Chapter 1 The Explosion
A dark brown tom with a white chest, belly, paws, and yellow eyes returned to camp with a rabbit in his jaw. He had just gotten back from a hunting patrol and among the patrol was a light brown and white she-cat with yellow eyes, a golden tom with white eartips, paws, chest, muzzle, tailtip, and amber eyes, a silver and white dappled she-cat with forest green eyes, and a small, pale ginger she-cat with a white belly and leaf-green eyes. Each cat had caught a piece of prey and went to either give it to the queens or elders, or placed it in the fresh-kill pile. A black, white, and ginger tom with green eyes had left the nursery and was pleased to see the hunting patrol catch so mush prey for the clan. The dark brown tom dropped his catch into the fresh-kill pile, which is when a dark brown tom with black ears, spots, and green eyes came out of his den and was pleased by how big the fresh-kill pile was. He approached the hunting patrol.
"Shimmerdusk, Lightpelt, how did Duskpaw and Galepaw do?" he asked.
"They did well, Guststar. Duskpaw used a bit of his power to catch that rabbit he caught." Shimmerdusk meowed.
"And Galepaw has been improving on her hunting skills." Lightpelt meowed.
Galepaw beamed with delight at her mentor's comment, Guststar was pleased to hear that his kits did so well, it was a nice day for it. The sky was clear, it was a little windy, and it was a cool Greenleaf. Duskpaw enjoyed the cool breeze and the warm sunlight, Galepaw approached him and laid next to him.
"Great job, Duskpaw." She meowed
"Thanks Galepaw, you did well too." He purred.
Guststar approached the two apprentices
"You two did well today, you both should be very proud." He meowed, proudly.
"Thanks dad." Galepaw purred.
"You should've seen it dad. That rabbit I caught almost leaped into his burrow, but I used a bit of my power to blow it past the burrow. Than I caught it." Duskpaw boasted.
"That's nothing, Duskpaw. I used a bit of my light power to scare some of the rabbits out their burrows." Galepaw retorted.
"Excellent you two, using your powers like that is perfect for your hunting skills." Guststar meowed.
Duskpaw and Galepaw beamed with pride. As they continued talking, everyone else was either grooming each other, sunbathing, or they were eating fresh-kill. Two Windclan elders, a grey tom with darker ears and yellow eyes and a small, black she-cat with a scarred muzzle and leaf-green eyes were eating their prey. Suddenly, the grey tom froze in terror and his ears perked.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" he yowled.
Everyone was alarmed. At first, nothing happened, there was no loud noises, and no rival clans or other predators were attacking the camp. Duskpaw was confused, he knew that Loudear could hear things from far away and he only yowled when something was heading towards Windclan, but neither of that was happening, so Duskpaw was confused on what could've possibly caused Loudear to yowl like that. Suddenly, what could only be described as a thunderous roar broke the air. Everyone looked and saw a fire ball and smoke. It was pretty far from the clans, but you could still see it. The blast was so strong that it blew through Windclan. Sending Duskpaw, Galepaw, Guststar, and many other Windclan cats flying and landing near the lake. Duskpaw landed on the ground hard, his ears were ringing, and was a bit sore. He got up a bit, clearly still caught off guard, and looked around. Nearly everyone of his clanmates was near the lake, all caught off guard and was sore from the hard blast. Everyone slowly got up and looked around, making sure everyone was alright. Guststar approached a small white she-cat with silver patches and icy blue eyes, and a black and white she-cat amber eyes.
"Softbreeze, Swiftsnow, are you two alright?" Guststar asked.
"Yes…we're fine, Guststar." Swiftsnow meowed.
"Where are your kits? He asked, worried.
"Guststar, we've got them." A voice yelled.
Guststar, Swiftsnow, and Softbreeze looked to see the black, white, and ginger tom carrying a black she-kit with bright yellow eyes, a white she-kit with icy blue eyes, and a black and white she-kit with amber eyes, and Lightpelt carrying a fluffy, dark ginger she-kit with a white belly and forest green eyes, a fluffy, black and white striped she-kit with amber eyes, and a small, golden she-kit with white paws and icy blue eyes. Softbreeze and Swiftsnow ran over to them.
"Oh Forestleaf." Softbreeze meowed, relieved.
"Lightpelt, Blazekit, Honeykit, Petalkit, are you all okay?" Swiftsnow asked.
"Mommy, my ears hurt." A kit cried.
Softbreeze licked the young kit's ear for comfort, causing the young kit to stop crying. Duskpaw watched on with relief that the kits were safe. He ran back to camp and was horrified by what he saw. It was a huge mess, some of the dens collapsed while others were badly damaged, and there was moss, leaves, and grass everywhere. It looked like a stampede of badgers had ran through the Windclan camp and trampled everything in their path.
"LOUDEAR!" a cat screeched.
Duskpaw looked and saw the elders den had completely collapsed and that a paw was sticking out of the rubble. Duskpaw's heart and stomach dropped.
"DAD!" another cat yowled.
