To All of Eternity

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Enemy Unseen

Yhwach stared at Ichigo, an expression of disappointment etched on his face. "This is what I got worked up for? What a waste..." He then dropped Ichigo's dying body like a child discarding a toy. "Rather... I suppose you did provide entertainment. Now then, for your final duty." 

Ichigo fell to his knees, his body not having any strength left to even allow him to lay down and rest. 

"It's time for the power that I so generously granted you... To return to its rightful owner!" Yhwach then grabbed Ichigo's face, lines of his reiatsu immediately invading the teen's body. 

Everything was lost.   

Any fight that Ichigo had was brutally annihilated from his body. He felt his very soul being ripped in half and removed from his very being. Everything he had worked for, was gone.

"Ichigo! Stand up!" The distant calls in his head shouted in anguish. Their voices morph into an unsettling culmination of all their voices.

Yuzu, Karin, dad, Orihime, Rukia, Renji, Chad, Byakuya, Keigo, Muiziro, Nel... Everyone in the Gotei 13, everyone in the Espada, and everyone on Earth...

They all pleaded for him to save them, to protect them from the incoming onslaught. Yet, he no longer had the strength to stand up.

In his head, a single statement resounded in his mind: I am not strong enough.

His world then morphed into darkness, his vision quickly succumbing to the lightless void. His entire being went numb as his body died and failed.

Yet, a small light pricked the darkness. It pierced the dark canvas with its orange ethereal light, drawing him closer and closer... Until his entire vision was consumed by a white light.

-

Ichigo stared into the horizon, his sunken eyes betraying his exhaustion. His hair felt unnaturally oily in the absence of sleep or a shower. His mind was firmly set on how beautiful the sunrise was.

Yet, when it did wander, he would wonder: Why were the nightmares only beginning now?

He could vividly remember it, the sound of Yhwach's voice; the taste of blood on his lips, and the cries of everyone demanding that he stand up.

He put a hand on his head as he then remembered the strange dream that followed the darkness after the nightmare. The dream of someone encased in prison, someone close to him. He didn't see them but their presence felt comfortable... Akin to a close friend or family.

"You don't have to hide," he called out a bit more harshly than he had willed, his self-control slipping. He turned around and found the small girl who had whacked him on the head last night. Her witch-like attire was half hidden behind a pillar leading to the balcony he stood. "Mary, right?" he asked a bit more softly as he reigned in his control.

"I-I wanted t-to a-apologize for last night!" the small mage yelped out as she pushed herself into full view. She then bowed with her hands clasped together to stop the shivering of her hand. "IthoughtthatyoudruggedbigsisAsfiandbroughthertousehertogetintotheTraveler'sInnandterrorizeusorsteal!" she shouted out incoherently as her words jumbled into each other due to the speed she spoke.