The backwards crescent of the Hollow Moon hung in a lonely vigil, shining down on the icy landscape in the far north of Hueco Mundo. In the center of it all, surrounded by ruins scattered for miles was an artificial hill, a boulder the size of a truck sitting on top of it. The polished bluestone was covered in engravings, the largest being a young man stabbing a dragon through the chest. Runes crossed one side of it, marking it as a burial mound, and smaller runestones surrounded the grave as a protective measure. The place certainly seemed like a tomb. It was dead silent, the ruins what seemed to be a massive city giving off an aura of loneliness.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that kept Hollows away from this gods-forsaken place.

The entire area was bathed with an ominous amount of reiatsu, as if it was being given off by some forgotten god. At the epicenter was a figure sitting on the runestone adorning the burial mound, eyes closed and looking as if he hadn't moved for years. His hair was long and white, soft and contrasting against lightly-tanned skin. The markings on his face denoted him as an Arrancar, even if he did not have the residual mask fragments anymore. No Zanpakuto was found anywhere nearby, and underneath the white and red robes he wore there was no indicator of a Hollow Hole. There was also no heartbeat, as it was quiet enough one would hear such a thing.

The man, regal as a king, seemed as if he were sleeping or dead. Forgotten.

Alone.

So apparently Ika was waking dracula. He'd always dreamed of doing something akin to that, having some neato burrito vampire guy on his side to rip peoples throats out and do cool vampire shenanigans and all that but unfortunately his dream was on hold. Graven was being kept up like a vampire, his living arrangement ripped directly from a book about the bloodsuckers but ultimately, Graven had little else in common with them. Ika had met him in the past, had even done some skirmishes with him with the intention of keeping the Hollow population down and had curiously investigated his reign of terror over the sands ages ago.

That was of course during the time of Ika's first excommunication, and that was a time that had long since passed. He was now more powerful, and had long since outgrown the occupants of this god foresaken desert. Ika let out a sigh, letting his eyes glance around the darkened tomb before he'd begin to walk inside. "Talk about waking the fucking dead eh?.."

A pair of golden eyes opened, glowing in the moonlight as they looked over to the man who entered the area, scanning his appearance before a light of recognition shone in them. The figure sitting on the runestone let out a sigh, his breath visible in the cold as a cloud of heat and steam rushing past a set of fangs that belonged on a wolf, not a human. The voice that responded to Ika's query was deep and monotone, smooth as the ice that surrounded them. "...Ika. It has been some time. You are no longer the whelp you once were, I see. As for the dead...You are more right than you know. This place is my tomb. Each of Hueco Mundo's Kings, starting with myself, have made a place like this for themselves, as none of us know when we shall pass, or if anything will be left of us. Thus, pieces of our masks are buried in places built to tell our stories. Some prefer pyramids, others prefer mausoleums or temples...This mound, amidst the ruins of my old hunting grounds and the castle I built for my mate, is mine. The fragments of my mask that were shed when I became an Arrancar so long ago are buried here, along with the mask of my beloved."

Staring Ika in the eye, refusing to back down yet still maintaining the respect they had built between each other in their fights, Graven would ask the most important question he could think of at the moment. "What brings you to this gods-forsaken place? It has been five years since I have spoken with another Hollow, and even longer since I have had any faith in anyone here. The current incarnation of the Espada I began so long ago, last I heard, were tyrants, and their Cero is a pathetic weakling who uses his position for his own pleasure. I can't imagine that you have much stake in these affairs, even with your mask, so why would you come here?"

A pair of familiar golden eyes began to glow as they looked over Ika, seemingly trying to adjust to the light and incoming presence. Frankly, Ika would be shocked if Graven was receiving many visitors these days and so he could forgive the fact that the man appeared a bit surprised. He let out a sigh, his breathe was visible in the cold night air. As Graven responded Ika was greeted by a distinctly deep and monotone voice, it was smooth and prompted memories to form in Ika's head of times that had long since passed. Graven's speaking prompted a small grin for Ika, implying that he had ever known him as a whelp was at best selective memory rearing it's head. Ika's expression showed very little give to what the man was saying. "The only whelp you ever knew disappeared into the mirror some several thousand years ago."

Ika listened, pretending to be interested in the odd rituals of the Espada. Cero Kings with pyramids and such was interesting, the culture these supposedly mindless cannibals could muster was something Ika had always taken small intrigue in but it wasn't really why he was here. He looked around, his eyes wandering from region to region. His own blue eyes served as a stark contrast to the golden eyes of his friend across the room and seemed to survey the area in a starkly contrasting wonder. "I have every intention of taking that throne for myself Graven Fel. The current leader of the Espada is rough and somewhat uncouth and is as far as I'm concerned, a formality. He will fall when I meet him as all others have. But I must send a message, I will not make it quick. I will dismantle him in front of his followers and make them my own when his eyes finally shut. You will be my second in command, the Primera." Ika extended his hand, glaring seriously into Graven's eyes. "Seem fair to you former king?.. Perhaps you could afford to stretch your legs."

