The Awakening Storm

09 | assessment

6/11

T H O R N

Perhaps it was how jittery the Clan was or how tense Thistlestar looked, it didn't matter. ShadowClan had took quite a beating since the attack on ThunderClan.

It was so painfully obvious as I walked out of the apprentice den.

Everyone was on the edge. Rosewillow was even more prickly than normal. Training was constant. The two recently made apprentices Maplepaw and Aspenpaw were told to not leave the camp without a warrior and often did training within the camp. Aspenpaw, the new medicine apprentice, was forced to stay in the camp in fear of being attacked by roaming rogues or animals in the unchecked territories. 

The utter mayhem within the camp walls would be enough to drive even a senior warriors insane. So far it was doing a good job in doing so.

A warrior assessment should be exciting. After all, it's what apprentices have been working so hard to achieve. Moons of practices leading to perfection, moons of building up skills, and expanding knowledge. Moons of figuring out your strengths and weaknesses, then working on them to improve it—everything that I worked so hard for the past six moons is now being paid off by receiving my assessment today.

But all I could feel is dread. The realization of how much burden I'll truly be carrying after this.

I would have to shed of my old self, and premature into a young, selfless warrior that must no longer think like a young apprentice, but as an older warrior.

The shift is grand, and I wasn't sure I was ready to take such a huge leap. Not when there's so much going in beyond the camp walls.

Death, blood, feud, wars, battle, hunger, pain.

Love.

I grit my canines at the thought and stormed out of my den with a raging mind.

The day was already set as grim. Dark clouds hanging from the sky, hinting that it would rain soon. The wind will whiplashed through the trees, branches swaying above while the ground beneath had grown soft and muddy on our paws from last night's rain. 

Hopefully it doesn't rain during our assessment, it would only make the task more difficult, but by the looks of it, rain looks evident. Last night, Nightpaw, Smokepaw, and I had our first part of the assessment—the night session. We were required to track our mentors and attack them dead in the night. Though other clans weren't accustomed to the dark, our senses and eyes were, making it our greatest advantage. Sneaking and camouflaging was our greatest weapon, something that is commonly taught within our Clan.

The three of us passed, successfully finding our mentors and surprising them with a calculated attack. 

Today was part two of the assessment, hunting, though we weren't required to do it in the night. To make it safer and not ass difficult, this part had us do it in broad daylight, however, the rain seemed to think otherwise.

"As if the warrior assessment isn't making me nervous enough already," I growled to myself, scuffing the dirt beneath my paws.

"I'm afraid so," Pinethistle commented ruefully. I could hear his paw steps come to a stop besides me. He tipped his head back to examine the sky. "Great StarClan . . ." I heard him sigh.

"We'll just have to make the best of it," I muttered.

"Don't stress it, Thornpaw. You and your littermates have trained for this, so we know you'll do well," Pinethistle reasoned.