ooc; this is actually a starclan topic but it is supposed to be hidden for now so it is here this is my method of hiding please excuse the dust
Of all the creatures in the entire forest to be standing in the middle of this dazzling encampment, Darkpaw would have been the least likely. She was a tiny thing, one that felt even smaller, as she sat in awe of the scenery around her. This was different from her other dreams before which had all been silly little scenes of things that had happened or odd versions of events that had happened in her life. No, this was something entirely new. The urge to explore was overwhelming but she also could not seem to get her little pads to move. There was simply so much. It so vastly unlike the territory she was used to the she-cat couldn't even begin to consider where to look. Not to mention the shimmering breath even inanimate pieces of the sunny forest seemed to have.
"Darkpaw?"
The voice that called her name was more quizzical than anything but it shocked her so much she flattened herself to the ground. That was until the source of the voice had padded in front of her. What she saw was a beautiful gray and white she-cat, whose stunning green eyes were a further compliment to her appearance. Darkpaw's ears perked and she straightened up with her maw dropping slightly. This cat must have been gorgeous even before the sparkling of her coat. If there was a before. This was just a dream, right? She tipped her head as she studied the features of the she-cat in a futile attempt to find something familiar, some resemblance to a cat she'd seen in camp...
"You're not at the moonstone. It's far too early for that, you just become an apprentice." The strange she-cat looked bewildered, somehow more confused than Darkpaw felt. It made her feel uncomfortable. She tucked her tail around her and her paws closer to her stomach as she nodded her head slowly too and fro. Although a question had not been asked, she could feel something hanging heavily in the air. When she swallowed, it seemed the other cat picked up on the unpleasant emotions budding up within, "I'm sorry, I don't understand why you're here, you shouldn't be here. I'm... I'm Sageleaf. My father was Riverclan."
"Are you real?" Darkpaw piped up, finally daring to ask her own pressing question.
"Real as a dead cat can be. You're in Starclan territory."
Eyes widened until they were as big as an owl's against the night sky. How was this happened? Surely, this was just some hallucination of an exhausted mind after training. So much had happened in these past few days and her reserved little being just couldn't handle it - that had to be it, "Am I dead?" The question slipped from her maw before she could even process it. Creeping dread seemed to crawl down her spine like a trail of ice cold water soaking its way into her coat. If this were truly happening, that would be the only explanation. Only medicine cats and leaders communed with the stars, or apprentices who journeyed to the moonstone before their ceremony. Had something happened? Was this it-
"No. No. You're very much alive, look at your paws, your coat. Although that would make much more sense..." Sageleaf muttered, trailing off and shaking her head slightly before she looked back up to meet the kit's gaze, "We didn't bring you here so, it, it must have been you, Darkpaw. How did you get here? Do you remember anything?"
She swallowed once again as a pensive look flickered across her maw. After a few moments, she shook her head once more. It was less reassuring than having an answer and her paws felt almost like they were going to give out from under her. Panic rose in her chest, uncertainty. If Starclan didn't have the answers then who did? Sageleaf closed the distance between them, pressing her forehead to Darkpaw's. After a few deep breaths, she found herself calming. The Starclan cat did not pull away for sometime, seeming to wait until the overwhelming sensation had flooded from her chest - being replaced with a tentative nervousness that was shoved away for the time being.
"Look, Darkpaw, I don't know why you're here and I don't know what's happening but I'm going to find out. Should your paws walk the stars again, I will be here I... just don't tell anyone. Don't tell any cat you were here, at least not until I figure out what is safe. You have to trust me. We, we'll figure this out. Okay?" Darkpaw only had time to blink before Sageleaf started to fade away along with her starry home. What had started as a mystical encounter had become one that left her sifting though the darkness like a mole in the dirt.
"Okay."
Darkpaw woke in her nest, chest heaving and hearing the word that had been softly uttered from her own maw. Each moment was crystal clear in her mind - not foggy like the remnants of a dream. She dug her claws into the reeds at the thought of what that might mean. A dream would have been easier. Her heart thudded erratically in its cage and she longed to stretch her legs and run through the camp to released some of the energy. But the thought of the stars looking at her was unappealing, she didn't want to disturb them, and as much as she trusted and respected them, the thought of the ancestors picking apart her pelt made her fur warm.
All she could do was sit here awake, staring into the darkness and willing her restless mind to not conjure shapes from the silver-touched blackness. Around her other apprentices slept contentedly, one snored. Her teeth clenched. If there wasn't peace in dreams - where was it to be found?
