The Serpent writhes....

Deep within the shifting sands of Hueco Mundo, far from the typical howls of scavengers, set far from the seats of power of innumerous other Hollow 'Kings' there was a hovel of solitude, populated only by the discarded bones of the dead and the shade of quartz trees spearing from the forest of menos below. The trees which decorated this area were larger than the mere tips that typically sought to breach the dunes seemingly whole new trunks with branches that sought to claw at the crescent moon ever lingering in the bleak black sky of the realm.

• • •

Rey slumbered, his form curled in a pocket of sand, his horns protruding from beneath it acting as sensors for nearby spiritual force, new prey. His own body was quite sheltered, warm in the dry white dust. His form was that of a humanoid lizard, armored in bone plates that matched the color of his mask and the sands, blending in perfectly with his hunting grounds. His horns every so often between slow breaths twitched, and when they did the bones of gargantuan bestial hollows sunk into the sand followed suit as if beckoned by his breathing. The disturbances were slight, neigh unnoticeable unless the eyes looking were particularly observant, and even then the force that moved them would only appear to be the sheer force of the winds that shifted the sands. 

This was a graveyard...his graveyard. His testament of survival, through sheer will and cunning alone. His form was not a strong one in brute force but in its ability to usher forth his spiritual power, to cast it with malice and intent, razing away the flesh of his foes and leaving only their bones behind. Bones with which he could control and create an army of his own, conduits for his power. This control was natural to Rey, something that had come to him along his evolutionary path of survival. In this place, in Hueco Mundo one could only survive if they could kill and so he did. He learned to kill, to devour, to feast on the wellspring of power in this shaded hollow of the sands. He had become what many feared....a Vasto Lorde, granting him a somewhat humanoid form, and a very keen control of his mind and body, a state in which a dominant personality truly takes over the hollow and they regain something resembling their former humanity, rational thoughts, and a growing semblance of purpose. 

With purpose his thoughts continually raged....fewer and fewer souls dared to come into his graveyard, into his trap and now he became stagnant, without aim, something which ate at him almost as much as the aching hunger that forever lingered in his gut. Even as his mind became complete his body felt un-whole, writhing in his slumber as he subconsciously reached out with his spiritual presence, clawing towards distant lands in search of purpose, and to satiate his hunger.  The bones in the graveyard wavered and groaned as they began to bend and curl, some cracking, some flexing; ultimately, they would begin to shatter and shift towards him, reconfiguring their form into ramshackle skulls whose eyes took on life as they began to lift from the sand in a circle around him and he awoke.

He sat, cross legged as the skulls danced and his mask shifted a bit, the jaws unhinging in some form of a sinister grin. He could feel power...and not simply his own, stretching far across the sands, like dancing stars they moved and shifted towards his position at a breakneck pace. He knew there were others of his kind, and it would only be a matter of time before they had found him. Lordes of Hueco Mundo, the self-proclaimed kings that subjugated other hollows to do their bidding, wrought into some odd political, fanatical worship of the strongest hollows. This was a doctrine that Rey failed to understand, he did not seek to use other hollows to serve him, he merely sought one thing, to end the hunger....to become whole of his own volition.

• • •

In the coming days the pinpoints of power he felt, grew and drew closer to his home. Perhaps the word of his graveyard had spread from the few that he spared merely out of boredom. Perhaps they came to try and claim his territory...or worse his life. So Rey prepared, he began to shape the bones of the slain titans, forming many skulls with which he decorated the quartz trees like ornaments, dormant as they stared down towards the ground at various angles. If they had lights within their gaping maws, every single centimeter of shadow would be consumed by light, but instead they lingered. The preparations for war were complete, and the presence of looming battle seemed to seep purpose into Rey's solitary mind. 

• • •

"Is it true?" A voice hummed from an adjuchas in the shape of a jaguar, padding over the dunes towards the boneyard, visible in the distance.

"That a Vasto Lorde killed everything here? ....Look at those bones...they are massive." A second voice called back to the padding panther, coming from above as another adjuchas with bonelike feathers fluttered above.

"Why would they send us...?"

"We're the bait...Xer wants us to find...it."

"..." A sigh escapes the panther's maw. "We have no choice, do we?"

"I am afraid not...unless we become the next meal."

"Sounds like we might either way." The panther huffed, still trudging forward, knowing the cost of disobeying their patron.

• • •

"Did the scouts return Alpharo?" A deep resonant voice hummed from the bulky humanoid hollow staring to his second, another adjuchas with a mask in the shape of a jackal. 

"No, Xer...it's been days." 

A low grumble rang out from the bulky humanoid hollow with the mask of a bull. The bullish one's spiritual pressure was stiff, and typically overburdening to the adjuchas as his nostrils flared and he let off a roar to the sky.

