WARNING: contains some sensitive topics. Please, read with maturity.
Dark and light,
is this how we see the end of life?
Flashes of colors in flight,
blurs of emotions and fright.
One side, white.
Tall and beautiful as the first day of Newleaf,
peaceful and graceful as a resting swan.
Starlight shimmers and dances in swirls.
Oh, is this where I'm being send in?
One side, black.
Looming and dark as the eyes of a badger,
twisted and rotten as a heart full of anger.
Shadows slip and float in sync.
Oh, is this where I'm being send in?
Four come,
walking and running and prancing and dancing.
Light and dark, pure and tainted.
Oh, eyes of shimmer!
Oh, eyes of dreamers!
Oh, eyes of reapers!
What did I do to deserve this judgment!
A starlit cat halted, face blank and hardened.
He was one of many moons,
of many battles and suns,
of regal features and crown.
Black as a moonless night,
orbs as a Greenleaf sky.
"Few are the ones
who make us come as one
with souls as hard as stone
both pure and tainted."
A smoke cat walked, small and mocked.
She was one of hooked claws,
of hate and revenge,
of storms and ravage.
Fiery as a wildfire,
eyes green and full of ire.
"We who prowl in shadows
have few occasions to prey on new sorrows.
You, warrior of silver,
have you finally slipped?"
Did I do something wrong?
"He was no clanmate of mine,
his mouth so full of lies,
he was a miserable fly,
who stalked on the sides."
Starlight and emptiness stared into each other,
the two unknowns reconsidering.
Then came movement from the sides,
two judges of pure and tainted,
two enemies in silent statement.
"You will not kill
said the Code.
Yet you killed him with no remorse.
You belong to the shadows,
forever forgotten."
The speaker growled,
eyes of pure gold.
White as snow, yet hateful now,
he was a cat of many stories.
"He was no innocent, of course not.
He did what is best not.
Punctured his own soul,
you belong to the halls of light."
The speaker sang,
paws of grey light.
Her eyes were warm lakes
so different from all those snakes.
"Remember now, Driftwing!
And we shall choose what is your destiny!"
She was young.
Almost ending training,
so proud of her I was.
She was a an excellent learner,
so dedicated,
her loyalty was to the Clan.
She was young.
Yet she fell in the wrong places,
he was a cat of many faces,
mind as sharp as claws.
She was young.
"Snakepaw, you are too young.
Let him be and rejoice in you youth.
You still have much to walk."
She was young.
Yet her heart yearned for more,
the warrior so much older than her.
His name was Webheart, a fitting one.
He tangled the strings then left for a new one.
She was much too young.
He never cared for her,
way too young and so lively.
Yet she danced into his paws,
until he could no longer ignore.
He pounced on willing prey,
played with her heart like a mossball,
used and left,
and of her youth she was bereft.
She was much too young,
but she was no more,
not yet a warrior
but apprentice no more.
And she came wailing,
eyes wide and scared.
She whimpered into my fur,
trembling as kit with no fluff.
"My parents won't talk to me,
my Clan will shun me.
Driftwing, tell me what to do!
I'm too alone and unguided,
I never listened and I paid it.
My kits won't have a father
and I will soon be exiled."
I held her close, calmed her heartbeat.
I let her yowl her worries,
I listened to her horrors.
My poor, poor apprentice.
"Calm down, calm down.
You'll see, everything will come clear.
Your parents will talk to you again,
the Clan won't exile you."
"I don't want the kits!
I don't want them to suffer, my poor kits!
I'm not a good mother, nor will I ever be.
I want this kits
to have a better life
far away from me.
I won't love them,
they bring too much pain.
I don't want them to suffer
for my stupid mistake.
Please Driftwing, have mercy for my kits!
Take them far away
where they can live happily without a stain."
She was distraught, and I agreed to help.
And so came the day
when I was forced to intervene.
Three beautiful kits, one tom and two shes.
Yet of their father, images were.
They had the same webbed streaks,
the same angular heads.
Yet the Clan was blind,
to the warrior's infraction.
