The Rise of Venomstar

Chapter 4: The Miracle Willow

Venom stared in awe and in horror at the flashes of lightning that interrupted the darkness of the night sky with violent, invasive colours. He did not think another storm would come, and it only reminded him of what happened the last time.
Lightning. Darkness. It was all the same.

Blue, white, black. Blue, white, black. Blue white, blinding white, and back to black darkness. The sky looks, with both the flash-lightning and the forked kind, as if a pair of claws were prying it apart. That's how Venom's chest felt. The willow he was now sheltering under thrashed its branches, its arms like, to the winds, lightning, rain, and thunder of the night. Venom huddled closer to the trunk. The roots, curling up from the ground, provided a small amount of space he could hide under.

Early on in the day, Venom had tread the territory lightly. He wanted desperately to search for Snake, but he was too scared. Instead he tried his luck at hunting, failed, then came across a willow to nap under.

Suddenly thunder roarer from the sky, unlike anything Venom's ever heard. Storms... more growling thunder sent Venom's chest reverberating along with the noise. Rain fell into his eyes and they stung. Wind tugged at his pelt, chilling him down to the bone, in which the cold nipped at him mercilessly.

Venom saw silhouettes wandering the horizon, and he grew scared, more scared than he's ever been before perhaps. His heart stamped at his chest over and over, but he watched them, wondering if maybe any were like him--lost, cold, hungry, and alone. He had no time to tell, however, for he felt his eyelids slipping, and no matter how hard he tried to hold them open, they kept slipping, getting heavier, like iron, slipping, falling, shut.

"Violet." He whispered, "Why won't you return?" He knew she was dead. On a stormy night like this, it was hard to forget she was murdered. It was only a few sunrises ago, after all, but it felt like only a moment ago. Thinking about all this, from behind Venom's heavy eyelids came a heavy, yet lucid, sleep:

To the song of the storm and in the shadows of the distance, a large form appeared, which was exaggerated in proportions, and terrifying. Anion. Venom cowered in the darkness, watching as the large and formidable tom lumbered by, snarling like a beast, roaring sometimes like the thunder, and with eyes flashing like lightning. His teeth were silver liquid daggers. Suddenly Winter appeared, just as large as him, and quite the same,but instead of having a white pelt, it was white and stained with splotches of deep scarlet.

Suddenly Winter turned her head, staring her virulent and corrosive eyes into Venom's. The kit then upped from his dark spot and fled, finding himself on a fully stone floor in a circle of moonlight. He glanced at the sky, seeing a massive swelled moon occupying its entirety. The trees in the distance became a line of willows which swayed beautifully. A storm seemed to swirl within, just the outside of Venom's hearing, while the distance was only dark except near the willows, the willows, oh the willows, it was so clement and it looked like flowers were growing, yes, flowers!

While behind him, Winter and Anion stalked him like he was prey. He turned, seeing the war toil in their eyes. Lightning flashed between the two of their gazes, and they suddenly leapt, roaring like beasts again and aiming their massive claws right at Venom, who stood there still and rigid, screeching in terror.

"Come with us! Stay! We'll make you ours! In our paws, you go! Whoop!" and he was indeed in their paws, their massive paws, their massive stained paws, clutching him so he could not move. They turned him so he could see, see the face of a she-cat he did not see there before. Violet. Her face was bloody, so he could not see her sweet eyes, yet he could see her mouth, her open mouth, in which blood trickled from.

"VIOLET!" he screeched. He kept screeching.

Even when he winked open his eyes to the daylight, he continued screeching. He did not know why when slowly his dream faded into nothing but the image of his fallen mother. He shut his mouth, ending the sound. His breathing slowed. He sniffed. He began to whine, in hunger, coldness, discomfort, and most of all, misery. He whined, which was no better than his screeching, but he whined anyway. He whined until it was no use and his voice cracked and stopped. He felt he needed to eat, direly.

*~*~*

He did not. He did not know much how to hunt, and he was too weak to leave his spot. He wanted to stay in the willow's arms, he wanted it to cradle him, and he wanted to sleep a very long time under that very lovely tree. He liked how it stood resilient to the weather and to the sky which seemed so far above it, it was... crazy. It reached its arms up and out, as if beckoning all weak and haggard to come and shelter inside of its very spacious belly. Venom did just that.

His dream surged back to him and he suddenly felt his heart ache. It ached so much it began to hurt, but he wondered if that was just the hunger. He thought of Violet and whined again. He thought of how lonely he was and did the same. He rolled onto his back, gripping the root in which he was crammed beneath, and stared at the lines and lines of branches from the willow.

"Huh." he voiced aloud. He looked from the stationary willow to the forest beyond, the wide line of trees going on and on, until a hill broke it, and atop that hill, one tree. He looked at all those trees and it's king-like tree, and back at his very own. "I guess we're both a bit alone, huh. But you're real strong, like. With your trunk of thick silver wood and your branches that swing and swing and swing. Where did the other willows go? Did one fell in a storm like my mother? Did the others wilt away? You're like me, in a way. And you protected me, from the storm. You are me as a tree!" he began to laugh, but his laughter was not in merriment. There was a sad sharp tone to it. "you're a miracle, willow."