Faustian | warrior cats

xviii | the first night

     Larkmoon shook her head, her expression as dead as the front of a gravestone. "You already have."

 The red apprentice flicked up her ears, "What?"

"You've saved me, Redpaw." The image suddenly grew foggy and hard to see. The wind grew into a giant wolf and howled loudly into her ears. Larkmoon squinted to see Redpaw, gripping her claws into the grass to quit from being torn away. No! She thought in panic, watching as Redpaw slowly faded. She shouted over the barking breeze, "If only I was enough to save you one last time!"

Larkmoon jolted awake. She was suddenly soaked in the visions of the pitch-black sky, not a single drop of morning light looked to fall down into the sky. What a strange dream. She shuffled around in the moss bed she had made, trembling and her head thumping from the dream she had just witnessed. Redpaw. The name found its way back into her brain. She felt it again, harsher than ever, the stinging rhythm of her heart.

The she-cat was about to lodge back into her bed when something ghostly caught the corner of her eye. She stared outwards into the dark forest, her eyes suddenly swelling in fear. From the shadowed bushes stepped forward the figure of Redpaw. She was limping, her bones all broken and bent while her flaming red fur was now only red from blood. She looked as though she had fallen from a horrifying height.

Larkmoon's skin was seized by gooseflesh. She was frozen stiff and she could feel the fur begin to rise from her spine. The mentor and the apprentice kept a solemn gaze, neither of them glancing away. How was she here? Larkmoon then blinked and in a swift second, Redpaw was gone. In her place were only the obscure bushes, branches twisted in the gentle breeze.

"Why didn't you save me?" Without a warning or sound, Redpaw was standing beside Larkmoon, her large eyes cutting holes into her mentor's skin.

Larkmoon sprung up in fear, backing away instantly from the sight. She was unable to comprehend her apprentice's swift movement. "How are you- I thought- you're dead-" Her words stumbled over each other, tripping to escape the fear. The ginger feline's chest sank and rose heavily, like a ship out in a storm of waves. "You're dead. I saw you get buried."

After another sudden blink, Larkmoon realized she wasn't talking to anyone. The area was empty of other creatures, only the midnight forest was in her presence. Still, she hurriedly glanced around, spinning in a swift circle to make sure she was the only one there. "Hello?" Am I going crazy? Her thoughts were flying in and out of her head, dancing to the rapid drum of her heart.

"Larkmoon," She instantly tore around to face the owner of the voice. The darkened shape of Beetleleap stood lengths bore her, his green eyes were aghast in agony. There were deep claw holes piercing through his chest and rich crimson blood was dribbling down his front fur. He looked like the last time Larkmoon had seen him. "I love you." He croaked as if it pained him to speak.

"No-" Larkmoon tumbled back, hankering to get away. As she staggered and swayed out of her control, she knocked into the hard chest of another. She slowly spun around, her eyes were two circles of fear as she soaked in the golden coat of Lionsun.

He roared wordlessly at her, sounding loud like the creature he was named after. He attempted to swipe his claws across her face but Larkmoon leaped away. She ran forth, dodging both of the hurting toms. The red cat raced off, not sparing a single glance back. She brushed past thorn thickets and trampled over dry leaves. She watched as the ground beneath her feet turned into a blur. Larkmoon was determined to get far away. With her heart thrumming against her rib cage, she only sped on faster.

Flying down the unmarked pathways of ThunderClan's land, Larkmoon soon found herself a little bit engrossed. Her head was lacking a single thought and eyes were blurred from the cloud of fright, the she-cat was heedless to where she was stepping. She suddenly fell into a large pit of mud, when she landed bits of muck flew out and stuck to her face. Larkmoon grumbled in disgust, trying to move her feet from the swarming slush. It was a messy disaster, she was unable to withdraw her sodden paws from the pit.

Panicked and tangled down, Larkmoon looked up from the mud and eyed the scene in front of her. As she surveyed outwards, her affright eyes followed a trail of bones that led towards the sky. There was a tower of cat skulls, hundreds of them, all stacked on top of one another to form the shape of a leader's rock. Larkmoon held in her scream with a tight gasp- what in StarClan? She kept looking up at the fortress of bones until her eyes reached him at the very top. He was shaded in from the night sky, the color of his fur was as ominous as the night. But his yellow eyes shone through the blackness. They cast down at Larkmoon, shining at her like two golden suns. She had seen those eyes before, she had loved those eyes before. This tomcat sat on the bones like a dictator would sit as his podium, proudly eyeing his audience. He then grasped one of the skulls in his claws and sent it tumbling down towards it. It bounced off the other heads then splattered in the mud beside Larkmoon, rolling on the swamp before sinking below.

Larkmoon knew she could no longer trust her eyes. Perhaps this was real or perhaps it was a hallucination. She couldn't tell the truth in her sight anymore however, she knew only one thing to be true: destruction was on its way. 

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