The Hollow of Karakura Town
By: Eric Spicer
In the country of Japan, there is a small town known as Karakura. Here a teenager lives detached from the world outside of his “house”. His name is Getsuga Kurosaki; he is 17 with pure white hair and skin. His “house” is actually a containment cell made specifically to keep him from escaping. Outside the door stand two strangely dressed men holding large halberds, a staff with an axe head at the end. If you’re wondering what he’s doing here, allow me to explain. Getsuga is a highly dangerous creature that devours human souls; pretty whacky right? He is what is known as a Hollow, or a corrupted soul, when the spirit of a person who has died. A chain, known as the Chain of Fate, protrudes from the chest and binds the spirit to a location, object or person that they felt close to in life. The soul can move about freely if the chain is broken, but this also causes the chain to corrode. Normally, spirits are sent to Soul Society, the place souls go after death, by Shinigami in a ritual called Konsō, or Soul Burial, where the Shinigami uses the bottom end of the hilt of the Zanpakutō, specialized swords, tapping the soul on the head and transporting them to the afterlife, before this corrosion becomes significant. If the Chain of Fate is corroded entirely before a soul burial can be performed, a Hollow hole will form in the chest of the soul where the chain was once anchored. Such souls are driven mad and become evil ghosts known as Hollows. A Hollow can be in a form like a monster or have the likeness of a human. If the Chain of Fate is torn out deliberately, this hastens the process.
One day the guard that brought Getsuga lunch forgot to lock the cell when he left. When none of the guards were watching he slipped out and ran as fast as he could using a technique called Sonído which allows him to move at a speed faster than sound. When he was a mile away from the building he’d been kept in for years, he ran...