Challenge for Night Stalkers (DarkClan)
Lost - A Kit's Story
"Come on! Let's play moss ball!"
"Sorry, Mothkit. I'm an apprentice now, I don't have time to play."
"Can I help you with those reeds?"
"You're a little too small, Mothkit."
"Do you need help with those herbs?"
"No, Mothkit."
"Dad! Can I help you patrol?"
"Stay in camp, Mothkit."
"Do you need help cleaning out the elders den?"
"No, Mothkit."
"Does anyone want my help?!"
"Look, I know you're lonely because you're the only kit in camp… Just… go play in the corner by yourself, Mothkit."
Sulking, a small, wispy grey she-kit hangs her neck, tail swishing with just a tad of an angry lash, shoulders hunched and long fur scraping the ground as her ears twitch in agitation. She is a strong kit, with a slender frame and a thick pelt that is oblivious to the cold. The agitated kit is mainly willow-grey, but her face is charged with ash black that stretches to reach her neck and nicks her willow ears. The same, dark color, like that of a moonless night, dips her legs and feet, tattering the point where they meet the body. Misting her spine and feathery tail is soot-grey stretching to reach that same midnight black. Her fur is long, thick, and fluffy, denser around the neck and tail, and her soft grey eyes are hardened in anger.
The willow kit sulks away, black paws low to the ground, shoulders hunched and head low, as if she were creeping up on prey. Her smooth gait is chastened by her right front leg, bent at an awkward angle below the knee, causing her paw to scrape clumsily against the ground as a limp strikes its way into her sulk.
"I don't see why I have to stay in camp like a kit! I'm eight moons old, for StarClan's sake!" she muttered under her breath, bullying herself into the nursery. "I can't help the way I was born! And some twisted paw isn't going to stop me from becoming a warrior!" Her eyes flit around the fern-enclosed nursery, deepened by sadness as she looked at the only nest within it. Her own nest. The rest of the kits had become 'paws, and even her own mother had left her alone in the barren den.
"I can't live like this…" she whispered, despair deepening her gaze. "I can't live like this!" she yowled, muzzle pointing towards the ebony sky as she wailed a kits laments.
Mothkit paced at the edge of camp, watching warrior after warrior disappear into their dens. Dusk light illuminated her coat, a shimmering shadow with twisted hope. Last of all, her mother vanished into her den, licking cheerfully a cat's ear as her forgotten kit fell deeper into an ocean of despair. Does she even care about me? Care about what I am about to do? It is as if she forgot she even had a kit. The night guard shifted uneasily in foreboding wind, his back turned as the shimmering shadow slipped out of camp, dashing off without a single look back, her twisted leg dragging against the soft grass as she struggled to move as fast as possible, leaving deep furrows in the stony ground. If I am to stay a kit, then I am not to stay at all. I'll show them what a kit can do.
The moon was a sliver of reflection, a glinting claw that bounded across the sky, graceful as a fierce bird of prey soaring across its domain. Mothkit stared up at the moon, breath coming in ragged gasps as she fell to the cold stone ground, a ragged heap of dying light. Strikes of a thorn shot through her twisted leg, brief stings of fire that ripped at her veins. She nudged it lightly, before struggling back to her paws, looking desperately towards the sky for guidance. What now?
Her eyes lit upon the cliff that enclosed their valley, one that no cat had ever scaled. I'm not a useless kit anymore. You just wait! Stubborn determination darkened her gaze and fogged her mind, and the kit padded towards the sheer face of rock. Her claws extended, and she leaped onto a ridge in the rock. Hanging on with her good front paw, the kit scrabbled against the stone, claws scoring shallow marks as she bullied herself upwards to the next foothold. Just… one paw here, another there. Oh, how my leg hurts. If I leap up this way, I might be able to grab a hold there. Yes, yes, just a little bit more, come on leg, don't fail me now! Huff huff, don't look down, come on, I can do this. Yes, up there, a bush! If I can hook my claws into that, I will be able to rest for a while. Just one more leap, almost there, one… two… three! Oh, that hurt, I didn't think of my leg getting the way, let's just give it a quick lick. Oh, that was a bad idea, it hurts so much now. I'm not sure I can make it like this.
The kit heaved herself onto a cropping of rock a good ways up the rock face as dawn peeked into the valley, her shadows long as the grey heap collapsed in a heap of heaving fur. The kit's bad leg was bruised and bloody, unable to escape danger as she scrambled up sheer rock. Each time she moved, thorns of pain increased, until she couldn't breathe for the shock of it all. And so the kit lay unmoving, rasping against the wind that threatened to sweep her off the ledge. Looking down, the kit blinked dizzily as she saw the forest trees winking in cold mist. Looking up, the kit gasped audibly as the rock face stretched into the clouds, unable to see the end as it disappeared like a tuft of smoke. It didn't seem this far up when I started. Maybe I should head back… but I've come so far. It's as if I can't go either way.
Mothkit froze as the mountain growled above her, its booming call curling her ears in sheer intensity. Terror grasped her spine like a cruel, withered hand as flecks of rocks pummeled towards her, set off by some unseen force. The flecks turned to mice as they rent through the air, and the mice grew to the size of a full-grown cat as they ripped and tumbled over the mountain face. The first reached her small overhang, and the kit scrambled to avoid it as flecks began to pummel her side. With a rumble of menace the rock missed her by a whisker, rebounding off the ledge as it plummeted towards the ground below. As more rocks shot past, bouncing off the edge of the cliff-face, Mothkit felt her platform crumble beneath her paws. First, bits and pieces drifted away, before snarling cracks spread like fire beneath her feet and the whole platform crumbled, leaving Mothkit to plummet towards the ground below. The rocks that had once been her savior on the sheer rock face now pummeled her sides, leaving deep red scratches in her long fur. Mothkit felt her body being flicked away as a boulder crashed into her side with a sickening, snapping sound. She screeched in fear and terror as pain bombarded the side where ribs had split beneath the impact.
The whole ordeal lasted less than a minute before the kit impacted the ground, her muzzle smashed and body fractured as dust clouded her still form. Around her, rubble bounced to the ground, impenetrable boulders shattering with the impact, cracks seeping into their side.
But the kit twitched. Then breathed. Then sighed a wistful sigh as the world misted around her.