Dieter turned to face the man in black. Tall and strong, the man had green hair cut in a bowl atop his head. His blade, long and sleek glinted in the dying sunlight, and he wore a grim smile. He did not seem happy, but somewhere deep inside, Dieter could see justification in his eyes. “What did you do?”
“I saved his soul from you beast. I saw you two hollows fighting over your prize, I decided to wait until you or she died. You were so preoccupied you didn't even sense me. You are a pathetic specimen.” Dieter felt rage swell in his chest. It threatened to overwhelm his good sense, this had never happened to him before. He had felt anger of course, he had wanted to kill people in his past, he had even designed weapons to kill people, and enjoyed it, but he never let it cloud his reason, his mind was his one true weapon.
“What is happening. I returned home, then my wife is killed and disappears, my son is killed, and stolen by you, and the beast that killed them I let my mind go and kill it, who just happened to be my former wife. And now my mind is being destroyed slowly, what is going on?”
The man spoke again, his voice derisive and condescending. He truly felt he was above Dieter. “ That explains it, your a new hollow. I bet you don't even realise what this system of souls is, what I am, but worry not, you won't need to know, because soon you will be dealt with.” Pointing his blade at Dieter the man dropped low, before running straight forwards.
Dieter was not a fighter, the only times he'd ever been in fights he'd either been lucky, or been heavily beaten. He only beat Genevieve through trickery and instinct, this man, this soul, it was obviously trained to use a blade, he knew more about what Dieter was than Dieter did, he had the knowledge and the power. “This is bad.”
“Sorry hollow, but this is more than bad for you, this is the end.” Dieter watched the man run, prepared to spit a webline, and held his ground, but before he could even let a stream go the man had disappeared from his sight. “Far to slow hollow.” Turning to the voice, Dieter saw the man's blade sweeping down towards him, it was slow, too slow to be real. The man was below him, out of the arc of his mouth, he hoped to escape the webbing that way. As the blade swept up Dieter raised his hands, webbing shot out from his wrists and caught the blade with the stuff.
Twisting on his feet the man ran to the side of Dieter, ducking below a clumsy swipe from the hollow. Standing far away the man chanted something, a burst of flame searing the webbing away. “A useful ability, but I won't touch it and get caught like your other friend. Your dealing with powers far beyond your own hollow, and you got lucky with that ability, but I won't be taken by surprise again. I am a shinigami, I exist to slay hollows, it is my job and duty.”
“Why, what have I done, what reason do you have.”
“It's not a case of what you have done, but what you will do, all hollows are the same, and it is my duty, my obligation to remove them where I can. I earned my rank for my dedication, hear my name and feel the fear that comes with it, for I am Malebourne, the twentieth seat squad one.” Dropping down again the man ran at Dieter. His blade was a blur, his feet seemingly invisible, their motion was so fast.
Dieter felt flashes of pain, and saw red flecks of blood flying before his eyes. The man was carving into his flesh, his sword flitting before Dieter's eyes. “Die hollow.” The man leapt up before Dieter, his sword in two hands, his form silhouetted against the sky, and his blade held high to be brought down in a death stroke.
He sky above Dieter rippled and cracked, a long snakelike body flying out and grabbing the shinigami before he could kill Dieter. The man screamed in the grip of the snake thing. It held him up before it's gaping jaw. It was over quickly, the shinigami's head was bitten off, before the rest of him was swallowed whole. “Ah, shinigami, the delectable taste of a potentially great soul, the hope and fury of the passion driven, as such feeling flood my veins. I do so love it.”
The thing turned to Dieter, it was like a snake, but fifteen feet long, and at least four feet wide. Two arms sprouted from it's upper body, and a long mane of blue hair ran down it's back. The white mask on it's face had a bright green slash down through one eye. “Ah, I don't see Genevieve, am I right to suppose you are Dieter.” The man's speech was strangely beautiful, despite the speed he spoke at, almost making it impossible to hear. “And if she's not here that means she was killed by you or the shinigami, I'm guessing by you, but what do I do now?”
Dieter slumped down onto his lowest knee joints. He no longer cared. Everything he knew or loved was taken away. All he could feel was the pain of loss and despair that filled him. “Kill me, I killed Genevieve, who the way you talk about her was your friend.”
“Ah yes, friend, more of an acquaintance really, but she was useful, even though a terrible bore. You however, she talked about you, a scientist? You could be interesting, and you need someone to teach you the ways of this new world.”
Dieter raised his head, looking the hollow right in his red eyes. There were no lies in those orbs, no pity, no hate, no joy, simply a blank stare. “So what will you do?”
“I'll take you under my metaphorical wing, we will go to Hueco Mundo, to a grand city, and I will induct you in our ways, you shall become one of us completely, or you'll die, and become of of us literally.”
“So I die or come with you get stronger, and chance death? A whole new realm of reality? New laws of science, biology?”
“Precisely.”
“It's not really much of a choice is it?”
