[Kazin]

Username;; Kazin
Cat Name;; Shadowburn
Gender;; tom
Age;; 19 moons
Clan;; Zephyrclan
Rank;; Medicine cat

Prompt;;
Shadowburn is not a stranger to all things dark and mysterious. He has always been quite mysterious himself, an enigmatic force to all those that meet him. His eyes have always seemed to burn into those that he meets, evaluating them from the inside. It gets even stranger, as Shadowburn always mentions something about auras that are surrounding cats... While it may unsettle some, there are others that can see the honest sincerity in what Shadowburn says...

On the day that he came across the bones and candles, Shadowburn knew immediately that something was very wrong. This was not something that Shadowburn wanted to mess with, already feeling uneasy before he could even see what had happened, but he proceeded cautiously until he was closer to the remnants of the strange occurrence. He did not like what he saw, and certainly did not like what he felt. It almost seemed as if things were screaming at him, spirits of the lost crying out for help, a cacophony of noise in his head until finally it was all too much and Shadowburn closed his eyes, falling into a state of darkness for a few moments before coming around. Immediately, he turned tail and flew out of that bad place, not wanting to anger the spirits and the auras of the dead any more than they already were.

This was how he was found wandering around the territory, mumbling under his breath that this was bad, and that the spirits were very angry. No one quite understood what he meant, but when Shadowburn seemed to recognize his Clanmates, he snapped out of his stupor and demanded they all stay away from that part of the territory. When the leader and medicine cat both tried to ask him what had happened over there, he refused to tell them, saying that no one should be found anywhere near that place.

It was evil. It was bad. The only way to save their own auras was to stay as far away from that place as they could. Shadowburn took it upon himself to close off that part of the territory, stalking around during the day to make sure no one dared walk in that direction. He would know when the spirits were gone, but today was not the day.

[Zephara]

Drop out. Good luck eveyone!!

[Elliad.]

Username;; Elliad.
Cat Name;; Falconwind
Gender;; Male
Age;; 103 Moons
Clan;; Thornclan
Rank;; Elder

Prompt;;

“As the forest turns to ashes, the fall of the leader shall pave the way for a dangerous path,” the ancestor says, fading away into the darkness as the cat shoots awake, observing his surroundings.

He realises he is still in his den and curls back, trying to sleep but his mind keeps returning to what the ancestor says. “The forest turns to ashes?” the dark-coloured cat asks nobody in particular, “what does that even mean?”

---

Falconwind led his patrol through the undergrowth, carefully placing his paw down on the concealed path. Every so often, he would look behind to make sure everyone was still following. As he went to check again, a branch snapped to the left, causing each cat to swing around. “I’ll go check it out, you stay here,” Falconwind commands, walking away from the patrol.

Pushing through the shrubbery, the cat found himself in a small clearing, empty except for the smoke rising shortly from where he was stood. Going over to investigate, Falconwind was taken aback by the bones and residual smell of fire. He quickly pushed dirt over the smoke, not noticing the shrubbery that was melded in with this dirt and sniffed the bones, some rodents, he found.

“You found anything?” asked one of the cats from the patrol.

“Nothing,” Falconwind replies quickly, opting to not tell the cats of what he found. Turning away, he left the bones as he found them, wanting to ignore the truth in front of him.

---

Falconwind shot awake, coughing sharply as smoke filled his lungs. Cats ran frantically out of the den, waking up the cat next to them in the process. Looking around, Falconwind could not see anything past the smoke.

He ran out of the den, getting pushed aside by cats in the process who were running for their lives. Running, the tom followed the other cats, praying to Starclan that everyone has gotten out alive. In front of him stood Duskfall, the deputy, whispering to a cat hidden by the smoke. “Duskfall,” Falconwind yells, coughing as he breathes in smoke while approaching the she-cat.

Before he could get a good look, the other cat had run off. “Oh, Falconwind, Applestar is still at the camp. He was helping the sick cats who couldn’t walk. I need to go back to get him,” Duskfall

Falconwind shook his head. “No, I’ll go. You make sure the cats are all out of the fire, in the meadows to the east, through the mountains.”

