The Land Between

by psioniccat

Every cat in the forest disappears, leaving four remaining apprentices, one from each Clan. Each is as ordinary as the last - until they discover strange new abilities they can't control. The talentless Rainpaw, who can travel through time, the outcasted Rosepaw, who turns invisible, the disinterested Smokepaw, destroyer of reality, and...well, you'd just have to meet her.

11. Anima

The Land Between, Chapter Eleven

Jadepaw woke with the rise of the colorful moon. As soon as the shimmery pastel light touched her face, her eyes opened. When she saw it poking over the distant, sandy horizon, she'd never felt more relieved. Mostly because it meant the gross purple darkness caused by the other, far worse moon was finally gone.

If her estimation was correct, it seemed that both the day and night were the same length. Not like back on Earth, where the day was considerably longer than the night. Here it was really an even split. Which meant she had to make the most of the daylight she had!

The four apprentices were curled up around the central structure of the stone dais. After bickering about what the mysterious countdown meant for like two hours, they finally crashed from sheer exhaustion. Rainpaw was sleeping curled on his back with his paws tucked up in the air like a dork, Rosepaw snoozing in a calm silver loaf, and Smokepaw curled in a tight circle, his back to the others, on the other side of the structure.

Jadepaw walked to the edge of the dais and stepped off, onto the red sand. They had a big day of exploring ahead, and it would be good to get a head start. She looked around for the pawprints they'd left when they traveled here yesterday, but couldn't find any. It seemed they'd mysteriously disappeared! Which sure would make it hard to get any bearings about where they were on this strange blank planet.

"Hey, where are you going?" Came a voice behind her. Jadepaw looked around, and Rainpaw was heading after her.

"Hi, Rainpaw," She mewed. "I thought it was a good idea to get a head start while we've got decent lighting and start looking for clues."

"Clues?" He meowed. They began to walk off into the sand, leaving the dais and the other two apprentices behind them.

"Yeah, like more runes or more structures or something," Jadepaw said. "Hopefully some clues as to if our Clans are here or not, and what the runes on the dais meant, like what it needs from us so we can get to work on the new universe as soon as possible. I really feel like that countdown isn't a good sign! My gut keeps telling me to hurry and act urgently."

"Me too," Rainpaw sighed. "Well, not really, I don't think I have a gut that tells me anything, but I agree it probably isn't a good sign."

"I hate to say it…" Jadepaw mewed, "Well, I hate to say it because I hate to deign anything that tom says with any validity, but I think Smokepaw might have been onto something when he said the structure may have shut down while we were putting our paws in it. Which really sucks."

"That does really suck." Rainpaw agreed. "Well, maybe we can get started on some clue-hunting before those two losers wake up!"

"Yeah!" Jadepaw mewled. They picked up the pace. "I'm also really hungry. I guess we could head over to that rocky outcropping there and look for some voles, but as a medicine cat apprentice, hunting is pretty much something I've never even touched on. Especially since I was only made an apprentice like a moon ago! But I'm sure you could catch something? Since Rosepaw isn't here. Or we could just wait to eat until she wakes up."

"Actually, I have to admit…I've never caught something before," Rainpaw said. "I was a pretty sucky warrior cat apprentice! The other Rainpaw turned into a good hunter, but not me because…I…" He trailed off.

"You what?"

"Hey, Jadepaw." He stopped in his tracks. "Whoa."

Jadepaw stopped too and stared where he was staring. On the other side of the small crest of sand they were climbing, she could see a figure lying in the sand. She began to approach. It was a cat, a small, jet black tom. As she got close, she smelled the metallic reek of blood she'd grown accustomed to as a medicine cat apprentice, and upon further inspection, the fur around his chest was slick and sticky, and the sand under where he lay was clumped and wet.

"Whoa," Rainpaw said again, and he even touched Jadepaw with his tail to stop her approach. She peered, and saw that the sand directly under where he lay, and where the blood was touching, was pulsing a faint white. "Why is it pulsing like that?"

As curious as she was, Jadepaw didn't have time to speculate. She dropped to a crouch beside the wounded tom, and stroked his shoulder with his paw to arouse him, checking for consciousness. "Excuse me…mister tom? Can you hear me? My name is Jadepaw, I'm a medicine cat."

