Words Amongst The Mist (Snippet)

A little snippet from a book I'm writing (will never finish) about my friend :) it was their bday yesterday and they committed about nine months ago so I'm hoping to actually continue this someday. Ignore the cringe writing, I'm trying to improve lol.

The tide was high today.

In a town on the coast of Japan stood a sleight figure. They looked out from the edge of a cliff, hand clutching onto a long sword as if it could fly away at any moment. The sky was cold, and the winds relentless. They swirled around the figure like moths to a flame.

A whisper of a frown appeared on their lips, eyes fluttering closed as they breathed in deeply the smell of salt. Though their thoughts were met with silence and their worries pushed away, somewhere deep in their gut they could sense that something was amiss. It was quiet, too quiet.

Eyes opening, they turned their back to the open sea, meeting face with a shinto shrine in the distance. Their eyes narrowed again, slipping their sword back to its sheath. There was something intriguing about the shrine, maybe even familiar. Waves of fog surrounded it. Whispers, hidden words were pushing them to go farther.

Without even realizing, their feet were bringing them towards that shrine, bare and rough against the wet grass, yet numb to the rough terrain. One step at a time, footsteps blending together as they glided forward, they found themself standing with their neck craned at the sky, the hard pools of rain falling onto their eyelashes. If they were to look back, the cliff would have been gone and replaced by nothingness, but they did not turn around again.