Chapter 1

I opened my eyes with a start, my head throbbing painfully. I was in complete darkness and, from what I could tell, a very small space. As my senses adjusted to my surroundings, I noticed that I was laying flat on my back. And there was a damp, earthy scent coming from every direction. My panic accelerated as I felt around for an opening of some sort. There was none. Feeling trapped, I decided to make one of my own. Utilizing my natural strength, I punched straight up at the earthy ceiling of my prison. To my surprise, my fist went all the way through to the outside in that single punch.

I flinched away as blinding sunlight came streaming in through the newly made hole, as the sent of fresh air came cascading in with it. I quickly clawed my way out into the open, sitting on the edge of a clump of freshly turned dirt.

'Had I been buried or something?' I wondered, taking in my new surroundings. I was sitting at the base of a cherry tree in the middle of a forest; none of it really looks that familiar. As I turned slowly, doing a 360 survey, my eyes settled on the stones at the base of the tree. They're obviously gravestones, and as I look closer, I realize that one of them is my own.

My breath catches in my throat as I gasp in shock and surprise. Reading your own gravestone can do that to you.

And in this grave, we lay to rest

The claws that served our mighty cause

In hopes she'll be an honored guest

We send you on your final journey

Ena

'But I'm not dead…am I?' I asked myself, fearing the answer. I had heard of it happening, but had never believed the stories. When a sacrifice was killed in battle, and the fighter stayed alive because they had not been in possession of their heart. It was the greatest taboo any Felidae Warrior could commit. The stories always told of how the surviving fighter was hunted down and killed. There's no way it could've happened to me, could it? I turned to read the gravestone beside mine, to assure myself that I wasn't in danger. It didn't work. The icy hand of fear gripped my very being as I read what was on the next grave.

And in this grave, we lay to rest

The ears that served our mighty cause

In hopes she'll be an honored guest

We send you on your final journey

Nauri

The realization that I could never go home again suddenly hit me. There was no cure for death. If another Felidae ever found out about me, I would be killed. I had accidentally committed the most forbidden act imaginable. I hadn't died completely, and I would get no mercy for it.

I felt the prick of tears gathering behind my eyes as all that had happened suddenly came rushing back to me. Unwanted memories flooded my mind as I tried to hold back my stream of tears unsuccessfully. The wind picked up around me as I screwed my eyes shut, in an attempt to block out the inevitable.

'Nauri is dead. It's all my fault. I might as well have been the one who killed her.' I screamed in my head. My grief turns to guilt at this last thought. I barely even noticed the dark clouds assembling in the distance, or the light drizzle that started to fall from the dismal gray sky.

'She didn't deserve this. She shouldn't have died. It should have been me, I could have stopped this!' My tears were falling freely at this point; unable to hold them back any longer. My entire body was wracked with guilt at what I'd done, sorrow for those I've lost, and regret that I had never had the chance to tell Nauri anything.

The rain had been slowly increasing since I had first noticed it, and now it started to pour. I was completely soaked by this point, but all I could do was blame myself for what had happened. The gray sky seemed to be crying with me, as the droplets of rain that ran off my short black hair mingled with the tears that fell from my light hazel eyes. My black tail and cat-ears were drooping from both rain and sadness. Lightning flashed in the distance and I instinctively cringed away from it.

"It should have been me!" I screamed into the storm, but the loud boom of thunder drowned out my voice.