Dominik had finished his slice and waited for his father to speak. He sat up and rearranged himself to lay on the couch and listen to his parents tell the story of how they came to arrive in this world. He would hang on to every word but wouldn't mind listening in a more comfortable position. His mother got up and moved to the empty armchair across from the couch. Silence hung in the room for a moment before his father took on a more serious expression and looked out of the window once more as rain began to fall.

Morning of May 13th, 1803, Damian and Anii

Damian awoke in the tent to the cool morning air. He and Anii had gone swimming the previous night before going to sleep, and Damian wished he had brought something else. A chessboard, or cards, perhaps. The food had been good but he could not take his mind off of the situation the Gotei was currently faced.

Moving quietly he got up and sauntered over to take a long drink from his large water canteen before nature called and he walked away from the campsite.

Anii's old house was a medium sized cabin that the couple still visited and maintained whenever they got time off and ventured out to the district. It was roughly an hours walk from the campsite. As Damian walked back he saw that Anii had gotten up and packed up roughly half of the supplies.

"Let me get the rest of the stuff, Anii. Did you want to rest for a bit more or go ahead and start walking? The air is cool out and based on those overcast clouds, it might rain."

"Lets go."

Birds chirped in the morning air. A few deer and elk skittered about and away from the two Shinigami. A slight breeze permeated the forest trail as the two walked further and further into the forest away from the rushing river. Huge trees loomed overhead. This part of the District was surprisingly empty most of the time, which had always surprised Damian.

The forest was perfect for hunting and not particularly dangerous, although one must always be on guard. Anyone who lived outside of a major town or city in the Soul Society knew that. Large predatory animals, Hollows, highwaymen. But these woods were known like the back of his hand and Damian did not feel the need to walk with his hand on his sword.

The crunch of leaves and insects was all that could be heard for about half an hour, Damian and Anii talked and discussed various things. "So, does Captain Unohana have any idea or thoughts on the situation? I know you guys over at Squad 4 have been extra busy as of late."

"Recently the entire division has had a lot more paperwork and overall stress. Tempers running high. I honestly don't know how Captain Unohana does it. She always has this calm, relaxed face about her. And I know that sometimes I say paperwork is better than healing someone on the verge of death, but that is just because its easier most of the time."

"Right. Its been more dangerous for me as well but ill admit getting out of the Seireitei on missions has been more exciting. I slew an Adjuchas the other day, haven't had that sort of fight in a year or so..."

The pair shortly thereafter reached the small cabin, and found it locked and mostly undisturbed besides a few weeds that had sprouted up and some overgrown nature seeping closer to the path. Anii went inside to prepare some tea and stew with some of the supplies, some stashed in the cabin and some brought along, while Damian situated himself on the small front porch that had 2 chairs and a decently sized round table.

Anii wanted to rest her legs for a bit as the water would take time to bring to a boil and Damian wanted some time to think to himself.

Damian's thoughts were somewhat random before he focused on the current situation. He hoped that his family would accept Anii, and while he was fairly confident they would, there was always that nagging worry pulling at the back of his mind.

With the current emergency situation and declaration of war by an organized hollow force, one dangerous enough to nearly kill a Captain, his own grandfather at that, Damian still felt somewhat awkward being allowed so much time off.

He still had half a mind to refuse his Captain's generosity and cut this vacation short, but Anii would get more and more unable to perform her duties until the baby came, and afterwards she would still only be operating at half capacity as a newborn mother. Captain Unohana would give her time off where need be, but Damian also figured that his grandmother Raya would step in and help raise the child.

There was also other close, trusted people to help with the situation. Damian was glad he was not alone in any of this, but at the same time Anii did not have such a familial support, and so his heart felt as though he needed to protect her even more because of that. The noble families of Soul Society were not kind and the culture was often highly competitive, greedy men and women looking to whisper and conspire, plotting to gain power and replace.

Anii was a tough woman but she was from Rukongai and no doubt there would be many naysayers, but Damian was not afraid for his sake, rather the child's sake.

He sighed as he got up and wanted a real distraction so he settled on fishing. Just as he was about to get up and head inside he heard the door open and Anii came out with two steaming cups of tea.

