I was almost paper-mache-ing the whole weekend, so sorry for the late update! (Normal-rated update, in technical terms, but I sped up the update rate, so.) *pops entire orange into mouth*
Chapter 20
Sand. Scorching sun. The only thing that Twilightshadow could see was miles upon miles of... baking earth... she blinked. Sudden, new fears gripped her throat and refused to let go. What if in Moonsong's fading, her power wasn't enough to get Twilightshadow to the next world?
Would she be stuck in that plain of isolation forever? How would she get to the next world, then, either? "Oh, no!" Twilightshadow cried out in a brief panic.
But as she glanced around her, she realized that it wasn't the same as before- instead of acres and acres of sun-baked soil, there was now sand- and only sand. Twilightshadow gasped. She was standing upon a tall sand dune. She must be in a desert somewhere!
"How are we supposed to find the Sand Shell in all this?" Twilightshadow wondered out loud. Because this time, she didn't even have the guidance of StarClan to help her collect the precious gem that was supposed to be able to defeat Sunpower and his minions.
Twilightshadow wasn't sure how long she walked for when she finally had to stop for a rest. She was feeling nauseous, and she was pretty sure that she was going to get heatstroke soon if she didn't get some shade and water. Twilightshadow, the mighty warrior assassin queen, had finally had enough.
"Stop sending us off on pointless quests to find some gem that's hidden somewhere in a gigantic desert!" Twilightshadow screeched, in a moment of weakness. "I... I..." her eyes bulged out. "Oh, no, Please don't punish me!"
Twilightshadow saw something small creep out from the shadow of the boulder that she was sitting on. "Scorpion!" she gasped, unsheathing her claws but knowing it would do little against poison- if this scorpion was poisonous. It seemed to be coming straight for her-
Not knowing fully what she was doing, she reached out a hind paw and brought it down, hard, on the scorpion's hard shell. Unexpectedly, instead of stinging back, it collapsed upon the ground almost immediately, orange liquid oozing out of its wounds. "Eew," Twilightshadow hissed.
It was several moments before the world started to spin again before her eyes- and she realized that it was the Sand Shell. "But why waste a poor scorpion's life in exchange for it?" Twilightshadow wanted to ask, but suddenly, a small, growling voice spoke out in her mind-
Sometimes, you must kill in order to get what you want.
"Nooo!" Twilightshadow protested, not even in the mood to celebrate the fact that she could still transport to other worlds within touch of the magical object- and not by will of Moonsong. She was still thinking-