Chapter 1
Darkness was all he could see.
Not the kind of darkness you see when you close your eyes, nor the one when you're in a dark room, no it was more like pitch-black darkness. It stretched on forever like an ocean, dipped in the blackest of black.
He could feel his hands, feet, and head, in fact, his whole body, but he couldn't see it, not a single part of it.
He brought his hand in front of his face and saw nothing. He moved his feet up and down but couldn't feel the ground, he moved his arms up and down to find something he could grab, but there was nothing.
Nothingness, whichever way he looked.
Nothingness, whichever way he moved.
He tried to say something, but nothing came out. It felt like someone sealed his throat, preventing any sound from coming out.
He didn't know how long he was floating here. It could be minutes, hours, days, even months. After all, time lost all meaning when you were suspended in darkness and silence. It was enough to make anyone crazy.
Nothing made sense here. He felt no hunger or thirst. This alone rang many alarm bells in his head, even his heartbeat was silenced here.
He tried to recall how he might have ended up here, but his memories were muddled and blurry. He remembered the most important things. He knows what he is, where he was born, and that his name was…
Was…
…
He couldn't remember. He couldn't remember his name, age, where he was before he ended up here, and why he was in this black void. The only thing he remembered was that he was a human and that he doesn't belong or originated from here. Wherever here is.
This whole place radiated emptiness. It felt like he was merging with the darkness around him as if it was trying to engulf him. He could swear he felt his fingers disappearing.
He felt an uneasiness in his chest, a phantom pain where his heart is. A sort of emptiness spreading across his chest the more he tried to remember, but… but… there!
He slowly remembered a face. At first, it was blurry but cleared away seconds later, it was diamond or oval-shapen with short black hair. He had brown eyes and a fair skin tone.
His body came into focus. Next, a well-built physique was standing at 6 feet and 2 inches tall, with a dirty and smudged leather apron around his waist.
Slowly words formed in his mind, it was his name or a part of his name. No-
He was interrupted by a head-splitting headache, he nearly lost complete focus, but he couldn't and wouldn't give up. Not when he was this close to finding out who he was.
Noa-
The headache got worse. It was as if something was actively fighting against him. Trying to suppress his mind. It was hammering in on his skull, attacking him from all sides like an army surrounding and besieging a castle.
NO! He wouldn't let his walls be torn down. He wouldn't let this invasive force trample all over him!
He will fight back. He won't give an inch to this thing. It wasn't a battle you fought with your fists or feet or body. No, it was a battle of minds, it felt like rope tugging. He had to concentrate more and pull his mind and memories back to him. If he gives up, everything will be over.
If he gives up… he will be consumed.
He won't give up.
With new vigor and determination, he began to fight back against this invisible force. Slowly, memories came back. Sad memories. Regrets. Misery. Grief.
He remembered a small village. He saw himself and an old man working in a forge with steel and iron, creating swords and other weapons of war.
He remembered fire and collapsing buildings. He could nearly taste ash, and the smell of burning wood—the sorrow on the faces of various people were also not lost on him.
But he also remembered the good memories. Joy. Happiness.
He recognized a tired old but happy face looking at him. His father working with him to create various tools to help people, ranging from simple nails to handles and other different stuff.
He remembered on a sunny, cloudless day how his father clapped his hand on his shoulder, smiling widely after forging his first sword. He will never forget what his father said to him.
"I am proud of you, Noah."
Everything exploded in white light.
/=\
Darkness gave way to white light, radiating from himself, illuminating the area around him, and expanding outwards. The feeling of gravity took hold of him, and he fell on his butt. Interestingly, no pain came. Instead, he felt the ground for the first time since he arrived in the void.
He took a small breath, relieved that he wasn't in darkness anymore and that the invisible force attacking him was gone, but Noah still needed to find out where and why he was in this place.
"Noah. That's my name. I am a blacksmith apprentice learning under my father," he said out loud, relieved to have his memories back.
He stood up and looked around, whiteness as far as he could see. Gone was the consuming and crushing darkness instead replaced by a soothing and calming white light. He felt free for the first time since he arrived here.
He took some steps forward, making sure he could still walk and enjoying that he could feel the ground. Noah had no clue where he should go, but staying at one place didn't seem like a good idea. With that, he traveled straight on.
Until a sharp pain in his chest made him stagger, he pressed his hand against his chest and was shocked when he found something which didn't belong there—a hole. There was a hole going through his body the size of his fist.
He needed to calm down before he went into panic mode. He took a deep breath and tried to think about the reason why and how this happened. He already ruled out that this was a dream. No dream lasts this long and feels so real.
Upon closer inspection, the hole was completely dark inside. There was no blood, flesh, or organs spilling out, just a smooth black texture. Noah couldn't imagine a guess why that was so.
His inspection of this mysterious anomaly was interrupted by a scream, it was inhuman, resembling more beast than man, and it was coming from all directions. He had to cover his ears, or his eardrums would burst.
And then he heard it. A deep, menacing voice spoke.
"Damn you, human, how did you manage to win against me," it rasped out. The voice sounded unnatural, deeper than any human had any right to be.
A disembodied voice speaking to him is always a dangerous sign, more so when it was the one attacking him, but Noah wouldn't let himself be intimidated.
"Show yourself coward, or are you afraid?" Noah shouted. He may be at a disadvantage here, but he wouldn't let this voice scare him.
And showed itself it did.
A swirling black mass rose from the ground, forming its feet and powerful legs and going upwards to its torso. The feet were dwarfing Noah by a large margin with sharp toenails.