His eyes flew open at her voice, and searched wildly around him for a moment before spying her. "Help. Help me." He rasped in a little voice, and tried to struggle in the sand.

"Don't move," Jadepaw warned him. "Do you know how you got here?"

"No," he whispered.

She identified the wound on his chest as severe, probably fatal, and her stomach felt sick. "Rainpaw, can you come here and help me put pressure on this? Hurry."

Rainpaw sat beside her, looking sicked out, but he did as she said.

"Can you tell me your name?" She asked him.

"ShadowClan," He meowed. "Run. Run."

"Are you from ShadowClan?"

"Am from ShadowClan," mewed the tom. His eyes kept darting around wildly. He was terrified. She could even smell his fear.

"Did something happen to you? Do you know how you got this wound?" Jadepaw continued to search his pelt. Behind his left ear, on the side of his head that was lying against the sand, she identified a deep laceration in his skull. The blood had congealed and was drying at the edges – some time had passed since the injury.

"I'm going to die," he mewled. "It's danger. Run."

"What danger?" Jadepaw asked. "Can you tell me any more?"

The tom was shaking with fear. Her heart went out to him so bad it was overwhelming. She could barely handle it. "It's going to kill me." He looked right at her. "Where am I?"

"You're on…" She trailed away. As soon as he'd uttered it, his eye began to glaze. "No!" Jadepaw yelped, as Rainpaw increased the pressure on his chest. She pushed on his flank with both paws, trying to retain a heartbeat, but he was quickly slipping away. Within moments, he'd passed.

"Oh nooooo," Jadepaw wailed. "No, no, no, no…"

"It's okay," Rainpaw whispered.

"I failed." She dipped her head so her face couldn't be seen.

"He was fatally wounded," Rainpaw attempted dismally. "I don't think there's anything you could have done. Who was this cat? Was he really from ShadowClan? Maybe Smokepaw knows who he is?"

"Don't show Smokepaw." Jadepaw mumbled. "He's already messed up enough as it is."

"But this means our Clans are here somewhere," Rainpaw insisted. "Whatever happened to this tom, at least it means our Clans are here!"

"I feel so bad," she whispered.

"Jadepaw…"

"He was so scared. Did you see that? That was awful."

"He was going to die either way," Rainpaw said. "There wasn't anything you could do! And you tried your best!"

"Rainpaw." She mewed. "I just need a minute to be sad."

In the corner of her vision, a shadow streaked across the sand, small and turning quickly larger as it approached. Jadepaw lifted her head in time to watch something soar from the bright, colorful sky above them, casting a small shadow on the sand many fox lengths beneath, zoom into view, and land carefully on the sand several tail lengths away.

Rainpaw dropped into a crouch, fur spiked, baring his teeth, but Jadepaw sat neutrally, watching it approach. She saw it was a cat – full grown, but a cat like any other, but not one she recognized from any Clan. She didn't seem to be a Clan cat at all, it was evident in the way she moved, the sheen to her perfectly white, pearly fur. She saw the dead body of the tom and approached slowly, ears back.

"Oh, darn." She stared at the dead tom and sighed. "Charybdis never was any good at saving everybody."

"What?" Jadepaw asked. "Who are you? Do you know what happened to him?"

"I don't know what happened to him specifically, but I can make some educated guesses. He is one of your associates, correct?"

"Associates?" Jadepaw and Rainpaw exchanged a look. "He was a Clan cat, if that's what you were asking. But not from my Clan. But he was from our universe, so that means he was a friend! And now he died."

"It really is sad," sighed the white she-cat. "I'm so sorry for your loss. But…I may be able to help you. I'm Scylla, by the way. I'm the queen of Anima."

"Anima?" Jadepaw asked, eyes round. "Like in the rune Rosepaw read? What is that, exactly?"

"Anima?" Scylla's face lit up. She lifted her head and pointed her nose at the bright colorful moon in the sky above them. "Why that's Anima, of course! A wonderful land of light and color!"

"That's Anima?" Jadepaw begged. "Jeez! That makes so much sense! And that spooky blue planet – that must be Animus, right? Anima's brother of darkness and shade?"

"Of course!" Scylla purred. "Are you two…oh my. You two must be creators, aren't you."

"Creators?" Rainpaw and Jadepaw meowed together.
"Yes! The ones tasked with building the new universe! Is that you?"

