Hello everyone, it has been a little while since I last updated, sorry about that.

Didn't know what happened, finished the chapter real quick but editing this took so damn long that it became a pain to work on this chapter. But that is done and now we can move on to reading it.

I would also like to dedicate this chapter to BahamutReishiki, it was his words and help from nearly three years ago that made this scene. If not for him this chapter would likely never have come to pass, so I thank him for helping me all those years ago in making this. For not only making this story worth making and for giving me the inspiration to write and create this story so you can all enjoy.

Have fun.


Transcendence

Chapter 65: Crimson Woods

Ichigo couldn't move.

It was something he realized very suddenly, not even a twitch could be made without something actually holding him back. All he knew was a strange terror that rooted itself deep into his bones, so deep that he couldn't even flee as his instincts begged him to do so. He just froze, unable to fight back or run away.

'What the hell is going on? Why can't I move?'

To describe what he felt would be impossible, the fear that took hold of him was beyond anything that could be given description. He had never truly felt this kind of fear before, nor could he explain what was causing it. He would expect a dark malevolence to weigh down his shoulders or feel some form of oppressive power clutch at his heart, to be so strong that his own strength was being put towards keeping himself standing. Yet he felt none of that, he didn't feel anything.

But when he looked upon the mountainous blob of flesh, with strange toothy orifices and tentacles covering its body, did fear take hold of him. Yet somehow he did not think that it was the appearance of this creature that struck him so.

Whatever this thing was, its very existence somehow went against everything that was natural in the world and he felt that abnormality. He had faced down the likes of Urahara, Kenpachi and Ulquiorra, all of them had inspired some level of fear in him. They had showed him what it was like to be the lamb before the lion, something so miniscule in comparison that you cannot even begin to imagine you would survive.

But this went beyond fear.

It was more primal than that. For where he had the wits to be defiant in spite of that fear and think he could still beat them, this was different. This thing brought up a single emotion from within his breast, a desire to simply run and never look back. It had sapped every ounce of courage he possessed just by appearing.

"Ichigo!"

A familiar voice broke his trance, giving him the strength to tear his gaze from the monstrosity. He turned and regarded the one who called to him, surprised he was to see a young man cloaked in black.

A teenager by the looks of it, around Ichigo height and age if he had to guess, wearing a long overcoat and hood. Had he not spoken Ichigo may not have had the thought to know who this unknown young man was.

"Zangetsu?"

"No, I am not Zangetsu, I am Tensa Zangetsu." The young man responded.

The Zanpakuto spirit turned and grimaced as he regarded the beast that struck fear in Ichigo. The substitute wished he had that same resolve, to look at the thing that had stripped the mettle from him with only a stare.

"There is no time to explain things, take the Heart and run. Do not even attempt to face this… abomination."

Ichigo chose only to follow his instruction. He felt for the pouch and knew that the Heart was resting within, he would escape and take it to the Vault. He slowly turned away and looked ahead over the vast waters, he saw a chain of rocks he could use to escape. But beyond that he didn't know if a pathway existed to escape from these deaths. In spite of that, it was better than staying here.

"A sliver of the King that hides in death's shadow… you struggle inanely to change fate…"

Ichigo halted in his step, eyes wide and unable to hold back a shiver as he felt those words spoken. They were not just heard, but felt and wash over his soul and through it. As if they were a blade slowly carving across his brain.

He risked a glance, looking to the massive eye and to his greater shock its gaze had shifted. No longer did its overwhelming glare focus upon him, instead it stared right at Tensa Zangetsu. Something that shouldn't be remotely possible, how was it that thing could see and look at his Zanpakuto spirits? Was the spirit not just a manifestation of one's own conscious that only the wielder could perceive? How could an outside force perceive him?

"One death replaces another… and those chains you hold will be the strings for which guide him to that end..."

Tensa Zangetsu's eyes were wide, shock and horror seemed to pass over his visage for a moment before he whirled on Ichigo. While the words reached the substitutes ears clearly, it would be that fear stricken face that would stay with Ichigo.

"Run! Get out of here!"

Ichigo did not need any encouragement, he turned and ran. Focused only on what was ahead of him, using any and all fallen stone to hop across the waters. Even if they were scarce on the path ahead he didn't slow or bother to find a better route. He could not turn back or find another way, it was right behind him and he felt its gaze on his back.

That only left open a single path to use, a straight line leading away from it.

"You flee, desperation seeping from your soul… but can you escape the oceans of your own fears?"

Ichigo lost his footing, plunging into the waters and sinking several inches before he pulled himself back to the surface. He reached for a loose stone, anything to pull him back up to solid earth, but his hand met only more water. He twisted and turned, looking for anything to grab onto, but it quickly became clear that there was no more solid ground to latch onto.

Around him he was surrounded on all sides, but no rocks or massive stone walls existed to be the barriers to the body of water. Instead there was only a vast ocean of black waters under an overcast sky. Ichigo whirled around, looking frantically for anywhere that might actually be safe. But he found nothing, just a vast black expanse of waters he had no idea how he got into.

"This… what the hell happened!" Ichigo yelled.

He was in the middle of an ocean, how was that even possible? When he was far into the depths of Maraudon, that lay so far deep into the earth that not even natural light could penetrate this far. It shouldn't be possible for him to be in the middle of nothing but water and beneath and unknown sky.

Yet here he was.

As he tried to rationalise the situation he seemed to have fallen into something rose up beneath him. He let out a shout as something wrap around his ankle, with a single tug he was pulled into the water and deep into the darkness. Ichigo looked down and found a foul tentacle wrapped around his leg, the barbs along it surface scrapping along his armour.

With a stab of Tensa Zangetsu he forced it away, but now he was trapped beneath the waters with no way to know which direction was up. He couldn't even tell where the air bubble were, let alone see his hand too far from his own face.

But he did see something, a person not too far ahead of him. A small woman was floating there in the water. The familiar dark hair and black robes told him she was a Shinigami. But she might as well have been a ray of sunlight in the abyss, to see her here of all places brought a sense of hope to him.

'Rukia.'

Ichigo had no idea why she was here, how she was here. But it didn't matter, for the briefest of moments she was there.

"I mustn't die…" Rukia muttered, her body falling backward.

Ichigo's eyes widened, the wound along her abdomen clear to see. Three long streaks of blood poured from the gouges disappeared into the blackness. Her eyes were dull and lifeless, Ichigo had no idea if she was dead or not. He had a dreadful feeling that he knew which it was, and all but wanted to deny it being a possibility.

Before Ichigo could do anything other bodies floated upwards, familiar faces greeted him at all sides. Yet he could not help but stare in horror as he looked at the corpses of the many people he knew. His friends from school, the Soul Society and from the Visored, all the people he called friend or instructors or comrades now swam around him.

Hiyori was cut in half, from the waist up her body floated aimlessly as her eyes were wide in shock. Toshiro was not far away, his right arm and leg missing, along with the many other captains of the Gotei who had varying wounds themselves. But it didn't mattered the injury, their fates were the same, all were dead.

'What the hell is this?' Ichigo thought.

He ignored the burning of his lungs as he was forced to live in this dark nightmare and be shown these things.

"The dark oceans of despair hold so many horrible truths…"

Ichigo's eyes darted down, watching as tentacles rose up to snatch the bodies from the water, and found himself staring down at a massive eye that seemed only a few inches from himself. The dark tendrils swarmed around him, just as the voices of all those he saw began to reverberate in his ear.

"But hope that you do not see that which dwells beneath the surface!"

He grasped at his ears, yet even if he could cover them the shouting of those he knew could not be blocked out. People he knew shouted and cried out, some in agony and others in despair, he recognised Shinji calling to ask where he was. Listen to Orihime's screams as she called for his name, while another wailed in the distance that he recognised as Nel.

Was this happening right now? Were his friends actually in danger and hurt? Were some of them dead?

"Begone!"

