Post by barberz on Mar 6, 2019 18:59:41 GMT -5
Thanks to PЯIПᄃΣ ӨF MΛDПΣƧƧ for the picture! Go to this if you want some pretty great stuff, not gonna lie!
Chapter One
The wind outside the den was frightening. It even scared the trees, I could hear them howling along with the wind. I tried to sleep, it was useless, though, you couldn’t hear your own mind think. Then it was gone, I shook my head, bewildered at the golden colors filtering through the branches of the den. I peeked my head out the opening, then quickly ducked in; my eyes weren’t used to the light yet. I looked around the den. No one is here, I must be in a dream, but where am I? I poked out my head once more. I looked around before stepping out slowly, “Welcome.” I jumped when I heard the voice, it sounded like it was all around me! “Uhh, where am I? All I can see is gold, and I want to get out of here!” I felt safe, even though I didn’t want to. I just wanted to get out of this stupid dream world thingy. “Do not rush me, it will be over soon.” I heard the voice sigh softly before continuing, “You will be the first of many, many, others. I have come to you myself, as I know you are the most special out of all the granted.” What in Starclan’s name is he saying, the first of many, the most special? I want to be the greatest warrior I can be, maybe even leader, but…but I’m just an apprentice, definitely not special! All of a sudden, the world flashed white, and then dark. I felt sick, like I had eaten five pieces of crow-food. “Ugh, what just happened?” I said quietly to myself, flopping down on the damp soil.
I woke up feeling nauseated, thankful to see my fellow apprentices around me. I stretched before getting up slowly. “Hey!” I jumped when I heard the voice behind me, spinning around quickly. I sighed with relief when I saw it was just Mousepaw, “Jeez, uhh… sorry about that,” He said quietly. “It’s Ok, I just had this weird dream and...and you kinda did what he did, you know.” He looked at me, confusion covering his face. “Oh, well, sorry, I guess. Uh, well I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with me and hunt, you know, since I’m gonna be a Warrior and all.” He puffed out his chest when he said “warrior”, trying to make him seem taller than me. “Ok Shortstack, your first mission as a warrior is to grow taller than me, but I don’t think that’ll be one you'll ever complete.” Even though I'm two moons younger than him, I'm still much larger in size. “Come on, both your father and your mother are, like, the strongest and biggest in the clan, so take it easy on me.” He mock frowned and followed behind me as we walked out of the den. He was right about my parents be the biggest in the clan. They literally almost tower over the whole of the clan. I glanced at him quickly before running to the Prey Rocks, also the best place to lounge around on in leaf-bare. I shivered at the thought, leaf-bare, the time at which we risk dying, and not by other clans, but it’s greenleaf. I don’t need to worry just yet.
It was past sun-high by the time we got back. It wouldn’t have been good to be out that late, but we, no, all of us woke up late. I didn’t linger on the thought of how all of us, warriors and apprentices combined woke up late. I heard the rustle of cats around in the clearing before we get there, but I could tell we weren’t even that close. I did a quick glance around and saw the Lightning Tree, we have to be farther than… than, I don't even how far! I was so lost in thought that when I stopped to listen more closely, a fluffy gray lump hit me from behind at full speed, scattering the prey everywhere. “Why’d you stop like that? Now we have to pick up all the prey that went everywhere!” I looked back at him, before listening for anything, nothing. It was just my mind playing tricks on me! Why did I think I could hear from here? It was just a stupid old dream that had nothing to do with my real li-”Venompaw, could you help me? I don’t really wanna do this on my own.” I looked at him quickly, “Uhh, yeah, I… I was just thinking of something.” I heard a grunt over by a tree, “I don’t care what your thinking of! Just come and help me!”
I grabbed a piece of prey before turning to the shadow of the den. I didn’t want to dwell on what happened, it’s just that I was sure that I could hear my clanmates voices and mother talking about how she can’t wait for my warriors ceremony. Of course! it's what I would’ve wanted to hear! It was probably some illusion caused that caused me to hear that, maybe some wind against a tree or something. Just then, I heard a something in my mind that wasn’t my thinking voice. That wasn’t an illusion, that was your first gift.