Graven found a smirk cracking his face as his old friend spoke, showing a set of pearly-white canines that were more wolf than man. While it was true that most of their race would follow only to attempt to kill Ika and take his power for their own, the eldest Arrancar was never a fan of such affairs, although that could have been because he'd always had power himself. For him, the excitement, the opportunity to see yet another civilization rise was tempting, and if it fell it would be glorious. Hopping down from where he sat, letting his legs stretch for the first time in literal years, he would take a couple of steps towards Ika before accepting the offered hand. "Your will be done, your majesty. Perhaps we shall have to build your tomb, eh?"

A moment later, a moment of Graven looking over the surroundings longingly, the Arrancar was ready to leave. "So, I assume that our next stop is Las Noches?"

For having just woke the dead Ika was feeling awfully confident and the dead was looking awfully lively. The former king seemed happy to hear from his old friend Ika, his pearly white canine teeth reminding Ika that his friend was apparently a wolf guy. from the famous and popular anime Inuyasha Okay so it wasn't a vampire, but all in all the guy was still pretty cool to have around and talk about at parties, but enough about that..

Graven seemed to be on board, extending his hand to Ika before speaking. What he said brought a smile to Ika's face first, then a rather bemused eye-roll. "God I don't think I'll ever quite get used to being called your majesty or having a tomb. I think I'll save that kind of blatant masturbatory behavior for your kind if it's all the same to you old friend."

It appeared that Graven was ready to leave, and so Ika figured he should probably prepare himself as well. "Las Noches is in fact our intended destination. Gotta go teach some people a lesson, send a message. The usual. I'll do the beating and message sending and you just make sure it's a fair encounter. Beyond that.. I think we're ready to go."

Snickering at Ika's comment, Graven would follow his old friend towards the center of the desert, and the headquarters of the Espada. It was a fairly long distance away, and yet the two would likely make it in a few minutes of travel. Once they came to the dome, walking through the front gate and making their way to the throne room, Graven would flare his reiatsu, attracting the current iteration of the Espada to the area, making them all sweat even with just the barest hint of what he could unleash should he wish to. Even as they strode through the entrance to the King's court, the man blustering and demanding that they bow or die, the former King had a look of boredom on his face.

Turning to Ika, he'd speak once more, his tone sending chills down the idiot Cero's spine. "Well, things to do and all that. You going to do this?"

Graven snickered at whatever it was Ika had said, choosing to simply follow his old friend towards the center of the desert and the new headquarters for the Espada. It was a while away, and would inevitably take them some time to get to but thankfully they were spiritual beings that could travel at light speed, so that was essentially a made up dilemma at best. As they arrived Graven opted to make an interest, Ika preferred to be more reasonable than his friend but he knew it couldn't be helped at this rate. A crack of Ika's neck made everyone aware of his arrival, and a small wiggle of the fingers was all the presiding Arrancar was going to get before his life ended.

Ika acted swiftly, Shunpoing behind the beast with his mask already dawned. He punched it in the stomach and when it keeled over he followed up with a knee, shattering it's jaw and the bone fragment that had held it in place. As it went to crawl away it fired a Cero in his direction, blowing a hole through the front door that illuminated the castle via moonlight. "What an unfortunate mistake that was.." Ika lifted the Hollow up by it's head and poked his finger under it's chin, allowing a finger to form on the tip of his finger and melt the hollow's brains away before blowing what was left towards the ceiling. "Alright Graven I think we've made enough of an entrance! Who wants to welcome us home?!"

Shaking his head with a smirk as Ika blew the so-called King's brains out with a Cero, Graven turned to the others, all of whom were mildly incensed that their King was killed, and yet seemed to be unwilling to really bow to anyone else now that they felt their time had come. Sighing, the new Primera would form a Cero in his hand, mingling it with a bit of blood and turning it into a makeshift Zanpakuto before disappearing in a blur of movement only Ika would be able to register, reappearing even as all of the idiots fell over with their throats cut and letting his katana dissipate. "I hope you don't mind. None of them seemed terribly welcoming, and I have a feeling that they would have stabbed us in the back at the first opportunity. Should we find a janitor?"

Just because Ika was the new Kng didn't mean that Graven was going to let up with his deadpan snark OR his sass. If anything, it made it even funnier.

Graven seemed fairly amused by the whole affair Ika had just engaged in, a small satisfactory shake of the head indicated as much and Ika was pleased to have put on such a fun display for him. Unfortunately the kings subjects seemed a bit unruly and Ika couldn't really say much when Graven opted to cut their throats in a less than fortunate display of brutality. "Now Graven perhaps we could've taught them to be a bit more friendly eh? Though, you probably have a point and they would've ended up being nuisances in the end, oh well.." Ika found an Adjuchas cowering in the corner behind the throne and smirked. "I almost didn't notice you, clean up this mess. It's disgusting and frankly I have no need for blood stains in my throne room. Sure, it could use more color but not quite.. what I had in mind.."

Ika shook his hand off, letting the blood once more stain the sands beneath him before taking his mask off to turn his attention to Graven. "Perhaps you'd like to give me the grand tour?"