The tendrils were pushed back by a wave of light, shining from above and giving illumination to the darkness. Ichigo looked up and saw the shimmering surface of the water, it was close and his lungs begged him to reach this surface.

"Forward! Before it comes again!" A voice beckoned Ichigo.

Seeing no other choice he took off and swam to the surface quickly, pushing himself as fast as he could. His hand breached the surface, his lung burning as he took in a breath of air and tried to stay afloat. He looked ahead and saw a single light in the distance.

"Do not stop! He comes for you! Keep moving!"

Ichigo could make up the ethereal image of a Centaur, or possible a Keeper, waving him forward with urgency. He wasted no time and paddled forward, but he was followed.

Many tendrils burst through the water and writhed in the air around him.

"The dark recesses of your mind keep your fears from the surface… how will you fair when they rise up to take hold…?"

Soon more than just tentacles shot up from the waters, bony hands rose up and grasped at him. They tried to pull him down, screaming and shouting as they clawed at his face and tried to make him face them. But the worst part was that these clawing hands and the shouts came from people that he knew, he could see their faces out of the corner of his eye.

Angry, vengeful and dead faces of people he had not seen since he left his world. People he feared for and was so terrified for, and now they were coming for him. Screaming for his blood and demanding he pay for not being there to help when he was needed most.

"Do not succumb to these visions! Hold fast human!" The Keeper called out, a hand reaching out to the substitute.

Familiar voices reached his ears again, just as grating as the talons that clawed at his face, but he fought them off and reached for the extended arm. They tried to pull him back, he fought against the waves and the limbs that tried to rip him away from the one thing he knew that could save him. He grasped the limb and blinked when he found himself holding a dead root, he blinked in surprise. Surprise, because as soon as his hand grasped the root everything else faded into nothing.

His eyes widened as he turned around to find that he was back, the sea of black waters were gone and in their place he found himself in the caverns. He looked around and found the massive imposing walls of white marble, the crystal blue waters he now rested in and the strange blue sky that shouldn't be possible to see beneath the earth.

He looked down the caverns lengths to see a few hundred meters away the broken remain of the island and where he had left the remains of Theradras. It had all returned to normal, he was back.

Turning towards the branch he found it resting on the lip of a small ledge, a ledge that was the floor to a large open cave. Looking within he found a long tunnel that slowly weaved around, but most importantly it slowly inclined upwards. A possibly way out of the water and back towards the path he used to reach this place.

'Some good news then.' Ichigo thought.

But he could not forget the horrifying images that had been seen, or the words and screams that still rung in his ears. What was heard down in those waters was too real, to corporeal to be just simple illusions and hallucinations of the mind, it felt so real. Even with the warnings from that strange Keeper, telling him not to listen or let them take root, he felt they had left a mark.

Never before has he felt such dread.

To think that seeing such things could bring up such horror in him, see things he already dreaded and feared for those back home. There was no denying that those visions were of everything he feared. He worried for them every day and hoped that they were alright, but never had he let those fears take hold of him like that.

"Keep it together, this isn't real, focus on the moment." Ichigo said.

Shaking himself out of his own despair, he couldn't do anything for them back home. He could only trust that they were alright, he had to have faith and hope that they had come out of this alive. Uncertainty was what he had, best not let it consume him to dream up all these kinds of horrible scenarios in his head.

'That thing had its chance, it didn't work.' Ichigo thought, steeling himself before looking ahead.

He reached up and lifted himself over the lip and back onto solid earth, taking a final breath and grasping Tensa Zangetsu tightly, and then he started walking. The next few minutes were silent with only the rattling of his armour and the crunching of dirt under his boots. Inclines and near vertical barriers of earth met him, he scaled them all and continued moving forward and up.

But a feeling of unease settled on him, while he had pushed down that strange fear, something was wrong. He noticed it only just after he started climbing up these walls, he could not sense anything. Since departing that cavern he had met no resistance. No Aqir or Elementals popped up anywhere, not even a worm in the dirt seemed to be down here. That set him on edge more than the possibility of fighting through another army of enemies.

With his Bankai there was little that could challenge him, but he was still wounded and drained from his previous fight. A large scale bout so soon might not be best for him. But when it comes down to it, he would probably be more inclined towards that than the silence and the lack of enemies to fight against. He didn't know why, but the feeling that he and whatever he just saw from before were the only things in these caves was more terrifying than an army of elementals or giant insects.

'Just have to avoid him… and hope that I can escape him again if that doesn't work.' Ichigo thought.

He climbed up one of the final hurdles, a small cliff face that lead into a larger cavern. Yet when he climbed up over the edge he found himself rising up over the lip and onto a massive bluff. His eyes roamed around and were wide as he took in the black earth and stone, a complete contrast to the previously bone white rocky terrain he had been walking through before.

He turned and looked back down the way he had climbed up and saw a massive drop into a black abyss. A cold chill passed through him, this had nothing to do with the freezing winds that brushed against him, but to realize what had just happened. The chilling air carried a cold and despondent echo that tore the warmth from his body as it did the hope from his heart.

Looking at his surroundings Ichigo found himself in another dark place, instead of water it was of high jagged mountains. Dark saw-toothed stone spires rose up and stabbed into the sky, a sky that was difficult to distinguish behind the mountains for both exuded a darkness that made them appear one and the same. Yet the sights were only a visual horror, a sense of dread and hopelessness wormed its way into his heart as he realized where he was.

"Stay calm, don't let it get to you."

Pressing a palm against his forehead to try and force these hallucinations away, if he let this get to him he would only reinforce these fears. Keep a clear head and not let whatever he sees affect him, the moment he did this thing would latch onto that single weakness and exploit it. He lost his cool in the ocean because that thing was there, it had rattled him. But he was calm and collected, he just needed to make sure he stayed like that.

"This is just a trick… it isn't real."

"There is no distinction between what is real and what is unreal… for all fears are rooted in the mind..."

Ichigo turned and aimed his blade towards the nearby wall, looking at a small black crevice that was shrouded in shadows. His gaze never shifting, he waited for something to appear, he knew something was hiding there. What it was he could not tell, or even give reason as to why he thought it was in there. But either way he waited for it.

"Your memories are haunted by demons of your own making, does that crevice truly hold only shadows, or something more..."

Ichigo gritted his teeth before he took off, he knew he couldn't fight this thing. The Old Man had said so and he was inclined to agree that there was nothing he could do against something like this. This time he was going to actually listen to him instead of blowing him off. If it could get into his head and mess with him like this, it was better to escape.

Again the winds picked up and he felt the chill enter his blood and freeze his heart. He only heard the screaming of the wind as it passed across the stone, but somehow that was enough to take away his desire to remain. This place had a wrongness that permeated his entire being.

Nothing was here, but even so he felt he was not alone. There was nothing to terrorise him, yet he felt only despair as he continued to search for an escape. Every second that ticked by he felt nothing but a hollow well of despair build within him.

"This… can't be real…" Ichigo said.

It couldn't be possible for this to be anything but some conjured illusion meant to shake his resolve. Yet even as he realized this there was nothing but dread working its way through his heart, for hours seemed to pass as he moved across the mountains. Coming only to shadowy dead ends that screeched with bone chilling winds that seemed to scream at him, such familiar wails that it wretched his heart.

Some he could say sounded like people he knew, but he was not certain, he couldn't tell if they were actually words or just tricks of his own mind starting to succumb. He tried to remember that this was just some kind of deception, but could he really trust that with what he had been shown and what had been seen.

"How does it know what I am afraid off?" Ichigo whispered to himself, gritting his teeth and gripping his hair in frustration. "How did it find out? How did it get inside my head?"

"Do not listen! The winds are a foul omen! They seek only to claim you!"

That voice had returned, pulling Ichigo from the despair that threatened to ensnare him entirely. He looked around, but no light could be seen or felt as he ran, searching for the one that had pulled him from the previous nightmare.

