❝ Eternity begins and ends with the ocean's tides. ❞
The roaring tides echo through the entire forest. The noise provides a melody to some, and a terror to anothers. Nothing has ever sounded as powerful and surging as the ocean before. Such sheer, unbreakable strength.
A gentle breeze flutters through the air of the thick, tropic forest, giving a slight relief from the pounding green-leaf sun that was beating down on your pelt. Strange songs of exotic birds, and the gentle croaks of frogs served as a melody to the seemingly empty forest. As you wind yourself through the dense ferns and crowded shrubbery, you see a flash of something move out of the corner of your eye. Quickly, you swerve around towards where the dark pelt had sweeped past you, but nothing was apparent. Taking a deep breath of the hot air, you blink twice before turning back around, and continuing to stumble through the grasses. Moments later, in front of you, in the trees, a pair of large harrowing yellow eyes peer intently at you, but not of friendly curiosity. Your legs freeze below you, refusing to move as you try to jerk into a run. Loud, exhausted pants sound through your chest as you try to appear strong, burly, foreboding, but to no prevail. Standing there like a dumb idiot, you remain wide-eyed and slightly terrified. As the creature leaps out at you through the bushes, another flash of pure white meets it mid air, crashing down into the large catlike figure. An eruption of outrage and annoyance escapes the predator's mouth, but soon a group of two more lightly colored cats fling themselves at the infuriated monster. Veering away after being sorely beaten, the animal screeches angrily before disappearing into the underbrush. Shocked, you remain motionless in the confusion of what just happened.
The one on the right, who's pelt was snow-white, and who was obviously the leader-like cat out of the three, narrows her gaze as she studies you for a few moments, her eyes unforgiving and her mouth a tight line of scorn. "Well, you're welcome for saving your mouse-brained body. If we hadn't been in the area, you would be skinned by the fisher cat by now," the icey she-cat mewed, rolling her eyes as she flicked her tail at the remaining two cats. One was a larger-than-usual, mottled tom who seemed slightly scrawny, but he held his body with a sense of pride. The other was smaller than both the tom and the white she-cat, but was noticeably younger, probably around the age of ten moons. "Well what are we going to do with the newcomer?" the she-cat cooed, her gaze flickering with unreadable emotion, but was obviously not keen in being friendly. You try to open your mouth, but you cant seem to pull any words together after what just happened. What did just happen? "Koiflame, what do you suppose we do with this outsider, huh?" she spat, before gazing at the large tom, who was now circling you. "You wouldn't last a day out near the ocean shores, you know. Warning, the waves of the ocean are merciless," she growled, padding the opposite direction of where the fisher cat had scattered off to. You wonder how she can even find her way through the forest- its so dense, and one wrong turn leads to mass confusion for you. Feeling your body shoved forward by the tom named Koiflame, you are led through the forest blindly. Unable to track where you were going, a wave of dizziness succombs your thoughts. What feels like hours later, you find yourself being escorted through bracken bushes, and into a large, bustling clearing full of more cats than you have ever seen in one place.
A gasp of awe escapes your mouth, and your eyes dart wildly around the camp to soak in the scenery. Through a gap in the trees, you can see the lapping ocean shore that seemed so calm at the time being. Misleading, of course. With a sharp shove to the left, you feel your body collapse clumsily in front of a tall, muscular leader that lends out a booming smile. "Welcome to Seaclan, traveller! I am Tidestar," the tom mews in a welcoming fashion, his eyes sparkling with warmth. Ironically, this cat seems to be the polar opposite of the first cat to greet you, who was now brooding in the corner of camp, murmuring under her breath to a few other sketchy figures. You let out a nervous reply, before being interrupted mid-sentence by the leader. "Well, standing here will do nothing. Have Beefire over here show you around the camp for a bit," the tom meows briskly, flicking his tail as a firey orange she-cat who steps out with a dip of her head towards you. Confused, you follow her as she begins to pad away, her legs moving swiftly to keep up. Once you catch up, Beefire turns to you with a narrowed gaze. "I will show you around, but first I need to know some stuff to make sure you're trustworthy. Who are you?"
