ICE DRAGON CHRONICLES
By: The Awesome God Apollo
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure Tite Kubo is a man. And older than thirteen. Just sayin'...
Happy Birthday, Toshiro!
IMPORTANT! Read the Author's note at the bottom, please and thank you! :D
PROLOGUE
In the very beginning, there were no Shinigami in Soul Society. There was no order, no leader, and Hollows ravaged the Living World because there was nobody to purify them and help souls move on. The few souls that managed to move on formed a village of sorts, but had to live in fear of the monsters that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was considered a dark age in Soul Society's history. It was at this time that he appeared.
The Heavenly Guardian.
No one knew who he was or how he appeared. All they knew was that he was their saviour, and thus they embraced his arrival with open arms. He dispatched the monsters with ease, and helped souls move on to Soul Society.
He was said to be the first Shinigami.
His name was unknown to all; they only began to call him the Heavenly Guardian because legend had it that he had been blessed by God with unfathomable power and skill. And he was never seen without his partner.
Hyourinmaru was said to be the greatest of dragons, the ruler of the skies and the sea. (1) According to the myth, the Guardian had met and tamed him, convincing the almighty dragon to allow him to wield his power. He transferred the very essence of his soul into the Guardian's sword, and from then on, the two became inseparable.
The man's white hair and teal eyes only served to further immortalize him in the eyes of the souls he aided. He wielded unimaginable power and did so with infinite grace, that for many years Soul Society lived in peace, with no fear from the monsters, and thus they began to build a village. And so the Rukongai was born.
But, like all good things, the peace did not last forever.
The Hollows, enraged that they had lost their main form of sustainment, waged a full-out war on Soul Society and its saviour, with Menos ranging from Gillian to Vasto Lorde banding together in an attempt to rid themselves of the Heavenly Guardian. Terrible as it was to behold, the Guardian managed to destroy much of the enemies' forces. However, the overwhelming number of Hollows created before the Guardian appeared proved to be too much for one man alone, and Soul Society came closer to the brink of destruction than it had ever been before.
It was at that moment that the Guardian unleashed his full power.
A massive wave of pure reiatsu swept through Soul Society, obliterating each and every Hollow in its path. After the battle, the souls searched high and low for their saviour, but neither he nor his partner Hyourinmaru were anywhere to be found.
They mourned his passing, but eventually moved on. Time passed by, people changed, and Soul Society developed. It was discovered that some souls had a semblance of spiritual power, and those who did could wield it as a weapon against Hollows. Thus, the Gotei 13 came into existence, and the Spiritual Arts Academy was created.
The tale of the Heavenly Guardian eventually became a myth, a legend, a fairy tale to be told to children before bedtime. Only a select few believed that he had actually existed and neither hide nor hair was seen of him or the mighty ice dragon.
Until, centuries later, a young prodigy appeared in the Academy. She breezed through with little problem, and the Head Captain of that era was perplexed to discover she wielded a sword by the name of Hyourinmaru. Her white hair mystified those around her, and rumour arose that she was the reincarnation of the man said to be the first Shinigami. She quickly rose through the ranks to become a Lieutenant, but was brutally murdered by a vicious Hollow a few years later, and never had the chance to unlock her full potential.
It was only a decade later that war descended on Soul Society once more. Though not as devastating as the first, it was just as terrible, and many Shinigami lost their lives. And so began the 'true' legend of the Heavenly Guardian, that he would be reincarnated in times of Soul Society's greatest need.
After the first, only two more followed, once during the period when the noble houses rebelled against the Gotei 13, and once more when the Hollows had rallied again. Neither managed to fully unlock the power of the Heavenly Guardian, and though both wars eventually ended in peace, neither survived.
Life continued on as per normal, and no one saw or heard from the Heavenly Guardian after that.
That is, until now.
PAGE BREAK PAGE BREAK
The first District of Rukongai, Junrinan, was always a serene place. At night, the stars shone brightly, a perfect replica of the night sky in the World of the Living. The moon gleamed against the inky blackness and reflected off the river as a cool breeze rustled the trees of the nearby forest.
