The Band of Thr33(R, NDE, Medium-Hard)

Cierro was not thinking right though of course he probably had never been in a jungle for. If he at least knew what a jungle was, or thought about it for a moment, he would have realized the dangers that could await in a jungle. Various man eating animals could be laying in the shadows, awaiting for their prey to show up. Cierro did indeed have the speed to be unseen by such animals as he was warning, but, there was one other danger he had not taken into account for; the jungle itself. This was introduced after five minutes of running, his movements had come into a complete half, as he would run up to a massive stone wall that blocked his path completely. Either side of the jungle was too dense to travel through and even if he did find a way to clear the sections of the jungle, there wall continued on from there. It was neverending! Cierro of course had just come across part of the old civilization that used to live here, the Quen, whom the legend stated the gods wiped out as a punishment for their greed. Surely by now a wall like this would be in ruin, but this was not the case, it was in perfect condition.

All was explained as Cierro would pick up a slight reading from the wall; an energy signature. Reiatsu. That was indeed a strange thing to pick up on, no human could have come across this it would seem. The rocks had been infused with reiatsu, conditioning and preserving the rock so it did not crumble. But why, the legend had stated that these were normal humans...right? No, it was not exactly specific on whatever or not the humans were exactly normal or not, only that they had worshiped the gods. By now, Cierro would be staring at the wall, thinking of a way to try and get around it when suddenly, the wall began to shift. A pattern began to form as various sections of the wall sank inward, soon showing a message on the wall. "When two beings have the exact same amount of power and cunning, which defining factor brings one out on top?" A question, simple as that. Was the wall itself asking Cierro this question or was there another force behind all of this. For now, Cierro would have to think and come up with an answer to this if he wanted to continue.

OOC: OK, Jason, removed the fog part. Don´t bother explaining it. Also, don´t call me Magnus. Call me Baja, like everyone else.

Another Garganta opened to the south, not far from the temple, and Magnus stepped out of it. He was bloody shocked by the fact that he was in the middle of the jungle! You see, Magnus was on his way to NY, hoping to get his hands on some medical, uncut cocaine. Unfortunately, it seemed that he got lost. Again. He thought: Where the fuck I am? Where is NY? Shit, who the fuck removed the whole fucking New York and swapped with the bloody jungle?! Yup, he had no idea where he was. For that reason, Magnus decided to look around a bit. However, when he tried to search for Reiatsu, hoping that there will be some, and that it´s owner could direct him to New York; Magnus found out there were none. Damn it, why is everybody hiding from me? I´m a good guy, all I want is some directions.

That was the moment when he became aware of the fog few feet away from him, and Magnus approached it. He touched it, but there was nothing remaining in his hand. That was odd. The other fog the tried to catch, once, he could catch. But, since it was Magnus he couldn´t care less. Perhaps this bloody jungle is inhabited by somebody. Well, I should better start searching for somebody in the old fashioned way. He looked around, but, because he was surrounded with the jungle, he could not see a thing. He looked up, and that´s when he saw a temple. What the... How big this old shit is? It looks like some kind of ruins. Hell, perhaps there are people inside who could direct me to NY. Well if not, at least that bunch of stone crap is high enough to give me decent view, so I can find NY myself. After deciding on that, Magnus went straight into the fog, towards the temple. Poor Magnus. He thought that he was bit off from New York, where he was headed. He had no idea that the New York was across the world in America, and that he was in Africa, in the the middle of the God-knows-where jungle.

The wall gave no signs of changing with Cierro's answer, the riddle simple stayed visible. Well there was good news and bad news. The good news was that, even though Cierro had gotten the answer wrong, there was no evidence of a trap or an enemy to attack the male. The bad news, he had to think and guess again if he wanted to pass. "Close.." A deep, hoarse voice suddenly stated from seemingly out of nowhere. Literally. The voice had seemed to be heard right behind the male arrancar, but if he turned and looked, there was nothing. Not a single trace of human life, nor were any of the plants or wildlife disturbed. Quite strange, who did that voice belong to then? Perhaps Cierro would find out in the near future... Anyway, it looked like the voice had gave Cierro a hint. His answer had been close if he simply thought of something similar to senses, then he would no doubt have the correct answer. For now, that is what he would have to do to pass the wall and see what laid beyond it.

