Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Twenty-Two

Goldleaf

It felt like a long time later, but Goldleaf finally raised his head and looked at the place where his father had disappeared.

Raintail was actually gone, this time. Goldleaf would never speak to him again. Ever. The thought almost made him want to stop breathing.

But he couldn't do that. He still had cats to live (die?) for.

So he turned away from where his father's body had dissolved and ran.

He ran farther than he had thought he could, but the numb sensation stealing through his body pushed him onwards. He had barely noticed it, but as he grew farther away, the trees became less dense, and the sky became lighter. Soon, he had somehow emerged right onto a place that split the forest cleanly down the middle. Some of the trees had been cut right in half. He could see a brighter, cleaner forest directly across the patch of grass... which wasn't grass at all. Instead, it glowed an unearthly, skeletal light, in Goldleaf's face, half blinding him.

And there was Sunpool, and Cinderstorm, and Lilycloud, and Frost, and Doveheart. And a golden she-cat who he thought was the HollyClan medicine cat, maybe. But his father wasn't there, and that hurt.

Sunpool was the first to notice him. She had turned around, her eyes flashing towards the sky, and she caught a glimpse of him. Though the look quickly vanished, Goldleaf saw a look of intense worry in her eyes, and grief. Why grief?

But then the look was gone, and her mouth was half-open, hanging there as she stared at him across the way. Goldleaf suddenly felt farther away from her than he ever had before, even though somehow they were closer, too. It was a strange, strange feeling.

"GOLDLEAF!" He heard, and that was from Cinderstorm, his Cinderstorm, the Cinderstorm his best friend was in love with. He turned, and he bounded across that border. Nothing was going to stop him from getting back to StarClan, where he belonged. Where light was.

"Oh, StarClan, Goldleaf, don't scare us like that!" Cinderstorm hissed, butting her head fiercely against his. "I've already lost you once. I can't loose you again, you foolish tom!"

Goldleaf smiled a little, and looked over Sunpool's head to Lilycloud. She tilted her head at him. "Where's Raintail?"

Goldleaf blinked and lowered his head.

"Oh no..." Doveheart whispered. "He- he sent me back and said he'd be fine- is he- is he-"

"He's dead." Saying it was one of the hardest things Goldleaf had ever done. It made it final. A point of no return.

Cinderstorm's smile faded, and Sunpool made a small murmuring noise. Goldleaf flashed back to a time, moons ago, right after Sunpool's first battle, when she had seen Raintail die. He hadn't let her know how terrible he had felt, not only for himself, but for her. He had only assured her that it wasn't her fault. Now, would it be possible for him to do the same? Would he be able to find it in himself?

Then Cinderstorm leaned forward and pressed her muzzle to his, and all he could do was breathe in her sweet, familiar scent, and wonder what it would have been like if Sunpool had ever come to CloudClan.

-=-

In a short while, Sunpool, Cinderstorm, and the HollyClan medicine cat were beginning to fade. "Good bye, Goldleaf," Cinderstorm mewed. Goldleaf touched his nose to her ear and, over her shoulder, looked over at Sunpool. She was staring at the ground, her eyes partly shielded, but Goldleaf thought he might have seen something in them that he hadn't expected to ever see in Sunpool.

He saw something that looked a little like heartbreak.

Then she, Cinderstorm, and the HollyClan medicine cat were gone, and Lilycloud was touching her tail to her shoulder and guiding him away from the border."Let's go home," she murmured.

On the way back, Goldleaf realized how actually exhausted he was. All of the running, fighting, and digging he had done had taken their toll on him. Which reminded him; he had to ask Lilycloud about the digging power.

"Hey Lilycloud?" He asked, hurrying ahead a bit to catch up with her.

"Mhm?" She asked.

"I was stuck in this magical prison when I was in the Dark Forest," he mewed, "and I couldn't get out. Then I dug down, and suddenly I had magically dirt-digging paws or something, and I was able to get free. I was mentioned in the prophecy, when it said that I would "rise". Was that what it meant?"

Lilycloud looked over at him. "Oh Goldleaf," she sighed. "No, it wasn't. Not at all."

"What?" Goldleaf asked, feeling his blood run cold. "I- huh?"

"Goldleaf, I've been doing a bit of research," Lilycloud meowed. "And I've found something out. That prophecy is millions of seasons old."

"What? How did you find that out?" Goldleaf asked.

"Doesn't matter." Lilycloud flicked her tail absently. "What does matter, is that when it says 'rise', it literally means you will rise."

At first he didn't get it. Then, as the pieces all fell together, his mouth fell open and he couldn't process it.

Eeeew this was a bad chapter. 1.) Suuuuper late (SORRY), 2.) Probably a million typos because of something I'll explain below, and 3.) It's just an icky chapter.

So my computer broke. And I need to get a new one, so until then, I'm typing on a keyboard connected to my iPad. Ugh.

It's pretty bad, and I make a ton of typos, and I'm sorry.

Also: Editing news! I'm not gonna edit; it'll take way too much time, and I'll have to rewrite it, so yeah.

Bye...

~Rainfeather