A quiet heartbeat, in a silent world.
Darkness rising, darkness forever... that's a dream of mine. But here... trapped in this other world...
A way out... That's all I need. One way out!
Quiet pawsteps rustled the deadened leaves of the Place of No Stars. A long, dark body prowled through the blackened ferns as a tom cat of many moons, and many more thoughts, made his way to some unknown destination. Dark, soulless gray eyes gleamed with quiet schemes as he pushed his way through a bush, some night-black fur getting snagged on the leaves as he went past. He didn't care; here, he could feel no pain. Eventually, his paws carried him to the edge of a dark red pool, glowing ruby with some unseen light source. Looking thoughtfully into the bloody depths, the cat allowed a small, sinister smile cross over his features and he chuckled, a sound more disturbing and nerve-wrenching than anything ever witnessed.
"Soon...soon, I will be free of this place." he murmured, his voice as hoarse and soft as the croaking of a half-dead toad. "This world cannot contain me forever..." Sitting down, he lowered a paw into the pool of blood and gently disturbed the liquid with it, sending small red ripples out to the edges of the pond.
"Now...to find a likely Host." he said as he thrust his paw in deeper, closing his eyes to concentrate.
A thousand screams entered his ears and pierced through his thoughts, all voices he had heard before. His smile only widened as the screams rose in pitch and he crouched to the ground, letting his paw become soaked with familiar blood. With each scream, a name appeared in his mind, and though he would love to relish in the memory of killing every last cat who filled this pool with their blood, he had work to do.
"Tenebrae," he murmured, announcing his name into the pool. He pulled out his paw as the blood reacted to the spoken word, and started to swirl like a gentle whirlpool.
The vortex slowly increased in speed until it was spinning madly within the borders of the pool, and the red glowing light became more visible. Tenebrae looked on until the light flashed a blinding white and faded into the atmosphere.
He took a deep breath and sighed, looking triumphantly at the cat that appeared in the Bloodpool. He waved his bloodied paw over the pool and the cat was swallowed up as Tenebrae stood and watched the blood resume its usual still form.
He started to laugh, his voice once again becoming that unnerving, terrifying sound as he announced, "He is the one! He will be my Host."
"Hey Crux, come on!"
A dark gray tom looked up at the sound of his name. He smiled and nodded, standing up from his perch on a rock as he looked at the other tom who had called him.
"I'm coming, Lynx." Crux called as he leaped off the rock and took off after his golden-furred companion.
Lynx didn't wait around. He laughed and took off just as Crux was reaching him and the two wound up in a chase, Lynx running teasingly ahead while Crux tried to catch up. The two kicked up grass and dust as the chase carried them over spring-green fields and around a tall plateau dotted with trees.
"Come on, Crux! By the time you get to the beach, I'll have died of old age!" Lynx shouted as he picked up the pace.
"Ha! In your dreams, mouse-brain!" Crux called back as his own speed picked up and he was soon shoulder-to-shoulder with his friend.
"See you at the beach!" he laughed as he rocketed off, with Lynx laughingly in tow.
It wasn't long until the two toms found their paws touching sand instead of tall, wavy grass and the roar of the ocean reached their ears. They collapsed on the sand together, kicking it up in each other's faces as they played on the beach.
"You're the slowest cat in all of Everlight!" Lynx crowed as Crux shoved him over into the sand.
"No way! I beat you by four tails-lengths!" Crux said as Lynx stood up and pushed him over.
"Well, I say both of you are slower than slugs." another voice said.
The two looked up to see a light brown tabby she-cat grinning down at them from atop a dune.
"Hey! Where'd you come from?" Lynx asked, sitting up.
"I've been here, mouse-brain." the she-cat laughed.
"Well, it's nice to see you, Ara." Crux said, nodding at her,
Ara leaped off of her perch on the dune and walked towards them, her tail waving in the sea breeze as she fixed her dark green gaze on the two.
"So, what brings you to the beach? I don't usually see you here. What's wrong, got tired of your field?" she asked teasingly.
Lynx shook his head roughly, saying, "No way! We just wanted to come to the beach!"
Crux rolled his eyes and pushed Lynx over before he said, "Yeah. We just wanted to come here. I don't think we'll ever get tired of the field."
Ara shrugged, "Fair enough. Hey, did you hear?"
"Hear what?" Lynx asked as he tried to shake sand out of his pelt.
"There's a new band of loners!" Ara said brightly, "I heard they just came out of the southeastern swamp area!"
Crux tilted his head, "Really? Cool! I've always wanted to meet a swamp cat."
Ara jumped out in front of them, waving her tail, and said, "Well come on then! Be careful, though, my mother said they're really eccentric."
"Uh oh." Lynx laughed as he took after her, "Eccentric's never good!"
Crux sighed and shook his head as he followed them back the way they had come. He kept his head down, following their pawsteps as he muttered, "Eccentric...I wonder just how eccentricthese cats are?"
Dive: Well, there you have it! The Prologue to the newest adventure in the Warriors saga!
Sun: Hey! I helped co-write it! x3. I'm gonna write the next chapter, so don't forget about meh!
Dive: Right, right. Oh yeah, a little info about this before we go on! This is the prequel to our brand new Warriors site, Drear RPG. You get more info later on, so why not check it out at http:/drearrpg.webs.com/
Sun: You won't regret it! :D. We even have a "Free-Lance" Section if you don't feel like roleplaying the story.
Dive: Yep! This is Dive, signing off! See you next time! (I feel like an anchorman)
Sun: (Exactly! xD) This is Sun, signing off! Oh, and please don't ask to co-write a story with us. This FF account is just for the two of us. ^^