17 Passage

Fifty years ago, in Hueco Mundo, a Hollow wandered into the forgotten forest of thorns and burned it to ash and cinders. The heat from the incident had rendered the dead ash and bones of former hollows into glass. Glass that delved deep into the ground beneath Hueco Mundo which, through time, had once again been covered by sand. 

For fifty years, he slumbered in silence. 

In those fifty years, many things have changed in Hueco Mundo. More and more Hollows are beginning to reach their peak. Newcomers have begun making a name for themselves. 

There have also been others moving about in the shadows, working towards a sinister goal. 

But for those poor souls that have come to stumble upon this place, only one thing awaited them.

Death.

He felt warmth, for the first time in what felt like years. He was returning.

[Bleach- Treachery]

First was the body.

His body, which had been encumbered by glass and had set in place like stone, slowly began creaking to life.

*Crack!

Cracks began forming from the glass floor. Spiritual pressure leaked out of it, like a geyser. 

Next was the pulse!

The drumming of his heartbeat created a strange sensation within the ground of Hueco Mundo, sending out tremors, like an earthquake ravaging the land. 

*Crack! Crack! Crack!

A few moments later, the ceaseless tremoring finally stopped, for now his consciousness had returned. 

And with it, control over his spiritual pressure.

Slowly he lowered the energy seeping out of him, pulling it in close to his body in a bid to contain and control the force of his massive power. A feat of control, only those who have mastered their own spiritual energy had managed. 

His breath came next. Finally able to relax his muscles and his mind. Slowly, he began to move more and more. 

*Crash!

His eyes shot open and with great force he destroyed the glass prison holding him beneath the sands. 

And with a deep breath of relief, he arose.

The sand of Hueco Mundo shifted violently as he lifted his naked body towards the surface. The weight of the sand would be enough to crush a normal being. But for him, it was nothing but an ich. 

Every bone in his body popped as he moved about. A feeling of deep pressure being released with each and every creak of his bones. 

" Hahhhhh!"

He let out a long and drawn-out sigh. The feeling of the wind hitting his body for the first time in years was refreshing. The feeling was far different than anything he had felt before. 

Sure, he had felt the wind, but it was always through his mask, or his bone skin, or his fur. But this feeling of soft, tender, skin being met with the soft breeze of Hueco Mundo brought chills to him. 

The wind blew the remaining traces of sand clear from his body. Freeing him at last and leaving him now completely naked.

He raised his hand. Reishi, being far more thick and denser than the world of the living, is high in concentration. Using this high concentration of reishi, he summoned from the sand itself a small black cloak and wrapped it around his lower half, leaving his upper body completely revealed, with the small exception being the bone fragments from his old mask, which circled his forehead.

He stuck out his hand, as if calling something and a moment later an elongated black rod adorned with gold appeared in his hand. 

Unlike before, where he needed to mold and carefully craft cero, this staff was real. Made from the very essence of his soul. Within that great weapon was his power, more so than he anticipated.

When an Arrancar is made they split themselves into a body and a sword. Evenly splitting themselves half and half. Not him. 

No, his power split further, a little more than just half. Physically he was as strong as ever before, but to him it meant he had lost something. A part of himself. 

He wasn't sure how to feel.

This was his power, gone, but not.

There, but not there. 

Separate, but not separate.

A part of him, made real. But it left him feeling empty inside. That's what he despised. That feeling of his soul being ripped from within him, leaving him unfulfilled. 

On the other hand, however, it did present him with a challenge. If he was missing that something within that void, it meant he would just have to fill that void with another power. 

" Whew!" He blew out another breath of relief. " How long was I asleep?" He wondered. He raised his hand to his face and marveled at the new sensation. " It feels so weird. Like I've had this body my whole life, it feels so natural. But still, it's weird." He spoke. A smile adorned his face. " I could really get used to this. I wonder what Starrk will think? Hahahaha! This gonna be fun!" He muttered. 

He looked up from his hand, finally, and marveled at the mountains of Hollows that were stacked all around him. 

There had to be hundreds of bodies by now. All of them looked as though they had been crushed by some outside force.

" Did I do all this?" He wondered. He walked up to one of the poor unfortunate souls and placed a hand on its body. " No spiritual energy whatsoever. It's all been crushed out of it. Unfortunate. Sorry, about that, guys. I want you to know it wasn't personal." He said with a whisper of regret and sorrow in his voice. 

His eyes told the story of his emotions. 

" I can't even bring you along as part of me. That's too bad." He gave pause for a moment, giving a silent prayer to those killed in his slumber. Then, once he was finished, he gave a quick nod before turning towards the sandy hills of Hueco Mundo. " Alright, then. Let's go see what's changed since I've been away."

Those fifty years were quite a relative time of normalcy for Hueco Mundo. 

Those fifty years were up.

He had returned.

Bikou was awake.