The Mirror of Fate

Thunder clouds boomed and clapped overhead, rippling like volleys of gunfire through the dim daylight and darkening the skies in general. As of late, it'd been raining world wide for what seemed like days, but now it had come to a screeching halt. Literally; the cessation of rain had been preceded by a massive clap of thunder, that had rocked and shook a majority of the planet. Though he was not the most well versed on Earth's weather patterns, something told him that this was markedly unusual. The planet itself seemed to be experiencing a bit of trouble with this sudden influx of weather; crops had died from over-watering, flood plains had flooded and cities were being forced into flood watch. Fortunately for Broly, he was not very effected by this type of thing. Rain did not demoralize him as it did the people in the North, nor did it bother his plans as it did the people in the South. He was of a different upbringing than the petty humans who happened to exist on planet Earth; he was not bothered by nature. Nature was in fact, most often, bothered by him. Anything naturally in tune with the world or universe happened to be averse to his plan for a...cleansing, of sorts.

So it was naturally odd that Fortune Teller Baba would solicit his aid. For one thing, he doubted she was very inclined to eliminate all life; for another, he doubted she felt very safe, despite having approached him in his dreams. Even in his best of dreams, Broly still considered himself plagued by nightmarish visions of what was possibly the future. He was not claiming to be a psychic; he had seen enough rubble in his day to generate a wasteland full of it, no doubt. What made him consider it a nightmare was the sudden role-reversal that took the shape of. In each dream, he had taken the place of the victim, the cattle on the road to a slaughterhouse. Broly was not one to be slaughtered; that much was clear. It created conflicting emotions in the power house as to why he would take the role of a victim? It was not common, nor was it fitting.Then again, it could have been the meddling of that little old witch. He wouldn't have put it past her; Broly and his...cohorts, had recently managed to kill off her dear old brother. Or was it her cousin? He didn't care about their familial ties. He only knew that he did not trust her. Then again, Broly did not trust many.

As his boots plodded against the old woman's flooring, the Saiyan kept both arms crossed tightly. The area around him was made via dream. Although he knew he was sleeping however, he could not wake himself up. The old woman was probably forced to use a fair portion of her power to make it so, but Broly had no doubt that he would eventually be able to break her spell. One could only hold his power for so long, after all. He would have also hated to spend an eternity trapped within this dimly lit palace; the place was so bland and boring as it was and he had only just been introduced to it. He could only imagine what time would do to his perception of the place. Scowling as his feet reached the end of the corridor, the Saiyan turned his body into what appeared to be a welcoming room of sorts. At the end of the room was a crystal ball, alongside a rather poorly kept fire. It was crackling with life, but at the same time it was already dying out. It would not be long before it's life was extinguished forever; and yet, the sparks and embers continued to float upward into the air before fading. The fire was not capable of sensing it's own futility.

Glancing at the ball, he noted the old hag-like woman who sat hunched over inside. Her hair was long and gray, her face wrinkled and sagging. It was clear that her experience had not come without drawbacks to it. He could only wonder what he would look like at her advanced age; thanks to his Saiyan Genetics, he could reasonably assume that he would at least beat her in a beauty contest. If not in a beauty contest, in a fist-fight. There was no way this old hag held enough power to restrain him in the real world, and that was simply fact. He had bested Old Man Crane, he had bested the warrior Rex; soon he would best the entire Organization and leave this pathetic planet as little more than rubble. He could only hazard a guess at what she would want with a man of his intent, but he did not bother ask. Though Broly was impatient, he knew that she would explain with time, and explain she did. Her old voice rang out above the crackling and snapping of the fire, but only barely; it sounded as though she was filled with some kind of dying spunk, that he couldn't help but despise. Fucking old people.

"Keep on waiting, Youngster. Another one of you Saiyan-folk'll be here soon enough..."

Call Broly crazy, but he had the distinct feeling that she enjoyed making him wait. Tapping his foot against the flooring impatiently, the warrior growled in response to the old woman, his voice enough to shake even the most steely of souls. Though Broly did not have the same amount of life experience as Baba did, he certainly had a fair amount of experience taking lives. That tended to give his words more than their fair share of weight, not that Baba was one to be easily shaken or stirred. In her dream-world, she cared little for the petty arguments of one young man with a temper issue.

"Old woman, I will end you like I did the Crane if you don't hurry up; do you think I have a problem killing the elderly?"

