The Day the World Moved [November Gathering 2022]

Blackbear yawned, padding towards camp with Crookedpaw in front of her. The weather was fair and cool enough not to irritate the molly, and she walked with unusual nonchalance as the pair approached the edge of the forest. "Good hunt. Tomorrow we start sparri-" Her voice cut off abruptly as the ground started to shake. She instinctively unsheathed her claws and flattened her ears, ready to battle some unseen enemy- but the 'attack' was coming from below her feet. She stood stock still, claws digging into the ground to keep her balance. Her instincts were being entirely useless, urging her to fight. 'Fight what??' she thought to herself with a loud hiss.

Then, a loud crack made her ears twitch. She whirled in its direction, expecting a predator or an enemy- but was instead faced with a tree. A falling tree. She followed its path with her eyes.

Oh foxdung.

Crookedpaw was in the pine's shadow, laying prone on the ground. "PIPSQUEAK!" she roared. Without a second thought, the warrior barreled forward with a yowl. She grabbed him by the scruff, hurling him away from the tree before narrowly dodging it herself. The ground still shook, messing with her balance. "Forest isn't safe, get to camp!" she barked, eyes wide with poorly hidden terror. What was going on? She gave a self-soothing growl as she set off towards camp, keeping Crookedpaw in her sights.

The disaster came sooner than Plumleaf expected it to. She'd been sorting the herbs she'd collected on her most recent foraging mission, her mind clouded with worry for the future. Of course, she planned on talking to Briarstar as soon as she'd finished, but fate clearly had other plans. She hadn't even registered the first low, grumbling noise, too lost in her thoughts to notice the telltale signs that something disastrous was about to happen. She'd barely finished tucking the last bundle of leaves into place when the ground gave a mighty roar and began to tremble under her paws. Almost at once, she heard her sister's helpless yowl. Racing out of the medicine den, Plumleaf's eyes widened in shock at the destruction the tremors had already caused. Trees were crashing down into the Skyclan camp, one of which had trapped Birdchaser under it's thick limbs. She ran over, struggling to keep her balance when the ground was constantly shifting beneath her. But she was determined to make it; she'd never forgive herself if she let her sister die.

"Birdchaser! Hold on, we'll get you out!" She cried out, shoving against the tree with all her strength. Why hadn't Starclan warned her sooner? Could she have stopped this if she'd spoken with Briarstar right away? Guilt fastened it's dagger-like claws in Plumleaf's heart, and she pushed at the branch even harder. Would her clanmates be doomed because she'd failed to protect them?

Tired out from a early morning training, Willowpaw had gone back to camp for a rest before the afternoon. The first thing she noticed when she woke up is that the birds had stopped singing. Their chorus which accompanied every moment of her day was just... gone.

Before she could even realise that was a foreshadowing of danger, the earth began to move under her feet. In her sleepy state, she could do nothing but dig her claws into her bedding and hope it all stopped soon.

That was, until she heard the first tree fall.

The horrifing sound brought her back into some kind of action. Every Skyclanner, from the smallest kit to the grumpiest elder, knew the danger of falling trees. If a tree had fallen, then her clanmates needed her, and they needed her fast.

Willowpaw staggered outside, still shaky on her paws, to a sight worse than anything she could imagine. Not just one tree had fallen, but many, and the she-cat could hear the tell-tale creaks that promised more to come. And she could see cats struggling to move a great pine... which must mean someone was trapped under there. Even though the task seemed near impossible, Willowpaw ran forward to join her admittedly not very big strength to the other cats.

Willowpaw is trying to free Birdchaser with the other cats!

