Awakened

I saw flashes of the past, but was it my past? I caught glimpses of a man's life, in love, danger, and fear. None of this made sense to me; I wasn't recognizing any of it. One was of the same man grabbing a large, double blade sword with a black hilt with a white seal where the hilt met the blade. He was marveling at it like this was his first time seeing it. Next I saw him handling the sword with great skill as he fought against an army of beast looking creatures with white masks. Finally I saw him with speed, impossible for me to follow, as he appeared behind a familiar man who was wearing his brown hair down in a shaggy fashion, and wore glasses with a soul reaper kimono with a white coat on top of it, but the opponent blocked the attack easily.

Excuse me, I heard the voice say; This is a perfect opportunity for you to learn some moves and techniques you can use for self defense when you have an unexpected encounter like this. Ok, I thought. Concentrate, try to free yourself from physical restrictions, and imagine yourself floating in water. I did so, time seemed to stop as I did this, before I knew it I felt myself slipping from my body, and continued into the air. I saw an averaged sized man with black spiky hair and a dirty white robe. He only had one arm, and where his other arm should be, blood had soaked the robe. Was that…me?

Yes, his eyes looked up at me, I am the only one who can see you, as you are only separating yourself from the body to get a different point of view, your still part of you, your just not in your body, but soon you will return. He explained. I could still feel like I was in my body, I looked down, I looked like I was in my real body, but I was floating in mid air. I saw my arm on the ground, I went over to it and tried to pick it up, but my hands slipped through it like it wasn't there. So it was true, surprisingly, I didn't really find it all that hard to believe, suddenly I realized I had bigger things to worry about. I turned around to see Arturo and my body, both staring each other down. Wait a minute, I thought, who are you? I am you, What? Or rather, a fragment of you. I don't understand, I thought confused, I'll explain later. I supposed I'd just have to wait. I saw Arturo, his expression unchanged, still looking at my body. What should I call you? I asked quickly. Shukei. he said after a pause.

Alright Shukei, I hope you have a plan. Of course I do, he said, I noticed that all this time his voice was always somewhat cold and sounded quite neutral, Like he wasn't fazed by this whole situation, even the fact that he didn't have a right arm anymore.

"I suggest you get on the ground before you stay there forever." said Arturo in a threatening tone.

"And I suggest you at least put your guard up before you eat your words." said Zen in a cool tone. Arturo's face twisted in disgust.

"I don't even care what happens to you anymore; I tried to take you alive." He said with annoyance, as he pulled out his sword. "How about this, I'll humor you; I'll give you twenty seconds to pick up your pathetic weapon so you at least have a fighting chance." I could see Shukei gleam for a second before walking over to the old tarnished sword and picking it up. He examined the sword with great intensity.

After gazing at it for a while, he turned back to Arturo.

"How long?" he asked. Arturo looked somewhat startled.

"How long what?" his voice seemed to have lost its confident tone.

"How long have I been dead?" Arturo was silent for a minute or two, and then he replied:

"A little over a century" he replied. Shukei sighed deeply. One hundred years? Looks like there's no chance I have of returning to the life I once had. Strangely I felt sad. I could never go back to the life I never even knew about. How strange I must be.

"Arturo," He said regaining his composure. "This is your end." He squeezed the hilt of the sword. I could feel the air getting heavy. Arturo flinched.

"So you figured out how to build up your reiatsu again, eh?" he scoffed. "It's still not enough! I can withstand an attack far more powerful that!"

"This isn't meant for you," Shukei said. The air fluctuated. The rusty sword began to glow. Shukei then shoved the sword into the ground. He slowly started to pull out the sword, Then with a mighty tug, the pulled the sword out of the ground. I gasped, the sword was different now, instead of being rusty and thin, it was gleaming and thick. More than that, it looked exactly like the sword from the memory flash. How did he do that? Shukei twirled the sword with great skill, and gave it a few practice thrusts. Arturo was clenching. I knew I was about to see an intense battle.