It was about then that Broly heard a set of footsteps coming from the hallway adjacent to his entrance. How convenient of his "ally" to show up; he could only hope this human was not as intelligent as the Wolf-Brother fellow he'd had to deal with in Kami's Palace. It was irritating that he'd had to deal with such scum, but to do it twice? Infuriating!

WC: 1,090

Celerus was thoroughly soaked to the bone. It was only after a ten mile hike in the rain that she discovered the markets had all closed due to “inclimate weather“ and she returned to her motel room without a meal. She’d have found the human’s vulnerability to a little rain laughable if it hadn’t interfered with her dinner. Even after three months of living among the Earth’s inhabitants, she was finding difficulty adjusting to their strange rituals.

Her wet hands fumbled with the key to the door until it slipped between her fingers and through the wire grate of the stairway platform to the flooded, muddy pavement below. She stood in shock for a long moment until she finally became consumed with rage and ripped the door from it’s hinges. To a Saiyan like her, the archaic lock and key mechanism was completely useless. Could a wooden door with steel hinges really stop a human intruder?

She stormed through the small motel hallway, rain water running from her drenched clothing and seeping into the carpet with every step. As she approached the door to the bedroom, a thunderclap boomed loudly around her, the lights flickered and then were extinguished completely leaving her in darkness. Celerus’ cursing could be heard from the parking lot. She kicked open the door to the bedroom and threw open the curtain to see that the ever present glow from the lights of West City had gone out as well. Her stomach growled as if to agree with her infuriation.

Celerus struggled into dry clothes in the dark and fitted the door back into place as best she could before she finally accepted that tonight she would have to go to sleep hungry.

No sooner than her head hit the pillow did Celerus’ eyes open again to a well lit corridor leading only to a single doorway. She turned her back and found no other way from which she could have entered. Had she slipped into the astral realm in her sleep again? There wasn’t an opponent to battle with in sight. Celerus heaved a heavy sigh and approached the doorway. With every step she could hear voices growing louder from beyond it. She reached out to grip the knob and turned, pulling the door open to peer into the next room.

“She has arrived. Welcome, Celerus.” Baba greeted her.
The room was dimly illuminated by candles making it hard to distinguish its features. In the center sat the fortune teller Baba and next to her, another Saiyan who wore an irritated expression.

“Please child, come and sit. There is much to talk about.” Celerus wanted to object but found it hard to considering this particular situation was less miserable than the one where she went to sleep starving in the dark. She sat in the last empty chair before the crystal ball.

Baba’s hands rose up and began to wave over the crystal sphere and an image began to form under its glossy surface. The fuzzy image materialized into an ornate mirror. The image zoomed out slowly to show it surrounded by a collection of antiques and then panned out further to show a shopkeeper locking up a store for the night.

“This mirror is a cursed relic. It has taken many lives throughout its wretched existence. You both have been chosen to work together to find and destroy the mirror before it can kill again.”

WC: 571

Broly glanced inside of the ball, locking the appearance of the item in his mind; though, that wasn’t to say he was immediately prepared to accept this woman’s proposition, much less to work with someone he had never so much as met before. Though this new arrival looked more capable than the human he had been tasked to work with before, he still didn’t quite like the look of her. Narrowing both eyes in her direction for the slightest moment, the warrior spoke to the old hag who had tasked them with procuring this relic of sorts. His voice, as usual, was filled with impatience and displeasure. ”Hag, why do you think I’ll be so willing to help you?”

In reality, he was not only displeased with his sudden contracting, he was also bothered by the difference in their greetings. He found himself clenching his fists tightly at his side, glaring down at the old woman. He knew that he couldn’t harm her in this dream world, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try if she kept up her shit. He did not take kindly to being trifled with or bothered, something that she really should’ve known. “Because, child. What do you think will happen to you if you don’t?”

Was that a threat? Broly found the intensity of his snarl increasing as the woman’s words echoed through the small chamber. He couldn’t believe she was even considering threatening a warrior of his might; he couldn’t believe she was so willing to even attempt such a thing. However, he found himself at an unusual lack for words. In the place of verbal condescension, he was forced to remain silent as she rambled on about the location of this Mirror, her voice filled with caution and what sounded like dread.