In a tiny house not too far from the forest dwelt a little old lady. She was well-loved by the residents of Junrinan, who had affectionately come to call her Granny. It was her kind-heartedness that had prompted her to taking in two young children off the streets, quite literally. Unfortunately for her, it was her more recent charge who caused her to be ostracized by the other souls.
In her opinion, he was a sweet young boy, but now that her other charge had left only five years ago (because five years was indeed a short time for a soul), the only person willing to speak to him was her.
At the moment the two of them were sleeping peacefully in their small little house. Or at least, one of them was. Hitsugaya Toshiro was tossing and turning in his sleep, plagued by his daily nightmare.
Toshiro opened his eyes to the now-familiar plain. White stretched as far as the eye could see, soft snow being blown around harshly by a fierce wind. The humongous plain he now stood on was composed completely of ice, and surrounded by seemingly insurmountable jagged mountain formations. Anything beyond them was blocked out by the ever-raging blizzard before him. But that wasn't the strangest thing. In the middle of the plain of ice stood a massive dragon.
The dragon towered over him, dwarfing his tiny figure even more than usual. It radiated power, and its ruby-red eyes felt like they were boring into his soul. Its scales were made of ice itself, hardened to the point that they glittered like diamonds. Wings with a span of at least ten times his height (2) stretched across the plain. Its jaw alone was larger than the boy, and yet he didn't feel uncomfortable or afraid, only confused.
"Child!" The dragon roared. "You...ing...I... ist...n!" Like always, even the dragon's booming voice was drowned out by the howling wind.
Toshiro struggled forward, pushing against the gale in an attempt to catch the dragon's words. "I…. can't hear you!"
"My...am...s...y...ri...ar...!"
Toshiro struggled harder against the wind when suddenly the force increased. (3) It blew him away from the dragon. He closed his eyes and waited for impact with the ground...
Toshiro sat up in bed with a jolt. He attempted to control his breathing rapid heartbeat. He quietly pondered what the dream had meant, too deep in thought to notice the frost creeping up the walls.
Author's Note:
(1) I figure, he reigns over the frosted heavens, and people basically acknowledge him a the ruler of the skies, then I could write that. And for the seas thing, well, he is the greatest ice, snow and water type zanpakuto out there.
(2) I watched the Toshiro vs. Hyourinmaru fight in episode 239 of the anime (Zanpakuto Unknown Tales Arc, for those of you that haven't watched it, I would recommend at least this fight, it's really cute! :3), and I noticed when Toshiro was floating in the air and Hyourinmaru was in ice dragon form, his wingspan was about 8-9 times Toshiro's height. And since he would have grown a little since his days in Rokungai, I'd guess his wingspan would be about 10 times Toshiro's height back then.
(3) I made this part up. Only way I could think of to wake him up suddenly. Sigh. :/
This is the IMPORTANT part. My laptop crashed. The thing is, I had already typed up the prologue and first chapter on it, and I forgot to send it to myself. (I had to rewrite the prologue. Sigh.) Therefore, since I don't want to rewrite the entire first chapter, because it is rather long, I am going to wait for it to be fixed before posting the next chapter. However, while I'm doing that, I will be working on the second and third chapters, and those will be up shortly after. Sorry! So don't expect an update too quickly, since I'm not sure how fast it can be fixed.
Okay, thanks for reading! This is the first fanfic that I've written and actually posted, so I hope you guys will tell me what I'm doing wrong or right. Flames will be used to cook Christmas dinner. Also, tell me if there's anyone you want me to bring into this fanfic, or anything you particularly want to happen. I have a good idea for what happens from now until the end, but there's some parts that are up in the air, so I'll try to add your suggestions in. Please drop me a line so I can improve my writing! Thanks! :)
Also, thank you to Ero-Chibi-Chan and Ice Prince Hitsugaya for helping me with this. Go read their stories, they're both amazing writers.
Until next time! Sorry for the super-long author's note.
T.A.G.A. 3
Edit March 12th, 2012: Just realised that I've been spelling Rukongai wrongly...