F
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The white-and-orange tabby tom turned away from the falls. He began to head off to search for Silver Leaf. Sunset Blaze considered where for a moment before deciding on the ravine. He bounded off through the forest on his search for Silver Leaf.
The scenery around him didn’t change much, but he noticed it was getting significantly darker.
It must be about to storm, he thought, but he kept moving. Sunset Blaze reached the ravine and began thinking of how to get into it. He started searching for a way in around the ravine.
The mostly white tom frantically scoured for any sort of secret tunnel to get down into it without having to hurt himself. He was trying to keep out of sight of any other patrols, but he kept almost getting spotted. Perhaps he should ask someone for help? He knew it was a bad idea, but it was an idea worth considering nonetheless.
Sunset Blaze finally stumbled upon a secret entry to somewhere, which he hoped was the way down. He plunged through the tunnel and came to an opening at the bottom of the ravine.
The surroundings went from dark to an open bright space. The sun was hidden behind the clouds, but it still let light through. The rays of the sun behind the shield of clouds beat down upon the ravine. The trees towered over the sides of the opening above Sunset Blaze, and beneath those trees were the stoney walls of the ravine. The ground beneath his paws was cold. There was a small stream trickling through the ravine.
The river must have come from the falls, he thought while glancing around.
Sunset Blaze gaped his mouth to let in any scents that may be around him, but he didn’t seem to pick up any. He started to search for any evidence of anyone being near recently, but it was quite challenging because he had no idea what this place typically looked like. Nothing. There wasn’t anything.
Sunset Blaze twitched his ear from a sudden slight sound. He turned his head over to see what it was. Was it just something falling naturally? Or was someone there? Sunset Blaze couldn’t pick up any scents out of the ordinary. Only scent that lingered was the smell of forest, cave, and ArcaneClan. He didn’t consider smelling ArcaneClan odd as he was in the territory of it. Sunset Blaze began to doubt himself as he froze up from movement in the corner of his eye. Was it a mind trick or was he not alone? Sunset Blaze felt his breathing quicken. He did not enjoy the atmosphere around him. Not at all.
A strange scent lingered in the air. Sunset Blaze sniffed to identify it easier.
Blood.
The mostly white tom prepared himself to run if he had to. Adrenaline surged throughout his body. There were sounds all around him. He was disoriented by the different sounds from different directions. Was he surrounded or was he just imagining most of these sounds?
Sunset Blaze didn’t want to look behind himself in case something was there. He gazed behind him. There was someone there. Fear coursed within him. Did he know who this cat was? Did he want to know?
The cat behind him was a menacing, large, black tom. Sunset Blaze could see his muscles and a bit of his ribs; he looked that he hadn’t had a good meal in a while. The eyes of the tom were a threatening green color. The cat had white, unsheathed bloodstained paws. He wreaked of blood and death. Sunset Blaze thrusted himself forward to get out of the way of the black-and-white tom, but he only ended up being struck by him. The strike was clumsily done, so it had minimal impact on Sunset Blaze, but it caught him by surprise. He noticed more cats emerging from the shadows. A small white tom, a fluffy white she-cat, a brown-and-white tom, a silver she-cat, and a grey she-cat, he noted. Sunset Blaze heard a yowl, and quickly moved his head to see another ArcaneClan patrol.
A cat had been pinned onto the ground by a brown she-cat. Sunset Blaze tried to see if he knew any of the cats around him, but he was attacked by the black-and-white tom behind him. The next thing he felt was pain. Why did he come here?
Sunset Blaze tried to get up but he was pinned to the ground. He could not remember how to fight so he was defenseless. Sunset Blaze knew he had to do something or he’d die. He was already bleeding heavily as it was. He tried to kick him to make him lose his footing, even though he knew the larger tom would crush him if he did that. Sunset Blaze managed to wiggle out of his grip and tried to grab the tom by the neck to pull him down. The black tom barely fell over from him tugging on him. He swiped at Sunset Blaze in defense, which ended with the smaller mostly white tom stumbling to the side.
Sunset Blaze glared at him before snarling out of pain. He unsheathed his claws and began to leap towards the black tom’s face. Sunset Blaze’s wounds stung as he ran and attacked the larger tom. The black tom began to shove him down, but Sunset Blaze got ahold of his head and was scraping his claws against his face and into his eyes. The large tom yowled before flinging Sunset Blaze towards a rock. The white-and-orange tom felt pain throughout his body. He couldn’t keep fighting. The large black tom was racing towards him to finish him off before he was knocked over by a blur of black. He looked around and saw more cats fighting the strangers. Sunset Blaze tried to get up but he was too shaken up to stand on four paws. He rested for a bit because no one seemed to pay attention to him because they were too busy fighting.
