Journey to the Trinity Tree - Summer event prompts

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Username: TheSongOfTheStars
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Bryva Hayes Lost Shard
Link to their pride or group: HOD Dark of Mists
Prompt level completion: 5
Prompt: link

[ThatOnePython]

Username: ThatOnePython
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Xia, Tasso and Pecora
Link to their pride or group: EchoLake Pride
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt:
Link

[MySpoons]

Preparations made to the best of abilities, the cats among the tree have shown their values as soldiers. Patience among the restless grows thin, and the battle looms closely. Their first attack comes in the night, shaking the cats from their sleep as horns echo and bellow through the underground city. The strange denizens of this place are the first to arms, racing ahead to defend their home and the goddess who protects them.

On the ground level, is chaos as monstrosities made of wood and soil, oozing with dark mud and lifeless eyes as they lurch forward, claws of stone tearing up the soil. Coming in all shapes and sizes, the enemies of the goddess had arrived to show themselves. Though intimidating, somehow the defending party gets the idea that this is only a warning... a scouting party. A test.

How do your cats fare in this battle? Do they suffer any injuries or manage to sneak away unscathed? Are they the first to charge in, or weaving through the field to attack stealthily? Who do they team up with? What sort of fighters do they avoid? What foes do they choose to take on? Are they scared or angry? How do they regroup after the fight is over? Do they collapse where they stand? look for more battles and lash out? or flee as soon as possible?

After the battle, the goddess is only silent. Solemn, against the threat. Once the field is empty, there is a weary silence.


Username: MySpoons
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: MAR'S CHAMPION, Samael
Link to their pride or group: The New Guard
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt III: [1007/1000]

The baying of the warning horns jerks Samael from his light slumber. Even though he's only spent less than a few days here, his dreams have been strange and surreal. Is it because of this place, or what Mars gave him? He has the odd sense that the dreams are visions of the past and future, melded in such a way that a mortal such as himself cannot understand.

As he runs out of his borrowed room, Sammael's heavy black armor materializes and fits against him as if molded to his body. The stream of felines, both large and small, turn into a stream around him spilling out onto the ground above in response to the call. Some are well armored like him, most of them seem to have at least one piece on themselves or a weapon. But even those who are not protected still run forward, lending their voices to the ever-growing rumbling roar of their war cry.

When they arrive above ground, the enemies are visible-- but at first, Samael thinks they are a trick of the light, that he isn't seeing them properly. The opponents are made of wood and mud and stone, churning up the ground like great machines trying to score the earth down to her bones. Samael spots the largest ones first, towering golems that blot out most of the beautiful night sky filled with sparkling stars in unfamiliar constellations.

He breaks off towards one, leading a group with a guttural roar. Samael streaks forward, under the heavy claws of stone swiping out at them and finds himself under the golem. It is not a living thing-- at least like nothing he's ever seen. Still, Samael reaches up with his claws and rips furrows into an exposed piece of wood. It gives a little, shifting in the thick mud that splatters down in front of him. The other lions and cats attack, too, with similar results.

The golem does not seem to even notice them. Samael pulls back, searching for something that looks like a face. A joint, a thinner point that may be a weakness. Growling, he digs his claws back in and slices through thick mud without touching anything that resembles bones.

Someone yelps, caught by the edge of the golem's swing and tossed tail over ears. One wrong step and a cat could easily get stepped on or crushed by the limbs of the golem. Samael tries again and again, scattering mud across the ground and himself as he is unable to slow down or stop the monster from advancing on the city. He pulls back, snarling, and sees that everyone else is struggling to find a way to stop these monsters.

Refusing to give up, Samael digs for the immortal strength flowing through his veins and climbs onto what he assumes is the back of the golem-- it's so hard to tell what is what when facing a non-living enemy. Hearing someone else attempt to climb up after him, Samael picks a spot where rocks are sticking out of the back of this creature and starts to dig with extended claws.

It is hard, difficult work to cut through thick mud. He scrapes his claws on stone and wood, filled with maw with mud when he uses his teeth to pull. A few stones tumble down, following the sludge of mud that surrounded them. The golem certainly doesn't notice them-- it is still lurching forward, not slowed at all, towards the underground city.

A few flashes of magic burst through the darkness. Someone had the bright idea to build deep ditches and pile up the extra land behind, turning the land into a wall to slow the monsters. Vines and tree roots emerge from the ground to wrap around the golems, water turns the land under them into thick marsh, slowing the creatures.

