ＨＩＴ ＩＮ ＴＨＥ ＣＨＥＳＴ ＡＧＡＩＮ
ＬＩＫＥ Ａ
ＳＴＥＡＭＲＯＬＬＥＲ, ＲＯＬＬＥＲ
ＡＮＤ Ｉ ＷＯＮ'Ｔ ＴＡＫＥ ＴＨＥ ＣＨＡＮＣＥ ＡＧＡＩＮ
ｂｕｔ ｉ ｗｏｎ'ｔ, ｂｕｔ ｉ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｌｅｔ 'ｅｍ ｇｅｔ ｏｕｔ. . .
ＬＩＫＥ Ａ
ＳＴＥＡＭＲＯＬＬＥＲ, ＲＯＬＬＥＲ
ＡＮＤ Ｉ ＷＯＮ'Ｔ ＴＡＫＥ ＴＨＥ ＣＨＡＮＣＥ ＡＧＡＩＮ
ｂｕｔ ｉ ｗｏｎ'ｔ, ｂｕｔ ｉ ｗｏｎ'ｔ ｌｅｔ 'ｅｍ ｇｅｔ ｏｕｔ. . .
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there was. . . there was this one cat. not one of us, no, she didn't want to be. our attempts to give her a name were fruitless. she had some kind of affinity with one of our own, though. nobody else understood, but i did. i could feel her passion for him. . . i think he was her kit. she never seemed far away, and none of us ever saw a threat in her. we let her hunt for herself-- she was a scrawny thing, so i didn't suspect she took a lot from our food.
she didn't talk. she just quietly watched from the trees. if you thought you saw her, she was gone before you could open your mouth. but starclan, was she effective. we never once had an attack from just about anything for as long as she guarded our clan. she could kill foxes before we even knew they were there. many of us owe her our lives. every time another clan got hit my a fox or a badger or even another clan's attempt to conquer, we were untouched. perhaps this cat had powers of persuasion that nobody else could imagine. or maybe she just did what it took to keep her baby safe. i think that's what brought us into a false sense of security, because when it happened. . .
starclan confided in me that we wouldn't be saved this time. the dream was horrible, i. . . i don't know if i can describe it in its full terror. there was the smell of rot in my nose and my whiskers wouldn't let go of the feeling that i was being touched. my senses were overwhelmed. it was dark, muggy, and i was in a foreign place-- where tall monsters towered over me and overcast me in their shadows. i looked around for escape, and immediately to my right was the cat. she was fluffed and upright, her mangy orange fur matted in mud and her face mangled. she was brave, the hero that everyone had always envisioned. in a blur, i was swept away by who-knows-what, a mush of brown and blue. next thing i saw was lightning that traveled parallel to the ground out of a blast of fire, striking right through the disfigured face of our hero. and in a murky pile, she was downed.
i didn't want to look. i didn't want to see her, the one who undoubtedly kept us all safe for so many a moon, in such a sad mess. i didn't want to think that she could be gone. i wanted to believe someone of such esteem could live forever. the idea that i was dreaming completely went over my head. if only i had been able to keep calm.
i awoke in a panic. all my training compelled me to tell the leader about the omen, but every bone in my body told me to keep it a secret. i did not want to shatter the image of our protector, and i certainly didn't want to jinx it. how foolish of me.
that evening, our border patrol found a small, orange corpse, with a gaping hole in its forehead.
the clan was sent into despair.
we didn't know the dangers we would be subject to. our shield was down. apprentices ceased training and kits were confined to their dens, but none of our precautions saved us. there would be three plagues never heard of before.
first came the floods. the dark brown water swept through our clan like a river. dens were destroyed, kits were stolen by the water. half of our clan was lost on this day.
then came the sickness. worse than any cough you could imagine, cats' eyes were oozing green and throats hacking blood. it took three days, and i was unable to save the remaining seven of twelve. finally, i passed, and i would watch the following horrors from the stars.
five were left. the danger known only to the other clans as twolegs was upon us. they were tall, and they carried sticks that shot lightning. they carried coarse webs that nobody could break free from. the bodies that were lying about the camp were taken, and our whole camp was flattened and cleaned. while most remaining survivors had the sense to hide, one brave soul tried to protect a body-- the body of his apprentice. he yowled and yowled, and met the fury of their thunder.
then they left. traumatized, the four left huddled together. they spent several days simply speculating on what in starclan's name had just happened. only when they became weak from hunger did they understand the passing of their time, and they set out to hunt. they didn't dare rebuild their camp in the same place. without a word to any other clan, they embarked over the river, mountains, and plains, unto a forest similar to the home they once loved. no twoleg populations in sight, they rebuilt.
they retained their names. silverclan, now consisting of only five cats, repopulated with strays and attempted to thrive in a foreign place. the protector's beloved son rose to power.
i no longer have a place in their history. they will create their own.