“The shop you see here is somewhere in North City, and from what I can tell, it is not all it appears to be. Broly, the girl, Celerus, will go inside of the shop to procure the mirror. You’ll be guarding the storefront from anything that may want the mirror. However,” her voice suddenly grew even more wary as she turned to Celerus, apparently concerned for her safety. “The mirror itself is incredibly dangerous.”

Broly was still having a rather difficult time taking this old woman seriously. He could not quite understand why she was so concerned for their safety; he was the second most powerful warrior on the planet, and currently the strongest Saiyan in existence save for the King. What would they possibly have to worry about? Silently promising himself that he would find and do away with this hag if this task proved pointless, Broly finally spoke once more. ”And how are we going to find this single shop?”

At that point, the old witch grinned, if darkly. “I have my ways of guiding you; be patient, boy.”

As the words met his ears, Broly’s eyes were suddenly forced open. Immediately, he was greeted with cold air and what appeared to be a snowy storefront. Ice covered the street in front of him, and street lights all around flickered as he eyed the front window. Unfortunately, the mirror was not present among the display, signifying that the girl would likely have to go further into the store to fetch it; which meant that Broly would have to spend more time in this winter wonderland. He had only been around snow once before; when he killed the Saiyan Warrior known as Bardock.

Scowling as the substance fluttered gently from the clouds above, he turned his head to get a better grip of his surroundings. The girl was not quite in sight yet; perhaps the old woman had chosen to wake her at a better location? Perhaps she was in the store already? That would certainly explain the footprints leading to the door. If that wasn’t the explanation, then the girl would certainly be meeting someone else in the moments to come. Though Broly did not sense any strong power level inside the building, he still did not like the feeling the rather large footprints gave him. They looked as though they’d been widened by energy.

Crossing his arms, his own energy burst into existence around him, melting nearby snow and preventing any flakes from kissing his skin. He would see how the rest of this event played out; he would see exactly who else would come to claim this mirror.

WC: 1,847

As Celerus watched the taller, muscular Saiyan faded from sight. She waited a long awkward moment, expecting her body to dematerialize just as Broly’s did but it never happened. The witch Baba stared at her from over top of the crystal ball, the candle light flickering and casting long shadows over the walls of the room causing the wrinkles on her face appear to deepen. Celerus had heard that some rare humans may possess a talent for the supernatural but until now didn’t care to look further r into the subject. The old woman appeared quite frail almost to the point where Celerus suspected that any rough handling of the witch would break her irreparably. Regardless of her appeared vulnerability, the young Saiyan was sure the ancient woman must possess some kind of great power to be able to pull her into the astral dream plane so effortlessly.

“So… um…” Celerus started before Baba interrupted her.

“You can’t straddle the fence for ever girl.” The witch told her. Celerus gave her an oblivious look. “You’re going to have to choose a side eventually.”

“And that’s between?” Celerus asked.

“Good and evil.” The witch spat irritated.

“Good and….. “ Celerus had never thought of herself as evil before. Sure she’d eradicated a few species here, dispatched a few weaklings there, but at the core of it all it was for the good of Planet Vegeta. And even though somewhere down the line, she started to enjoy some of the less ethical aspects of her army career, that was just part of being a Saiyan.. Wasn’t it?

What did this old human woman know about her anyway? It wasn’t like she’d ever lurked under the beds of children or used the skull of an infant as a chalice. Well.. Perhaps there was that ONE time. Celerus contemplated the old woman’s words until she realized that she no longer sat in the darkened room with the crystal ball.

Celerus found herself next to Broly on the sidewalk before the Antique Shop. She couldn’t help but state at the fluffy powder like substance as it fell from the sky. The Saiyan warrior had never seen snow up close in person before. The Planet Trade Organization was hardly interested in planets that consisted mainly of ice and the few that they were commissioned to invade were above her pay grade. The sidewalk and air around the larger Saiyan was bare of snow and radiated with heat. Celerus could feel his aura continuing to warm the air around them and looked up at Broly wondering how many other full-blooded Saiyans lived on Earth.

Celerus’ eyes wandered Broly to the sky behind him. The moon’s outline shone dimly, obscured by the clouds in the night sky. Full. She cursed to herself and looked away quickly. She had to take care in not looking up at the sky again. Had the moon been out in plain view she would have transformed and have no control of her mind.

The Saiyan woman turned to the shop’s window trying to focus on the task at hand. The street lamps illuminated the store front but Celerus couldn’t see deep into the back of the shop. As far as she could tell, the mirror wasn’t in plain sight. Celerus tried to push away her feelings of unease.