Chapter Two
The golden landscape I could see outside the den was vast. I couldn’t see past it. I looked around, hoping to see some sort of answer, and then it came to me.
“Willowheart? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be hel-” She cut me off.
“Don’t worry, they’re all cared for.” She looked at the vast gold landscape, rye fields that seemed to stretch on until the horizon stopped.
“I have come to give you your symbol.” I looked at her, bewildered.
“Wha-” She quieted me with her tail.
“This is only given to three others. When the time comes, you need to put your strengths together to beat the beast lurking within.”
I was about to say something when a nauseating feeling crept over me, I saw a flash of white, then darkness.
“What… what happened? Where am I?” I couldn’t help but fall onto the damp soil underneath me.
I woke up and instantly and flew to my paws, rushing over to the Medicine Cat den. She must’ve known I was coming, because I could see her bright yellow eyes in the den.
“I… Wha-” Willowheart quieted me once again and beckoned me into the den.
“Don’t worry about the dream just yet.” She glanced around the den before continuing.
“If anything… weird happens, just… just come and tell me.
“Ok?” I nodded quickly, confused as to what she even meant. I stepped quietly out of the den and returned to mine.
“Firepaw? Is that you?” I jumped and turned around quickly. Bushpaw looked at me curiously.
“Uhh, yeah?”
“What are you doing up so early?”
“I could ask the same for you.”
“I asked you first.” I sighed.
“I was at the Medicine Cat den because my stomach didn’t feel good. Now, how about you?” She looked up for a moment.
“Oh… I don’t know. It’s just that sometimes I like looking at the lake sometimes. It was nice out, so I decided to go up at the Lake Rocks.” I shrugged.
“Huh, you don’t seem like the type of cat to do that, but hey, you learn something new everyday, right?” She stared at the entrance before turning back. Bushpaw sighed.
“Yeah, I guess. Well I’m going back in, it’s starting to get cold.” I followed Bushpaw in.
“Yeah, me too.”
“Ugh, why does it have to be so hot.” I heard the annoying voice behind me, distracting me from trying to find prey.
“Can you just shut-up for right now. You’re supposed to be hunting, but you just keep on following me?” Duskpaw leaped on me.
“That was rude, Firepaw! I’m going to tell Mistflight when he gets back!” I heard a rustling noise to my right, and saw silver fur appear behind the dense greenery.
“Tell me what.” Before I could speak, Duskpaw piped up.
“Firepaw told me to shut-up when I was trying to help him hunt.” Mistflight grunted under the weight of the hefty rabbit he caught.
“Knowing you, Duskpaw, you probably were complaining about the weather or something.” He sat down once he dropped.
“But don’t say shut-up to your sister, she may be younger than you, but you two are still both apprentices and that means you’re equals.”
I glanced at Duskpaw, slightly angered by the smug look on her face.
“As for you, Duskpaw.” He gave her a hard stare.
“Stop talking. I’m not your mentor, but Milkwhisker has complained to me about you complaining to her. When you’re hunting you should be listening, not talking your tail off.”
The look on her face almost made my whole day.
It was oddly quiet when we got back to camp. Normally there was noises of my clanmates bustling in the camp, but no noise came from the entrance tunnel of the camp.
Mistflight must’ve noticed, too, because he turned around and gave us a confused stare, before turning back around.
“Quiet, too quiet.” I heard him whisper under his breath.
“Are we going to check it out?”
“Uhh, yeah. I guess we kind of have to.”
The sight was… terrible. Blood was everywhere. I felt like I was on a battlefield, maybe because I was.
“Wha- What happened?” I could hear Duskpaw’s voice stutter.
“Help!” I could hear the urgent raspy call of a cat. I heard Mistflight say something, but I ignored it.
The Elders den was a mess of twisted branches and blood splattered leaves.