Meanwhile, Magnus's appearance, would be created with a different sight then he had stated. When he had tried to appear by the fog, he could feel a sudden surge of a cold came over him and he felt himself forced out of position, being redirected somewhere. The hell was that? It was as if the fog had rejected him completely from being close to it using a garganta. Quite bizarre but that was the case, Magnus had just learned the fog did not allow such techniques to be used within close to a mile distance from it. Magnus would now be in a heavily enclosed area of the jungle, a single path leading back to where he had tried to appear visible for him to take. Magnus would have to do this if he wanted to reach the fog and find the temple before the other two had a chance. Magnus's area was completely shaded, enveloping the distant sides of the paths in darkness, giving him no visibility of them. The canopy above was very much the same, only a few, thread like, beams of light breaking through and providing Magnus visibility of the forward path.

After several minutes of walking, Magnus would suddenly notice something strange. Of course, by now, he would be looking forward and no doubt would see something stick out from below him. Was it something involving Magnus physically? No, it wasn't, he was still the same shape and whatnot as always. However, he would notice his shadow did that look right. It was as if...if... something was overlapping it, coming from above! Magnus would be able to see this and react accordingly, whatever or not it was with a dodge or a defensive attack of some kind. He had about a second and a half, until a large, 8x8 sized, circular web came speeding down onto him and enveloped his body, sticking to his clothing and forcing him ot the ground. The webbing looked no different then any other spider's web, besides its size, currently. Suddenly, an eight legged figure dropped down onto the spot infront of Magnus's current position. It turned out to be a large hollow, one in the shape of a camel spider. It unleashed a sickening hiss, a eerie, purple smog escaping from its concealed both, a couple of pairs of curved fangs that continuous shifted around. The thing was huge! About four times the size of the arrancar and it was a dark crimson red and white color. Its fangs fully opened up in a flare of movement, spewing from its mouth, this time, another large web coated in the purple smog substance that was coming from its mouth, a purple liquid also coating the web in which the smog was rising from.

As this was occurring in Magnus's area, Arrion would have an advantage over all three of them. He was a gillian afterall, now, and he towered over the jungle. From his position, he could see the thick, heavy, fog only a mile away, no problem for him due to his size. His steps no doubt covered a large amount of distance, easily ten meters at least. However, Arrion's size had naturally attracted the attention of something. Why was this? Because a giant hunched figure, in which Arrion would mistake as another part of the jungle. The creature was in equal height to the gillian and was probably ten feet wider then him. The creature basically looked like a giant ape of some kind, large tusks protruding upward from its bottom jaw. It's entire back was covered in vegetation and trees, making it seem like it was just another part of the jungle. It's house sized fists rested against the ground as it stared unblinkingly at the gillian, the black fur on it's face covering most of its expression. Another hollow? No, something was different, it could not be a hollow. This thing, it was a Hason.

That didn't make sense, why was a creature of hell and a hollow doing in the area? Could there be more to the legend then what was known? Legends were not always based on fact and normally just told a moral story. But maybe this one actually had something more to it, something that was related to the current spiritual beings that were here. In any case, Arrion looked to be in trouble. He would have no idea what this Hason was, besides it being an enemy. The Hason's chest suddenly puffed out and returned to normal as it opened its mouth, a tongue fitting the giant suddenly propelled out, extending out to strike Arrion in the torso. The tongue was a puke green color, highly unpleasing and as it drew closer, it reeked. Something was not right about the tonuge, the color and stench clearly showed this. Arrion had to act in a gillian fashion against this thing or else, he was going to be in trouble.

