The Mysterious Ghost
It was a cold leaffall night. The full moon glowed brighter than moonlight, and the breeze was a bit cooler than usual. On the island by the edge of the lake, cats from Shadowclan, Thunderclan, Riverclan, Skyclan, and Windclan gathered by the big tree (where the leaders announced the news of their clans) and talked about Shadowclan and the possible threats that would be coming soon. Ever since Shadowstar became leader, rumors had spread about his new polices and battle tactics, but everyone was concerned about whether or not the polices would protect the clans or destroy them. Everyone didn't want history to repeat itself especially after Brokenstar and his deadly reign. Unfortunately, any problem that came into one clan was their own problem and no one could do anything about it. Blazepaw was sitting in middle of the clearing alone troubled by the rumors. He looked up and saw Shadowstar looking down at the clans with a malicious smirk. Blazepaw glared at him shaken by the Shadowclan leader's expressionless eyes. After a few moments, he begin to feel an anger towards Shadowstar. A unexpected hatred for the young tom that Blazepaw didn't even think he had. Blazepaw closed his eyes hoping to shake away the thought, but after a while it seemed like time had passed until he opened his eyes to reveal a horrifying sight. Shadowstar was lying in front of Blazepaw eyes open and dead. His body was covered in his own blood and there were deep gashes and scratches all over him. Blazepaw was horrified by the sight. He looked down and realized that his chest, muzzle, and his two front paws were covered in red scarlet blood. Blazepaw looked around and saw horrifying and sickening glances from other cats. His mother and sister approached Blazepaw casually as if he was still in a psychotic breakdown.
"Blazepaw wh-what did you do?" his mother asked horrified.
"I-I don't know" he choked.
Than again Blazepaw didn't even know what had happened. Cats around him started mummering and whispering to each other. They weren't sure what to do with him, either kill him or drive him out of the lake. After a few moments, a yowl silenced everyone. A cat came out of the crowd and approached Blazepaw's sister. The cat sat a few feet away from Blazepaw looking at him as if she had seen something like this before. The cat was Aspentail a old Thunderclan elder that join the clan many moons ago as a loner. Not much was known about her mostly, because she kept her past to herself. Aspentail looked at Blazepaw with a questioning and serious look.
"Youngster were you feeling a unexpected anger? A hatred you never felt before?" she asked.
Blazepaw was too terrified to answer any of her questions. So much that it caused him to feel ecstatic about the whole thing.
"I don't know. Why are you asking me these questions?! I wanna know what happened!" Blazepaw demanded.
No one spoke. In fact, everyone was dead silent. The only sound you could hear were the chirping crickets or the night owls hoot in the night sky. After a few moments, Blazepaw's sister stepped forward looking at her brother with a sad glance.
"You... you challenged Shadowstar." she meowed.
"What? But how?" Blazepaw asked.
"Well it started like this..."
Before the attack
"Thunderclan is doing well. Prey has been plentiful and we are blessed with new kits. Thunderclan is thriving." the Thunderclan leader purred.
Cats cheered to the news. After a few moments of cheering, Shadowstar silenced everyone with his tail looking down at the clans with a menacing look. When everyone went quiet, Shadowstar stepped forward in front of the other clan leaders.
"Shadowclan has two new apprentices, Blazepaw and Fruitpaw." he announced.
Cats cheered for the new apprentices. Fruitpaw raised her chin up with pride smiling from ear to ear. She looked at her brother expecting the same reaction, but saw only a glare of hatred in his eyes. Fruitpaw approached her brother, but stopped after seeing his eyes. Blazepaw's eyes were glowing yellow, but he had green eyes. Soon, Shadowstar silenced everyone with his tail again and everyone beggined to quiet down.
"Cats of all clans, many of you know about the dark forest recruits and how a few of them dared to betray their own clans, Tigerstar and his murderous reign, Mudclaw's rebellion, Darktail and his rouges and how half of Shadowclan joined them, Brokenstar and his rouges I can go on, but there is one thing all of these things have in common...traitors." he sneered.
Cats mummered and yowled in agreement. For once, Shadowstar said something that was true. Fruitpaw nodded in agreement. She turned to see if her brother still had the same reaction. He did not.
"It's about time we handle these disloyal cats. From now on, if any cat dares to break the warrior code or betray their own clan, they shall be killed without mercy." Shadowstar yowled.
"You speak of disloyalty, but what about you Shadowstar? What about the loyalty you give to your own clan?" a deep low voice yowled.
Everyone looked at the source of the voice. Fruitpaw glanced at her brother and saw Blazepaw baring his teeth and glaring hatefully at Shadowstar. Shadowstar glared back at Blazepaw.
"Blazepaw how dare you?! I'm more loyal than any cat in this clan!" he yowled outraged.
"Oh really, well what about Brakenstar? How did it go when you let him die after being mauled to death by those foxes." Blazepaw hissed.
Shadowstar was dead silent. His eyes wided with shock and terror.
"How..how... you have no proof." he choked.
"You're right I don't, but tell me Shadowstar, how does it feel to know that you got away with it? To know that you lied to your own clanmates? To know that you are going to keep anyone quiet to make sure that your own secret is safe? Doesn't that make you anymore disloyal than any cat?" Blazepaw sneered.
Suddenly, Shadowstar leaped at Blazepaw, but Blazepaw dodged his attack. He raised his right paw and scratched Shadowstar's side causing a yowl of pain. Cats started to yowl in horror and shock, Fruitpaw's eyes wided with terror.
"Stop! This is a gathering we shouldn't be fighting!" the Windclan leader yowled.
