Chapter 1: The Void

When i died it was not how i was expecting, you know bright light or an angel. Something was coming to get me to heaven, but there was nothing. I was still standing there, looking at my own body. The sounds around me felt muted, I could not be dead. No way, why was I still here. There must be a reason I was still here. Maybe I was supposed to be a guardian, were there others like me. If everyone stayed like this, I should be able to find another….. Spirit? Ghost? What do I call myself? My body is being taken away. I silently follow them, hoping to find answers to my questions.

As I walked around following my family, a pain slowly grew in my chest. Checking it, I found a chain. It was attached to my chest! I tried to get it off, pulling with all my might. Blinding pain filled my entire being. I screamed out, I stopped pulling and the pain slowly faded. Panting, trying to catch my breath. Nope, not going to try that again. Ow, at least I can move now. Why did that hurt so much? This chain must be important.

Several days have passed, the day of my funeral. What a surreal experience, watching my own body being buried. My little sister had cried so much, and I could do nothing but watch. Even if our parents could do nothing to stop it, my sister's cries hurt. More than any pain i had ever felt before, it felt like my heart was being torn out. I tried to hug her, to show I was still here. I had to be able to interact with the world somehow. Please, let me find a way to show I am still here. A few of my friends came, everything was sad. I had to leave, to be distracted. More than that, I need a way to be real again.

I walked into my former room, nothing had changed since that day. My bed is a mess. The day I died, you never know how odd it is to watch your own funeral. I know something is happening to me, but i can't stop it. Over the last few days, it had only happened once. The chain had formed mouths and started eating the chain. It hurt, so much. What would happen when the chain was gone. Was this my time limit, is this the pain of my existence being erased? This was my life now, my afterlife I guess. No answers to my questions had come, no one beside me. All I could do was watch. My life as a wandering spirit would soon come to an end.

It was a random day, nothing special about it. That's when I heard a roar, off in the distance. I had heard it a few times before. It filled me with an unnatural terror. A feeling of dread, a cold grip around my soul. Out of everything, it was the phantom pain from my chest that scared me the most. The chain in my chest had been getting shorter and shorter, it only had about six chain links left. What would happen when that runs out, why did it connect to that roar. So many questions and so few answers.

I was watching my little sister Elania. She was 10 years old and playing with her friends at the park. It had been a few months since that day and watching my sister was one of the few joys in my afterlife. When I had died she had prayed for me, same with my parents and even a few of my friends. Not that it changed anything, I was still stuck here. Slowly running out of chains, honestly feeling very bored. I found that I could not sleep, not a wink. I had lost count of the hours mindlessly roaming the house and neighborhood. Good thing I could not feel the cold. Everything was the same dull, not warm temperature it had been since he died.

I looked in panic as another roar. This one was close, way to close. Looking around in panic I see on the other side of the park something tearing through the air. A black void opened up and a monster crawled out. A white mask, red eyes, black body. Everything in my body was telling me to run! My eyes widened as it crawled out and started heading toward my sister. Panic and fear filled my body, along with determination. I ran up to her and yelled "quick el, get out of here". My hands just fazed through her and she could not hear me. Another roar, that monster was coming.

I ran in between her and that thing. It's pitch black made its clean porcelain mask stand out. Its pure white teeth opened as it let loose another roar, it was now just ten feet away. Charging straight at me and my sister. I looked back to my sister, she was happily playing with her friends. This thing must be like me, not able to interact with this word. We were quite literally in a different world from her. A heavy pressure was beating down on me, I felt like I could barely move. Like I was stuck in jelly. I barely was able to look up to meet its glare before It was on me.

It closed the distance and started swinging at me. I ducked under the first swing by a hair and ran under the monster's legs. I was doing good, now I just had to lead it awa- Then pain, oh dear god the pain. I was flying, oh wait there is the ground. Ow, I can't move. The creature stood over me, it reached down and grabbed me. Its long black fingers wrapped around my body, trapping my still useless arms against my chest. I lifted my head, to see out of the corner of my eye, Elainia was being led away by her friends. I felt my ribs start to crack, I looked in pain to this monster. With one last defiant glare I saw its mouth open but instead of a roar I was pushed into the darkness.

Who ever said darkness was cold and quiet was a goddamn liar. This was loud and hot, it sounded like there were sounds of voices and energys. I felt my spirit being torn asunder and then combined again. Time flew, or did it. I do not know how long i was stuck in this constant hell.

There were only a few things I could do, when I encountered another energy I could try and consume it for a lack of a better word. You could never take everything, only small pieces. We all knew that the one who consumed us when we were still whole was the master but we still fought over what little strength we could. Trying to hold onto ourselves as much as possible. I clung to the image of my sister. Using it as a centerpoint, a core.

When i first arrived i was attacked by the more powerful energies, i felt my soul being ripped apart. By some miracle of instinct I escaped into the dark depths of this void. I then encountered some weaker souls, who had been ripped apart too much they had no strength to resist.

I consumed them, it was almost instant. When two souls meet in the void a battle begins, it's a battle of will and strength. The stronger the soul the closer you get to the master, that's why down here there were so many weak souls. Their wills had been crushed and their souls weakened from constant attack.

It was there I grew strong, soon I became experienced in this form of combat. You had to be careful, souls could try and break free if they had enough will. That's why I became so strong, I had a power base of almost willful souls. While when others lost strength others tried to break free i had a fallback to keep me alive and whole. With my core, and this fallback power I knew I could survive in this hell.

I knew with every battle I lost I would lose something of mine. Memories, personality and values. All lost in the swirl of endless combat, slowly I lost my will. What was the point, no one could beat the master. I should just try and survive with what little I have down in the deepest depths of this void. To hold my core until I was consumed completely.

Soon I only had a few memories left, they were of a small blond child. Sometimes she was crying, others she was laughing. I knew these memories were important but what do they mean. I knew they had been made the core of my being. Then it happened, this void became unstable. The master became unstable, the whole void stopped for a moment. Then a rush of movement, every soul was trying to become the new master. The master did not like that but he was soon like us, energy fighting for the top spot. Unfortunately for him he had lost his will and became more like an animal. He was torn asunder by us stronger souls.

I did not charge in immediately, I waited and took the scraps of the souls that fell down towards me. I slowly crept upwards, towards the unsuspecting souls. Then I burst up, now the strongest will, the strongest soul and a surprise attack. They tried to stop me but I had the momentum, I would not lose now. I would become the master and regain my memories. In total it was probably only a minute. The battle for the spot of master, one that I won.

I opened my eyes, seeing past the mask on my face. How long had it been since I could see, hear and smell. I could feel other energies around me, other masters. I could also feel that the other souls inside me had become chaotic. If left alone I would fall back into the void, never to regain control again. I would not let that happen, my mask opened and a familiar roar filled the air. I am the master.

AN: hello everyone, this is my OC bleach fic. For those who did not understand my character was eaten by a hollow, then when that hollow became a Gillan he took over as the dominant personality. I have not seen this done before so i tried to think about what it would be like. Anyways please like and review for i can become a better writer and you can all enjoy this while corona is rampant. Redone with extra content added, enjoy new readers!