"Yeah!" Jadepaw said exuberantly. "Yes, that's us!

"…Jadepaw?" Scylla asked her "And Rainpaw?"

"Y…yeah." Jadepaw and Rainpaw met eyes again. "How did you know?"

"Because you're the princess," Scylla said to Jadepaw. "The princess of Anima! And Rainpaw, the prince."

"I'm a princess?" Jadepaw gasped. "I don't even know what that is but that's awesome! Oh jeez! I don't know what to say!"

"That does sound really awesome, but I think there are more important things going on right now," Rainpaw interrupted her excitement. "Like: do you know where our Clans are, for StarClan's sake?!"

"Some of them are on Anima!" Scylla responded calmly. "They are alive and safe, under our domain. Whichever Clans correspond to you two, they are up there with me."

"So ThunderClan and WindClan?" Rainpaw asked.

"That sounds right," smiled Scylla.

"What about ShadowClan and RiverClan?" Jadepaw gestured to the dead tom. "No offense, but this dead tom here is really alarming! It makes me think ShadowClan is in trouble or something!"

"ShadowClan is fine. Charybdis gets ahead of himself, is all. They are alive and well on Animus, as well as RiverClan. There's no need to worry. It's an incredibly dangerous process moving an entire civilization of associates from their universe into Create Space – and I'm guessing this poor tom was a causality."

Jadepaw dipped her head. "May he rest in peace…"

"Can we see them?" Rainpaw asked. "Our Clans? I'd love to see everyone again. And I guess, if they're really here in this crazy place with us, I don't have to hide anymore! Oh boy. I can tell them that I can time travel, and sure, there are two Rainpaws, but I'm here saving everyone and I'm going to make us all a new universe! It'll be great."

"Not yet," Scylla answered. "They are still adapting to the move. They don't have the crazy powers you creators have been endowed with! Most of them, you probably won't see until you build the new universe and have crossed over."

"The problem is…" Jadepaw meowed, getting to her feet, "We have no idea how. We used our paws on the dais, to activate it, or whatever, but it seems like everything broke, and we have no idea what the next steps are."

"I can help you," Scylla answered "That's what I am here for! As the queen of Anima, it is my job to guide you young creators in the way of creating a new universe, which, let's face it, can be a really difficult undertaking with heaps of responsibility. Your next step involves a visit to Anima. Would you like to?"

"Would we…would we like to?" Jadepaw could barely speak. "Of course we would like to! Right, Rainpaw? Oh please take us to Anima! I want to see so bad!"

"Yes, I would like to see Anima as well!" Rainpaw agreed. "And I think a short day trip to a mystery planet with a helpful queen guide will definitely give us the clues we need."

"Follow me, then!" Scylla mewed. She turned and walked away from the dead tom, heading in the direction she'd traveled from. "And feel free to ask any questions you might have."

"Uh, first of all, miss queen cat…" Rainpaw mewed. "Can you fly? Or did I imagine that?"

"Of course I can fly!" Scylla jumped into the air, but instead of falling down, she hovered like that, a tail length above the sand. "And if you play with your prey right, you'll be able to fly too!"

"Really?" Jadepaw gasped. "Oh, man, I knew this adventure was going to be everything I ever dreamed and more!"

"It can't just be the two of you," Scylla asked after they'd been walking for a while. "If you two are both from Anima, then there must be others in your team who are from Animus. Are there some other creators with you, as well?"

"Smokepaw and Rosepaw," Jadepaw mewed. "They're the moody, snarky, kind of depressed ones. But they're okay! I'm sure they'll come around."

"Sounds like Animus, alright," Scylla giggled. "As you can see, all creators are assigned to one planet or the other, based on their innate temperament and skills, and what they'll bring to Creare as the blueprints for the new universe."

"But isn't Animus the moon of darkness and shade?" Jadepaw asked. "The rune said that what you stain the sand of Creare with determines what sort of universe you create, like if it's bad or good. If Smokepaw and Rosepaw are from Animus, does that mean they'll bring darkness to Creare? Aren't we supposed to all work together to make it good, and not dark? That doesn't sound right."

