*Chapter 5*
The snake curls up to die,
But first lays its last egg.

*World of Desire*

"Take him to the lookout," Tsu said to Goken, "I will take call the dragon and repair the damage that has been done."
"Yes, master. Do you think…" Goken stuttered.
"Don't worry, the emperor is dead, and now things will be better. Go now, Centura's life force is waning, he needs treatment for the poison."
"Yes sir!" and Goken lifted the body of Centura and placed him on his shoulders. Despite the heaviness of his friend, Goken's eyes twinkled, hope came rushing into his body again. He saw a bright light ahead, and the world turned to cotton.
When the boy was out of sight, Tsu turned to the emperor and went over to him. He lifted the drechen from the fallen fiend's hands and pulled it back. "May the flames of Hell burn extra hot for you, and may you burn there for all eternity!" and he lifted the drechen high and slung it down on the barely alive emperor's head. Blood spattered around the ground, and the emperor was finally dead.

/Master Tsu then moved to the sack lying upon the ground, and lifted it. He then turned to the distance and flew off. He flew until he found an open spot in which to lay out the dragonballs in a clean, and undestroyed spot. Lifting the sack, he allowed the dragonballs to roll out, all seven, plus the extra ones which had cracked. They didn't matter. He breathed out a sigh and then raised his hands into the air./

"Eternal dragon, I summon thee from your lair to come and grant me three wishes!" his voice rang out strong across the open field.
Soon the seven dragonballs turned bright orange and shot up into the air and from them burst forth the eternal dragon Shenlong. "You have awakened me from my slumber, I will grant you three wishes, what is your desire?"
Just then, from nowhere, Kami suddenly appeared in front of Master Tsu. "Stop, Tsu, you cannot do what you are planning to do!"
"What!? Kami? What are you doing here?"
"You cannot make the wish that you are thinking!" Kami yelled across to him, "I have been foretold of a prophecy and you must not make this wish!"
"What are you talking about?" Tsu asked him.
"I cannot tell you what was said, only know that you must trust my judgment. This wish must not happen! It is important to the future of the Universe!"
"Impossible!" Tsu responded, "You can't be serious!"
"I'm afraid it is true, Tsu, you must not make this wish."
"What then am I supposed to wish?" Tsu was despondent.
"You must make only one wish: that the carnage of the earth's destruction be buried in dirt and forest. This is the wish you must make to hide from people the truth and set the right path in motion. Then you must send away the dragon!"
"You have lost your mind, Kami!" he shouted in reply.
"Tsu, listen to the path, follow your own truth, you will see that I am right, you must do this."
Tsu thought on this and indeed he felt it to be the way to go, most definitely the way, but he saw it was also a path that lay in uncharted waters. It was a direction filled with strangeness and terror. "What about my son, Kami, and the Saiyans' family? Why are we to give up on that for this unknowing path?"
"Because if you take the path you wish the fate of the earth is only more hatred and destruction. You must trust me, Tsu, this is the only way to truly save mankind and the universe!"
Tsu turned to look at the dragon, who hovered overhead, waiting for the wishes.
"Eternal dragon! Please do as Kami has instructed and bury the destruction of the earth under dirt and forest so that man may never know the evils of this war!"
"It shall be done!!" and the dragon's eyes flashed and returned to normal. Around them suddenly a large forest appeared, covering the smoldering ruins of the earth with blissful silence, like a gigantic graveyard.
"What is your next wish?"
"That is all, you can leave now," Tsu commanded.
"Very well, I bid you farewell!" the voice rumbled and the dragonballs split over head into the horizon. The sky returned to normal and Kami walked over to Tsu.
"I am sorry, old friend, but it is the right thing. Now walk with me among this forest and let us bless the dead and perform ancient burial processions that I remember from Namek," and he thus led the old warrior, dressed in a tattered Gi into the forest.

*The Looking Glass*

"Ahh!" Centura shouted as he awoke, sitting up straight all of a sudden.
"It's alright, Centura, you're here with us now," a soft voice came to him.
"What??" he looked around until his face came to Lila's, "Where am I?"
"You're here at the homestead, with us."
"How long have I been asleep!?" Centura felt extremely groggy.
"It's been almost sixty days, Goken brought you here after taking you to the lookout for senzu. Apparently you were in a deep-deep coma. The doctors we brought here from Satan City said they didn't know why you slept so solidly. But I had this strange feeling you might wake up today, and so I cam in here and sat down to read to you. But as soon as I started to read, you woke up…" she seemed so surprised.
"Where's everyone?" Centura's face was both shocked and frustrated.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean mom and Gomen and Master and Goken!" he shouted in irritation.
"I'm sorry, Centura, but Tsu has told me your mother and Gomen both passed away…"
"What!? Why haven't they been revived?"
"I don't know, Centura, it seems to me that the dragon couldn't undo the damage…"
"What!? Impossible!" he couldn't believe it, "Where's Goken!?"
"He's at the hospital, in Satan City."
"Alright, I'm going!"
"Are you sure you're alright?" she asked him.
"Yes."
"Are you hungry?"
"No, I've got to go find out from Goken what happened!" he stumbled up and pulled on some clothes and then went to the window.
"He'll be back tonight, Centura, you can just wait," she replied, her hand gingerly moving to try and restrain him, her heart trembled.
"No I can't, good-bye Lila-san," he said and then took off into the air.

