Hello all, I'm back from my holiday. Not that most of you will care but I enjoyed it :P

I'm back again with the first chapter of Burn The Sky, introducing our main protagonist himself! I'm really looking forwards to getting this story going, as I'm very passionate about these characters and the world they live in, even if I'm not that invested in Warriors itself anymore, and I really hope I can show that to all of you too!

Thank you so much to everyone who followed, favourited or left a review, it really means a lot! I'm glad to see you're enjoying the descriptive language and the worldbuilding, and I hope to continue to build on that :D

also hi again ivystorm :3

Now, without any further ado, chapter one!

The patrol was silent as they crunched through the crisp snow that had fallen overnight.

Stagpaw winced as he felt the sharp cold begin to burn and numb his paws, not enjoying the way it felt beneath them either. It was his first leafbare and this was thus his first snow. While it had looked pretty on the forest as he had woken up and he had been as excited as a kit to go out into it, he was now realising that it was little more than a hindrance. Not only did it hurt to walk on, it masked prey scents, covered trails, reflected the blinding light of the mountain into his eyes and killed all the plants with frost. He supposed the only things that made it better were that prey tracks were easily visible, and it made a lovely crunching sound when you walked on it.

Ah, though he supposed that the former was more helpful to the hunting.

Sunraiser was leading the patrol, slowly leading them forwards to follow the hoofprints of a deer that seemed to have been separated from its herd. She stepped lightly, her paws barely sinking into the ground, and continued to scent around for any traces of other hunters around. Webtail was just behind her, focusing on sight as his main sense, and then next to him was Hazelwing, Stagpaw's mentor. Her ears were swivelling to and fro, listening to every slight disturbance in the peaceful morning. Stagpaw himself was unsure of what sense to lean into, so he decided it best to try out for all three and hope one would make itself apparent as the best. It didn't help that there were so few scents around, nor did the snow's crunchy noise that kept distracting him…

Apparently noticing his struggles, Hazelwing dropped back slowly, and asked him in a quiet, gentle voice, "What do you notice about the prints?"

Stagpaw turned his gaze to the ground and studied them closely, fighting for something to say, "Uh… they…they come from a deer…"

She nodded and encouraged him on, "And?"

"Well…they're quite small, so maybe they're still young, or quite frail and stunted?"

She smiled in approval, "That's good, now what else?"
Again, Stagpaw looked at them, wondering if there was anything else to say. He was sure he had gotten it when he talked about the size…

Seeing that he had no answer, Hazelwing pointed to one of the prints in the repeating pattern, "This one doesn't look quite like the others, to me."

He squinted at it, beginning to see what she was talking about. Whilst the front feet seemed to be keeping a consistent look, the back left hoof seemed off slightly, "Well…it's placed around quite erratically…"

She nodded again, "This could suggest that the deer is unsteady on its feet, or suffering an injury or birth defect. But the defining factor here is that the snow on the left print is far less indented than the one on the right. This usually means that the deer is limping."

"Oh! I see…" Stagpaw almost laughed to himself as he noticed the detail. How small and fine! Hazelwing must truly be a great hunter to notice all this, "So does this mean it's injured?"

"Quite possibly. This means it will be unable to flee, and easier to kill." Hazelwing looked up, glancing over Sunraiser's shoulder, "And hopefully close by."

Their hunt led them further through their territory, until suddenly the trees fell away and the snowy ground ahead of them fell abruptly into nothingness. The deer tracks walked to it and then along it, stretching out further still. As the group got closer, Stagpaw could feel a tension grow, like the air was getting thicker, and a shiver seemed to run down every cat. They approached the edge, keeping as safe a distance as possible, and Stagpaw glanced down.

Here was the Hallowlands, a vast stretch of dark, abandoned forest that sat at the bottom of a steep ravine. An eerie feeling of wrongness hung about it, and there were few words to describe the feeling that hung about the place. A sense of danger, foreboding and the impending doom of death were the symphony that hung in Stagpaw's ears as he glanced down at the misty hellscape beneath him. He took a deep breath in and looked away, trying to pretend that his reaction was just stemming from tradition and not a secret that he had hid deep within himself.

To the rest of EskerClan, Stagpaw was a normal apprentice. He trained under a clawtooth to be a clawtooth, because he was a clawtooth through and through and had no strange magical abilities.

Except…he wasn't.

He was a bayer, a type of warrior with a specific kind of magic able to control and scare away the spiritslayers that roamed in the Hallowlands. A fateful night moons ago had taught him of his abilities, and left a deep-rooted fear of them, the Hallowlands and its inhabitants. Bayers were welcomed fast into clans for the protection they gave from rogue spiritslayers but that kind of heroics was not worth spending the time in that StarClan-forsaken valley. He didn't even wanna think about what else was down there.

