Dark Holy Road [Closed]

Flintstar huffed as he padded along the length of the Thunderpath - a fox-length or two away from the darken path. He didn't mind being closer but as he was well aware he was being tailed by Asylum as he checked the borders, he figured it was more important to make it clear that any attempt to run was out of his mind. Not that there was much of a reason to patrol like this...There wouldn't be any trouble or cats to run into - not at this time and not with Asylum watching every pawstep. But...He had grown to walking these paths when he wanted to think but also be out of the camp and so he walked. His gaze was set ahead until something - a shadow of a figure - caught his eye. He turned his head to see that there was a she-cat standing on the path. He came to a stop, glancing behind him for his Asylum shadow but they seemed to be hiding in the shadows of the marsh as he failed to spot them. He knew they weren't allowed to speak to other cats but as he took in a deep breath, he could barely catch the hint of Asylum even beneath the foul scent of the Thunderpath. "...Hello?" he called out, confused on why she was just...Standing there.

Okay, so maybe just standing around on the border and hoping the first cat she'd meet would be Spark wasn't Thalia's best idea, as proven by the fact that the first cat to appear was decidedly not Spark. She didn't really want to be standing here, either - the stone beneath her paws felt strange and foreign and the smell was rancid. She didn't want to be mean, but she also didn't want to talk to this stranger, when the last few conversations she'd had all ended in confusion or misery. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

...Right, she was also supposed to be watching the border.

(It was kind of weird that the border was this long stone path, wasn't it? Was it kind of a like a river?)

Flintstar blinked as the she-cat shouted at him, calmly tilting his head. He wasn't phased by the sharp words, taking them all in stride as he barely even registered that it was meant to be ever-so slightly hostile toward him. "...Patrolling?" he responded with a shrug - neglecting the 'who are you' part of the questions. It didn't seem that important - what did his rank truly mean to Asylum, anyways? Other than somebody that could help control the temper of the cats that looked up to him for guidance. "Under Asylum or not, I still have duties to perform," he meowed simply. "...I'm not sure what you are doing but I would also pick a side of the border to be on. Standing out there can be dangerous."

"Standing guard," she informed him, trying to look a little larger and taller than she was. Without the guise of her pelt it was harder to feign confidence, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try. She wasn't weak or helpless, and she refused to be seen as such.

"Why would it be dangerous? It's just a border. Kind of like if the river was solid, and also not made of water..." When would the clan cats start making sense? Stone was only a danger if it was sharp or falling, and this was neither; it was simple stone ground that happened to smell absolutely rancid. "I'm pretty sure the whole reason I'm here is to keep it from being dangerous." She paused, considering. "Wait... Are you trying to convince me to leave my post? I'm not going anywhere, and you're not crossing."

Flintstar stood there blinking, almost confused that she didn't know how dangerous it was. Had Asylum truly forgotten to teach such knowledge...Or had they assumed that they would figure it out themselves? "Its a path for Monsters," he explained, swishing his tail as he looked down the length of the long dark path. "They patrol it from time to time but their timing is unpredictable and they can be unforgiving for cats who stray under their paw. I'm simply warning you of this, not attempting to remove you from your post..." he paused, turning his gaze onto the moor behind her. There was the slightest bit of pain in his chest as his mind wandered to the thought of his sister, hoping she was faring well within WindClan's walls but he had no way to check - and he wasn't about to risk everything just to see Dappleshine...Besides, he had only interacted with her a few times. But...Even a cat like him could have hope. After a long silence, he spoke again. "Besides, I can assure you that I am far more comfortable in my territory. I know the rules Asylum have set and I have no plans to disregard them - if anything only to assure ShadowClan's safety."

"You just described Asylum," Thalia told him, tilting her head just slightly to the left. She'd expected something, probably, but somehow she really hadn't expected to hear the clan cats' perspective on the Asylum as an explanation for why she shouldn't be on the stone path. "...You do realize that you just described Asylum, right? Especially given how all you Clan cats seem to think of us as monsters, anyway... So all things considered, I'm pretty sure I'm still right where I'm supposed to be."

There was a long silence as Flintstar just...Stared at her, having absolutely no idea how to even start to respond to that. "No...Monsters, do you not know what a Monster...?" he drifted off, before a heavy sigh escaped him. She truly didn't know what a Monster was? He would have thought tales of them would at least be spread about in Asylum, even if she didn't personally know what a Thunderpath was. Than again, he wasn't sure if he had ever seen an Asylum cat out by themselves before. Hm... Tsk, it wasn't worth the breath. He shook his head, turning to return to the marsh, not even having the energy to finish his patrol. He had gotten a few pawsteps away when his ears automatically perked at a rising noise, his mind being dragged to focusing on the steady hum - no, a roar that was building. Ever so slightly, the ground beneath him started to shake and his eyes went wide as he spun around. "MOVE! A MONSTER IS COMING!" he shouted - a rare display as often he would raise his voice to be heard, not shout like this as he hoped that the Asylum cat would finally heed his warning.

