Nothing much to say here other than please don't bring the black fungus out of India. Covid is already bad enough.
(Spoilers btw)
Arc 8 was dropped! The blurb hasn't released much other than it takes place immediately after TBC, we get a Riverclan POV, and Mistystar is continuing to drain the lifeforce out of Riverclan to feed her immortality. We know nothing in terms of Bramblestar and/or Squirrelflight being alive. I'm hoping Bramblestar lives cause it would seem weird to kill him off when he hasn't done much during TBC arc. It would be interesting to see him and Squirrel go through a sort of recovery process, after everything Ashfur threw at them.
Also I want Flamepaw to be insecure about upholding Firestar's legacy in some way. Not like Alderheart. Alderheart's problem was that he was a loser who couldn't do much for the clan outside of being a medicine cat. He and Sparkpelt had no trouble with Firestar's legacy. :/
(Spoiler free past this point)
We've hit 6000 hits over at A03 boiii! Thank you to everyone for helping Ignite get this far! My dream is for Ignite to make it to 10,000, but that would require almost 100 chapters and yeahhh not sure that's happening. I'm surprised Ignite even reached 50.
Reviews are appreciated!
Firestar was getting a tad frustrated as he streaked through the clouds. He hadn't eaten properly in days. His flying was erratic, his body and flying giving the impression of someone who was getting desperate. His eyes analyzed the ground below frantically, trying to spot or smell something he could eat.
Surely there was a place with food big enough for even him?
He stopped in midair, wings flapping ever so often to keep him afloat. He let out a tired, hungry sigh, a puff of fire escaping from his jaws. How far out was he required to go in order to find food? He didn't want to stray too far from the clan. What if he was gone for days trying to find something to eat? How would the clan react with him being gone for days? Would they think he left them after all?
A rumble from his stomach snapped him out of his thoughts.
He really needed some prey...
But what was he to do when there wasn't anything big enough out here?
'Maybe I should go back?' he thought dejectedly.
He was seriously considering going back to Thunderclan when warmth bloomed in his chest and pulsed out across his body.
'No no no no no no no,' he inwardly cried. The stone was active again! The last thing he needed was to be under its influence again.
His body seized up, wings stiffening. They started flapping again, but not by his command. Then they started carrying him through the sky again, his body acting on its own.
Inwardly, he was panicking. He tried to regain control of his body, to no avail. The stone still radiated warmth. Where was it taking him? And why hadn't he gone feral yet? Did the stone want him awake for this?
Then, a delicious scent wafted through the air. It only served to make him hungrier and to make his body move even faster, but he relished the scent. He hoped that it meant that some decently sized prey was nearby.
His body took him to a mountain, and beside the mountain was a large field full of black and white creatures, who were grazing and walking idly around. More importantly, they were big, probably just as if not a little larger than horses. Finally he found some prey!
But the rational part of him wanted to scout the area in case there were Twolegs around. If Twolegs could control horses, then couldn't they control what these creatures did?
There were two problems with this plan.
One, he wasn't in control of his body at the moment.
Two, the creatures were looked oh so tantalizing.
Obviously, his hunger won out. His body swooped down, nabbing a large creature and swerving back up into the sky. The other creatures moved out of the way in a hurry, startled out of their grazing. He killed the one he caught instantly with a snap of his jaws.
Suddenly, he had control of his body again, the stone's glow dying down into nothing. He shakily flapped his wings, surprised. He lowered himself back to the ground, trying to not impulsively wolf down the mouth-watering meat in his jaws. Once his claws touched the ground, he allowed instinct to take over, and before long, he was swiping his tongue over his muzzle, his stomach satisfied.
When was the last time he felt full? He couldn't remember. He was always putting off eating more prey in order to give more food to his clan.
Now that he had regained his bearings...
His eyes scanned the area around him. The black and white creatures were strewn around, continuing to graze. There weren't any Twoleg dens that he could see, which he found strange. He couldn't catch any Twoleg scent either. All he could smell were the creatures, and the scents of nature around him. He let his eyes trail down to the stone, a small dot of red lodged between scales on his chest.
Why did it bring him here of all places? And how did it know where to go?
Maybe it didn't know where to go. Maybe it took over his body to force him to find food because he was ready to turn back, and left him conscious so he could remember the way here. He thumped his tail against the ground.
'Would it hurt to look around, just in case there are Twolegs here?' Thunderclan could survive without him for a little bit. They certainly had survived without him for almost a whole moon.
He flapped his wings, and took off.
It was amazing how easy flying came to him now. His body was instinctively doing the work for him. His wing flaps were gentle so he didn't go shooting off into the clouds. Normally he would have to concentrate on how hard he wanted to kick off from the ground or how fast he wanted to go. Now, it felt natural.