So he didn't. It wasn't worth it. There was no way the secret would come out, and he didn't need to ever consider it or talk about it. So he was safe.

His paws would never walk the Hallowlands.

"I wouldn't have thought that most animals from up here would come this close to the Hallowlands," Webtail said, snapping Stagpaw out of his thoughts, "especially not prey."

Sunraiser shook her head, "It's certainly unusual. No normal prey is down there, and ones from above certainly don't join them."

"Did it not realise where it was going? Or is it lost?"

"We can't be sure."

Hazelwing joined in the conversation, "Let's carry on following it and keep our eyes open. We're probably close now."

The patrol agreed and they continued on, stalking carefully around the edge of the valley. Gradually the steps began to slow seemingly, and soon Sunraiser extended a paw to prevent the patrol from walking any further. She raised her muzzle and sniffed and then turned back with a nod.

"What's happening?" Stagpaw asked quietly.

"The deer is nearby," Hazelwing whispered back, eyes gleaming with the prospect of the hunt.

He nodded and the patrol as one drew into the hunter's crouch. Soft, slow, steady pawsteps left barely a trace on the cold snow as they turned gingerly round a corner.

There, sheltered from the wind by a copse of bushes, was a young, smallish deer. It seemed to be resting, though Stagpaw wasn't sure if it was asleep yet or not, and didn't seem to see the patrol approaching.

Sunraiser swivelled her ears back, tapped her paw twice against the ground and then lashed her tail, a series of gestures that Stagpaw had come to learn meant something along the lines of "Downwind, asleep, ready to go."

The patrol nodded. Stagpaw felt anticipation shake his legs as they waited for Sunraiser's final signal. This would be his first major hunt. He was excited for the thrill and the chase, but nervous. What if he missed an instruction or did something wrong?

In a single second, Sunraiser's claws slid out and the patrol leapt.

The deer's head shot up and it startled to its hooves, panicking as the cats approached rapidly. Its injured leg seemed to be hindering it greatly, and it struggled to begin to run as they came at it like a lightning bolt.

Webtail lunged at it, but it bucked its back legs out and he skidded to a halt and ran back to avoid being kicked. Sunraiser sprinted around it and tried to go for the throat but as she grabbed onto its neck it reared up, tossing her off and into the snow. Then it turned, lowered its head and charged at Hazelwing with its antlers. She squeaked in alarm and turned to move out the way, but the curve of the horn caught on her back leg and threw her awkwardly to the side. She got up, shaking snow off her pelt and lunged onto its back.

"Stagpaw, go for the legs!" she called, sinking her claws into the flesh on its back to cling on.

Stunned into action, Stagpaw threw himself at one of the thrashing forelegs and bit hard into it. The deer bellowed in pain and stumbled, finally overbalancing and falling to the ground as two of its legs now failed it. Hazelwing dismounted a tad ungracefully from the deer and padded over to its head, Webtail and Sunraiser joining soon after.

"Good job as a team there," Webtail said, bowing his head.

The others nodded, and Hazelwing gently stroked the deer's cheek as it thrashed, trying to strain away.

"The deer is a great creature of the forest, Stagpaw," his mentor said suddenly, motioning for him to join her by her side, "it is a creature that deserves to die with dignity."

He walked over to her and tilted his head, waiting for her to continue.

"A creature like this will feed the entire clan for a day, maybe more, and for that we must thank it for all it has done. It does not deserve to die hunted and ravaged like monsters."

Sunraiser and Webtail nodded, and both rested their paws on its side. Stagpaw hesitantly placed his own too, and Hazelwing nodded.

"We must respect the great prey of this forest."

And she dipped her head and murmured something unintelligible, and then motioned for him to do the same. Confused and lost on what to say, he whispered, "Thank you for feeding my Clan," before pulling away. Again, the other cats on the patrol did the same.

"And now there is nothing left to be done. Stagpaw, the honour is yours."

Hazelwing motioned for its throat, and he gingerly unsheathed his claws and rested his paw on there. The deer watched him, its eyes seemingly wise beyond its years, seeming to be acceptant of its death. After giving it such a conscience…Stagpaw was hesitant to kill it.

My own namesake…

But still he couldn't let prey like this go to waste. Like he had said, this would feed the Clan. And it seemed to have accepted its fate…

Well, so was the circle of life.

He dealt the killing blow with a final nod of gratitude towards it and pulled away after so the blood wouldn't stain on his paws. The deer fell still almost immediately, its crimson blood spreading out and staining the snow red. There was silence, then Webtail whooped and Hazelwing and Sunraiser turned to glare at him.