“Alright,” says Duskfall, and with that, she was gone.

Turning around, Falconwind swiftly ran back to the camp, coughing with each stride. As he ran into the camp, it was deathly silent. “Applestar!” Falconwind yelled, looking around for the leader.

“help!”

Falconwind heard the shout in the distance, running towards the noise. “Applestar!” he yelled again before seeing the body of his leader, breathing shallow. “run...not...alone…”

At that, Falconwind was thrown back as a cat launched themselves at him, knocking him down and running away. By the time he stood up, both the other cat and Applestar were gone, one from camp, the other from life.

Falconwind waited for his leader to come back with one of his lives, but he never did. As the fire blazed on, the tom knew he couldn’t stay long and had to run.

---

As he arrived back, he saw Duskfall addressing the clan, having not spotted that he was there. “Applestar has died, and Falconwind has passed, having gone back in to save him. May they rest with Starclan.”

“No, no no, it can’t be true,” Falconwind muttered, watching Duskfall get crowned the leader as she stared at the bright eyes in the distance, grinning smugly.

The ancestor appears beside Falconwind, frowning. “The fate is set,” she says, turning to look at Falconwind sternly, “nobody can stop them now.”

***This is from the past, when Falconwind was still young. Now, he tells it to the kits, taking out the treachery committed by one of their leaders.

[Tordier]

drop

[DiamondDogg]

Username;; DiamondDogg
Cat Name;; Pineconepelt
Gender;; Male
Age;; 140 Moons (grumpy elder age)
Clan;; SilverClan
Prompt;; 6 moons earlier.... grump elder boy who finds the candle and sees silverclans future. hides candle in hole to protect it

comes back present day and sees silverstar and his final deaths. tears up candle but ends up causing everything he saw to happen to his precious clan

wip

[ataraxic_gone]

Username;; dewly_noted
Cat Name;; FalconLeap
Gender;; Male
Age;; 34 Moons
Clan;; BeachClan
Rank;; Coast Guard Captain

Prompt;;
The first thought that crossed FalconLeap's mind was to be weary of two-legs, he knew something of another's world when he saw it and with a flick of his tail the gift giving party he lead ground to a halt. Silence held firm as each cats ears swivelled listening for danger, examining every whisper and crack as if it could carry with it an unimaginable threat. Yet as the time ticked on nothing gave and the coast seemed to be clear. Still it wasn't clear until it was it was said aloud, "Spread out, clear the area."
The coast guards in their party fanned out immediately, not a moments hesitation, while the wave runners flinched, looked around and then followed suit. Some of these runners were far to new to the Coast Guards ways. As cats explored the area he moved closer to the candles sniffing the bones- the musty scent of the long lost and the dreadful mix of dust and mud. He leaned in and gently gave the candle a soft lick. The memory that hit him was vivid and intense.


A human walking through the forest, words vibrating off their tongue as they repeat a series of noises- a mantra. Hands extended, a tough looking stick in their hand, they trace out a circle. The first of many steps done they stop moving and settle down on the grass, where a series of candles, knives and bowls wait. The human wastes no time, hands moving over the items, words continuing to flow from them as they perform a ritual- a ritual that in hindsight reminded him of the works the Coral Whisperers sometimes did.
Silence fell upon the memory as the human took a deep breathe, their vision snapping towards FalconLeap she saw him. He couldn't move as she began chanting something more- pointing at him as she shouted some final words and FalconLeap felt the fear pulse into his chest.
He jerked away from the candle, fear in his eyes as DeerStride approached tentatively, "This area's clear sir- what's this?" FalconLeap shook his head instinctively trying to get away from the ritual that had occurred here, "Nothing, let's continue- EmberClan is waiting for us to bring good tidings!" He tried not to hurry like the ground was burning underneath him but looking at those bones- he swore he had just walked over his own grave. He'd have to speak with SageDapple about the experience later. [409]

[SpaghettiOhs]

Username;; SpaghettiOhs
Cat Name;; Elkpaw
Gender;; female
Age;; 8 moons
Clan;; JuniperClan
Rank;; Apprentice

Prompt;;

Elkpaw sniffed at the strange items on the ground. These were definitely bones, but not from a mouse or squirrel. Something bigger. And the strange waxy lumps... they smelled like smoke, but she'd never seen anything like them before.

