Storm Warning

Chapter 1

All I could feel was darkness and hollowness.

Everything was weightless but heavy.

Maybe I felt an overwhelming feeling of emotions that I couldn't understand. ..Or maybe I felt nothing at all.

I heard a distant voice shout, but it was so muffled and distorted, combined with a constant rumbling in my ears.

Something thrashing me about with more force than I'd ever felt before. I couldn't decide if I was terrified or just... Waiting for it to stop... To end.

And after a while it did. The rumbling gone, the force that was batting me around ceased.

I felt nothing.

Then I heard something.

A sudden sound.

I found myself slowly seeing light and color in a blurred state. I heard harsh crisp noises which translated as nothing recognizable to my head which had begun pounding with pain. I felt myself wincing when I noticed there was a strange sensation brushing up very lightly against my feet.

Confused but unable to work up the will to figure out what was going on I just lied there, my breath becoming heavy.

But then I heard a completely unfamiliar sound. A 'caw' of some kind.

For whatever reason I finally worked up some motivation to move. I sat up, my hand sinking into the ground around me. Even more confused I blinked a few times. I was starting to be able to see.

I was on a beach, a place I previously spent little time at. The ground beneath me had been sand.

I clutched my throbbing head and threaded my fingers through my gritty sand-cover hair until I caught sight of my hand.

It was scratched up and pale but more notably, completely visible. It was solid.

I inhaled sharply in confusion but before I could properly take things in, I heard a voice.

"So!"

I flinched in surprise, I heard another loud 'caw!' and the sound of wings flapping away. I looked up and realized the caw had been from a nearby seagull. I looked around to figure out where the voice came from and saw an old man possibly in his 60s or so walking towards me.

I said nothing and just stared at him.

"Morro, is it?" He asked.

Who was this guy?

I bristled irritably at the stranger "Who are you?" I asked crossly, my voice strained and annoyed.

The stranger didn't seem to appreciate my attitude and huffed a quick breath of annoyance. "I'm the man that just saved your life."

"Saved my life? I didn't need saving!" I snapped back angrily. "Maybe I didn't want to be saved, old man!"

"Lower your voice, shouting isn't the cure for a headache. Whatever the case, you're here and we can't stay on this beach forever."

"Why not?" I muttered under my breath. "What if I want to stay here?"

The old man sighed irritably. "Suit yourself. If you wish to be eaten by the river wolves that is. I really wouldn't recommend it."

"River wolves?" I asked in confusion and some newfound alarm, my eye narrowing.

"Yes, they come out at night with incredibly strong control over the waves. Extremely dangerous creatures and very territorial. They hate trespassers." The old man explained casually.