• My new wife and I were down by the river having a picnic. She was the most beautiful woman you could ever find. I was truly blessed, but that didn’t last for too long. She had fallen into the river and didn’t know how to swim. I dove in after her and got her to shore, but I was somehow sucked under and found myself at the bottom of the river, gasping for breath, but only sucking in gallons and gallons of water. That was 30 years ago, that was the day I died.
    Nikorasu stared out into the water of the river, remembering, regretting his death. No worse thing could have happened at that time. His new wife had survived, but her life was ruined. She ended up in a coma for the next two years. In that time she lost all memory and when she awoke she had no idea who he ever was. There is no greater pain that I have ever known; not even drowning was as harsh as that. It was like I had never even existed in the mind of the one I loved. Immediately a feeling of hate and nausea washed over him, followed shortly by an immense pain wracking his entire body. The chain on his chest began to encroach, chewing away at itself. Every time this happened it filled him with these emotions, and every time they got more intense, leaving him feeling more empty, more hollow.
    “Ooh, what have we here, a poor soul in pain? Nah, all I see is desert!” A voice behind Nikorasu said, he turned around, the pain starting to leave his body, but as the pain left, fear entered. The voice was coming from a huge white skull attached to a monster. He stumbled to his feet, but could not run, could not move! “So you can move around huh? Good, you see I’m still kind of full from my last meal, and I could use a bit of exercise anyways! Here is what I propose, a game in fact. I’m going to chase you, and when I catch you, I’m going to eat you. If you somehow manage to escape from me I’ll never bother you again. Oh and if you decide not to play my little game I’ll merely devour you here and now, hungry or not.”
    Finally finding his feet, Nikorasu turned and ran. If I can only get away! Then I’ll be safe, at least for now! He thought to himself, but the voice spoke again from over his shoulder, “I’m glad to see that you agree to my little game, but I have changed my mind. I think I’ll merely kill you now instead!” And with that it swung its claws, barely grazing his arm. “Oops, missed!” It cried out, but he knew that it had missed on purpose. The peals of laughter coming from the monster told him that it was playing with him, letting him know that he had no chance, yet fear kept him running. Whenever he slowed down, the claws came again each time cutting deeper, and each time followed by that laughter.
    Nikorasu tripped on a stone and he immediately he fell face first into the dirt. The monster let out a loud laugh and leapt upon him. “Done already? Too bad, I was just beginning to have fun! Oh well, I was also beginning to feel hungry so this works perfectly!” No! It cannot end this way, is this how I’m going to die? Desperation flooded into him. There had to be some way to survive, he stopped thinking and allowed his body to merely act.
    Nikorasu dodged out of the way of the monster at the last second and took off running again, this time breathing freely, no longer caring about the world around him, following the rawest of his instincts, the instinct to survive. This, however, annoyed the monster. “Game over, moron! I’m hungry and this is no longer amusing to me! Now DIE!!!” And with that, the monster grabbed the chain connected to Nikorasu’s chest and began to pull him in. What?!? No, I must break free of this chain, but how? How can I free myself from this creature?
    Try not running from it, but facing it! The forest around Nikorasu began to melt away and was being replaced by a wasteland covered in dying trees. Is this it? Am I dead? Of course you are dead; you’ve been dead for the past 30 years. Stop dwelling on the past and open your eyes to what is happening now Nikorasu, you are fighting for survival, to protect the final remains of your being, to protect your soul! Nikorasu looked around in fear and wonder. “What is this place, how do you know my name? How did you know what I was thinking just then?” Nikorasu paused and looked around then continued, “Where are you?”
    So many questions, but no time for them now. I, however, am right here in front of you. Nikorasu turned his head just is time to see the skeleton of a bird fall from a tree, and then fly right towards him! He raised his arms to his face to defend himself, but the bird merely landed on his arm and spoke, why do you defend yourself from me? I am part of your very soul; you have no need to fear me. You have no need to fear the hollow either, you are stronger than it, but you must believe that, it’s not something I can just tell you.
    At that moment, Nikorasu knew, as the world melted around him, and the creature reappeared, still pulling on the chain, Nikorasu knew that he was more powerful, that he could defeat this, hollow. He lunged forward, strait toward its face, and at that moment the entire chain shattered and a power seemed to grow inside him, a burning flame, and the voice spoke again. Shake off your earthly bond, follow your instincts, call out my name and I shall aide you.
