Blood on the Sand
Volume 1: The Broken Crown
Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs,
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.
Let's choose executors and talk of wills.
And yet not so - for what can we bequeath,
Save our deposèd bodies to the ground?
Our lands, our lives, and all are Bolingbroke's,
And nothing can we call our own but death
And that small model of the barren earth
Which serves as paste and cover to our bones.
For God's sake let us sit upon the ground
And tell sad stories of the death of kings!
How some have been deposed, some slain in war,
Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed,
Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed -
All murdered; for within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable; and humored thus,
Comes at the last, and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and farewell king!
Cover your heads, and mock not flesh and blood
With solemn reverence. Throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty;
For you have but mistook me all this while.
I live with bread like you, feel want, taste grief,
Need friends. Subjected thus,
How can you say to me I am a king?
-William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 3: Scene 2
Prologue
A cold wind howled down from the icy peaks of the Ice-Fangs, sending a chill run down Earhold's spine. He looked to the Arrancar put in charge of this patrol in the southern part of the Far North. The tall, dark-blue haired lord was the sixth son born to Lord Jaegerjaquez and hardly anyone cared for his bravado. The Lobo del Desierto had such in their ranks: the children of nobles who were not likely to inherit anything either because they were too recently born or were bastards or did something to put their family's name to shame. There were also the usual ragtag types of ex-soldiers, Arrancars too poor to pay their debts, rapists, murderers, thieves, and Arrancars who had nowhere else to go. It was their duty to patrol the northernmost borders at the Ice-Fangs as well as the western border that divided the Hueco Mundo Empire from those in the Wastes.
Many of the Lobo del Desierto preferred to patrol the North especially since the exiles in the Western Wastes were becoming more active lately. There was a rumor that Mordrath Luisenbarn, the exiled brother of Baraggan Luisenbarn, was uniting their tribes and clans. Still, the Far North had its own problems to worry about. There were the usual raids from the tribes of savages who lived north of the Ice-Fangs. There were rumors that they were also uniting under the banner of the Blood-Raven King, a banner that had not been seen in over three thousand years.
"We should head back to Everfrost," Aelahn, the third member of their patrol said. He was a short and squat male with a face that looked like a drunk had taken a chisel to a slab of stone. A hunk of iron made to resemble a nose was placed where his real nose had been. His mask fragment resembled seven bony piercings that outlined his square jaw.
"Do the dead frighten you?" Lionel Jaegerjaquez asked.
"I didn't say that, but whatever killed them does," Aelahn said.
"It was probably just another tribe of savages," Lionel said. "I bet some wilder saw a goat he wanted to fuck and killed another wilder for it. That's how these things go."
"That's not what I saw," Earhold said. "Whoever killed them didn't do it just because. They butchered the bodies and left the remains in…in some kind of design. They did the same to the yearlings."
"Well, it's a good thing that we're grown Arrancars and not yearlings."
"Perhaps one of us should go back to Everfrost and let the Commander know about this."
"No one will do any such thing. We were sent here because we received word of a group of savages making their way south. We're to follow them and…"
"And it sounds like they were all killed," Aelahn said. He was a veteran of the Lobo del Desierto who had seen combat. The scars on his face told tales of his run-ins with the savages and his missing fingers, taken by the frost, told of his brush with Lord Cold-Winds. "They won't be bothering us anymore. We should head back and…"
"And what are we to tell the Commander? Won't she be curious as to how they died?"
Aelahn didn't say anything to that. Lionel looked at Earhold who also remained silent. They both knew that the Commander would want to know all of the details. If something killed that small group then she would want to know what they found.
"I thought so," Lionel continued. "Earhold, lead us to this dead-man's camp."
"I…uh…I don't…"
"I didn't ask if you wanted to do it. I commanded you to do it. Don't think about disobeying. If you do, I will make sure that you are hunted down and treated as a deserter should be treated."
Earhold swallowed and said, "Yes sir."
