Duskfall shivered violently as the biting cold wind ripped through his blue-gray fur, causing him to curl up in a tight ball on the stone cold dirt beneath him in a desperate attempt to keep warm. He should have never agreed to come here, to come to the place of no stars.
The dark forest had been growing in power recently and had expanded its territory, claiming the furthest regions of uninhabited Starclan territory as its own. This was more than enough to concern Starclan, so they sent Duskfull to find a way to stop its expansion by any means necessary. He was chosen because he had an unbreakable will, Starclan thought that if this forsaken place could corrupt good cats then Duskfall would last longer than anyone else.
The blue-gray tom would leave if he could, but the place of no stars' territory was a massive mess of gnarled, dead trees and mist, all surrounded by a darkness that threatened to swallow you whole, it was like navigating a labyrinth that once entered, you could never leave.
Not only that, but he feared that everything that made him Duskfall would fade away. The tom could feel the dark forest picking apart his mind, rooting itself deep inside and corrupting him, like some awful parasite that took control of its host.
Another chilling wind passed by the blue-gray tom making him shiver again as he began to cough badly. He missed Starclan, where it was permanently warm like green-leaf. Unlike here, a cold and bleak, lifeless forest.
Duskfall always thought that once joining Starclan, he could spend the rest of eternity with the cats he loved, now he was being forced to accept the reality that he was going to lose his mind, isolated from everyone and everything. To him that was far worse than dying a second time.
He began to cough again. Coughing turned to hacking, worse than any greencough anyone could experience until he spat out something. It was midnight black, it oozed like blood and it reeked of death. Whatever sliver of hope Duskfall had was extinguished - the dark forest wasn't just taking his mind, it was taking his body.
The only thing that kept him sane was the thoughts of his mate, Silverheart. Even now Duskfall could feel her warm, soft, gray fur brushing against his own as she looked at him with love in her blue eyes. Oh, what he would give to feel that for one last time.
Duskfall purred weakly, it was a shame he never got to say goodbye.