He slapped his tail over his mouth, "Sorry, these things still excite me."

Sunraiser rolled her eyes and went to help him lift the deer, and Hazelwing affectionately nudged Stagpaw's shoulder, "Well done bringing it down with me!"

He turned away, embarrassed, "Well…you did all the work…"

She shook her head, smiling, "Everyone plays a part in the hunt. We all did the same amount of work."

Stagpaw was about to respond, when Sunraiser suddenly hissed and he turned to see that she had arched her back and fluffed out her fur as if intimidating an opponent. Webtail turned to look at what had riled her up, confused.

"What's wrong? Did you step on a thorn?"

Sunraiser didn't respond, instead jabbing a claw at the injured back leg of the deer. Hazelwing and her apprentice joined them, and Stagpaw felt an inexplicable chill run through him as he saw what had caused it to limp.

It was clear some other predator had already tried to take down this animal; large, deep bite wounds had mangled the length of the leg and twisted out bone, sinew and muscle. His initial thought was maybe a fox or a wolf or something, the jawline was too long for a lynx or another cat, but this seemed…too big for that. This clearly came from a massive creature, something that radiated fear from deep within his soul…but…what…?

Then it hit him like a claw across the face and he could've sworn his heart stopped. Instinctively he felt his body go cold and numb and his fur bristled. No one seemed to pay him any mind as they too studied the wound, and Sunraiser stated, quite simply, "Spiritslayer."

Hazelwing's face hardened and she began to back up.

"We need to leave. Now."

"But…the deer-" Webtail began.

Sunraiser shook her head firmly, "I'm not risking my life for a damn deer, I don't want to be here when that spiritslayer comes back for its prey."

Stagpaw's mouth went dry, and even though he knew it was wrong, he asked, "But…I thought spiritslayers can't come up here…"

"Well whoever told you that was wrong, and this is why we have bayers." she hissed, looping around them to face them back towards the camp and beginning to walk, everyone else instinctively following, "Spiritslayers can easily climb here, they mostly choose not to, and if they do the bayers drive them back down. But since Ambervox died…our Clan has been at a loss for a bayer. We're more susceptible to attacks."

"So if a spiritslayer were to wander into our territory…?"
"We'd be crowfood before you could even cry for help."

Hazelwing sped up the pace at the back of the group, her tail swishing anxiously, "We'll have to ask another Clan for help with this. PineClan has quite a few bayers right now, I think?"

Webtail shrugged, "If you want to try and get them to help us then you can go right ahead. Our best bet would be asking MorraineClan."
"I don't want to risk their only bayer though, Eveningstar would kill us."

"For more than one reason, too, she's always been close to Skyvoice.

"Stop talking!" Sunraiser snapped suddenly, causing the rest of the patrol's fur to raise in alarm, "It's gonna hear us!"

Anger and a deep-rooted fear lit her gaze, and it became apparent to Stagpaw that she was terrified, maybe even more so than the rest of them. Of course, she had completed her trial in the Hallowlands, she had probably seen for herself what spiritslayers were capable of.

Just like me.

The patrol began to hasten their way back to camp, not caring if they startled prey or made heavier pawprints in the snow. Panic pricked at their mind and dread dragged in their stomachs, and each sense was on high alert, listening for the snap and rustle of undergrowth that could signify the beast was hunting them and startling at every flap of birds' wings. The forest began to rise slightly and they hurried uphill, following the trail of loose, erratically-placed rocks and boulders that signified a retreating glacier, and more importantly the way home.

They passed more worn paths, tracked paw prints and picked up on familiar scents until finally they came to a large outcropping of rock that hung tall above them. Here was a vast space dotted with coniferous trees and odd piles of rocks, the grass worn low and brown and speckled by melting fallen snow. Cats milled about, some delivering prey to the Nursery or Elder's Den, others talking and laughing together. None seemed to notice the tense mood of the patrol, nor their lack of prey. Not yet.

Sunraiser kept her head down as she led them straight to the shadowed canopy of rock and began to climb through a small tunnel that twisted up through it. Stagpaw's ears pricked as he realised they were heading straight to the Leader's Den, someplace he had never been to before. It would be considered a great offence for them to just barge in, but he supposed that something like this could be excused easily.

They emerged from the tunnel on top of the outcrop. Here, the snow was slightly thicker, and Stagpaw could see over the whole camp. If he remembered his Clan history, this had originally been chosen as a vantage point for leaders to keep watch over EskerClan, though it had soon just become the place to call meetings and eventually the Den. A small pile of mossy rocks strengthened by plants and shrubs that had eventually begun to weave their way into the structure stood a bit away from the edge, and just in front of it sat Fernstar himself, comfortably sitting eating a mouse. He looked up as they approached, then got to his feet and tilted his head.

