Whispers of Promise [PLOT]

The closer she got to the shapes in the mist, the clearer they became, but also in front of the two cats she could see were small orbs of light... and more shapes of cats. How many could there be? It was already weird enough to be walking in this sheet of gray, but not being able to see the cats clearly was also terrifying, but she continued, following the silhouettes through the mist until it began to grow dark and immediately the Riverclan warrior was once again filled with the dread she had had during her previous dreams. It was terrifying, sending chills down her spine and deep to the bone. She felt lonely, empty, almost useless in the desolate place as she continued to travel into the place that shifted into dark, broken trees and disgusting ground until she finally saw the other cats and recognized no faces that she saw there. All she could hear was the "welcome" that came over... the water? Was that even water? She couldn't tell in the darkness. It looked black as night, but it looked colder, more... evil. It was awful. "What is going on?" she asked the others softly, worried that if she spoke too loud something was going to climb out of the dead trees and snatch her away.

Everything looked dark and dead. Eaglethorn had passed the veil and had come upon what looked like a pool of black water, where a lot of cats had gathered around it. The WindClan warrior hissed in annoyance when vague recognization hit him. With the exception of one cat, all the others that he could discern appeared to be cats from the other clans. What were those scum doing in his dream? StarClan must've had a message for many cats... which was lame. Was he expected to have to work with his enemies? What was going on, really?

Ryefur felt his fur rise on edge as he crossed into the darkness of the forest, knowing that right away he shouldn't have come here. Something here felt wrong; like that nobody should be here...Was Starclan even watching? He let his gaze shift up to the sky for a few moments, taking in a small breath when he saw that there was no stars above him. Why...Way was he here? He let his gaze look down at the light that led him, but he couldn't help but carry on as his name whispered again with the name of other cats; this time seeming to be a bit louder. Of course, among the names he only knew one of them. Fishpelt; another RiverClan cats, but the other names...They had to belong to other Clans. He let out a soft hiss as he entered the clearing and saw what other cats indeed. Why were they here? He didn't want to work with no ThunderClan or WindClan scum. However, his hiss became sort as he was welcomed by the soft voice. Of course, if StarClan were the ones that called them all here...He decided to turn in his hiss for just a glare as he looked around at the cats that had already gathered.


Morningpaw let out a small whine as she struggled to keep up with the light that followed her; her ears down as she glanced around the forest that had appeared around her after she had exited the wall of mist. She felt so alone in these dark forests, afraid...It was so eerie, she had little idea of what kind of things could live in such a place, and she didn't want to know. Her ears however picked up as she heard the voice that had spurred her to follow the light; names whispered upon the breeze as well. Two of them were names she clearly knew; Lightingpaw and...Nightfire! The name of the cat she wished one day to be her mentor caused her to light up, her eyes growing wide. She had looked up to the tom since she was just becoming an apprentice, and although moons had passed since she tried to become his apprentice, she felt like everything would be alright if StarClan was calling out to him. So, as she entered the clearing, she let her gaze flicker around when she noticed the other cats, trying to find the form of Nightfire. She did, but she found herself to scared to move forward as they were welcomed into the clearing, her gaze soon flicking around. Why...Why had they been called here of all places? It was so dark...Such a dark forest...

Featherpaw followed after the light orb the guided her. Every so often she looked behind her to check for the monster, but luckily no more sounds came from behind. The mist was thick and made things difficult to see for the young apprentice. Finally the mist started to clear up and the apprentice slowed down and approached the pool that other cats had gathered around. She knew none of the faces around the black looking pool except for one. She carefully made her away around the cats and stood near Eaglethorn.

Ooc: on my tablet.

Ic: Lightningpaw gasped as cats came into view. Why are they taking me here?

As Fishpelt ventured deeper into the fog, an unsettling feeling began to fester somewhere inside her. Her stomach felt as if it housed butterflies, and her fur stood on edge. For a moment, Fishpelt paused to look back, and much to her discomposure, there was nothing behind her but a thick cloud of never-ending mist.

Oh, StarClan, what's going on? she silently prayed, emerald eyes flitting this way and that. Though confused and wary, the RiverClan warrior pressed onwards, still unable to resist the tug to continue walking.

