Dark Skies Reign

Prologue

(Book cover art by Laci Tuey, Prologue art by Crowstar14)

Yes this is a warriors book, but not quite the tales you've read since childhood.

This is a book, where there is no true enemy. There is death, agony... and no clear right or wrong. This is a book where the main character looses everything, and suffers greatly. With this sufferance, a terrifying reign of darkness swallows the forest. The lake fills with blood, and the skies red with fiery rage.

Trigger warnings include:
Cat death
Suicide mentions
Depression
Slaughter

Rated pg13

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The smell of blood is unforgivable. It's tangy, copper smell laces the nose and mouth, and casts any other scents undistinguishable. A lone tom cat stood upon a corpse, the thumping of his own heart ringing through his ears. Painful tingling in his toes, as his claws dug carefree into the rocky soil, trying to steady himself. The tom cats stomach twisted, churning as his eyes danced across the cats body. Blood pooling from a clean claw-cut into her stomach, dawn eyes wide and wet, as if still in pain. The cats legs were sprawled out, claws still unsheathed as if to protect herself against the inevitable death. Laying at her stomach, was the corpse of a rabbit, it's bones licked clean from the cat who had killed her for it.
"My beautiful River, whoever slain you, will soon meet their demise." The tom swore, screaming to the sky as his legs buckled beneath him. "I will turn the lake red with your blood, and that of your friends and family. Any cat cruel enough to kill over prey, deserves nothing but the worst death imaginable. And that I swear, upon the body of my beloved River. Vengeance is coming."

"Come on!" Shouted a dark brown and gold tom, furiously shoving his paws into the cool water of the lake. Blood stained his fur and paw pads, his claws as well. The toms body was trembling, his mind racing. Two young cats lay dying in the water before him, their bodies ripped to shreds from a botched training exercise. "This was not supposed to happen." He muttered, swallowing the lump in his throat, taking his paws out of the water. The dry blood was clumped into his dense pelt, and he struggled to get it off.

"Oh, but it felt nice, did it not, Dark Skies?" A tan and black tom spoke softly as he came from the bushes, standing beside the brown and gold speckled tom. The blood stained cat, Dark Skies, whipped his head around to the one who spoke, his fur itching along his spine. Before he could speak, the tan and black tom continued. "After all, they have no family left. Their mother and father grew sick and died, and they have no other siblings. Without family, what's the point of living a cruel life? If anything, I would say their death is a sign of mercy. They would be happy with family in the after life." The toms voice was soft, yet hollow of emotion. He placed a paw of one of the young cats corpse, gently pushed them into the water.

Dark Skies ears laid flat against his head, his mind whirring as he processed the words he had heard. "Apple, they had their whole life ahead of them-" he started, but stopped himself, shaking his head. He had been doing this for many moons, why is it such an issue now? After all, there are more cats than he can count, who had died at his paws in the last moon alone. Dark Skies stepped away from the lake, facing the tom named Apples. "You know, you are right."
The second body that lay there began to shake, and cry out, blood continuing to gush into the lake. Dark Skies winced, pushing his paws into the cats trembling body. He sighed, looking up at the sky.

The sun rose as blood spilled into the lake. Its golden rays shown across the face of the dark brown and cream leader. That same blood which oozed across the lake was splashed across his muzzle and face. Ears back against his head, the long furred tom turned away from the body which remained on the shore, the cause of that tangy copper scent. The wounded cat was shuddering as its blood gushed out with every failing heart beat, as it pulled closer to its death. "You are in a better place now, Oaks Leaf." Dark Skies turned his gaze to Apple, his brows furrowed.

He turned away from the tan and black tom, and began to head into the dense woodlands. The tom was right, if a cat is not strong enough to survive, then their death is a merciful one. If a cat has no one to live for, then, once again, a merciful death is what should happen.
Though the leader reserves thrilling kills for those who truly deserve.
Especially... a cat threatening to steal his tribes prey.

The toms ears pricked as a rustling was heard ahead of him, and instinctively he crouched low into the brush.

A small, grey tom cat, quietly stalked through the grass, blue eyes glistening as it located a bird at the roots of a large oak. The cat was unknown to Dark Skies, a stranger amongst his territory. The grey cat wiggled its body, tail tip twitching in anticipation as it calculated its hunt. The wind stirred the leaves above the two cats, whipping the autumn leaves through the sky. Whoever this grey cat is, he seemed to be a good hunter. Keeping himself down wind of its prey, so the wind could not alert the bird to his presence.

But, how dare a cat hunt on the land of Dark Skies? The ruthless, scarred leader waited for his moment, watching the grey tabby with interest. The hunter was frozen in place, eyes trained on the small bird. In an instant, he pounced, pushing off the ground with strong hind legs. The grey cat soared through the sky, fixated on the bird. He would have caught it too, and could have had a wonderful meal if not for Dark Skies.
The dark and gold leader pushed off the ground, leaping through the air at the grey tom cat. Claws out stretched, jaws pulled open, he caught the tom cat mid air, teeth wrapping around his throat. Dark Skies wrapped his unsheathed paws around the cats body, keeping him pulled into a death hold as the two slammed into the ground. The leader kept his teeth in the toms throat, pinning him into the dirt with his larger body.

The grey tom writhed and scrambled, claws digging into the dirt and he wheezed trying to escape Dark Skies. It was to no avail, the grey tom had lost too much blood too fast, and was dead within moments. The leader slowly stood to his paws, blood dripping from his chin. "This is my territory." His voice was a low rumbled, as the blood trickled from between his teeth and lips, dripping onto the ground below. "And no one dares touch my prey." He spoke as his gaze drifted to the where the bird had been, and was now perched on a trees branch, whistling a small tune. The bird cared not what just happened, unshaded by the blood shed that shadowed the forest. The bird only cared about itself, and whistled its small tune to find a mate. Or maybe it was whistling to warn others of the darkness that lay within the brown and gold tom, praying that one day the woodlands would free of the blood shed.

AUTHORS NOTE :
The prologue is not the true beginning of the story, only a sample of the darkness that lays ahead.
Chapters will be posted once to twice a week, and will begin with a happy tale of young cats falling in love. But after chapter 3 and 4, the shadows will cast across the tribe, shrouding it from the light for many moons to come.

Join Dark Skies along his path of love, loss, depression, a path riddled with anxieties and fears.