    Before Nikorasu could even ask what that name was, he knew it deep within his very soul as if he had known it for years. He called out its name, “HONEFENIKKUSU!” A spear materialized itself in his hand, and without even pausing to think, he plunged it deep into the hollow’s face. The hollow immediately vaporized and disappeared. Nikorasu fell back exhausted and looked at the spear in his hand. The spear suddenly began to glow and twist. In shock, he dropped it on the ground and watched as it took the shape of a dagger with a blade about a foot and a half long, with an egg shaped guard, red grip, and three red feathers dangling from a gold loop attached to the hilt. He stood for a while, admiring the sword, he then picked it up, whispering, almost inquisitively, “Honefenikkusu?”
    At that moment, the world once again washed away into the wasteland, except the trees were no longer dying, but instead had leaves sprouting from the once dead husks. “The trees, they’re coming back to life.” Yes, that is because this place we are in is a part of your soul, as your soul returns to its former health this land will flourish. “What about you? You said the land will be restored, will you as well?” Flourish, no. This is how I am and will always be. I am a zanpakuto; therefore, I shall never change. Despite my outward appearance, I cannot get any healthier than I already am, but right now that doesn’t matter. Now is the time for your questions, in fact, we have nothing but time.
    “What are you? You said you are a zanpakuto, what is that?” A zanpakuto is the sword of a shinigami, which is what you now are. Zanpakutos are souls born within a shinigami when their powers are first realized. In your case, that was 30 years ago when the first encroachment occurred. Your desperation and fear at that time gave birth to me. It was only until now that I was truly able to contact you and lend you my power.
    “You called me a shinigami, what’s that?” A shinigami is a warrior who protects the souls of those who have died and allows them safe passage to heaven. The only way this is possible is to defeat the hollows threatening them and perform a konso. “So in other words I help the dead pass on, but do I ever get to pass on myself?” To that question I have no answer. There must be some way, but I don’t know what it is. However, if you were to pass on, who would protect the souls here? It is a job that must be done by somebody, and you are the one who must do it. “Now hold on, there must be more than just me, I mean seriously, I can’t be the only one to have this type of ability.” You don’t know that. I’m not saying that it isn’t possible, but until we have proof, we cannot jump to conclusions.
    There is more reason as well that you must fight more, you need to get stronger if you wish to survive against stronger hollows. “Stronger hollows, how strong do they get?” Let’s just say stronger than you could imagine. “If they get so strong, how am I supposed to ever beat them? How strong must I become?” Think of the strongest warrior you know, now imagine a warrior one million times stronger. That is how powerful you must become, but for now you must rest, for I feel that from this point on, enemies are just going to get more and more powerful and numerous.
    Once again, the wasteland washed away and Nikorasu was back in the world of the living. He felt the fatigue of his battle pulling at him and he slept. When he awoke, he felt a most peculiar feeling. He felt weak, but for no apparent reason. He then realized that it was a feeling he had not felt since he was alive. Quite simply, he was hungry. He reached up and pulled an apple from a tree above him, marveling at how conveniently placed it was, and took a bite. But as he ate the apple he realized that it did nothing to ease his hunger. The apple is a form of material nourishment. Seeing as how you are no longer human but a spirit, material nourishment no longer means anything to you. “Than what will I eat?” This I do not know. “So I am to starve?” But Honefenikkusu did not answer, and he knew that it was because even his zanpakuto did not know.
    For days this continued, Nikorasu feeling weaker and weaker, hungrier and hungrier. In his weakened state the worst occurred. “What have we here,” a voice behind him asked, and he knew immediately that this was the voice of a hollow, “a poor weak shinigami? Ha, this is perfect. Shinigami are the most delicious, and you look like the perfect morsel.” Nikorasu turned around and saw the hollow walking towards him. He barely managed to croak out, “Honefenikkusu.” The dagger immediately transformed into the spear, but Nikorasu was too weak to hold it, and it fell from his hand. He tried to catch the spear, but only managed to snag one of the five red feathers located near the head of the spear. The feather snapped off and twisted into a kunai. Using the last of his strength, he threw the kunai at the hollow and blacked out.