/Flying over mountains and rivers, Centura stared straight forward, not taking note of the extremely large change in the topography below. Never before had the earth been so green and lush. Everywhere below where carnage had ravaged mankind, forest and plains lay covering up the scarring.
Yet this he did not note. Instead he noted the growing dark feeling in his heart. He felt closer to Ki than he had ever felt before and he was feeling a strong sense of betrayal and mistrust in the air. From where he did not know, but he for sure was going to get to the bottom of this!/

Arriving in Satan City later that afternoon, he first went to the Dojo to find Master Tsu. He descended into the graveyard where he found more than forty new headstones , and one large monument labeled 'Hanu'. He walked into the inner-sanctuary and found no one there. But in the distance he heard a humming and he thus walked out the back into the gardens. There he found Master Tsu.
"Master!" Centura called out.
The old man stopped doing what he was doing and slowly turned to face Centura. His eyes almost trembled as he whispered, 'Already?'
"Master! What happened? Why haven't you and Goken revived all the people and restored earth to how it once was?"
"Centura, you've awakened!"
"Yes, yes, but please tell me why you did not revive our loved ones? Why didn't you revive your own son!?" he was panting with disbelief.
"Centura, you must understand… there are pivotal moments in the galaxy that cannot be avoided. It was necessary to do what I did because certain things unforeseen even by Kami have yet to come to pass."
"What are you talking about? Why would leaving people dead make things better? I don't understand, what are you saying?"
"I am trying to say, Centura, that even through the darkest storms the sun will shine again, and although mankind is saved for now, you have yet to pass through the remainder of the storm. You are in the eye of it, merely a small calm. Long ago you let the darkness creep into your heart and from that moment on the will of a greater power than either of us controlled the choices we could make. Goken has made his choices and you have yours, and soon things that make my heart tremble will come to being."
"Why aren't you making any sense to me? Am I going insane? I don't understand anything… what is this darkness that is creeping into my mind… what aren't you telling me!? Where is Goken!?"
"Calm down, Centura, he is at the hospital with Mei-ling," Tsu chose his words carefully.
"With Mei-ling, is she hurt? I've got to go see them, I miss her, and I must talk to him!" and with that he flew off towards the hospital.
'Kami,' Tsu lowered his eyes to the ground, 'Can we really let this happen? My heart is about to burst…' a tear dropped from his eye to the ground. The old man had grown even older it seemed since the war ended.
'It is beyond us, Tsu. The events that have defined this moment have been in passing for over two hundred years, ever since Goku was sent to this planet and his heart changed from evil to good. Weep no more old friend, for soon the Universe will weep no more for a long, long time.'

Soon did the boy arrive at the hospital and go running inside. All around him things had seemed to return to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. He found a strange feeling of detachment and surrealism. He walked down the hall and found a nurse at the desk. "Where is the room for Mei-Ling?"
"Down the hall, to the left."
He turned and strode down the hall, walking past the rooms without looking in. Soon he rounded the corner at continued walking down the hall, looking frantically into the doors.
Finally he heard a voice, Goken's voice, "…just can't believe it, can you?"
And another answered back, "No, it's a miracle, a dream come true…"
This, to Centura sounded strange, so he hung back and walked slowly up towards the door that he hear voices coming from.
"What am I going to tell Centura?" Goken's voice lowered.
"Tell him the truth! Tell him that I love you and you love me, and we are married…"
Centura gasped… and nearly fell down. Was this Hell he was in? He looked at his hands, and his forehead started to sweat…
"I want to, only I want to protect him from himself. He's fragile, I'm afraid he can't handle it."
Centura was starting to faint, everything was becoming white.
"He'll have to! I'm not in love with him, you shouldn't have told him I was!" and Centura heard a light slap on Goken's arm.
"Hey, I needed him. He was going to lose his marbles and I needed him stable. What else was I going to do? That was his only remaining hope left. I mean, he lost his father, mother, and uncle already!"
Suddenly the white darkness swallowed Centura whole and he re-awoke. Insanity clothed his mind.
"When he wakes up, we'll tell him." Goken said.
"Alright, when do you think he'll wake up?" she replied.
"I don't know if he'll ever wake up. I'm afraid he might be gone for good."
Slowly Centura turned and walked back down the hall, turning at the main hallway.
His dark-ness was brooding, all he saw was blood-spattered walls. Until he came to the window on his left. He hadn't noticed it before, but now it stood out.
He walked closer to it and placed his palms on the glass. He peered inside. There he saw the crib, third row, second to the right. Clearly labeled, "Son Gosan".
A smile crept over his face, malicious intent entered his mind, "I am truly insane, else Goken is to think I can lose everything and he gain everything. He kept everything from me, that son of a bitch. Now I'm going to show him what it's like to lose everything unfairly. And you, Son Gosan, I foresee a great future of suffering in your life!"
Centura grinned vilely and turned back to the doors, scratching his nails into the glass right across the image of Gosan.
Slowly he walked outside into the night, which had suddenly befallen the land in the brief time that he had entered the hospital. It was indeed a cold, cold night…

*The End*