The World Itself

-I killed someone, and as I don't see their soul floating around, I'm pretty sure they're gone for good. Sure, I had killed hollows before, but they weren't really aware and I was only somewhat better. This was different, or at least it should have been different. I wanted to hate myself. I wanted to struggle, to cry, and to try and justify what I had done, but instead I just felt sort of numb. There wasn't any heartrending guilt, there wasn't any regret. There was just an empty feeling, a hunger that gnawed away at me as I realized that I kind of wanted more. I tried to push this troubling feeling down as I sniffed the air and noticed that the other strawberry was quickly approaching. I tried to get my feet under me, but having two of them took time to get used to, time that I didn't have. As I was trying to scamper away on my arms and legs, I looked up and saw a man looking at the area in confusion. As I make eye contact with him, I can almost see the gears turning in his head before I hear a shout, "What the heck is going on here?"

Before I can skuttle any further, the man appears in front of me and he begins to barrage me with questions. How can you see me? Where did my subordinate go? Where did the hollow go? What the heck are you? "

'I... I don't know.'

'"What do you mean you don't know?"

'I don't know, I don't know anything. Please just leave me alone.'

As the man pulled out his sword, I stepped back, but before I could react, I felt something touching my head. As I looked up, I saw the hilt of his sword gently pressed against my forehead.

"Well, that confirms it. You're not some weird sort of plus. You're obviously not a hollow, but you don't seem to be quite human either. It's frustrating, but I'll have to go back to the soul society and report my subordinate as missing. "

I try to sneak away on all fours, but before I can get away, I feel myself lifted into the air as the man picks me up and begins to carry me.

"You're coming with me. I can't leave something as strange as you just wandering around in the realm of the living unattended."

As I am held in the embrace of this strange man, the overwhelming scent of strawberries is beginning to make me hungry. I try to ignore it, but while my hunger isn't as overwhelming as before, I still can't stop the loud grumbling from filling the air.

"So you get hungry huh, now that I look you do seem to have some spiritual pressure, could you be some sort of soul reaper?"

'A Soul Reaper?'

"You know, like me, do you have a Zanpakuto?"

As I sat there remembering what had happened previously, my arm fell down to my waist. Hanging off of my hip was a sheath, and sitting inside was the sword of the man who I had killed. Hesitantly, I brought it out, and the man looked at me and nodded in confirmation.

"Alright, I think I know what happened now."

I struggle, trying to escape before the man figures out the truth of what has happened, but his grip is like iron.

"You must be a trainee who got lost and ended up in the wrong district. Your spiritual pressure has faint hints of hollow, so you were likely attacked by a hollow, and my subordinate must have died while protecting you. That's his sword, isn't it? Not to mention, I felt his presence disappear close to where I found you. "

Before I could respond, my stomach grew louder and louder.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I'll get you something to eat, but after that you're going back to the soul society to get whatever is left of that hollow out of you. "

The ground beneath us disappeared, the world moving by so fast that I could barely even make out a blur. Before I knew it, I was sitting down at a table with a skewer of meat in my right hand. I tore a bite out of it, and surprisingly, I could actually taste it. The spiciness of the peppers, the salt and the savory juices of the meat intermingled in my mouth, and for the first time in a long while I was genuinely happy. I had assumed that the food of the living couldn't be eaten by the dead, but whatever I was didn't seem to quite follow that rule. As I happily ate away, one skewer turned to two, and two skewers turned to four. As I happily ate away, I began to realize that while my mouth was satiated, my hunger hadn't diminished in the slightest. Slightly depressed, I let the last skewer fall to the ground and the man stared at me.

"Jeez, and you were so happy just a moment ago. Did you eat too much food and give yourself a stomach ache?"

'Sure.'

I replied, no longer in the same pleasant mood.

The man sat there for a moment before picking me up and pulling out his zanpakuto. He stabbed his zanpakuto into the air, and before my very eyes, a door appeared. From the hilt of his Zanpakuto, a black butterfly flew off into the tunnel that had opened up in front of me. He carried me into the gate, but the moment I entered, I found myself sitting down on the ground. The world around me was dark, and there was a purple substance flowing that my instincts screamed at me to avoid. Not seeing the entrance or the man that had brought me here, I decided to press onwards. As I walked through this dark, purple colored world, I tried to sniff the air, but the only result was the overwhelming stench of death and decay choking me. The purple sludge flowing off of the walls was thick with the scent, and I shivered as I quickened my pace. As I walked, I felt a slight rumble coming from behind me, growing stronger and stronger. As I turned to look behind me, I saw it, A blinding yellow light charging towards me at full speed. I ran, but no matter how fast I was, it was faster. In an act of desperation, I turned around and pulled out my zanpakuto. With everything I could muster, I slashed down at the beast, and a void opened up in front of me. Before the thick sludge flowing from the creature could reach me, I fell into this void and began to float.

I couldn't tell how long I fell, or even if I was still falling. Time and space had no meaning in a world where there was only darkness and never ending waves of pressure. As I floated through, the pressure tried to squish me and tear me apart until I finally sensed a smell. It was faint and distant, so distant I thought it may have been a dream, but still I desperately crawled towards it on all fours like an animal.

As I awoke, I found myself in a desolate landscape. There wasn't a single person, not a single soul, but as I sniffed the air I could tell that there were countless thousands of them surrounding me. Trusting my nose, I called out

'I know you're out there. Come out and face me!'

but no one came. I spent days climbing up and down the mountainous terrain, poking my head into every nook and cranny, but no matter how I screamed...

-No one came.

In frustration, I yelled out and kicked a boulder, but to my shock, my foot passed right through it. Suddenly, my hunger began to dim, and I watched as the previously solid boulder disintegrated into particles that flew towards me. In horror, I finally understood that I truly was the only soul in this world, as the other souls were the world itself.