Chapter 1
In a forest at night, a young man awoke to find nothing around him but trees. The young man had shoulder-length, flowing black hair gently hanging over a handsome yet menacing face. His sapphire eyes gave him a smart yet calm look.
As he lay on the ground, a throbbing pain overcame him, causing him to clutch his head and squirm in pain. When the pain subsided, he attempted to stand up, but his body felt as if it had been struck by a truck. After several attempts, he finally managed to drag himself off the ground. He looked around and found no people or animals in sight. As he scanned the strange forest, the deafening silence intensified his feelings of fear and anxiety.
“Where am I? How did I get here? Where did that person chasing me go? Ah, why does everything hurt? I need to escape and call the police. Damn, why did I have to lose my phone?”
Feeling that standing around pondering these questions would yield nothing, the young man chose a random direction and began to walk. As he continued, he noticed something peculiar about this forest. It was eerily silent, with no animals running about or insects flying around. He had walked through many forests before, and you’d typically find insects everywhere.
“What the hell is this forest? There’s no sound. It’s like a forest of death. I have to get out of here.”
With anxiety escalating, the young man forced his aching body to run. As he sprinted through the forest, he eventually spotted some lights on the horizon. He quickened his pace, but suddenly, he heard a rustle in the bushes to his left. He stopped and backed away from the bush, only to hear more rustling behind him. The young man’s heart raced as he realized he was most likely being hunted or stalked by some animal.
He retreated to the center, standing equidistant from both bushes, then sprinted toward the lights as his best chance for survival. Suddenly, a creature appeared in front of him, as if it had been invisible, waiting for him to run.
The creature had a brown, spider-like body attached to a torso, clawed hands, and a noticeable white bone-like mask covering its face, resembling a bird’s skull. The young man tried to back away, but one of the creature’s spider legs stretched out and struck him hard, causing him to fall.
“Ouch, that hurts. No way, is that what I think it is? No way, this can’t be real; that thing can’t exist in the real world. How the hell is a hollow right in front of me?”
“What, are you done running away? Please don’t stop; my meal tastes better when it’s scared. So, get up and run,” said the hollow as it laughed and used its spider leg like a whip to taunt the young man.
The startled young man attempted to stand and run, but he found that he was so scared that his legs had given out. This seemed to irritate the Hollow, who tried to whip him again but stopped suddenly and looked up. The young man also looked up to see what had drawn the creature’s attention, and he noticed a brown-haired man wearing a Shihakushō descending from the sky, slashing off one of the Hollow’s arms.
“Goddamnit, I had a small amount of hope that I wasn’t in the world of Bleach, but it’s starting to look more likely. Maybe I’m in another world with soul reapers and Hollows. I know the chances might be low, but I have to believe it for now.”
The male soul reaper jumped back when the Hollow attempted to retaliate. He saw the young man on the ground and yelled, “Hey, are you an idiot? Run, or do you want to be eaten?”
The young man responded, “I can’t feel my legs. I can’t run away.”
The Soul Reaper then disappeared and reappeared near him, about to grab the young man when he noticed his modern clothes and hesitated. He then spoke the incantation, “Bakudō #73, Tozanshō,” creating blue energy that extended upward to four points, forming an inverted pyramid that encased the young man.
The Soul Reaper saw the young man looking uncomfortable and said with a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, that’s a protection spell. You’ll be okay as long as you’re in there.”
“Bullshit, I know that this spell is for trapping and is harder to break from the inside. If this really is the Bleach universe, there are better spells, and why couldn’t he take me to safety before fighting? His attitude changed when he got close to me. Am I in more danger now? Does he want to take me in?”
Nevertheless, the young man simply nodded, acknowledging the soul reaper’s words. The hollow hadn’t moved during this exchange and remained still as the soul reaper turned his attention back to it. The soul reaper then rushed at the hollow, attempting to bisect it, but the hollow used one of its arms to block the attack. The soul reaper’s slash cut off the hollow’s arm and continued down, cutting into the hollow’s mask. As the soul reaper’s blade was about to fully cut the Hollow’s hidden face, six spider legs erupted from the ground, piercing the soul reaper’s body.
The soul reaper had a shocked look on his face as the Hollow’s spider legs twisted inside his body, causing him to bleed profusely. The soul reaper screamed and seemed to use the last of his strength to cut the Hollow’s face in two. As the Hollow faded away, the Soul Reaper fell to the ground in a pool of blood.
The blue pyramid surrounding the young man faded, freeing him. He walked over to the soul reaper and found him lifeless in a pool of blood. The young man knelt beside him and checked for a pulse but felt nothing. As he stood up to leave, he picked up the katana, the Soul Reaper’s zanpakuto.
“Thank you, nameless soul reaper, for saving my life, and thank you, nameless hollow, for saving my future. You both died so I could live, and I will never forget either of you. Now, more importantly, I’m probably in the world of Bleach, but hopefully, I’m in the human world. If this is the Soul Society, then I’m in serious trouble.”
The young man continued in the direction of the lights. When he exited the forest, the sight before his eyes confirmed his worst fears and shattered his state of denial. He saw the Soul Society he remembered from anime and manga. This sight caused him to drop the zanpakuto and fall to his knees in despair.
