I can remember the sound of their voices. Hold on. Hold on.

I can see their faces. Blue eyes. Yellow eyes. Green eyes. Their whiskers. Their fur.

Yet I'm alone. All alone. My eyes are shut.

My my fur is covered in blood. Scarlet blood. Gray fur.

I can hear them...

I feel the still air engulf my body. I feel the cold, still air. It tugs at my skin. Makes it burn. I feel the world tumble away from me in a blur of light and darkness, the sliver of sun slowly drifting away... forgetting me. Leading me downwards into the deep, cold, dark place. I don't know where I'm going.

I fear I will die.

OOO

I woke up to the sound of my own heart. It was beating, I was alive.

The pound of my heart, the blood pumping through my body. It made me jerk at each frequent beat, hitting my ribcage and sending pain up my spine. Making my green eyes water.

The salty drop from my eyes met my open mouth. My tongue hung awkwardly out, surrounded in a pool of blood. I must have coughed it up. The air was frigid, I could see my breath. That small taste of tears was tinged with copper. There was blood there too.

I think I was in shock. There was no other expaination. I knew every bone in my body must have been broken, shattered. My limbs splayed across the stone floor sticky in the puddles that flowed from my skin. My fur torn and still, aside from the slow rise and fall of my chest. My eyes were clouded over and I could barely see but I knew where I was.

I was at the bottom of a long, slow pathway to death. Where I was now could not have been any better than hell.

My last recolection of the life before was of plunging downward, wind tearing through my fur. It's the feeling you get when you are half asleep, and you feel yourself fall only until you open your eyes. The only difference here was... I wasn't waking up.

I saw their eyes, my clanmates and fellow aprentices watching me. Even some cats from the other clans watched and gasped, their faces horrified. I couldn't remember much. Only letting my claws scrape along the rough stone, screeching as I begged to stay steady... only to find myself in this position, with nothing to live for. Knowing that there was only a cold, hard ground laying under me.

I had wailed. Twisting in the air. My fur plastered to my body. It seemed to soon for me, only an aprentice. Maybe they would send a medicine cat down here, to help me and maybe I'd live.

"Smokepaw!" Who's voice was that? I could hardly make it out through the rush of air.

"Oh no!" Another fearful voice rang through the chasm. It was useless.

At that, I shut my eyes. The memory hurt more than my injuries.

They will come. I know it. They'll come. They'll come back for me.

My breaths were hoarse. Every time I tried to draw in the crisp, icey air everything shuttered and I bit back the urge to scream. I had a feeling that would hurt even more. I wanted to move. More than anything. I can recall wanting food or rest or water back in shadowclan. I can remember the urge to leap into battle, or wanting to be with a she-cat. I wanted all of those things. Earned for them.

There was no want greater than what I felt now. The simple ability I'd had all of my life was to move. To walk, flawlessly and painlessly. It was the only things I wanted. I'd surrender speach or companionship or food or water just to walk one more time. Just to run through a grass feild or leap into a marsh, listening to the frogs ribbit in the distance.

You haven't truely felt pain until your body doesn't allow you to move. You haven't been tortured until you are living but every part of you denies the ability to search for others or help. That was my pain.

Unable to process anything but my own thoughts, I did what any troubled clan cat is taught to do. Pray.

Starclan, I'm alive.

I'm not on clan territoy, I'm somewhere on the edge of the mountains. I know my clanmates are up there. I have faith they'll come and find me. I don't know if I can reach you here.

Starclan, you have guided me so far. You have believed in me. I've looked to you for help. I know I'm only an aprentice but please know that someday I'll be more than that. I'll be a warrior. I'll find my way out of this place.

Great Starclan, please. Give me a chance. I've no idea why this faith has been bestowed upon me, though I know it must be for a reason. If I am to die... make it quick. Make it painless. At least less painful than it has been thusfar. Know that I died fighting.

And who ever waits in the stars for me, know that I want to live. Although I know it will be hard... hard to get back please help me get there. I've not done a thing to any cat than what's been asked of me by my leader. I'm a loyal cat... I've not lived long but I know that I love my mother Nightwing and my mentor Oakfur. I love my clan as much as I love the thrill of battle, as any shadowclan should. I love...

I stopped my prayer suddenly. I listened to my breaths, my heart and the distant hiss of wind through rocks.

I havent loved any she-cat yet, but I am only an aprentice. I wanted to grow up and have kits and mentor younger cats and have a mate. I wanted to be a leader or a deputy... to be the most loyal cat in my clan.

So starclan, understand that I believe in you. I trust you. Bring me to my destiny. Lead me to my clan. Help the young aprentice that should be doomed to die.

Starclan, if you can hear me... show me life.

I opened my eyes and saw the stone walls above me. The crack of night sky, dotted with stars and a full moon. That small speck of beauty seemed to entrance me as I drifted into sleep. I tried to focus on it... that deep blue sky... the silvery stars that were my ancestors...

It hit me that that crack above me was the portal that lead me here away from the clans. There was nothing beautiful about it.

Quickly... I fell to a dreamless sleep. Alone.

OOO

Okay so that the first chapter. I know it's a little broad and kinda boring but it gets better, trust me. Please review, even if you didn't like it (Tell me why) Just A quick note this is rated teen cause I'm planning on having some pretty intense fight scenes and so minor suggestive content. Just read on and you'll figure it out.

Cheers! -TheSwiftWarrior14