CHAPTER 17: ARIE HOURYU

Soul Form POV

I opened my eyes to look up at the sky as I seem to be laying on the ground out in a forest type of area. I slowly sit up while rubbing my head as it aches a bit.

I look around a bit confused as information rushed into my brain but nothing about who I am who I was except for a name that seemed to have been picked for me.

"Arie Houryu."

I seem to have isekaied(transmigrated) into the bleach world that I somehow know about as the information seems to just be in my head and nothing about how it got there is there.

This is a dangerous world and if I want to live here I'm gonna need strength, a lot of it and luckily I seem to have a choice about how I develop since I'm here as a normal soul. I could wait for my soul chain to completely erode and become a hollow and then go to hueco mundo to get stronger or look for a shinigami(soul reaper) to perform a konso(soul burial) for me and go to soul society and then later become a shinigami to grow stronger.

Both choices have their merits but I think I'd prefer to become a hollow than becoming a shinigami as I'd prefer my freedom rather than having to follow orders round not to mention that I don't know what timeline I'm in and it'd be a pain to have to deal with that shady four eyes called Aizen among other things.

Okay now that I've decided to become a hollow by letting the soul chain erode I should better find an area to hide because according to the story the soul chain eroding can cause indescribable pain and I don't want to be caught outside with a hollow when that happens because I'm pretty sure I'd be a tasty snack to hollows as I have spiritual energy and a lot of it, it seems.

I quickly stand up and choose a direction and start walking straight in that direction. I walk for almost 2 hours before noticing lights ahead as it's gotten a bit late, it's still in the early evening though. After walking for a few more minutes I finally have a clear view and it seems to be a town. Now I'm a bit stuck between going into town and having to deal with hollows and most likely soul reapers or wait outside the town and rough it with just the hollows.

I was still a bit undecided when I noticed a flower by my side growing by the side of a big oak tree, for some odd reason I find myself walking towards the flower picking it up and then start picking the petals off while repeating

"Stay in the town,don't stay in the town,…"

And then finally the last petal

"Stay in the town."

Did I just put my life in the hands of a flower game? And why do I feel a sense of deja vu, have I done this before???

I let out a sigh as with this at least I made a decision and I slowly walk towards the town. I enter the town and begin to go around looking for a good hiding spot and I also take notice of the building structures and they seem to be pre 90s structures so that means I still have over a hundred years before that loudmouth called Ichigo is born and before the story starts.

I also decide to map out the areas around the town because I may need to run from hollows if they manage to find me. It seems I have a pretty good memory as I remember most of what I have mapped out after only being there once.

After mapping out the area I find somewhere to hide and decide to try to learn to hide my spiritual energy as it'd be night soon and I have no desire to be chased all night by hollows, I already have a pretty fit body and have no need for the extra exercise.

I sit down in the lotus position and first try to sense the spiritual energy in the air and after a few minutes I manage to sense blue particle like things flowing like a stream in the air but I can tell it feels a bit scarce, I'm not really sure then I remember that according to the anime there is scarce spiritual energy in the human world unlike soul society and hueco mundo.

But leaving that I return to trying to restrain my spiritual energy yet no matter how I try I cannot completely restrain my spiritual energy, I can only reduce the amount of spiritual energy leaking from my soul.

When I finally open my eyes it's dark outside, it seems that took a lot more time than I thought as I stand up and stretch as my body feels a bit stiff after sitting in the lotus position for a few hours.

I decide that since I can't completely restrain my spiritual energy I should change hiding positions after a while.

As I'm thinking that I hear sounds coming from outside the abandoned building I was camping in(no pun intended). I immediately went into high alert and sneakily move towards my escape route that I already prepared for this situation.

I was halfway there when suddenly the footsteps quickened and and suddenly an hollow burst through a wall and caught a glimpse of me.

I didn't need a reminder to start running as fast as I could down the already planned escape route all the while pushing down as many things as I could to obstruct the monster coming after my ass.

After putting a bit of distance between us I decided to take the high ground and I quickly made my way to the roof of one of the houses with some well placed jumps. I quickly made my way forward by continuously jumping across rooftops.

It was then I caught a glimpse of some shinigamis that seemed to be patrolling the town so I decided to make my way towards them with the hollow still on my tail. I made sure that they noticed the hollow before changing directions once again and then quickly making my way out of sight so that the hollow and the shinigamis could fight.

Just a few seconds after hiding from view of both the hollow and the soul reapers I felt a strong pain coming from my chest even while I was still out of breath from all the running. It seemed the soul chain finally began eroding.

I quickly tried to cover my mouth to make sure I don't let out a scream of pain but then I noticed I was dealing with the pain pretty well with no indication of a scream coming from me anytime soon.

I never thought a day would come when I'm running from people who want to send me to the afterlife literally.

There's also the fact that I had a strong sense of deja vu from running from the hollow and also from coping with the terrible pain from the soul chain erosion.

What in heaven's mercy did the past me use to do.