Post by Shun Minamoto on Jan 2, 2017 16:15:07 GMT -5
When he first started to learn about Hueco Mundo in the Academy, he thought, Wow, there’s a lot there!
After all, the place had sand enough to replace every beach on Earth many, many times over. But more than that, it was the size of the dunes and the trees of quartz that made it seemed so full to Shun. This impression, erroneous as it was, persisted through the years because Shun, simply, never visited the place. What purpose did he have to go? There was the rescue mission for Chie, which he still remembered even twenty years down the line, and the battle with Rania. How could he forget that, after all?
After just one day here, Shun already felt like it was the emptiest place he had ever been.
After his arrival, which found him high up in the night sky, Shun crashed down onto a dune in the desert and rolled into one of the many valleys of sand. Even though panic set in, there was nothing to run from. Not a single Hollow came to feast on the weakened Shinigami man who was so powerful that, if their understanding of Hollows was true, he would be the greatest delicacy they ever tasted.
Not a single one of those horrific monsters appeared. In fact, Shun got a full eighty or nine hours rest by his estimation. More than enough for him to get back on his feet at full strength. As much as it surprised him to admit, he had noticed just how much easier this transportation between worlds was becoming for him. Not as exhausting, and appearing in strange places like the sky was becoming less and less common.
It no longer felt like he was completely at the mercy of a current he couldn’t control.
He was also beginning to realize that his soul, for whatever reason, pulled him to high densities of great spiritual power. Usually, the Rukongai, due to the huge number of souls that it held in such a comparatively small space. Sometimes, though, he appeared on Earth, if the humans had built up their own, great military power. Othertimes, the Seireitei.
This was the first time, however, that he appeared in the empty desert of Hueco Mundo.
To better scout out the area around him, Shun took the sky. He ran through it at an easy pace, something he could maintain, towards the only flicker of a presence his mind could find. And when he started to find it, he hardly even realized what he was looking at.
At first, it was just a black mass on the horizon. It was indistinct, lacking shape or texture, and only gradually did those details appearance. Thick, rough scales, a fat, almost rounded body, a long neck, and, even, a tail.
Not to mention, of course, the closed eye lids behind the bone-white mask.
A dragon, if there ever was one. He hardly believed that such a monster would exist, let alone as a Hollow. He couldn’t even make out the location of the Hollow Hole on this beast, no doubt because of the angle and the way it curled into itself.
Instinct, of course, demanded quite loudly that he murdered the monster the moment he was in range.
Experience had taught him better, at least while he was stuck away in worlds he didn’t understand.
Which left a different option: A chance to talk. What could he learn from this thing while he was here, before he left to find more hospitable grounds to spend his time in this world at? After all, he had never seen anything like this creature before. Which meant, despite its size, it wasn’t a Gillian.
A Huge Hollow, most likely; something a step below Gillian that was still too weak to survive in the Quartz Forest below the surface.
Shun landed, quietly, in front of the monster. He knew that, sooner or later, its consciousness would drift to the surface and realize that something of truly absurd power had approached. A survival instinct would kick in. He’d get to see this thing in action.
Any minute now.
*****
690 Words
Junko Gekido
After all, the place had sand enough to replace every beach on Earth many, many times over. But more than that, it was the size of the dunes and the trees of quartz that made it seemed so full to Shun. This impression, erroneous as it was, persisted through the years because Shun, simply, never visited the place. What purpose did he have to go? There was the rescue mission for Chie, which he still remembered even twenty years down the line, and the battle with Rania. How could he forget that, after all?
After just one day here, Shun already felt like it was the emptiest place he had ever been.
After his arrival, which found him high up in the night sky, Shun crashed down onto a dune in the desert and rolled into one of the many valleys of sand. Even though panic set in, there was nothing to run from. Not a single Hollow came to feast on the weakened Shinigami man who was so powerful that, if their understanding of Hollows was true, he would be the greatest delicacy they ever tasted.
Not a single one of those horrific monsters appeared. In fact, Shun got a full eighty or nine hours rest by his estimation. More than enough for him to get back on his feet at full strength. As much as it surprised him to admit, he had noticed just how much easier this transportation between worlds was becoming for him. Not as exhausting, and appearing in strange places like the sky was becoming less and less common.
It no longer felt like he was completely at the mercy of a current he couldn’t control.
He was also beginning to realize that his soul, for whatever reason, pulled him to high densities of great spiritual power. Usually, the Rukongai, due to the huge number of souls that it held in such a comparatively small space. Sometimes, though, he appeared on Earth, if the humans had built up their own, great military power. Othertimes, the Seireitei.
This was the first time, however, that he appeared in the empty desert of Hueco Mundo.
To better scout out the area around him, Shun took the sky. He ran through it at an easy pace, something he could maintain, towards the only flicker of a presence his mind could find. And when he started to find it, he hardly even realized what he was looking at.
At first, it was just a black mass on the horizon. It was indistinct, lacking shape or texture, and only gradually did those details appearance. Thick, rough scales, a fat, almost rounded body, a long neck, and, even, a tail.
Not to mention, of course, the closed eye lids behind the bone-white mask.
A dragon, if there ever was one. He hardly believed that such a monster would exist, let alone as a Hollow. He couldn’t even make out the location of the Hollow Hole on this beast, no doubt because of the angle and the way it curled into itself.
Instinct, of course, demanded quite loudly that he murdered the monster the moment he was in range.
Experience had taught him better, at least while he was stuck away in worlds he didn’t understand.
Which left a different option: A chance to talk. What could he learn from this thing while he was here, before he left to find more hospitable grounds to spend his time in this world at? After all, he had never seen anything like this creature before. Which meant, despite its size, it wasn’t a Gillian.
A Huge Hollow, most likely; something a step below Gillian that was still too weak to survive in the Quartz Forest below the surface.
Shun landed, quietly, in front of the monster. He knew that, sooner or later, its consciousness would drift to the surface and realize that something of truly absurd power had approached. A survival instinct would kick in. He’d get to see this thing in action.
Any minute now.
*****
690 Words
Junko Gekido