She turned back to Broly trying to avoid the sky behind him, “I’m going to run in and look for it. I’ll try to be back quickly…” Celerus walked to the front door, assuming the imprints in the snow were made by Broly and placed an unsteady hand on the knob. Having not eaten, hunger was beginning to affect her body negatively. Celerus tried to push away the urgings of her empty stomach the same way she had with her uneasiness.

Celerus pushed ki into her fist that held the door knob until the metal began to glow red hot. She continued to force her energy into the rounded metal knob until it finally turned to liquid in her hand. With one side gone, it was easy for Celerus to reach into the hole and push the other side out and reach up from the other side to unlock the top deadbolt. With care, the girl gave the door the gentlest of pressure to swing the door open. Before stepping into the darkened shop she turned to Broly again, “Be careful out here. The moon is full tonight.”

(WC: 743+571=1314)

]Broly glanced up at the moon as the woman noted its presence; was she implying he couldn’t handle himself, or that he would transform under its influence? Scowling up at the rounded orb in the sky, the Saiyan considered the chances. He shouldn’t transform unless he lost control of himself; his mastery of the Giji State made it so that he was generally capable of preventing any unwanted Oozaru transformation. Then again, he wasn’t exactly the one to speak to about controlling your own power. It was a frequently documented issue that he was unable to do so.

His eyes lingered on the moon, slowly examining each crater on the lunar body’s face before turning his attention back toward the store. The woman appeared to have entered without much difficulty; at least she was somewhat useful, then. Normally he had to do everything himself, something he resented. It had seemed that as of late, he was the only competent one on the face of the Earth. Of course, his method of problem solving wasn’t always the best...but it was his favorite.

The night itself was as normal as any; a full moon providing light to the snowy streets, which were empty. It appeared that everyone had gone home for the night, having closed up shop. Broly, though he’d have done the same if his life were so full of tedium, continued to blame this on their lack of conviction. He did not see the point in providing services like this; selling antiques was a foolish endeavor. If someone wanted something old, they should’ve been willing to get it for their damn selves.

That was how he would’ve done it, though he had been providing for himself for many years now. Paragus had been unable to entertain Broly’s growing hunger for power and combat; part of the reason he was so ready to unleash the then boy upon anything he disagreed with. As it happened, that was an awful lot of things. Planets, governments, solar systems, empires. Broly had torn through them all with little interest for the things he destroyed.

When you were mighty, the machinations of the weak and foolish mattered little.

The woman had been inside for a few moments before a few power levels caught Broly’s interest. Eyes narrowing briefly, the Saiyan glanced to the building’s roof, where several winged creatures were slowly making themselves visible. They shimmered into existence inside some type of dark haze which must’ve been shielding their power from detection before.

Their skin was black and ridged, very much like their wings, which appeared almost overly large. Perhaps they were the guardians of this mirror? Or perhaps they were another force out to obtain it? As the Saiyan’s growing growl illustrated, he didn’t much care for their purpose. Whatever they were doing here, they were getting in his way. Or, to be more specific, they were attempting to get into the way of the woman inside. Broly’s feet slowly lifted off of the ground, rising into the air before the rooftop as his energy picked up around him.

Appearing much like a firework in the night, the Saiyan slowly cocked a hand at his waist, scowling at the creatures who continued to line up and come into visibility on the rooftop. They appeared, one after another along each roof surrounding the shop and Broly had the feeling that if he looked behind him, they’d be there as well. The energy in his palm began to congeal into a single glob of threatening ki, clearly something he would be using against these freshly risen foes.

“Leave, mortal. Before we are forced to tear you apart,” a statement barked out toward him in a manner he considered most condescending. They thought that they could tear him of all creatures to shreds? They thought they were stronger than perhaps the mightiest warrior on the planet? Snarling at the chorus of souls who had issued this command, the Saiyan felt his energy rise further and his blood boil over. If the woman could sense energy, this would be equivalent to a warning; the only one she would get.

”You think you can command me, demon? I have killed far more dangerous creatures than you and your misguided kin.”

For a moment, it appeared that the demons were actually considering the warrior’s proposition.

WC: 743
TWC: 2,590

And then Cell Killed everyone and broke the mirror. Happy ending.

WC:11