A Youth Broken; A Monster Awoken [Closed]

A small smear of blood dotted along the trail into the Mothermouth. Darkglow's body remained outside, but at least she had gone quietly. Klaus crept through the blackness, feeling his way through as he had done several times before. He took a sudden turn away from the typical path of the moonstone, a turn so sharp that the tunnel could be, and had been, easily missed if one wasn't looking for it. The sharp ground pricked at his pawpads as it had several times before when he made this journey. What was a little more spilled blood in exchange for this? Klaus slid painfully down into the cavern of pointed rocks. There, the Nightfangs awaited him. He lowered himself down onto his belly and accepted the discomfort of the jagged ground willingly. With a deep, slow inhale, he stretched out his neck and pressed his nose to the stone. He had the information that he finally needed and now he intended to put it to good use. Poor Darkglow. Poor, foolish, naïve Darkglow. She had unintentionally handed the keys of Heaven to the Devil.

He'd paced and waited. Paws seemed to vibrate, energy surging through the tom's ethereal frame. This thing, whatever it was, grew by the second. The grey and white tom was nearly foaming at the mouth. Teeth clenched until the memory of a jaw was taut to the point it felt about to snap. Each passing moment became more overwhelming. To sense a bit of hope, any frail bit of change, after moons of hopeless stewing... it was like he could feel a drastic change coming - a thing in stark contrast to the seasons of being shut away in rot and filth.

Droplets scattered across the faint and dusty earth as his head shot up to find another cat had come to join him. Quickly, his pace changed, moving swiftly in the direction of Dawnhawk. He stopped short, eyes burning with a curious hunger, "Well, what have you found?"

Klaus felt an odd sense of satisfaction watching the gray and white tom approach him in such a manner. The desperation was there as plan as day on his face. He managed to keep his smugness off of his face when he spoke at least. "I found your Darkpaw... Darkglow actually. You were right. She was very trusting... and turned out to be very helpful." Klaus sat down in the dark and dreary landscape. Okay, maybe he was enjoying his newfound position a little too much. Deciding not to draw this out any longer, he would deliver this news to the tom that so desperately sought it.

"It took a little time, but she told me that tomorrow, something will cover the moon and the stars will be powerless. Apparently that was a message from Starclan themselves." He lifted a paw to lick the blood from it from killing Darkglow, only to find that it wasn't there. He set his paw back down. "Do what you will with that information, but don't forget your debt." Hopefully that was the information that the tom needed... because Darkglow was a little dead at the moment.

The eagerness written across the tom's face was no secret. He was normally a cunning creature, manipulative, and much like Dawnhawk. But this thing had been lapping at his being for sometime now and the wait was overwhelming. An eternity had become just that, and then some. Now, freedom and power was so close he could almost taste it dripping across his tongue. All it took was a small morsel of information for the sensation to vibrate throughout his entire being. Something that had been just out of reach of his claws was now something he could snag.

Slowly, a grin broke out across his maw. It started by twitching up at the sides before peeling back to show glistening fangs. A low laugh broke from his chest and erupted into something rather unhinged in nature. The sharp sounds subsided after a moment and he found Dawnhawk's eyes, "Stay close and be prepared. You will get your reward. Nightfall we will meet again, when the moon and stars disappear. That is when the real fun begins." The grey and white tom's mind raced. So many things to do, and so little time, but he was certain the others would be just as ready. With a flick of his tail, he briefly left Dawnhawk to his own devices. They would return soon. Tonight, the stars would fall.

The cackle that came forth from the gray and white tom caught Klaus's attention. It was incredibly familiar. He'd been there himself a few times... finally having triumphed over an enemy after struggling for so long. It was a good feeling... quite an addicting euphoria really. Once the tom gave Klaus the instruction to leave, he did so. Focusing again, his conscious mind returned to his physical body. Klaus woke and stood as his mind played the words over and over in his head. Without much to say to his newfound ally, he turned away from the Nightfangs and leaped back up to the ledge with ease.

"If this reward isn't worth it, I will work to destroy everything I have helped you build." He said with a growl in his throat and a narrowed eye back into the darkness behind him. He would be back. The gold and white tom left the Mothermouth and would return home for a time. Once it became dark and the gathering was due to be held, he would make the journey back.


Night had freshly fallen when Klaus stepped once more into the Mothermouth. He felt his way around, easily slipping into the tight corridors where the Nightfangs were. Gritting his teeth against the jagged earth, he slid down once more to where he was previously. He lie down on his belly and pressed his nose back to the Nightfangs. Having become familiar with the out of body experience, the rotting forest scent hit his nose and he knew that his friend would be there.

"I'm back. If what Darkglow said was true, then blackness should engulf the moon and stars very soon. So... what is it that you intended to give me for my help?" He was short and to the point. This needed to happen quickly, because if he ended up getting something mediocre... there would be repayment in blood. He sat down and wrapped his golden tail around his paws and stared expectantly through his right eye. The left was so foggy and useless here... and it had cost him many prey as well as battles.