"Oh, but it does!" Scylla assured her. "For there to be good there must also be evil. Anima and Animus represent those two forces. But being from Animus doesn't necessarily make someone evil, just like being from Anima doesn't make someone good! There are always far more factors at play that determine what constitutes good and evil. In this case, you enter Create Space already set as either a creator from Anima or a creator from Animus, and that defines the challenges you will face in defining yourself as a creator, and discovering what you need to bring to Creare to create the new universe. But without the balance of both good and evil, a universe could never sustain!"

"Huh." Jadepaw meowed. "I think I get it. That's really cool! But I have to admit, I'm glad I'm from Anima. I'd rather face challenges having to do with being inherently good than I would having to do with being bad. Not that Rosepaw and Smokepaw are necessarily bad. Well, maybe Smokepaw is. But whatever."

"Do you know where your teammates are?" Scylla asked. "I think it's in everyone's best interest if we bring all of you together and stay together. It would be great if they could rendezvous with you two on Anima and I could help guide all four of you at the same time."

"Well, last I remember they were sleeping on the dais…" Jadepaw mewed. "But that was a while ago now. I'm sure they've moved on. If anything, they're probably looking for us!"

"I think it's very important we find them," Scylla said. "And keep everyone together."

They had reached something on the sand in front of them, floating upright, like a doorway. It looked like an enormous circle sitting in space, absently waiting. "Huh…" Rainpaw said. "This kind of looks like those holes Smokepaw makes."

When Jadepaw approached and peered in, she realized, unlike Smokepaw's gateways, this one appeared to clearly lead somewhere, because on the other side, she saw white, sparkly sand, a pool of colorful pastel water off to one side, plush yellow and gold clouds, and a stone structure made of pastel-colored blocks of stone. She gasped.

"Is…Is this…?"

"Well, go on through!" Scylla urged her, whiskers twitching.

Jadepaw stepped through the gateway, her paws landing on the silky sand of the colorful planet on the other side. Her fur stood on end. She could barely breathe. She was, decisively, on the planet of her dreams – the sandy pastel wonderland she so loved to explore.

"But this is…" she mewled. "This is where my dreams take place!" She whirled to look at Scylla, standing carefully on the white sand, almost blending in completely with her white fur and sparkly gray eyes. "You mean to tell me my dream world is Anima?"

"Mhm!" Chirped Scylla. "All creators' dreams take place on either Anima or Animus. Both of you have a piece of your spirit preserved in a temple at the center of Anima, and when you fall asleep in real life, your spirit wakes up here. Except some creators…" her eyes slid sideways at Rainpaw. "…have a little trouble with the waking up part."

"Well, can I meet her?" Jadepaw gasped. "The part of my spirit who lives here?"

"Oh no, that cat only exists in theory!" Scylla said. "She has no physical body or form, only that which can be seen by herself when she's dreaming, or by the spirit of the other creator she dreams with – in this case, the spirit of Rainpaw."

"But he's been asleep," Jadepaw mewed. "All along."

"I had no idea about any of this," Rainpaw said stubbornly. "I've never really had noteworthy dreams my whole life."

"Rainpaw may be able to wake up, but it's not expressly necessary for completing your goal on Creare," said Scylla. "There are many purposes your spirit can serve, and only a few require actually being awake during dreams."

All of a sudden, Jadepaw couldn't help herself. She had to run. She went sprinting down the white sand dune, scattering sand, looped around a stocky colorful tower, leaped over a shimmery pastel stream, and charged back up to where Rainpaw and Scylla were watching her in amusement. It was so much better than her dreams. This was real. All of her senses her on alert, registering the beautiful land around her.

"Thank you for finding us!" She cried to Scylla when she'd returned, while Rainpaw looked on. "Thank you for helping us! Wow, I really think everything's going to work out!"

"I still want to know how to help the Clans," Rainpaw mewed. "Seriously. I know you said it was a fluke and all, but that dead tom still doesn't sit right with me."

"Yes, you're right." Scylla's face grew serious, like she was getting down to business. "Follow me. We're headed to my palace right now."

They trekked across the white, fluffy sand. "So, what exactly is the deal with the Clans?" Rainpaw asked. "How did they get into Create Space with us?"

"They were transported here just prior to your arrival," Scylla explained. In the distance, a set of pastel structures loomed. "You see, only certain things can be salvaged from your old universe and passed into the new one. Your old universe's destruction is imminent and inevitable – in fact, everything but your planet has already been destroyed, annihilated into nonexistence. But your planet, and your associates – in this case, your Clans – are brought with you into Create Space, and it's up to you if you can complete the dais's instructions correctly and bring your Clans with you to the new universe."