Ordinarily, Briarstar would be nowhere near her den in the middle of the day. Whether she kept herself busy through patrols or hunting or otherwise organizing and leading her Clan, rest wasn’t typically something to be found midday. Rest was hardly the word for what Briarstar was doing, though- with the onset of Leafbare hot on her heels, she knew there was much to be accounted for within the Clan. She’d seen Bloodstar prepare meticulously for things such as this- additional hunting patrols to account for the mounting lack of prey, extra border patrols to ward off any ill-meaning attacks from other Clans, and additional precautions to protect the Clan, both within the borders and the walls of camp. Countless hours thus had gone into preparing for who would patrol where, when they would begin supplying extra padding to the nursery and other dens, and what changes were soon to come. Her thoughts were interrupted, though, when the world seemed to go quiet.

Surrounding birdsong ceased, the ruffling of the leaves went silent. Hushed murmurs from outside her position in the leaders den were the only remaining sign of life within camp. And then, the shaking began. Violent, non-stop shaking. Panic struck her in that moment, because what in the name of the stars could cause such a thing? The very earth beneath her paws was rumbling, seeming to groan and tremble. It seemed almost unnatural; impossible. She struggled to stay upright despite the effort she put into it, and dust from the roof of her den overhead soon clouded her eyes. She could hear the terrified cries of her Clanmates outside, and though she struggled to see a tail length in front of her, she made a dash towards the exit.

The rumbling of the earth continued, and the sharp, splitting sound of trees snapping could be heard from all directions. A distinct crack filled Briarstar’s ears, different from the rest. This one was definitive, closer to her than the rest. Briarstar stood just within the confines of her den when the trunk finally split at its weakest point, sending shards and splinters of wood in every direction. In a split-second decision, without nearly enough forethought, Briarstar slid and attempted to escape the den before she was trapped indefinitely. She had misjudged, if only by a second, but that was a mistake that would prove to be more than just unfortunate.

A loud thud sounded as the tree made contact with the rocky ground, pinning Briarstar beneath it. Immediately, stars filled her eyes, and her vision began to blur and darken around the edges. It felt like an eternity in that moment, but in reality, it was only seconds before she was gone. The rapid rising and falling of her chest halted, her eyelids grew heavy and everything came to a stop.

As if awakening from a nightmare, she quickly arose in a state of panic, only to find herself surrounded by a star-studded marsh. Foxdung. Searching around in a frantic display of worry, she looked for someone, anyone who might have answers for her. She needed to get back. Forget her health, how many lives she had, her Clan was in danger, and she was doing absolutely nothing to help.

A few moments passed before a dilute calico appeared before her, fur shimmering with the light of a thousand stars. Her demeanor was comforting and calm, a stark comparison to the sheer fear and adrenaline Briarstar was experiencing. Briarstar’s pale green eyes locked onto the bright yellow of Shadestrike’s, a pleading gaze filled with worry and fright. ”I need to get back… Please, Shadestrike, help me get back.” She was met with empathy and kindness, identical to that of which she remembered from her apprenticeship in the marshes. ”First, Briarstar, you need to think rationally. Clear your head; panic helps nobody. Remember what I told you? Shadestrike’s gentle tone would ordinarily be comforting, but today it was not. Her frustration only grew, but she knew that Shadestrike was right. She nodded in earnest, and despite the panic tightening her chest, closed her eyes and attempted to slow her breathing.

”That’s it, Briarstar. Breathe, focus, and all will be well.” Soon enough, the rapid beating of Briarstar’s heart slowed to an acceptable rate. Shadestrike’s gentle words guided her into a more clear headspace, and soon enough, she was able to see and think clearly. The dilute calico made her way closer to Briarstar, until she was close enough to hear a whisper. In a hushed, guarded tone, she mewed, ”Briarstar, you are a lucky cat. Had that tree been just a hair farther to the left, I’d be unable to help you. Right now, your Clan needs a leader who thinks rationally and quickly on her paws. I know that this is something you are capable of. Remember that, and how far you’ve come.” The molly reached up and touched her nose to Briarstar’s, sending a jolt of life into her. She could feel the broken bones and twisted limbs healing back together, intense pressure all that remained. Wincing slightly, she opened her eyes again and respectfully dipped her head to Shadestrike.

