Astronomy

Receiving the First Life

I watched you die!" the grey and white molly exclaimed, her yellow eyes stretched impossibly wide. The fur along Ivy's spine was bristling in shock, her tail swaying behind her.

Standing in front of her, looking as alive as ever, was her friend Shine.

She watched the dark brown tabby fall, though, right in front of her. Watched as one of their own tore their claws through his throat, heard the strangled gasp as his legs buckled underneath him. Saw the light fade from his eyes as she pressed her paws against the wound, staining her pelt with his blood.

Despite all of that, Shine was standing in front of them. The wound that killed him — three jagged scratches across the tomcat's throat — were still there. Blood still oozed from them, running down his front and dripping onto the grass. However, there was something different.

Something wrong.

There were small, glowing specks littered in Shine's pelt. It reminded her of fireflies in a field, or of stars in the night sky. Every individual speck gave off their own warm light, a pale golden color that rivaled the sun.

Stars were Ivy's first explanation. It felt too outlandish, though. What kind of cats had stars woven into their pelts? What could bring them back from the dead, allow them to walk among the living like nothing happened?

Shine was nothing more than a figment of her imagination, then. Something her mind spun to make her own passing easier. Ivy had been around her share of dying cats before; many claimed to see their lost loved ones, coming to take them away.

Ivy snapped back into reality as the dark brown tabby's whiskers twitched. She noticed all at once the pristine condition of his pelt, his shining eyes. The way that his frame was filled out, contrasting against her memories of the scrawny, starving tomcat in his last days.

"Clearly, it didn't stick," he snapped back, breaking the endless stretch of silence between them.

The molly stepped back instinctively, the fur along her spine bristling. Shine — or whatever he was now — watched Ivy for a few long moments before his features softened, suddenly replaced by a surprisingly sympathetic one.

Shine stepped closer slowly, until he and Ivy were mere whisker - lengths apart. "I guess that I should've expected that," he muttered, tail flicking idly behind him. "You did watch me die."

"W - what's going on, Shine?" the molly questioned, all too aware of the quiver in her voice. Her legs were shaking as she gazed at the tomcat in front of her, seemingly alive. "I thought that Flutter buried you!"

She forced herself to ignore the lack of heat coming from him, the missing warmth of the tomcat's breath. Shine was here. Shine was alive!

He shook his head though, as if he could hear her thoughts. "They did bury me, Ivy," the tomcat murmured. "I'm not here for long."

"Then - then why are you here, Shine?" A thought suddenly came to her, making the molly's stomach drop. "Am I dead too?"

Instead of replying, he brushed his nose against her head. With the contact came a searing, unbearable pain. Ivy let out a wail as her shaking legs finally buckled underneath her, but the loss of contact didn't cease the pain.

Instead, it blossomed.

"I give you a life for adventure," she heard over the shrill ringing in her ears. The molly looked up, trying to look Shine in the eye. He kept his head held high though, leaving only his bottom jaw visible. "Use it to bring your new Clan to territories bountiful and prosperous."

Finally, it subsided. Ivy climbed to her paws as Shine stepped backwards, giving her space. He slipped into a crowd she hadn't noticed before, all star - flecked and glowing. Closer inspection revealed familiar faces amongst the crowd, all staring at her with pride alight in their eyes.

"Welcome, Ivy," one of the many starry cats announced, though the molly couldn't pinpoint which one it was. "You will be the first leader of FenClan."