A dark grey tom with a white chest, belly, a stubby tail, long ears, and yellow eyes ran past Duskpaw and approached the small, black she-cat. Guststar, Galepaw, and everyone else returned to camp and were horrified by the sight. Guststar looked at the elders den and was horrified to see the paw as well. The dark grey tom and the small black she-cat pulled out the body and it was Loudear.
"Swirlshine, please come!" the small black she-cat begged.
Swirlshine and a dark brown tom with white ears, paws, tailtip, chest, belly, spots, wings, and yellow eyes came and inspected Loudear. Loudear wasn't breathing and he's suffered from broken bones and internal damage, there was no way anyone could've survived that. Swirlshine looked solemnly at the black she-cat and the dark grey tom.
"I'm sorry Tallpoppy, Rabbitear, Loudear didn't make it." She meowed.
Duskpaw, Galepaw, Guststar and everyone else was saddened by the loss. Tallpoppy wailed and Rabbitear had tears in his eyes. Tallpoppy was Loudear's mate and Rabbitear was their only kit. Swirlshine looked and saw her and her apprentice's den horrifically damaged, all the herbs they collected was gone. The fresh-kill pile was a mess, prey was scattered everywhere, some were torn in pieces. Duskpaw and Guststar couldn't believe by all that just happened, everything was peaceful at first, then it turned into chaos. Forestleaf approached Guststar.
"Guststar, what now?" he asked.
"GUSTSTAR!" a voice yowled.
A sleek, white and grey she-cat with pine-green eyes ran into the camp, along with a small, black and white dappled she-cat with amber eyes, a white she-cat with yellow eyes, a white and blue patched tortoiseshell she-cat with dark blue eyes, and a light grey tom with a white muzzle, eartips, paws, chest, tailtip, and amber eyes. All of them looked like the wind was taken out of them and were a bit bruised. The white and grey she-cat approached Guststar.
"Stormflair, Swiftpaw, Wingsky, Skypaw, and Falconscreech, are guys alright?" he asked.
"Yes, we're fine, Guststar." Stormflair meowed.
"Guststar, what in Starclan's name is going on? What happened here?" Falconscreech asked.
"I don't know, but the camp's been destroyed and Loudear is dead." He meowed.
"Wait, Loudear is dead?" Wingsky meowed, horrified.
She ran over to Rabbitear and laid her head under his muzzle.
"Oh Rabbitear, I'm so sorry." Wingsky meowed.
"Forestleaf, how many patrols did you send out?" Guststar asked.
"Three patrols, one hunting and two border patrols." He meowed.
"Who did you send out for the second border patrol?" Guststar asked.
"Aspenbreeze, Bluebellgaze, Bluefeather, Summerpaw, and Moonshine." Forestleaf meowed.
"Larkwing, find the patrol and bring them back to camp. Crownwing, go with her, the patrol could be injured." Guststar ordered.
Crownwing and Larkwing nodded and Crownwing flew away while Larkwing ran out of the camp. Duskpaw and Galepaw watched as their older brother left the camp and looked at their mother and father.
"Everyone, as you know, our clan has been badly damaged. First we need to clean up, gather the damaged moss and prey and try to rebuild your nests and the fresh kill pile. If the moss is too damaged, get rid of it and get some new moss. Meanwhile lets rebuild the medicine cat den, the nursery, and the elders den first before we rebuild the apprentices and warriors den." Guststar ordered.
Everyone looked and saw Rabbitear and Tallpoppy dragging Loudear's body at the center of the clearing, laid their heads on his body, and mourned. Guststar looked at them with a sad look.
"We'll mourn for Loudear at moonhigh. For now, lets get to work." He meowed.
Everyone nodded and got to work. Cats were either picking up the prey and moss, or gathering sticks, leaves, and vines to rebuild the dens. Forestleaf approached Guststar.
"Guststar, should we check on the other clans?" he asked.
"No. Depending on how powerful that blast was, there's a good chance the other clans have been damaged as well, but there's also a good chance that they may call for an emergency gathering." He meowed.
"Well, either way, prey is going to be scarce, especially with how loud that blast was." Forestleaf pointed out.
"Go help your clanmates, Forestleaf. Let's not make that a problem for now, it seems that the fresh-kill pile is alright, for now." Guststar meowed.
Forestleaf nodded and walked away. Swirlshine approached Guststar and laid her head on his chest.
"I'm going to gather herbs, we're going to need all we can get." She said.
"Alright, but have Seedwhisker grow some of the herbs for you." Guststar meowed.
Swirlshine smiled and headed towards Seedwhisker. Duskpaw looked around and pondered on how he can help.
"Duskpaw, help me with the nursery." A voice meowed.
Duskpaw looked and saw Galepaw carrying leaves and sticks to the already damaged nursery. Duskpaw decided that he would help his sister fix the nursery, especially since the queens and kits were at risk for predators. Duskpaw started grabbing some scattered moss and carefully, entered the nursery to rebuild the nests. This day was probably one of the worst days of his life.