Lichenpaw's Warrior Ceremony

The tall, slender leader jumped on the Willow Branch. The past days had left him with so many mixed emotions. Inside, his mind was a storm with all the things he had to deal with. But now it was no time to show weakness. As the leader of this clan, he had to be healthy for his clanmates and if he failed to accomplish his duties, then he was useless. He could worry about Shade later. Now... it was time to greet Lichenpaw into warriorhood. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the willow branch for a clan meeting!" He yowled, waiting for Silverfang's apprentice to join the meeting.

Although it was nearly imperceptible, faint rage seemingly held permanence residence within the brightly illuminated depths of Lichenpaw's sharp gaze. The Moonstone Journey had marked a point of no return in the young tom and the visions that had been bestowed upon him only steepened the precarious slope he had ventured down. It was quite the arduous process to try and stifle the newfound anger and disdain he felt in regards to Jaystar, but an outburst now would likely have a poor end result. Tightly swallowing down the heated pool of rage that welled up within his throat, the young tom took a step forward immediately following Jaystar's summons, a carefully crafted mask of impartiality easily withdrawing the tom's true emotions in this moment.

Jaystar followed with his gaze the apprentice who was joining the meeting. He noticed that Silverfang was there too. A few days ago, she informed him that the apprentice was ready for warriorhood. Even though she was punished for the murder of Sweet, the warrior was still loyal to the clan ways and she saved his life once. She made mistakes... but she was still a fine warrior and mentor in his eyes.

The leader fixed his eyes on Lichenpaw one more and smiled a little. "Lichenpaw, your mentor, Silverfang has confirmed that you are ready to undertake your warrior ceremony. If you believe this to be true, step forward now for it to begin." He mewed.

Goldeneye watched from her den, her eyes never leaving the apprentices form as her mate called him forwards. She sensed a change within the young tom, though she wasn't sure what it was, and the uncertainty scared her. Goldeneye's jaw clenched, she was so sure she had turned the tides but... something was off. The she-cat got to her paws and disappeared into her den with the thought of war on her mind, and perhaps it was time to let her mate know that Lichenpaw was the cat of prophecy. They were mates now, he deserved to know the heaviest secret she held in her head.

A fierce pressure welled up from within the tightly clenched muscles of Lichenpaw's jaw, a pressure that only worsened as his teeth grated down upon themselves. The memories of the incredibly unpleasant experienced that had transpired at the Moonstone soured this moment greatly. He had worked so hard for this very moment, and yet this awaiting accomplishment was practically crushed in the wake of the weight that loomed so heavily. Pointedly avoiding the scorching stare of Goldeneye and swilling down the urge to snarl some obscenity in Jaystar's direction, the young tom merely took a step forward when asked to do so.

Something was off... he could feel it when he saw the extremely emotionless face of the apprentice approaching the willow branch. Young cats like him usually looked... different. Happier, or more excited, or more nervous or prouder. He looked like he was feeling nothing. However, the leader came to the conclusion that he was being paranoid. Maybe all the stress that Shade was causing him was making him think dumb things. "I, Jaystar, leader of Riverclan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn, Lichenpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?" He asked, continuing with the ceremony. Lichenpaw had become into a fierce and noble warrior, just like Silverfang taught him. And he had seen the cruelty and death in this world when he had to witness the execution of Wildfire, the cat who murderer a Riverclan apprentice a long time ago.

Cool gaze, alight with the many different emotions that were neatly concealed within the illustrious depths of his eyes, remained focused on Jaystar. It was difficult to remain steady against the flush of indignation that crawled down Lichenpaw's spine at the ceremonial words- how could the tom sit there asking such a thing, whenever he himself couldn't even obey such a simple promise? It was disgusting. All of this was disgusting. Simply blinking over at the blue-grey Leader, his jaws merely remained sealed until it was time for his own turn at speaking.

"I do." Lichenpaw's voice, soft with a sincerity that went above the heads of all those who watched, did not waver in the slightest.

Unaware of Lichenpaw's thoughts, the leader simply smiled a little as he lifted his tail for the big announcement. He had already a name for him in his mind that would suit him. "Then, by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. From this day forth, you will be known to all as Lichenmask. RiverClan honours your passion and intelligence. As tradition says, you will hold a silent vigil tonight as the rest of your clanmates sleep. I'll trust you will guard us well, young warrior." The ceremony with those last words and the leader left the branch as the celebration started.

However... he couldn't shake off the sensation that something was off. He stopped and looked behind him at the white and brown cat. He was just an apprentice who just turned into a warrior... why was he so concerned? Maybe it was because of those words that Goldeneye told him by accident...

My head has been spinning with this stupid prophecy, doing my best to change this path, to alter it so Lichenpaw doesn't cause our destruction!"

The tom shook his head... If what Goldeneye said was true, Lichenmask was the cat of the prophecy... a cat that could bring great destruction into the clans. The medicine cat wanted to take care of him by herself but the leader could sense that his mate's burden was too much for her to take. Maybe I should keep an eye open for him...


Silverfang, the former mentor, watched all this from the exit of the medicine cat den. When Jaystar gave him his new day, the senior warrior made her way to Lichenmask. When she finally reached his side, the warrior touched his shoulder with a nudge. "It was an honour to be your mentor, Lichenmask... I hope you can be a greater cat that I am." The odd-eyed she-cat said no more than that and she simply nodded with respect for the newly named warrior. The tom deserved it. He became into a strong cat even with a punished mentor like her. That was something to praise considering that she herself had to train herself because of the death of her own mentor.

Lichenmask? The young tom was rather confused to the reason behind such a name, He would've certainly believed that he would've earned a name ending in -throat or -fang.

However, the throaty calls of celebration and rapture were much too attention-invoking for him to dwell upon his newfound name for much longer. Lichenmask's attention had already strayed from Jaystar before the tom had even been able to properly retreat from his high standing atop the ceremonial Willow branch, his odd behavior easily becoming lost amongst the celebration that was currently unfolding. Would it be so wrong just to enjoy this moment, even if only for a heartbeat? He was well aware of the daunting weights that were precariously balanced upon his shoulders, but it felt so disheartening to be unable to find a small amount of joy in something he worked so hard to achieve.

Lichenmask's demeanor softened further at Silverfang's approach and quiet words, knowing that his former mentor rarely doled out something as tedious as praise. Leaning forward to rest his cheek against the heavily scarred molly's, he let out a short rumble of thanks. "Don't worry, Silverfang." He mewed softly, voice strengthened by a note of fierce determination, "I'll make you proud."