The more Samael digs, the less of the golem there is to continue moving forward. It collapses in pieces, over time as the cats attacking it remove stones and piece of wood. Eventually, Samael stands among a pile of mud, coated black in the dim light. With a shake of his mane, he rushes off to the next one.

They are not without casualties. When the stone claws of these creatures hit, they do damage. Blunt force damage from the large ones, sometimes breaking bones or crushing limbs of those who slipped. The smaller creatures have sharper claws. They are faster, slipping between the fighters in the chaos behind the broken line of champions.

As the fight slows down, the battlefield becomes thick with mud and debris. Small cats sometimes get stuck in it. Lions too tired to continue fighting sinking into the mud, exhausted. After what feels like hours, all the golems had been reduced to their parts. Samael is coated in so much mud, he isn't sure he can move his toes. Strength like fire still burns within him, so he tracks his way back to the entrance of the underground city, nudging those along to way to get them up and moving.

With each headbutt, each nudge, energy seeps out of Samael until he is exhausted as the rest of them-- but he roused enough on his own to have a large team for cleanup. First, the fallen and the injured are searched for. Samael has no more strength left to give, so he joins the cats who are sorting through the mud, pulling out the smaller stones to become part of a large blockade. Some cats carry torches, burning the wood.

It must be magical wood. Samael swears he sees a flash of magic in an invisible inscription now turned visible under the direct contact of flames, then the wood burns away like kindling. The ash floats across the field and sinks into the mud. If left long enough, the land will return rich and fertile.

If there is land left after this war. Samael has a sinking suspicion that this was a test, a probe of their might.

[ajax.]

Username: AJ.
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Nereus Alaz
Link to their pride or group: Antiquis Aetheres
Prompt level completion: 5
Prompt: 1052 words

They were coming.
Nereus flattened his ears, and tried to will his fur to lie flat along his spine. There was little hope in doing that though, he couldn't rest his racing heartbeat.
"Let's hope this works..." He mumbled to himself. He had practised for days now in preparation, willing water through the soil to attack enemies.
Alaz was at his side, despite his best efforts to keep his son back, he kept managing to sneak up again. He wanted Alaz near the back, where he was less likely to be hurt. Even if they couldn't die... they could feel pain.
And he didn't want Alaz to have to feel that, not if he could help it.
He stood beside a ginormous lion, who was at his left. They looked battle-scarred and vicious, Nereus shrunk back. These beasts he had to trust? He had been trying, but it was difficult when he saw their teeth.
They could bite him clean in half.
His tail flickered with the rolling tide, and Alaz's own tail flared brightly with living flames. Nereus braced his paws in the soft dirt, watching as the monstrosities rushed forward. He had never seen anything like it before, but with the others rushing forward, he was spurred into movement.
"Stay behind me." He called to Alaz, but the smaller black-tabby had other ideas, he darted off and Nereus almost stopped to run after him. But, his paws kept churning forward, tail held high and his maw opening wide to yowl a battle cry.
Out of the corner of his eye he watched his son, running near the front, his outstretched paws causing flames to burst from the earth and trap enemies. Nereus nearly grew too distracted to react as his weight collided with one of the mud-creatures.
His claws tore at them, he was supposed to avoid close combat.
He jumped back, tensing his body and urging the water to rise around the creature, pulling away the materials that kept it together.
The creature diminished into the earth as if it was meant to be there, Nereus tried to control the shiver that ran through him.
Then, he heard a cry, and it sounded all too familiar.
The god's head whipped around, spotting a black pelt that he had wished wouldn't be here. He rushed forward as a creature loomed over him, only to pause as a large creamy tom leapt at it. Nereus swallowed, he hadn't met that cat yet.
He used this moment of pause to rush for Orpheus, colliding and drowning away another monster in his path.
"Orph!" He skidded to a halt, looking frantically over the wounds. He could try and heal him? He wasn't good at that sort of thing. The most he could do was use the water to heal him minorly.
If that helped.
"Nereus? What are you doing here?" The black tom asked, breaths coming in ragged pants. Nereus touched his nose to his mortal mate's forehead, then looked to the creamy tom, who had seemed to successfully driven off the creature. Nereus swallowed, turning back to Orpheus.
He willed the water to at least heal the small cuts, it left his body drained, but he seemed to heal one or two cuts. It wasn't nearly enough, and he felt guilty as he backed away, hoping his expression was apology enough as he managed to shake out his fur. "I need to get back." He whispered to his mate. "But I promise I'll be back."
"But-- you're hurt too!" Orpheus exclaimed, and Nereus shrugged, ignoring the stinging bite of his own wounds, if he found water he'd be fine.
Nereus turned away, nearly colliding with the cream tom, who growled. "God." The blue tom recoiled at the tom's tone and ducked away with a hiss. He didn't need to fight an ally today, no matter how rude he seemed.
He looked back at Orpheus before another monster took his attention away from his mate.
---
Nereus panted, stumbling back toward the large tree he was growing used to seeing. His body was exhausted, and his mouth was dry as he overexerted his powers. He flopped down, tail going out as he rested his head on his paws.
Golden ichor left his wounds, they weren't minor, but they didn't require attention either.
He didn't want any attention anyway.
He only needed water, that would help boost his body to recover. Water deities needed water to heal.
Briefly, he closed his eyes, hoping to catch some rest while the monsters had retreated, there would be so many more to come. He needed to be prepared, and he needed to ensure he didn't exhaust himself halfway through the next battle.
There was something missing though, and as Nereus drifted in an out of consciousness, he couldn't quite put his paw on it.
He squinted as he heard movement coming toward him, and opening his eyes he saw Alaz stumbling forward, his golden ichor staining so much of his fur.
Nereus' heart jumpstarted and he leapt to his paws, nearly forgetting his son was there in his fatigue. He rushed forward, frantically trying to figure out what to do.
"I told you to stay back!" He gasped as his son collapsed to the ground. Nereus flattened his ears, knowing his son would heal, they healed quickly too, it was just a waiting game. His body would recover.
"I know." Alaz groaned, shaking his head, a gash on his face seemingly from a giant paw.
Nereus stumbled and limped to find a stick, bringing it back to his son, who stared past it. He mumbled something, igniting it with barely a flick of his still burning tail, the fires on his tail went out right after.
Nereus set the stick down beside his son, the fires growing bright as they touched the young fire god's body and licked up his side. The blue tomcat flattened his ears and looked around at the rest of the cats and lions trying to rest. The goddess had gone silent, and he know that wasn't good. He didn't like silence, it made his thoughts race,
Nereus could only worry as he watched his son fall into a fitful sleep.
He would not sleep that night himself. He needed to watch over Alaz.

