Winter was a time of affliction, an endeavor which didn't seem to spare any solace. The threats of starvation or the numbness of paws, it was a time feared by all the clans, even the one named after the loathsome season itself.
Though through all the agony, an almost tranquility followed. The gales which roamed through the bare trees was an almost comforting sting, or the warmth from loved ones which lingered as they curled up tightly to remain warm, a type of sentiment which seemed to only ever occur during the coldest season.
Zinniapool was tucked deep within the medicine cat den, the walls of the engraved cavern blocking out the relentless zephyrs. The only noise that could be heard was the distant whistling of wind and the gentlest of snores from her former mentor who lay in the nest beside her. Eventually, her thoughts were paused and she was lost to the night in a deep slumber.
However her mind was not paused for long. Instead, it was an almost transcendence to a realm of something preternatural. Zinniapool was soon on her paws, though she was not afraid. Her ancestors and their home held a distinct smell, one which drew comfort out of her, though the medicine cat was more than confused when she was greeted by no one but herself.
Before her very own nose stood herself, though within her own copper eyes was a look of complete horror. Zinniapool was completely still, analyzing the mirror image version of herself before she began circling it, trying to understand what she was seeing, or trying to understand the message she was being told.
She was afraid now.
Suddenly inaudible whispers began to hum within her ear, words she strained so desperately to hear.
Corruption.
Over and over, the singular word was beginning to grow louder and much angrier. Zinniapool could feel herself growing fragile as she slouched down to the ground, shutting her eyes as tightly as she could as she tucked her head within her paws, praying over and over for the screaming to end, until the only one left screaming was herself.
"Zinniapool!"
Cold.
She was cold again.
Zinniapool snapped open her eyes to frantically meet a concerned green stare, that of her previous mentor Eveningleaf. The two held each other in a silent stare, eyes completely locked in a frenzy of fear and confusion.
"Bad dream?" Eveningleaf finally spoke, the concern in her eyes bleeding into something much softer. Zinniapool shook her head, trying to form the thoughts stuck in her head into verbal words.
"I think I am," she paused quickly, "I think something really bad is going to happen to me, Eve." As she spoke, her words grew raspy and quiet as she looked at her shaking paws.
"Why do you say that?" Eveningleaf responded, her words much more calm than her quivering counterpart.
"I was in StarClan, and no one was there, just me, but there was another one..."
"Another what?"
"Me!" She bursted, widened copper eyes flashing back up to meet the other medicine cat's stare. "I looked so scared, so empty, and this voice kept screaming at me, I could feel the words, Eve, I could feel them throughout my entire body."
Eveningleaf was quiet, though her silence was louder than words. Was she mad? Was she scared of me? Did she think I was corrupted? The thoughts haunted Zinniapool's merciless mind, and she silently begged for the cat who had taught her all she knew to speak. Say something. Anything.
"Do you know why I chose you to be my apprentice?"
The question seemed to dim the relentless voices in Zinniapool's head as confusion set in.
"Because my mom is your sister?" She whispered feebly, and though she never intended the phrase to be funny in the slightest, Eveningleaf couldn't help but chuckle.
"StarClan no, I would do anything to spite your mother." She countered before she allowed her laurel stare to soften once more.
"When you were just a kitten, you came screaming to me. I remember being terrified, thinking you had hurt yourself or one of your siblings had been hurt, but neither of those were the case. You came to me with the smallest mouse, freezing and barely breathing, begging me to save it's life."
As Eveningleaf spoke, instant memories came rushing back to when Zinniapool had found the mouse. She remembered being brought to instant tears at the thought of the little thing being cold and alone.
"I would've never typically waste herbs on an animal we use to feed us, especially one that I was sure would never even survive, but I just couldn't say no when you were so distraught over it. So I tried to save him, and you didn't leave my side once."
"Good thing you did." Zinniapool murmured.
"I know, by some miracle he survived and you were so happy. You grabbed some red berries all on your own, dyed a small piece of his fur, and we both called a clan meeting and informed the clan that they were not allowed to hunt the mouse with red fur."
"I remember." She grinned, reminiscing over the memory. "We went to the field and released him, and he even seemed hesitant to leave us at first."
"Yeah, it look a bit of time, but the little guy finally scurried off into the tall grass. I remember watching you help me throughout the entire process, and I instantly knew that you would make an incredible medicine cat one day, and you proved me right."
"Thank you, this really helped." Zinniapool murmured, offering the other she-cat a faint smile in which was returned to her.
They two spent a bit of time talking until Eveningleaf had eventually fallen back into sleep, however Zinniapool was still wide awake. The medicine cat gave her former mentor one last look before she exited the den, being met by an instant cold which engulfed her entirely. Moonlight trickled from the night sky, sending the settled snow into a brilliant gleam. Zinniapool welcomed the freezing touch to her paws as she made her way out of camp, enjoying the company of herself.
Zinniapool wasn't necessarily a loner, she was far from it. She loved her clanmates and she loved being with them, hearing the elder's stories from the days of their youth, watching the kits play with the same tattered mossball from her own childhood, picking flowers with her sister that they would bring to their brother and place in his fur despite his obvious annoyance, running through the mountain with her two best friends and learning the art of healing from not only her mentor, but a cat she had grown to treasure so much. There was no better way she'd want to live life.
Though she still enjoyed the peace accompanied by being within her own presence and the creative thoughts which laced her mind.
Despite it all, she knew something separated her from her clan. Eveningleaf just called it intuition, but Zinniapool knew there was something she couldn't explain which allowed her to have deep insight on certain situations. Half the time she didn't even understand how to even put it into words, and she wasn't sure she ever would.
She figured that's why her nightmare had frightened her so much. Her life force was strong, and she didn't hide that. She embraced it, so anything she felt might damage that force sent her into a sense of paranoia. Though Eveningleaf had dulled her fear, and she was grateful for that.
However a feeling of apprehension began to form a pit deep within her stomach as she continued walking, and suddenly she was following a trail of black feathers, though her curiosity far outweighed her fear.
She felt as though the world was pulling her in, the forest whispering little prompts into her ear as she continued to follow the trail until she was met with something she instantly knew to be something deeper than a coincidence.
Before her was a group of dead crows, laid out in a perfect circle, though not a single drop of blood covered the ground. However the feeling of immediate horror didn't settle until Zinniapool noticed what was in the dead center of the circle.
The little mouse she had saved from her childhood was sprawled out, and if she didn't know any better she'd guess he was sleeping by how peacefully he was laying, though the way his chest failed to rise and fall was indication enough to know he was dead.
It was a multitude of emotions which completely devoured her, she felt as though she was going to faint from the intensity of it all. Her heart was beating rapidly now, her thoughts overwhelming her mind. She backed up in a dazed terror, copper eyes shining madly in the brilliant moonlight which also seemed to shed the perfect amount of light to showcase the disturbing scene before her.
Any consolation she had been granted was gone now, all in a single moment.
Something was so incredibly wrong, an evil the clans have never witnessed, and an evil which she feared stemmed from herself.