HOLLOW, CELBALRAI

the ancient one
CELBALRAI
“Maybe hearts were made to pump blood, maybe lungs were made for flood”

Kalb Al-Rā‘ī, or Celbalrai, came into existence thousands of years ago under the roof of a temple set in a civilization that spanned the Mara River of the Serengeti. He was regarded as a miracle conception since his mother was old enough to be considered barren, though this also led to complications at birth that ultimately left the boy blind. It was popular belief in Ancient Egypt that the eyes were a person's light. A lack of sight was regarded as an affiliation with darkness and death, with some even believing the blind to be cursed. Those declared blind were believed to have lost favor with the gods for one reason or another, leading to them becoming social pariahs. Celbal was treated no differently by all except for his mother, who still thought of him as nothing but a gift from the gods.

He was not aware of just how much his heritage would affect his life, as he was the son of a priestess born into a bloodline that unknowingly descended from spiritual beings. Contributing to this was his mother's constant bouts with "Messengers of Sekhmet," or hollows, prior to his birth. From birth, he was what is regarded today as a fullbringer. It was only natural that he would discover abilities similar to and beyond those of his mother. She would do her best to help him control his abilities, and it would not take the boy long to be recognized as one also blessed by the gods. While he could not escape association with death and darkness due to his blindness, local myth based around his abilities had warped his image from a cursed child into that of an escort of the dead chosen by the gods. This was because many of his abilities were found in The Book of the Dead, with one in particular mimicking the process of embalming. This lead his village to believe that he was so favored by the gods that even the Messengers of Sekhmet were wary of going against him. Years of avoidance turned to praise, though he remained indifferent to the change. The only individual he held any emotional attachment to was his mother, and she came to represent the only love he had ever known. It was not long, however, before his heart was stolen from him.

Multiple civilizations spanned the land now known as Egypt, and the one that Celbal dwelt within lacked the military power that many others had. As such, it was only a matter of time before they were invaded and enslaved. At only eight years of age, he would find his freedom stripped from him as his people were forced to migrate north towards the seventeenth nome. Upon arrival they were stripped of anything that resembled rights and forced to labor for the Pharaoh of Hardai. Celbal's high spiritual strength allowed him to endure even at such a tender age, but he was forced to watch his mother suffer. She had been weakened from giving birth to him at such an elderly age, and her condition slowly worsened since. However, the enslavement seemed to heavily increase her deterioration until she finally collapsed, dying in her son's arms.

Celbal snapped. His powers up until that pointed seemed to only be non-aggressive, but something awakened in him that allowed him to access a destructive capability that hadn't even been dreamed of. Rather than his inherited powers, he discovered his fullbringer abilities and donned a shroud with the head of a jackal. He slaughtered his captors, freed his people and seized the town. All of his people and the others freed as a result of his actions were ready to accept him as the new pharaoh, thinking of him as the host of the god Anubis that descended upon the Earth to enforce Maat. However, he had no intentions of becoming a ruler let alone continuing to live past that point. He buried his own mother in a pyramid he erected himself just about a mile outside of the city and refused to leave. In his violent rampage he had lost sight of his mother's soul, and was not sure if he was too late to stop her from becoming a Messenger of Sekhmet. This fact weighed heavily on his heart, and the boy chose to stop living out of guilt and grief.

Weeks went by as the people kept visiting him, thanking him, and leaving food and other offerings to him. But he did not respond. He did not move, he did not eat, he did not drink. He perished where he sat with rigor mortis preserving the image of a boy with tears stained to his face awaiting some miracle that he knew would not happen. He reawakened as a plus, surprised to find his hunger and physical pain to have lifted. However, the weight of his heart still seemed to linger. It was then that he had a run-in with instinct. Normally pluses waited until either their chain of fate corroded or a shinigami guided them to Seireitei. For Celbal, instinct beckoned him to pull his chain out. Moments later, his heart would form his mask and birth his new form, a jackal-headed hollow unsurprisingly similar to the shroud of his former fullbring. As he gazed upon the civilization he had saved, another oddity befell him.

Normal hollow instincts caused them to go on a rampage in their immediate vicinity upon being "reborn." But the same strange instinct that called Celbal to turn himself into a hollow also called him to enter Hueco Mundo. Without the taste of a single human soul, Celbal entered the eternal desert while donning the name his instincts echoed: "Anubis." It was then that he seemed to follow the normal path of a hollow, as he went on a centuries long journey of consuming other hollow. Still, any observer of his life wouldn't take long to realize he was different from the standard hollow. The intelligence he displayed in his hunts were something expected of either an extremely experienced hollow or one who was particularly evil. Yet he was neither. In fact, he wasn't actually that much more intelligent than his fellow hollow. His instincts were just stronger. While his inherent abilities as a human and fullbringer seemed to meld together once he became a hollow, his instincts had full grasp of their capabilities, and helped him utilize them to keep him alive.

From small newborn hollow to Adjuchas-class, this special instinct guided him and made sure he never lost himself to the hundreds of others that composed him when he initially became a Menos Grande. His case of evolution was actually remarkably fast, as he had gained control of his Gillian form as it drew its first breath. Now with a hint of sapience and the aid of those instincts, Anubis found himself easily capable of dispatching other Adjuchas, even while their spiritual power outranked his. He managed to avoid losing any part of him in battle for decades before finally transitioning to what was regarded as the final stage of hollow evolution: Vasto Lorde. His seemingly endless quest to devour others had finally brought reward, and the voice that told him to devour all that was around him was finally put to rest.

