Bleach Chapter 2: Hueco Mundo

“There is no illusion greater than fear.”

***

Following events happened prior to Kazuya’s awakening.

Hollows operated on Reishi, the key component that made up the soul of every being. The atmosphere in Hueco Mundo had a high concentration of Reishi, thus allowing weaker Hollows to convert the ambient energy into their Reiryoku.

Hollows in Hueco Mundo could survive without eating souls.

Yet the void in some Hollows grew so large that they felt unsatisfied with Reishi or human souls. They took an animalistic route by eating other Hollows. These cannibals evolved into a new classification known as Menos. Gillians and Adjuchas lived to devour others for a chance of evolution. Whereas Vasto Lorde looked upon both of them.

This predatory cycle of devouring and being devoured was a norm in Hueco Mundo. It established a one and only law in Hueco Mundo — the weak become a part of the strong.

One Hollow among the countless was named Emilou Apacci. She didn’t know the origin of the name but she certainly had a bit of attachment to it. In the hierarchy of Hollows, an Adjuchas like her wasn’t weak. She won her fair share of battles. But her losses left a bigger impression on her.

Throughout her losses, she developed a habit of avoiding troublesome foes with her agile, deer-like body. When running wasn’t an option, she concentrated spiritual energy on her horns to create the devastating rays of Cero.

Despite possessing the power of an Adjuchas, she survived on the ambient Reishi instead of killing others.

Today has been an easygoing day for the peace-loving deer. She strutted across the vast white desert underneath the black sky, barely illuminated by the quarter of a moon. Everything went smoothly until she spotted blue two legs poking out of a white dune, their owner buried several feet under.

Apacci narrowed her eyes into slits, trying to spot the Hollows who orchestrated this scheme.

‘I’m no fool to fall for this trick.’

As an Adjuchas, her keen senses could vaguely pick up Hollows’ presences, even those unseen by her eyes. The result left her stunned.

‘Huh? Why is there no one here?’

She curiously craned her neck around before her eyes returned to the legs, which looked way too small and thin to be a part of a Hollow.

“It’s none of my damned business.”

She turned around and stomped off. Another minute later, she returned to find the legs in the same position as before. There was no movement so far.

‘The heck is their problem.’

Unable to resist her curiosity, she bit the blue cloth wrapping the leg and yanked its owner out. And she finally got a good look at the stranger.

It was a Hollow.

Everything about him screamed human, whether it was his torn clothes or his messy, long silver hair. His mask comprising twisted horns and vicious teeth symbolized his existence as a Hollow. And how could she ignore those black wings on his back!

“A male…”

She only had terrible experiences with men in Hueco Mundo since all of them wanted to eat her in a literal sense. But she couldn’t sense any type of ferocity from his peaceful and refined features. He seemed like the type who loved peace — his feeble Reiatsu made her hesitate in outright killing and consuming him.

“He is unconscious… and his legs…” Her eyes widened with a look of shock. “What a terrible fate to suffer.”

Two see-through holes could be seen on his thighs. They resembled a Hollow’s natural hole, metaphorically known as Hollow’s heart. Usually, the hole doesn’t clash with their daily life, but the giant holes in his legs were bound to have repercussions — his thighs barely had any flesh to support him.

A howl in the distance made her tense, seizing her body with fear. A powerful predator was near. An Adjuchas who’d prey on weaker Adjuchas like her.

‘I have to go.’

She took a glance at the man, bit his shirt, and tossed him in the air. As he landed on her back, she sprinted across the desert.

‘I will use him as bait.’

She justified her compassion that came pouring out for his fate. He’d be dead if nobody helped him out here, or so she thought.

***

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake.”

Kazuya might have mistaken everything for Skyrim opening if the voice speaking to him didn’t have a feminine touch.

‘Well, being a dragonborn would've been fine too.’

He pulled himself into a more comfortable riding position. His mount was a deer-like creature with most of its back covered in brown fur and the front showing gray skin. Two white antlers protruded from the creature’s head.

Putting aside the creature’s peculiarities, he noticed the lack of a rider beside himself. Nobody controlled the mount he rode as if—

Apacci turned her head, glancing at him through her peripheral vision. “Are you a Vasto Lorde?” she asked in a slow, husky voice, finding his size appropriate to the rumored size of every Vasto Lorde. “But your Reiatsu doesn't line up with that.”

“Vasto Lorde?”

He had heard the term somewhere but couldn’t remember its source. The inkling tugged at his mind. The answer still remained shrouded in the fog of his memories.

Apacci paused in her tracks, her ears nearly melting from his whispers. ‘His voice is so nice… what am I doing?!’

She broke out of her trance and shook her head, her ears beating against her face. “Do you not know Vasto Lorde? Is this your first day in the Hueco Mundo? It cannot be like that. Menos aren’t born with humanoid forms.”

When a Hollow’s heart becomes so empty that a human soul could not satiate its hunger, it begins to devour others of its kind. The act of cannibalism gathers other Hollows and ultimately conjoins as a Menos named Gillian.

By some miracle, she had read his Reiatsu wrong. The man before her was a dozen times shorter than a typical Gillian.

Kazuya’s eyes narrowed behind his mask. The words Hueco Mundo and Menos blew away the mist surrounding his memories. He looked around the world in disbelief. An endless white desert, with a multitude of dunes, littered with boulders and white trees at an interval. The place felt as real as his own body, if not more.

This place perfectly matched the memory he had from a certain anime.

‘Ah.’

Somehow, he held back the urge to scream at the top of his lungs. The situation demanded some insane reaction. After all, he got transported to the world of Shinigami, Hollows, and Quincy, aka Bleach. It only took one bullet to his head, but he was finally free from his grandfather.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the cold, dusty air that flowed throughout the lands of Hueco Mundo. It wasn’t a dream or a made-up fantasy of his dying mind.

The moment sank in, and he took a long sigh. “May I ask your name?”

Politeness was necessary when one didn’t know what the fuck was happening. A little respect went a long way in building trust and preventing unnecessary conflicts.

The owner of the voice considered his request for a few seconds. “...Apacci.”