(Art by me, GlaringShadow/LSTheNinjaKitten)
Hey all. So I guess it's 2018 now- 2 years after the last update. As some of you have already found out, I've canceled the series. I will no longer be continuing to update after this.
I know a lot of you will be disappointed, having followed it all the way through, that I'd just cut it off here and now. But I don't want to work on it anymore and I can't force myself to (and neither can anyone else). When I started writing TMoD, I was very new to writing. I had absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into. I pretty much just had a few things I wanted to happen, some cat names, and an out-of-control imagination. I wanted to make Winter an interesting character and didn't know how to do that outside of giving her horrifyingly unrealistic powers for seemingly no reason. In my opinion, my old writing is very cringy/choppy/unfinished.
Long story short, I can't do it man. This series has outgrown my attention span. There are too many holes in the plot for me to try to fix. Every time I think about it I get stressed out.
And to those who've followed silently, have never commented about the same things everyone else comments about (ex. "Winter is mary sue >:0" "Fire is cheater get him out >:0" "What the 15 kits?!?!?! >:00" etc, you know who you are), thank you. Thank you for not adding to my stress levels. You're the reason the series made it as far as it did.
That being said, I should mention that before I dropped TMoD, I had written a very small portion of Chapter 8. The last portion I wrote before canceling. I couldn't bring myself to even finish this much, but I figure you guys might like to see what I had done for it. It's not super interesting, mostly just filler, but here it is. Written May 18, 2016.
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As Winterfrost grew closer to the Nursery, she could hear a quiet voice coming from it. Curious but not wanting to startle anyone, she listened carefully. She couldn't fully make out the words, but it sounded like someone was telling the kits a story. Had one of the elders convinced the kits to settle in the nursery, or was it one of the queens? When she finally approached the entrance of the den she could hear the story ending.
"-ay. And with that, the foxes never came near Lionclan again." The voice finished. The kits were gasping in awe. "But where did the foxes go?" It sounded like Ravenkit. "The leash of foxes never returned to the clan territories, and they eventually found a place to live that was mostly enemy-free. In fact, it's probably still there to this day, should anyone be curious enough to find it."
"What if they went away stho they could gather more of their friendsthh and return for another sthurprise attack?" Winterfrost recognized the kit's voice, but didn't recall them ever telling her their name. "Lionclan was much too strong by then for them to be able to try anything. Remember, these were big cats. Much bigger than we are, and much bigger than the foxes. Although foxes aren't the smartest, they knew better than to try anything after that."
It seemed like the kits were running out of questions, so Winterfrost took the opportunity to poke her head inside the den. It was hard to make out everything since she had just been in the sunlight, but she could make out the shapes of five kits and two warriors. "Hello!" She greeted, not knowing what else to say that hopefully wouldn't startle them. Thankfully they all just turned their heads.
"Oh, hi Winterfrost!" She recognized the voice of Foxclaw, and was a little surprised to see him in the nursery. The other cat, now that she could see a little clearer, wasn't a warrior but a gray-white apprentice she-cat.
"What're you all doing in here? Everyone else is out there," Winterfrost flicked her tail to the camp where there still sat a decent-sized meal for possibly multiple cats. "These little ones were getting under everyones' paws. None of them belong to me, but I figured I could do the queens a favor by keeping them in here until everyone was done." Foxclaw dipped his head. He was clearly happy to be around the kits though, and the kits seemed to be happy around him too. 'He must be an excellent story teller,' Winterfrost thought.
"And I'm Foxclaw's apprentice, Streampaw! He told me about how he met you and your brother, you must be very brave to come all the way from the Unknown looking for our help!" The gray apprentice burst out excitedly. Winterfrost turned to look at Foxclaw. "That was supposed to be a secret.." she murmured out of habit. Foxclaw tilted his head, then realized his mistake.
"Ohhh! I'm sorry, it completely slipped my mind!" He apologized, all the while Streampaw was becoming a little anxious. "I didn't know either, don't worry, I won't tell anyone though." Winterfrost could almost hear the crickets chirping as the kits listened to their entire conversation. It was almost enough to make her laugh. Almost.
"It's alright. But this secret stays between the seven of us until tomorrow, okay?" She chuckled, though she could already see the kits bursting with wanting to tell everyone. Really, she didn't care as much as she let on. She just didn't want rumors to be spread before she was able to let loose the real story. All of the kits nodded in perfect unison, to Winterfrost's surprise, so she didn't say another word about it.
"I got you all some moss to play with, although you'll probably have to do that tomorrow. Looks like it's already sundown." She finally noticed how quickly the day went past. Now she was really noticing the effects of Leaf-bare, and was glad she had come when she did. "Aww, but we want to play now! We aren't tired, honest!" Sparrowkit, along with the other four were looking up at Winterfrost with wide eyes. It was almost too familiar to her own kits giving her the same look...