Again the darkness fell upon him, all around he could hear and feel it pass through him and slowly erode what regained strength and willpower he had. He met failure at every turn, dead ends and precarious drops into darkness were all that met him in his search for freedom.

"Am I trapped here?" Ichigo thought.

Looking down into the dark recesses below, it couldn't be right. This place had to be an illusion, it couldn't be real. So if he took a step off this ledge he wouldn't die, he would just fall a few feet wouldn't he? He had to risk it, he couldn't stay here any longer. If he played this game too long he would just go mad, better to risk this than stay.

"We can taste your pain on the breeze… you think your torment ends when you die… how naïve."

Ichigo shot back, fear working its way into his bones as he realized what he was about to do. That fucker had actually nearly made him try to jump off a cliff, to actually try and kill himself. He let his guard down, he let that thing in and now it had some leverage over him. But he was alright, he still had his wits about him and he wouldn't be caught like that again.

"It crumbles so easily, yet how will the foundations of your own mind stand as your hope fades… your courage will shatter like glass and from it pours despair…"

"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled, swinging around and releasing a Getsuga Tensho.

The nearby wall exploded outwards, yet it was not the only thing to break apart. Everything around him began to collapse and shatter, the mountain range began to crumble slowly and the very ground beneath him seemed to fall away. This entire illusion seemed to be falling in on itself, although he had an inkling not to get caught up in its collapse.

"Hurry!"

Ichigo turned to the voice, seeing through a shower of stone and debris the form of the ethereal Keeper. Ichigo took off, rushing towards the one being that can help him, but as the world crumbled around him he had his doubts he would reach the Keeper. But Ichigo fought these dark emotions down, weaving between falling rocks and collapsing earth until he had a straight path to him.

The ground beneath the substitute shattered, forcing him to leap forward and grasp for the limb before he was taken into the darkness. His hand wrapped around the bark covered appendage and he saved himself from the fall, yet he hung there unable to lift himself up.

"Your heart beats nervously in your chest… while you guard it did you ever consider protecting the second?"

Ichigo had no idea what that meant but what he did know is that something grasped him from behind and pulled him. He could only make out the white hand that lay on his shoulder, then he was weightless for a second as he was pulled back and into the darkness.

"Do not let it corru…!"

The voice disappeared before the warning could be fully given, the darkness swallowed Ichigo and he was gone in a moment. He returned when he hit hard earth, a loud splash bringing him back to reality, water seeping into his armour and causing his skin to itch.

Lying motionless on the ground for a moment the substitute looked up at the moss covered ceiling and blinked. With a groan he pulled himself back up and looked around, it took him a moment to recognise where he had landed. From the foul smell of rot and the dark green waters, which he quickly vacated as they started to irritate his skin, he recognised it as the rotted garden.

'This is where I fought Celebras, looks like I am on the right track.' Ichigo thought, some good news finally.

He wondered if Celebras is the one who was leading him out, he wasn't certain of that but it might be the case. He was the only Keeper down here that he had met, along with being one of the few people that didn't want to murder him. Either case he was glad to finally have some help, if he could move quickly he could escape from here and get to the Vault before had had another vision.

"You better not have gone too far Celebras, I might need you again soon." Ichigo said, taking a step forward and retracing his journey back to the Vault.

Trudging through the murky water he climbed up through the many tunnels and passages, the dark damp tunnels he entered were monotonously familiar. That was a small comfort though, to know that he had been able – in spite of what was hounding him – he was able to retrace himself back to the Vault.

But there was a problem with his trek, or more correctly none to speak of, he wasn't coming across any life or resistance. In those caves he might understand it, having never travelled them before and the chances that nothing lived there was a remote possibility. But these caved, they had been populated, they were squeezed tight with bog monsters and elementals and poured out of every crevice.

Now? There was nothing.

But he also couldn't feel anything, no malignance or wild spiritual energies that might permeate the environment, it was like a switch had been flipped and everything just disappeared. Could it be that without Theradras that the elementals were pulled back into the Elemental Planes? Even those this close to the breach that still likely existed and was forming? It didn't sound right, something else had to have caused them to disappear, or to run away. Maybe whatever was hounding him was scaring off everything that lived down here. That was in the least not surprising.

Just thinking about it gave him chills, feeling how that thing could so easily reach into his head and pull out those fears and make him feel the way he did. But how could it do that? Its words didn't make sense to him, like they were riddles or veiled words meant to make him confused. Yet somehow deep down he knew that they held meaning, as if he was given clues to a puzzle he would solve later. When it spoke to Zangetsu he appeared to know what was being said, he looked to understand it and fear those words.

'Sliver of the King? What the hell could that mean?' Ichigo thought.

Shaking it off he decided not to dwell on it, best not let whatever he saw or heard actually be taken seriously. It may have gotten into his head, but he wasn't going to trust anything he saw, he wouldn't be manipulated. Keep a clear head, don't focus on anything that might be used as ammunition by this thing, he would be safe and it couldn't get to him.

He moved through the caves, forgoing using caution and relying on speeding through this place. Moving down junctions and different paths, it was a winding mess of tunnels but he was certain he was getting somewhere. The reason he was so sure was because he caught a whiff of something, a pleasant moist aroma of flowing water.

In a damn cave it would be tricky to pick up but when the smell became stronger that only meant he was getting closer to the source. He thought he might have gone in circles and was walking back towards the bog, but there was no smell of rot. That left him with only one option.

"Yes!" Ichigo said, smirking as he looked over the large expanse of shallow water.

The crystals that hung from the roof and jutted from the water were beautifully recognizable, especially so with all the dead bodies in the water. He had returned to the landing site for Marta's submarine, this is where they had entered Maraudon from the sea. Looking around he found the waterfall nearby and could just see over its edge the larger expanse of water and the ridge leading up to a large cave.

That was where he needed to go.

He took a running start, using Shunpo to push himself forward and then dived into the deep waters a hundred meters away and swamp to the surface. Ichigo breached the surface and swam to the shallows, smiling at the pleasant feeling of water beneath his armour – while the mild sting of it touching his wound – and almost wanted to stay and just rest.

He was tired, a good long rest seemed perfect right now. But he couldn't stay. He needed to get to the vault and put the heart where it needed to go, after that he could rest. But not a moment before that.

With that rewards just ahead of him for only a few more minutes of walking he was inclined to finish it and get a much deserved rest. He walked up the path along the waterfall, trudged across the large lake of shallow waters, and moved towards the ramp. He was close, and as soon as he lifted his foot from the water and onto the hard muddy slope he felt he was only a heartbeat away from home.

But that changed as soon as he blinked, the muddy dirt beneath his feet did not give a squish when he stepped forward. Instead he heard the crunch of fallen leaves and dry grass, eyes widened when he found himself standing in a forest clearing.

Large white trees with bright red leaves surrounded him on all sides, pale and dray maroon grass lay beneath his feet. Ichigo was surrounded on all sides by a forest of crimson woods, he was trapped in another nightmare. Ichigo shook his head, trying to focus and fight off whatever was affecting him, maybe he could force himself out.

"This is another one of those fucked up tricks, try to focus back on the cavern. Think about the water." Ichigo told himself, looking around and finding himself still trapped in this unknown realm.

In spite of this he didn't panic, he had to keep himself calm and he knew how to do that. He would focus, keep his head on straight and not do anything, he wouldn't walk through this place. Instead he would focus and try to break himself out of it, it couldn't be as real as he was seeing and if his experience on those mountains was any indication he was still in reality.

If he could smell, touch and hear the real world beyond here than he could escape. He could realize that he was not in some messed up reality and instead awaken.

He realized what to do quickly, he leaped back, and let himself fall onto the ground. There was water only a step behind him, shallow water that he would be able to feel, he lands in that and it would be like a cold shower in the morning.

The fallen leaves crunched beneath him, but he didn't focus on that, instead he waited even for the most subtle of sensations. A cold chill, something wet, anything that showed he was in the water and submerged in it.

