Nowhere: 1

PREFACE:
Stop. Click back on your browser. Find another fic to read, because this one isn't the one for you. You'll read it. You'll hate it. It's confusing, and it doesn't make sense. It's tragically assembled over a period of time, so it is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle in the dark.

I'd like to pretend this story is deep, and meaningful, and all that. It's not, or, it could be. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Maybe it's a work of art, or maybe it's lacklustre. I don't know.

But you probably won't like it, so just go back now. Read something else. Save yourself some time.

Or not.

Nowhere: 1

Flinching, shaking, writhing in agony, he forced his palms flat against the ground and pushed himself up. Errant thoughts ran through his head again: Why is this happening? How is this happening? How did I get here? Where is here?

The ground was painted with his blood: a splatter of rich crimson that looked so artistic he swore it could've been thrown on a canvas to be hung on a living room wall. He inhaled thick air into his deprived lungs while trying to ignore the pain that consumed the right side of his face. He forced himself to roll over and sit, pausing afterward to get a grip on his surroundings. Not that it entirely mattered because he was almost absolutely certain they would change.

Tentatively, he lifted his hand and touched the right portion of his skull in an attempt to assess the amount of damage inflicted. He winced as his trembling fingers traced over his bloody body. He could only imagine what he looked like as he felt several protrusions from the skin. His eye socket was broken, he thought, and his jaw fractured.

He closed his eyes.

This is just some horrible dream, he told himself.

Yes, just some horrible dream that he'd wake up from, because he fell asleep.

He fell asleep and everything became a dream, because reality never functioned like this.

He wasn't on the run from anyone, and no one was out to get him. He wasn't stranded on a remote, alien planet by himself. He wasn't by himself, dying. He wasn't in this place, where ever this place was.

He'd wake up, he told himself.
He'd wake up and all would be well.
He'd be the Prince of Saiyans training to be a Super Saiyan, again.
He would go back to Earth and defeat Kakarot.
Things would go back to the way they were.

He opened his eyes to confirm his location. The scenery had not changed. He had a few moments more to rest.

He then noticed the vision fading from his right eye. He began to panic. Could he lose his eye? Could he die? Was this real, or was this the dream? It felt so real.

It felt too real.