He led them through the forest of moon trees, his unease growing with each step. The official name on the maps was "The Twilight Forest", but most of the Wolves referred to it as The Haunted Forest as it was close to the Haunted Tower, a place that all Lobo del Desierto shunned. Silvery leaves glittered in the moonlight and snow began to fall. Lionel held his thick fur coat closer to him, but his face was becoming red from the cold.
"Damn this wind," Aelahn said. "Lord Cold-Winds is doing his damnedest to make sure we lose a finger or two; perhaps even a nose."
Lionel grimaced as he looked at the iron nose on Aelahn's face. Earhold knew that Aelahn lost his nose not to frostbite as he claimed, but to the pox that he caught from a prostitute in Everfrost.
"Stop your whining," Lionel said, shivering. "We need to make sure that all of this camp of savages truly is full of corpses. Then we can head south, but not before. If you try to run then I will see to it personally that you're treated as deserters ought to be treated."
Aelahn and Earhold only nodded in response.
They continued their trek in silence. The only sound was the howling wind and the crunch of snow beneath their feet. Earhold held up a hand when he saw the rise that he peered over. He turned and placed a finger to his lips. Lionel nodded. All three of them got to the ground and then crawled to the top. When they reached the top, Lionel looked over the edge and then stood. He let out a bark of laughter and looked at Earhold.
"Come see this," he said.
Earhold didn't want to stand. He didn't want to see it again. Yet he didn't have a choice. Lionel reached down and lifted Earhold with one gloved hand. Earhold became afraid. He thought that he would see the corpses, hacked into pieces and then laid out in intricate designs as though they were a part of some cruel blood ritual. But what he saw was a clear opening among the trees. The only signs that a camp had been there was the smoke rising from the dying embers and the small tents.
"Your dead savages appeared to have decided to move on," Lionel said and broke out into another burst of laughter.
"That's…that's…"
"Alright, enough of your tales. I do believe that there were savages here, but they played a trick on you. They're probably hiding in the forest, waiting in ambush. Well, we're not going to fall for it. Aelahn, you come with me. Earhold, you get to scout the perimeter."
"Yes sir," Earhold said, unable to comprehend where the corpses had gone.
He made his way into the forest just on the other side of the rise. The silver leaves intensified the moonlight, casting light of its own on the forest floor. A patch of silvery-blue winter roses were in bloom, but there was no sign of any other life. He looked up to the tops of the trees and could make out the ruined top of the Haunted Tower. The top windows seemed to gaze back at him like two darkened eyes and the stories surrounding it whirled through his mind.
"Stop it," he whispered. "This is reality, not stories. There's no such things as devils."
He heard something move from deeper in the forest. The sound of footsteps on the snow caused him to stiffen. A chill ran up his spine as he felt the air behind him become colder. He readied his sword, prepared to release, but his mouth felt too dry to be able to say anything. He turned slowly and saw a yearling with cloven feet, her violet hair was tangled and he could make out the small points of three horns on her head. By all appearance she was an Arrancar yearling who had not yet undergone the maturing. But it was her eyes that paralyzed him.
Her eyes were twin black flames wreathed with fiery red and icy blue. There was no emotion in them. There was no fear or anger or joy. There was nothing.
She stared at Earhold and took one step towards him. The crunch of snow beneath her feet brought him out of his shock and he ran. He ran towards the clearing to warn the other two of what was coming. Thoughts of the stories that his grandmother told when he was a yearling filled his thoughts. Stories about the Era of Dreams and about the Long Midnight.
As he grew older he dismissed such stories as merely myth, told to frighten children. But now it was as though the stories had taken on flesh, prancing before him in all of their horrific glory. He could rationalize as much as he wanted, but that did not change the fact that he was truly frightened.
All true…gods help us all…all true…ALL TRUE!
He could see the clearing up ahead. He saw Lionel coming out of one of the tents, sword drawn. Lionel turned quickly as Earhold ran out of the forest. He scowled as he lowered his sword.
"What are you doing? I told you to search the forest."
"We need to get out of here," Earhold said. "We need to go back now."