'Nothing…'

Ichigo growled as he shot up and glared ahead of him, why the hell couldn't he feel anything? He didn't feel damp or even cold, how was this place affecting him so much that he didn't even know what his real body was doing?

'Is this… actually real…?'

The thought had gone through his mind, only for the shortest of moments before he snuffed it out with the assurance that he was only part of some grand illusion. Not unlike the affects cast by Kyoka Suigetsu, perfect hypnosis and illusions, but this was different. This was too intricate and real, Aizen could create double images and hide himself form view maybe, this was creating entire environments and locations on a damn whim.

What if this was real, what if he was actually walking through these places, that all he was seeing now was not a trick of the mind or a hallucination.

Then he couldn't trust himself to move through here, he had to wait until this spell was broken.

If he waited that Keeper would come along eventually and find him. Just stay put and not let whatever was in these woods get the chance to scare him. If he was in the open, even if it may be an illusion, he could see it coming and prepare himself for it. That is all he needed to do, stay still and wait.

Taking a deep breath he did as he instructed, he stood stock still and waited. Holding his ground and not moving a muscle, watching and listening for anything that might alert him to a danger.

Yet as the minutes dragged on, at least he thought they were minutes, they felt like hours were passing and that was driving him up the wall. It went against his own instincts to stand there and do nothing, to just wait for something or someone to come to him. The movement of the leaves and the whispers of the wind did little to ease his nerves, it was as if every single movement he heard and saw had some ulterior motive behind it.

He laughed at that, so unnerved he was that the very motion of the leaves in the wind was causing him discomfort. All because he couldn't stand still for long and wait.

"Heh. It looks like I am starting to become impatient, just what I need." Ichigo thought aloud, before he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Dammit, I'm talking to myself. Please tell me I am not going insane right now."

That ocean and those mountains, they certainly brought up different feelings in him. Dark images of things he didn't want to see, insecurities and his own maddening grief seemed to manifest in those dark realms and try to either drown or break him.

But he was alright, he was still standing and hadn't let that thing get to him. This thing was playing on things he was already dreading over, about home – his family and friends – and if there was even a world to go back to. There was no way he was just going to let this bastard scare him with a few cheap tricks, he was stronger than that and be it his own will or stubborn pride, he was going to stand firm and not let him win.

If he walked through here it would just try to get under his skin again, but he wouldn't give this thing a chance. Just wait for the Keeper, wait and hope he gets there soon.

"A little lamb lost in the crimson woods… terrified of what darts between the branches and roots… can you not hear what hunts you…?"

Ichigo froze for a moment, before he quickly shifted around and looked for the speaker. Even though it sounded as if it came from everywhere at once, there was no way it couldn't be watching him from a safe distance. If it didn't want to show itself and get close that meant it was cautious, unwilling to face him because it knew it would get what's coming to it.

At least, that is what he thought.

"Come out! Fight me!"

He was not given a response, only hearing the rustling of leaves and branches, that's what really set his nerves on edge. This was just as bad as the mountains, nothing may be in the woods at all and yet he always had the feeling that there was something else here. So close, in fact, that it could just reach out and touch him.

"We know you can feel us watching...waiting...breathing...it will be so easy to just give in..."

"You think you can scare me? A few tricks and those scare tactics, they ain't going to work." Ichigo said. "I know you are just piss and wind, so stop trying to mess with me and show yourself! Or are you just some coward that doesn't have the balls to do anything but taunt me?"

He couldn't stay here, no, it was more like he didn't want to stay. Waiting for the Keeper or not he was not going to be played, he wasn't going to stay in that little clearing and be safe. He wasn't afraid of this bastard and he was going to prove it, he was going to walk through this nightmare and show him that he wasn't afraid.

He turned and skulked to the clearing edge, looking through the tightly packed trees and taking a deep breath. In spite of his conviction he hesitated for a moment to actually step forward, the idea that he was only playing into this guy's hands came up. Along with the idea that he was being compulsive and not thinking ahead of what he may be getting into.

'Don't… hesitate.' Ichigo thought, steeling himself.

He would not hesitate or step away from this, if he did he would never get out and he would likely die in here. Advance and seek my own freedom, that's what Zangetsu would tell me to do. With that last minute of reassurance he stepped past the trees and began to trek through these Crimson Woods.

Each step felt difficult to take, there was a foulness in the air in spite of the forest looking so serene. He wanted to quicken his pace, but he fought it down and decided that he must maintain his cool. He needed to keep his head on straight, not show weakness.

"Where are you running to…? Freedom has never been yours… do you not know why you were born…?"

Ichigo shook it off, another little riddle to confuse him. He wouldn't fall for it.

"Keep it together." Ichigo growled, raking his hand through his hair.

But his own words were hard to hear, and the resolve he once had when stepping into these forests slowly began to erode. The winds had an odd sound to them and he did not know what to make of it, but he knew it was making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Every time they brushed through the leaves in the trees or made the branches creek he felt his spine tingle and goose flesh appear.

Not even the deserts of Hueco Mundo or the streets of the Soul Society were as frightening as this when he invaded those places. They had been enemy territory, places where his adversaries were the strongest and most comfortable and he invaded them. This place was the same, but unlike it he had no idea what he was fighting now. It felt like he was stepping into a place that he shouldn't belong, somewhere that no sane individual should walk through unless he wanted to die.

Right now he felt like he was walking over his own grave at this point.

"The wind through the Crimson Woods has a sinister purpose...listen carefully...the cacophony of sounds is closer than you think…"

Ichigo would have shouted to the heavens right then and there but the sound of crunching leaves made him freeze. A shadow beside him drew his gaze, he turned quickly to face whoever was walking just a few feet to his right. He hesitated for a moment as he grasped his Zanpakuto with both hands. He turned and poised the blade ahead of him, going still as he regarded the strange enemy before him.

He might as well have been looking into a mirror, a perfect reflection of himself standing before him in the exact same position.

He looked at his doppelganger for a moment, studying his face quickly and seeing the frantic and terrified look on his features and eyes. Sweat feel from the duplicates brow and the black armour was caked in decaying plant matter, while his eyes scanned ahead of him with shock and clear worry.

Ichigo made a little laugh, it sounded almost mad with how he chortled with no mirth as he tried to turn away. This had to be another one of those tricks, make him see just how pathetic his attempts were to hide his own fear. It was probably a good trick, but Ichigo wouldn't fall for it, had he been lesser of a man he would have likely been worried.

Yet he dismissed it too quickly, his own mind making the decision to discard the image to save himself from rationalising the maddening thing he saw. That little subconscious desire had robbed him of an important realization.

The black armour of his doppelganger was not the same silver armour currently wore. While Ichigo carried Tensa Zangetsu in his hand, the long black blade in his right hand, the duplicate carried instead his Shikai and grasped it with both hands.

If that was not the most damning.

When Ichigo turned away, his duplicate did not mimic his movements. Instead he looked on with more terror than before, as if this strange apparition was more than such and had come to a startling truth. It reached forward, hand extended and mouth wide open to shout something to him. But only a scream seemed to pierce his throat as he vanished, his cry echoing on the wind and carried along the air with the smell of freshly shed blood.

Ichigo froze, hearing the scream pierce the air, it was most terrifying because it was his own. His eyes turned and he found nothing there, but the screaming did not stop. Instead it grew louder, the winds picked up and a new orchestra of agony assailed his ears in pure concert with one another.

"The damned cry out as one… the winds carry their suffering like a sweet melody... will you not join them…?"

Ichigo could recognise many of those voices, screams of pain and fear did more than overwhelm his ears but settle on his heart. They were the cries of his friends and family, their screaming so torturous that they overshadowed all others. He wanted to ignore it, block out those torturous screams that only caused him more pain, but he couldn't. How could he ignore the screams of his own sisters, of Rukia and Renji, Orihime and Chad? Of the countless others that screamed so loud that it threatened to burst his ear drums.

"Leave me alone!" Ichigo roared, swinging around and slashing at nothing.