“They… they attacked us! We were winning, then…”
I looked at the blood-soaked elder, his eyes closed.
“No! No, tell me what happened!” He opened his eyes slowly, an unnatural orange pulsing in them.
“A cat has used his powers unwillingly, without thought. He is being controlled by them.”
The cats fur started to pulse brightly.
“The Granted have to stop him before the beast captures him! He cannot fall so soon…”
I felt my paws start to burn, and before I could think, everything went black.
Chapter Three
Rain pummeled the ground.
I could hear cats talking in the shadows. Even though I couldn’t hear their muffled voices, I could hear them, high pitched with fear.
Something was wrong. It felt like a battle had raged over the rugged landscape, leaving blood spots all over the ground.
I could see the cats clearly, now. They looked at me before turning away. I looked around.
“I can hear the rain falling, but the ground is dry…”
I stepped out of the shade of the tree I was under, when all of a sudden a blinding light flew over my vision.
I opened my eyes, looking around at my new surroundings.
It was my camp! I ran out of the den, relief flooding over me.
I stopped, something wasn’t right. My fur was rising and I couldn’t control it. Something definitely wasn’t right…
Just then, an ear splitting screech filled my ears. I looked around, frightened. What was going on?
The noise came again, louder this time.
“I need to help this cat!” I thought desperately, sprinting towards the harsh noise.
I instinctively looked down at my paws, surprised to see that they weren’t there. I stopped, and they appeared again.
“This is a glimpse into the depths of your destiny. Be careful of what side you choose.”
The cat sounded like they were around me all at once.
I woke up panting. I looked down at my paws and was relieved to see them tucked against me.
“Sandpaw! You’ve been asleep much longer than I told you a day ago!” I heard the harsh voice of my mentor, Scalefoot.
“I’m sorry!” I replied quickly, scrambling out of the den in a rush.
“You better be.” Scalefoot looked over at me, his face growing concerned. “Are you alright? Normally you’re up earlier than most of the warrior that go on dawn patrol.”
I looked up at Scalefoot, feeling ashamed with myself.
“Yeah, I am. I guess I was just more tired than usual.” He nodded slowly, as if it wasn’t the most convincing of answers.
“Well, lets not worry about the past.” He looked over at the two cats sitting in the shade. “Us, Skywhisker and your brother are going to go hunting.”
I looked over my shoulder at my brother, Daypaw, slightly surprised that his normally sleek dark ginger coat was filled with dry moss and kinks.
Once we met up with the two cats, we exited the tunnel, trotting over to the river.
I went farther up the river than the three others, and tried to catch Daypaw’s attention by waving my tail wildly. Luckily the other cats didn’t notice, aside from Daypaw himself.
I beckoned him over and he slowly stepped towards me.
“I bet you’re wondering why my coat's all ragged?” I looked at him, concern covering my face.
“Well, as your sister, I know that you wake up around the same time as me and take that extra bit of time in the morning just to tend your coat. I know something is wrong.” He caught my eye reluctantly.
“Well, if you need to know. I had a dream, and that is all I am going to tell you.” I looked at him, he had gotten one also?
“Well, I did too, and I didn’t like it.” Daypaw smiled slightly.
“Me neither. Now,” He glanced at the river, “Lets catch some fish!”
I shivered from the cold, my breaths coming out in clouds. The lake rose and fell slowly at my paws, glazed over with red from the dying sun. It was a sight that made me uncomfortable.
I felt myself slowly sliding towards the lake. I jumped and looked at my paws. They weren’t there! I looked towards the lake, and felt but didn’t see my paws submerge into the lake. I screeched, trying to get out, but failing too even move.
The lake fell once again, and I looked at my paws, and saw them drenched in blood. My relief turned to horror. I tried to get away, and I noticed that I wasn’t going to the lake, it was coming to me!
I woke up, the moon shining on a puddle in the clearing. I flopped over quietly, relief and horror flooding through me in unison.
“Are you okay?” I jumped when I heard a whisper to my right. I swiveled my head, surprised to see Daypaw up as well.
