knew better. It was safer to rely on oneself, especially if the subject was a ruler, vulnerable to assassination, as his parents had proved so well. They'd relied too much on guards for protection and generals for strategy planning, so all they knew was the need for power. But the young prince educated himself on these things - things like how to run an empire. Again, he shook his head and the incompetence of his parents.
He tore his mind away from their memory and stared out the window of the room at the stars floating by. Using the T3 technology, Doale's empire, known simply as the Dark Empire, had just entered a new dimension. The energy readings proved to be extremely high, most of it being given off by species known as Nameks, Saiyans, and the Gods of the planets known as Kami. From what Doale could see, the Saiyans were nearly extinct, forced to pass their blood down through humans - the weakest of the intelligent species. But the Human-Saiyan hybrids, or at least what few of them they were, possessed powers that surpassed that of their parents combined! Imagining the addition of power they could add to the Dark Empire, Doale's mouth began to water, much to his surprise. This is going to be a very rewarding experience…
At the young age of seventeen years, the young Emperor had already taken the Empire from under the rule of his parents. He stood up and walked slowly over to the giant glass window on one side of the room.
Doale stared at the Sun they were just passing, it's light brightening the room. Their first stop would be Earth, a planet orbiting this star. He gazed at the star's magnificent glow, watching it's surface explode with fiery arcs of solar eruptions. One after the other they came up and dissipated in the atmosphere, as if performing some coordinated dance, hypnotizing him. Perhaps it was Doale's imagination, but it looked as if the Sun's flames were beginning to create some kind of shape, like that of a bird.
The young Emporer was hit with a strong sense of familiarity, déjà vu most people would call it. Only this was much stronger. For a moment it felt like he was actually living in his memory. It felt so real - the flames and the biting cold, both happening simultaneously. Then there was the death of innocents, the destruction of a city, all of it was his doing. Then there was an intense hatred for someone … the memory didn't last long enough for Doale to put a finger on it. And then a horrible sense of guilt etched itself in his soul.
It had all happened in less than a second. It felt as if he was living as somebody else for that moment. That was the only conclusion he could come to, because Doale had murdered innocents countless times in the past and never had he felt any remorse. You could almost say he felt pleasure.
He quickly forgot the thought and started away from the window. Now that they had passed the star, the room was once again shrouded in darkness as the Emperor prepared to exit, when he found himself repeating the word over and over again in his mind. He didn't know where it came from or why he was repeating it, but the one thing he was sure of was that it had sent chills up and down his spine. Firebird…