No one knew. No one understood - at least not yet. Not even the young woman that it was destined to protect... She sensed, but she was still wide awake in dreamland... She did not yet comprehend what had been set in motion. Still the shadow did what it could to hide her, to mask what it knew needed masked so that those things that came from the rip in the heavens could not find her...
It knew that she was having the dreams after all it was part of her, it knew what she knew... but it also knew things she did not yet know.. Could not know. There was a veil that separated her from the truth. She might see spirits, but she did not yet understand the why. So many questions that would have to remain unanswered. But the air was heavy with fate. Destiny loomed unavoidably in the near distant future.
At least that evening went along without incident. The days passed and things seemed to be as normal as they ever were. But normal never lasts long - especially not in Karakura town. Erisia felt the disturbance before she saw it. She could almost feel the ripping of the sky take place. Normally, sensing this, she would have run the other way to get far away from what she knew would be emerging from that hole in the sky. She had been about to when she caught sight of some children - likely on their way back from the park, walking towards what was soon going to be the last place on earth they should be.
Mentally she winced and she let out a heavy sigh as she resigned herself to what she was going to have to do. She didn't really want to get near that thing… But she had been raised better than that. She knew her mother, God rest her soul, would be sorely disappointed if she simply stood by and let this happen when there was a chance her gift would allow her to stop it. She was better than cowardice. She was after all descended from a Japanese Empress on her mother's side.
Heart in her throat, back straight she began to move towards the growing shadow. As she got to a spot between the children and what was going to be some sort of monster, the thing landed. Fear gripped her heart and soul. She knew the children couldn't see it, but it could see them… She wished she couldn't see it. It was huge, the size of a three story house at least… it was feral and beastly with muscles and claws and twisted… warped by something and horrible to gaze upon. It looked like some fiend from the deepest pits of hell.
The children were oblivious. This was part of the burden of her gift. Her heart was thundering in her chest. She picked up a rock… this was going to be a very bad idea… but she had to get that thing's attention off the children and there were no other options. She hefted the rock in her hands as she tried to think of something to do… She focused, praying silently to herself, 'please let this work', over and over again in her head as she finally summoned the courage to let the thing fly at the beast. Remarkably it hit whatever it was… The beast growled and she took off like a spooked doe. At least it was following her away from the children, but all she could think was - now what?
He was just outside of Uruhara's shop when the standard issue phone given to all shinigami undertaking real world missions went off. He had already sensed the strange reiatsu. There had be something odd, a fluctuating energy before he felt the weighty presence of a Hollow. The phone confirmed the coordinates and since he'd already abandoned his gigai, he quickly dashed off to make short work of the problem. When he finally caught sight of the Hollow, he was surprised to see a girl running from it.
If she was running from it, that meant that she could see it. Perhaps hers was the strange energy he'd felt fluctuating before the Hollow had appeared. It would bear looking into. The fact that she had been able to get ahead of the beast at all much less stay ahead of it was impressive… However, it was already easy to see that her energy was failing her. He did not hesitate then. He moved quickly into action, using Shunpo to catch up to the creature and the girl.
It happened just as he reached them. The Hollow lashed out with those hellish looking claws, it was trying to catch the girl. What happened in the next heartbeats was strange and had he not been looking directly at the girl, he might have missed it. Something - some shadow blurred past and seemed to knock into the girl. She started falling just mere seconds before the claws would have struck a lethal blow. The girl was still badly wounded but if he could finish this quickly, she might just live.
"Scatter." Came the release command that sent his sword into thousands of sakura petal like blades. Using thought and will he commanded them quickly into action, first creating a shield around the girl and then moving against the Hollow. As the blades struck home, the creature shrieked and blood rained down.
Through the haze of pain and spray of blood Erisia weakly turned towards the strange sound. She saw a man standing there on the air itself which was surely impossible. Around him seemed to dance and flow a swarm of sakura petals. They moved like a raging storm of angry hornets… she watched them attack the demon. It made no sense… Weakness and pain began to surge up over her. Her head swam and she succumbed to the blackness that came to claim her.