Disclaimer: I am a nobody meaning I own nothing except the plot and those characters created by my thoughts. Everything else belongs to Tite Kubo and the people who brought these characters to life.
Chapter 1: Prelude
For us, the story began a long time ago. We existed simple as that, drifting in the respective realms that we were entombed in in; never truly existing, never truly sleeping. We were aware, deeply so of the silence that surrounded us, realms that overlapped but never truly met. We were what we are, the true manifestation of what we represented.
Chaos.
Life.
Time.
Space.
Darkness.
Light.
Memory.
A single being awoke us, calling us together, asking for an audience. We chose to meet him, venturing out of the entombing silence that we half-existed in.
Eight met in a void of nothingness. The one that had been nothing had beckoned to us, asking for our help in bringing into being the end of the empty, the very exact thing the Eighth had begun to tire of. We had understood yet remained conflicted; such a work… could verily strip us of everything that we were. It was Life who had stepped forward. Asking of Void, what exacted it had wanted. Its answer was heard by the rest of us. Life understood and so spoke to the rest of us.
"Such an undertaking of work this is and we all know what can possibly happen. But is there anything worse then what exists as us now? Half there, half not, you call this power? Power over what, over who? We are nothing. To step forward, is to take this chance, to create… to bring into being what is lacking now. Do you like this silence? This nothingness in which we reside….."
It had fallen silent. But by then, Chaos had decided.
"I will join you. To hesitate….is to be stagnant and I am change…I tire of this existence of nothingness that you speak of, Life. I will join this undertaking."
"I will join you…Chaos…Life. For the sakes of what I watch over, for the eternity that this is not."
"If Time wishes for this, then I will also join for my realm parallels the state of Time's. Nevermore."
Darkness and Light had decided together on hearing the words of Time and Space so they answered together.
"As the four before us had said, then we will also join this undertaking. For the sakes of our balance."
And one was left.
Memory spoke, clear and loud.
"I now understand what is needed. For what it is worth, I will be the keeper of what is here, the memory of what is to pass. If you undertake this, then you will forget this, your true essence until the very end and the Void is to return. This forgotten memory will be what powers that you give to bring into being…. I will join this undertaking."
Void understood exactly what Memory had meant.
"I will use what remains of my essence to help you craft into being what you will."
The seven others accepted this and together they focused their energies and in a phrase, released all the essence that they held in the half-existence within the Void.
"So mote it be."
The essence of Chaos spread out into the Void, eating away the Void and consuming it, leaving only trace amounts as it spread out to form impossible structures, building on the Void that it had consumed. With a flicker, Light and Darkness exploded into each other and onto the Chaos, forming each other as they destroyed each other and was absorbed into what was once Chaos. Time and Space broke the barriers that held them back, allowing the expansion and flow to begin finally. Darkness and cold fell for a long time as Time and Space rewrote themselves. Then the first stars exploded into fiery life, coaxed by Life whose essence wrapped around everything to keep it together. All while through this, Memory waited until the other seven had vanished, truly gone into their released essences, no longer half-existing but no longer there. It gathered a little of everything except Void, leaving Void to its peace and so wrapped its essence around the little bundles of everything that was left and so a new being came into life; built upon Void and containing the trace amounts of the essences of the Seven. It awoke, and brought to life what it would be the souls, now only bundles of energy and life. By then, a single planet in the Milky Way Galaxy had cooled enough to start supporting life. The being that was made up of the original Seven placed the little packets of energy and life onto that barren planet and waited. Eventually, it split into seven again and silence remained for a long time.
The one who was once Time awoke first, in a tangible form for the first time. It had then woken the one closest to it, the one who was once Space who lay in a tangible form, as was the rest of the seven. The duo had quickly woken the rest, the one who was Memory proposed that they join for a final time, leaving out only enough of what remained of their true selves to seek out the future souls that would be the vessels of their true essence until the very end. The others agreed and so the Soul King came into being, the remains of the seven spread out across the world to wait until the soul that they are tied to awakened for the first time.
"Mommy? Is that true?"
The dark haired woman smiled down at her son, curious little emerald eyes looking up into a similar pair of emerald eyes.
"It is as true as you believe in it."
"...Can you tell me about daddy?"
"Can I tell you about your father?"
The woman asked her son mischievously. He blinked once before correcting himself.
"May I hear about daddy again?"
She smiled a sad smile, thinking back to when they had been together before she had left him.
"Of course you may. Your father was a kind man. You have his looks... He was a doctor of sorts and a gentle one. Of course he had his darkness, everyone does but he carried it better than anyone."
"Why didn't we stay with him?"
"He is the King of his own and I don't belong in that world that he belongs in."
"But...did he make you leave?"
"Nothing of the sort, I think that he would have begged me to stay but I couldn't, I chose to leave him, for his and mine's sakes and for your safety, Ulquiorra."
