Gouki's First Coming

[Gouki]

In the darkness of the black void, Gouki seethed with blind rage. His mind was ablaze with fury and questions. Who had dared interrupt his training? Who had taken him from the island he dwelled in and brought him into this empty world? Who thought they could subdue him, the master of the fist, the unrivalled fighting force, the one who was called a demon so great was his power, and get away with it?

In other words, who wanted to die?

Omni's silhouette appeared. Gouki immediately rounded on him... Or was Omni rounding on him? The total lack of light made it hard for even for the master martial artist to judge the distance between him and the mysterious figure. The demon couldn't even see his own hands though he was sure he was holding them up in front of his eyes.

Omni spoke. Gouki fought to reply with a stream of blood-curdling death threats but found that his mouth had been bound shut.

Omni spoke some more. Gouki looked around to find a way to escape the black trap he'd fallen into but found that everywhere was darkness.

Omni continued his monologue. Gouki tried to punch him and his despicable grin but found that no matter how much he tried, he couldn't close the gap between them.

And so the demon raged in silence. Even when Omni waved over a rainbow coloured sphere of light, Gouki only gave the sample of omnilium the briefest of glances before turning his hateful gaze back towards his captor. Gouki was not one to be talked down to yet here was this shadow telling him to "listen carefully", telling him that he was "nothing" without omnilium, telling him that he "should not fear death". No living being had spoken to him in such a fearless manner and lived to tell the tale, which is why his blood boiled at Omni's condescendence. He swore then and there that he would kill him given the first opportunity.

Omni finished his speech and faded away, as did the darkness, leaving Gouki alone in a vast expanse of immaculate whiteness, his mouth finally unbound.

"Death is beneath me!" he roared, his body trembling with the intense anger he felt, "My fearsome fists will dispatch you to damnation! Fight me now!"

There came no reply, not even the echo of his words.

"Do not believe you can escape my wrath! I will find you and destroy you!"

Again, silence.

Then he heard a knock. Two knocks. Three knocks.

Gouki turned around, expecting to see Omni, but instead faced a sōzu, a water fountain made of wood, rocks and bamboo. From a boulder as tall as he was high ran a trickle of water that poured over its edge and landed on a bamboo stick that was propped up in the middle of its length by a piece of wood shaped like the letter Y. The bamboo stick had been cut and positioned so that its open end would catch the water falling from the boulder while its closed end rested against a smooth rock the size of a fist. As the bamboo filled with water and its weight distribution changed, it pivoted against the wooden support and tipped over, emptying its contents into the gravel that lay at the fountain's base before dropping back into in its initial position and 'knocking' the small rock. Fountains like these were typically found in Japanese gardens and served the same purpose as scarecrows; they were designed to scare away plant eating animals with their sharp, startling knocking.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

Gouki sneered in contempt.