After a couple minutes more of treading carefully, Fishpelt found that the mist was fading. In the distance, she could begin to make out shapes. She quickened her pace. Finally, the she-cat's paws met grass. She would have been relieved, if it had not been for the setting. Beneath her, dead grass and weeds rose from the ground in flaky grey tufts. The trees stretched above Fishpelt's head like twisted Two-leg hands, reaching down to her with sharp, leafless branches for fingers, poised to ensnare her. When she looked directly ahead of her, however, she saw an odd sight. A group cats were gathered silently around a dark pool, mingled Clan scents drawing Fishpelt's claws loose from their sheaths. As the grey tabby glared for a little while longer, however, she found that none of the other cats seemed to be acting with hostility, and she tucked her claws away. Still, though, her fur prickled with tension. Something strange was happening, indeed..

She had never before been afraid of sleep. Sleep was the one respite Sunstreak could count on, after a hard day's work. But something was different that night. Perhaps she had eaten something sour, or had somehow awaken a part of her sleeping brain that control a wild imagination. In any case, she twitched and worried about in her nest - but that was nothing to the mental anguish she was experiencing, because of what she saw.

Or what she thought, she saw.

If everything around her wasn't so horrid, so grotesque, she could have called the light pretty - a fantisiful little glow that'd egg on kits to some wild adventure. But surely no kit's dream would lead them through a deadened landscape, whispering unintelligible sighs and nonsensical phrases, or calling her name and beckoning her forward. She wasn't afraid. She kept telling herself this. She couldn't be afraid, because there was no possible way she could believe this to be real. There was too much - how could anyone - dear Starclan what had lead her to such a dark place.

Her only solace seemed to be keeping her eye on the bobbing light before here, bright as her own namesake. She was almost thankful to be blinded by that light, so that it kept her from catching glimpses of the world around her. Of moving shadows she assumed to be other cats, but which made her fur rise along her spine regardless.

"Starclan or no - " She hissed to herself. "Why'd they bring anyone here, reguardless. Why would they want me." Sunstreak nearly felt cheated. This was a dark and twisted world. Surely she had not done anything in her relatively short life to deserve...whatever this was.

The light gave no answer. It only hovered there in the air, shining like a star.

Then it began to sink.

It was slow, hardly noticeable at first, but it was sinking. Below, the murky pool began to ripple and move, and the thin haze of fog covering it began to fade and peel away like morning mist before the light. It continued to descend, even when black water lapped at its bottom, and before long, it was completely submerged in the water, and the thirteen cats were left in darkness.

In the murky depths of the pool, however, the light still shone, and strange shapes were beginning to take form. Shifting shadows melded into snarling cats and dogs and foxes and badgers, and slowly, tendrils of color began to seep into the pool, making the images reflected in the water as vivid as life. They were visions of loveliness and horror, wonder and terror, of murder and love and hate and death, of days to come, days already passed, and days that never were. They saw a reed stalk growing through a clump of snow, a dewdrop hanging heavy from a blade of burning grass, falcons and eagles wheeling over a field of corpses like carrion crows, ragged shadows stalking through forests and plains. They saw a sky, blue and clear and lovely, until the clouds darkened and it all came burning down. The visions all went as fast as they came, one after another; there was a tom with eyes like emeralds and ginger fur that danced like flame, a she-cat with a pelt of mist walking along a meandering river, a shadow with fur as black as night and eyes that burned green.

Then the visions were gone, and it was just a black pool... no, an inky black sky, but then a light flared, and the scene changed to dawn. Bodies littered the grass, and above it all shone a morning star as red as blood.

A rattling whisper carried over the pool, making the visions in the pool ripple and distort. The voice was as chilled as ice, and hardly fainter than a sigh.

"O n l y . . . m o r n i n g . . . c a n . . . e n d . . . t h e . . . d a r k e s t . . . n i g h t . . ."

A fluffy white tail brushed Tigerclaw's shoulder. A she-cat, seemingly out of nowhere, stood beside him with a knowing look in her amber eyes. "The light won't lead you out again. Come with me if you want to leave this place."

