This is my first challenge for the Warriors Challenge Forum… and I'm slightly nervous!

The Dream of Apprenticeship

Before I arrived in StarClan, I'd always wanted to be the leader of ThornClan. But in life nothing turns out the way you want it to. I learnt that the hard way… by death.

I sat in the nursery bored but excited. In a few days I would have finally got my apprentice name and my mentor. The six moons I had spent in the nursery had felt like a lifetime. Time went so slow when you wanted something. For the past six moons I had been good. I had done as I had been told and stayed out of trouble and more importantly in the camp. But my paws itched to do something and I decided to explore ThornClan territory. I enjoyed exploring and I'd explored the camp loads but it got boring. I wanted to explore somewhere new. Somewhere different. I didn't care about what the warriors said. About it being dangerous for a kit on its own out of camp. I wanted excitement and fun.

When no-one was looking, I raced out of the camp. I ran and felt the wind blowing against my face and fur. I felt free. Free of the nursery. Free to do as I wished. Free to act like a warrior. I decided that I wanted to impress all the cats back at camp. I was going to find some prey for the elders. I had seen many warriors and apprentices bring back food. It couldn't be too hard to hunt, could it?

I sniffed the air, trying to find the scent of easy prey. To my surprise, there were so many wonderful scents in the forest. The noises of the forest were peaceful and the smells of the prey was mouth-watering. The forest was full of prey. Nice juicy prey. My excitement took the better of me. I forgot about the dangers of the forest I had been told about. I also forgot about hunting for the Clan. I just wanted to run. I pranced around jumping from leaf to leaf. I attacked the tree and won even though its branches kept hitting me on the head, I managed to give it lots of scratches. I ran some more and suddenly the scent changed. It smelt a bit like the cats that had come into ThornClan camp ordering my father, Birchstar to give them more territory. Mother had told me they were from CliffClan and that they were dangerous. I shook my head. Even though I was in CliffClan territory, as I guessed, they would never be able to find me. My size made it hard for anyone to see me. And, if they did find me, I'd be able to fight them off. I was the best fighter in my Clan. Even though no-one had told me that. I did guess it. After all I did manage to beat the tree!

As I ran, I looked up at the sky to see many birds flying around peacefully.

The problem was I wasn't looking where I was going. The birds were too distracting. And, there was a reason CliffClan was called CliffClan.

Suddenly, my paws left the ground. I plummeted. Down and down I went. I panicked. I was falling. I was falling to my death. Suddenly I hit the ground and pain shot through my body. I wailed in pain but no-one heard me. I was too far away from the CliffClan camp. As I lay on the ground I could feel my life slipping away from me. I had had so many hopes. So many dreams of becoming leader I hadn't thought of the life of an apprentice and as my life slipped away I started to dream about life as an apprentice.

I was later found by a patrol of CliffClan warriors and taken back to my BirthClan. Nowadays, my story is told to every new born kit in ThornClan to warn them about the dangers of leaving the camp alone. I often spend most of my time thinking about what I could have done with my life. I know I could have been great. I just never had a chance to show it.