Prologue

My name is NoGameNoLifeHere and this is my first Warriors Fanfiction. Please do review, follow and favorite and do go easy on me for this is my first time writing new stories. Credits goes to my sister for the candy and inspiring me to write this based on one of her favorite fairytale stories. I hope you will all enjoy.

Without any more delays, we shall begin.

…

(Moons ago…)

Grandfather Fenris said there was a wolf loosed in the woods.

That's why they were among the thick trees to begin with – to find it. The three of them trudged along, weaving through hemlocks and maples, long out of sight of their home, their father's happy smiles and their mother's soft yet affectionate licks of her tongue, a long way from their grandfather's tales of adventure and chilling stories.

A sharp ripping sound rippled through the moss-covered trees. The tom, with his pelt as fiery-colored as his father's and amber eyes inherited from his mother, whirled around in alarm, the pale-cream collar around his neck giving a tinkling sound at his reaction.

"Sorry," one of the she-kits mewed in reply, though she clearly didn't mean it. Her cheeks were still lined with baby fat and her fur was like the color of the sandy pebbles they played with back in their home nestled with their housefolk, identical to the sister matching pace to pace next to her. The only difference between the sisters was the color of their collars: one was green and the other blue. The green-collared she-kit gave a single blink of her smoky-blue eyes as she tossed the dead mouse held clamped in her jaws a few moments ago now at her brother's paws. "You can have your turn with the mouse now, Axel, if you want."

"You're still dragging that around?" Axel mewed, rolling his eyes.

"Its fun," one of the twins argued, but he turned his back and couldn't tell which one. That was how it normally was with them – they blended so much that you sometimes couldn't tell if they were two people or the same person twice. The blue-collared sister picked up the fallen mouse, shaking it free from dust as they continued their search.

"When we find the wolf," Axel told his sisters, "if it chases us, we should split up. That way it can only eat one of us."

"What if it catches me though?" one of the she-kits asked, alarmed.

"Ansel, what if it catches me first?" Axel replied.

"You're the biggest in the litter. It should chase you," the other sister mewed, pouting slightly. "That's the way they work." She was the one who claimed she knew everything about wolves, from what they love to eat to where they usually sleep. She grabbed the mouse from her twin and used its long tail to trip Axel over his paws. When he didn't react, she prepared to do it once more and –

"Wait…do you know where we are?" Axel asked, his amber eyes narrowing in confusion.

One of the twins raised her eyes to the forest canopy above and scanned the closest tree trunks, while her sister turned slowly in the leaves with her ears flattening against her head. They knew these woods by heart but had never ventured quite so far before. The shadows from branches felt like strangers, the cracks and pops of nature turned eerie.

The twins shook their heads simultaneously and their brother nodded curtly, trying to hide the fact that being out so far made him uneasy. He hurried forward, eager to keep moving.

"Axel? Wait!" one squeaked in panic and ran a little to close the space between them, stumbling over a stray stone. "Are we lost?"

"Only a little," he answered, jumping at the sound of a particularly loud falling branch. "Don't be scared."

"I'm not," she lied, flicking her fluffy tail. She began to wish she was safe back home with their father and mother, even if she had to listen to her grandfather Fenris' horrible stories or let their youngest housefolk tickle her belly. What if they were stuck out here past dinnertime?

"Besides," Axel mewed over his shoulder, "maybe it's a good wolf and will help us get unlost."

"I thought you said it might want to eat us."

"Well, maybe, but we won't know until we find it. Unless you want to go back," Axel gave a single twitch of his ears. He didn't entirely believe the stories about the wolf, but his littermates did and he didn't want to ruin it for them. Another pop in the woods made his fur bristle; he shook off the nerves and sang their favorite song, one frequently sang by their mother, Eureka and their father Ander.

"In the land full of flavors and tastes lived a beautiful cat." The twins began to hum along, adding words here or there until they got to the line all three of them loved and they sang in unison:

"There's a lake of mouse and squirrels too, in the Big Pointed Highstones!" The familiar words calmed them, made things fun again, as though their combined words swept the fear away.

Axel was about to begin another verse when a new noise came from farther in the forest – not a pop, not a crack, but a pawstep. A slow, rolling paw on dried leaves could be heard, then another, lifting the fur on Axel's spine. He stood protectively in front of his sisters, one of them dropping the mouse on the ground, the prey rolling over the forest cover of dead leaves.

They waited. There was nothing.

And yet there was something – there was something, something breathing, something dripping, something still and hard in the trees. Axel's eyes raced across the trunks, looking for whatever it was that he was certain, beyond all doubt, had its eyes locked on them.

"Who's there?" Axel growled, a faint note of fear in his mew, making the twins quiver. Axel was never scared. He was their big brother. He protected from the other, teasing toms with thorn-sharp teeth and dangerous, glinting amber eyes.

But he was scared now, and the sisters were torn between wonder and horror at the sight.

Nothing answered Axel's question. It got quieter. Birds stilled, trees silenced, breath stopped, the muscles beneath his pelt tightening with tension. It was still there, whatever it was, but it was motionless, waiting, waiting and waiting…

It then finally spoke, a low whispery sound, something that could be mistaken for wind in the trees, and something that made Axel's throat dry. He couldn't pick out the words – they were torn apart and they were very dark. A low, guttural and threatening sound which echoed in the still silence

The words stopped.

And it laughed.

Axel cursed under his breath and took of the way they had come, his sisters' close behind him. Hissing as the stray twigs and stones on the ground cut his paws; Axel didn't dare slow his pace as they heard the thing behind them roared an even darker version of the words they heard earlier. The twins screamed in horror, a single high-pitched note, which ripped through the trees and swamped Axel's head. He couldn't look back, not without slowing down.

Both twins knew they couldn't run for much longer. Did Axel know the way out?

There.

On the ground was a trail left behind when the sisters were dragging the mouse earlier, its tail leaving spaces between the leaves and forming a path. Axel was following them, slicing around the trees while the twins followed desperately, eyes focused on finding the next piece, the trail back to the part of the forest they knew. The monster leapt for one of the sisters and missed her, making a breathy, hissing sound of frustration. She dared to glance back.

Yellow, sick-looking eyes found hers.

Ansel turned forward and sped up, stumbling slightly but faster than the other, driven by the yellow eyes which overpowered the sharp aches in her chest, her paws begging for rest. With her long tail streaming behind her, she saw light ahead, shapes that weren't trees. Their home, the wooden house in the middle of the woods which they shared with their housefolk only a few tail-lengths ahead. Ansel couldn't feel her paws anymore, her lungs bursting, eyes watering, cheeks scratched, but there was the house.

They burst from the woods and onto their cool lawn. Get inside, get inside. Axel squeezed in through the cat-flap and stumbled in along with his sister. Their housefolk seeing them quickly bolted the door shut. Their father and mother raced towards them, eyes widening at the sight of their kits sweaty and panting, and asked in panicky, perfect unison:

"Where's your sister?"

…

And that was the end of the prologue. Hope you all enjoyed that and I will frequently upload the rest of the chapters with the following days to come. Review and see you next time!

-NoGameNoLifeHere