The Elder Leaders sat around the great stone table, rich with symbols made by ancient claws. They glowed green in the light of the moon. Jayfeather's battered, and bruised body lay in the center. There were deep grooves that had been made to let blood from the sacrifices drain into a basin in the floor. They were inside a hidden section of the cave, where few had been to. Not even the rest of the ancient tribe had been allowed to join.

Jayfeather started to stir. The seven Elder Leaders shuffled their paws to shift away from the feisty newcomer. Jayfeather sat up to be engulfed in the darkness of blindness. Suddenly, his body was torn apart, blood splattered all over the walls of the cave, He gasped as one of the Elder Leaders, a strong, young tom-cat, grabbed his heart from his chest and ripped it out, causing more of his life-giving juices to burst from his body. He, then, lay down on the sacrificial table and his blood drained into the basin.

All this was done in absolute silence, not even Jayfeather had the chance to scream as his body was torn apart.

Rock looked down from his perch as Jayfeather's soul was released from his body. The Seven, as the circle of Elder Leaders had been called for thousands of moons, dipped their paws in his blood and drew undefined characters and symbols on the walls, along with the chanting.

It started off slow. Calm and reaching a giant crescendo, eventually deafening all of the cats. Then, the cats who had gathered outside of the meeting began the chant. The whole cave was alive with the roar of the Seven, the sure of many, the surviving members of the three original tribes who lived around the lake, moons before.

"A-hoo, ah-hoe, la la boso-ma, ti do-so la fa ti ti coro sofolalalala haaa – la-foomba doomge, forence. Hees he…" it went on and on, eventually turning into a bunch of sounds that made no sense, "dfm fcfbbczxsdjjmdcbgh dhjsdhj-djf –dn d-djdjdjsnhj sjusjuas ajasjsh,sjds…"

The cave came alive with glowing symbols again and Jayfeather's body rose from the table and the glowing symbols morphed into a green ball of energy that flooded Jayfeather's body and he dropped, dead, on the table.

But, in fact, he had not died, he had been given immortality by the Circle of Seven.

It was noon by the time the Seven had buried Jayfeather. It was by the lake so that it could easily be washed out in several moons and float down to the other side, possibly.

The young tom-cat, who had given Jayfeather his death blow, had also buried him, covered in special flowers and plants, which they believed brought peace to him in his afterlife. As they left, Jayfeather became awake again and stuck his paw out of the sand. He pulled himself out and realized something that made him impeccable: he could see!

He wasn't blind anymore and he could look at all the surroundings! He danced around and only realized that the Elder Leaders had been watching when they called to him.

"You survived the ritual?!" the young cat said.

"Yes! Is that what it was? A ritual?!" Jayfeather asked, angered and confused.

"We do that ritual to bring lost cats back to life, as the perfect beings. I believe you were blind, right?" the tom-cat asked.

"Yes, how did you know?!" Jayfeather inquired.

"We have the powers of the ancestors in our hands! We use to ritual to initiate new members. Our members can also fight extraordinarily well. You are a success, now we want you to join us as part of the Seven! Do you accept?"

"Maybe…I'll have to see you in a few moons, okay?"

"I'll give you three." The tom said and the Seven Elder Leaders walked back to the secret cave.

Jayfeather has three moons. What would he decide?

-End of Chapter Seven-