A/N: This first chapter is purely a prologue that is necessary to set up the actual premise of the story, my apologies if it's bad.
There is a lot of information that I can't give in the prologue, that is why this chapter offers so little. As I said, this is just to set up the premise.
I will warn you now: This story will focus a lot on the characters, and the road they walk rather than the overreaching plot and the goal they'll reach. I'm only clarifying this so that you won't be surprised that there are chapters who are slice-of-life-ish. There is a "bigger" plot, there will be action, but if you're just looking for pure action, or something with a mind-blowing plot, this is probably not your cup of tea.
Also, despite what this chapter makes it seem like, this story won't be strictly written from Aizen's POV. It will change between different characters. Even though this particular chapter is in Aizen's POV, it's just as much about Ichigo, and they are both main characters.
Chapter 1: Transcendence.
Outskirts of Karakura Town, ~110 years ago.
Under the protection of the night, a number of cloaked figures gathered. Holding information they should not originally be aware of in their hands, they waited only for their leader to open the rift which would save them from the consequences of their theft. Any second sooner is another second in which their lives are not at immediate risk. They did not wait for long, as the leader too, was anxious to leave.
A rift is opened, the cloaked men pass, and it closes. Now, finally they were safe, and could begin their plans in a world uninfluenced by the Shinigami.
Same Location, Present Day.
A wall of pure black darkened the land; a newborn canyon carved its way through the earth and a sound too great for the ear to perceive deafened those close enough to hear it.
"Mugetsu." The single word that is spoken before the landscape itself was reshaped.
The absence of both sound and vision lasted only for seconds before evaporating into nothing, unlike the single entity it had come down on.
Aizen Sousuke.
Nowa deity even amongst gods, cut in half by the sole being standing higher on the pedestal of existence, Kurosaki Ichigo.
As the victor landed somberly on the ground, dark bandages fading from his body, the remaining halves of Aizen Sosuke land a distance away.
"Impossible! How could he possibly have surpassed me? A mere human?" I can feel myself be revived even before my body collides with the ground. I lay for but a few seconds before my body merges back together into one form. Opening my eyes, I see Kurosaki sink to the ground, his powers fading with the wind. Feeling my powers beginning to return, I stand up.
I take a breath and compose myself before turning my gaze back onto this human whom had managed to reduce me to such a weakened state.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, you have lost."
"Behold." I sense my zanpakuto slowly crumble from existence.
"My zanpakuto is disappearing. You should understand what that means..." Those eyes still defy me. I can see in them that he understands my words, yet they hold confidence as if I had already lost. I have seen those aggravating eyes before.
That man.
"The Hogyoku has decided that I do not require a zanpakuto! Just like you, who has become one with your zanpakuto and it's powers." He must be aware of this.
"No, I am now rising even higher than you, who has just lost that very power!" I will reach a level even beyond this.
"This is the end, Kurosaki Ichigo!"
A sudden pain strikes me in the chest, a red spike shoots forth, soon followed by more identical ones forming a cross from my chest to my abdomen. I stumble in surprise, grasping at the sudden protrusions.
"What is this…?! Kidou...?! But when-?" Realization hit me.
"Urahara Kisuke! He planted it inside one of the other spells!"
I feel my power leaving me. Kurosaki's surprised expression tells me he wasn't expecting this either. "Damn you, Urahara Kisuke! Why do you not act!? Why do you subjugate yourself to that thing!?"
A second wave of pain hits me as the spikes grow in length, enough so to completely pierce through my body and protrude outwards like spears.
"This cannot be! The Hogyoku is is subservient to me, there is no way a Kidou like this could possibly-!" Suddenly, I feel the connection fade. "What is happening!?" The white layer of reiryoku covering my skin shatters like leaves. Kurosaki looks away, as if I he was beholding something tragic.
"Such arrogance, how dare he!? I cannot accept this, it cannot be!"
"The existence of the Spirit King is inexcusable! The only being worthy of replacing it is me!" He faces me again. Determination still fills his eyes, but no longer is he pretending to ignore my words.
As my powers drop to but a fraction of my true strength, I suddenly feel the process halting. The Hogyoku lights up, yet I can no longer sense its consciousness. Our link has seemingly faded entirely, why is it reacting? "The sealing is halted, yet I do not feel my powers returning. What is happening?" Kurosaki is watching me suspiciously, seemingly as confused as I am, and on his guard.
Suddenly, I feel the ground disappear from beneath me. Some form of dimensional rift, similar to a Garganta, appears below my feet. The seal, and the Hogyoku seemingly ignoring me prevents me from amassing any amount reiryoku under my feet. I see Kurosaki's eyes widen before I fall into the space that the Hogyoku appears to have opened up. Was it meant to create a way for me to escape? I do not have time to answer that question as I feel the Hogyoku physically repelling itself from my chest, taking the little power it was feeding me with it. It must have been more than I realized, because without it, I feel my reiryoku drop so far that my consciousness begins to fade.
The First Town of Pieta.
Despite being located in the snowy north, the last storm to pass through the city of Pieta was not one of snow and wind. Twenty awakened beings, the bulk of Isley of the North's forces, passed through this city mere hours ago, leaving 24 massacred warriors of the Organization in their wake. This specific event meant that there was no one left to witness the sudden crack in the air which appeared a few meters above ground in the eastern outskirts of the city, much less the unconscious individuals falling through it.
The first one landed merely inches to the right of a particularly large gathering of fallen warriors. In total, nine bodies lay scattered in the vicinity.
The second body to fall through shortly before the rift closed itself, also unconscious, lands just meters to the left of the same area. The city once again fell silent except for the wind, but only for a minute. The first body that fell shortly lights up before a black sphere rises through its chest and begins to move in the direction of a particular fallen warrior, whom happened to be one of the few who had simply been rendered unconscious.
After reaching its chosen target, it descended and smoothly entered itself into the chest of it's new target through the open scar on her torso, and began the merging process.
Edit, please read.
A/N: This is the re-written first chapter. I felt the original version was of inexcusably low quality, and thus re-wrote it in preparation for the next chapter. (Which will be chapter 3.) While this version is also quite bad in my own opinion, it's not as bad.
Again, I apologize for the short length, but this is still merely the prologue that's needed to set up the rest of this story, and I found this to be the only decent place to cut it off at.
Please Note: The cloaked guys in the first section are not OCs, just saying.