Hi! This is my first fanfic, i spent a lot of time on this prologue and im really proud of it
A tom sat on top of the rock, blinking as his eyes moved across the crowd in front of him. The late October breeze was chilly and made a few cats with thin fur shiver. Moths and other flying insects fluttered about, and the sounds of cicadas in the trees began to be heard. By now, the west horizon was bright and slowly dimmed and darkened as the sun set with time.
Soon, he knew, the night would be cold and it would be long. It was the same for all the autumns and winters of Illinois. The same case would be with the cats' hearts tonight.
However, the cats weren't there just to sit around and get frostbites. Everyone knew the reason why they were here.
He took a deep breath in, before exhaling. He took a quick glance at his much larger father beside him, who's eyes pleaded him to speak up. He turned to the rest of the cats below the rock, before speaking.
"I'm sure you all know about these dreams I've been having." As the words came out of his mouth, the tom almost immediately felt anxious about what was going to happen next.
He could tell some cats believed him, while others glared at him like he was making it all up. He knew all his dreams were true, but he wasn't ignorant to believe everyone would just simply take his word for it.
"How do we know if you really had these dreams?" One of the cats, a pregnant light brown and cream tortoiseshell, called out. Her amber gaze glared at him in disbelief.
"Yeah?" Another cat, this time a grey tabby tom, spat. His tail was lashing fiercely. "Why should we trust you when you've been being all crazy?"
More cats joined the protest. As they continued to yowl out and spit and glare at him, his mind kept cycling images of what he saw in his dreams. He thought of all the horrifying scenes he saw of the butcher and the cats, the sharp, metal blade, the blood...
He shook the thoughts out of his mind. Whoever sent these to him did it for a reason. They wanted to prevent all of that from happening. They wanted him to be able to stand up for himself and prove himself a valuable leader.
"The spirits who have sent me these dreams are warning us of a terrible future if we stay here." His voice spoke loud and clear over all the cats protesting, and they stopped talking to listen. "Those who live through it, if any, will be forever haunted by it their entire lives."
He didn't know how he could prove that these dreams were really true as cats continued to yowl at him once more. Then, a thought crossed the tom's mind.
"Surely these dreams wouldn't come from nowhere? You see, normally, your dreams are from what you've been thinking or doing. But that was not the case with me. These ones came out of nowhere, and sometimes I even see starry figures of cats."
Some of the angry cats were persuaded by his reasoning, the others didn't seem the change since the beginning.
"Oh please, quit lying!" Cats shouted, some of which were beating their feet against the ground like rabbits.
It became clear to the tom that having certain dreams were impossible to prove. As the cats continued to argue with one another, he thought of what to do next. Then, he decided he would simply allow the cats to choose w'ever to stay or go.
It seemed his father also had the same idea when he heard him speak.
"If you believe him, go to your left. If not, go to your right." The tom's father pointed his tail to the according positions.
He saw the cats begin to part on two sides near the rock. One to his left, one to his right.
By now, the sun was only a tiny top portion of a circle on the horizon. All the others noticed this too. The cats on his left, or otherwise their right, glared at him.
"It's time we leave. Come on, everyone." The same tortoiseshell she-cat meowed out, standing and beginning to pad back towards town.
He wanted to stop them, as he knew if they stayed the night back at the town, it would be too late to save themselves. At the town, they would be unable to leave ever again.
As the cats to his right began to leave, he called out. "Wait. If you believe me, come here."
The cats heard him and stopped, turning back around and padding back close to the rock.
He turned to his father, blinking at him. The tom's father turned towards the group of cats and spoke.
"As much as we would like the others to survive, their stubbornness is their downfall now." The larger tom twitched his whiskers. "If we go back to the town, we will not be able to get out."
He could see some of the cats gave a small nod. He still felt sympathy for the others. He wanted everyone to make it alive.
The tom glanced back at the sun. It was just a dimming light above the horizon now. Then, he realized, there was no time to wait. The ones who went back to town would simply not be retrievable. Now, there was no time to stand there and wait any longer.
"Come, we are heading west towards the setting sun." He called, leaping off of the rock and heading towards the dimly lit horizon. His father joined him, and soon the others followed.
They kept walking towards the barely lit west. As soon as they were out of sight, a light breeze blew that caused only the weakest parts of the trees to struggle.
A male hazel catkin let go from its twig, and fell on the bare, dry ground.
I hope you liked it thank you for reading my prologue! Btw the allegiances will be posted in Chapter 1 as the first author note
