Again, sorry for late update, been really lazy lately and way too tired to type. Well, here's the next chapter of Mirrors, enjoy!
P.S. If you need an idea of what the crystal chamber Lightpaw's in right now looks like, look up Lechugilla Cave and you have a good idea.
Lightpaw awoke abruptly with a yowl of fear. She blinked her eyes open and then sucked in a few mouthfuls of air before sitting up. "Oh my god. That was the worst nightmare ever… Ugh." She had dreamed that those coakroaches had been crawling all over her, everywhere, and no matter how hard she tried to run from them, she always ended up tripping on another coakroach, and more and more of them crawled up her spine…
Ugh, stop it! That's in the past now. Look on the positive side already! You're in a pretty chamber filled with frosty crystals that resemble trees. And.. Is that..
Lightpaw pricked her ears, and her unhappy expression changed to one of pure joy. Yes! There's running water in here. Finally, I can take a proper bath, I feel so icky… She quickly set off to go find the source of the water. It didn't take her long because the light from the crystals made it easy for her to navigate her to a small room that had a pond sourced by a small waterfall coming out of a crack in the shimmering wall. This is better than I hoped for.. It's actually fresh water. Yes! Maybe I should just live down here.
She splashed into it, and sighed with relief as the cool water washed the grime and dust that had accumulated from two days of trekking around a dusty place rarely entered by any creature. She slowly began to come back to her senses. It was as if the water had rejuvenated her. For the first time since she entered the cave, she suddenly was aware of the hunger that clawed with the ferocity of a tiger at her belly.
How did I manage to forget to eat anything? Oh well… I thought I saw some mice earlier, maybe I can catch some, hopefully… Or else I will definitely die. For sure.
Lightpaw gulped as she remembered how much she sucked at hunting. This is going to be a life or death matter, won't it? Great, time to go hunt, epic fail and then die painfully of hunger as a cat. What a sad life.
For a few more moments, she soaked comfortably with her eyes closed before opening them and climbing out of the pool. She shook her fur and then walked back to the first room that she slept in earlier. She tried to walk as silently as possible, in hopes of hearing the noise of prey. She heard nothing, and began to feel discouraged until she heard a small scuttling noise. When she turned around, she saw a mouse nibbling a particle of some sort, lit up by the pale light of the crystal.
FOOD! Lightpaw wanted to yowl the word in joy, but instead, she dropped into a crouch. "Okay, remember what Skyblaze told you… Slowly, slowly…" Stalking forward quietly, Lightpaw was about to pounce when she slipped on a sharp piece of a crystal. The mouse, detecting the noise disappeared down a tiny crack in the rock. Lightpaw let loose a series of curse words, and was left feeling weaker than she ever had in her life.
Skyblaze's POV
"Scarletweather? Why does she want to see me?" He gave Rainfeather a strange look.
"Beats me, why don't you go find out? Maybe it has to do with your constant thrashing in your nest last night." Rainfeather trotted away from him, over to where Shattersoul and Sharpthorn were waiting for him. Still rather confused, Skyblaze hesitated before he slowly padded over to Scarletweather's den.
"What do you ne-" Scarletweather turned to face him. "Oh, good thing you're here. I have something very important to discuss with you, come with me toward the back of the den."
"Okay." He followed her, the scent of herbs filling his nostrils. What would it be like to live in a world like Scarletweather's, filled with herbs, sick cats and connections with Starclan? His mind aimlessly wandered, touching random thoughts before moving onto another thought. He must have shown it, because the next moment he flickered back to reality with Scarletweather batting her paw at his face in annoyance.
"Pay attention! This is about Rosepetal, you know!" Frustrated, Scarletweather looked down at the ground and pushed her paw into the dirt.