“Uh, yeah. Just a bad dream, thats all.” He looked down at his paws before looking up at me.
“Me too.” To my horror, and relief, as I realized I wasn’t the only one getting these dreams, he explained what happened in his.
“I had the same dream! My paws turned invisible… did that happen to you?” He glanced at me and shook his head.
“No, the lake didn’t come over to me. The wind was pushing it back, but it didn’t push me,” He looked at the other sleeping apprentices before continuing, quieter than before, “What if we are connected in some way or another? I had wind and you could turn transparent. What if we have powers?”
Chapter Four
“So much mice!” I heard the muffled voice of Mousepaw, now Mouseleap, behind.
“I know! It’s crazy how many there-oof!” I felt my legs hit against something hard and toppled over. I got myself up quickly and glanced over at Mouseleap, who was laughing hysterically.
“Are you going blind?” Mouseleap joked.
“No, of course not! I was just looking at how funny you looked with mice stuffed in your mouth and karma was a step ahead!” We calmed down a moment later and took the food back to the camp. When we arrived, cats stared at us in awe.
“How did you get so many?” A black and gray cat demaded, “We need to know, because it would help us in leaf-bare!”
I peeked above the crowd to see my mentor, Pineface, staring admiringly at the catch we made.
Once we had deposited all they prey, except a mouse for myself and one for Mouseleap, we headed over by the Apprentice Den.
“So, I think we make a good team!” Proclaimed Mouseleap.
“Me too.” I purred
“I do.”
“Then by the powers of StarClan, I, Scorchstar, give you your warrior name. Venom, from this moment on you will be known as Venomflame. StarClan honors your courage and quick thinking, and we welcome you as a full warrior of Thunderclan.”
The cheers were non-stop, and I wanted it that way. I drank in all of the cheers like I hadn’t tasted a drop of water for a moon.
After it was over, with me and Scarpaw, now Scarbelly as warriors, and Borealpaw being apprenticed Finchflight, I felt better than I have in a while.
“Good job, Venomflame!” I jumped when I heard the voice. But it was just the gray furred Mouseleap. I nodded, pride flowing through my body.
“Thank you!” I smiled at him padded over to the middle of the bare earth clearing.
“Have fun trying to stay up during the vigil.” He glanced around quickly as if he were telling his most valuable secret, “I may or may not have dozed off, and if it wasn’t for Grassfur, Scorchstar would have my tail off by now.” He shuddered as if he was imagining the scarred bright orange tom ripping his tail off with one bite.
“Well, good thing it didn’t happen, or you’d be more clumsy than me!” I exclaimed with a laugh.
“Well…” He sighed slowly and glanced over at the Warriors den, “I guess I better get going. You know, since I’ll have to do all the hunting,” He joked, “See you at dawn.”
I watched the gray tom walk away, and then looked at the black and white coat of Scarbelly, noticing the brown scar-like birthmark that gave him his name.
“You ready to wake me up?” Scarbelly joked, “Because I feel half asleep already.” I laughed at that.
“Maybe I will maybe I won’t.” I replied back.
Ugh, it’s so cold. I wish I had my mothers thick fur.
The moon was just starting to fall.
I shivered. My face felt frozen from the cold and from not talking. I studied what the camp looked like in detail, since that was the only thing that occupied me.
Then a sound came, and it was loud.
I jerked my head around and glanced over at the black and white tom, and I could tell by the way he sat, drooped over and half asleep, that he didn’t hear it.
What even was that? I stared at the entrance.
The sound came again, louder.
I ran out towards what sounded like a terrified screech.
I heard the, “Hey!” Of a shocked Lizardtail behind me, but I kept on going towards the noise.
I instictivly tasted the air, surprised to smell the scent of a cat I didn’t recognize. The wind felt like it was trying to lead me to where I was trying to go. It was almost like the wind was carrying, which was a weird sensation.
“Help!” I heard the yell of a cat. I ran faster, until I stopped on the edge of the lake cliff.