Its upper body looked remarkably human, apart from the giant hole going through its body. Its torso was utterly black, with two white lines going down from its hole and three white lines going up.
It had a bone-white human-looking mask as a face, no lips, and Noah could see a grinning mouth looking down at him. The teeth were longer than his fingers and looked sharper than any sword he forged. Three small white lines went down from his right eye.
The eyes were a black sclera with sickly yellow pupils. White spikes were protruding around its head like a crown.
The arms were human-like but looked like it could throw boulders around. Its body was completely black with three white stripes around the biceps. It had claws as digits and a sharp, wicked-looking blade coming out of its right forearm.
The creature was three times bigger than him and looked pissed. Forget what Noah said. This monster was terrifying.
Noah took a step back. What could he do in a situation like this? This thing was faster than him, more robust than him, and could kill him without a problem, but no matter what happened, he couldn't and wouldn't show how scared he was.
Its eyes were looking straight at him.
He gulped. This didn't look good. He had to try something to calm this thing down. "Look, I don't know who or what you are, but we can probably talk this out," he said as calmly as he could. Even if he wanted to scream and run for the hills as fast as possible, he had to stay in control of his emotions.
The thing growled or did as best as it could with that masked head. Noah honestly didn't have any idea how it did that.
"You-," it rasped out "-are only a human, so tell me why wasn't I able to absorb?!" The last part was shouted out. This thing was getting angrier and angrier by the seconds.
"I don't know what the hell you are talking about or what you even are! I don't even know where we are and what this weird place is. Tell me what's going on, please." He hoped it would continue to talk. Fighting against this thing was a doomed battle.
And he knew how the outcome would be if they fought.
The monster stopped for a second, his stance losing its aggressive posture, "I nearly had you fully absorbed, but you somehow managed to regain your memories, freeing you from it and gaining control over my body." It shook its head. The thing looked baffled by its current situation.
"What do you mean by gaining control? What are you anyway?" Noah asked this situation was getting weirder and weirder. Waking up in the black void was one thing, but why did it have to be him in this situation?
"I or better said we are hollows, and before you ask more pointless questions, a hollow is a soul who lost its heart. At least that's what these pesky Shinigami said." Why it looked pissed off at the mentioning of Shinigami was a mystery for Noah, but what does he mean with Shinigami?.
He frowned, "Shinigamis? Losing heart? And what are you talking about with me being a Hollow? The only thing we have in common is this hole." He pointed at the hole going through their bodies.
"I felt how you pulled your memories back. Because of that, I tried to consume you faster. I didn't expect a mere human to win against me, but to also overtake my body? Impossible." The aggressive stance it had was gone by the end of his talk. It looked resigned, as if he couldn't change anything anymore.
"Wait, wait. You mean I will be you!? You can forget it! The only thing I will do is go back to my village and forget this whole sit-" he was cut off by the monster, it laughed at him.
"Go back to where? You are dead. How do you think did I eat you? And where do you think did I find you?" After managing to get its laughter under control, it glared at him.
It was as if all the air was blown out of his lungs. His legs felt like jelly, and he collapsed to the ground. He managed to catch himself with his hands in the last second.
Dead? He couldn't be dead. He had his whole life to live. He had to have a wife and children, grow old and die as a happy old man with no regrets. His father would be sadde-
His father!
If this thing is speaking the truth, and he turned into a hollow, then Noah could search for his father and let him know he was okay and was still alive, or un-alive now. He honestly didn't know.
But one thing the Hollow said gnawed on him, "What did you mean with that? Where exactly did you find me?"
The Hollow paused for a second and lowered itself down on the ground, sitting in a cross-legged position across him.
"I found you in a burned-down village not too long ago. Thought there were still other souls, ready for easy picking, but you were the only one left-" it growled and shifted its weight, "-damn vultures stealing my meals."
The memory of the burning village and collapsing buildings. It all made sense now. Noah died there. Then that meant his father...
He shut his eyes. He couldn't show weakness and cry, not here. He would grief in time when the time comes.
He rubbed his eyes, the forming tears were now gone, and slowly stood up, "If what you say is true and I take control over, then what will happen to you?" He asked. This thing may be a monster, but Noah still felt a tiny amount of concern for it, even if it felt stupid to do so.
"I will stay here for the remaining days of your life. But, don't think I am letting you live just for the sake of it, killing you would be satisfying, but it would leave an empty husk behind and-," it planted its hands on the ground and rose to its full height, "-I'll be damned if I let myself be eaten by weaklings!"
A small smile settled on Noah's face. This whole situation was insane. He could accept dying, that was the end of all living things, but turning into a monster after death? He never heard of something so absurd. It was nearly impossible to believe, but standing across him was the evidence to such a thing.
Noah remembers how the Hollow talked about something called Shinigami and how they told him what they were, but what exactly are they? He asked the question to the monster across from him.
"Arrogant pricks, that's what they are! Thinking they stand above all others just because they ferry the dead to their precious society." Uh-oh, he made it angry again, just when they were getting along.
He had more questions now than before. Soul Society? Ferrying the dead? Sadly his moment to ask these questions was interrupted.
A white light began to fill Noah up, beginning from his feet and traveling up to his head. He was confused for a moment, but the gigantic Hollow explained.
"The overtaking is complete. You will wake up in my body." The monster glared at him, his sickly yellow eyes full of malice, "Don't you dare die human, or it will be the least of your problems."
"Wait! Wait! Tell me where I will wake up before its-"
And with that, Noah awoke to his new life.
First story, first chapter. OCs may not be welcomed or liked, but I wanted to try writing one. Reviews are appreciated.