Level 13 Emergency

‘The end is a good place to begin because something has to end for something else to begin.’

At the end of all the commotion and annoying occurrences and finally, we all returned to our own business in peace. But when something ends, something else begins.

I was sitting quietly in my office when suddenly a member of the stealth force arrived outside. “May I come in Captain Kuchiki?” he said. “Come,” I said and looked up from my stack of paperwork that had piled up in the last few days since my lieutenant was out into the real world.

“Captain Kuchiki, There is an emergency, sir. All the Captains are requested to gather in the Captain’s Hall for an important announcement,” he said.

“Why is a stealth force member here to tell me this? Is there any reason why the bell is not rung to summon us instead?” I asked him.

He gulped and replied in a soft voice, “Sir, it is a level 13 emergency.”

There had never been a level 13 emergency in history. A level 13 emergency meant that not even the Head captain knew what was going on and that the Soul Society was in grave danger. I put my pen down and stood up. “Okay, you may leave,” I said. The stealth force member left and I headed to the Captain’s Hall. Several thoughts ran through my head as I reached the hall.

Only 7 of the other captains were there. I went and stood in my position. The door was shut and Captain Kyōraku spoke. “Some of you might be wondering why there are only 9 of us gathered here. Well, something unbelievable has been happening and I don’t know how to explain this to any of you. As we know this is the Soul Society and there is the outside world in which the hollows exist. But, four days ago, we received intel that portals appearing randomly after the banishing of hollows in the outside world have been taking away some of our soul reapers into a different dimension altogether. One of our captains, Captain Hitsugaya disappeared into one such portal after destroying a hollow and the other three captains have been dispatched to the outside world in search of answers for this alien occurrences. But since it has been three days and we have received no word from the other Captains, I want to send one of our strongest to look into the matter.”

“But, Head Captain, what is the use of sending another Captain when three are already out there?” Captain Kenpachi asked.

“Despite Captain Hitsugaya disappearing into an alien portal, I can sense his spiritual presence as usual, indicating he is not dead. And if he was in any of the dimensions that we know of including the hollows’ dimension, he would have communicated with us somehow. The presence of the other three captains also remains the same, but yet, I am not sure if they are in the outside world or have been taken up by the portals. Hence, I want you, Captain Kuchiki, to go to the outside world and report to me about the occurrences on an hourly basis,” Captain Kyōraku said.

I looked at Captain Kyōraku and the others. If he was sending me, then I had no other choice. So I agreed and the Head captain told me to take the help of the stealth force for the hourly reports. All my paperwork was taken over by the other captains. Lieutenant Abarai was sent to the place where I was to go. The same place where Captain Hitsugaya disappeared.

But something didn't make sense to me just yet. A Captain of the Gotei 13 gone missing and other captains sent to find the missing one also go missing in the next few days? Wouldn't it be normal if they had to fight a strong force? But, if there was no communication received from their ends and no wavering in the spiritual presence, then just what was going on?

Lieutenant Abarai Renji was waiting at the place we were supposed to meet. He reported about some weird patterns in the activities of the hollows which kind of indicated as if they were moving against their own will. That in itself seemed highly off to me. The hollows can never be controlled by anyone or anything known to us. They were merely souls who had given in to evil or had regrets, hatred and grudges from their lives when they were alive. I decided to inspect the place and the patterns of the hollows for a little while longer.

About an hour later, there was a huge group of hollows headed in our direction. Hollows mostly never travel in groups because not only are they unfriendly to each other, but also seek to upgrade themselves by consuming other Hollows. So, hollows only traveled alone most of the time.

This movement of the hollow seemed to move exactly in alliance with the patterns that Renji was talking about earlier. Now there was no doubt that something was suspicious about these sudden change of behavior of the hollows. I had a slight doubt in my mind. Did this have anything to do with the alien portals and the disappearances of the captains?

“Captain, am I the only one who thinks this is weird?” Abarai asked. “There are too many hollows gathered here,” he continued. “Is that panic I hear in your voice Lieutenant?” I asked. He quickly composed himself. “Don’t worry sir, I’ve got this under control,” he said and left in the direction of the hollows. Suddenly I sensed something weird. There was an uncanny energy stirring up behind me. And I had a feeling that it was what the Soul Society was looking for. The alien portals. I stepped back and as I expected, a weird portal opened. It was gleaming with purple, white, and black rays and had a non-hostile aura. I looked at the stealth force members who were following me at that time and figured they had noted all the happenings in detail. The pull from the portal was extremely strong, of course not strong enough the pull me in but maybe Renji couldn’t have fought back this pull. I thought stepping back and making sure I got the information back to Soul Society was the right thing to do. So I stepped back and turned around when suddenly, I saw a huge hoard of hollows in front of me. I was pretty sure I did not feel their energy a second ago. Then it struck me. Maybe the alien portals are a trick that the hollows are using after all. They used the weird energy of the portal to hide their presence. I placed my hand on my sword hilt and flash-stepped, but I realized I was in the same place. My flash step wasn’t working. I looked at the hollows and realized their looks were very different. Their usually lit eyes which gave off evil energy and bloodlust were replaced by a look that felt as if they were ...... struggling? I had never seen that look in their eyes before. But suddenly, before I could pull out my sword, the hollows were sucked into the portal behind me. Their energy didn't even touch my own. They were simply pulled into it. The weirdest thing was that I felt they were crying out to me.

As if they didn't want to be sucked up into that portal.

As if it were against their will.

This made me wonder if my hypothesis earlier was right. For the first time, I felt a little curious. What was lying beyond that portal? Was Captain Hitsugaya taken up like this as well? What about the other three captains?

Maybe.

Just maybe.

If I stepped into this portal on my own, would I be able to find out what was going on?

I turned to the stealth force members and said, ” I’m going inside. Return to base and tell the others I’ll be back when I find out what is going on.” The stealth force members tried to stop me. I stepped towards and into the portal. The last thing I sensed was Renji’s energy coming in my direction very fast. And probably him yelling, ” Captain Kuchiki....No!!!”