The giant hollow slithered on the air over to Dieter. Dieter's eyes were drawn to the ground, he could see the hollow was hovering, it was eerie. The shinigami in the fight before seemed to move as if on the air at some points, and Genevieve wasn't truly flying. “How do you do that?”
“Hmm, walk on reishi? It's simple, but first there is one thing you must do.” The hollow grabbed Dieter's shoulders and spun him around. Pointing his clawed hand at the mutilated flesh of Genevieve he whispered into Dieter's ear. “Feast upon her flesh, it's what hollows do.”
Dieter felt deeply sick, the idea of eating another person, even one who had threatened him, it was so wrong. But what was worse was the thought in his mind that it was right, something deep down in him told him he was meant to feed on the fallen. “This reality is disturbing, why should I eat her?”
“Hollows eat other hollows, you absorb them, their essence, their energy, their power, and through doing so you attain higher levels of power. In our world, it's eat, or remain weak and be eaten by someone else.”
“Your world sounds horrific.”
“Our world sounds horrific, your a part of it now.” The hollow forcefully twisted Dieter's head, turning it to look him in the eyes. “Now feed, and I shall teach you more.” He let go of Dieter, pushing the new born hollow towards the blood mess that would be his first meal. Dieter stumbled over to the dead hollow. He did not know if it truly smelt of death, nothing could rot hat quickly, but his mind certainly forced him to think it did. The stench was overwhelming as he bent down close to the flesh. Pushing through the sheer idea of eating the hollow he closed his eyes and bit down.
The first bite was hard to swallow, but to his dismay it was not unpleasant. In fact it was great, savouring it as it slid down his throat he leaned in again and began to devour the soul. He could feel power surging through him, feel himself getting stronger. Rising from the flesh he shouted to the sky. It was a shout of pure terror, he knew what he was doing was wrong, was sick and twisted, but he liked it, loved it, and that was the scariest thing.
“For someone who doesn't care about his son you feel too much sympathy for eating your murderer.”
“My son is safe, I gleaned that much from the shinigami and Genevieve.” His former wife had been annoyed that his new wife had somehow got to soul society, which implied she was out of her reach, and the shinigami said he sent the boy there. “I assume soul society is a good place, and even if it's not, I can't save him now, there's no need to worry about what I can't change, I may as well concentrate on being the best I can be. After all, knowledge is eternal, family is transient.”
“Interesting ideology, cruel, but interesting. I suppose I had best train you to walk on reishi, if you're to travel to Hueco Mundo.” The hollow raised himself in the air, his form steadily rising. “You can feel it can't you, the reishi, spirit particles around you. Draw them in, solidify them under you, and walk as if on the ground.”
Dieter centred himself, cleared his mind of distractions, focusing only on his surroundings. He could sense differences in the world, energy emanating from thee other hollow almost forced him to lose focus. But through it he could feel particles floating in the air. He could feel them brush his skin, and could almost grab them. “Good, now you're going to have to do that without thinking Dieter.” His eyes flashed open and Dieter saw himself standing on the air. The sudden realisation caused him to fall.
“It's that easy?”
“Of course, now try again, and this time, don't think.” This time Dieter didn't close his eyes, but he still found it hard to not think about the objective at hand. He had to analyse the consistency of these, 'reishi', he had to sift through them all and judge the correct, optimal amount. It was not a lack of skill or instinct on his part, but due to his mind set, he had to think it over because he had to. Feeling the slam of his new found master's tail against his skull, Dieter fell out of the air and skidded along the ground. “I said don't think, if we are to go to Hueco Mundo you will need to do it on instinct.”
“I'm not built like that.” The other hollow swung again at Dieter, but this time the newborn dodged, leaping into the sky. As he shot upwards his sudden enemy followed him. Without thinking Dieter pushed off from the air, dodging the strike. “Why are you attacking me?”
“Instinct, I need you to not think, like you did when fighting Genevieve and that shinigami, only in a fight does your mind slow enough for you to not over analyse things.” It was true, Dieter was standing on the air without thinking about it. It was like second nature, like walking itself. “Just remember this feeling, I mean, you don't think about walking do you?”
“Only when if I don't have something else to think about.”
“Really?”
“No human can just stop thinking completely, and no human can just do nothing, we're not built that way.”
“Fair enough. Now I think we should take your training to Hueco Mundo. Your new home.” The Hollow began to rip through reality itself, tearing a hole in the wall of the dimension. Darkness spilled through the hole, and Dieter could sense the dense spirit particles within it. “Ok, this is Garganta, inside is a mass of reishi, you need to keep running along them to get to the other side, slow down or fall, and you'll be lost forever.”
“No pressure then.”
“Lets go.” As the hollow leapt through Dieter followed, instantly forming a matt of reishi beneath his feet as he ran. The hollow ahead of him was fast, almost too fast, but Dieter could tell he was keeping his speed down to help Dieter keep up.
Dieter could see light at the end, an exit. He was near to his new home, the home of all hollows. If soul society was presumably heaven, and hollows, as he judhed, would be considered evil, what would that make Hueco Mundo? Visions of hell filled his mind, fire and smoke, burning, stinging, torturous demons rending his flesh. As he flung himself out of the Garganta he landed on cold sand. Darkness surrounded him, whilst strong winds buffeted him. There were no stars, only dark foreboding clouds. “Welcome to Hueco Mundo, the endless, desolation. The rolling cold sands, continuing on forever, never stopping, never warming, a frozen and bare hell. Welcome to the endless despair that is Hueco Mundo.”
Dieter shrugged, compared to his imagination he could only say one thing.“It's not too bad.”