Just before she returned to SkyClan, though, the other she-cat leaned in close and whispered in a monotone voice, ”One last thing, Briarstar. Beware the bloody, twisted path before you. Step carefully along it, because it is a volatile and twisted thing, and the way you handle it sets the tone for the journey.” Briarstar’s face contorted into an expression akin to confusion and disturbance, but she had little time to ponder it before she felt her body go numb and she was back within her own body.

Crushing pain set every nerve in her body alight as she awoke, gasping for air and yowling from the pain. The lower half of her body was still pinned beneath the gnarled trunk and limbs of the tree that had nearly ended her life forever, and there was seemingly no way out. She writhed and pushed and clawed, but to no avail. She would need assistance if she wanted to get out of there, and she would need it fast.

Dark paws flew across the Skyclan border as Bloodstrike honed in on the camp's location. He knew his home well, and even after the earth shook beneath his paws and changed the landscape around him, Skyclan territory had been his home for almost all of his life. He knew which direction to go. As he entered the camp, his eyes took in the horror around him. Trees had fallen everywhere, some still were. Heart thundering in his chest, Bloodstrike looked frantically for anyone that needed help. To the Dark Forest with being a rogue, Skyclan was his home and always would be. He would leave afterward, but for now, Skyclan was in trouble and he would not abandon it.

He spotted Briarstar under a tree... pinned. Exploding into action, Bloodstrike galloped like a mad dog to her location and slammed his oversized shoulders into the trunk. He dug his massive paws deep into the earth, forcing the trunk to roll off of her. It wasn't an easy task and the older tom's aging muscles and bones ached and spasmed in protest.

"Skyclan!" He yowled, his practiced leader's tone bellowing out into the air. "Help me get this tree off of Briarstar!" Help... how he hated calling for it. He had hated asking for help his entire life, but his older age had gained him at least some wisdom. This was no time to be prideful. If he had just even a bit of help, he could get the tree off. He was a strong cat, but still not as strong as he was in his youth.

Bloodstrike felt an unfamiliar fluttering in his chest and his ears began to ring, but he ignored it for now. He needed to focus on his mission right now.

Asterpaw had just left camp when the ground began to shake. Accompanied by a warrior who'd offered to take him out, he now stood by their side, leaning on them as the unsteady earth threatened to knock him from his paws. No words had to be spoken between the two as trees began to fall around them, cracking echoing above, threatening to drop branches on them at any moment. They knew that had to get back to camp.

As quickly as he could, Asterpaw covered the small area of ground that would take him back to camp. The creaks and groans of trees as they swayed and fell coming from all around him motivated him to run faster, urged him to stand back up quicker every time he fell. He, along with the warrior, made it back to camp quickly, calling out as he passed through the entrance. "Crimsonflame! Dad, where are you!?" He was scared, rightfully so. But it seemed that not even camp was safe from the falling trees. Multiple cats were already injured, but the leader stood out most to him. Without wasting a moment, or even giving himself a moment to catch his breath, he continued his sprint over to Briarstar. He winced at the sight of her, unable to tell if she was in pain until he heard her yowl. Briarstar was the leader, after all, and she wasn't crying. Maybe she was just crazy strong.

There was already a cat there, pushing on the tree. A large, tall tom who smelled funny... Funny as if he didn't belong here. He looked old and had lots of scars. Keeping his narrowed eyes focused on the large tom, he pressed all of his weight onto the tree, certain that his contribution would help. He was one of the largest cats in the apprentice den, after all. He was proven correct when the tree began to shift, hopefully giving Briarstar room to escape. Still, the presence of this strange cat made Asterpaw uncomfortable. But he was helping Briarstar, so he couldn't be a rogue? "Who are you?" He asked, continuing to push on the tree.

