Time Distorted

BY MARA ROBERTS

Chapter 6

The fire's embers burned very slowly, and the burning wood lent a pleasant scent to the camp. Gohan had done nothing but stare at the flames since he awoke.

"What troubles you?" Mie sidled up next to him on the forest ground.

"Nothing. I was just thinking of how beautiful the fire is, how pure."

"Everything is beautiful in its purest state. It is also most dangerous in such times." Mie shifted her weight on the ground and continued, "The fire provides us with many services. It provides light for us to see, a way to cook our meals. At this distance it provides us with warmth. But too close, its heat will cease to be a comfort; we would be burned.

"Fire is also something that can never be completely controlled. There is always the chance of it slipping away from our command and destroying everything in its path."

Gohan nodded. He understood what Mie was saying, and what she was really saying. Ki was a dangerous concentration of energy. The way he had used it earlier had opened his eyes to the truth. Ki could be used to protect and secure, but it was so easy to forget to harness it completely. Once Ki slipped out of the user's mental grasp it went wild, and no telling what it would do once released. Harm was all but assured to the user and those around him.

"And yet," Mie continued softly, almost too softly for Gohan to hear. "Purity is where we choose to dwell. It is that sacred place inside our souls, where not even the gods gain entry without it being granted, that we can only access ourselves if trained in meditation. When we are there we look into our own hearts, and the truth may blind us forever if it is something we cannot bear inside ourselves."

Gohan didn't realize Mie's gaze had drifted to their youngest companion. "Yet without that self-discovery, it is impossible to be free of that horrible truth."

A few feet away, unnoticed by the other campers, Bardock lay in the shade of a tree, fast asleep. He twitched and moaned softly in his dreaming state, wincing every so often and turning away as though to hide from something.

Indeed, Bardock did dream if dark things. His mind filled with horrifying visions, of things so utterly wrong and filled with taint.

(o)

Another blaze of dark emotion swept past the ever changing vista, which Bardock's mind interpreted as color. Deep purples, blues and blacks coated the bleak landscape of his dream. Fear, shame and hate ran rampant in Bardock's mind, but he could not convince himself to face these dreadful heartstrings.

Windows hovered in the clouds that made up this nightmarish reality, but Bardock refused to see them. I won't go mad! a voice yelled overhead, and belatedly, Bardock recognized it as his own. He wouldn't give in to it, would not even acknowledge it existed once he awoke.

Why? the wind whispered in his ear, also speaking in Bardock's voice as he struggled to avoid all sensation in this land. Why now? The visions never came upon me with such force. A violent tremor ran through Bardock's being. Illusions! he yelled inside his own mind. They aren't visions, they're illusions!

(o)

When the sunlight finally creaped onto Bardock's face, he rose with relief. Rubbing a hand over his tired eyes, he wearily tried to rid himself of the sleepy sensation.

"Tired?" Kakorott asked him as he passed Bardock on his way to the lake.

Immediately, Bardock stifled a yawn and forced his back straight before replying. "No."

Kakorott nodded, not seeing the lie for what it was. A few minutes later, Bardock followed him for a quick dip to jumpstart his system. Feeling refreshed, he made his way to the camp, where Mie decapsulated breakfast.

"Where'd that come from?" Kakorott asked lightly.

"The village elder came by earlier and gave it to me as thanks for helping them. It's nothing grand, but I thought we could use the break from making our own."

The Saiy-jins sat down eagerly. Small meal or no, it looked wondrously delicious. Besides, they only needed huge meals to replenish their energy after a battle. A half hour later they were done, and Mie started to explain the situation.

"When Gohan fought Bibidi's man, I tried to get a lock on the wizard's whereabouts to no avail. Kirum replenished his own energy from what he had gathered; Bibidi had no need to send any aid, beyind that of locking them in another realm. So we can either continue on this course that Gohan sensed, and will probably find many traps littering the path, or we can try to find another way of locating Bibidi. Any suggestions?" she looked around the group during her speech, but for whatever reason her gaze settled on Bardock as she spoke the last. No one else noticed, and Bardock thought it strange. It must have been my imagination, he decided. Still, the unsettled feeling in his stomach would not go away. Were he ten years younger he would have fidgeted.

"None," Gohan stated firmly, and Kakorott echoed the sentiment.

"Bardock?" Mie asked gently.

"No," he replied, and wished his voice were as steady as Gohan's. Still, Mie didn't press the issue and left him alone.

Mie stood and set to leave. "Then we have no course but to investigate the next village we come to. I'm sure Bibidi will have left us a surprise."

The men followed quickly after, and Gohan spoke. "I think the next city we'll encounter is Amund Valley."

"How do you know?" Kakorott inquired.

"I saw a map of this region not too long ago. But it's in a more westerly position."

"All right, that's where we'll head. But we'll enter discreetly, landing a few miles outside the village and hiking it the rest of the way so Bibidi's men don't see us."