The fighting went on however. To everyone's surprise, Blazepaw didn't have a single scratch on him. After a few long moments, Shadowstar was laying on the ground covered in deep scratches, his own blood and he was breathing heavily. Blazepaw raised his right paw one last time.
"You're never gonna hurt anyone again! Not your clanmates not even your own clan!" Blazepaw snarled.
He than slashed Shadowstar's throat. Blood started pouring out of his neck as he breathed heavily one last time. Cats started yowling and screeching in terror. The Shadowclan medicine cat rushed over and examined Shadowstar. After a few moments, he closed his eyes and put his head down. He signed in defeat.
"He's dead." he meowed.
Cats yowled in horror and shock. Fruitpaw and many others were confused at this point.
"But how?! He's a leader shouldn't he have his nine lives?" Fruitpaw asked.
"A leader can still loose them if the wound is too deep for Starclan to heal." the medicine cat pointed out.
Fruitpaw remembered Tigerstar and how Scourge ripped all of his nine lives out of him. Suddenly, a ghost started to leave Blazepaw's body. Everyone could see it. He was a tan tom with brown stripes and glowing yellow eyes. Cats couldn't tell if he was from Starclan or the dark forest. The cat faded leaving everyone in disbelief and shock.
Back to Blazepaw
Blazepaw couldn't believe it. His own sister was telling him that a ghost (that was possibly a Starclan or a dark forest cat) possessed him and made him kill Shadowstar in cold blood. Blazepaw had so many questions, but he knew that he would only get a few answers. However, he wanted to know more about the ghost and how it knew Shadowstar's dark secret.
"What about the ghost? Was he from Starclan or the dark forest?" Blazepaw asked.
"I don't know honestly. He had mixture of looks from both Starclan and the dark forest." the medicine cat explained.
"The question now is who is this cat and of all cats, why did he possess Blazepaw?" Fruitpaw asked.
"Wait, Aspentail why did you ask Blazepaw if he was feeling angry?" the medicine cat asked.
Aspentail didn't answer. Instead, she looked down in guilt as if she should've told the clans about this sooner. After a few moments, Aspentail signed and looked at the medicine cat.
"Because the cat you saw was Wolfstar and this is not the first time he's done something like this." she meowed.
Gasps of shock and disbelief spread around the clearing. No cat had expected this not even Thunderclan.
"Wolfstar? Are you saying you were from a clan.?" Blazepaw asked.
Aspentail nodded.
"Many seasons ago, I was born in a clan called Lightclan." she begin.
"Wait, there are more clans?!" a Skyclan cat interrupted.
The Skyclan leader and the other Skyclan warriors silenced the young tom and glanced back at Asphentail.
"Yes there are, but Lightclan wasn't like any other clan. In Lightclan, she-cats had less rights than toms." she continued.
"Less rights? Why did they have less rights?" Fruitpaw asked.
"Honestly youngster I don't know. We were never explained about it as kits. They usually just told us that we were better off as kit-makers than warriors." Aspentail explained.
Angry mummers and whispers spread like wildfire. Everyone couldn't believe that there was a clan out there where she-cats less rights than toms. It was considered offensive in their belief especially to she-cats.
"When I was a young queen, another queen had given birth to two kits. Their names were Lightkit and Wolfkit." Aspentail continued,
"But how did Wolfkit become Wolfstar?" Blazepaw asked.
"I was a rebellious cat back than, so I never got a chance to see it happen, but I imagine he had to fight for it." Aspentail answered.
"What do you mean you weren't there for it?" the Thunderclan leader asked.
"I had escaped from Lightclan when Wolfpaw was an apprentice, but I often visit the border from time to time to check in on my family. When I heard that the law against she-cats was abolished, I knew my family was safe." she explained.
"Why didn't you go back?" Blazepaw asked.
"I couldn't go back. Too much pain and destruction had caused so many bad memories for me. I couldn't handle it. One night during my travels, I was visited by Wolfstar in my dreams. He told me that Starclan had given him special privilege to help any clan or a group of cats if there was a bad leader or laws within the clan or group itself." Aspentail meowed.
"Is that how you knew it was him?" Fruitpaw asked.
"Yes and no. During my travels, cats would tell me stories about how their friends or loved ones killed their own leaders in cold blood." she explained.
"What were the symptoms?" the medicine cat asked.
"They usually started with the certain cat feeling unexpected anger and when they were vulnerable enough, Wolfstar would possess them and make them kill their leaders in cold blood." Aspentail answered.
"But how did he know about Shadowstar's secret?" Fruitpaw asked.
"He's like any other Starclan cat youngster. He watches over all of us." she meowed.
Blazepaw nodded. After all of this, there was no way he would forget something like this and after hearing the story about Wolfstar, he understood that in a way, Wolfstar was only trying to help Shadowclan from a supposable tyrant. Blazepaw looked up and thought he saw a golden star shining bright in the night sky.
Well what do you think? I know this was suppose to be a scary story but I thought I tread a little bit. So anyway, there will be more stories similar to this, but I plan to only post them when it's that time of year again. Happy Halloween!
The descriptions of the cats in the story-
Shadowstar- black tom with amber eyes
Blazepaw- ginger tom with green eyes
Fruitpaw- red ginger she-cat with white chest, belly, paws, tailtip, dark brown eartips and green eyes
Aspentail- old tan she-cat with dark brown stripes and yellow eyes
Wolfstar- tan tom with brown stripes, paws, tailtip, eartip, glowing yellow eyes and stars on his pelt.