46 Building an Army

'From my earliest memory, I only recall being named Anne. The matron was very kind to all of the children and we were given warm clothes, a roof, and two meals a day. I had nothing to complain about. One day the whole town was excited. While I was doing chores, I overheard some of the men talking about royalty coming to visit. I was extremely curious so I went to town that day to catch a glimpse of them.

While hiding amongst the crowd, I witness the most handsome man I've ever seen riding on a white stallion. He wore a pristine white military uniform, and had beautiful blond hair. I was mesmerized and stared at him. However, this seemed to attract his attention because he turned and looked directly into my eyes. The deep blue color drew me in and I felt as if my soul was pulled out of my body.

However, the feeling quickly disappeared when one of the older orphans grabbed my hand and pulled me back toward the orphanage. I had skipped out on my duties to see the royal and was caught red handed. The matron was scolding me but my mind was wandering thinking about that beautiful man in the town square.

I returned to my duties, but they were cut short when some of the other orphans began to shout that the matron wanted everyone to gather up in the main hall. I was used to this because this was the usual procedure when someone came to adopt children. I waited with the other girls when a bright white figure appeared through the doorway. His radiance covered the hall, but I knew this was just my imagination.

It was him, the beautiful man she saw in town. He swept his eyes over everyone and began to point people out. He had already chosen over twenty children when his finger swept past me. My heart dropped and I looked up pleadingly. His eyes made contact with mine again and his finger returned to point at me. That day this mysterious royal took forty of us.

He told us that we were children blessed by god, so our parents had to abandon us. He explained that they were incapable of raising the children of god, but now god has commanded him to return all of his lost children to his side. The man said the true god he referred to was not some imaginary force that you could only see after your death, but a real god who lived amongst his children.

Our father, the true god, wanted all of us to be with him and fight in the holy war in the future. He said that we were the future of the world where there would be no more fear and no more sadness. As His children, we were given good food and treated very well. Every night, the beautiful man would come and teach us. It started with simple history of god. And then the history of other children of god before us.

Eventually we trained to fight. We were given several tests and trained until we were exhausted every day. However, this didn't bother me. I was training to fight for my father, my true god. We killed when we were told to kill, we saved who we were told to save, and we searched for more of god's children. One day, the beautiful man came to us and told us we were now a part of His divine army. We would follow one of His commanders to capture and convert a group of savage monsters to become our tools.

The man led us into the forests north of camp and a large stone archway stood, untouched by nature. A shimmering portal opened and all of us were taken through it. I was stunned by the scene on the other side. The ground was a simple field, but in the sky was His holy symbol. A giant floating structure created out of what seemed to be ice. The man explained to us that this was Wahrwelt, the one True World where we would live after the holy war.

As I looked upon the large floating structure, I saw a man in all black standing on the edge. I don't know how, but I could see him as clearly as if he was standing in front of me. I knew immediately this was Him, the true god. Everyone seemed to see him as well and we all knelt down. I shouted within and out loud that I would follow His will until I die.

After that, we joined together with another group and a portal opened to dark and dreary place. It was perpetually night, but the moon lit everything around us with its pale light. We began to encounter the savage monsters of this world and killed any who could not, or would not, join our cause. Eventually we arrived to a large structure. Once inside, our commander negotiated with a blond female savage.

However, she refused and we began to fight once more. Three more savages arrived, two with blue hair and one with black hair. They began to kill my brothers and sisters. I peered at the green eyes of one of the savages, and my heart stopped. I could sense the despair and melancholy. I fell to the ground and dead bodies piled around me.

I was aware of everything happening around me. All of my brothers and sister were dying. The commanders were taken out after a new force arrived. I could sense the fighting ending and I hoped to return to my god's grace. However, the bodies around me were pulled off, and a beautiful orange haired girl looked into my eyes. She stared at me with pity and pierced my head with her finger. In my last moments, I could see the tinge of bloodlust in her expression.'

Orihime frowned after she finished going through this random soldier's memories. The mention of her face showing bloodlust surprised her. Orihime was unaware of it herself, but her micro-expressions had begun to warp slightly. She just assumed this was another side effect of the memories so she ignored it and tried to focus on suppressing the foreign thoughts.

The memories revealed that Yhwach was already up and about. However, she wasn't surprised by this because in the last seven years he had likely just been powering up until all of his power returned. She knew that the day he would gain back his power was coming in about two years. What intrigued her was the stone arch that took the child soldiers into the shadow realm.

These children seemed to be humans with increase spiritual power. They must have been enhanced by Jugram Haschwalth, the blond-haired Quincy in Anne's memories. Jugram was Yhwach's right hand man whom also gained The Almighty when Yhwach slept. He also had a similar ability to Yhwach's which was granting people Quincy powers. However, he could not reclaim them like Yhwach. This is why he was known as Yhwach's "other half."

All that means is the Quincy have been snatching up humans the last several hundred years and turning them into soldiers. This also means that the portal to Wahrwelt was in the human world. There were no obvious indicators in the girl's memories, but she could tell it was somewhere in Europe. Orihime also had a suspicion that this was central Europe based on the seasons, architecture, and clothing.

However, this did not eliminate other places. Therefore, she needed to talk with Ryuken Ishida and figure out where the Quincy clan came from originally. This portal should be in their ancestral ground or near it at least. Another issue was how to open the portal. Orihime considered coming clean to Urahara and having him examine the portal to recreate it and infiltrate Wahrwelt.

"Urahara should know about this sooner rather than later. It will give him enough time to start creating contingencies and counters. It won't be lying if I tell him I got this information from memories. He is also the best person to face some of the crazy strong Sternritters. Perhaps he has some thoughts on Ichigo's situation and how we can improve his strength to fight Yhwach in the worst-case scenario. I just hope he believes me…"

While she was pondering her future plans, she finished collecting all the Quincy powers here. Although they were second-hand powers based from Jugram, it was still better than nothing. She was approximately half way to developing her own origin bloodline.

Orihime could then theoretically create a new breed of Quincy that Yhwach couldn't steal from. With the hogyoku's innate abilities, she would be able to insert some of her origin power into people. Then, she could let them develop it and take it later to boost herself.

"Wait, that's exactly what Yhwach did. Okay, maybe I'll scrap the second half of that idea…"