“Ugh… Where am I?” As I opened my eyes, I saw nothing but black. “Great, am I dead again?”

“Are you just going to lie there? We need to talk.” A second, distorted voice rang out. As my vision cleared, I noticed stars whirling above me, as if hours of night were passing in mere seconds.

“No, but maybe I hit my head. My vision is foggy. Think it cleared, but everything is moving too fast.” I sat up… And saw myself. My human self, but he was different. His skin was bone white, and his eyes were like my hollow form’s eyes. “So, I take it you are my inner hollow? Here to fight while giving me a lecture on instinct, or an analogy about kings and horses?” I got to my feet, and prepped for battle.

“No, not this time. I know you are in charge here, and were I to devour you, we would both die. And the world out there needs us, or at least you. Me, I’m just here for the fun. But your idiocy nearly got us killed. If I hadn’t given you that defense form, you would have given your life for that pathetically stupid little horse.” My hollow said, narrowing his eyes.

“Don’t insult her again. She isn’t stupid, just young, and inexperienced. And if you call her, or ANY of them, a horse again, you’ll never live to regret it.” I got in a fighting stance, instinctively reaching for my chain. Oddly enough, not only was it there, but it had changed. Now the links were bone white, and weightless in my hand, but it was only five feet long. ‘Damn it. I’m used to fighting with a twenty foot chain.’ Suddenly it grew to nearly five times it’s length, and began writhing at my will. ‘Whoa, cool. Back to the issue at hand.’

“Okay… I see how calling her stupid is an insult, but calling her a horse? She’s an equine.” His face displayed confusion, but not intimidation.

“She’s a pony of Equestria, and to them, calling a pony a horse is akin to calling a woman a whore. How do you not know this?”

“I only know some things. Not everything. I never fully formed as you passed through that dimension, thus I still have some morals, loose, yet rigid, and I don’t know everything you know. It also results in what we need to talk about, and time is of the essence here. I don’t know how fast or slow time in here is passing in relation to the “Real World” out there, so could we please move on?”

“Fine, just remember, small things I’ll let pass, but now that you know what “horse” means here, don’t use it again when uncalled for.” I willed my chain to hover around me in a halo over my head, just to try, and it worked.

“Well, first off, introductions. I am Etnad. I already know your name, but you must know mine. If you need to speak with me, just close your eyes, and call my name. Take a moment to survey that which surrounds you, because after a while, you’ll master this realm, and be able to return at will, just by willing yourself to appear here.” As I did as he asked, I saw that even though the stars were whirling fast, the moon wasn’t moving fast. There was not a cloud in sight, nothing to mar the deeply scarred moon, which was full. It may well have not been moving at all. I was sitting in a valley, with mountains to all sides, about five miles off. How I knew this, I really don’t know, I just did. I saw no life, but there were streams running from the mountains, falling into a large hole just a couple hundred yards away, in the center of the valley. The ground was hard pack soil, rocks, and sand. The ground was a dark grey, almost black, but not quite, allowing me to tell where stone, sand, and dirt were separated. The water was too far away to see into.

“So, now that you have done that, this is your inner world, or rather, inner universe, as yours is bigger than most, it seems. This place is where you should come for introspection. It will be clarified here, where mind and soul are closest. You may also unlock your power further here, with less time taken, but be warned, unless done in hollow form at full power, it may not make you physically different, as in strength, endurance, and the like. This brings me to my next point, our power. Our power is intrinsically intertwined, the same, yet separate, in that our power grows at the same rate, making me weaker than you, but not by much. How they are separate, is that your power, your magic, can be used without draining my power, and vise-versa, when used in a pure state. You have a fair amount of power, and the mind to handle it. About our-“

“Hang on, hang on,” I interrupted, “I have a few questions. Aren’t you my soul? Our power is connected? And what does my mind change about it?”

As I spoke, Etnad narrowed his eyes, giving a gruff grunt. “Just save the questions for the end. Time is short. After what happened you will likely be awoken abruptly. As I was saying, our powers are different from one another in a few ways. Your power, from what I have gleaned when I could, is not dissimilar from the power of a Soul Reaper. This gives you a… Soul Weapon, I guess you could call it.” As he was about to continue, I had to interrupt again.

“Zanpakutō.” I said. “It’s called a Zanpakutō. I know I wasn’t supposed to interrupt, but I know how fast I latch onto dubs like that. I would assume you are the same, or at least similar.” I sat down as his face went from scowl, to confusion, and finally acceptance.

“Very well. Anyway, my power can be used in three states. Hollowfication, in which you form a mask, and some abilities, but otherwise are unchanged, Hollowization in a lesser state, in which you have the forms and abilities of your full hollow forms, but at a lesser power, and full Hollowization, which is simply full power. I was running off of some strange distortion before, and though my power was running thin, you were not turning back for a few days. Now, though, I don’t know how long it could last. Less than a day, of that much, I am certain, same for Hollowfication. You can still Hollowfy, but your limit is about seven minutes. Use these at your discretion. Hollowfication uses the least power to form, but cannot be held for long, as it hemorrhages power, thus, in situations like this, when threatened, it is best. Lesser Hollowization, when I am fully recovered, I can hold permanently. It’s best for a fast response. It works like this. Your Hollow forms are like a faucet and barrel full of water. Lesser Hollowization is like turning the faucet halfway on, but Full Hollowization is full blast. Hollowfication, on the other hand, is like unscrewing the faucet all together. I can refill the barrel to compensate for Lesser, but not Full, or Hollowfication. Okay, now I’m done with that. Any questions?”