Her mentor suddenly appeared next to her, making her jump. "Let's keep moving,Elkpaw. The clan needs to eat, and you haven't caught anything yet."

She ignored his irritable tone. Cougarstrike was always cranky about something. "What is this stuff?" She prodded one of the waxy lumps with her paw.

He shrugged. "Just some two leg nonsense. Let's go."

•••

Elkpaw couldn't stop thinking about what she'd found. Something about it was... weird. There was something special about it. She just knew it.

When the rest of the clan was asleep that night, she slipped out of camp. She had to check it out again. Maybe she could unravel the mystery when her mentor wasn't breathing down her neck.

Everything was exactly where it was when she had left it. Warily, she approached the largest waxy lump, careful not to make a sound.

Why was she being so cautious, she wondered. There was nobody else here to hear her. The forest was absolutely silent. She couldn't even smell anything nearby, not even a mouse.

Tentatively, she prodded the lump with a  forepaw again.

A chill ran down her spine. Something had moved at the edge of her vision. She took a deep breath, scenting the air. Still nothing.

Then she heard it, the first sound she'd heard since leaving camp. Deep, purring laughter... coming from right behind her.

Elkpaw felt dread wash over her, paralyzing and cold. She remembered the stories that the elders told when she was a kit, of the cats who died and weren't able to go to StarClan. How they stayed behind, dark shadows of evil cats, still stalking the forest.

She sat, frozen waves of terror rippling through her pelt. Other voices joined the first, whispering indistinctly.

Elkpaw whipped around, every hair in her pelt standing on end. The whispering voices purred in amusement, but she still couldn't see anything.

She felt something brush up against her side.

A single thought penetrated the icy river of terror in her mind: run.

She bolted. All caution forgotten, she ran back to camp, crashing through the forest. Were the ghosts following her? She didn't dare look back to see. Would she even see anything if she did dare to glance back?

Elkpaw's mind raced along with her pounding heart. She remembered something the old medicine cat had told her when she was a kit.

She just had to get to camp and she would be safe. Elkpaw urged her muscles to carry her faster.

Somehow, she made it back to the apprentices' den without waking the entire camp.

From here, she could see the sage woven into the walls of the den, as she knew it was incorporated throughout the camp. The medicine cat said it kept ghosts away. Elkpaw hoped he was right.

Elkpaw curled into her nest, shaking from whiskers to tail-tip. Her eyes were wide, fixed on the opening of the den. She wouldn't be sleeping tonight.

[Yellow.]

Username;; Yellow.
Cat Name;; Amarok
Gender;; male
Age;; 57 moons
Clan;; Ridgeclan
Rank;; spy

Prompt;;
Through his travels, Amarok has encountered a lot of weird things, heard a lot of strange stories and seen far more then he understands even to this day. One place he doesn’t expect such sights though it on the clan’s territory granted it’s right on the edge and along the human town border at that, but the sight sends chills up Amarok’s spine at the scene laid before him.

The air smelled of fire and herbs that would take to long to list, leaves had been moved out of the way to clear the area and keep anything else from catching flame. The candles where what caught Amarok’s eye though, only knowing the name from a house cat who complained about the smell of them and how his housefolk thought they smelled far nicer then they did. The burned up remains of the objects set in a circle within the cleared out dirt, with not burned down sitting in the middle.

Skirting around the outside of the circle Amarok took note of how there where no sounds coming from the forest around them. It was the middle of leaf fall but that didn’t mean that other animals weren’t out and about. He could understand why though, the feeling he got from the circle was as though he was looking into a cave void of any light and extending down into the Earth.

