Form it from ashes [WIP]

Introduction

Cats would gather around and inspected the find.

Taking a guess, the cat had been too old to escape the fire and decided to wait it out in there. Nothing seemed off about the corpse, other than one of the hind legs looked deformed. One of the cats pulled on it, the bone clicked awkwardly. They turned it and quickly the leg dethatched from the body.

They looked closer at it and came to the conclusion it must've been broken, or less severe, dislocated. The rest of the body was falling apart rather easily too.

The former leader of the clans corpse was dragged across the Pond Clearing and out into the dark fur staining forest. It was buried in a special location. The cats who'd buried the leader returned and began checking the other dens for any corpses. None else were found, besides leftover prey that was now nothing besides bones.

A bit of cleaning and soon the camp was a bit more inhabitable than it was before. Still, the air wasn't as clean as it should be, and most spent half the night coughing on the ash that was kicked up from the wind, that had grown more furious overnight.

Sage slept in the leaders den, curled up tightly. He shut his eyes as hard as he could, until sleep took him.

Sleep did sure take him by surprise. He was trapped in a dream.

[✩] A dream.. Where everything felt familiar. It was PastureClans' past life. Cats seemed pretty happy, they bounced around, kits were squealing in joy as they kicked around a moss ball. The leader of the clan was sitting in the middle on a tree log, that was over the Pond Clearing. It was covered in many beautiful leaves, and the pond below was sparkling clear.

Sage stepped out, and as soon as he did, the cats would stop playing and stared at him, as if they knew him. They all cried out in frustration, asking why he couldn't save them. He looked around frantically, wondering what they meant.

They kept yowling until the scenery turned from a cheery Greenleaf day to one that looked straight out of a horror film. They were screaming, fleeing the place, as terrifying flames began to creep upon the camp, engulfing the trees that once surrounded the camp. The leader raced up to Sage and began crying.

"My clan! My clan!" They were having a hard time thinking straight. Any effort Sage made to try to communicate with the leader failed, as nothing came out. He felt rather panicked as well, running around aimlessly, as the flames only grew closer.

A small apprentice ran straight into the nursery, grabbing as many kits as she could. In that process, she was risking her life. The last few kits she brought out, half her face was aflame, she was squealing, blinded by the smoke and pain.

Sage ran up to her but phased right through the apprentice. He felt helpless, knowing these cats were about to meet the end of their life. As soon as the fire had breached the bramble border, he felt incredible heat breeze past him. He began to sweat, and as he turned around, flames soon consumed him. He felt nothing but agony.

He screeched as loud as he could, though no cat heard him. No cat helped him. [✩]

Sage woke up with a jolt, breathing heavily. He was unable to control his breathing, he almost felt as if he were about to pass out. A she-cat made her way into his den and started questioning him, concerned.

"Sage! Sage! What's wrong?" She asked, panicked.

Sage looked to the back of his body, fearing that he'd been burnt by the fire in his nightmare. Thankfully, nothing had happened, and his fur was just extremely dirty. He looked at the she-cat and nodded slowly.

"Don't worry... A-about me." He replied, trying to catch his breath. He didn't feel like explaining the traumatic nightmare he'd just experienced. "Thank you though, Moonfur."

Moonfur purred and gently nudged him. "I'm not leaving til I know you're okay."

He managed to chuckle. "Alright, alright."

The whole night, the two of them talked back and forth about what they would like to see happen to this clan. Most of it was rebuilding it, and making it known to others, if there were even other clans. It was rather amusing to hear her go on about what she wanted, and he decided he'd take some inspiration from her rambles, if possible.

Soon, they both passed out. Thank StarClan Sage managed to avoid nightmares for the remainder of the night, as he knew sleep was the thing he needed most, after traveling days and days, sleep deprived.

He knew that this was the place he was looking for. But, to how things would go, was another thing everyone had to work on.

[2032.]