Asterpaw is helping Bloodstrike push the tree off of Briarstar

It had been a long night of patrols. Spottedfrog preferred to hunt at night, because that's when it was coolest, and quietest, and this morning, like most mornings, she found herself sleeping a bit later than the others - Willowpaw was nearly a warrior, and hardly needed her training anymore, so there was no reason to get up just yet... except... in the depths of her dream, something pointless and mundane, she wouldn't remember anyway, she could feel someone shaking her.

"Cut it out," she mumbled, curling tighter into herself, nose into tail, one paw curled across her muzzle. But the shaking grew rougher, more insistent, until finally, annoyed, the warrior snapped her head up and barked out, "What?!"

But she was alone.

Dizzyingly, she surged to her paws and then quickly into a half-crouch, legs spread wide, as the ground beneath her quaked. Something struck her between the ears and she glanced upward, horrified, as chunks fell from the roof of the warriors' den. What was happening? Outside, the panicked yowls of the rest of the clan sounded, and without a second thought, she leaped across the den in one large stride and then bounded into the clear blue morning. The ground was shaking here, too, but why? In all her moons she'd never experienced something like this.

A crack, violent and deafening, to her right, and Spottedfrog's eyes swiveled just in time to see her mother pinned beneath it. "Briarstar!" her voice was a strangled, raspy yelp, and as she moved to help, Bloodstrike moved in faster, his familiar striped pelt filling her vision and calling out to SkyClan to help. Relief surged through her, and it wasn't until she was halfway across the camp herself that her gaze narrowed in confusion, suddenly realizing that he shouldn't be here. Why was he here? Spottedfrog didn't care, truly - she was glad he was back, and hoped that her tone when she finally made it to him relayed that. "Dad," the briefest of an affectionate purr escaped her with the single word before she, too, threw herself at the fallen bough.

Wolfblossom had just returned from a patrol and had settled near the edge of camp to relax, enjoying the leaf-fall sun on her pelt as she rested her head against her paws, eyes half-lidded. It was a perfectly normal day, like any other... Until it wasn't.

The first sign was the strange absence of the near-constant birdcall that filled the trees. While Wolfblossom normally tuned the constant background noise out, the sudden silence was in itself almost deafening. Her head lifted, pale blue eyes searching the branches above, and then she felt it. The earth trembled, throwing the large she-cat awkwardly to one side. She scrambled to her feet with a hiss, struggling to keep her balance as world literally shifted around her. "What's going-" She began, and then Birdchaser's voice rang out over the camp.

And then there was a loud crack that rent the air. Eyes widening in shock, Wolfblossom could only watch as the tree cast an ever-growing shadow over Birdchaser as it fell. She was too far away, even as her heavy paws thundered across the clearing towards her sister, alarm making her pelt stand on end. "Birdchaser! Move!" Too late, the tree hit the ground with a thud that even Wolfblossom could feel from halfway across camp. And Birdchaser had been fast, but not quite fast enough to avoid the thing entirely. And Plumleaf was faster still, racing to her sister's side. Without hesitation, Wolfblossom bounded over, bracing her shoulder against the heavy weight of the tree, as Rainpaw also raced to help. "Hang on, sister... We'll get you out of this." She grunted as the tree started to shifted, then cursed as the distinctive thud of something very large hitting the ground behind her.

What she hadn't expected to hear was her grandfather's voice. Bloodstrike... Definitely wasn't supposed to be here at all. He'd exiled himself along with Beechfang, after all, and- Beechfang. Her mother's scent had continued to fade around the fence that bordered the great ridge, Wolfblossom wondered where she'd gotten off to. Wherever she was, hopefully she was safe. She couldn't be dead, not after...

She risked a glance behind her, half-hoping to see Beechfang's scarred pelt alongside that of her father's. Only Bloodstrike, however... And Briarstar, beneath another tree. Spottedfrog and Asterpaw trying to help.