Three hours later they saw the outskirts of town and landed on the edge of the forest.

"Remember to keep your Ki down," Mie advised. "We don't want to forwarn anyone who might be waiting for us."

"I think we ought to stick together in there, after what happened last time," Gohan stated.

"You're right," Mie agreed. "We'll stay within sight of each other."

"Agreed," the others said simultaneously.

"So it's settled," Mie said. "Let's start walking."

It really wasn't that far a hike to town. It was a hill-filled region, so they'd been able to land pretty close. After a fifteen minutes walk they'd reached the valley. The isolation and topography of the area reminded Bardock strongly of home, though home had held far less green than this. The man could only scoff at the stupidy at whatever led man to build a town in such an undefendable place as this. Everyone knew to go for the high ground; if attacked here, the enemy would have the advantage, needing only to charge down, and airborne weapons would easily penetrate the village defenses – were there any to penetrate. Were these men fools?

Bardock shrugged off the thought; it wasn't his problem, and this wasn't home. After all this time on Earth, he had to some degree become accustomed to peace. Seeing such a likeness to his home reminded Bardock he was soldier, and brought back all the instincts that went with it. It had been so long since he thought of territorial and land-based warfare that he was caught off guard by how easily his mind once more took up the trappings of a military man.

They reached the town and gawked at the people who were going about on normal, everyday lives. They haven't been attacked? Is Bibidi unaware of this village's existence? I thought we'd find clues here to lead us to Bibidi… Still, I'm glad these people are unharmed, Mie thought silently.

Shrugging to each other they entered the town and found their way to the local inn. Upon entering, Gohan stepped up to the counter and leased two rooms: One for the kids, the other for the adults. Afterwards, they wandered around town for a while looking for anything unconscious but found no one. They returned to the inn at lunchtime and found only one other customer there, sititng in the corner at a table for one.

The four sat down at a booth and a server came over. She looked to have a mind for gossip, because as soon as she took their order she started talking about the inn's other guest. "Strange one, he is. Came here outta nowhere a few days ago and hasn't left. Doesn't do much but sit back there while the drink gets cold and never talks to us when we strike up a conversation. Pays well, though, so we don't mind so. What are you folk doing out in these parts?"

"Family vacation," Gohan replied as the 'head' of the family. "We like to camp and heard there were some good spots not far from here."

"How nice! Must be grand to get away from the city for a time."

"Yes, it is a relief."

"Oh, just look at me blabbering on so, you should have interrupted me! Best be getting back to my chores, now. Just call 'Marie' if you need anything, alright?"

After lunch they went on a walk, trying to sort things out. As soon as they were out of sight of the inn, Gohan spoke.

"That other guest had a strange aura," he whispered to the others.

"It seemed strangely familiar, as though I should know it," Kakorott told them.

"Is it reminiscent of Bibidi's men?"

Kakorott frowned. "I can't tell. It's alike, and yet so completely different. And it's foggy, too, not like he's hiding his energy level, but like he's hiding his energy signature…"

"We'll keep an eye on him," Mie said. "Perhaps he is waiting for us to leave so he can attack."

It was a cozy inn with spare rooms for all. Bardock tugged off his shirt and climbed gratefully into bed, wanting nothing more than to sleep away the tensions of the day. He closed his eyes, and sleep did come, but no peace came to his mind.

(o)

A darkened hallway was the only entrance to the final confrontation. Their footsteps echoed off the stone walls, deluding their senses into believing themselves tracked. Gohan and the others moved forward in a steady pace, though Mie was frowning and biting at her lip, an awkward habit Bardock had never seen her do before. But now was not the time to dwell on such insignificant things, though it unnerved him to know the young immortal beside him was even in this small degree, afraid. Immortal? the thought brushed through his mind from somewhere else he did not know, and he ignored it. Distractions were too deadly to afford.

A few more paces and the sound of their footsteps changed to the steady clink of sole 'gainst marble flooring. Bardock quickly directed his gaze face front, and that was a mistake. Blinding white light emerged from too many places to pinpoint, burning his eyes and lacing his mind in agony with its suddenness. He was vaguely aware of the others falling back a few steps as well.

(o)

The dreamscape faded as a wisp of wind tickled Bardock from his fitful sleep. The window was open and banging against the wall. The Saiyjin stood up to investigate and found that the lock that had held it closed was old and rusted. I'll have to get that fixed, he thought. He acted annoyed, lying to himself, but in truth he was glad he was awoken. But the lie kept him at peace with himself and so refused to acknowledge its existence. He lay down in bed but sleep was a long time coming, and with it unpleasant dreams that fading with the setting of the moon.

((o))

Bardock blearily roused his sleep-worn body from the bed and shuffled to the sink. He splashed cold water on his face to wake up fully and eventually made his way down for morning meal.