A wave of darkness escaped from the edge of his blade, enveloping the trees and washing over them in spite of the force behind the attack. Instead of dispersing, the energy from the Getsuga seemed to coalesce and spread out like a great shadow before lifting itself into the sky.

The once pale grey skies now began to churn and thrum with lightning, the crying picking up and seemingly coming from ahead of him. The darkness rose up from the ground and gave form to something, the trees disappearing as something new came into being.

"Deep in the Crimson Woods the asylum resounds with the cries of the damned... "

Waiting for the blackness to recede he was surprised by what appeared, a simple barred gate. Just a simple rusty metal barred gate sitting under a large archway of stone, while a long fence of brick stretched on for as far as the eye could see. He looked it over and found a plaque nailed into the top of the arch, emblazoned on the dirty brass was the word 'Asylum'.

Yet beneath it was a small quote, written in a language that took him by surprise.

"To Thine Own Self Be True… Shakespeare." Ichigo muttered, knowing the quote well along with its meaning.

It was from Hamlet, specifically from the First Act, one of Shakespeare's more notable plays and one of Ichigo's favourites. But to read out the quote under 'Asylum' soured his mood, it was obviously a mocking gesture towards him. Whatever thing was hounding his steps and whispering into his ear chose to use those six words specifically to incense him.

That quote: 'To Thine Own Self Be True' it was something he was familiar with and its meaning, along with many other who knew of Shakespeare or not. It had many meanings, he knew most of them and he knew exactly what variation of it was being used against him right now.

Because he knew that there would be no positive connotation behind it if it was placed next to Asylum.

Where a positive spin on it would be to remind oneself of their own goals and what makes them who they are. To always remember who they wish to be, what they want to make of themselves, and to never allow it to be distorted. That is what the quote means, it was meant to remind people that no matter what happens in society and their lives that they should stay true to themselves.

But this was not that faux profundity.

It was as if this was a self-deception, that those words were an ironic twist in of itself, that you are no longer yourself when you enter the madhouse. Ichigo would not allow himself to be labels as a madman, he would not let himself be dragged into it. He turned around to leave, yet as soon as he turned he found himself staring at the imposing mansion that was most definitely the Asylum.

It was dilapidated and seemed to ooze shadow and a wrongness that made him only want to turn and run, whatever was in there was something he did not want to face. He had to escape from here before he was dragged inside by something, if he went in there was no telling what might be seen.

The forest was getting to him, if a few words on the air and whatever twisted feeling he got walking through it was causing him to lose his head. Whatever was in the actual loony bin was not going to be anything short of insanity inducing, he couldn't risk it.

"Deep within the asylum a sightless soul devourer exists...he's expecting you..."

Ichigo whirled and rushed to the gate.

The words rang true, probably the only set of words that made sense to him in all their capacity. He grasped the metal bars, with a hard yank he ripped them open. Truthfully he expected them to be locked, but they obeyed his wishes in wanting him to escape. Or so he thought.

"The doors to the asylum are open...but are you leaving...or entering..."

As Ichigo tossed the gate open he took a running start, yet that only lasted a moment until he realized he had not escaped as he so believed. Instead he was now in a long hallway. He turned and found himself facing away from a large double door.

He grasped the handle, trying to rip it open, and when it failed to open be swung Tensa Zangetsu forward and blew through the fragile wooden barrier. The wood splintered apart and he stepped through, only to find that he was in the same damn hallway as before. Glancing over his shoulder he found the double doors as before, reformed and locked.

"The key locks the door...but which side are you on?"

Ichigo growled, he was trapped in the madhouse now. He had no other choice but to go forwards from now on. Honestly it was his only option from the beginning, but even so he hated himself for actually getting himself involved in this. He took a few steps forward, moving through these dim halls and hoping that nothing jumped out at him from the dark.

But what really overpowered him was the sights and smell, the place was filthy and smelled the most foulest of things. Rot and mould littered every crevice and crack along the ground and walls, while the foul smell of blood, faeces along with other disgusting things he did not want to give names towards.

"What the hell is this meant to represent?" He cringed with every single step that dropped into something that made a squish.

It was almost a comfort, to think more on the disgusting things he was walking through rather than the nightmare he was most certainly in. But he doubted that his host would be quiet for long or that this place was as abandoned as it made itself out to be.

The room he walked by certainly held his attention, there was more to them than he realized. They were locked, yet even closed he could not help feel himself drawn towards what may lie on the other side. It felt foreboding to him, that whatever was on the other side was not to be disturbed, but also familiar. It both stroked his disquiet and interest to know what might lay on the other side, not even the muffled screams and shouting that came from some seemed to dissuade his own curiosity.

Nothing distinguished each room from another, only his own feeling as he passed each seemed to convey different emotions. But all weighed heavily on his heart and threatened to consume it, for whatever was beyond those doors would only cause him pain.

"Don't touch them…" Ichigo thought aloud.

Considering how he had been dealing with doors and gates lately touching them might get him into a world of hurt. Humour was something he was never proficient at, and it seemed to be all but dead here as he failed to try and fight the brighter side of his dilemma.

As he walked up to the intersection he glanced right and left, before he quickly dived back and into cover. His eyes were wide and his heart beating heavily, there was someone around the bend walking towards him.

Ichigo leaned out and regarded the approaching individual, if you could consider the mass of darkness that skulked forward under a shroud such a thing. The pure white eyes that pulsed from where its head should be added to its unnaturalness rather than gave it some semblance of humanity. Ichigo leaned back towards the wall and kept quiet, not willing to breathe as he slowly moved back down the hall and away.

Whatever that thing was, he'd best avoid it, there was no telling what it could do to him.

"This warden was sent by an even greater shadow… A jailer you never knew existed… or ever suspected…"

Ichigo inched away along the wall, only taking the name this voice gave to the shadow that was slowly but surely approaching the intersection. Yet as he moved a doorway opened up beside him, it slowly creaked as it went ajar and bade Ichigo entrance.

Ichigo turned to it, looking at the open door and wondering if he should enter or not, turning back to the hall he found the Warden present. His head turned towards the Substitute and its white eyes glaring ominously into his own.

Turning he tried to move back the way he came, yet he found a wall in his way, the path he once had was now sealed and trapping him. The Warden ran down to meet him, but Ichigo did not want to deal with something like that. He turned to the still ajar door and quickly made the decision, he bolted inside and slammed it shut before the shadow could reach him.

There was no battle to keep it shut, instead it was completely still as Ichigo backed away. But he noticed something amiss, it was no longer the padded white wood as before, the door was made of oak and painted brown. His eyes widened as he read the print that sat above the door.

'Shady Rest Inn.'

"The souls of the unsaved linger around your body... "

Ichigo whirled, his eyes widening as he had indeed found himself back within township of Shady Rest. Although it was not as it was since he last saw it, the burnt down ruins of the town lay before him. The burnt and ash filled houses were like grave markers, filled with the charred and ashen bodies.

He stepped from the small porch and walked through that single street, his eyes looking from one burnt body to the next. His breath quickened, was this what happened to the people in the town? Had they all been cut down and then their bodies burned? He had never been privy to their deaths, nor did he inquire or ask about how they met their end.

He had never entered the village, never spoke or learned of what exactly happened to the people. But now he saw it, in all the gruesome ways that they had died. He could see slashes, deep cut that nearly - and in some cases completely – cut the person in half. Others were locked in building, buildings that had been put to the torch. They had been burnt with their homes, the one place they should have felt safest and most protected.

His breath quickened, he shook off this feeling. It was not his fault. He may have failed to save the town. He may not have been strong enough to stop the Grimtotem raiders. But he did everything he could to make sure they were avenged.

"The ashes containing their sorrows tear mutely at your mind... their screams of anguish and torment fall upon the wind...pray you never learn to listen... pray you never realize who they cry out too…"

Ichigo felt his heart thump hard and painfully in his chest. He couldn't take this anymore. He needed to get out. He ran forward, his armoured greaves crushing cinders and ashen corpses as he ran. Even his own honour couldn't compel him to watch where he stepped.