Even though it really wasn't up to her, she gave in. "Okay, not for long, though! The last thing I need is your mothers getting on my case." She sighed, though secretly she was kinda happy to know the kits were excited to play the game they hadn't gotten to play in a long time. At once they all flew out of the nursery. Winterfrost hadn't told them where the moss was, but somehow they managed to find it anyways. The white-she kit was rolling up the moss into miniature spheres and knocking them one at a time as far as possible across the camp, then they all went chasing after them. Winterfrost immediately knew she had made a mistake, but it was too late stopping them now. Soon it seemed like kits were all over the place. Sparrowkit was trying to throw his mossball into the air as high as possible, Ravenkit and his sister were running about trying to get at one that was flying across the camp, and the other three were running around as well.
Winterfrost thought about calling them back to the nursery, then dismissed the thought. This place seemed to need a little bit of excitement, and if that meant kits running wild, then so be it. She jumped as Foxclaw came up to stand next to her. "Regretting your decision?" He laughed. They both knew the possible consequences, yet neither of them did anything to stop the madness. "Yeah, but they look like they're having fun." Winterfrost sat down to watch them.
"I know that look, you've had kits of your own in the past, right?" Foxclaw meowed thoughtfully. The gray-white she-cat nodded. "Yeah, I haven't them in such a long time though." She sighed, ready to get lost in thought once again. "I see. What were their names?"
"Heh, you sure you want to know? There's quite a few." Winterfrost snickered. "It can't be that bad," Foxclaw reassured. "How's fifteen names for ya?" She finally decided to just straight-out tell him. His eyes widened. "What? No, you're joking. No cat could live through that." He dismissed. "No, really! Fifteen tiny bringers-of-chaos!"
"You're really serious? How is that even possible?!" Foxclaw was obviously surprised, who wouldn't be? Winterfrost was used to the reaction though ((and so was the writer)). "It's very complicated.." She meowed in amusement. It would take far longer time than she'd be willing to sit to explain it all, and in the end, it wouldn't really matter. It only mattered that that's what happened.
"I'll take your word for it. The most kits we've had running around here is ten or so. And not from just one cat, from multiple queens. So I can imagine how hard it must've been caring for them. Good thing you had help, though, huh?" Foxclaw must've been referring to her mate, Fireclaw, and she felt a pang of sorrow. Fireclaw hadn't been there. He probably didn't even remember all of their names. But she couldn't blame him, it would've been impossible for him to be there for them, even if he really wanted to. And now, he was going to join Starclan, and their kits wouldn't know until Winterfrost told them. None of them would remember him though, she bet. She scarcely talked about him, and she couldn't even remember if they had all met him.
Foxclaw had caught on to her train of thought, and although she hadn't said anything out loud, it seemed obvious that he had brought up a sensitive subject. "Oh, sorry... I.. didn't know.." He meowed quietly. Winterfrost perked up. There was no reason another uninvolved cat should have to share her sorrow. "No, it's alright.. you couldn't have known. Besides, there's still a chance he'll be alright. I think."
"Battle wounds, or sickness?" Foxclaw asked, a bit less subtle than he seemed to intend. "Greencough." She corrected, glad to finally be able to talk about it to someone. But at the same time she very slightly irritated. She didn't want others worrying about her anymore. There were much greater things to worry about than her troubles. "Sorry to hear that. There's been a huge outbreak in Riverclan as well. It's not as surprising as it should be, Riverclan is never careful about what they eat. Chances are if there's sickness elsewhere, streams would've carried it to the very rivers that their prey swims in." Winterfrost tilted her head as Foxclaw realized what he had said. "Oh, nonono I'm not blaming anyone specifically, it just.... makes sense."
"Hey it's okay, that's actually good thinking. I never would've guessed that could be a possible reason that sickness spreads so fast from clan to clan." She replied, meaning every bit of what she was saying. In some ways, Foxclaw reminded her of Fireclaw. Only some ways, though. They were still very different. Foxclaw's voice was confident, and it was hard to believe he had ever lied in his life. Fireclaw, while friendly, always sounded cautious and jumpy. Maybe that was just around her. It would be hard to sound sure around a cat he's not supposed to be near, she figured. Fireclaw had a good spirit though. She gave a soft purr as she remembered their first meeting, then stopped when she remembered all the events that had taken afterward. It felt like such a long time ago...
Just then, a chubby brown tabby tom strode up to the two cheerfully. "Hah, with all you two's talking like this one would think you were plotting some evil scheme." He laughed, amusement showing in his eyes. He sat down directly next to Foxclaw.
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And that's it. I made a few minor tweaks but nothing huge.
I'm taking Q&A's here: https://www.wattpad.com/561786608-the-making-of-destruction-faq-q-a-faq-1
You can ask anything, including about stuff I never wrote. I'll try to remember whatever I can.
Thanks for sticking with me up to this point, again, sorry to let ya'll down. If I write fanfiction in the future it likely won't be here, as even just coming to Wattpad gives me bad vibes. And it likely won't be Warriors. Too many characters, too many clans, too much for one person to keep track of. Cya guys.