Darkness Awaken: Book 1 - A Hidden Kingdom

Chapter 2 - Forgiving

Pretend that you went limp, a voice echoed in his mind. Crimson just knew what to do. He yowled in pain and collapsed dramatically to the ground while the tabby cat was still on his back. Crimson faked to be limp and he slowed his breath trying to make it seem real.

He heard the cat heavily breathing above him until after a few moments he felt the cat's weight lift off of him. 

Slowly, Crimson opened his eyes, glaring at the cat. The orange tabby was distracted, cleaning his wounds. The orange tabby seemed to not know he was still alive. Without hesitation, Crimson stood back on his paws and then charged at the distracted tom. With an angry yowl, he knocked hard against the tom's side. The orange tabby screeched in surprise and fell onto the ground. 

Before the orange tabby can get up, Crimson holds his paws onto his side, not letting him escape. "You made a mistake coming here!" he spat.

The tabby cat was trembling with fear and whimpered. He stopped struggling as he fought for air. "Any last words?" Crimson smirked and glared into his eyes. 

The orange tabby cat stopped trembling and caught his eyes, frowning, "She'll save me, you are doomed!" The tabby cat snarled as he glared into his eyes. 

Crimson slashed his unsheathed claws across the tabby cat's cheek. The orange tabby grunted in pain, Crimson watched blood slide down his cheek and then onto the grass, "Where is your rescuer you sa-" Before Crimson can finish his comment, he was sent hard onto the grass.

His lungs were fighting for air as he was stunned by the sudden force. Suddenly, a familiar scent surrounded him and then a cat stood in front of him. He looked up and noticed it was Jade, standing in front of him, her tail lashing and her teeth bared. "J-jade...?" Crimson's voice was barely a whisper.

 "What were you thinking?" Jade growled. 

Confused, he tilted his head, "What do you mean, Jade? I was defending my home."

"Yes, I know that but you tried to kill him. He's my friend!" She wailed in anger.

 Crimson eyes widened as he realized what the orange tabby said earlier. Before he could say anything, she turned her back on him and raced over to the weak orange tabby. He heard her talking soothingly to him but he couldn't make out anything as the world became to spin. Crimson gasped for air and closed his eyes, allowing the darkness to take him away from the pain.

Crimson opened his eyes and looked around his surroundings. The world seems different and unfamiliar. There were pine trees around him and stars were shining in the dark sky. Crimson felt his pain was gone; he glanced down at the grass seeing no blood was not there to be seen. "Where am I?" He asked himself, confused. Why don't I feel any pain? 

He noticed there was a big cave ahead. He walked towards the cave entrance and looked around in the dark cave. He opened his mouth to sniff for any scent that can be dangerous. There was no animal scent but only the dust of moss and stone. Knowing its safe, he entered the cave and continued deeply in the long cave until he was met with two tunnels. Without thinking, he took the left way. The left tunnel was smaller so he crouched and squeezed through the hole. His whiskers touch the sides of the tunnel, he crept ahead until he noticed the change in the air. It was getting stuffy and his lungs began to tighten as he sucked in the dusty air.

I need to get out of here! Crimson began to panic. He crawled quicker even though his lungs were screaming to stop. The stones above him were scraping his back and his paws started to ache. Minutes later, his whiskers lost touch against the stone until he realized he made it out. He lifted his tail to make sure the roof was high enough for him to stand up. He crawled out of the small hole then he stood up and stretched to release tension from his back. He let out a sigh of relief, knowing he is safe.