I could see clearly now, and what I saw frightnened me out of my skin.
“Don’t-don’t worry, I am going to help you!” I saw the cat on the edge of a small ledge farther down the cliff. Grabbing a hook-shaped rock, I leaned down slightly to grasp the ginger furred tom. I got ahold of him and hoisted him up, and felt a tingle of surprise in the back of my mind as I did the motion with ease.
The ginger tom layed on the rocks, panting quickly.
“Thank… you.” mewed through each breath.
“Uh, no problem. But what in Starclan’s name were you doing to even be in that situation?” He glanced up at me, his whiskers twitching embarrassedly.
“Well, I’m from Riverclan, and we never get much mice,” He licked his chest quickly, “And there was a mouse, so I tried to pounce on it, and maybe fell over the cliff…” He looked at the ground.
“Well, that was stupid.”
“I didn’t know!” I sighed, this could go on all night.
“Well, go back to your camp.” He stopped, looking as if he were deep in thought.
“How did you know I was over here anyways?”
“Because I heard you?”
“So you were on Riverclan territory?”
“No. What’re you trying to get at?”
“Well… nevermind.” I growled silently, was this tom going to ever stop talking.
“Okay, bye now.”
“Before you go.” He shuffled over and bowed his head quickly, “My name is Daypaw.”
“Cool, my name is Venomflame. Bye now.”
I left quickly before he could keep on talking. What a weird cat! I thought.
“Where were you all night on vigil?” I heard my father, Copperwhisker, asked quickly.
“Yeah, why were you gone? You just up and left.” I heard Scarp-belly ask questionably.
“I heard a cat call for help, so I helped him, since you weren’t going to.” Scarbelly looked at me as if I were hallucinating.
“I didn’t hear anything.”
“Well I did.”
The whole rest of the clan looked confused. I shrugged and went into the warriors den, flopping down on the bed that didn’t look layed in. I was surprised when no one questioned me further. Why did everyone look so confused. The call for help was loud and clear. Yes, it was all the way over by River- wait, Riverclan. I felt confused myself. I couldn’t have been that close, but the cliff is right on our border?
The storm raged across the land, without being seen. I couldn’t see it, but I could hear it. Two cats stood, blurred out among the rest of the landscape.
The bare ground in the camp started glowing red, I looked down for a moment, and gasped. The ground was red and orange. I glanced back up.
Fright clouded my gaze. The forest was on fire!
Then it stopped, and I heard a small, frightened whisper from inside my head.
“This can be stopped. Catch the storm before it rages. Catch the beast lurking within.”
I jumped backwards with a screech, my paws on fire.
“Fire will kill the clans!” I heard another cat screech, “The flame will lap at our paws until we stop the storm!”
A flame? Was it me, Venomflame, that would kill the clans?
I yowled at the sky, “What is happening!?” Before everything went black.
Chapter Five
The stormy sky didn’t deter me, I was on a mission.
The river was in front of me, with a slight current. It was still clear enough to hunt for fish in it though, as I could see silver through the slight waves. Nothing I coudln’t handle.
I paused and waited. When I knew I was in the perfect position I shot my paw out into the water and scooped up the silver creature out of the water, quickly giving it a killing bite. One more.
It wasn’t long when another fish was in a perfect spot, and striked once more.
“Two fish?” I heard my brother, Daypaw ask me in pride and awe. I nodded, not able to talk with the fish in my mouth. “And what did Scalefoot say?”
I dropped the fish and smiled, “Yes! I can be a Warrior!”
He purred happily and meowed, “Great! Fishleap said mine was going to be around right actually.” He looked up at the sky and I followed his gaze. The sky was cloudy and stormy, and lighting flashed in the distance.
“Are you ready.” I jumped when I heard Scalefoot’s voice. I nodded quickly.
“Yes, yes!”
He purred, “It’s happening right now.”
I looked over at the leader, hearing the call for everyone to come to the middle.
I looked over at Daypaw, and his eyes shone brightly.