[wucaian]

Username: wucaian
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Moon | Crypt
Link to their pride or group: Mountain Pass Pride | Sun Gorge Pride
Prompt level completion: [Lvl. 4/802 words]
Prompt:-June 3rd-
Waiting is the worst part. Moon truly believes that. The paranoia of not knowing when the world will go from peaceful quiet to screams of rage and pain. It’s unbearable. Moon would always rather be doing than sitting around. She can’t sit still on most days. But when there’s something threatening her pride, she’ll leap in headfirst and face the consequences later. Every time.

Now the stakes are bigger than just her pride. The residents of this world are relying on her, Crypt, Solar, and two dozen champions and warriors from the other worlds. The Guardians have given them training and guidance in the past days. They’ve learned about the magic, land, and history of this place. They’ve split the champions and warriors into three groups, but left the tactics for the groups up to the champions. Crypt has assumed leadership of her group. She and Solar had agreed that of the three of them, he was the right choice. Moon was only a guard, not a captain or head guard. It took some effort to convince the others. They had originally settled on a council of the best from each of the three worlds. There had been arguing and posturing at first, to feel out the abilities of each other. But now they had a plan. And everyone had agreed Crypt was the best one to lead their group.

Moon had gone to bed confident in their plan.

000

The horns jar her violently from sleep. She bolts upright in the den her group has been given. It takes her a moment to orient herself. But then her blood runs cold. Crypt and a few of the others are already on their feet and running for the entrance. Moon stumbles in her haste to follow them, but then she gets her feet under her and they’re all running flat out for the exit. They burst out from beneath the roots of the tree. Away on the right the watch is fighting. The Guardians and other groups are running to join them. Crypt leads their group across the grass. He turns quickly to yell orders over his shoulder.

“Just stick with our plan! We’ve prepared for the unexpected.”

With a determined nod Moon splits off to the left with two of the others. Crypt charges in with another champion, Ooyla. Moon and her group slow the closer they get. They crouch and creep amongst the plants. The plan is for them to come in quickly, but quietly, and try to work themselves behind, or at least to a hidden spot near, the enemy.

