The state he was in felt oddly familiar—similar to the state Ryuk would usually enter when he accessed his soul space.
The difference, however, was stark.
The Entity’s body was composed of motes of light, but unlike the white motes in Ryuk’s soul realm, these motes were colored to match the surrounding cosmos.
They shimmered with every hue imaginable, as if this being were one with the void itself.
When Ryuk raised his eyes to look at the figure before him, he was shocked—there was no face.
No eyes. No nose. No mouth. No ears.
Only motes.
Shifting and swirling motes that formed a featureless head, the same prismatic color as the space around them.
The being sat calmly on the other side of the table, elbows resting on the surface, fingers laced together, and head turned directly toward Ryuk, though with no eyes, it was hard to tell what "looking" even meant.
Ryuk turned away for a moment and looked down at himself.
He was the same.
Like the being before him, his body now shimmered with soul energy.
But unlike the other, his motes held only two colors: white, representing his Life Aura, and purple, the color of his Hurricane Energy.
’I’m in my soul form... so my real body must still be sitting on the chair, still holding the stone slab,’ Ryuk thought, a spike of realization piercing through him.
His heart leapt.
Right now, his physical body was completely defenseless.
Orrleith had disappeared into her room.
If anything were to suddenly emerge—like that Kraken had before—he wouldn’t have time to react, or even be able to react at all.
And yet, something deep in his soul told him: this faceless being sitting across from him... this was the one he should be most wary of.
"Who are you?" Ryuk asked, the most basic way to begin a conversation.
He watched as the figure stirred for the first time, unlacing its fingers and pointing calmly at its chest.
"I am the Spirit of the Ancient Hurricane Script," it replied.
The voice.
It echoed repeatedly across the void, a sound that should have been jarring and terrifying, yet somehow, it soothed.
Each syllable rang out with such clarity that it felt as though the words were being etched directly into his soul.
"The Ancient Hurricane Script was a stone slab whose runes I hoped to decipher and...read?" Ryuk asked with a faint bit of suspicion and caution.
"It is not a book, so it cannot be read."
"It is a Script of Legacy. Passed down from one destroyed timeline to the next," the Entity replied
"And now, it has found its way into your hands... the Hurricane Holder in a Living Timeline," it explained.
"I, the Spirit of the Hurricane Script, am the medium by which this knowledge will continue to be passed down to the future bearers of the Hurricane, which you currently are."
Finally, Ryuk grasped what this meant.
He had looked at the runes on the slab and realized there were too few of them.
Even if he deciphered each one, the information he would gain would be like reading a single sentence. It would never be enough to understand what Hurricane truly was.
But now he understood better.
The runes weren’t knowledge themselves.
They were a gate, and his Hurricane energy was the key.
When he touched the rune and it lit up, that was the gate opening, bringing him here to a realm where he met with the Spirit of the Script, which would likely answer his questions, and pass down the Legacy of Hurricane.
Instead of merely reading a book or deciphering symbols, he could sit before one who was, in a way, the book itself and ask the questions he wanted.
Knowing this, his caution eased, and not willing to waste a single more second of this opportunity, he asked:
"What is Hurricane Energy? And how is it different from Apex Energy, Abyssal Energy, or Aetheris Energy?"
"Why doesn’t it come with a Divine Sense, like the rest? Or will that awaken naturally as I progress?"
"Also... what are the cultivation stages?"
"I know the first is called the Imitation Stage, but what are the others?"
"How do I advance if there’s no Hurricane Energy in the air to absorb, or do I just meditate on it?"
He caught himself and stopped, realizing he had just thrown out a flood of questions all at once.
But these were questions he had longed for answers to. And now that he had the chance, he couldn’t help himself.
Surprisingly, the figure showed no sign of irritation.
It leaned back slightly in its chair, fingers once again resting calmly on the table.
"Let’s start with the first question," it said.
"What is Hurricane Energy?"
Ryuk forced his heart to steady and listened closely.
"Everything a cultivator owns... is given," it began.
"Power is given through blood. Legacies are given through birth. Skills are inherited from those who came before."
"Many energies are this way."
"Your Abyssal Energy came from your Knull bloodline and your Aetheris Energy from your Draconic heritage," it said.
Ryuk flinched at that as he wanted to scream out
’How did you know?’ but decided to stay silent in the end.
"Whatever is given can be predicted... controlled... caged."
"Apex. Abyssal. Aetheris. They are inherited energies, one way or another."
"But Hurricane..."
"Hurricane is born from refusal."
Ryuk paused at this, and when the Script Spirit continued, his eyes slowly began widening,
"It is not inherited, nor is it passed down. It is seized."
"To walk the path of Hurricane is to tear away every skin you were born with, and abandon every name you were meant to carry."
The being leaned closer, its faceless gaze pressing into Ryuk’s soul.
"When you abandoned the blood of the Dragon... and the Abyss... it seemed quite abnormal and out of place, doesn’t it? A bit too sudden?"
"Or maybe, it seemed like you had fallen out of grace."
"But really, that was the Hurricane Call!"
"The First Awakening to those who possess the capability to walk the Path of Hurricane and the first you took towards ever beginning to walk the Path to True Power,"