He tripped over a body, falling to the ground and face buried in ash and mud. Ichigo coughed as he pushed up and trying to run again, but as he pulled himself back up to his feet he was no longer in Shady Rest.

He was back in the long decrepit halls of the Asylum.

"What…What the fuck is this?"

That was worse than anything that had been thrown at him. That black ocean had brought up many horrifying imaginings of what he feared. Those mountains had worn away at his will and survival instinct. A crimson wood that howled with screaming winds and hallucinations that were so real he couldn't tell if they were truly that or not.

But this place? It was something else entirely.

A whole new brand of hell just meant to tear him down. He didn't know if he could survive in here. His heart couldn't slow itself down and every moment he feared what would come next.

"Oceans of nightmares vanishing beneath the tides… mountains of despair that drive the wilful to their deaths… past and future, fickle things within a timeless crimson wood…"

"Then what is this?" Ichigo yelled out, looking around and finding no one there. "Come on! You bastard! Tell me another riddle!"

He took in ragged breaths, tired yet unable to contain every twitch or jerk of the hand which held his Zanpakuto. Every single moment he was dreading, to be in this place only inspired new levels of fear he had never truly felt before. He staggered forward, another hand stumbling to the wall as he tried to keep himself balanced.

A door ahead of him opened. He looked upon it, slowly moving forward and glancing within. His eyes widened when he found the familiar sky and the glass windows of a large skyscraper. He stumbled into chamber, almost as if his legs were no longer his own. His foot touching the glass and feeling the fresh air fill his lungs. He closed his eyes and basked in the radiance of his Inner World, a smile on his face as the welcoming aura of his own internal sanctuary embraced him.

"Your hopes and desire were built on a foundation of glass… when it breaks you will see what lay beneath the surface…"

His eyes widened and they looked down, finding the once blue reflective surfaces crack and dark ooze seeped from them.

"You try to hide behind power and fragile courage... but the darkness in which your deepest fears dwell is not so easily buried… and when it rises… we will see how long you can resist..."

Ichigo understood now what the Asylum was, and it was truly something to be terrified of.

The darkness swallowed him, pulling him down through a black abyss and depositing him in a large field. He hit into a rough object before he found himself pressed against something soft, he pushed himself up to find her was on top of another person. He leaped back and away from the corpse of a Sentinel, her eyes pale and wide as she stared into nothing. But when he fell back he landed on another corpse, no matter where he scurried towards another body lay there.

He was in the midst of a battlefield, or it would be more accurate to say it was a mass grave. The bodies of hundreds surrounded him, on all sides he could see them so highly stacked that he could only see the twilight skies above. His breath quickened, what the hell was this? A mass grave?

"The people you left to die cling to your body like rain...oh the stories they tell..."

As if the words held sway droplets fell from the orange skies above, but they were not spits of water. He brushed away the crimson stain that fell on his face and looked at the bloody smear on his glove.

"No! I couldn't have done anything! I wasn't there!" Ichigo yelled, not willing to accept all these deaths on his hands.

Had he been there it may have been different, he may have been able to save many of them if not all. But he wasn't there, he couldn't protect everyone and be everywhere at once, this was not and could not be blamed on him.

"You can't break me! I know what you are trying to do and you will not break me!" Ichigo yelled, his words only gaining volume as he continued to shout to the heavens.

He didn't know if he was shouting it for his own sake though, were their deaths his fault? Had he planned something else or not tried his hand at strategies, could this have been averted? Were his shouts of defiance him only saying what he wanted to hear, to not accept the truth that he was the one that led these Sentinels to their deaths?

'No! Don't second guess yourself! That is what he wants!'

"Guilt is an unbreakable chain that none can escape from… and their failure, is the bloody ocean in which they drown…"

Ichigo looked down, his legs were rooted to the spot. The blood continued to rise, the ditch he was filling up quickly and already reaching his knees. He fought to free himself, but only the blood seemed to lift itself higher.

Ichigo struggled now, the oppressive weight of the blood reaching his neck almost made him want to throw up. He could smell the copper in the air, so strong and potent that he was lucky he hadn't suffocated on the fumes.

"Get me out of here!" Ichigo yelled.

As if someone heard his cries a hand grasp the back of his neckguard and drag him out of the blood, he flew back and felt himself slam into a wall. He took in a breath and looked left and right, the dilapidated halls of the Asylum greeting him. That was no small comfort, but here the horrifying memories would not take him unless he stepped into them.

But he was not alone, the one that had dragged him from that bloody hell was looming across the hall from him. The dark Warden had come for him, reaching forward with his bony white hand and attempting to claim the substitute.

Ichigo swung Tensa Zangetsu forward, forcing the apparition back. It wailed in surprise, and let out a shriek at he attempted to step towards him again.

"How can you be trusted when your mind is your own worst enemy?"

Ichigo lunged forward, attempting to impale the dark spirit be done with it. Yet the blade was pushed aside with a hand and they grappled with one another, tossing each other into the walls as they fought to overcome each other.

"I'm going to kill you! You hear me asshole!" Ichigo yelled, planting his foot on the dark apparition's chest and kicking him backwards.

He sailed through the air and ploughed through a doorway, entering a dark room that Ichigo followed him into.

"The dead are not the only ones you have wronged… you turn away and they will suffer… look at the pain you weren't there to stop…?"

Ichigo was breathing heavily, his eyes looking around the dark room and searching for his quarry and finding that in the darkness a Shadow might as well be invisible. But he did notice something ahead of him, a shape barely visible in the distance.

He could hear shouting, someone was yelling.

Approaching he found the shapes around him begin to become more clear, the rough stone walls and vines told him he was in some kind of cave. Although he was more focused on the figure ahead of him, he heard weeping from the woman.

"Adelina, are you alright?" Ichigo asked, reaching forward to the shadowed figure.

But he froze when she turned towards him, tears staining her cheeks and features contorted into a twisted visage of misery. Yet it was the bruise on her left cheek and the blood on her lip that truly shocked him, to see her hurt in such a way and so desolate shook him to the core.

"Adelina…"

"You turned away from her… without you to keep them away, you will see just how fragile she is…"

"This never happened!" Ichigo yelled.

What the hell was this bastard trying to pull? Make him think that his closest friend was going to get hurt? That she was going to break down and be subjected to the misery of his passing. Then he wouldn't die, he would get out of here and show that bastard that he wouldn't leave

"You can't scare me with this! I know for a fact this won't happen! Not on my watch!"

"Every step forward is towards more pain… a cruel jest of fate… its only mistake was to let her be born…"

Ichigo shook with those words.

"The fuck did you say?" Ichigo growled, teeth grinding against one another. "You think I am going to let you get away with that comment you bastard."

"You think bravado will make you strong? Will protect you from your own weakness? You will see…!"

The world shifted around him, darkness enveloped him and he found only shadows lurking around him. But only for a moment.

"I will not tolerate this anymore! You will do as commanded and cease this childishness! I lost one child because of his foolishness and even more when you turned on this house! I will not allow you to undo decades of work! I expect you to comply and do as you are told!"

"You would send me one place to bloody my hands for profit and the next sell me off to some bastard to further your position!"

The first shout drew Ichigo's attention, he did not recognise it and it seemed to come from nowhere. Turning fully he approached the yelling, he found two people shouting at each other. He couldn't make out much of the details with such dim lighting but he recognised someone.

"I nurtured you girl! To be something more than some filthy mage that struts around thinking themselves mighty! I gave you a chance to actually help elevate this house to greater prestige!"

"Nurtured! I had to run from this Light forsaken house just so I could breathe without your overbearing and arrogant shadows looming over me!" Caren yelled out, glaring and baring teeth at an unknown shadow. "All I am too you is just some dog you intend to pass off to some noble family to advance yourself! But I will not be used as some bitch to pop out a child or two for your convenience!"

