Forest's Fate

Prologue

Rewritten July 25, 2017
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It was a horrid night on the planet of Gardinia.

        If it weren't for the fighting, the blood, the screaming, maybe the night would have been peaceful. For once, the temperature was cool instead of freezing cold. The mice and rabbits that were preparing for their slumber were silent. But perhaps the only reason they barely even moved was because they were watching the cats fight each other.

        As the few stars twinkled in the indigo sky above, countless cats, the only inhabitants of Gardinia other than their prey, were shedding blood on the tall grass and the soil beneath. The whole battlefield reeked of chaos; the battle cries echoed throughout the land, loud enough to make a bystander go insane from the rambunctious, nonstop noise. But, of course, not a single cat was able to sit back and watch the fight. Everyone was a part of this war.

        At best, it was tough to tell between the two sides of the battle. Half of the cats involved were normal. Most of their sizes and fighting techniques were average. However, many of the cats fighting them were quite extraordinary.

Those cats were much bigger and taller than average, and their claws were longer and sharper. Some spat fire at their smaller opponents as they fought. Others suddenly sprouted wings and exploded up to the Gardinian night sky, only to come crashing down on the average cat seconds later.

But the normal-looking cats didn't look frightened by their opponents. Instead, as they were the ones who started the fight, they came prepared for the battle. And they prepared well. Not only did they have amazing dodging skills, which made it tough to be hit by a fireball or a cat with wings, but some of the extraordinary cats were fighting those of their own kind. They were fighting on the normal cats' side, which was the sole reason why it was so hard to figure out who was with whom.

Smack in the middle of the battlefield, a big, white cat with black ears, paws, and tail was lashing out at a smaller gray tabby. Although the white cat seemed to be one of the extraordinary cats, she wasn't using a power to defend herself. But even though there was no magic involved, their fighting was close to being the fiercest in the whole field.

As the gray tabby struck her claws on her opponent's nose, her blue eyes sparkled with a dark ferocity. The white cat reeled back from the impact of the hit, and the gray tabby taunted, "Come on, are you too scared to release your power? You know you have the strongest one here."

The white cat's mouth formed a sneer as blood ran down her nose. Ignoring the sharp pain of the wound, she pounced at the gray tabby, knocking her over. "You idiot, why would I waste my power on you and your stupid rebels?"

Before the white cat could pin her down, the small, blue-eyed cat slipped from her opponent's claws and attempted to tackle her, but the white cat dodged to the right just in time. The white cat slammed the gray tabby's side hard with her paw, and she fell over with a screech.

        As the gray cat coughed and tried to get back up, the larger cat pinned her down with and cried, "Long live the Superiors! They will always rule Gardinia, no matter what you and your weak rebels try, Rainfall." She spat out the gray cat's name as if it was a foul taste in her mouth and then raked a claw down her side.

"Fool!" Rainfall hissed, squinting her eyes. "Look around you, Mirage. Your teammates don't seem to be having an easy time defeating my cats."

        And as Mirage, the white cat, warily scanned the battlefield with her eyes, she realized that Rainfall could be right. Of course, she didn't want to admit it, though, so she stayed silent as a ginger tabby screeched after someone broke her wings and another cat ran out of fire to lash out at a clever rebel cat.