"Was thinking about going fishing at the lake. Should be relaxing, ill just carry the boat if you carry the small bag of rods and bait."

"Sounds good, but I really do want to rest my legs a bit more."

The pair sat in silence until the tea cups were empty and Damian then went down to the basement to haul up a large, well made rowboat a bit sturdier and longer than usual as it was especially made for carrying more weight and fishing gear.

He carried it outside and began walking as Anii had already gotten up and begun along the smaller, more nature-claimed path that led to a small lake. A large stream branched off from a point in the major river of the District and pooled in a medium sized lake about ten minutes walk from the cabin.

Damian had once purchased a large amount of koi eggs and introduced them to the lake, but the lake was already teeming with fish from the stream and river. In truth the lake was a gem as well as the forest around it, and while technically not Anii's property, only a handful of fishermen knew about the lake so it always felt as if it was somewhat theirs.

Today there were surprisingly no such fishermen, nor swimmers, and this was perfect. Privacy is a rare thing when one is outside their own property.

Despite Anii's current status neither of the two worried about her not being able to swim even if she somehow fell off the boat which itself was unlikely. However, as Damian reached the small sandy ridge next to the lake he realized he had forgot the umbrella back at the cabin, and the clouds were still threatening rain.

"Damn, forgot the umbrella. Going to go back to the cabin, might use flash step."

"Try not to attract any hollows or scare off any animals, you big oaf!" Anii teasingly replied.

Damian said nothing and flashed stepped off back to the cabin. Even if something out of nowhere attacked Anii while she was currently alone, said creature, man, or beast would be hit by a very angry Hado 54 (Haien, Abolition Flame) as it was Anii's signature Hado spell.

Damian used Shunpo to quickly land on top of the cabin and jumped off down towards the door. He also had forgotten to actually lock the door, but had at least remembered to keep the key on him and not back at the lake.

Damian looked around the main area of the cabin and quickly spotted the umbrella laying on the floor next to the kitchen but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the basement door was ajar.

What? Did I leave it open? Or did someone sneak in?

Damian quietly walked over to the door and quickly opened it, but heard and saw no one inside. However, in the far northwestern corner of the room behind a few crates of old clothes and empty wooden boxes was a rug that Damian did not remember ever seeing- but he was rarely ever down here, and perhaps it was new.

Anii must have gotten a rug and stored it down here, I wonder why though? It must be very well made or have some beautiful design on it or something.

Damian walked over to the rug and saw that it was light blue with a dragon design on it. "Huh, pretty cool", Damian said out loud and reached to pick it up- the rug was roughly 7 by 7 feet.

However, there was a hatch on the ground that Damian also was not aware of. "What? There is a sub-cellar in the basement? What for?"

Sure enough there was a hatch that led down to a small staircase. Damian was immediately aware of a slight noise and bright light coming from the corner of the sub-cellar he now stood in. The room was actually about the same size as the above basement, but was otherwise empty.

Except for the glowing white portal that shimmered and swirled about in the center of the room that was giving off a faint chime-sound and a strangely warm glow.

Damian stepped back abruptly. "What the hell is that? Some kind of portal?"- He drew his Zanpakuto and glanced around thinking this was some kind of trap or illusion, but again, Damian detected no one nearby whatsoever.

The portal was not like the Senkaimon or anything he had ever seen. Damian felt as if his very soul was drawn to it, beckoning him to come closer and see what it was. The swirling vortex was about 9 feet tall and maybe 4 feet wide. Its shape was like that of a spinning fan, roughly.

Before Damian could think about what to do as he took another step forward, he was suddenly pulled with unimaginable force towards the portal.

He shouted but no on heard. He tried to flash step away or jump but the power was indescribable and irresistible. He felt as if he was trying to look at the sun with the light- it was so damn bright- and he felt like his body was being whisked away in a storm of some kind of power as he went through completely, vanishing from the world.

One hour later, Anii's POV

Anii had waited for what felt like an hour for Damian to come back. She was beginning to get annoyed but also realized that something could have happened. A hollow, maybe some traveler was talking to Damian (he sometimes went out of his way to talk to strangers and somehow swap stories as if it was his born destiny to meet as many people as possible) and sighed as she got up from where she was sitting on the beach next to the boat to begin walking back to the cabin.