His flight took him all over the mountain range, but he didn't see any signs of Twolegs living in the area. There weren't any signs of any cats living in the area either, like the Tribe. It was just a stretch of mountains, of unclaimed territory. He did find more of those black and white creatures standing around in grassy areas, and weird animals with hooves, long fur, and horns on top of their heads, jumping around some of the more rocky areas of the mountains.
A large chasm within the mountain drew his attention, and he flew in closer for a better look. Upon better inspection, he realized it wasn't a chasm, but a cave. It was fairly large, with enough room to fit him in and then some.
It would make a nice place to raise some hatchlings...
He flinched at the thought, and backed away from the cave, taking off into the air again. He wasn't going to leave Thunderclan. Not again.
He was much too big for him and Sandstorm to have more children anyway.
But enough about hatchlings. He was more worried that the stone was influencing his thoughts again. Or maybe it was his body's new instincts talking? He was so tired of uninvited thoughts running through his head. He thought his transformation into a dragon would finally end them all.
But maybe, if there were too many Twolegs around the lake and he feared being seen, then maybe he could come back to the cave and stay for a while... maybe bring Sandstorm with him...
His head twitched, though it wasn't the worst idea he's had.
'Hasn't my head been messed with enough over the past few moons?' he thought dejectedly.
.
.
.
.
By the time he had flown back to Thunderclan, the sun was beginning to set below the horizon.
His arrival back to Thunderclan was heralded by the sound of flapping wings and large gusts of wind that threatened to topple some unlucky cats over. He could see some cats faces filled with fear until they remembered in that instant who he was.
Cloudtail's and Brightheart's kits, old enough to begin playing outside the nursery and getting under everyone's paws, squealed in fright and ran back to the nursery as fast as their tiny paws could allow. Brightheart slid out of the nursery, as if her kit's cries had summoned her, and wrapped her tail around her three kits. "It's alright my dears, it's just Firestar," she murmured.
He lowered himself onto the top of the hollow, his ears tipped red in embarrassment. Maybe he should try to be more gentle in his flying before landing? He glanced over at Brightheart's kits.
'Or, maybe I shouldn't be near camp at all.'
"They're kits. They'll get used to you in time, I'm sure," Sandstorm remarked, watching Firestar's gaze switch back from the kits to her. "Did you have a nice hunt?"
"Very. I found some grassy plains next to a mountain range with these big black and white creatures roaming around. I haven't felt this full in days," he said.
"No Twolegs around?" she fretted.
"None whatsoever. Hopefully I shouldn't have to worry about being seen, as long as I fly high enough when traveling there," he rumbled, carefully curling up around Sandstorm.
"Well, that's good to hear," Bramblestar remarked as he climbed up to join them. "So you were right about Blackstar and Rowanclaw coming by to pay us a visit," he began.
"What did they want?"
"They wanted the clans to come to the island tomorrow night to decide on a course of action on what to do with the Dark Forest trainees."
Firestar could have rolled his eyes. As far as he knew, none of the trainees from Thunderclan had actually betrayed them. The only thing they were guilty of was being tricked into thinking they were doing their clan a service and believing the lie for so long. "They want to punish them all the same way?"
Bramblestar shrugged. "It could be because Blackstar doesn't think it's fair that he had a cat who did end up betraying them in the end and the other clans didn't. Or maybe he's caught wind of the fact that none of the Thunderclan trainees died in the battle," he meowed. "Uh, I might have told him that you would be coming to the island to discuss the matter with us, too," he said, shifting uncomfortably.
He sighed heavily. "I told you that I can't be there all the time to hold your paw, hatchling," he chided.
"I just thought you would want to make a statement. It would be a good opportunity to stick to the other clans that they can't do anything to you anymore," he said softly.
Ah, he did have some choice words for Onestar to hear. He ignored the pleased tingling coming from the stone.
"Perhaps it's not a bad idea," he mused. He noticed the tabby had climbed inbetween his forelegs, circling around a couple of times before settling himself down, purring. "You're not going to sleep in the leaders' den?"
"You're much warmer than the den," Bramblestar murmured.
"We don't want you to feel alone either," Sandstorm spoke up from beside Firestar.
"Where is-?"
"Right here, father," Squirrelflight meowed as she trotted up to him. He shifted to allow her entrance, and she curled up beside her mother.
The stars had twinkled into existence by then. He gazed up into the night sky, with melancholic eyes. Leafpool should be with them, curled up beside her sister and mother. He should have all his treasures with him.
He lowered his head down, careful not to lay it inbetween his forelegs where Bramblestar was dozing off. He needed to rest for the meeting tomorrow.
The stone is still influencing Firestar, just not as much as before. It's trying to get him to open up to his new instincts as a dragon, which Firestar is still trying to reject.
If you couldn't infer from the text, he's eating whole cows now. The other animals are mountain goats. Let's just pretend that no one cares about this particular mountain range. It's just a mountain. No need to go hiking or anything. Leave Firestar alone and let him chomp on the local cow population. He's been through enough already without humans coming to ruin everything.
Tell me how I did.