Under the coat of the night,
I whisked them away.
Three silent kits,
three small lives.
I walked to Town,
towards a family friend.
She was a kind soul
of ebony pelt and clear amber orbs.
"I'll take them with me
when my family leaves town.
You won't see them again
and they won't know of their true fate."
I dipped my head, carried the kits inside.
I bid Trisha goodbye and left towards Camp.
Yet my adventure was not over, there was still a leftover.
A final task that I was yet to fulfill.
Snakepaw told the Clan,
between crocodile tears,
that a badger so desperate
had crashed into the Nursery.
It grabbed the kits and fled
while she pursuit it to no avail.
The Nursery was out of Camp
she was the only one.
We teared a hole near the back
to serve as evidence.
And the Clan believed her,
and her parents forgave her,
and all was back to normal,
except for one small detail.
I asked for a hunting patrol,
called Webheart, Finchflight and Yellowpaw.
Partnered us to hunt,
and took the rat away from them.
"You are a youth thief,
a miserable fly,
what you did was unforgivable,
yet punished you were not."
"She had what she wanted,
it's not my fault,
if she is too naïve to think
that being adult would open my heart to her."
"She is young, but you are not.
You selfish fox.
The Clan would be safer
if you are no longer nearby."
I slashed open his throat,
watched him bleed dry.
I blamed his death
on a hungry fox's attack.
His body I rolled
inside an abandoned den.
I cut my skin open
to give signs of a struggle,
and I too rolled
in the scent of the murderer.
The Clan believed me, how could they not?
I was a model warrior,
a favorite among my friends.
My apprentice was given justice
and I could continue with life.
She turned into Snakefang,
I was so proud.
Then I found a mate, and kits I had.
My life was a great one, deputy I became.
My mate died, with my kits I grieved.
One day came,
when with an adder I collided.
She bit and I swiped.
A worthy adversary.
Both of our lives ended,
she slipping behind some rocks
and I between the paws of my beloved Smokestorm.
"And that's why you are here,
and this is not and easy choice.
You killed him,
he abused your apprentice."
The grey starlit cat concluded,
waiting for her companions to decide.
The regal black star,
still blank,
posture stiff and tail curled.
"You don't belong in StarClan,
your sole is tainted.
I would want you to come,
but the rules are clear."
"I wouldn't want to go to StarClan,
you did nothing for her.
You stood and watched,
as she fell into despair."
The small, fiery cat
with the wicked smile
came forward
with her green eyes alight.
"You don't belong to the Dark Forest, either.
Your intentions were too pure.
I would want you to come,
but the rules are clear."
"I wouldn't want to go to the Dark Forest,
you poisoned his mind.
If it were not for you,
she wold never fall in grief."
Came the golden-eyed cat
of the shadow forest.
He swished his tail
deciding for his partners.
"I, Leafpaw,
condemn you to stay in-between.
You are not pure,
you are not dark.
The twisted line is your destiny.
Today and for all eternity."
The crowned black star nodded
eyes resigned to accept the decision.
"I, Shadowstar,
accept this as just.
You are condemned
to stay in the in-between."
The grey cat sighed
eyes asking for forgiveness.
"I, Smokestorm,
accept this as just.
You are condemned forever
to stay a wandering soul.
Forgive me, my love."
The fiery ginger she-cat huffed
her pelt ruffled.
"I, Sunstripe,
accept this as just.
Go now, Driftwing.
Go now and walk your path alone."
The twisting path extended,
serpent of light, darkness and in-between.
Exiled for afterlife
for doing justice.
Am I to blame?
You now know my story
with all its horror, color and glory.
Tell me, please, if you see my deeds as wrong.
I'm waiting for someone to take pity
of a poor soul condemned to eternity.
My beloved can't intervene,
my kits are oblivious to me,
my apprentice is rejoicing with life.
I don't regret my choices,
I did what was best.
I hid the blood on my claws,
I saved a cat way too young
and I killed a thief of youth.
\Challenge for SummitClan/