A Star Forgotten - Warriors Fanfiction

Chapter 19

The darkness was suffocating. She could see nothing but hollow blackness, and her lungs threatened to constrict under the weight of it. There was a deep chill in her bones, and the soft pattering of running water could be heard in the distance. The scent of aged minerals filled the air, fresh and crisp with a hint of blood.

Ashleaf tensed. Wait...blood?!

A pair of eyes suddenly illuminated the darkness. Ashleaf took a wary step backward, unsure of her surroundings.

"Who are you?!" She wished to say, "Where are we?" But not a sound came out.

The eyes were small, pale blue. Dilated pupils widened at the sight of Ashleaf. So you can see me.

Something flew by Ashleaf's ear. If she hadn't known better, she would have assumed it was the swipe of an unsheathed claw. She felt a rush of motion beneath her belly fur. A sharp pain shot up her abdomen, causing her to wince.

It all happened in a heartbeat. A mass barrelled into her side, knocking the breath out of her lungs.

She fought back. Ashleaf hissed, unsheathed her own claws, and swiped them across her assaulter's muzzle. They reared back and vanished into the vacuum of darkness.

Her thoughts were hazy. She couldn't comprehend what was happening. And at the same time, she knew. Something deep inside her was stirring. Something dark.

A mysterious force inside her told her to rise to her feet. She kicked off with powerful legs deeper into the cavern.

In a blur, she was thrust into battle once again.

She felt her claws dig deep into the flesh of another cat. She heard them yowl in anguish, but she kept going. A surge of fury filled her blood, burning, searing like fire.

Ducking quickly, she avoided the lunge of her opponent. She retaliated with a bite into the shoulder. Blood began to pour from the wound. It filled Ashleaf's jaws, metallic and bitter. She gagged, almost to the point of releasing her grip on her opponent, but she clung on. An unintelligible wail filled her ears. Her opponent was pleading for mercy.

She couldn't understand it. Her vision was blurred, her ears roared, she couldn't control her own paws. Yet she lusted for this cat's blood so terribly, the blood staining her teeth dripped like acid in her jaws, sizzling with wrath.

Ashleaf rolled over, removing her jaws from the cat's shoulder only to sink her teeth deep into the cat's flesh elsewhere.

Scratchy stone grazed her paws. She opened her eyes and she was somewhere else. The tabby craned her neck to the left, to the right. A complete change of scenery. The dawn was breaking over the horizon. Hues of indigo, rose, and amber stretched across the vast Highstones. 

From the sun came a torrent of fire.

Flames licked her fur. They started at her paws, singeing the bottoms of her pads. It felt soothing at first, almost as if she was being cradled by Pineneedle during her kit days. She felt no pain, only warmth. There was beauty in the fire, she relished in watching it smolder. It was a false sense of comfort.

Then it began to burn. 

The smoke began to swirl around her figure. She was alight with flames. The tan and gray of her pelt had melded into saffron and golden blazes. The tongues rooted into her skin, scorching her. She caterwauled in agony, rearing up, flailing her paws in an attempt to blow out the flames. She ran, but there was no fleeing this fire.

She was the fire incarnate. And she would be reduced to ashes.

Everything was ablaze around her. Every frond of grass, every individual stone, even the sky glowed with fire. Her ears flattened, she cried out once more. Trying to run was futile. No matter the distance she fled, the fire would shadow her.