An amazing, brilliant white light filled my eyes. It was an intensity of the hue I had never seen before. Even with my eyes closed shut tight I was not able to drown out the ever vastness of white. Imagine staring at the sun midday, now times that by twenty.
The events rushed back to me and hit me hard enough for me to open my eyes and scream. Scream of terror in falling, screaming in pain from my eyes burning at the light. I flailed my paws just briefly, smacking them against some unknown ground. I rolled, laying on my flank feeling more of the ground underneath me. I was not falling.
I'm not falling?
With my eyes closed I lifted my head, presuming more than anything that this was some remanence of a dream. I had died, I recalled. My body did not hurt, but for my ever-loving sake I chose not to test out my leg. Instead I let my ears twitch. Listening for anything. Looking wouldn't help, the light would just stab into my eyes and head once more. And I didn't need that.
"Hello?" I called, my voice rasping like I haven't drunken water in days. I waited. Silence. I sniffed, and tasted the air looking for any ancestor, anyone to great me in this eternal white void.
Silence.
Just, complete silence. Not a voice, not a paw step, not a whisper. And within this everlasting silence, I felt safe enough to endure the pain of the light once more. Slowly, I opened my eyes with a squint. To my relief, the intensity had died down. It was still the brightest light I had ever seen, but it no longer hurt to look. It was a white void, which in all and all it was more comforting then eternal blackness, but the silence was uncanny. I wasn't used to it.
"Hello!" I called again, lifting up my torso just a bit. I dare not to move my legs and end, even if I currently didn't feel the pain of the thousand and one marks the battles had inflicted. A tilt of my head to the side, I almost thought I caught a whisper. A very faint one. But just as soon as I had come to recognize it, it had vanished.
"Don't turn around."
I froze, suddenly feeling an overwhelming pressure behind me. My ears flicked back to listen, and I began to turn my head.
"Don't." The voice repeated, it had an unnatural tone to it. Neither dark, nor light. It was rough, male in sounding.
The pressure was beginning to intensify, as if someone was pushing on my chest, making air hard to take in. A sudden burst of heat began to claw up my back. Ever so lightly, like a fire had started and its warmth was traveling with the wind.
"Where am I?" I asked quietly, looking forward. A shadow had begun to emerge, looming over me and the white floor. The shape I recognized to be feline, but it was much too large. The shadow showed no signs of aggression, or welcoming. It was just a shadow. I saw the ear twitch through the shadow of my unknown visitor.
"In between." The voice answered.
"You died." Another voice joined in, and so too another shadow. Slightly smaller than the first one, but I could see whips of fur blowing, but with no wind. Along with this sudden new cat, came with the overwhelming feeling of vastness. As if the world was stretching out, forever and ever. The voice was lighter, but still held no real difference of good or bad. Though, I could tell that it sounded female in tone.
"Who are you?" I asked the both of them, my eyes daring to look to my side.
"Don't, look." Both voices said in union. I returned my gaze forward, and decided it was best to shut my eyes once more.
"Who are you?" I asked yet again. There was a pause, and then the male voice answered back "It doesn't matter, we do not matter to you. We're just here to make sure you return."
"Among any other sort of circumstance, you would have lost all four of your remaining lives." The female continued. She paused, thinking her words over.
"Your wounds would have left you an empty vessel, your blood loss was too great, and not a power in Starclan could have fixed your leg. The ancestors that you look to do not have the ability to control all difficulties of life, and renew a leader once back to perfect condition."
"As you've seen many times before." The male cut in, and Tigerstar's first death cut into my head like the slice that killed him. I nodded ever so slightly, to let them know I was listening.
"It was in best interest for us, and the world that you be sent back. You may have indeed won the war," the female continued, and the male took over. "But there is still something you need to see. Perhaps you will understand, and if so then someday, when it's all long and forgotten, we can trust in you to stand by us."
"Wait what?" I asked, my eyes opening again. Like a disease, I saw before me shadows stretching across the infinite white. Clawing and tearing it up. It was a deep, rich black. I wanted to turn away from it. To run. But the pressure held me firm.
"Be brave, Felidaestar!" A third voice called from the darkness. I perked my ears, raising my head. I had heard that voice before. Just once. Once.
"You won't fall."
And then, the darkness lay over me like a blanket. But it wasn't completely dark, there were lights, stars perhaps that littered the area. They were still for a moment, then as if in slow motion they began to slide by, slowly leaving a streak behind. Then, it all suddenly snapped, and they blasted past with incredible speed.
A gust of wind hit my face and peeled away the shadow wolf form from my body, like a stream stripping away dirt. I blinked several times, spinning widely around now like a cork-screw.
Shattered fragments of the transparent floor whistled past me. They spun out of control, and erupted in sparks, falling towards the ground below. They were brilliant colors of red, purple and orange. Sky embers. Falling stars. I was falling as well, a falling star. Literally.
"Dracma!" I hissed to myself and flailed about. I had no idea if the impact would be real, or if I landed calmly. I looked all about, trying to stop myself from spinning. I almost didn't see him, in my panic. His pelt so dark that it mixed with the sky. He flipped, over and over twisting, silently. I could see his face for a moment, frozen in fear. He looked towards the ground, which drew closer with each breath.