"What is it?" Rosepetal looked fine the last time I saw her. Although she did look pretty cranky with me this morning because of that… That…
Scarletweather looked up at him with sad, round eyes. "Rosepetal won't ever be the same anymore. I doubt she can run or hunt too well anymore. Her left leg healed, but her right leg is broken and I can't do anything about it. I'm really sorry, Skyblaze…" She looked back down at the ground, and then there was a loud yowl of panic from Caramelblaze.
"Blizzardstar is missing! He hasn't been in his den at all, and nobody can find him! Shattersoul sent out a patrol to MoonCave, but he wasn't there! They couldn't find a scent, either! We've looked everywhere in this territory too!"
Yowls of distress from other cats in camp instantly filled the air.
It was all too much for Skyblaze; the dream from Starclan that no doubt held the truth about him, the news that his mate, his beautiful Rosepetal, was crippled permanently, his (somewhat fox-hearted, but still admirable) leader was missing, and his apprentice was missing (despite the fact she wasn't the best apprentice and was creepier than the elders when they were hallucinating). He couldn't take it anymore, all the up-and-down craziness and drama.
Skyblaze sprinted out of camp, away from everything without having a clear idea of where he was going.
Lightpaw's POV
Dark, overwhelming black waves lapped at her. She was sure she was going to give in to the waves soon. Pain gripped her belly. Lightpaw wanted to wail out to the world how much pain she was in. She sat, scared that if she lay down or sat down, she would never get up.
With a shudder, Lightpaw staggered over to the pool to get a large gulp of water. She slurped up the cold, flavorless water until she couldn't gulp another mouthful of water, then she collapsed onto the rock. "I'm going to die."
Eyelids drooping, she began to flicker in and out of consciousness. No! You can't die as a cat! You have to stay strong, just a bit longer…
She wanted to tell her stupid inner consciousness that she was fighting an uphill batt- Oh wait, it was actually more of an up-Everest battle. Well.
Skyblaze's POV
After spending a long time sprinting at full speed, Skyblaze began to slow down to a jog, and eventually walked and totally stopped moving when he reached the beach. He began to think more clearly. Despite his head spinning like crazy and thinking like a mental elder's brain, even he knew he couldn't run forever. He considered running away from the Clans; No, that wouldn't work at all. I can't just abandon everybody like that. They might think I killed Blizzardstar, if he is dead.
He also considered just going back to camp and aiding his clanmates in the task of finding Blizzardstar. No way, I have no interest in going back to camp and facing everybody like this… I need time to think alone.
Finally, he considered the option of finding a cave to hide in for a few hours so he could calm down and then think without a cat snapping at him, telling him what to do. After a long debate in his mind, he decided to stick with option three. He jumped into the ocean and then swam to the rock that stood in front of most of the entrances of the caves.
Just as he was about to go into Sun Cave, a realization snapped at him: The search parties for Blizzardstar would likely look in all the normal caves, including Sun Cave, Ocean Cave, Moon Cave and all the other caverns built into the rocky cliffs on Timeclan's territory. A cold realization came over him. The only way to be alone would be if he went into Flame Cave. Skyblaze cringed; and then looked over at the entrance of Flame Cave.
All the tales from the elders flashed back to him at that moment, and he almost stumbled off the rock. Any other day, Skyblaze would have simply gone home. But today, he was desperate. He needed to be alone today, and so, he had no choice. Hesitating, he took two deep breaths and then Skyblaze jumped off the rock and swam across the water, promptly climbing into the dark entrance of Flame Cave. He was aware of a lump in his throat, but ignored it as he began to pad in the darkness of the cave, eventually just letting the cave swallow him up.
Despite the fact that Flame Cave was supposed to be a bloody place filled with mysterious creatures that picked travelers into the cave off one by one, it was actually a rather satisfying place. A sense of security and anticipation washed over him. This might actually be pretty interesting. Even though I was pretty scared when I first went in, this place… I don't know. It feels pretty safe to me.
Skyblaze continued to walk down the dark path, unaware of the dangers that awaited him.
Well, how was that? Review!