"Sunraiser? What is the meaning of all this?" he asked, tone slightly accusing under the politeness.

"Forgive me for the intrusion, sir," the patched she-cat dipped her head, her voice straining to remain level and collected, "but I- we have reason to believe there is a threat to the clan."

Immediately, Fernstar's demeanour changed to something more genuinely concerned, "What is it? Do we have intruders? Is there-"

"There's a spiritslayer!" Webtail burst in, apparently unable to hold himself in any longer.

Stagpaw turned, surprised at his outburst, having not realised how on edge the rest of the patrol was too. Sunraiser fixed a glare on him for interrupting, but Fernstar fluffed his fur out straight away.

"A- A spiritslayer?" he gasped, "You're- you're sure?"

Hazelwing jumped in, "There were these terrible bite marks on the deer we were hunting, it was the type of wound only something with a maw as massive as a spiritslayer could have caused."

"Oh- oh StarClan help us, this is bad…" Fernstar began to pace, his claws flexing in and out, "we don't have any bayers, we don't know where it is or how many there are…we don't even know if the other clans know…oh Kings…"

Stagpaw watched his leader stress, getting more nervous by the second. Was this really so bad that even their esteemed leader didn't know what to do? What did they do now?

Finally, he stopped and took a deep breath, seemingly gathering his thoughts and subduing his panic.

"Alright," he decided, voice more firm than before, "we will have to put the Clan on lockdown for now, and only send out skilled hunters and trackers to catch prey without encountering the spiritslayer. They're the most inactive at sunhigh, so they can go then. At night, everyone must remain in their dens, apart from a few of the most talented fighters, who will remain on guard in shifts. When there's a clear path, we will send a patrol either MoraineClan or PineClan depending on the clearest path to request help. We will have to accept any kind of deal made with them."

The patrol nodded, and Stagpaw felt his heart calm slightly at the logical plan his leader had made. Was this why he had been chosen to lead EskerClan? It certainly seemed that way.

Sunraiser nodded, her tail swishing ever so slightly from side to side, "That seems like a good plan."

"I'll announce it to the Clan now. Sunraiser, Hazelwing, please go and tell Silverloch where you tracked the deer to and from. She can arrange patrols based on where it is most likely to be so the others can stay out of danger."

"Right away, sir."

The she-cats darted back down the tunnel, briefly visible approaching Silverloch where she sat in the centre of camp. Fernstar watched them go before turning to Webtail.

"Webtail, ah…you may visit Quailspots. I'm sure you can calm down in the Nursery knowing your family are safe."

"Oh- uh- y-yes sir!" the silver tabby bowed and shot off.

Finally Fernstar's gaze settled upon Stagpaw. He drew himself up to his full height, hoping he wasn't about to be told off or anything.

But all the instructions that he was given was, "You may return to your duties too now, Stagpaw."

"Uh, yes sir," he dipped his head and began to trot off, when suddenly Fernstar hummed to himself.

He pricked his ears and turned around, "Did you say something, sir?"

Fernstar stared at him blankly for a moment before shaking his head and smiling, "Oh, my apologies, I was just lost in thought. Nothing to worry about."

"Oh, alright sir."

And into camp he descended.

Strange…

"You want to sneak out there? Where the spiritslayer is?"

"Yeah, c'mon, it'll be fine!"

Stagpaw was awoken in the middle of the night by hushed whispering from the other side of the den. He stayed still and forced his breathing to remain steady and slow, as he listened in on the conversation. There were only two other apprentices in the den: Foxpaw, his sister, and Smokepaw, so it had to be them two talking.

"No no no, I think that would be a deathwish, Smokepaw. Don't you remember what happened to your siblings?"

That was a low blow, Stagpaw knew that. He could tell it hit home from the way Smokepaw drew in a sharp breath.

"Well- they were kits, we're trained apprentices! We could easily just take a look around for them, run back without being spotted, report on their locations and how many there are and be hailed as heroes!"

"I don't know Smokepaw…"

"Oh come on, please? It'll be fine!"

Foxpaw sighed, "Fine…"

There was the sound of nests being shuffled in movement, and then two sets of paws pattered off into the darkness. Stagpaw huffed and made himself comfy in his bed again.

Rude…could've invited me….oh well…

He was too half-asleep to really process the scene, and he would probably have forgotten about it by the morning. Sleepy, he let himself begin to drift off.

Wait.

Their plan suddenly clicked in his head, and Stagpaw jolted up into a sitting position, breathing fast and panic racing through him.

Just- what in the name of the Hallowlands did they say they were going to do?!