Silent Shadows: Book Two - The River of Secrets

V

This chapter has allusions to suicide.

A dream, she realized as she choked on the fumes of unconsciousness. This voiceless world, it let her know; she was dreaming again.

The she-cat felt as if she'd found herself stranded on some distant, hellish planet. A place that would soon be where she'd lie under no gravestone. Red, everything was red, the heavens were soaked in scarlet as vast skies of crimson judged her from space. A sweltering feeling hugged her from simply soaking her eyes into those scarlet heavens. As if an angel had been watching her in silence, the sound of fluids splashing back and forth came to enchant her soul.

There it was, bellow her gaze. Waves of orange fluid, splashing upon the red sand. As if an ancient signal had called her soul into the sea, she instantly stepped into the liquid. The shores of orange lulled her spirit, it felt as if it'd pull her into its depths and send her away to a better world. Perhaps the bottom of these depths were the entrance to heaven.

She continued walking, unafraid to be sodden. Never had she considered herself a confident swimmer, yet as she bathed in the sea of orange she found that the fluids lifted her up from the drenched sand. It formed liquid wings that continued her onward.

On she went, never pulled down as she continued to fly over the depths of orange. Soon, once she felt the passage to heaven was bellow, she let those wings vanish and she succumbed to the lagoon. It was time, time to become one with this sea of orange, and become an angel.

Yet, as she scented that transcendence was open for her to drown in, a lulling voice suddenly took her away.

"Shimmerpaw?" it spoke. "It's too early for you to go to Heaven. You have to stay behind and suffer, I will go to Heaven for you."

Wakefulness took her before death could. Her drowned senses suddenly found themselves immersed in visions of the dull blue sky. Cold humidity in the air began to whisper to her, her soul chilled by the morning dew. I...fell asleep in the middle of some field? she pondered. She raised her head, only for her eyes to fall upon moors of deep viridian. Quickly, her mind became immersed in a pool of frustration.

What happened yesterday?

She hid her claws beneath the earth in fury. Why was this always happening? Why was her mind shattered? Why couldn't she remember anything from before a couple moons ago? Even the few moons of experience she had were broken, fragmented and leaving everything in darkness. 

Finally, one name suddenly drifted in her mind. A fragment from her forgotten dream a few minutes ago. 

Shimmerpaw. That name, that name echoed through her mind, through her dreams, all the time.

Who was Shimmerpaw?

-

The wilderness had been deformed into a jungle. The sprawling growth obstructed all path, tangling together to filter out any of the dusk half-light. In the midst of the labyrinth of twisted, tangled boughs, a black cat slipped through the woods. The dead mouse they'd scavenged hadn't done anything to relieve their fatigue, and they didn't have the energy to hunt.

A sudden shiver caught their attention. Something had rattled one of the branches overhead. Stormray craned their neck, their sight suddenly falling upon a shadow against the black boughs and the dull, starless navy of the sky. A silhouette was creeping towards them, scarring their soul with the sense of being watched. This cat wanted them.

Stormray unearthed their claws. Within just a second, the shadow soared to the ground, landing clean in the small clearing free of undergrowth. They spun around, noticing that the stranger had landed right behind them. With the growth obstructing their path, it was unlikely they'd find a quick way to escape if their opponent was stronger than them.

"So, I've found you." The stranger slipped out of the darkness, letting the fractured half light reveal his appearance. It was a slender tomcat, his pelt alabaster yet marred with black patches. "My name is Vogel. It's nice to meet you."

He's likely a worker for BlazeClan. Stormray dug their claws into the earth. The stranger's eyes lowered to notice their unearthed claws. They despised those moon-white irises, where their pupils contrasted like ink upon paper. "There's no need for violence," Vogel chuckled. "I'm sure you're soon to be defeated anyways."

Why does he say that? Stormray pondered, before a wave of exhaustion suddenly struck their soul. In a second, they found themself overwhelmed by immense nausea. 

"You've been quite a menace for a long time. While you haven't killed anyone from our group, we have seen your killings of other cats, and believe you to be immensely dangerous. That is why we have decided to capture you," Vogel explained. "I was sent by our leader to leave out a trap for you, we believed you would scavenge it. Since you've already passed that path, I believe we were correct."

The mouse.

Stormray felt toxicity overwhelm their soul, and they could feel their energy drain away from their body in seconds. They were unable to be stable anymore. They collapsed, choking on the fumes of sickness. 

"I guess you could say our game of cat and mouse is over," Vogel chuckled as Stormray's senses slipped through their silver claws, dwindling away into oblivion.

"Sweet dreams, you monster."

-

The chestnut molly sat in the grass in frustration. Her subject had been sent out into the wilderness an hour ago, but was yet to come back. Just then, a patter of running paws caught her attention. There he was, the ebony and white tom was finally arriving before her.

"I found your killer, Duilleog," he spoke.

"Very good," she replied. "I admit I had not expected much of you, yet now I am pleasantly surprised. Are they dead or alive?"

"Alive," Vogel answered. "But unconscious right now. They're currently imprisoned, they will likely be executed soon."

Duilleog nodded. "That's great. I will likely use you on the next mission too."

Vogel's ears perked. "Next mission?" The she-cat almost seemed amused, chuckling lightly.

"It's the second killer you must capture next. They are still at large."