The sound was strange, growing louder, and the ground beneath her shook; most might have tried to run, but Thalia was a Nightstriker, and she turned to challenge the source of the sound - pointedly ignoring the ShadowClan stranger's warnings, and his downright nonsensical explanations. She was not helpless, and she would not back down from a perfect challenge. Whatever these Monsters were (since it seemed they weren't a thinly veiled insult to the Asylum after all, or at the very least she'd never met an Asylum cat that thundered) they could almost certainly be defeated; and maybe then she could even redeem herself for all her faults and mistakes. Really, it was a perfect opportunity.

She wasn't moving, Stars, why wasn't she moving? Flintstar stood rooted to the spot as the roar grew, forcing him to turn his ears away to try to lower the noise. The ground was shaking as he saw its glowing eyes appear over the horizon, growing steadily closer and closer at a neck break pace. But yet she still wasn't moving. The leader felt a growl rise up in him, raising a paw to step back when a voice seemed to whisper in his ear. It was familiar, the words spoken by Sootstrike at his leader ceremony. But sometimes it takes just a single brave cat to change something for the better, don’t ya think?

The leader shut his eyes for a brief moment, taking in a deep breath as he bunched up his muscles and raced forward. The roar was now so loud that it was buzzing his head, making it hard to focus but his eyes remained fixed on the pelt-covered form of the Asylum cat still stupidly in the Thunderpath. I don’t want ya to be sitting around on your tail when others are in danger, it don’t matter who th’y are... As his paws skipped onto the hard surface, he lowered his head as he rammed into Thalia's side and with a grunt of effort, threw all his weight forward to send her rolling out of danger and onto the WindClan side of the border. His paws skimmed the hot black surface as he tried to carry the speed to follow after her but the glowing eyes stole his attention as he turned his head only to only see that light.

What followed was a hard thud and a sickening crunch as the leader was thrown beneath the Monster's paw. It was an explosion of pain but no sound escaped Flintstar's muzzle as all his breath had been stolen by the crushing blow. The light that blinded him for a second was now replaced with darkness as all his senses started to fall away. Even the roar of the beast was gone. Instead, all he could hear was even more of his uncle's words.

Fighting and protecting is in ya blood, don’t matter who ya are protecting in th’ end, its still ya duty.

And with that, another of the ShadowClan leader's lives was taken.

In the living, waking world, Thalia watched the lifeless form of a ShadowClan stranger with more fear than she had felt facing down WindClan after Gingertalon's death; wondering if this, too, would be another place she wasn't welcome and another task she'd failed. Once again, she couldn't move, though this time it wasn't out of pride - her paws were failing her, she was stuck in place, she couldn't even check to see if he was still breathing.

Flintstar himself, though, would find himself face-to-face with someone he hadn't seen in some time. Mothglow very nearly tackled him as a greeting, though she stopped short - presumably realizing it wasn't a great idea to crash into someone who'd just lost a life from being crashed into, as much as she might have wanted to. She did, however, nudge him affectionately; unable to keep entirely still. "Flintstar, it's so good to see you!" Even death, it seemed, couldn't curb the starry she-cat's enthusiasm. "I'm sorry that you can't stay long, but... Wait, that's pretty rude, isn't it?" She paused just long enough to breathe before continuing. "To kind of say 'I wish you were going to stay dead'... Yeah, that came out wrong, sorry. But, um... For whatever it's worth, I think you did the right thing." There was a longer pause this time, and she slowed down for a moment, almost as if she were trying to place more weight on the what she was trying to say. "...And, well. I wanted you to know that I miss you. I think we all do. But we're always here - especially me and Mom - and we're cheering for you. I promise! So don't forget that, okay? You'll always have us, and things will get better. I mean... That's why we're here, right? To make it better. I, um... I forgot where I was supposed to be going with that..."