“Yes, one. Why are you telling me all this?”

“To keep you, and therefore me, alive.”

“Okay, next. What’s that star doing?” I asked, looking up.

As Etnad looked at one particular star, still in the sky, and getting bigger and brighter, he answered, “I have no idea, but it burns. I have to retreat for now. Try talking to your Zanpakutō. See if you can manifest him outside.” With that, he jumped in the hole.

I turned my eyes back to the night sky, seeing it was now more along the lines of twilight, just before dawn, as the star had grown into a small sun. I stood up, thinking this might be bad. Once it reached the size of the sun fully, it stopped and simply hung there. ‘Okay… Maybe this is Celestia?” I began to feel a… pressure, I suppose, in my mind, like something that shouldn’t be there, was.

“All right. I don’t know who you are, but I can feel you. I’ve dealt with telepaths before, so why don’t you make this easy and come forward. If I have to pull you here, it’ll hurt you unimaginably and may even kill you.” I yelled, trying to coax them out. It half worked, as the pressure suddenly left. ‘Okay, why did they… Oh. Level Seven. Wow, sucks to be them, they hit a trap card. Still glad all those years of playing that card game paid off.’

“Well, now that that light is gone, I have to ask, what did you do?” Etnad asked, coming out of the hole.

“Well, you know how my mind is layered, right?”

“Nope. I haven’t ventured out of your soulscape.” He answered.

“Ah, well then. When I was little, something terrible happened, and it caused me to layer my mind, so I could shove what I couldn’t deal with into a specific layer. I built nine layers, nine rings, in my mind. Ironic, given my name. Anyway, after I had dealt with my problems, my mind was still layered. This allowed me to meditate, and traverse my own mindscape. One day, I got hit by a car, and although I was mostly, by some miracle, uninjured, I had hit my head hard enough that a certain cluster of neurons fired wrong, causing me to slip into a coma while my brain healed. This gave me months to wander my mindscape. While I did, I ended up setting the whole thing up based on influences from my younger life. On layer Seven, the city of Dis, I used an old card game as inspiration. I laid down blank cards, monster, spell, and trap cards, all face down. All the trap cards activate no matter what when stepped on, but the spell cards require me to will them to activate, and any invaders can do the same. The monster cards always try to activate when trodden on, but the more powerful monsters will burn out the monster cards around them to summon, at least until the one they must fight is thrown out of my mindscape. The invader, whoever it was, hit a trap card. They stepped on “Expel” and were blasted out of my head. I imagine they have one hell of a headache.”

“Sounds like a good area to practice in.” Etnad looked at me, as if sizing me up. “Wouldn’t have figured you would have made your mind so complex.”

“Yeah, yeah, Now, explain something to me. We were in Heuco Mundo for a long, long time. How are you not fully formed?”

“Simple, really. Time wasn’t progressing the same. Since we were tethered to this world, we basically were progressing at it’s speed, even though Heuco Mundo was progressing faster. Or at least, that’s my theory.” He said, before giving a sigh. “Anyway, there is something else you should know. That Behir form, as you called it, was a temporary reaction. You can’t sustain it for long, but you can get it back. It will be available, but you can only use it for a few minutes, as it acts like Hollowfication.”

“Got it. So, when am I getting out of here?” I asked, with a sigh of my own.

“No idea, but I need to rest. See ya.” With that, Etnad simply faded away.

“Well, my Zanpakutō, it’s just you and me. Let’s talk.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~What felt like five hours later:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“ARGH! I’ve tried everything and you still won’t speak!” As I yelled, I grabbed my Zanpakutō, who I had hovering in front of me, and heard something…

“I’ve been trying to talk! Listen ya damn git!”

“Wait, what?” I looked around for my Zanpakutō, but saw nothing. Just the chain in my hand, and the desert.

“Finally listening? It’s about fucking time!”

“Fine, fine. What is your name?”

“Fury. At least you hear me now, even if you can’t hear my name.”

“Actually, I heard it fine. Your name is Fury. I wanna try something, because I may know why I couldn’t hear you.” I said, wondering if it might be the case.

“Alright, but try not to break me, or I will return the favor a thousand fold.”

I let go, saying “Try talking to me. In a few seconds I’m going to grab you again and we’ll try it again.”

I stared intently at Fury, but could not hear anything. After a minute had passed, it was time for part two. As I took hold of my weapon again, I could suddenly hear the string of rather… imaginative… expletives.

“Holy shit man, calm down!” I yelled, blushing like mad at what he just said about me and Twilight Sparkle. “Jeez, how would a pony even do that, and what would it have to do with a banana and hose?!?”

As he whispered it straight into my mind, I couldn’t help but become horrified… Because he was sending images, too.

I shuddered violently at the thought. “Sorry I asked…”

Clearing my mind, I began to wonder a few things, but they simply had to wait a moment. “So, I can only hear you when I’m in direct contact with you. So, how do I manifest you in the real world?”

“Depends. What’s real and what ain’t, kid? The characters in a book all think they’re real. Every possibility exists somewhere, but I know what ya mean.” He said, coiling around my arm. “Take a seat on a comfy patch of dirt or rock and grab a beer. This is gonna be a hell of a long story, kid. First, ya gotta clear your mind. Then, start by…”

Author's Note

Edited by me. Finished it like, five minutes after Fimfiction went down. Anyone willing to work as an editor, for free, mind you, as I can't pay you money I don't have, go ahead and send me a PM. Let me know what y'all think.