The Sunlapse (A Light in the Mist AU/rewrite)

V

Song of the Chapter
Maudlin of the Well - Girl with a Watering Can

Glorious golden wept from the bright planet awakening at the world's edge, wilted rays falling onto the snow enrobing the quiet plains. The majesty of its light floated upon the violet dawn like that of a timid sparrow's wings, while the coldest winds with slumber swept upon vast miles of frost.

Squirrelflight, on light feet, drifted down roads of leafbare. Through the cold path trekked forth in way of the north, it still laid down like that of a lavender vale. Upon her recent return from that woods of dreadful gloom, Bristlefrost had not spoken in even a whisper, and whenever a cat questioned her silence, her wrath had erupted. Violence and fury had always been displayed by the young molly, but never had she showed such wrath for something as feeble as a simple question.

Now, Squirrelflight and Ivypool together had to ask her what she'd seen, why distance had gained force of her after her short journey to plight. The forest was bound to spark fear in a youthful soul like her's, but Bristlefrost was so much more courageous and prideful than the normal, and the seeking hadn't even lasted a twilight.

"C'mon, Brissy," Squirrelflight hissed, now comforted in the walls of the shelter. "Why are ya so shocked 'bout seeing the Dark Forest? Just tell us."

"No," Bristlefrost hissed, the fury dwelling in her soul visibly beginning to arise. 

"Jus' shut up 'n' tell us!" Squirrelflight spat. "Actually...nah, don' shut up. We're tryin' to find out why ya won' stop shutting up."

The storm which Bristlefrost's spirit could've released was clearly being thieved of as the she-cat softened. "Rootspring..." her voice wept, like a deep lament. "Rootspring is dead."

Still calm the morning was, with freezing winds on the gentle purple heaven, where the glorious sun no longer hid behind the moors and could allow its light to trek along the cold, yet majestic dawn. But inside Squirrelflight's heart, wrath was set alight, discordant with the leafbare winds that slept around. It burned away at any of the softening sympathy that she could've felt. "How'd he die?"

Bristlefrost trembled, and for once she did not show fury for the death. She stared at the ground, falling into a dramatic weeping. "You know how Ashfur has force over nature, right?" She mewed, her voice trembling like it was the lament of a child. "He tricked Rootspring into jumping into the moonpool. The moonpool from the dark forest to here, and then just as Rootspring was jumping in, he froze the moonpool. Rootspring was encased in the ice and...he...he...he died." 

"That's horrible!" Ivypool gasped, laying next to her daughter, who now cried out in sorrow. 

"Ashfur did it? That perverted piece o' rabbit crap?" Squirrelflight hissed. Wrath now burst like thunder within, swirling in her breast until her heart felt like an abyss. That vile spirit, with such a soul tainted with malice, now in his fury had slain the Clan's only hope of heavenly safety. Plucking a soul from then garden of the living, to entrap it among the lands of eternal dread.

"Do you think he's watching over us now? As a spirit?" Bristlefrost was nearly weeping as she spoke through lamentations.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but.." Ivypool paused, unveiling the sickening truth to the lover's slaying. "When a cat dies in the Dark Forest...their soul dies with their body. He's completely dead...forever."

A day had passed now, in the midway of its darkening life before unlit black. Now, silence slept in a night of mourning. The young moon with her gentle face looked down, while the flock of stars, so far above, simply watched in a silence that spoke of no honour as a crowd in deep sorrow stood beneath. If the wings of a dove be black, then those feathers of shadow in a gentle fall of eternity could only mimic the darkness of this woeful night.

Oh, the fate of that soul, who never would reach his abode. Never would his feet step upon the vale of the virtuous, or not even the universe of the living. Never would his eyes see the light, never would his heart soar for the glory of the free.

A crowd set here, cats of all Clans gathered in this clearing to honour the fallen. Shadows veiled a thousand miserable faces, the gloomy dyes of the night their garments. Even the light of the dainty crescent above was timid even in this ominous hour, shining only a drifting spark of pale silver onto a solitary rose upon the empty grave, as black as the shades of the night around it.

"I loved Rootspring," lamented Bristlefrost, with her head bent upon the moonlit earth where the dead should've laid. Wrath still burned within Squirrelflight, it had since they moment she'd heard the news of what Ashfur had done. She didn't feel pity, nor sorrow, just pure lust to slay that vile beast. "And I feel like its my fault that he died. If I'd found a way to run over and push him away before he jumped into the freezing pool, or if I'd attacked Ashfur to stop him from freezing the moonpool, maybe he'd still be here. But I didn't, and now he's gone and nothing will bring him back."

Needleclaw cried out, her lamentations bursting like thunder. Tree looked as though he'd froze, just like his son, now entrapped deep in layers of crystal. Violetshine, moonlit tears streaming down her face, stepped through the abyss to stand with Bristlefrost.

"Rootspring was my son, and he was truly the perfect son I've always dreamed about. At first, he seemed like a normal cat, but he was a legend. He was the cat who exposed Ashfur, saving the Clans, and he was one of the most kind and loving cats I've ever seen. But now he's gone, gone forever, and what used to be a dream come true is just a memory now," she spoke of her beloved's fate.

Tree stepped forward. Squirrelflight could not read the colours of his heart by what was on his darkened face, but they weren't of joy. "I'm not just going to believe that he's dead, soul and body, and always will be," he called. "No matter how hard it is, I'm going to try to summon his spirit."