Sol's Revenge & Whisper's Path

Chapter Twenty-Five: WHISPER

I walked for many days, and many nights. The stars guided me to my destination. The signs lead me closer and closer to my brother, Sol. He was dwelling somewhere near a forested lake. I saw the symbols of thunder storms, rivers, wind, and shadows. I saw the symbol of cats. He was in a group of clans. And I saw the symbol for under, darkness, beneath. I couldn't figure that out - did it mean Sol was underground?

No matter where Sol was I was determined to find him. And to kill him. How had I come so far from the protective brother I once was? Sol killed that part of me when he targeted Cedarclan, when he ruined any chance I had of being with Gingerfern. He was dead to me the moment he made a deal with Echo to curse. Echo...if I could find a way to stop her ghost I would. But I know only how to fight the living, not the dead.

When I was on the outskirts of twoleg place I could sense I was coming closer to the lake. That's when the eclipse happened. A few minutes of total darkness. And then light had returned. But the moment the eclipse had passed I felt something, something changed inside me. My heartbeat slowed down and settled at a steady pace. The stiffness in my joints faded to the energy I had felt in kithood.

I tested my limbs one at a time, stretching to see if I would ache with the pains of old age. Nothing. I looked up at the sky just as the first rain drops began to fall.

"Starclan, please, are my trials over?" I asked, my voice carrying towards the clouds. There was no answer but the steady fall of rain.

"Answer me!" I cried. "I sacrificed everything. I bore this curse to help Ashclan, I gave up my love for Gingerfern because that was not the path you chose for me. I am going to kill my brother for you Starclan! Why won't you answer me?"

I looked down at the puddle forming around my paws. My reflection was strange to me. My muzzle was dark grey, no flecks of white to be seen. No wrinkles beneath my fur. The curse really was over. But my trials were not. Starclan still demanded more from me. I was not finished serving them until Sol was stopped. I was not finished until every clan and every cat was safe from his quest for revenge.

The rain fell harder, and I knew I had to find shelter for the night. A holly bush provided cover from the rain, but it took me a long time to close my eyes. I was afraid if I fell asleep I would wake up and still be cursed, still crippled with age. But finally fatigue won out and I slipped into a darker place.

I was dreaming, I knew that much when I opened my eyes and I was in marshland. Lichens and moss dangled from low hanging tree branches, obscuring my view. I pushed my way through the thick of the swamp until I reached a crystal clear pond. The rest of the swamp was hidden behind a curtain of fog, I could only see the water. I walked forward and peered into the water.

A black she cat with golden eyes looked back at me. I reared back from the water as she emerged, dripping wet. She smiled crookedly and her gleaming teeth one by one fell out. She took a step toward me and maggots crawled out of her paw. I tried to run but the tangle of branches and lichesn trapped me as she stumbled toward me, decomposing more and more with each step.

I closed my eyes in horror and struggled to escape. I could feel her near me.

"I was close with you once. I had this vision for us, we'd live in Skyclan and be the greatest warriors. Or we'd travel as rogues and see the world. We'd have eachothers backs because we are family. But Sol left me to drown and you forgave him. I hate you more than you could possibly imagine Whisper. After I died I found myself in some kind of purgatory. There was an old cat there, he was furrless and blind. He terrified me. He said I was bad, I couldn't find my way to a happy afterlife because there was too much venom in my heart.

"He said I'd be stuck in purgatory until I found peace. He gave me powers Whisper. The power to take over Zillas body. The power to curse Sol. The power to get my revenge. And I'm not done with you yet, he gave me one more power. You'll see what that is soon."

"What do you want from me?" I asked, my eyes tightly shut.

"Look at me Whisper," she said softly. I forced my eyes open and looked up at the skeleton of my sister. Nothing but bones. Where her golden eyes once shone with malice there was empty sockets.

"This is what I am," she said. "This is all that's left of me."

"Echo. Why?" I whimpered. "Why did you have to hate Sol?"

"Why did you choose Sol over me?" she asked in a small voice, her bones turning to dust.

"Because you made me choose."

She dissolved completely, eroding away into nothingness. She was never buried, her body was left to rot away at the bottom of a river bed. But her spirit still lived, not in Starclan for sure. But somewhere, she existed. Somehow she gained power, she possessed Zilla to try and destroy Ashclan. To take away the only thing I had left to love. Because I chose Sol over her.

And I regretted that choice.

