Consolidation (solo)

The concept of time is non-existent in the endless desert of Hueco Mundo. Eternal darkness and endless sands; a desolate place for anyone to live.Therein lay the rub; while it was impossible to live in such a place, many things survived. Monsters lurked over over other dune and swooped down from the sky to prey on the weak. Survival of the fittest was the only rule to follow. The strong eat, the weak were just meat. This balance was broken as a menos emerged from beneath the sand. It exploded out of the ocean of white sand with a roar that shook the air. Normally the large hollows lived deep underground away from even the pale moon that hung in the sky. It's ashen hand grasped the ground as it pulled itself free of the hole it had made clawing it's way to the surface. But why had it come here? What had compelled it to make such a s journey? It could not answer that question, no more than it could explain the voices that pushed it to such lengths. Even now the whispering assailed him. The massive hands reached up to grab the sides of it's temples. It screamed and as it's own spiritual pressure blanketed the area. Any hollow that had missed it's earlier roar had no problem feeling it's energy flood forth. The intensity grew as the whispering continued. It was a multitude of voices overlapping. There was no way to distinguish what any of the were saying. It was impossible to think with the constant noise. Think? It had been having thoughts. Simple thoughts it wasn't a lumbering mass of power like the others, it had hunted and killed many of it's own. Each kill became easier than the last. Until the most recent kill

7 hours ago

The half eaten corpses of a menos grande had slowly began to dissolve as Stratus began eating the second. His mouth was still full of tainted flesh as he bent to take a bite out of the creature. The surge of power hadn't subsided from the first large hollow, he started on the next one so that it wouldn't fade. He was addicted to the feeling it gave him, but at the same time he was addicted to the joy of killing as well. After hunting a pack of gillian not too long ago the voice had been silent. Similarly he also had been silent. Whatever had triggered speech that time was gone and forgotten. Was he eating now to only to get that feeling back, to fill that void he felt in the absence of it? So he ate. There was nothing else for him to do, but eat. After three bites he a new sensation replaced the one expected; a burning feeling that began to push the euphoria away. It took another bite, chewed then swallowed, but the burning only increased. Instantly is spat out what was left in the it's mouth. Was there something different about this hollow? Even thought it had expelled the food from it's mouth the burning grew stronger. Shuffling backwards it stared at the mutilated corpse. It could suddenly hear a low hiss. At first it wasn't sure it was hearing anything until another hiss joined it at slightly higher octave. The fire burning in it's veins intensified by the second, it made his skin crawl, subconsciously it began to rub it's arm. But it didn't help things at all. A grunt of discomfort escaped it's lips as another his joined the duet and burning grew more painful. A surge rushed to it's brain and large beast nearly fell over from the shock. The burning beneath it's skin was one thing, but as hit his mind directly the pain was more pronounced. Being the central processing unit of the body, once it was hit the rest of the body was paralyzed for that moment. When that moment passed it felt something tug within. Still woozy from the strange seizure the creature staggered slightly. Disorientated it looked around at if looking for something, but there was nothing to see. The burning had subsided, but the hissing now was replaced with soft whispering. Perhaps it was whispering all along, but was too fast to make sense of. But even now anyone would be hard pressed to figure out what they were saying or trying to say.

He moved west, in reference to his last position, unsure why it had chosen that direction. It moved fast, pushing itself to cover the rocky ground quickly. At the same time it didn't understand why it had to rush, just that it had to hurry to get where it needed to go. But where that was the question. Before any thought could be given to the matter it had reached at large wall. With only the smallest of hesitation it raised it's hand punched it into the wall. The other hand was quick to follow, with two secure handholds it pulled itself upward. Once it had left the ground it kicked it's feet into the wall to reached higher with it's hands again. The process repeated itself as it scaled the sheer wall with ease by forcing it's claws into the stone and dragging it's body across the rough stone. It was quite the odd sight to anyone watching, it wasn't just someone scaling the impossibly large wall, it was a menos grande doing it. In moments the large beast's form was lost in the shadows as it moved higher and higher. Another spasm hit it as it climbed causing it's arms to falter. Thankfully it's hands were punched deep in the stone at the time otherwise it would have fell. The ground was no longer visible even for the tall creature it was quite a ways down. Could it survive such a fall? That much anyone could guess, but it was unlikely it wouldn't walk away from it unharmed. The climbing seemed it would be coming to an abrupt stop as a stone was directly above it's head. Even as it came closer to the stone ceiling it reached the cliff edge of the wall. It was impossible for it whole body to fit on the edge, but that didn't keep him from trying. Only half of the massive body was in the cave like area. The claws tore into the stone with ease as it made it's own path through. The whispering had increased as if to urge him on. It couldn't stop, it had to keep going.

Back to the present

The whispers had grown too loud. So loud that it was deafening, like there was a football stadium filled with people speaking quickly and in tongues. The burning sensation from before returned even stronger than before. The burst of energy from it's body pushed the sand in every direction around him causing a sand storm. A new pain raced through it's hand. When it looked down at the limb it's fingers were bulging. It's skin was bubbling like boiling water. His hands weren't the only ones. Randomly multiple swelling was occurring all over it's body. Big lumps appeared on it's legs, small ones across it's body, even larger ones on it's arms. There were no words to express the feeling it filled him with. Pain and agony didn't do his current state any justice. He wanted to scream, but his throat started to swell making whatever sound it could make sound like guttural growl. Then the swelling hit his mask, it was like a explosion went off inside it's brain and the reiatsu caused the sands swirl around him faster and faster. Everything started to swell now as if someone had plugged the hollow into an air compressor and left the machine running. Soon there was nothing but a nearly shapeless mass of black with streaks of white. A crack appeared suddenly on the top of the mass as if an egg shell cracking a green light radiated forth. Another such crack appeared on the side, and then another across the middle. In a matter of seconds the pulsating mass was covered in cracks and green light bathed the area as the winds got stronger. A vortex of sand and wind enshrined the strange growth. Then everything went nova as the mass exploded forth with unbridled energy.

A green tinted mushroom cloud formed over the spot of the large explosion. Sand rained down from the sky for miles around the ground zero. In the hour the followed the dust slowly cleared to reveal a huge cluster of emerald gemstone in the area that the monster once existed. The cluster glowed brightly on the white sands and cast it's light for several minutes until it all faded away. With the light gone a dark shape could be seen in the center of the mass. The emerald was cradling the body holding it off the ground. For a moment it looked like part of a statue until the figure moved it's arms moved. It was human in appearance, but the bone like growth over it's form said otherwise. Needless to say something so small to be present in the aftermath of such an explosion couldn't possibly be human. As the creature moved the emerald fell away from him and he stepped onto the sand fused into the glass with a crunch. As if on cue all the emerald shattered like glass. The shards hit off one another sounding like a chime on a windy day.



"Such noise." he muttered and raised his hands to the sides of his head. The ringing stopped and he lowered his hands and looked around. White as far as he could see. "What the hell am I doing up here?" Stratus asked, knowing there was no one to answer him. He took no notice to the change that had happened. Instead he opened his senses, and felt the energies around him. Had they always felt this small before? Had something happened? Without a word he headed toward would should be an entrance to the underground.