“Kestrelstar isn’t going to like this,” Amarok mumbled before taking a large breath of air and stepping into the circle. The drop in temperate was apparent as soon as he stepped in the circle and Amarok couldn’t help but take another breath as he moved towards the partially unburned candle in the middle.

“They are trying to bring them back.” A voice whispered just as Amarok touched his nose to the candle. While any normal cat would have jumped back and runoff, Amarok just lifted his head and responded to the whispering voice.

“Who is trying to bring them back and what are they trying to bring back?” He asked back, not bothering to look for the voice, whatever was going on here wasn’t normal and he doubted he would find the source no matter how hard he searched.

“The destroyers, the pain, the fear, the hunger, they want to bring it back. They want the forest to fall once more. They shouldn’t know how, but they learned. The gods are mad, but they can’t do anything. If the candle burns it’s over.”

He was a bit surprised to get so many words from the voice but was glad to get whatever he could from them he would try too. “If the candle doesn’t burn the rest of the way will they be able to come back?”

“The destroyers, the pain, the fear, the hunger, if the candle burns down it all comes back.” It replied before the candle in question sparked a flame.

“So don’t let the candle burn, got it,” Amarok said before blowing the candle back out. “It seems you want to burn though, so I’ll have to take you somewhere safe and then find just who’s trying to bring back disaster.” He planned to himself before knocking the candle over, keeping the wick in the dirt to keep it from lighting.

“This is not how I wanted to start my day back to camp, may the gods grant me wisdom.” He mumbled before picking up the candle, the air around him taking on the tempter of the rest of the forest as he did and leaving the tom with more questions then he wanted to find answers for.

[PeanutButterRum]

Username;; dewly_noted
Cat Name;; FalconLeap
Gender;; Male
Age;; 34 Moons
Clan;; BeachClan
Rank;; Coast Guard Captain

Prompt;;
The first thought that crossed FalconLeap's mind was to be weary of two-legs, he knew something of another's world when he saw it and with a flick of his tail the gift giving party he lead ground to a halt. Silence held firm as each cats ears swivelled listening for danger, examining every whisper and crack as if it could carry with it an unimaginable threat. Yet as the time ticked on nothing gave and the coast seemed to be clear. Still it wasn't clear until it was it was said aloud, "Spread out, clear the area."
The coast guards in their party fanned out immediately, not a moments hesitation, while the wave runners flinched, looked around and then followed suit. Some of these runners were far to new to the Coast Guards ways. As cats explored the area he moved closer to the candles sniffing the bones- the musty scent of the long lost and the dreadful mix of dust and mud. He leaned in and gently gave the candle a soft lick. The memory that hit him was vivid and intense.


A human walking through the forest, words vibrating off their tongue as they repeat a series of noises- a mantra. Hands extended, a tough looking stick in their hand, they trace out a circle. The first of many steps done they stop moving and settle down on the grass, where a series of candles, knives and bowls wait. The human wastes no time, hands moving over the items, words continuing to flow from them as they perform a ritual- a ritual that in hindsight reminded him of the works the Coral Whisperers sometimes did.
Silence fell upon the memory as the human took a deep breathe, their vision snapping towards FalconLeap she saw him. He couldn't move as she began chanting something more- pointing at him as she shouted some final words and FalconLeap felt the fear pulse into his chest.
He jerked away from the candle, fear in his eyes as DeerStride approached tentatively, "This area's clear sir- what's this?" FalconLeap shook his head instinctively trying to get away from the ritual that had occurred here, "Nothing, let's continue- EmberClan is waiting for us to bring good tidings!" He tried not to hurry like the ground was burning underneath him but looking at those bones- he swore he had just walked over his own grave. He'd have to speak with SageDapple about the experience later. [409]

This was surreal to read and I really loved your story??? it gave me chills ahh

[ataraxic_gone]

/sobs/ Bless
Thank-you!! I'm so happy to have FalconLeap ;-;