Morningpaw had watched the light with a curious look; not moving as it suck into the water; and then the visions started. As they flashed across the water, the apprentice took a quick step back as her ears fell down with a suddenly hiss. She could barely make sense of it all, and it scared her. The visions of death, of the animals that she had never seen that were there one second, before it suddenly changed into another one. What could this mean? She wanted to cry out in fear; but her breath caught in her throat and not a single sound escaped from her. Then it was over, or so she thought. When the pool changed one last time, to the vision of the dawn, but bodies laid and the bloody red star hung above it all. She wanted to back away; to flee but her paws refused to move as the icy voice that brought them here faintly whispered in her ears. She barely made it out, but then another voice spoke up. The scared apprentice shifted her gaze to the new-comer, trying to figure out where she had come from; what clan she was from...Who was this cat? She wanted to ask it, but her voice still refused to speak up. Wait...Had she seen her before? She was unable to put her tail on it, to scared to try to search though her memories.


Ryefur hadn't seen the visions coming, and his fur stood on edge as they started to flash across the water's surface. As the flashed, he tried to make sense of them all. Why were they being shown this? That was his single question as he watched it with a silence gaze; but he was as startled as Morningpaw was. If StarClan was the one that led them here, why were they showing them this? Did this have to do with the monster that was taking lives each night from the shadows; was this supposed to be the answer somehow? As the pool settled to the last image; of the body-covered field under the dawn of a blood-red star, he tried to think of what they could mean as the voice whispered coldly into his ears, causing a shiver to run along his spine. And then she spoke up; the she-cat that had appeared next to Tigerclaw. His gaze quickly shot over to look at her, giving her and the ShadowClan warrior a questioning stare. "Wh-What do you mean?" he asked; although his voice was low. He barely was able to find those words to say after what he had seen.

Visions flashed before his eyes as the light submerged into the dark pool. He pinned his ears back before hearing a voice behind him, talking to one of the cats. He turned and saw a white cat. She looked oddly familiar. His mind flashed to the day in camp and he growled, trotting over and yowling at her. "No one can trust you Elea! Why are you here anyway."

Morningbreeze nervously unsheathed her claws as it became pitch black, not knowing if someone would attack or not, even though they were obviously with Starclan. Once the white she-cat offered a way out, the calico considered the option. Morningbreeze didn't speak up, even when the other two cats spoke, breaking the deathly silence.

It was dark. The combined lights had sunk into the.. puddle. A deep chill froze his paws to the ground as frightfully vivid images flashed across the surface of the black liquid. Fur stood on end, eyes were wide, and throats were silent. It was he and the scenes. The visions of blood lingered in the tom's head, until the ending, with the bleeding morning star gleaming. The bodies in the 'landscape' were indistinguishable from each other, and none recognized. Legs trembled and tail lashed fearfully. The new voice practically made him jump, but also brought him to his senses.

He couldn't find what scent it was, but some cats around him recognized her. As Elea. Deernose straightened himself, flattening his fur in the process. So this was the self-proclaimed death goddess? Not to his knowledge, one of the first cats to meet this she, was the first to die in the first battle.

Lightningpaw gazed around, unsheathing his long, sharp claws. I want to get out, but I know I can't trust this she-cat. I've heard stories about her..

Was this a message from StarClan? Too many images flashed violently in the murky pool for Eaglethorn to come to grips with any one of them specifically, and then it was all black, though not for long. It was as if the sun was rising on the dawn, yet instead of being bathed in the light, they were bathed in red, and bodies seemed to litter the grounds. They all seemed so faceless though, and it wasn't like they were real anyway. Even if this was a message from their ancestors, it wasn't like anything happening to them was real; it was all just a dream, after all.

And now who should enter their dreams but Elea? That foxhearted rogue had a lot of nerve showing up where she clearly did not belong. "Only a fool would follow you," he snarled, his claws unsheathing. "You don't belong here."

ooc: This is seeming a lot like when Frodo looked into Galadriel's mirror. /shot

Just as Fishpelt stepped forward to peer into the pool, images began to dance beneath the surface. Cats fighting, dogs snarling, meadows, forests, fires.. The she-cat tried to look away, but again, she felt compelled by an invisible force. The longer she looked, the more strange the images got. She glimpsed visions of the future and the past, though rather intemperate, and she felt emotions, too. Anger, pain, fear, tragedy..

Enough! Finally, Fishpelt tore her eyes away from the pool, finding that her heartbeat was racing. She shook her head a little to clear it up, and when she had calmed somewhat, she looked up. There was another surprise. The mysterious rogue, Elea, was present.  Though the spotted warrior did not trust Elea any more than the rest of the cats assembled, she did nothing drastic.

What are you here for? she thought, suspicion lacing her mind. This doesn't feel right.. Not at all. Fishpelt's fur prickled.