A spinning transparent piece came near me, yet to have caught fire. I twisted lining up and pushed off with my paws from it. On impact, it broke apart, exploding into a beautiful array of white and gold. I didn't see much of it, as I shot forward to the dark tom cat.
He didn't see me coming. Not until I smashed into him. My claws gripping his side, my good leg tearing into his flank. I screeched and bit down on his scruff. He yowled in total surprise and turned his head to bite me, snapping wildly. When he did so I began to rotate around him. I gripped his shoulders and face him, hissing. He returned with a spat, exposing his fangs. His claws tore into my ribs, holding tightly as we spun over and over, becoming another falling piece of the sky.
"If we don't look for a way out, we will die! We need to point ourselves in the direction of the lake! It's our only chance!" He screamed in my face, his voice becoming distorted with the wind, and movement. I scornfully smiled, feeling a bitter sweet revenge well up in me.
"Die to win." I hissed. Dracma's red glowing eye narrowed, the other leaked out black oozing mist that evaporated into the air. He turned, looking back to the upcoming ground, and to me. He seemed panicked. He turned back once more, and swung. His hit hard as he could, claws hidden, against my head. I yowled, feeling him squirm under me. I couldn't hold on, the rushing wind, the spinning movement, Dracma himself; it was all too much.
He slipped out from my grasp, pushing off from me and launching himself like a dark comet across the sky. A streak of mist followed him as he sailed, aiming for the lake. The blood moon was still in the center, glowing and gleaming with its pure crimson. I watched in dismay as unlikely as it would seem that either of us would survive, Dracma had the greater chance. Then it hit me.
I would be the only one to die here. If Dracma were to perish, then in theory and from what I have seen, he would wind up in a circle of stones, waiting for his army to call to him. And he would come back…
Over. And over. Eternal.
An explosion in the sky caught my attention. One of the transparent pieces had combusted, and from it a white streak launched. There was a brief darkness, and then another burst in flames. Beautiful colors of green, blue and red erupted from them all. Like fireworks and stars smashing into one another. Colliding into a small galaxy. The white streak was bouncing from piece to piece. Bounding toward me. Only when it drew near, and illuminated from a gold explosion did I catch the form of a cat. A wake of stardust followed from where they stepped, leaving a spiral path in the sky.
"Silverpelt!" I called in confusion. Dracma looked back in this moment, his eyes widening.
"YOU!" he screeched in a distorted voice. I flinched, his voice taking on a booming thunder of hatred. He was beyond angry, he spat, hissed and in his twisting yowled something, but he became so far from me that his voice was carried with the wind, and so too his anger.
Silverpelt leaped toward me, sailing right up next. With strong powerful jaws I was gripped by the scruff and swept up like a kit. I came to a complete halt, suspended in air, hovering on stardust and light, hanging from the jaws of my mother. I looked up, a smile on my face, but was almost erased in shock.
It was not Silverpelt. Someone who looked a lot like her. I had not been able to see all the details in my frantic falling. But now, safe in the jaws of my savior I first was able to see by the eyes. Bright yellow, like the rays of the sun. Perfect white short fur rippled over the pelt, outlining strong muscles. Only now did I notice our size difference. This feline was huge, holding me in its powerful jaws like a kit. His jaws, I should say.
A loud crack snapped my attention away from the stranger to Dracma. The tom was approaching the water of the lake, but to his and my astonishment the water rippled, and became a powerful torrent. It whipped up like a whirlpool, swallowing everything in. A bright red light formed in the center of this cyclone, tearing the ground apart and erupting with loud unidentifiable sound. I thought I heard Dracma yowl something, but he was much too far to even begin to guess what he said. Instead, a cold fear gripped me as I watched as he plummeted in. Like a stone dropping into the lake. Swallowed up by the water, and then too the earth. There was a pause, and then the ground let out groan as it stitched itself back together, followed with the water smashing together and becoming calm once more.
In the reflection of the moon, I saw the claw mark of white appear, the passing of the eclipse. There was no time to take in any more detail as I was swung around, still in the jaws of the white mysterious cat. He said not a word, just began to climb up the star path he left behind. A calming warmth washed over me, as I let him carry me across the sky. There would be time for questions when he set me down.
For now, I just relaxed, knowing that we had won.
….
I like to pull a lot of 'ex machina". Keeps things interesting ;D
Who are those cats that we never saw in the beginning? Who saved Felidaestar? Did Dracma just go to cat hell? Where in the ever loving god is my phone!? All these questions will most likely be answered eventually. If not, I apologize.
Time to return to the clans. Oh but first!
Something to Say (reviewer) ask, "Please tell me you're planning a final sequel to this? Would love to see more, maybe like a short-storied aftermath or something :)"
Sad to say, this is the LAST "Angels" story. Nightmare, Flamewing and Felidaestar are reaching their journeys end. If I am able I will continue Firepaw's story, Beside the Dying Fire and I had hoped to write a short tidbit on why Twisterfang is the way she is. But! For all of you wanting to know more behind the scenes of Dracma, there is 2 short stories, (one is a One-Shot, and the other is 3 chapters) you can find them on my dA account under "Way-to-Haven" If you need help finding it, shoot me a PM.
But overall, there is 3-ish chapters left. We'll see how much of an epilogue I can write to this. ;)