This fact bothered him greatly. The voice inside had carried him so far, and now that it was silent he found himself without purpose. He would aimlessly roam Hueco Mundo for years before stumbling across a band of Adjuchas. It was odd, as years prior he wouldn't hesitate to strike and devour them. But his complete form left him with no desire to consume the weaker beings. Instead, he had done something almost unthinkable amongst the creatures of instinct by making small talk. He seemed to no longer have a purpose, and there was not much else to do, so he figured it was better than nothing. Naturally, he was met with distrust by almost all of the pack. But one of the members seemed to be just as curious as he. After all they were forced to go their separate ways, but he would never forget their conversation. Particularly, her last words to him.

"I'm ashamed to talk to you while there's such an enormous gap in our power, but I will find you when I am also a Vasto Lorde. You may propose to me then and only then!"

The oddly playful hollow had not even allowed the stunned Vasto Lorde to respond before leaving to catch up with the rest of her pack, only leaving him with her name: Kali. Decades would go by before they were reunited, though he did not spend those years dormant. Instead, he decided to hunt other hollow for sport and allowed his catches to escape with hopes that they would present a challenge the next time he encountered them. He even spent some time in the living world, where he met interesting spiritually aware humans and the occasional shinigami. Returning to Hueco Mundo was a bit difficult after getting so adjusted to the abundance of life but remembering his deal with Kali made him curious. He almost felt obligated to check up on her. Upon returning to Hueco Mundo he would manage to find her though, to his surprise, she was alone with her mask half broken.

The reunion was a bit more dramatic than what one expected for two individuals that had known each other for moments, though either would say they felt a familiarity that transcended a single lifetime. She told him of how all her comrades had sacrificed themselves to ensure she would carry on, and how a voice inside of her head kept telling her to rip off her mask. After trying for so long, she could only manage to break half and the voice scoffed at her weakness. She then admitted to feeling even weaker upon remembering the deal they had made decades prior. With what could be inferred as a smile, Celbal comforted her and told her that he believed she was strong just for surviving so long. He tore out a part of his midsection, where his ribs were located, and fed it to her. Having already reached Vasto Lorde, there was no repercussion for letting her partake in his power aside from losing some of his own.

Upon ingesting the piece of Celbal, Kali's spiritual power would surge a bit, and she would finish where she left off in removing the mask. At first she called out to Celbal in joy as she felt the power of evolution consume her, but her voice soon turned to cries of agony. Celbal stood back, believing it to be a part of the evolution process. "Growing pains," if you would. But the entity that stood in Kali's place was very foreign. The spiritual presence was somewhat similar, the strength had almost reached his own, and she looked the same. However, her voice and overall presence were different. The being spoke, and declared herself Anput. She declared Celbal bring out her husband, and pointed her newly formed zanpakutō at him. She then engaged him in battle and the two fought for hours whilest Celbal tried to think of a way to subdue her without completely killing her. Suddenly Kali's voice would beckon to him, begging him to kill her. He was reluctant at first, but eventually resolved to grant her wish.

As his hand entered her chest and seized her heart, he would find himself uttering words he didn't know he was capable of until that point. He then, for the second time of his existence, held a loved one in his arms as they died. She thanked him in the end, though he found himself weighed down by the guilt. Just as he had in his past life, he attempted cease existing and quietly awaited the embrace of death. However, the voice that had left him before would call to him again. It tasked him with continuing to grow stronger, for there would come a time where he could avenge his love's death. For centuries he has roamed, awaiting this opportunity.

HEIGHT: 6'3¼.
WEIGHT: 197 lbs.
EYE COLOR: Golden.
HAIR COLOR: White.
As a Vasto Lorde Celbal is much more humanoid in physique than the typical hollow. His mask is white with two horn-like protrusions from the sides that resemble ears. His body seems draped in what resembles a leather trench-coat and leather pants but this is actually his skin, or at least a membrane that surrounds it. As such, it shares his durability and this is why his "clothing" never seems to tarnish in the heat of combat. His golden eyes make him seem more divine than human, and short white hair can be spotted from behind his mask, though they seem more like spikey extensions of it. Beneath his feet are extensions of his sole that seem to resemble skates, though they function more like the geta, or clogs, known to be worn by the Japanese.

Two millenia has still proven to be insufficient time for Celbal to piece together his psyche. More than one mind inhabits him, with the other voice in his head being something he considers his instincts. Whatever it may be, he suffers from depersonalization disorder as a result, a dissociative disorder marked by a feeling of being out of place. Not so much as being unfamiliar with his surroundings, rather feeling as though he were watching himself from a distance. One could describe it as feeling as though you were in a movie and also in the audience watching the movie at the same time. However, he only feels himself as the man in the audience while feeling detached from the one in the movie. This has lead to him being more detached from others, as he finds it easier to cope with his episodes when they arrive while others aren't present. Action and meditation seem to relieve him of these episodes, and it is because of this that he either trains or meditates in his free time. This has caused him to constantly think of his existence as a never-ending dream, and he believes he may rest in peace if he follows his instinct to his destiny. Developing this way for centuries has left him socially awkward. He is very open to conversation, but he is prone to being blunt and aloof due to never having proper social exposure. In spite of this, he speaks to all politely and well-mannered apart from occasional, and surprising, tendencies towards sarcasm.