"Watch your tone Caren! I am your father! I lead this House and I will not be insulted by a child who gallivants around with a common thug and shady mages!"

"At least that thug has honour unlike you! I am ashamed that my grandfather had to die and leave this family to be led by the likes of you! An unworthy son and an equally unworthy father!" Caren yelled.

Then a slap was heard, Caren jerked back in surprise but she turned back and glared at the bastard that had struck her.

"You will remain here until you have regained what remains of your senses, I will not have this family fall apart because you want to run off. Your brother did that, and look what happened, him and that common harlot are dead now." The voice of Caren's father sneered. "I hope that little scoundrel said his goodbyes, you will not be seeing him or any of those mongrels again."

The shadow turned and left.

Caren collapsed on her bed, screaming as he clawed at her hair and fought back tears.

"Another friend lost and you were not there to save her… who are you actually protecting…?"

"This… didn't happen. This didn't happen." Ichigo said, kneeling before Caren and watching her.

Tears continued to pour from her eyes, he had never seen her so distraught before. She was always so composed, even when not, she never let her emotions become so despairing. But he didn't pay it any mind, this was just a different trick by this thing. A poor attempt to make him think that he failed his friends, that they would suffer because of him.

"They are safe, Adelina and Caren are safe and you can't trick me! You think showing me this will break me! I won't break!"

"You will see…"

"I'll show you… you fucker…" Ichigo growled, and again the world was consumed by darkness.

Again it changed and shifted, he could make out some buildings and structures around him. Closed in streets and a paved ground were obviously noticeable, but he couldn't tell where he was.

"This city is breached!"

A thundering boom was heard and cries in the distance, this was the sound of battle and Ichigo knew it well. He moved towards it, jogging through the streets and drawing closer to the fighting.

"Retreat to the upper wards! Keep them back!" Shandris called our, her words heard but she was not seen.

He rounded a corner, coming to a halt when he saw something down the road. First he saw a simple barricade set up to block off the street, having been mostly destroyed and broken but still there. But he noticed a single person, one propped against a wall and motionless.

He slowly moved towards her.

"General, you must retreat! I will hold them off with my forces! Go!"

"Good luck, Tor ilisar'thera'nal." Shandris said, before hurried footsteps were heard.

But he heard the deafening sound of conflict grow as he walked forward, he saw glimpses of shadows fighting an unknown enemy. All of them were elves, tearing into invisible adversaries with blades and arrows. He saw them fall one by one, their wailing cries grated his ears and left a shadow on his eyes that he continued to see even as he closed his eyes.

"Hold them back!"

"We are being overrun!"

"There are too many!"

"Retreat to the buildings! Get to the high ground!"

These shouts, along with the screams of courage and death, filled his ears and slowly ate away at his heart as he neared the motionless body. He kneeled down, his expression morphing into one of pain as he looked at the neutral and dead face of the Sentinel.

It was Anaesia.

Her chest was bloody, caused by the large puncture wounds along her torso. He took in a deep breath, shaking his head. This wasn't real, he shouldn't let it get to him. She was back at Nijel's Point recovering, she was safe there and there was no way anything could get to her.

They were all fine. He shouldn't let this thing get to him.

"A thousand deaths… but to carve out ones heart you only need to right ones… you should be careful who you hold close…"

'They're not dead… this is just an illusion.'

"You will see…"

Shaking his head, he defied everything he was seeing now. He took a deep breath and stood up, scowling as he looked around and waited. Everything he has seen, no matter how it felt or how horrible the feeling that passed through his heart, it was not real.

"I don't believe you…" Ichigo said, not rising up as he shook his head. "She isn't dead… they aren't hurt… this never happened and while I breath it never will… so save it."

"You will see…"

The world faded once more, Anaesia was gone. Yet the feelings lingered, unwilling to disappear like the illusion he had been forced to see. But he dug down deep, keeping himself rigid as he resisted whatever foul effect this thing tried to hold over him.

"You will see…"

An incoherent shout reached his ears, his heart beat shot up.

Ichigo scowled, whirling around as something slammed into him and pinned him to the ground. The Warden was upon him and holding him down. Ichigo tried to remove him but he couldn't, the shadow kept him pinned and was not going to let him up. The echoing and distorted words that left his throat were incomprehensible.

But the Warden did not hold him down for long, instead he was knocked aside by something. The rattling of chains and the growl of some kind of animal he could hear, but nothing could be seen. Until he turned around and came face to face with a Hollow, a bone white mask over a very humanoid body.

Ichigo stumbled back in surprise, while that thing howled and tried to break free from its bonds. Beneath it a five pointed cross was seen, glowing brightly as the very shadows around them seem to solidify into chains.

"Usurped the king now writhes in chains… name and power the play things of another… there is so much that has been hidden from you…"

Ichigo shook it off, he knew who this was and he didn't take kindly to seeing this hollow. Ichigo raised Tensa Zangetsu and aimed it at the Hollow, glaring at him.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked, glaring at his Inner Hollow.

All he was met with was a growl.

"White and Black are one in the same… but do you know which one to trust…?"

"Tell me!" Ichigo said, ignoring the words that echoed around him and instead demanding an answer to his previous question.

The light of the cross began to fade, dark ooze flowed over its surface and smothered the light and whatever power it held in chaining the Hollow. The chains snapped, the Hollow was loose and Ichigo swung at him as he drew close. But not fast enough, his wrist was caught and then the Hollow opened its maw wide and sunk its teeth into the Substitute's neck.

Ichigo stagged back, the monster was gone but he felt a dreaded weight settle over him. He tried to shake it off, but he couldn't this time. This wasn't just some hallucination or a random wave of despair it was something else.

Something familiar.

"Kill him! We have no choice!"

Ichigo perked up, seeing a shadow charging him and attempting to strike him with a sword. Ichigo parried the strike easily and then cut the man down, yet he was only one of dozens that came. All moving in quickly, blades and axes raised to cut him down.

Without even waiting to see what he was facing he attacked, his blade a blur of motion as he parried, hacked and stabbed his way through whatever attacked. There was a virtual army around him and he did not halt for a moment, he had to keep killing to keep himself safe. This was his only option, if he wanted to survive he needed to keep killing.

But that was something he never felt before, how could he feel so afraid and concerned with dying? Where was this instinctual fear of death coming from? Why had his survival instincts kicked in and overwhelmed all reason to attack?

'Doesn't matter… I have to do this…' Ichigo thought, yet even he had no real reason why he was carving apart these shadows.

He turned and found a shadow, the last one, raising a hand towards him and reaching for him. A heckle came from the back of his throat and he attacked, his blade piercing through the shadows chest.

He grabbed the figure by the shoulder and pulled his blade free. He was about to discard the shade when he glanced to his hand, that rest rested upon the shoulder of his victim. His gauntlet was gone, only white skin and a cuff of red fur in its place, his fingers now elongated claws. Looking to his other arm he found a similar clawed appendage wrapped around the hilt of his Bankai, so eerily familiar.

Before he could even begin to understand what was happening to him, and how he had changed into this, a hand over his own. Ichigo turned back to the shadow who he continued to hold by the shoulder, the apparition was leaning forward heavily and looking up at the substitute. But the obstructive shadow that made up her skin soon peeled away.

The delicate hand he noticed first, covered in a tight leather glove with similar green and olive armour over her arm. He did not recognise it at first, the design of this armour was unknown to him but it was when she spoke that he realized who it was.

"Ichigo… please, come back…"

Ichigo's eyes widened, a painful vice gripping his heart as he looked to his victim. Blood seeped from the grotesque wound from her chest, her eyes shining with ethereal light and tears as she struggled to remain standing.

"Don't… let him… take you…"

Ichigo reached forward, grabbing her as she fell, he cradling her head and dropped to his knees. He heard the cracking of bone and only just noticed the shell of this hollow form break apart over him, but his entire attention was focused on Adelina.