We padded by the rock.
“Come up here.” I heard our leader, Shiningstar meow.
We both padded up, trembling with excitement.
“Are you ready?” I heard Daypaw ask ender his breath. I nodded to him.
“You’re done now.” I heard the voice coming from the Warriors Den. I shivered and stood up breathing a sigh of relief.
“Thank Starclan.” I huffed.
Milletfur padded closer, “Good job, Sandblast and Daybird.” I nodded with pride, and I saw my brother do the same.
“Now, can we go hunt or something?” I heard my brother ask hesitantly.
Milletfur chuckled, “Of course! I was just going to set up some patrols,” He waved his tail at us, “Follow me.” We padded along side him and he jumped up on the rock.
We could see the other Warriors getting up. The whisper of a cat talking quietly, the sigh of relief after a stretch.
“Get up everyone! We’re going to start some patrols.”
More cats crawled out of the den and padded over to the rock. “Let’s see… Brackenshade, your apprentice, and Dovepounce and your apprentice can patrol the border. Check along the Windclan side, because we’ve been getting reports that they haven’t set their boundaries for a while.” Milletfur rolled his eyes, “Getting lazy I suppose.”
While he was talking I noticed the gray around his muzzle. He must be getting old, I thought.
“So we’re coming with you?” I heard Daybird ask. Milletfur nodded his head.
The outside was refreshing, and the river looked rich. It was surprisingly calm considering yesterdays weather.
I could see many silver fish in the river, and looked over at Daybird, which was kneading the ground with excitement.
“Excited, eh?” I heard Milletfur ask him, and he nodded quickly. I nodded along with him. There was plenty, and we would definitely catch plenty.
It was nice being full on the verge of leaf-fall, knowing that this wouldn’t last forever. I wasn’t worried though, because even if the river froze, we could find something to break it open with and catch fish.
I padded from the den after a nap, and excited the reeds and small trees that made the camp entrance, and glanced over at a small bush. Wait, what was that. I padded closer and gasped in horror. It was a cat’s body!
I leaped backwards, but then took a step forward. I sighed in relief. It didn’t smell of a clan. The blood was fresh though, and I shivered.
I rushed back to camp, which wasn’t that far and spotted the guard, Skywhisker. “Follow me quick!” I meowed to him urgently. He looked confused but followed as I raced back towards the direction of the bush.
He gasped as we got close to the dead cat. “Wh-what happened here?” He asked quietly.
I glanced back at him, “I don’t know! He was just laying here!” I meowed frantically.
“Well we need to report this. It’s just a rouge, thank Starclan, but it was on our territory.” He shuddered, “Whoever did this must’ve had vicious intentions.”
The word spread quickly as we got back to camp.
“Who could’ve done this?” I heard one cat ask in disbelief.
I saw another cat nod. “This was a bad attack. If it were me I would’ve just forced it out of our territory. Not rip its neck to shreds!”
It was silenced by Shiningstar, who said that it must’ve been another rouge or something, but to make sure that there wasn’t any other rouges on our territory.
I was unsure though, because even though I didn’t get a good whiff, it the bite smelled of Riverclan. It also had to be a cat, because I could see scratches on the cat.
“Lets just go and rest.” I heard Daybird purr. I nodded and padded behind him, still deep in thought. I just couldn’t get it out of my head!
When I layed down I woke into a dream of the same spot I was, but without the cat under the bush. I gazed around confused by what I was doing here again.
I heard a dragging and looked towards the noise.
I choked, the dead cat was being dragged by another. The other looked familiar, but I still couldn’t pin it down.
The cat dragged the corpse into the bush and looked around before padding away quietly.
Those eyes… I can’t remember…
I gasped awake and glanced around quickly before heading out. The guard, still Skywhisker, was half asleep, so I passed him easily.
The spot was surprisingly easy to find, and I smelled the cat. Cringing, I took a step closer and smelled the corpse.
I strained hard, and shot back in horror. The smell was easily recognizable, “Daybird!”