"I refuse to believe that there is a beast which could lay the titanic hollows and hide so well."

"Perhaps...it isn't hiding." Alpharo hummed lightly, running a finger over the ears which protruded from his jackal mask.

"We march. I will not be denied prey."

• • •

 Rey waited, using his attunement to the land, to the boneyard to feel the marching forces of the hollows invading his grove. His eyes were sealed as he let his claws sink into the sand, feeling the reverberations of movement, shifting feet skulking along. Nothing short of a grin folded over his lips as he could begin to feel the pressure of the flock bearing into the trees. He had wondered if they'd seen the skulls yet, or pondered their importance in what was to come, but he had to wait, to exude patience, for if he pounced to early, he'd merely send the prey scurrying away. So he waited...

"I will become whole...with your sacrifice." He hummed to himself before rising to his feet, gripping his claws tightly together and marching through the trees. His prey had become entrenched in the forest and finding their way out would be wholly too difficult now with his skulls serving as a way to befuddle them and make it hard to judge where exactly one had made it within this grove. 

After but a few minutes Rey had appeared in a clearing within the grove, a circle of his constructs anchored to trees as he looked upwards to the dark and from his chest he bellowed out.

"Come and revel in the hunt!"

His voice reached the ears of the invaders, causing them to bristle a bit before the large minotaur Vasto Lorde trudged forward, ushering the others to follow. They approached the clearing, making up a squad of eight, one Vasto Lorde, and seven Adjuchas in total, and what they saw was Rey, his mask fully drawn over in the maw of a serpent, horns reaching towards the sky, scaled plates rippling down his body and the glow of his eyes, one golden, one electric blue. His presence was ominous and very clearly his deadly intent filled the air of the clearing as he let his reiatsu truly burst and a number of the skulls attached to the trees took on a glow of their own, their eyes animating and crackling with the same color as his own.

"Tonight I feast. Tonight I become one."

He stated plainly as a wicked hiss began to ring from the animated skulls, driving a panic in the adjuchas around the minotaur, they began to scatter, but it was far too late for them. Arcing ceros rippled away from the gaping maws of the skulls, razing them in moments, their flesh burning away under the immense heat of Rey's bombardment. The explosions cast dust into the sky, creating a screen which clouded the view of all present. This did not matter to Rey as the screams were silenced and now only the labored breathing of the minotaur struck his ears in the dust. The skulls which had fired before fell dormant and two more took on Rey's dominance plunging through the dust like vultures, before their gaping maws opened wide and clutched the minotaur by the arms gnashing their pointed teeth into its flesh and pinning it down. The minotaur writhed and wriggled, trying to break free but the bite force and the pressure bleeding from Rey in the moment was something fierce, a determination for death that was uncanny and built upon nothing but sheer will. He was no weak hollow that lorded over the others simply because he feared he did not have enough of his own power. He was a Vasto Lorde that craved it and nothing else in this moment.

The minotaur screeched and pleaded, grunting and whining as his arms were tugged into the sand and the skulls began to burrow, making it even harder to escape. The dust had begun to fall, and Rey walked slowly in the dim light towards his prey, looming over him, his mask tilting to one side as he examined it briefly. He seemed to be deaf to the pleas of mercy, the cries of pain, the cacophony of chaos around him as he lifted his clawed hand and plunged it downwards into the beast's chest. He tore a hunk from it, lifting it to his mask as his maw parted and he began to feast, taking his time to savor his new prey and becoming lost in the moment. Yet...after the deed was done...he still felt unfulfilled, empty, hungry. The hunger gave way to rage as he stood above the slain and his vision began to blur. His clawed hands reached to his mask, clawing at it, tugging and gripping any part he could, raking away as his anger unfolded and with no direction to channel it, he rended himself sinking bone into bone, screaming to the sky, not realizing his mask had begun to peel away and fall to the sand. His energy began to fade and his consciousness with it, blackness overtaking his eyes.

• • •

Many Arrancar were formed through the power of the Hōgyoku but in rare instances some were formed through sheer will and the solidification of their own soul through consumption which reaches a breaking point, shattering their mask and with it, granting them a level of humanity, and deeper rational thought. Rey was one of few naturally born Arrancar, through his conquests and consumption his power simply could no longer be held in his hollow shell, and his new form condensed it and sealed it within him.

In time his affinity for constructing conduits for his power led him to forge his zanpaktou, establishing a bond with the blade forged from bone hardened in the heat of his ceros to resemble steel. With the advent of Las Noches, and the rumors of more like himself he found solace there, breaking into the hierarchy of Hueco Mundo as nothing less than an Espada, seeking to create new purpose in his new form, to grow and establish something lasting, to have a name and be remembered by it. In his soul he felt he had earned his name, as it was truly his own now, not to be fought for with the other souls vying for control of his form but solidified into truth.