The first is quickly ruled out. The enemy is hard to see, this they expected. The Guardians had warned that the creatures liked to spread their darkness to blot out the light. But they didn’t realize how widely they would spread. There just wasn’t a practical way to get behind them. So hiding it is. They have a little more luck there. The area they’re in has some large boulders and dips in the ground. So Moon ends up crouched in a hole. Waiting, again, for their signal.

000

Crypt is nervous. He can feel the flutters of fear and anxiety in his chest. But he doesn’t have time for that fear. So he sets his jaw and zeroes in on his target. He and Ooyla need to meet up with one of the Mages. His group had planned to pair with them to take advantage of their magical senses to target the monsters from the other worlds.

They hit the front lines in only a few minutes. The runes Yme Fyre had painted gave them extra strength and stamina. Crypt threw himself at the closest enemy, a demon with horns of twisting shadow and faintly glowing yellow spines all over its body. It’s not enough to do serious damage, but it does what he wanted and throws them back. He turns to the Mage he defended from the demon.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

They stand straighter, their eyes glowing from the magic they hold at the ready.

“Do not worry about me, young one. I am fine.”

“Okay, well. Where should Ooyla and I go?”

“Over there,” the mage gestures before turning to blast the demon Crypt rammed into with a bolt of yellow green energy. “That spirit with the long legs and lightning and the monster with the four fangs.”

“Got it!” Crypt shouts, already running to the right with Ooyla behind him.

The two of them charge the creatures the mage pointed out. Crypt leaps at the lightning spirit, aiming for their shoulder. He slams into them with enough force to flatten an antelope. The spirit falls to its knees but doesn’t fall. Crypt doesn’t let go as they rise again and try to turn on him.

[Wet Bread]

Username: Wet Bread
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Worm Aluraune
Link to their pride or group: Rusted Daemons
Prompt level completion: level 3
Prompt:
Worm knew about the attack before it hit, naturally. She'd been training with another chosen hero, sparring so she'd be fresh for battle, and maintaining a close eye on Lucian, Orpheus, and Aluraune in the meantime, when the vision hit. Sometimes they came on this suddenly. She couldn't always control her magic to see into the future.

In the vision she saw some of the enemies descend upon the tree and attack. The battle in her vision was a hard one, but not a long one. Only a fraction of the enemies forces seemed to show up. Nonetheless, some lives would be lost during the battle. In particular, Worm saw herself in the battle. She was briefly with her reluctant allies, but ended up fighting side by side with one of the guardians of the tree. The two fought well as a pair and were holding their own until one of the enemies attacked them from behind. Worm was distracted and the enemy landed on the back of the guardian cat, overwhelming them. The enemies swarmed the guardian cat and Worm. As she came back to reality, Worm was faced with a potentially cruel fate. If she didn't figure out a way to change things, both her and that guardian cat would die.

When the day came that the attack finally happened, Worm felt prepared as she could but still couldn't help but fret about it a bit. She knew, from her experience with life changing visions in the past, that she had to go along with fate to an extent. Worm knew, no matter what direction she went in of what action she took, she would end up fighting side by side with that guardian cat. So when the battle hit, Worm jumped headfirst into the fray. She didn't even try to avoid it. The creatures of decay were a bit frightening, but Worm wouldn't necessarily say she was scared. Her body was pumping with adrenaline as she fought off the creatures.

Soon enough, Worm glanced to the side to see none other but the guardian cat from her vision fighting by her side. Just like in her vision, the two of them fought very well together. They faced off a few of the creatures before it felt like time began to slow slightly. Worm realized that this was her crucial moment. The moment she could change their fates. As fast as she could, she dodged a creature's blow and turned to tackle the creature the creature that stood poised, ready to kill the guardian, headfirst. Worm succeeded in tackling the enemy and knocking it away, but this also put her close enough to the creature to give it a chance to sink its hard claws into pelt. Worm's pained, angry yowl sounded loud enough to get the attention of nearby allies. The guardian pulled the creature away from Worm, fighting it off quickly, while the other heroes rushed in to cover and heal her. These injuries were definitely an inconvenience but they were already healing quickly.

As the battle ended and the remaining enemies fled, the guardian she fought beside approached Worm.

"Thank you." They said with a dip of their head. "I know you got injured protecting me and I'll be sure to repay that kindness." As they left to check on the rest of their allies, Worm realized how much this inconvenience may have benefited her. That cat would definitely be looking out for Worm in the future, which she desperately needed if Aluraune decided to cause trouble on top of everything. This may work in her favor after all.

[604 words]

[SurgeFire]

Username: SurgeFire
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: orpheus, lucian
Link to their pride or group: Vallis
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt:

I don't want to have to use my magic.

