Life 3:4
The air was cold and still over the Riverclan camp. Not even the slightest movement was visible in the central clearing. No one was out and about, because tonight was the Long Night. The warriors den was packed tight with cats awaiting the first story. Despite the cramped conditions, the center of the den was clear for the coming storyteller.
Crookedstar padded into the center to begin the ceremony. "Gather round. Gather round. Tonight we'll be hearing a story older than the clans. It is a story about friendship, loyalty, and sacrifice. The opening storyteller tonight is the enigmatic Snakepaw. Listen and learn, for this story may never be heard again from one connected to it all."
As Crookedstar backed from the center, Snakepaw padded forward, his eyes misty from taking the storyteller's herbs, a minor hallucinogen. Snakepaw's paw steps seemed ethereal in nature. It could scarcely be seen as walking. To the others watching the apprentice, he appeared to glide into the center as if he was a manifestation of Starclan itself.
Snakepaw's voice was entrapping while seemingly coming from somewhere much further than just the apprentice in front of them. His motions were mystifying as he gestured to the air, as if seeing something beyond the sight of the listeners. Several senior warriors bit down on small bundles of herbs meant to loosen the mind and allow the listener to 'see' the story.
"Long ago, before the clans and after the time of the big cats, there existed a lake. Around this lake were many families, each descended from one of the legendary big cats. You may still remember the five, Panther, Leopard, Tiger, Lion, and Bobcat, but there were many more before that. This was a time before honor, before virtues, before the code. Each day was a bloodbath. A kit may be born and slaughtered before even knowing their mother's milk because even the slightest weakness spelled death for an entire family. Cats were exiled from their homes for having even the slightest empathetic thought. The only ones safe to freely move were those blessed with the destiny of lore keeping, and that is where our story begins…" Snakepaw paused dramatically.
"We begin this tale with one of the unifiers, a kit from the Ocelot family. A tiny little runt he was. As was necessary at the time, the Ocelot family cast out the kit, dropping it into a den of snakes. Except, when a strange lore keeper was passing by, he heard mewling from the snake den. It had been days since the Ocelot family had cast out the kit, and as the cruelty of their world demanded, they too were slaughtered by a rival family. Hearing the kit's desperate mewling, the lore keeper couldn't help but try and save the kit. Mysteriously, the snakes didn't even try to stop him. Seeing the strange phenomenon, the lore keeper named the kit on the spot. Most of the name's meaning is lost, but I share part of it. The kit was called The Kit of the Snake, or Snake for short. Knowing the kit still needed to be cared for, the lore keeper, whose name still weathers the ages of time, was called The Unchanged Rock, decided his best option was to seek sanctuary with the Panther family.
Hearing Rock's recounting of little Snake's unlikely circumstances, the Panther family decided to raise the kit, knowing that someday Rock would return to make the kit a lore keeper. Little Snake did indeed grow, but our little unifier was not blessed with good health. His body was forever cold, weak to the chill of the night. His body did not strengthen well. He was by all means a kit who should have been killed to spare them a grisly fate, but Snake's mysterious survival among his namesake stayed their paws.
Among the Panther family, there was another cat who would star in this tale. Her name acted like a bright star in a black night. Her name was Midnight. Midnight was a cat haunted by fear, fear of the light of day. During the night, she felt safe, with her pitch-black pelt concealing her from anyone who would do her harm, but she'd seen the terror daylight could have on a cat like her. Her own mother had been killed in an ambush during when the sun ruled. As was the nature of this cruel world, the Panther family was looking to exile her from the family. Her fear was a weakness that could not be counted on.
When Snake was just about the same age as…" Snakepaw suddenly whirled before pointing his paw at a kit just shy of becoming an apprentice. "You!" The kit reeled back in terror at being singled out, but Snakepaw twirled back into his story.
