Fresh Starts: A Flaming Flicker

Chapter 1

The cave was lively as usual, the lynxes and leopards bristling with laughter and small talk.

A fairly young lynx walked along the corridors, their pelt a fiery red tinted brown, and a fur patch on their chest was lighter in color. Their gender fell more to the female category, but they seemed to look slightly male.

They grumbled to themselves, in a unrecognizable language, trotting along to a large cave. The healing cave.
In that cave, stood an ordinary looking lynx, with small black spots on its grey-ish brown-ish pelt. The only thing that stood out about the lynx, was it being quite large in size. They were drinking out of a spring in the middle of the small cave, seemingly un-knowing to their surroundings.

"Mother- erm. Commander. It seems I have been summoned?" said the lynx after walking into the entrance of the room, looking for confirmation.

The larger lynx looked up from the small spring, water dripping from the fur around their mouth. Their left eye had a grey film over it, and the other right eye, was a beautiful scarlet red color.
"Yes yes.." they said in a brisk voice, before coughing a bit. "Come in Hypnus" she added, finishing their sentence.

Hypnus walked into the room. "It doesn't seem like you're getting better.." the lynx said quietly, their voice full of worry. They squeezed the dull orange carpet below them with their claws, their fear rising a bit.

"Yes.. That's why I have called you here." said the larger lynx, with another small cough.

The lynx tilted their ear up, as if to show they were really listening.
"Well.. I'll be dead soon." said their mother with cold eyes, before they added,"The gods have decided it'll soon be my time. I can't change that" said their commander, with a sigh.
Hypnus flattened their ears, but stood up straighter.

"I can't leave this tribe without a leader.. I just can't.." they said, sounding with a lump in their throat.
Hypnus took a step back, their eyes widening. "You don't mean-" "Yes.. I want you to take charge when I leave." their mother said, answering her daughter's question before they even finished asking it.

There was an odd silenced tension between the two of the cats.

"But.. I couldn't possibly..- I can't be in charge!" said Hypnus, looking down, trying to find words under their gasping surprise. Their mother moved the lynx's head up by the chin, to look the smaller lynx in the eye, more so giving a soft look than a strict one.

"You are Hypnus.. The daughter of flame commander Azarnoosh.. You were born a strong resilient cub, and this was your purpose to lead the tribe into great things. I trust you more than anyone else in this whole cave to take care of things here" she said slowly, in a firm voice. The commander looked weaker and weaker the more she spoke.
"I know you can do it with ease, and you do too, deep down. You need to learn to trust yourself" she added slowly.

Hypnus looked up, a small tear falling from their eye. They gave a small sad smile, and hugged their mother tightly, their tears soaking into their fur.

They felt warmth wrap them with two arms, and they savored the moment while it lasted.. They knew it wouldn't last long. It was soon going to be their mother's time, they thought, more tears flowing. Their tears soon turned to a sob, as the commander collapsed...

A lynx jumped onto a large stone in the heart of the large cave, surrounded by watching lynxes and leopards, their eyes wide. This was the discussion cave, where the commander would make important speeches and what-not here, jumping onto the large stone in the middle to get other's attention. Well.. The commander USED to.. Hypnus added internally. That's all there was to the cave. Just a large stone and an even larger space around.

"Why have you called us here!? You're not the commander! You have no right to be making sudden announcements!" said a leopard in the large croud.
"Yeah!" Agreed others, but even few kept their mouth shut.
"I have an important announcement to make, that is why I have called all of you to gather here today" said Hypnus in a loud voice. "The commander couldn't make it because.." the lynx took a deep breath, trying not to show any emotion. "Because she's dead.." they said grimly.

The whole crowd looked shocked, sad, very few looked mad.

The same leopard that shouted out earlier, jumped to their feet, and looked outraged. "MURDERER! HOW DARE YOU KILL THE COMMANDER!!?" yelled the dark grey leopard, with white spots. The lynx remembered this leopard with the name, 'Aarush', the cat who always tried to make their life miserable for whatever reason.
Hypnus tried their best to look emotionless, and keep a calm collected composure.

The some of the cats in the room gasped in surprise. Others stared in shock.
"If I were to kill Azarnoosh, I would need to have some kind of motive to do so in the first place. The only other motive that would be possible would be the desire to be commander, which is such a pain on your shoulders.. But I guess I am the commander now, since I am Azarnoosh's daughter, so 'yay', a bunch of cat's lives are depended on me now." said Hypnus, shuddering slightly at their own speech. It made them realize how much responsibility they actually must have.

The other cats looked even more shocked. 'Why would the commander be leaving this small cat in charge of us?!' must be going into their heads.

"This was your plan all along, huh? To murder her to become commander all along, and leave our tribe to die" said Aarush, growling.

"Azarnoosh was growing weaker, and she was poisoned a long time ago from SOMEONE'S 'mistake'. She was already dying, but today was the day her time has come, according to the Gods said by the commander" Hypnus argued back, hoping this conversation would stop.

Several murmurs and whispers echoed along the cave walls, making the room quite loud, until an even smaller, nervous looking dark grey lynx stepped up from the crowd. "... We should just listen to Hypnus.. I believe them, and I-I trust them enough to lead our tribe" stammered the lynx, named Celosia.

Hypnus nodded in approval. "You all are dismissed" they said loudly, before the leopard, Aarush could talk back.

Some cats gave sideways suspicious glances, and others gave worried glances. The new commander, walked up to Celosia, who seemed to be shrinking. "Thanks for that" they thanked, gratefully.
The smaller lynx's ears went up, and they looked brighter. They nodded, which seemed to be a response.

Hypnus walked out of the cave, their shoulders collapsing.

Today wasn't even the hard part. Tomorrow, was going to be the end of Hypnus.