The tom had merely nodded, laughing internally at the thought of a mere forest cat interfering with their plans. If he was correct, a limitless power would soon become his, and that of his companions. After their encounter, he had set to work. It proved to be quite an easy feat, gathering others who could feel what was about to happen. This raw energy crackled like electricity, thrilling, and overwhelming. He loved it. Sucking in a memory of air, letting it surge through him, the grey and white cat couldn't help the way his body trembled. Standing here, now, before an army - he had accomplished the feat of a lifetime, two lifetimes even. All between of Starclan's quivering pawn of a she-cat and fated timing.

Dawnhawk's words caused his ears to twitch and a slight from to cross his maw but only for a brief moment. He knew exactly what Dawnhawk would receive, sharing in this limitless power. Before he could speak, the sensation coursing through his very being intensified tenfold. It took a slightly bolder step to move forward and work against it. But when the tom stood, he we straighter and somehow more vibrant, than he had been in life itself. The words that left his maw were to the point, accompanied by that devilish grin once more, "It's starting. Wake up, Dawnhawk, wake up and find your reward."

The sensation was like that of stepping into a freezing cold pool, shocking invigorating. And then he was there, standing before Dawnhawk, very much alive. His companion was just waking, as other materialized in the dark cavern. Hungry and waiting shadows stood at bay, drinking in this renewed life. There was little time to waste. As he stood before the golden-furred tom, Slatethroat barely batted an eye and his features did not even twitch. Claws unsheathed and darted out in a flash. Reminiscent of the Windclan blood that had once flowed through his veins, the strike was swift. Blood poured from the open wound on Dawnhawk's neck, a steady stream emptying into the darkened cavern.

Slatethroat stood there for a moment, watching before turning back to the rest, "Soon, we will return home. For seasons, the clans have cast us away and scorned us. But now, even Starclan stands powerless. Tonight, we will show them all the power of the Dark Forest. Tonight, the clans become ours."

The flash of claws. That supernatural speed at which they moved. Klaus wasn’t ready. He hadn’t been expecting this. Why? They had watched over him for so long. He had been so devoted to them. Why now? His eyes widened in shocked, fearful surprise and his muscles twitched to move. It was too late.

Flesh and muscle gave way beneath a well-aimed blow. Blood ran down his neck to his chest, pale fur absorbing the crimson fluid before it leaked and streamed down his forelegs. Klaus willed his body to move, to fight back against this sudden betrayal. His limbs buckled under him and he crumpled to the floor.

Eyes wide with fear and the absolute realization of what had happened, Klaus could only stare and gasp for breath, only to sputter and choke on his own blood. His heart had been pounding only a moment ago, but he felt even that begin to flutter and weaken. He tried to speak, but only a dark red liquid oozed from between his lips. He tried to mouth a word, perhaps it was “bastard”, but he couldn’t utter a sound.

As darkness began to creep in around his vision, Klaus’s eyes partly rolled to the back of his head before his pupils widened into huge, round saucers. His life left him. His last sensation of being alive was the warmth of his body being sapped from his muscles by the frigid temperature of the world around him.

Instead of his life flashing before his eyes like he expected… Klaus was greeted with a sudden, bright light. The light wasn’t painful, yet it was the most intense light he’d ever seen. Even the sun seemed dim in comparison. The light suddenly either moved higher above his head than where his eyes could follow, or the world pitched upward beneath his feet.

A bright world. Klaus took in the sight that a bird might see with a baffling mix unfathomable awe and a tingling sense of heart-wrenching familiarity. Colors of the world were more intense than Klaus had ever seen them… and there were colors that he had no name for. The forest below was a vibrant, emerald green and every bird and creature that he spotted through the leaves had an aura of light around it. The lakes and streams were a glimmering sapphire blue and the sky was such an intense azure it could have been made of fire.

There was another light in the distance… the actual sun. Pale golden rays of light sprouted from it in all directions and gently gilded the pale clouds around it in a soft gold. It must have been morning… A Morningstar. Morningstar. Morningstar. Morningstar. Klaus stared at the sun, unblinking, and saw how much the colors of this[i] sky, [i]those clouds, and that sun specifically looked so much like him. Morningstar… Morningstar… Morningstar.

I am Morningstar… Klaus thought to himself. Golden bird-like creatures came into view in a flock, briefly passing between him and the sun. Even their feathers glittered across the fiery blue sky. I always have been… The realization hit him deep. It was like a memory… one that he couldn’t fully grasp. It was beautiful. This was a place that he belonged. It was serene and safe. He had no enemies in this place, no thirst for blood or vengeance. He simply, for once, just belonged.

Warm, salty tears rolled down his face as something moved him through the sky and across the landscape. There was no pain, only beauty; Only peace. A flash of white feathers on either side of his vision surprised him a bit. They looked similar to eagle feathers, but what eagle in this world was white? Curious, Klaus turned his head to look.

