SkyClan's Revenge [PLOT]

He looked back at the carnage. Bodies were strewn across the battlefield; some weren't breathing. It was easily acknowledged that these cats had attacked without mercy. That his Clanmates attacked without mercy. An image flashed across his eyes; no blood, no bodies. No scent marks, scraps of fur, remains of prey, just a normal forest. A forest without the clans. The forest after the clans had disbanded, or had been eliminated. Inwardly shivering, the thought of being a Clan cat jabbed at his heart. If any more battles ended with this, that might as well become a reality.

A question from his comrade dragged him out of his thoughts. "If there are enough cats left to care.", he murmured. His stomach turned. The sight and smell of all this blood was too great. Maplepaw turned away.

Maplepaw
HP- 5/20
SP- 35/80

Streamfern looked around, blank. What had they done? There were so many cats strewn across the ground, it was like the forest floor was made of fur and blood. "This isn't a fight. This is a massacre."

Shademoon agreed."This attack was unreasonable, there could have been another way to prove Skyclan was a real clan with real-warriors.That cat-Elea- was the one who caused all of this.She was the one who brought the prophecy with her in the first place."He stared at the battle that was still continued.

A look of disgust crossed Dewstar's muzzle. Reedstar looked insane to her as he blathered on about RiverClan and water defending... whatever. I've done no injustice! She hissed in her mind, angered. The injustice was attacking and killing my Clanmates when RiverClan had nothing to do with the conflict! And then Elea began to talk, spewing some garbage to her about surrender or some such thing. Truthfully, Dewstar wasn't listening. Her blue eyes instead swept the camp. Her camp. The blood-filled death pit that was her home. Even the rogue-warriors regretted this fight, as evident by their mumbling and looks of revulsion. She finally turned to Elea, who had no scratch or cut or even tangle in her fur. The very site of the white she-cat outraged Dewstar. Unbelievable! She had not a single blood drop drawn from her, yet she is to blame! "You brought the death to this forest. You brought the battle to my camp. Yet you, you remain untouched! You're treating these cats like tools. Anyone who follows your words must either be sadly deceived or desperate fools like Reedstar. Clans don't murder people; they may fight, but they don't murder. You've led these cats into the real darkness, Elea. Let him come back to life, because then maybe he'll see the mistakes he's made." Her eyes swept over the corpse, and for just a moment they softened. "We fought side by side against injustice against the murderous ShadowClan together, and yet here he is, bringing the injustice back. He wants to kill me, but right now I just want him to leave my territory." Maybe she had wanted to drag her claws through his stomach earlier, but the stench of blood filled her mouth and nose and for once she just wished he could leave her alone. We don't see eye to eye, obviously, but now he's just gone crazy. Insane. So very, very insane. Dewstar's thoughts were the only thing she could hear. Her gaze hardened and she looked back at the frosty she-cat, a snarl revealing her bloodstained teeth. "You can try to kill me, but I swear by StarClan that I'll always fight for my Clan!" Her claws tore up the ground as she crouched low, pacing sideways some to get a better angle on her new target. No one had better try to stop me.

Elea purred. "I thought you knew him better than that, Dewstar." Fiery eyes followed the ThunderClan leader as she edged around, but Elea made no move ― no unsheathing of her claws, no lashing of her tail, no defensive crouch, nothing. She just watched. "I am not the rogue you take me for. If your Clan would have listened, these deaths could have been avoided. But you refused to listen, and war came like I had told you it would. Well, listen now, Dewstar, before it's too late." The priestess paused, making sure the leader did not pounce, before continuing. "And I will give you the whole truth."

I come from a place far, far, far away. In our stories we say that the gods molded this world from their own paws and filled the earth with their children. We were all born from godly blessings. Heaven breathes life into these bodies, and heaven takes that breath away." Her eyes seemed to shimmer. "And it is a crime where I come from to turn against your father. Who would rebel against the cat who brought them into this world? Who gave them everything they have? The gods are our fathers and mothers. They give us life, and in return we obey their word. We follow their laws and they reward our faith. We break their laws and they punish us. Like kits."

She turned. Slowly, carelessly, like she didn't see the danger right in front of her. "But even gods have a father, and one of them rebelled. She defied him and broke his law. And when heaven cast her down, she swore vengeance. She swore to bring light into the dark world her brothers and sisters had made. So she turned her faithful followers against them, and against the false idols and gods of other cats, to protect the flame that burned against the night, the flame that the gods looked to destroy. And in our tongue these faithful followers were known as the Deomilites."

The priestess let her gaze drift to Reedstar's shaking body beside her. "She is one god with many faces and many names. Several bodies sharing one spirit.  Eliana, goddess of sky... Evienne, goddess of water... Eden, goddess of forests... Eloise, goddess of wind... Elaine, goddess of shadows..." Her voice was harshly a whisper now. "Elea, goddess of death."

She gently prodded the corpse with her paw. The convulsions stopped, and Reedstar began gasping for air.