Flintstar had barely time to come to terms the fact that he was dead - even if only for a short while- before he heard his name, ears perking as he turned to see Mothglow, his sister, running to him. He blinked, breath catching as she playfully nudged him. He titled his head, a small smile at his muzzle as she spoke. "I couldn't stand by, Asylum or not," he meowed softly, giving a shrug of his shoulder as he happily settled down next to the ghostly medicine cat. "Sootstrike told me to protect everybody, no matter who they were...And Iniko had given his life to protect Freckleface. I...I had to repay that somehow," he admitted. He still felt conflicted on the matter of Iniko but the tom's death had only caused him to realize that not all of Asylum had to be terrible. If Iniko was willing to give his life to protect a ShadowClan cat, certainly there were more Asylum cats that were worth Flintstar risking his lives for. Perhaps the she-cat he had saved was one, perhaps she was not. It hadn't mattered - in that moment, she was hardly deserving of such a fate.

He turned as Mothglow spoke up again, admitting to missing him. "I miss you as well," he breathed, expression falling ever so slightly. "Nothing has been the same since you died. But I know I must carry on, for ShadowClan's sake. I have been given my duties and I am not one to neglect those. I'm trying to...Bond with my Clanmates and it would be easier if you were by my side...But I've always known how cruel the world is. We cannot rely on 'what ifs' and daydreams. We have our choices, what we are given, and we must live with them. Take what we have and use it to, as you say, 'make it better.'" There was a long silence as he shifted, leaning a little on her form. "Perhaps, even with Asylum here...There are ways to make it better," he admitted. He straightened up, a sigh escaping him. "I just need to figure out how." He turned, ready to ask something of Mothglow but she was gone. He blinked, whiskers twitching as he turned to see the landscape was fading away as well. "...Ah," he breathed. "...Thank you, Mothglow," he meowed, hoping she could still hear him.

Then, he woke up. The leader stirred without a noise, eyes blinking as he managed to get his paws beneath him and stand up. His side ached, blood coating his pelt but the wound - and the crushed bones - were fully repaired. It was only a phantom pain that truly remained. He turned and trudged back to the ShadowClan border with a shake of his head...Before he came to a stop and turned. On the other side of the border was the she-cat, although she looked to be crouching but unharmed at least. "...Are you okay?" he called over as he plopped down, staring at the dark blood that soaked his pelt. He suppose he ought to find a way to clean that off unless he wanted questions the moment he walked into the camp... He leaned down and gave it a lick before he drew back at the metallic taste of the blood. Maybe he would try to roll in some of the snow that was still sticking to the ground...

As the stranger stood up - the same stranger who'd been lying lifeless on the ground moments before - and approached her, Thalia shrunk back. She still couldn't bring herself to stand, but she could shift slightly away. "You were dead, weren't you? You - you died! I saw it! And now you're just - you're totally covered in blood and you don't seem to care at all. I didn't think there were any clan cats like that... What's going on? Who are you?"

Belatedly, she realized that he had taken a blow that would have hit her - one that had killed him - and that she should probably apologize for, in some sense, causing the situation. "Um, I really am sorry... That you died. And, what was that thing?"

Flintstar straightened up as the she-cat finally found the words to speak. He wasn't surprised at her confusion, after all he had neglected to give her his name. "Yes, I did die. And now I am back. I am Flintstar, leader of ShadowClan," he responded evenly, giving his shoulders a shrug. "We leaders are given the ability to resurrect a pawful of times - this was not the first time I have died and obviously not my last." He tugged at the ground, kneading as she sheepishly apologized for his death and questioned what it was. "It was no issue - Iniko gave his life to protect my mate, and that is a clear enough sign that Asylum cats can be worth giving a life to protect. Besides, I have lives to give. You only have one. And that...Would be a Monster - the thing I warned you about. As I said, they patrol the Thunderpaths and do not care for who get underpaw. I recommend you be more mindful of them in the future - very few can survive an attack by one."

"Oh," Thalia mused. So this was another of the leaders. Despite the initial impression she'd gotten, he had been kinder to her thus far than most Clan cats she met, despite the fact that she was quite sure she didn't deserve it. "I, um... Thank you for trying to explain. Before, I mean. And I'm sorry I didn't listen. I can definitely promise that I won't be forgetting anything about this experience any time soon." Eye-opening experiences, indeed. "I should probably go, though... Um, good luck staying not-dead?"

(Was that an appropriate thing to say? Probably not.)

Flintstar dipped his head as she fumbled an apologize, not being bothered by it at all. "It is of no issue. As long as you are alright, I can survive being down one life," he meowed as he stood up, shaking his pelt - although the blood didn't really go anywhere as it had already soaked into his pelt. "Just be more mindful of the dangers in the future. And...Yes, good luck on staying non-dead for you as well..." he paused, twitching an ear. "I do not believe I caught your name."