At Eden's Gate

A Bleach oneshot

By

EvilFuzzy9

Heaven and earth are nothing. All of creation is burned into ash.

The rain falls.

It falls.

And it falls.

Droplets course down my skin, old as the hills, folded and scarred, marked from eons of battle unending, vigilance unceasing. My bones ache, ancient beyond reckoning, and so very sore.

The sword in my hand feels colder than ice. The flame is gone, the spark of my soul, the once unquenchable fires of my Ryujin Jakka extinguished.

Pain shoots through me.

I do not cry out.

No, it is not extinguished. The flames are not quenched. They are not here, but they still exist, still burn as brightly as ever. But not within me, not in the breast of Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto.

I feel so cold. So feeble and withered.

How the mighty have fallen, I think to myself. I scarce even feel the blades pierce me, the darts of that blasphemous blackguard.

Yhwach.

What detestable presumption. Such arrogance, to call himself such a name, a name so old, so hallowed, so powerful. Such foolhardiness. He will be his own undoing, in his hubris, his caprice.

I see as one at the brink of nothingness. My eyes gaze without fear into the black void of the abyss, the gaping emptiness which lies at the end of all things, the unknowable chasm between life and death.

Though my body is broken, the body of my soul, my spiritual form, I do not feel either dread or anxiety. Only peace.

I am at peace.

My death is at hand, the final demise of that bloody warlord who carved out some semblance of order in the ungoverned chaos of Sheol. I am dying, my body splintering beneath the ice of the Quincy "King". But I do not fear, not for myself.

Not for the Court of Pure Souls.

My time has passed, a day far too long in the coming. My age is ending, the era of the Immortal Willow Sage.

Another shall rise up to take my place, as surely as the sun shall rise once more at night's end, but a time of darkness and hardship approaches for all my people, the Thirteen Guardian Squads of the Soul King's Court. It shall be an ordeal beyond measure, for all who live.

The young will be tested, harshly and unforgivingly. Many will suffer. Many will die, striving in vain for even a bittersweet victory. Those who know nothing of true pain, true horror, shall be thrust mercilessly into the crucibles of Hell.

The old will break, or be broken. Those who have seen such trials before will either rise up once more, or fall in disgrace at the end of their strength, spent beyond youth, beyond hope, bodies shattered and weary. They will weep, and curse.

Sons will fight, daughters will mourn. Households will burn.

The old order shall be preserved through bloodshed, or be cast down in the upheaval of changing times.

Whether Soul Society falls or endures, it shall be decided by the strength of the young and the wisdom of the old. New hopes will conflict with ancient sins. Secrets shall be broken, truths buried deep.

Tyranny will pass into tyranny. One shackle is little different from another.

No longer does it matter to me, whether Shinigami or Quincy stand at the top. My time is ended, my life is ebbing.

A new age is upon us. New conflict, new war. And perhaps, through much suffering, eventually new peace and prosperity. That is my only hope, now. My only prayer.

I commit my soul once more unto my maker, a mere shadow of the might and terror I once held. Man's wisdom, eagle's swiftness, bull's strength, lion's valor. On the wings of world, the spirit of my spirit flies, speeding from its vessel into that hallowed space which lies in the uttermost distance, the sanctuary of death's death hidden beyond the beyond.

A sword of fire, dimmed. A deluge falls about my broken corse, one of arrows and rain alike. Soon naught shall remain of my spiritual body.

I am at peace, however. I entrust the fate of this world to those who come after me, as did He who came before me.

I go in death, not unto sleep, not unto rest.

Never to sleep. Never to rest. That is not for us living creatures, we humble servants of Heaven's domain. Such is a providence beyond our station, a blessing unknown to our nature.

Eternal vigil is all I know.

Will ever know.

But in duty I know peace, for that is what I am. Who I am.

I am a protector.

And so I take up, once more, that ancient station, that first of all charges, all duties. I take up my sword, alight again, a sword of flame, the Cherub's brand.

I am old, and eternity is long. But I can wait. Ten thousand years and more, I stood before, shall stand again, without fail. Until my duty is finished, I will have patience.

I can endure that much.

So again I stand – again I wait – until the end, at Eden's gate.

A/N: Just a simple little thing I'd been hankering to write for a bit. Smut and crack are fun and all, but I like to be pretentious every now and then, too~! :P

The biblical references basically wrote themselves, haha.

Chapter added: 3-24-14

TTFN and R&R!

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