"The lore keeper Rock finally returned, looking for the kit he'd had the Panther family raise. While little Snake was young, he understood the unfairness of this world. The very night before Rock would take him away, he prayed for this madness to end, for a world where someone even like him would have the chance to grow up. Something heard his plea. Something sensed the desires of little Snake as well as Midnight's desire to no longer feel her fear and Rock's desire to learn and record more. It called to them all in a dream. It promised an end to the fighting, to the necessary evil of killing kits. What it proposed was to unify the five strongest families in an alliance to drive off or absorb the rest of the families. This was the way to grant Snake's wish.
Snake and Midnight found Rock the next day, recording the dream. They revealed to each other that they all had shared the dream and now needed to act upon it. The Panther family was the first family sought in this quest to unify the lake. The leader of the Panther family was unconvinced at first that some being from beyond really offered this plan, but a chance to attain power and protect their family was too tempting. Instead, the leader offered a challenge to prove that the unifiers were committed to this quest. Thus, the challenge of Panther was to prove their commitment beyond even fear.
This was a challenge that Midnight was forced to bear. Midnight was challenged to travel to the island in the middle of the lake and yowl out her commitment during broad daylight. Despite all Midnight's fear, she succeeded. Her voice rang out across the lake, her desire to end the fighting and no longer live in fear.
The second family sought out was Tiger. The tiger family relied on the guidance of their big cat ancestor to guide them, so their challenge was one of faith. Rock took on the challenge. Rock was challenged to ford a rushing river. The riverbed was invisible to the rapids. Instead, Rock put his faith in their goal, that they would succeed, that they'd make a world worth remembering. Where others may have stumbled on slick rock, Rock himself found sure footing, crossing the river without as much as a stumble.
The third family was Leopard. Leopard was a family that survived of ferocity, so they demanded a challenge proving that the unifiers would fight for their beliefs. Midnight took on the challenge. A duel occurred between Midnight and the leader of the Leopard family. Midnight proved her ferocity, her will to see this quest through, her desire to protect more than just her life. She won after a lengthy battle.
The fourth family was the Bobcat family. The Bobcat patriarch demanded a challenge of creativity. Rock took on this challenge. Rock was tasked with reaching the island in the center of the lake without ever getting his paws wet. It was a strange challenge indeed. Rock found a floating log and had Midnight push it over. Rock climbed onto the log, and Midnight pushed it to the island, winning the challenge. Rock proved his ability to overcome the impossible by outsmarting what others deemed insurmountable.
Finally came the last family, the Lion family. This was the last barrier before the lake could finally be unified. The Lion family proved to be a challenge even the bravest would not commit. They were a family of convictions. They wanted proof that this quest was important enough to lay down their lives. Their challenge… was for someone to die for their convictions. They gave the unifiers an insidious poison that would kill, not in heartbeats or days, but over the course of a full moon. It would be a slow and painful death that one would not wish on their worst enemies. Rock and Midnight argued over who would be the one to make the sacrifice, only for little Snake, the one who they both sought out this quest for, to take the poison himself. His body may have been frail. He may not have had the skills or smarts to overcome the other challenges, but little Snake sought to see his world a reality, even if he would not survive to see it.
Ultimately, the five great families joined on a conquest to unify the lake, succeeding in the end. And where were the unifiers in this time, you may ask. They journeyed to the nearby mountain, seeking out the being who gave them this quest one last time. Whether they found it or not does not matter. What matters is what their deeds created. The five great families were the foundations from which the clans were born. Their five great tenants still live on within us, bravery, faith, ferocity, creativity, and sacrifice. Our code was born from the remnants of the five families as they grew and empathized. The world Snake, Rock, and Midnight fought for came to be. It isn't perfect, but kits aren't murdered while still fresh from the womb. If little Snake could see our world now, I think he'd be proud…"
Tears pricked Snakepaw's eyes as he ended his tale. Cats bowed their heads in thanks and prayer to the ones who once unified the families of old. Snakepaw tearfully stepped back to allow others to tell their Long Night tales. None held the raw emotion of Snakepaw's but the opener was always meant to be the one to be remembered and whispered before the next Long Night.