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

XXII

WARNING: Blood. Honestly, blood warning for the whole book after this point. 

When Rootspring recovered from his warm drowsiness, he found himself laying in a bed of flowers. The prickles of lavender brushed against his face as he rose his head and sneezed, feeling like his nose had been stuffed with their pollen. He was surrounded by bright, lush colours. Courageous, fiery sunflowers, meek, ocean-toned violets, round, indigo bluebells, holding their heads up cheerfully in a bed of vibrant green. 

He pushed the ground away and stood up. The skies were a glorious, proud blue. Only a few clouds streaked the heavens, but sunlight spilt through to make the fields before him sparkle in the gold rays and flood his pelt with warmth. A few pines stood at the edge of the vast meadows of blindingly bright green, dotted with the mad hues of flowers. 

Rootspring stepped forward and looked around. The ground sloped, as though he was standing on a mountain. He had no idea how he'd gotten to these bright meadows, or where they were. They were beautiful, how the hot sun beamed down to make the whole place shimmer, and how the breeze gently teased the long, lush grass, but he was not meant to be here.

"Where am I?" he called, but the only response was the warm voice of the breeze. "Hello? Anyone?"

Rootspring ran out into the grass, feeling the warm wind rush past. Where was he? Great StarClan, where was he? He was supposed to be in a dark cave with blood squirting everywhere, not this. Suddenly, gray flooded his sight, and a blast of frost, with coldness he hadn't felt since his death, nearly knocked him to the ground. When his eyes adjusted again, he was surrounded by mist. The fields no longer looked warm and bright, they were lonely. Abandoned. He could barely see beyond the shrouding nightmares.

He turned in panic to see two silhouettes trekking up towards the peak of the mountain they were on. They stepped into a wide cave opening up within the tip, like an opening mouth so black it looked like a hole to another world. Then an ear-piercing scream broke out and echoed through the mist. No sounds came after that.

It's just a bad dream. He forced himself to fall under the booming voice of that command. It's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream, it's just a bad dream...

He turned, and through the fog, just a few feet below him was another silhouette. It did not look like a real cat, simply a few shadows merging to create the shape of a feline. The contour sat still in the grass, like a statue made of obsidian. He rushed down to it, but when he was just pawsteps away from the thing it turned around, amber eyes wide, and it vanished as though it had never been there at all.

When he realized what it had been sitting over, Rootspring wanted to cry, and he felt like he was going to faint.

Bristlefrost and Squirrelflight were laying there. Their throats were split open to show bright red flesh, blood splattering out violently from the scarlet, bloody meat. Their eyes were wide and yet they were dull and blank, their jaws falling open and every piece of their body weak. It would look like they were simply skeletons with fur plastered on if it wasn't for the bright red flesh and blood spilling from their necks.

Bristlefrost was in that beaten state he'd seen her in when he had that vision, with her pelt scarred and one of her eyes missing. Rootspring felt sick. He could not breathe. There were footsteps printed in the grass, looking like they were coming from the huge, abandoned twoleg nest he spotted in the distance. He shut his eyes, realizing he hadn't even noticed the tears streaming down his face. He was going to die if he ever saw a single drop of blood again.

He felt literally sick. The tom laid down, keeping his eyes shut as firmly as possible so he could not see anything. It's just a bad dream, he told himself once again. He had to scream it into his mind to gain even a bit of comfort. He opened up his eyes and discovered that he was in the caves again, with a red glow lighting the rigid walls. He was back in the tunnels. Thank StarClan he was in the tunnels. It really had just been a bad dream. One he prayed was not a vision, but if the blood tunnels had caused anger, maybe they could cause nightmares too.