"You will see… when you are poised to strike… you will see…"

Ichigo kept looking at her, she looked so peaceful and calm. Only the blood and tears that stained her face twisted this moment into one of horror, one that he would carry with him.

Ichigo looked up and towards the many other shadows he had cut down, finding their dark visages have evaporated. Now he looked at the bodies of Sentinels, Guardsmen, Orcish Warriors and Tauren Braves, he had killed all of them.

"This… isn't real… this is a fake… just another illusion…" Ichigo said, breathing ragged and his heart not slowing.

His bloody hand came to his eyes, fighting back the wave of emotion that assaulted him. This cannot be happening, all these horribly moments, these fake events that played out before him were too painful to watch.

"Just stop it… just stop…!"

Ichigo looked up to scream these words and when he uttered them he found someone standing there, only a few feet from him. It was a barely noticeable contrast, a shadow standing before a complete black void, but he noticed it. The dark shadowy warden that seemed to hold control over this asylum of horrible madness inducing hallucinations was there. Probably the only thing in this place that was tangible, that he could touch and fight like any normal foe.

Adelina's body crumbled in his hands, her body turning to ash and falling through his fingers. Letting out a roar he leaped to his feet and lunged at the Warden, tackling him and running through some imagined wall and reappearing in the dim corridors of the Asylum. Ichigo raised his fist and punched. A crack was heard, followed by many others. He didn't stop.

"You won't touch them! You won't hurt anyone! I'll die before I let you go near anyone! Not Caren! Not Anaesia! Not Adelina! No one!" Ichigo yelled, each word carried one or two strikes with it and even when silent he continued to hit.

His strength may have been spent against Theradras but he would use all that remained and whatever he could scrounge up to beat this apparition into oblivion. Ichigo continued this for only so long, his hand eventually reaching for his Bankai and as he delivered the final punch he raised the blade high.

With a final roar he plunged it into the shadows chest, it shuddered and let out a pained scream before darkness seemed to erupt from it and spread all around him. Ichigo was engulfed by the darkness and seemed to be kneeling in a pitch black void.

But only for a short while, the world around him did not reflect some eerie wood or abandoned madhouse. He had returned to the caverns, his eyes set ahead of him and upon the gateway leading into the Vault which he fought so hard to reach.

Staggering to his feet he fought to remain standing. What strength he had left was barely enough to take a step forward, yet he managed to walk in spite of his condition. His breathing was laboured and hoarse, his body begging for rest and respite. What power he had left was but embers to a once raging bonfire.

"Nightmares are easily conquered when you wake… but when they bleed into reality… will you know then that you cannot escape them…?"

Ichigo ignored the words, his world did not shift into some eldritch nightmare realm so he counted it as a blessing. Although his vision swam and his steps became harder to manage, he powered through it and moved for the doorway.

Passing the threshold he staggered down the hall, his boots echoing across the ground as he made a beeline for the plinth. He only needed to take a few more steps and he would be there, and then the heart could be placed within.

"Ichigo…!"

Looking up he found the relieved face of Adelina, rushing towards him and embracing him. He felt himself lean into her hug, more inclined to let her carry him a little than to return what relief he felt she was alright. To actually see her was something that gave him the assurance that what he had witnessed was false. That nothing he had seen was real, that he should not put stock in those haunting visions.

"The heart! Did you claim Theradras' Heart?"

Cavindra rushed up towards Ichigo, looking frantic as always and pleasingly reaching out for said item of importance. Ichigo fumbled around with his bag and pulled out the large crystal and handed it to the Dryad, who took it and quickly rushed over to the plinth.

"I don't believe it, you actually did it." Codexia appeared next, helping Adelina lead the Substitute towards the wall and sitting him down.

"You should not have doubted him, he is stronger than you even realize." Adelina said.

Ichigo could just make out their words. But all that followed after were but a buzz in his ears, there was no way he would be able to remain conscious. He knew what was coming and he was welcoming it, in spite of where it might lead him.

"A threat unravelled does not guarantee victory… but do you count yourself victorious knowing what is in store for you…?"

Ichigo took in the deep breaths, watching as Cavindra activate the plinth and a surge of energy shout of and across the chamber. He felt at peace knowing that the device was working, that all the chaos and evil that was buried in this mountain would be contained.

"The Heart! It works! It works!" Cavindra cheered.

"Ichigo you did it!" Adelina said, smiling as she looked to the substitute.

"The future is filled with terror yet to be unleashed… and horrors that none know are coming… but we know… and you will see…"

Ichigo let that be the final words to haunt his waking nightmare, he let his eyes close and let the oblivion take him. His only remaining wish was to pray that the nightmare did not following after him. But he doubted that would be the case, he wasn't free just yet.

"…You will see…"


There it is, hope you liked it.

Reviews:

Black cross0: Dad is good, recovering well and back home.

While I did not use bold text for his Hollow I will be sure to correct that later and also make sure that it is shown in future chapters, thanks for the heads up.

Xbox432: Heh, sorry about that. I did realize only too late that him jumping and climbing from point to point seemed to be a little drawn out. Should have fixed that. As for the design of the island I took a little creators inspiration for it and decided to make it unique.

Also I am glad that you enjoyed the fight. As for the meeting it was something I truly made up on the fly and I am glad for it, because it really put the scene together and showed itself off what kind of effect Ichigo has had on the other races.

The Unsung Antihero: Fifty? Think more, like fifty squared! That bad!

Star: Decided to go with something that sounds professional, am planning to make a Page so I need to sound at least legit.

Glad you like it and the dagger is something he decided to get a while ago and use whenever he needs it. The Aqir actually have nests in a lot of locations in Southern Kalimdor, Tanaris, Un'goro Crater, the Shimmering Flats and Feralas. They got massive hives in these regions and a legion of creatures there. Also their presence there was to show that there is a connection between Theradras and the Old God in Ahn'Qiraj.

In Bleach it is all about power, when a weaker force tries to harm a greater one the weaker is wounded instead. The mechanics is similar to standard physics, greater forces are stronger than weaker ones. When two foes are of equal strength they can harm each other, but when there is a considerable gap in power the Soul cannot harm the stronger. The difference here is that this factor does not apply due to the physical body. With spirits who are in essence pure energy, it all comes down to power, but with organic beings it is about where you are hit and all normal shit.

PasiveNox: Glad you like it.

Earendil18: There they are! They remained back to help, well Adelina did but Codexia basically went limp and decided to remain only to wallow for herself. Oh man, it is bad for Ichigo right now.

Flury of Dancing Flames: Reishi often requires a great deal of spiritual energy in the atmosphere, but it can be destabilized by certain conditions. Usually a great deal of ambient energy or something destabilising the reiatsu in the air. In the Seireitei a Shinigami cannot do this because of the shield around the city, that is what prevents it from happening. For here the energy was saturated with the spiritual energies of Deepholme, the Elemental Plane of Earth that is dense and rigid and hard to form.

Jahm: Oh it is a Lovecraft monster, specifically a Great One. But here they are called Old Gods and this one is a monster.

Doraemax: While true this is a situation that he really has little information in, also if he tries to bullshit them he would fail. Remember that he doesn't really sell himself when he has to lie, he is pretty bad at it.

Leapinglemur: Glad you liked the chapter.

That is correct, their height was drastically reduced in order to make the game playable, kind of sad really but it still works. Would be interesting seeing them at that height compared to the other races.

Blindluck92: Glad you liked it my friend.

Tenkmaku: No, the walls of Ahn'Qiraj are still sealed but later on you will learn exactly what is going on. How C'Thun appears like this and how he got inside Ichigo's head, wouldn't just do something and not give an explanation later.

Exillion: No, this is not a Harem.

Slimjim77: He needs to level up and get souls for that!

Guest 907: This segment was mainly towards his own mental state after exiting the Nether, it was a traumatising moment for him.

Hikari-J: Can't wait to hear what you think.