Hurricane - Book 2

Chapter 1

TW in the Description
Thank you to _Chooarts_ for the image! Breath taking as always!

(Book Inspiration Song "Hurricane" by Flaurie)

(Song: Mizuhara by Ursine and Vulpine: "A Whale's Lament")

Alberto POV

There was no warm welcome in death. No bright light. No flashes of Alberto's life.

There was only..... emptiness.

He floated purposeless in a dark world, devoid of any matter or substance. He tried to look around, but he had no body, no being. He just - was. He began to wonder if this was his eternity, floating in a chasm of nothingness.

Then one by one, small lights appeared in the distance. He focused on those lights. They began appearing faster, growing closer. Then he noticed a familiar 'wiggle' to their twinkling forms. They weren't stars - they were fish—massive, each the size of a whale. Their calls could be heard echoing in the abyss.

They sounded... sad. Mournful.

The school approached him at a leisurely pace. Soon he was surrounded by their glowing bodies. Blue, green, purple, red, and yellow lights sparkled brilliantly. They were never-ending. More and more swam past him in the obscurity.

They were beautiful. But he wished he wasn't viewing them alone. There was no other being besides him. Yet.... he knew,

There was someone... someone important to him.

"Who are you?" He asked inside himself. This person made up a large part of Alberto's essence. But it was fading away.

And he was terrified.

No matter how hard he searched, he couldn't remember. All he had was a longing in his soul that ached every time he tried to think of their name, their face - anything about them at all. He only wished, whoever they were, that they could see the fish as well.

He wished that more than anything. That this person had a school of fish around them instead of a chasm of blackness.

A green fish swam close to him. Alberto locked onto that single fish. That color. It was familiar.

Jade. Each scale rippling with life. Its Azure blue fins curved smoothly across its body, giving it a gentle appearance. Then a smell washed over him. But it also wasn't a smell. He had no body - no senses to detect anything around him. It was a feeling. An aura

The aura of the Sea.

Alberto's soul lept. He knew that feeling. The sensation of the Sea. It was that person. His Person. The one he missed so much. He knew it.

He tried to grasp onto the fish, knowing that it would somehow lead him to this person. But the fish jerked its fins and swam just beyond Alberto's reach. Anguish erupted across his spirit.

Alberto didn't know how he knew - but he knew if he didn't catch that fish, it would be gone forever. It would swim to the beyond - and be lost. He had to seize it now.

But he couldn't move. With no body - no significance - he was frozen. He watched in agony as the Jade fish swam further away.

"Please! Please don't go! Don't leave me!" He pleaded. But he had no voice. No way to beg the Jade fish to stay.

Then another fish swam to him. This one was slightly larger. Its Lapis scales were sharp and beautiful. It's Indigo fins tipped with barbs. Then the aura washed over him. An aura he knew too well.