"Hello," Kakorott greeted him, wide awake and cheerful. Bardock grunted and moved to sit down. Kakorott went to sit next to him but a glare sent him to the far corner of the table. The waitress brought them breakfast of pancakes, piled high. Bardock plopped them in his plate and ate mechanically, not enjoying the delicious meal being served. When Mie and Gohan came down a few minutes later they noticed Bardock's tense attitude and wisely chose to sit by Kakorott instead. Bardock stared at them a few moments and resumed eating.

Gohan was scraping the last of the syrup off his plate with a final bite of pancake when Mie finally broke the silence.

"We should plan out our day," she said jovially enough, for the benefit of whoever might overhear. "What do you think you want to do?"

"I was thinking of going sight seeing today. Heard there're plenty of good, private places for a family to go." He meant, of course, they should look for any hideouts where Bibidi's men might be laying low.

Kakorott leaned back in his chair. "I thought we'd check out the regular hangouts. See what there is to do in this town. Meet the locals." He thought they might want to question people as to whether or not anything strange had been going on of late.

"Both sound good to me," Mie said. "Why don't we go exploring today and check out the town tomorrow?" If they didn't find anything on their own they'd question the locals. As strangers they'd be more apt to miss something subtle.

"Alright," the boys agreed.

"Bardock, you haven't said a word. You have any plans for the day?" Mie asked.

"Not really. Thought I'd just go with the flow."

"Fair enough."

Because of the numerous fishing holes and children playing around in the forest, the group had to stick to a casual pace. They heard about a large cave nearby, maze-like in its enormity and deceiving pathways.

"Sounds like a good place to check out," Gohan said, so they ambled on over as any good tourist would do.

It was a maze, all right, vast and sprawling yet claustrophobic at the same time. Walking in a few feet was a huge cavern that branched off in several different directions, half a dozen. Two were very small so that a child would barely be able to squeeze through. A lanky adult might make it going sideways.

"Should we split up?" Mie asked.

"On purpose? Then enemy's already managed to separate us once. We shouldn't run the risk," Gohan reminded them.

"Let's start on the right, then," Bardock suggested. It was the largest of the openings, at least at this part of it. "And work our way left."

"How will we find our way back?" Kakorott want to know.

"Oh, I can get us back here easily enough. I'll infuse the barest trace of my Ki into the rock and we'll follow it back like breadcrumbs," Mie assured him.

"You do know the breadcrumbs were eaten in that story, right?" Kakorott teased.

"Yeah, well, anyone who tries to eat these breadcrumbs is in for a nasty surprise."

So they went down, Gohan taking the lead and Bardock the rear. Mie kept her fingertips to the rocks, and where her hand had been was a trail of light that quickly faded. Kakorott watched as he walked behind her and scouted it with his minds eye, but the trail even faded from his Ki sense after a bit, except for the new part Mie was creating.

They went down several twists and turns that would have turned him around and worried him if not for Mie's Ki marks. They came again to another fork and Gohan went to make a right, but Bardock paused behind them, a look of confusion on his face.

"Huh?" the Saiyjin spoke softly, the curiosity in his voice hard to detect. He shoved his hands in his pockets and started walking away, to the left.

"Bardock, what is-" Gohan started to ask, but Mie's hand on his arm silenced him, and the offworlder ignored him anyway. Mie quickly followed him as the man increased his pact, taking her fingers from the wall.

"Hey, wait!" Kakorott yelled out but they sped ahead out of sight. He looked at Gohan and they nodded in unison. Kakorott created a small concentration of Ki that hovered at the fingertips of his left hand and aimed it downward, creating a small fissure in the rock to mark their path that no one would see unless they knew it was there. Then granddad and grandson raced after their comrades, wondering what in Hell could have made Bardock take off like that, and caused Mie to be as reckless as she was.

They managed to catch up with them in time to see them take another turn down the leftmost fork in path. Putting on another burst of speed, but careful to not create a wind tunnel, they managed to reach them. Bardock stopped suddenly and stared at a blank space on the wall. Gohan put a hand on Bardock's shoulder and pulled on it in annoyance. "Hey, what do you two…?"

Bardock shrugged off Gohan's grip and bent to study a part of the cave no different than any other, at least to Gohan's mind. But he knew his friend would not act this way without reason. He squatted next to the Saiyjin, trying to see what he was looking at, not bothering to ask. Bardock wouldn't answer him anyway.

"The floor's been scraped. See here…" Gohan was surprised that man was offering up information. He looked back down and saw indeed, the dirt was shuffled strangely, as though a door had swung open. Bardock's finger traced the rim of the scuff marks and ran up the wall where it met. Standing while keeping his hand to the rock, he applied the slightest bit of pressure. They all heard a faint click and the stone swung out just barely, revealing a room.

"How did you know?" Gohan looked at him in wonder. "We were all the way back there."

Bardock shrugged uncomfortably, hands back in his jacket pockets.

"Intuition," Mie supplied.

"Oh." They pushed open the door, expecting to see a trap, another shaft, the enemy, anything but what they saw…