What met his eyes was the sky suddenly shattering like glass. Behind the sky was only blackness. As the shards of the sky fell all around him like daggers in the rain, his body exploded with pain and agony. He tried to cry out, but all he could do was fall. A horrible, gut-wrenching sensation of falling overtook him. He reached out in the blackness, trying to grasp anything that he could. His claws closed only around empty air.

He writhed for what felt like an eternity in the inky, impenetrable darkness that surrounded him. All feelings of hope, security, and sense of belonging was pulled slowly and cruelly away from him as a cold wind rushed passed his ears and deafened him. He opened his maw and screamed, endlessly falling and his body wrought with unbearable pain of which there was no escape.

Finally… his back hit hard against what felt like stone and knocked all of the air from his lungs. An overwhelming stench assaulted his nose and choked out any attempt to take a full breath. A stench of rotting eggs. He recognized it from when he would knock old bird eggs out of nests while chasing prey through the trees. Fighting for the strength to move, Klaus rolled onto his belly and struggled agonizingly to his feet. The darkness was suffocating.

A hot light suddenly sprang forth and cut through the darkness, this time with the light blinding him. He screwed his eyes shut against it, but he recognized the intense heat and the crackling sound anywhere. Fire. Seeming to come from nowhere in this black world, Klaus dropped back down to his belly, all strength gone.

How dare whatever powers that be pull him away from that bright world before? How dare they force him into the darkness, the rotting world and the scorched earth? How dare they take him from the place that he belonged? Klaus… No. That wasn’t his name anymore. He wasn’t Dawnhawk. He wasn’t Nightwind. He was Morningstar and he always had been. Always.

Something about that knowledge gave him strength. He felt a weight lifting off of him. He set his legs beneath him again and rose, more steadily and easily this time. The scent of rotting eggs… no… sulfur his mind said… no longer overwhelmed him. The heat of the fire was repelled and pushed back from an arctic frigidness that rolled off of him in furious waves. He finally opened his eyes to see that the fiery world of shadows did not harm his sight at all. More importantly… he had his sight back in both eyes. He could see further than before, he could even see faster and sharper than he had ever been capable.

A sudden flash of eyes in the darkness… reds, yellows, purples and oranges… Morningstar tried to recognize what it was that he was looking at, though found himself more hopeful than afraid. Before he could make sense of it…

His paws pushed him from the ground and out of his body. He had been yanked away from his world of shadow and flames and had been thrust back into the real world… if that was what this even was at this point. Morningstar quickly glanced around himself, realizing that he was back in the Mothermouth and with the Nightfangs. He spotted the gray and white tom that had killed him, which only confirmed his location even further. No… No he wasn’t supposed to come back here!

A wrath crashed down upon his being with such intensity that it would have broke the mind of a living cat and rendered it’s heart motionless. Morningstar couldn’t hold it in, and why should he? His expression wrinkled, twisted and contorted to such an expression of rage that the skin on his face would have split had he been a living cat.

“What did you do to me?!” He roared, no longer sounding much like a cat. He had every intention to throw himself at the gray and white tom… but he stopped himself. Swirls of inky shadows surrounded the both of them. It reminded him of how Starclan had stars in their pelts, yet they both shared shadows woven in theirs. As quickly as his fury came, Morningstar’s fury simmered to cold embers.

“I can see…” He realized again. The vision in his left eye had been restored, but the death wound gash in his neck remained. He was still bleeding. He knew then that he was a Dark Forest cat, though free of the Dark Forest itself. Was his curse to leave a trail of blood wherever he went in death as he had in life? Fitting, poetic even. More importantly, Morningstar couldn’t die again… and he was free to roam the earth. All of his foes would pay dearly and they were powerless to stop him.

“So this is what you had in mind all of this time?” The question wasn’t meant to be answered. He lifted a paw and observed the whirling shadows around it. He gave a small, sinister smile to the gray and white tom. “I am grateful for this gift. I assure you that I will put it to good use.” Even as he said it, his mind racing with the things he was going to do the clan cats… the other half of his conscience was strangely numb to this turn of events. Was it because he had just died and needed to mentally recuperate, or was there more going on under the surface?

Slatethroat hardly flinched as Dawnhawk's voice tore through the stagnant air. Their presence did not bring any heat and yet, all of them were very much alive in their own way. Staring down the bridge of his nose, the tom watched as realization came over the other cat. Not only was this the forest's worst fear but it had become joined with the very creatures that walked nightmares. Showing his fangs briefly in a flash of a pleased smile, he managed an affirming nod. The shadows that shifted behind them were relentless as he was to descend on their chosen target. And so he whisked his tail before meowing, "I'm going to introduce you to some allies of ours. We will gathering your kin, and then greet the clans. All will be there to witness our glory."

Morningstar was still partially numb to these events. Slatethroat told him what the next step in the plan was, and he nodded once. Gathering the Forgotten Order would only make this that much better. His only fear was Tarot and his reaction. He had made it very clear that he was not impressed by Starclan's ability to bring cats back to life. What would he think of what "Klaus" had be come?

Only one way to find out. Morningstar turned away from Slatethroat and headed in the direction of the barn. It wasn't very far anyway.