I should've left them both to destroy each other and never looked back. But I did choose. I protected my brother even when I saw the monster inside of him. And how many suffered because of that choice?

The fog started moving toward me, engulfing me, drowning out my screams.

I jolted awake, cold sweat dripping down my back. The rain had stopped and sky was clear now, revealing a bright moon. Exhaustion threatened to pull me back to sleep, but fear of dreaming of Echo again kept me awake. I rested my chin on my paws, my eyes searching the sky for an answer. An answer to how Echo got her powers. An answer to why Sol and her had both turned so evil on the inside. An answer to why I had to give up everything, my love for Gingerfern, my home Ashclan, all because of Sol.

The sky gave me an answer. Three shapes, shimmering faintly in the stars. The symbols for Light, Dark, and Death.

Dawn revealed I was near the endless ocean. Twoleg place ended at the sandstone cliffs began. Once, a long time ago, I had been here before.

"Midnight?" I called out to the seemingly empty cliff side. The sun had just risen, she would be preparing to settle down for the day so she could be awake at night. But perhaps she hadn't yet closed her eyes.

"Midnight, it's me. Whisper," I announced.

"Arrived, you have," a familiar rasp sounded behind me. I spun around and saw the old badger with herbs in her mouth, she had been out foraging and was heaidng back to her den to sleep for the day.

"Do you know why I'm here?" I asked.

"Yes, the stars have shown the reason for your arrival. To kill your brother, you desire."

"I should've listened to you. I should've stayed instead of leaving with Sol," I said and hung my head in shame.

"The past, we cannot change," Midnight said. I think her words meant she accepted my apology. We walked in silence back to her den, but there were many things I wanted to tell the strange badger. She was the only one who would understand what was going on. I had felt so alone for so long, knowing no-one would be able to understand my struggles. But Midnight would know.

As we entered her den I sat down den to her and helped her sort through the herbs. Her lips curled back in a shape that resembled a smile. She recognized my medicine cat training. I hoped I would make her proud that I hadn't completely squandered her teachings.

"I saw a sign, the other night. There is a prophecy, of light, dark, and death. But i don't know what it means. Or who it could even be about."

"Saw this, for a reason you did. Important, it is," Midnight acknowledged.

"Do you know what it means?"

"I hold not the answers you seek," was her response. I held back a sharp retort. Midnight knew of course, but she wouldn't tell me. I recalled wise words of hers, you have to figure things out for yourself. But I still had one more question.

"If you can see the future, more clearly than any medicine cat, then why would you ever give Sol that power? Why would you teach us to read the past and future of the universe, knowing the monster that my brother would become?" I demanded.

Midnight appeared thoughtful.

"Monster, Sol is not. Nor ever was."

"How can you say that? He is a monster, there is no redemption for him," I spat angrily. "I wish he'd never been born."

"Led astray, he was. By a dangerous force; loneliness. A lonely cat is no monster," she said softly. "Trapped in the wrong body, a calico tom. Abandoned by his mother and father, loathed by his sister. Banished from his clan for a mistake. Haunted by demons of the past, isolated in fear. Made a deal with Echo, Sol did. An deal of evil it was, but Sol is not evil. He is lonely."

"I think I understand the prophecy now," I whispered. "I am the light. I was the golden boy, I fit in everywhere and made friends easily. Sol is the dark, always cast in my shadow. And Echo...is death."

"Indeed."

"Midnight, I have one more question. How was Echo able to do these things? How could she take over Zillas body? How could she exist as a ghost and haunt Sol? How could she make a deal that would curse me to age faster and faster? I had a dream, she said an old hairless cat who was blind gave her the powers. But I don't understand how, or why."

Midnight seemed at a loss for an answer.

"Nothing to lose, Echo has. No Starclan she can ever hope to belong to. Her powers come from death itself, a gift. So that she may complete the prophecy."

"How will she complete the prophecy? What does that mean?" I urged. I was so close to the truth. But Midnight only smiled and then slowly closed her eyes, falling into a deep sleep. I sighed and backed slowly out of her den.

"Goodbye Midnight. Sleep well."

I left even more confused than I arrived. She said Sol wasn't a monster, but if he remained alive I knew more cats would get hurt. And the prophecy, it was about my siblings and I, but what did it mean? Midnight said death himself gave Echo her powers, so she could complete the prophecy. If only I knew what that would entail.

There was only one thing I could do, find Sol, and hopefully put an end to all this.