"Plumleaf-" She urged, "Briarstar's under a tree, it looks bad." It looked far worse than Birdchaser's predicament, at the very least. Someone ought to go help her, but Wolfblossom found herself reluctant to leave her wounded sister's side, all the same. Not while the tree was still pinning one of her legs to the ground. Gritting her teeth, Wolfblossom shoved as hard as she could against the tree. They needed to get this thing off of her, now.

Dodging fallen trees, their appearance somewhat more frequent the deeper her paws made their way into Skyclan territory, Beechfang led her two charges in relative silence. Her father's scent had taken an unerring path towards camp, and Beechfang wasn't sure whether to be grateful that tracking him was so easy, or annoyed at the risk he'd taken.

Finally, camp was in view, and she pushed on despite her growing exhaustion. The adrenaline from her mad dash away from the twolegs had faded, but Beechfang ignored the growing weariness. She'd find her father and her kits, she'd return the missing cats to their rightful place, and then she'd retreat. From the looks of camp, trees had fallen, and she could only hope that nobody had been caught under them. Trees could easily crush a cat beneath them, and if not contribute to severe damage besides.

...So of course, the first thing she would see upon entering camp was her father, trying to push a tree off of Briarstar. And... Birdchaser, also trapped under a tree, with her sisters and another clanmate helping to try and get it off of her. Birdchaser seemed in arguably better shape, and Beechfang's tail lashed once. She wanted nothing more than to go to her kit and help, not to succumb to the ugly reality that was triaging. But Briarstar... She'd need help fast, or the clan would likely have to contend with Birdstar, assuming her daughter could recover quickly.

Part of her was deeply tempted to ignore the ailing leader. A selfish part, she knew. Briarstar and Beechfang had never exactly been friends - Beechfang had spent most of her time despising the other-she cat - but she had taken it upon herself to lead Skyclan. She'd shown her mercy rather than engage in the same selfish, kittish anger that Beechfang had. And Skyclan needed their leader.

"I'm captured by twolegs for a half. moon." She growled at Bloodstrike, apparently her mind had chosen annoyance after all, "Have you lost all sense, coming here?" Sense she seemed to lack, as well, but nevermind that.

"You!" There was an apprentice-aged tom standing there, looking confused. "Help with getting Birdchaser out from under that, don't just stand there!" She spared a glance for Dawnfeather and Fogfeather as she wedged her shoulder under the heavy tree. "Fogfeather, Dawnfeather, help me out." She added, though she was sure she didn't need to order either of them to do anything.

Beechfang has brought home two of your missing clanmates, has snapped an order at Crookedpaw, and is trying to help Briarstar and Bloodstrike.

Everything was calm, and then it wasn't. Ravenclaw was hunting on her own, as she tended to do whether others wanted her to or not. She had become older and bitter ever since Bloodstrike and Beechfang had been exiled from the clan. Her trust in their leader - Briarstar - was low, but she was still a member of SkyClan. Therefore, she would continue to do what she could for the clan. However, there was nothing she could do when the world began to move. It threw the surprised she-cat off her paws, and she dropped the bird that was in her jaws. "What in the world?!" She was quick to get back on her paws, but a mere shaking of the ground wasn't all that was in store. The bird lay forgotten as the sound of cracking reached her ears. Her first instinct was to run to camp, and that nearly got her crushed by a tree.

It came tumbling down, an old tree that wanted to leave her underneath it. She jumped out of the way in time, but it laid in front of her, temporarily blocking her from where she was going. Hissing in frustration, she ran around the tree, her paws pounding the ground as she ran directly into camp. It did not look much better there. There were fallen trees there too, as well as a couple of cats beneath them. And, as her eyes searched the camp, at the cats that were helping push the trees off of their clanmates, was Bloodstrike and Beechfang. "Beechfang!" Ravenclaw cried out, a mixture of confusion and elation. Of course, there were things to do that didn't involve standing there gawking. As loathe as she was to do so, she ran over and began attempting to help get the tree off of their fallen leader. "What are you doing here?" she grunted as she got her shoulder under the tree.