Considering that Damian had not said he would be going anywhere else such as back to the village, she was somewhat worried but if anything was just more annoyed at the situation. She soon reached the cabin and found the front door ajar.

"Damian, are you there? Did you forget the umbrella or something? It hasn't rained yet, but why are you taking so long..."

She realized that she could not detect his presence at all and somewhat tensed up. Where is he? She went inside and looked around for anything to suggest a scuffle, or some kind of disturbance, but saw that the door to the basement was open.

As she carefully walked down the stares she readied herself to use kido if need be. She saw that the rug had been moved from where it was over the sub-cellar. "Oh, I forgot about that rug, bought it years ago, must have forgotten about it..."

More to her surprise though was that the sub cellar hatch was open. That's odd, there isn't anything down there...

Anii then noticed the faint sound that was almost like wind chimes, and the strange bright glow emanating from the sub cellar hatch as she walked closer towards it from where she had been in the main basement doorway.

"What the heck is that? That sort of faint warmth and glow is like being near a campfire, but I don't smell any smoke... and what is that sound?"

She began softly reciting the full incantation for Shakkaho just in case there was some sort of danger down there and waited to release her Hado, but felt and saw nothing. All that seemed to be in her field of view was a faint sound of wind chimes and an odd warmth.

"All right, whoever is down there better reveal yourself, or else..."

She crept towards the hatch and made sure to scan the small room- but there was no one there, unless they were both invisible or had no spiritual presence whatsoever.

Again, she felt as if there was no one near her whatsoever, no soul reaper or hollow.

But then her eyes fell on the portal and nearly gasped in shock at the strange glory of it, and she had to somewhat shield her eyes from the glow. In doing so she backed up a bit too fast and tripped on the railing that supported the staircase and fell backwards, making sure to land on her back.

"Ow, what is going on- what is that thing-" as she stood up she felt called to move towards it as if her legs would not respond to her and as she took four steps forward she was launched through the portal.

Damian was falling, floating, flying. Through a great light that he could not comprehend, then what seemed like an infinite void- he saw flashes of himself, his memories, his earliest days, his closest and hardest battles, his fathers face, his grandfathers face.

After that came his worst memories, the time he was majorly embarrassed in his first sword duel at the Academy, the first time he saw a squad member gruesomely die in battle right in front of him but then his best memories, the first time he slew a hollow to save a human soul in the World of the Living, the first time he released his Shikai, then of Anii's face- then nothing at all.

When he came too his face was currently in some sort of thick grass. He got up and saw that he was in a forest. He felt his body. Everything was still there. He didn't appear to be injured at all, and there was again no one nearby.

"What the hell was that? Some kind of portal that transports one elsewhere, but it wasn't a Senkaimon... such a thing is not possible."

His head was on a swivel and he assumed he was just in some other part of Rukongai, not another universe.

"Shit, Anii is going to kill me. Where the hell am I? And what kind of experience was that, it was like there was some kind of power pulling me in and then forward, and I-..."

His mind failed to remember exactly what happened when he was...inside the portal.

All he knew was that he didn't seem to be anywhere nearby from District 9, mainly from the fact that it was an incredibly sunny day, not overcast and grey like before. But is it really? How much time has passed? How long was I out?

However, he didn't feel hurt or injured like he had been knocked out by force and just came too. He simply felt like he had been asleep in some kind of very vivid and mind-overflowing dream.

The air also felt somewhat different. Like he was in the World of the Living. No, that can't be, maybe some kind of strange kido exists to teleport one from one location in Soul Society elsewhere, but to cross the full dimensional boundary? And that portal didn't look like any Kido I had ever seen. What the heck was that? How do I even explain such a thing? Should I? And why was it in the basement of the cabin? Some sort of trap?

That's when he realized he didn't know where he was and Anii did not know where he was either. Cutting himself off from staring at the tree-line in front of him he whipped around wondering if the portal was a two-way phenomena and he could simply go towards it back-

But of course when he turned around there was nothing there. No 9 foot tall spinning white vortex. Just empty air and somewhat tall grass.