Magnus was not walking good as he planed. His lace was unstrapped, so he knelt to fix that. That is when he noticed it. His shadow. Something was wrong with it. Naturally, that meant that something above Magnus. But he never thought about it. He went on with his instincts. The instant he saw the shadow of the web, his instincts told him that he need to dodge, and so he did that. Magnus was kneeling already, so he just rolled his ass out of the web´s way. Then Magnus stood up, his head working as fast as it could.

What the fuck was that? Whatever it is, it could have killed me for sure. What the fuck happened with good ol´ NY? Damn it... That was the moment Magnus spotted it. Big, nasty, ugly, eight-legged spider Hollow. Hell, that shit looks ugly. Better get outta the way. Magnus leapt off the ground in an instant, jumping high. He passed through the treetops, getting some minor damage on his clothes, but getting high, and then he condensed Reiatsu under his feet so he cold stand, and at the same time, drawing his Zanpakutou. Well, at least i can play with that ugly, oversized spider. Hell, perhaps I can even eat him as those Indians did. Magnus watched something like that on TV. Indians eating spiders was labeled as cool in Magnus´s head, and he wanted tto do the same, so he could be cool too.

When Cierro gave the answer, the stones of the wall unleashed a load, splitting sound as dozens of cracks formed in it. Bingo, Cierro had stated the right answer this time and the wall was seemingly crumbling! Several seconds passed, the cracks on the wall expanding and expanding, until they reached the very ends of the visible parts of the wall and suddenly, it crumbed to the ground, tossing a cloud of dust up into the area. Now, in replace of the wall, the outline of a figure stood just beyond the wreckage of the wall. "I expected a normal Arrancar of Hueco Mundo to answer such a question. That tells me one thing." The hoarse, male, voice sounded from the figure, approaching Cierro and stood onto of the debris of the male. The dust was then blown away with an swift, powerful, rush of reiatsu expelling from the figure, clearing the area and showing his features. He appeared to be in his 60's, age visible on his dark skinned face with several wrinkles on his forehead and a few on his cheekbones, wielding a gnarled staff in which the top from into a circularly shape made out of a dozen smaller circles. The male had a black walrus mustache on his upper lip, thick black eyebrows but he did not have a single hair on the top of his head. The fur pelt of a panther was draped down over his shoulders, covering most of his torso but revealed the middle of it to be quite muscular, showing the man to be in highly excellent shape, above an athletic status. As for his lower body, his feet were completely bare and wore a pair of makeshift, tanned, leather pants.
"You are not accustom to fighting, but yet to venture so far from home, you must have the strength to survive independently, therefore you are one of the Espada, you do not have to confirm or deny this to me, young one." The older arrancar stated, leaning slightly on the staff that he wielded in his left hand. Wait, so this guy knew all about the arrancar and even the Espada? How was that possible though?

"My name is Kofi, and if you are here, no doubt you have been sent to investigate the temple. If you wish to enter it, I will guide you to it and explain what is really occurring here. My other two colleagues were made aware of two other presences in the area, hollow signatures but I chose to contact you because you displayed no indications to them of what you are." Kofi told him, then lifted his staff and slammed the end of it against the debris, a channel of reiatsu flowing into it and blowing the wall debris into either side of the jungle, the male landing on the ground easily and turned. Whoa, this was just getting strange, what was going on around here!?!?! If Kofi was what he said he was, then the entire tribe of Quen were arrancars too. Could it be that the legend that Cierro and Magnus had heard of was just a human fable and that hollows had a hand in this? Cierro had already been reassured that the truth would be told to him, if he followed Kofi through into the fog, in which only took a few minutes of walking to reach. "My people, the Quen, were one of the first African arrancars to be created in this region. We lived under the rule of a single arrancar, named Trydamere Swain. He was not only the largest of our Kin but he was the most powerful." Kofi began telling Cierro, as the two of them advanced through the fog. "Trydamere, along with the two that served as his left and right hand, forced my people to capture and sacrifice hollows to him, even some of my fellow arrancars were given up to appease him. However, my two fellow colleagues and I, inspired our arrancar to revolt and fight against the three that suppressed use, sparking a battle so large that it shaped the jungle landscape into what it is now. We had created several artifacts to combat the three rulers but most were destroyed or lost in the conflict. We had managed to surpass Trydamere and the three, forcing them into an artifact in which we named The Tain. The cost of this was removing the arrancar clan from existence, the creation of this fog and being trapped here." Whoa, now that was confusing, though it made partial sense. The world back then was way different then the current world that Cierro lives in now.