He couldn't sleep. How could he? When the war was looming over their heads; dangerous foes Lucian had struggled to gain knowledge of - ready to strike... this was something he had never faced, this was something he wasn't sure he was going to know how to face.
So he could only think.
Lucian was terrified of using his magic; he witnessed a variation of it a long time ago, in a hardly-repressed memory (despite it being from when he was a kitten) destroy and kill - cause a series of events that ultimately led to his dissatisfaction in Vallis - and he never wanted to see it again.

He held some sort of storm magic.
More specifically the ability to manipulate electricity with lightning. This wasn't something he had been proud of for ages, and he always hid it.

But now, Lucian was faced with the possibility that he might just have to in this battle.

Now, he learned that his specific type of magic wouldn't likely be very effective directly against these creatures; they were made of wood and soil, not necessarily something that could easily be deeply hurt like a creature like he was.
So he had to learn.
And if that meant practicing his magic, then so be it.


Orpheus had worked tirelessly in his efforts to improve his own skills.
Skills in his healing - which was greatly helped with his healing magic, which had always been unaffected by his inability to conjure up more powerful earth magic than he could. The block that prevented him from doing that had seemingly left that unaffected.
And... the skills in his earth magic.
He had tried endlessly in order to break this block; weaken it enough to be able to do magic that mattered, in his eyes. He wanted to not just aid in healing, he wanted to feel like a hero.
Because if he did, he would be trusted, for once.

The block slowly wore down.
He wasn't sure at all how it would work out, but it did; he was more and more able to use his magic, more and more able to come up with something that could easily strike down his opponent. He would get exhausted rather easily, but it seemed as if this exhaustion happened less and less as he went on.
He felt like he was ready, of sorts. Surely not ready to face this foe; he was entirely and extremely nervous of everything, but he figured there was no use in dwelling on his fears.
He would prove himself.

When the battle began, he hardly felt any sort of readiness anymore, but Orpheus knew he couldn't let the fear consume him this time.
The denizens were first to attack and defend their home, and the ones who were summoned followed suit afterwards.

"Are you ready, Lucian?"
The words came from the nervous cat at his side; clearly attempting to keep up a heroic facade, but Lucian could tell that he was nervous.
He was trying his best.
Lucian hardly wanted to reply to him, still bearing some sort of hatred towards this cat, but... "...of course I am, Orpheus. Why would I not be?"

And the creatures struck.

They were frightened by the size of these creatures. They seemed to be personifications of chaos; they tore up the soil with claws of stone; something Lucian anticipated that they would have as he learned of their increased defense against his magic.
Would Orpheus be able to defend against this? he thought to himself, before shaking his head. No, don't think of him. Think of yourself.
Friendliness was not something he wanted to show, necessarily.
But it was hard not to. He had to consider this cat an ally, if he liked it or not.
He was scared, and that fear would bite him even more if he didn't show common sense.

The first few creatures were tough to fight, although manageable. He had teamed up with his other allies in order to take them down; Lucian being able to not use his magic in his fighting endeavors. He wanted to be able to take them on physically if needed, and not have to use his magic.
He recalled taring into the wood and soil along with the others; the lions mostly having a better advantage with these creatures because of their size, but Lucian able to contribute as much as he could, too.
It was unpleasant; the mud and the soil getting into fur and between the claws, but he was able to do his job.

Lucian was not the type of cat to charge in, and neither was Orpheus. They both were not eager fighters nor were trained to di it in the realm they came from; so they did their best to do what they could do better - stealth. And they knew that numbers worked better than doing things by themselves.

But soon, the two found themselves by themselves.
"Lucian?" Orpheus panted, his eyes wide. "The others aren't here - there's a -"
And one of the creatures struck.

This time the exposed wood struck Orpheus heavily, sending him crashing down; he was already exhausted and beaten by the other fighting that he couldn't quite be perceptive this time, and he had not noticed the creature.
Lucian's eyes widened, and he knew what to do.

I have to use my magic.

He turned to face the creature, leaping at it; first attacking with his brute strength, getting at any exposed material he could - he just wanted to drive this thing away, not necessarily kill it - and then he willed all he could in order to strike it the best he could.

Here goes nothing.

The magic was not unfamiliar, but in a genuine battle, it was still surprising what he could do; although the creature was somewhat resistant, it felt the power of his own lightning, and Lucian, himself, winced.

In the midst of his own battle he nearly collided with another cat; a blue tom - he didn't expect this and snarled, focused on his fighting.