"Are you insane? We need to find those savages and…"
"WE NEED TO GO!" Earhold screamed. "THEY'RE COMING! THEY'RE COMING!"
That seemed to get Lionel's attention. He cursed under his breath and he scanned the tree-line, trying to find any enemy. Earhold knew that Lionel thought more of the savages were coming. Earhold, however, looked at the snow and at the never-ending night sky. He knew that it wasn't savages coming for them. The wind became stronger and colder, its bite piercing patches of bare flesh.
"I don't see anyone," Lionel said, turning to face Earhold.
Earhold looked at Lionel and then behind him. His eyes widened in terror. All voice was gone.
"What is it?" Lionel asked.
Lionel turned to look behind him and became paralyzed. The figure that came with the cold was tall and clad in a long black coat that moved slightly in the cold wind. His face was lined with the wrinkles of his old age. His cracked lips had no true color to them. His white hair hung down to his shoulder. His eyes blazed like twin blue flames trapped inside clear river ice.
"A human? No…not just human and not a Quincy. Wh—what are you?" he asked.
The figure replied by extending his right arm with hand open. The Energy in the air seemed to gather towards him and form a spear. Its shaft was the color of dark midnight and the spearhead shone like cold stars, blazing with white fire.
Lionel readied to release by holding his sword in front him with hands on blade and was about to begin the command when the stranger's spear pierced his sword. Earhold stared in horror as the blade shattered, as though it was made of nothing but glass.
"What…?" the nobleman asked in surprise as the spearhead pierced his chest.
The stranger allowed the Energy that made his weapon dissipate and smiled a cold smile. Earhold fell to his knees, his lower lip began to tremble. The stranger walked closer and reached down to Earhold. Earhold closed his eyes as he felt the cold touch on his face.
Aelahn knew that something was wrong the moment he and Lionel had stepped into the camp and so, at the earliest moment, he snuck away. He would say that he thought that he heard something and went to investigate if Lionel caught him. And so he went into the forest and waited. He would not go far. He did not want to be branded a deserter and so he hunkered behind a tree.
He heard Earhold shouting, "THEY'RE COMING! THEY'RE COMING!" So he looked back at the clearing. As such he saw how the stranger came out of thin air.
He could feel the rising cold wind, but unlike Earhold and Lionel, he saw the air ripple as though it was little more than a sheet of cloth. He saw the rippling take shape and become the man. Aelahn witness what happened after that. He saw that after the man touched Earhold's face a change had come over his former comrade.
The air around the two rippled and it seemed as though the entire clearing seemed to ripple just before Aelahn saw into the world that the man must have come from.
Where there was once a clearing with a few make-shift shelters there was an ancient city surrounded by a sea of swirling darkness. Tall statues rose and glowed a dull silver and the streets shone like ice under alien stars. Aelahn could make out other figures standing among the ruins. The only feature he could clearly make out of each figure were their eyes, blazing like colored flames trapped inside ice. He saw what appeared to be a block of ice and in its heart was a sword. Before he could make out any further details the sky closed again.
Earhold and the man were gone. There was only Lionel's corpse and the remains of his sword. Aelahn made his way into the clearing, unable to comprehend what he just saw. He only knew one thing.
"They need to know of this," he said. "I need some kind of proof that what I saw wasn't in me head."
He looked around and saw the shards of Lionel's sword gleaming in the moonlight. He knelt to pick up a shard or two to take back to Ever-Frost with him. When he touched one of the shards he felt as though his fingers were burning from the cold despite his gloves. He was about to wrap it into a bit of cloth when his fingers slipped on the smooth edge. The shard's edge pierced both glove and skin, drawing blood. It was as though his hand had been drenched with ice-cold water.
"Shit," he muttered. He wrapped the shard in the piece of cloth and put it in his bag. He stood and was about to leave the clearing when he saw that Lionel's body was no longer where it had been. He turned to look around, but didn't see anything.
Gotta get out of here, he thought. He made his way to the bank of snow. He would head south until he reached Ever-Frost and let the Commander know exactly what happened. He would do his duty and then he would think about what to do next.