Falconstar's claws were still unsheathed, and his adrenaline was still pumping through his veins, yet everywhere around him the battles were ceasing. Cats laid injured or dead in pools of their own blood and the blood of their enemies, and no one seemed truly satisfied of the outcome. Who could be, with so much ruin? Dewstar was still next to him, her anger directed towards the white cat who had meandered into their midst. No scratch adorned her pelt, as if she hadn't been here at all. It was infuriating how she could get nearly the entire forest to go to war for her own selfish, devious whims. It was only surprising to the WindClan leader that Dewstar didn't attack Elea right then and there, and end this charade right here and now.

But then she started to speak. She spoke of gods and betrayals and the Deomilites, those wretched rogues, as if she truly believed these fanciful tales that she spoke of. And then, to top it all of, she claimed to be a goddess of death, one who led the Deomilites to destroy those who believed in 'false gods'. Was this what they all had just fought for? A delusional rogue? "You can't be serious." His fur bristled in indignation, staring down Elea as Dewstar was, an ally in arms that he had never thought he would be fighting alongside. At least, not until the previous war. This forest had turned into nothing but betrayal and bloodshed. Was this what StarClan had fated them to? "You think we'll believe that you're a… a goddess? You're insane!" He could hear Reedstar's gasps for air, but his mind was focused on this usurper who stood before him, before all of them. "No one would believe this drivel unless you brainwashed them with lies. We will not allow you to stay here and cause any more destruction!"

Deomilites

The word echoed in Dewstar's mind, bounced around in her skull. Her bent limbs froze in icy coldness and, for just a moment, she felt like she was falling. Falling from what? She didn't know. Was she about to hit the ground? No, she stayed steady on her heavy paws, and the only visible sign of her affliction was the intense look of anger on her face slowly fading to an emotionless mask. She hadn't heard much else besides that one cursed word. Falconstar's voice was loud and clear, but she couldn't understand the words he was saying.

Deomilites

Bad news, that's what Elea was from the moment reports of her reached Dewstar's ears. Rogues were never good for anything, and Elea was no different from the rest of them. Maybe a little crazier, maybe a little smarter. And who welcomed her, her and her little band of murderers? He did. Was he a rogue too? Was this some manipulative plot? He's surely paying for it now, She managed to think in her paralyzed state. Or, maybe he didn't know. Thought he was doing the right thing and turned out to be wrong. She would have laughed if lives weren't lost for Reedstar's lost cause and his failure to see beyond himself for once. Laughed like it was a sick joke that would be over by the next morning. And before she could mull over any more thoughts in those few frozen moments, she could see clearly again and move her paws like they were lighter than air. Before she knew what she was doing, the distinctive thump of heavy paws pounding against the hard-packed earth accompanied by the scrabbling of claws scraping the dust were drowned out by a screech of fury and anger coming from her own mouth. Dewstar leapt angrily at the white she-cat who was preoccupied with the stirring RiverClan leader, seeing weakness in her lack of caution. I'm the best fighter, I'm the strongest warrior! Nobody turns their back to me after threatening me! She bowled Elea over, staining her prim white pelt with the blood that littered her camp clearing. Digging her claws into her shoulders she hissed in her face, "A goddess, you say?" Dewstar challenged, her fangs bared. "You look more like a kitten and act more like a kittypet. We sent the Deomilites running like cowards, and now that RiverClan knows who you are, they won't side with you. You don't have power over anything! But I don't want to kill you, because I'm sick of death for today. And I'm sick of you. You had better leave before this mercy runs out."

OOC: I assume you were going for this since you said that you wanted Elea to take one of Dew's lives at one point. If you want me to edit I can.

IC: Elea flew back with a choked grunt. Her eyes flashed like fire as she met Dewstar's icy blue gaze. "You are weak, Dewstar, and you are too much of a fool to see it," she hissed through bared teeth. "You'll deny it now, but there'll come a day when everything you uphold and protect crumbles, and you'll know that I was right. Now face your death with courage."

Reedstar jumped from behind, landing on the larger cat's back and sinking his teeth into her scruff. That was enough. For the first time since setting foot into the forest, Elea unsheathed her claws. A white paw flicked out, claws flashing, and raked across Dewstar's throat. There was no strength behind the slash. By rights, it should have hardly warranted a hiss of pain, but somehow, some way, it was enough to kill. The RiverClan leader lost his grip and slipped off her back, tumbling to the ground, as Elea rolled back onto her paws, sticky patches of scarlet staining that almost angelic white, downy fur. Dusty clouds rose up into the air around her to block out the sun. She looked to Falconstar next, a terrible flame in her eyes. "Run back to your moors and tell your Clan what you saw here today," she said. "Life is short, Falconstar. Do not rush your Clan to the grave."

He staggered to his paws, head swimming, body aching... Deomilites. Reedstar had hardly heard what they'd said, only snippets of the whole conversation, but he'd heard enough. Deomilites, Deomilites... Her voice seemed to ring in his ears. Who else would prattle on about gods the way she did? But... why? What was she doing here? Was she pursuing vengeance? One answer gave birth to a hundred new different questions.

The tom spat blood. It flecked his muzzle and stained his paws. He'd gone through the process of dying before so many times now, but this time it'd felt different. Reedstar slowly raised his eyes to look at her, his vision blurry. Just the way she spoke got under his fur. This wasn't her victory. She hadn't bled like they had. "Elea," he called, his voice sharp. "Leave."

She didn't move.