Still distracted from this encounter, he didn't even notice when the last hit got to him; his world turned to nothing in an instant, sufficiently knocked out by its blow.
[1050 words]

[Jantzi01]

Username: Jantzi01
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Helios Kosa Virtue
Link to their pride or group: The Ushirikiano Pride Here
Prompt level completion: 5
Prompt:
VOK
HW

[hawkfire102]

Username: hawkfire102
Link to cat(s) or lion(s) involved in prompt: Fallenmoon Mallardtuft Marshpaw
Link to their pride or group: Moonlight Fields
Prompt level completion: Level 4
Prompt:
The cats of the Moonlight Fields were startled awake by the horns. Fallenmoon scrambled up to immediately shield his companions as be scanned the current fight.

"We'll do better if the 3 of us go against one enemy at a time." He stated, glancing back at the two mollies. Mallardtuft only nodded grimly. Marshpaw's gaze was firmly locked on the enemies with her back arched.

"Do not worry, young one." He said, earning her attention. "If we stick together, we shall not fail." Marshpaw gave him a shaky nod before getting to her paws.

Fallen's heart ached for the apprentice. Their home has never felt the rage of war within the recent years and now the first time the remade group fights it is against supernatural beings. Fallenmoon never wanted this for them. This is why he wanted them to stay back at their home.

He turned back to the grim scene in front of them. He scanned the area for an enemy that the three of them could adequately takedown. His eyes locked on a smaller enemy that had gotten past their larger companions. He pressed his ears back against his head.

"Alright, attack!" He lunged forward with his clanmates at his side. He leaped at the enemy, bowling them over to render them vulnerable to his smaller companions. He felt the sting of the stone claws on his belly as they tried to escape. With a flurry of claws and fangs, the enemy retreated back to the ranks.

"Take that!" Marshpaw shouted, tail lashing. Fallenmoon was glad to see the fire replacing the fear in her. Fallenmoon winced at his energy but straightened up as Mallardtuft turned to him.

"So what's next, sir?" She asked. He pondered that for a moment, looking at all of the more experienced and fierce warriors that were fighting by their sides.

"We should continue to catch those that slip past the front lines. Nothing good will happen if they can get behind them." He stated, trying to cover his wincing as he padded forward.

"Keep your wits about you, Marshpaw," He said, "These are not meant to be easy foes. We need to remind collected if we are to win against this wave." Marshpaw looked at him wide-eyed but nodded.

"Now, let's get back in there and help out the others. We can't allow the other healers to be injured by these enemies." He said as he charged off to the next enemy.


Once the battle had subsided, the three of them were beyond tired. Fallenmoon looked from his position with his head hung to see his clanmates. Both of them had taken some bad injuries and Fallen had never like more of a bad leader. He watched as his clanmates got their wounds tended to. Mallard's small stature made her suffer worse injuries but she still stood until the enemies retreated. Marshpaw faired better out of the three of them.

Fallen let out a sigh and looked up at the sky. He started to question why they were here. Surely there were better heroes, better warriors, than they were. He looked at the large felines that inhabited this campsite in awe and in shame. If he had been in his younger years, he would have been fighting right by their side with the same intensity. But now? Now he could barely hold his own.

"Fallenmoon?"

He turned his head to see Mallardtuft limping over to sit next to him.

"How are you feeling, Mallardtuft?" He asked her, giving her shoulder a lick.

"It feels like I barely escaped a crocodile but I think I'll survive." She said as she carefully stretched out one of her legs. There was a silence between them as they both looked up at the sky.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked. Fallenmoon shook his head.

"I'm unsure. We've answered their call to help. We cannot back out now but I worry for the both of you. This is why I wanted to take this quest on my own." He said. He felt Mallard whack him with her tail.

"If you went on your own, you wouldn't have come back. I know this and you know this." She said sternly. He let out a murrow of laughter.

"Don't laugh at me Fallen, we both care about you. And no one currently is better suited to lead our group than you." She hissed lightly. "Now, you're going to get your wounds tended to and once everyone is rested, we will train." She said as she puffed out her chest. A soft smile spread across his face.

"Alright," He got to his paws and looked at her, "No matter how this ends, Mallard, you've always proved yourself to be a good leader." With that, he made his way to the healers.

805/750 words

[Runnersback]

Username:Runnersback
Link to lion(s) involved in prompt:Achilles Letaba Diablo
Link to their pride: Realms of L’Oasis Lo
Prompt level completion: Level 5
Prompt:004