"So where are they now?" Rainpaw asked.

"I believe ThunderClan and WindClan are in the heart of Anima," Scylla explained. "While ShadowClan and RiverClan are in the heart of Animus. And for the time being, they are safe."

"The time being?" Jadepaw asked.

They'd reached the palace Scylla spoke of. A pastel river wound along the outside of it, but Scylla crossed overly calmly on a blue stone bridge. Jadepaw and Rainpaw followed closely as they were lead into the first of the structures, and wound through towering halls and towers after Scylla, all bathed in the shimmy pastel light from outside. At the center, they reached an enormous tower with stairs that wound all the way around the inside – up and up for what felt like eons. And at the very top, was a room full of bright light, patterns and runes on the floor, nests made of woven fur and fabric spread across the stone ground.

"These are my quarters," Scylla purred. She nodded to a pile of freshly killed rabbits and mice along one side. "Help yourselves. I'm sure you must be hungry."

"Starving," Rainpaw assured her. Both him and Jadepaw dashed forward to snatch some fresh-kill, and began to gorge themselves, talking with Scylla the whole time. Jadepaw told her all about how their adventure had begun – finding her teleportation powers by jumping from a tree, meeting up with the others, traveling to Creare. She couldn't wait to get back to the other apprentices and tell them everything she'd learned! They would probably be so stoked. With Scylla's help, this whole new universe thing was going to be a breeze, she could just tell.

Once they were finished eating, and the conversation had wrapped up, Scylla stood to escort them to a sleeping area that was waiting for them, and they started all the way back down the long, winding stairs. Rainpaw followed closely behind Scylla, talking about his Clan, while Jadepaw pulled up the rear, too stuffed and tired to amble closely behind them.

While she was walking, she thought she saw something from the corner of her eye, on the steps behind her, winding up to her left, and she turned around. At first she thought she'd imagined it, but then she saw a cat phase into view, standing awkwardly on the stairs a ways behind her.

Jadepaw turned around and began to run back up to go see the cat. "Hello?" She meowed. He continued to stand stiffly on the stairs. As she got closer, she realized she recognized him. It was Duskpaw! The obnoxious apprentice always getting himself in the medicine cat den for stupid reasons. Even though she'd never been sure about him back in WindClan, she was so happy to see him now, that her heart swelled, and she raced up to him.

He had his back to her, like he couldn't see her arrive. "Hey!" She mewed, coming to a stop on the step below where he stood. "It's so good to see you!"

He turned around slowly, stiffly.

"Good evening and thank you very much," He mewed in a weird little voice.

"…what?" Jadepaw asked, flattening her ears. "Huh? Hey, it's me! Jadepaw!"

"Very nice to meet you and you're looking very well." He smiled blandly and didn't meet her eyes, instead stared slightly to the left of them, slackly, with a dull, glazed expression.

"Are…are you alright?" She asked. "Duskpaw, it's me! Jadepaw!"

Duskpaw froze. His eyes went wide. Now, he looked right at her. Their gazes locked wildly. His eyes, which had seemed dull and empty an instant before, were filled with frantic, desperate, terrified light, pure, horrified recognition of exactly who she was before him.

"Duskpaw?"

He started to shake, trembling at first and then it turned into violent convulsions, enough to almost send him slipping off the stairs and plummeting to his death far below. He kept his eyes trained on her, so big and round they were turning bloodshot.

A line of blood trickled out of his nostril. He shook like crazy. Jadepaw cowered in horror.

"Get out." He stammered, in a tiny little voice.

Hmm…what's wrong with Duskpaw? Gah, sorry these chapters keep getting longer and longer. This story is more complicated than I was anticipating. Lots of lore explained in this chapter, what do you think? What's the deal with Scylla? Tell me what you think! :)

Important terms defined, in case you got lost in all that worldbuilding:

Creare – the sandy red and yellow planet with the stone outcroppings where the apprentices first landed

Anima – the planet/moon with the white sand and pastel colors that brings light to Creare

Animus – the dark planet/moon that brings purple-ish light and darkness to Creare

The dais – the round stone slab and structure broke into quarters for each creator, located on Creare

Create Space – the space that all of this/all these planets are contained in, outside of any universe

~Delaney