Bristled pelts, yowling. The fight felt as if it had been going on for ages. Sunset Blaze noticed cats fighting the strangers were ArcaneClan cats. Moss Stone was fighting the large tom that attacked him. Sunset Blaze assumed she had saved him from death, but he had no idea if he should be grateful as he was injured pretty badly anyway. Ice Mountain was fighting alongside Squirrel Song, who was severely injured and needed the help. Swift Flame had two white cats cornered. Alpine Echo was alerted of this while Sunset Blaze was fighting the black tom and was trying to force a few of them away with the help of Dark Sun. He spotted a few guarding a tunnel on the far side of the ravine. Sunset Blaze assumed that was an entrance to camp.
He felt someone nudging him and saw Dancing Snow and Shadowed Night there,
“We were ordered to help any injured get to camp by Misty Sun, who heard about the sudden fight,” Shadowed Night elucidated. Sunset Blaze struggled to get up from the pain of the impacts.
“Those are some horrific wounds,” Dancing Snow noted. Sunset Blaze glanced over at his wounds. His wounds were deep and bleeding horribly. He winced at the sight. Sunset Blaze got up with a bit of help from them. The two cats accompanied him back to camp, trying to avoid the battle. A grey she-cat was racing towards them from the other side of the ravine. Shadowed Night snarled at the stranger,
“Take over for me, Dancing Snow! I’ll deal with this one.” He rotated his head to look back at Sunset Blaze and Dancing Snow. The silvery-white listener nodded and proceeded in escorting Sunset Blaze back to camp.
They finally reached the entrance on the other side of the ravine. Sunlit Ice, Golden Sky and Night Stream stood there. Golden Sky sat beside Sunlit Ice while Night Stream was more distanced.
“You got the fun job...” Sunlit Ice grumbled. Night Stream glared at him on the other side of the entrance.
“Your job is just as important,” Golden Sky said. Dancing Snow squinted at Sunlit Ice as she passed him and stuck out her tongue at him. Golden Sky wacked Dancing Snow gently,
“Oi!” He snapped. Dancing Snow snickered as they went down the tunnel.
Sunset Blaze was too focused on the pain to notice much about the tunnel. It looked similar to the other entrance, kind of. It was a bit more rocky, though. The tunnel opened up to the main camp. The musty smell of the cave filled Sunset Blaze’s senses. He never expected himself to be so glad to be back in the place he didn’t trust until just then. Dancing Snow led him to Misty Sun’s den.
Creek Song sat at the entrance waiting for any injured,
“Sunset Blaze!” She gasped, “Leave him with me, Dancing Snow, I’ll get him into the den,” Creek Song ordered. Dancing Snow nodded in reply and bounced off. Sunset Blaze followed Creek Song back into the den. Creek Song led him to a nest, and Sunset Blaze laid down. Misty Sun came over,
“Back so soon?” He chuckled, “Jokes aside, is Silver Leaf out fighting?” Misty Sun questioned while he examined the wounds. It surprised Sunset Blaze how a blind cat could tell what treatment wounds needed,
“No. I lost her up in the mountains. I was searching for her when I was ambushed in the ravine.” Sunset Blaze answered, “I assume I wasn’t the only one ambushed,”
Misty Sun nodded and scrambled to grab some herbs. He came back with some cobwebs and carefully placed the cobwebs on Sunset Blaze’s wounds.
“This should stop the bleeding.” He pointed out to Sunset Blaze, “You should rest, you lost a lot of blood.” Misty Sun smiled to try to comfort him. Sunset Blaze nodded. Misty Sun went back to grab something else. He came back with some seeds and other herbs.
“Eat these. They’ll help you rest if the pain is too much.” Misty Sun offered some poppy seeds. Sunset Blaze ate a few and went back to trying to rest.
The sounds of movements of Misty Sun and perhaps other cats caused Sunset Blaze to fall into deep relaxation, which then transformed into sleep.
--
“I sy rENmcA.”
“Ct u ar m.”
“I si m soy.”
“...”
“SP BNG S PEY.”
The world was spinning around him.
Sunset Blaze was standing in a grassland. There was outstretched nothingness for miles. No trees. Only grass. Tall grass. He could barely see over the grass; it was so high. Sunset Blaze glanced around trying to figure out where he was, but he had no clue.
Something flew overhead, but he didn’t see where it came from. He then heard an echo.
“SLLE E ECES O”
Sunset Blaze glanced around to figure out where the sound was coming from, and he saw them. Birds. Massive birds. They were screaming out words that made no sense.
“TM O DKET TE”
The words rang in his ears. He winced at the sounds. Sunset Blaze opened his eyes once again. Thousands upon thousands of birds, the shadows of the birds were larger than the birds themselves.
“DIG OUPT TE IGT”
The birds got louder. And louder. Sunset Blaze dug his claws into the dirt. He tried to crouch down but he was stuck there.
The sky was covered with the birds. He couldn’t see anything at all. The words kept repeating until it almost felt as if he was thinking them.
“E LHT O DTRYE”
The birds started chanting. Sunset Blaze tried to move once again, but he had no idea if he was moving. The darkness was overwhelming. There was no grass around him, and no ground beneath his paws. He felt like he was floating there.
Suddenly, he heard a loud cry. It came from a cat. Sunset Blaze had no idea if he wanted to try to investigate or stay where he was.
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