Damned if I'm gonna get executed as a deserter.
That was when the hand grabbed his shoulder. Aelahn turned and screamed as Lionel Jaegerjaquez stared into him with eyes like fire inside ice. Lionel smiled a cold smile.
"I see them. I see they who dwell behind the cold stars," Lionel said in a voice that was cold and distant. "And you will see them too."
Aelahn ran.
The False Karakura Town, Winter War
Baraggan Luisenbarn, the God-King of Las Noches and Divine Emperor of Hueco Mundo, felt the protective Kido surrounding the decaying hand inside him give way. He had never thought that it would end like this. He could feel his Respira begin to devour him even before the protective Kido was half-way decayed. When the Kido did fully decay it was quick, like the released energy in a bomb. He felt the Respira tear through his body.
This can't be happening.
However, it was happening. He knew that he wouldn't get another chance to exact his revenge. He was a Luisenbarn and a Luisenbarn had been the one to bring an end to the Leonisran Dynasty. It was his right to rule. Now, his crown was crumbling into dust and the only Luisenbarn left would be his younger brother, Mordrath, who tried to regain the Honor and Right that Aizen had taken away from them, only to be forced into exile again.
Baraggan looked at his decaying body and then to Aizen. His rage grew as he looked upon this Usurper who stole everything from him and who had the audacity to not even look at him as he died.
I am the Divine Emperor. I rule all under the night sky. And you thought that you could supplant me! SUCH INSOLENCE!
"With these hands," he snarled, "I will kill you. You will regret giving me power." He raised his axe and prepared to throw it even as his body was being consumed. "I AM KING! I AM GOD! I WILL NEVER DIE! I swear that I shall hunt you for all eternity…AIZEN!" he shouted and threw Gran Caída at Aizen.
However, before his Gran Caída reached Aizen it dissolved.
NO! Baraggan thought as he himself became nothing but dust blowing in the wind.
The Crown of Hueco Mundo fell to the ground below and shattered when it struck.
Las Noches
The throne sat empty. There was none to wear the crown and no one to sit on it. It had gone from being a symbol of authority to the symbol of a power vacuum. None of the Soul Reapers who went through Las Noches, seeking treasures and information to take, paid it any heed. As far as they were concern it had nothing to do with them.
The Arrancars that remained in Las Noches, however, understood what it meant. When the last of the Soul Reapers went back to their world they would send out riders and moon ravens to throughout the Empire. Word would spread and when it did Hueco Mundo would have to prepare itself for another shift in power.
End of Prologue
A.N.: This is the reworking of the original "Blood on the Sand, Volume 1". Some things will be the same but the majority of it will be vastly different. I felt that this rewrite is necessary because of continuity reasons. I am doing the same with "Tamashi no Kiri" since "Blood on the Sand" and "Tamashi no Kiri" are part of a larger mythos and there are a lot of differences from the originals. When I started those two stories I was still figuring things out. I have since come to a better understanding of how things will be playing out than I did before.
I will leave the original versions of "Tamashi no Kiri" and "Blood on the Sand, Volume 1" up, but I will not be updating them.
Soundtrack (Volume 1):
Opening: "Main Titles for Game of Thrones" by Ramin Djawadi
The Far North: "Survive (Extended Version)" by Tom Holkenborg
House Starrk: "Skyrim (Main Theme)" by Lindsey Stirling & Peter Hollens
House Leonisra: "The Rains of Castamere" as sung by Karliene
House Marceaux: "Assassin's Creed Rogue Main Theme" by Elitsa Alexandrova
House Andjo: "Veni Veni Bella" by The Mediaeval Baebes
House Rureaux: "Serpentine" by Disturbed
House Luisenbarn: "Dust and Light" by Twelve Titans Music
House Tuma: "The Morrow" by Michael Nyman
Las Noches: "Existence" by Audiomachine
Hueco Mundo: "Forces" by Susumu Hirasawa
End Credits: "Until We Go Down" by Ruelle