Kofi suddenly came to a halt, holding up his free hand to signal Cierro to stop. "We have company... guard yourself, young one." Kofi growled, closing the hand that he lifted as it glew a flaring, grey, reiatsu. He opened his hand, spreading his fingers wide as Cierro would see a dome of reiatsu flar from his hand and around them, driving the majority of the fog away from them within a seven meter radius. The outline of several, four legged, figures could be seen moving around the fog, circling the two arrancar. "Hollows, no doubt, serving under Trydamere. He has been able to infect the living animals of the area and corrupt them into hollows to serve him." Kofi stated, gripping the middle of the staff he wielded and spun it around with one hand, positioning it behind his back. Three of the figures came out of the fog, revealing them to be in the shape of panthers. However, these had visibly no hair whats so ever, a pattern of white and violet colors scattered across their skin as they growled fiercley at the two, a pair of oversized fangs protruding from their mouth, along with their ivory colored claws visible on their paws. A clear, skyblue, ooze streamed from their fangs, something that did not look like the common saliva of an animal. When it hit the ground, a series of sizzling and popping could be heard. These things had corrosive saliva! Cierro had to watch out and make sure to not get any on him or he was going to be burned. Two of the panther hollows bounded for Kofi, as the other targeted Cierro, speeding across the ground in a zig-zag forward, staying low.




Meanwhile

The web in which the hollow spider had shot wrapped around a tree that was behind where Magnus was and instantly, cut into it deeply, severing where it was wrapped into a dozen pieces. It looked like the purple liquid that the hollow spewed actually gave objects that did not have any cutting abilities to them sever slicing attributes. If Magnus had been caught in that web, he would of been made into chop suey. No doubt the hollow spider was hungry and used this technique to make an easy meal out of its victims and Magnus had dodged the cleanly, standing up in the treetops. The hollow spider took no time to waste as he went up into the air, spewing several webs linked together, each coated in a sea blue liquid substance this time, forming a path up into the jungle tree line and it raced up it, vanishing into sight. Creaks could be heard by Magnus, indicating that the hollow was coming from his right side up in the tree line. Suddenly, another sea blue web came spewing from the line, threatening to trap Magnus and make him into spider chow.


Meanwhile

The Hason's tonuge collided with Arrion's laser, the tip of its tonuge glowing immensely as the laser was absorbed into it. What!?!? It had just eaten Arrion's laser! Its tonuge retracted with a load snap and it looked like the creature of hell was about to charge when suddenly, a figure became visible standing ontop of it's head. "HANG ON, GILLIAN-MON, HE MEANS YOU NO HARM BROTHA!" A booming, male voice echoed from the creature, as the figure knelt down, seemingly talking to the Hason. Soon, it returned back down to where it was settled and the male figure appeared on the tip of Arrion's pointy nose. It was clearly another arrancar, his reiatsu obvisouly stated this since he was touching Arrion, so it would be indicated he was a powerful hollow basically. The black arrancar, compared to the one Cierro was with, was awfully young, about in his mid 30's. He had thick, black, dreadlocks running down the back of his head and wore a dark, tan, leather trench coat wrapped around his body. "Oi oi, Gillian-mon, are you hungry for some other hollows eh?~" The dreadlocked arrancar asked him, a Jamaican accent now clearly auidobale. "We could use a big mon like you to help us out, aid us, you'll have a feast for you mon, sounds good bobsled?~" Ah, now that was much better! A feast for Arrion seemingly awaited if he accepted the Arrancar's offer. "That way, Gillian-mon!~ That is where we must go~" He shouted, pointing towards more to the back of the fog, in a section of it in which they must enter to reach the temple.

OOC: I will get on to this soon. Skip my post now.