Silent Shadows: Book Two - The River of Secrets

XXXIII

The Ageless One.

"You want me to kill...them?" the cat hissed in disbelief, only to realize a moment later that they'd sinned greatly by  objecting to the other's orders. Claws swung straight at his face, nearly knocking them off their paws. They grunted, their face now marked with a throbbing pain. "But you said they were your-"

"I know what I said," the other cat spoke, in a cold and serious manner. Such seriousness, it was hard to believe their was some thought behind those eyes, responding to the occasional ridiculousness of fate with any amusement. "Everything is going according to what has been planned, and every word and step I have taken was apart of the prophecy. Now you must do the same. Do not take a breath defying what was meant to happen, and kill them. You will have done your part in causality." 

Now holding their breath in the worry that they were going to breathe in a way that defied the plan, they simply nodded. "Yes, Storm, I will."

Claws swung at their face again, now with more force than last time. "Do not call me by false names. Use my full name."

They nodded again, now simply staying silent, and turned to carry on the task.

The One Who'd Fallen to Something Quieter than Silence.

Silentdawn. Every once in a while her mind called that name. It was as if it was sewing her to the side of her old self, trying to pretend they were the same cat. Really, it was like it was too stupid to accept the fact that she wasn't that she-cat anymore. 

Last night, she'd had dreams of a mysterious attacker. They had no features, and yet she felt as if there was something familiar about the attacker, as if she had a forgotten bond with them. Nevertheless, she quickly fought them off before waking up. The strangeness of the dream caused her to wonder if there'd been something sickening in her evening meal. 

The molly casually wandered the dark complex, wondering what she was looking for right now. There was a feeling she was searching for a place she'd been before, but she felt it could once again be the meal causing her confusion. As she wandered, she suddenly stopped at a cave entrance. The she-cat was unsure what it was, but something about the entrance caused her heart to race.

She stopped and looked down bellow. There at her paws was one delicate flower.

Huh? A flower? How is there a plant growing here, is that even possible!? The calico was taken aback in confusion.

"Don't be confused," something replied. Her head shot up, looking around in perplexion. The voice of the stranger barely sounded as if it'd been formed by a cat's tongue. in fact, it sounded more like a breeze than a voice. "The flower is your possession. But all flowers will wilt away, it is simply fated to happen in the end. So enjoy the plant yourself, and tear it apart, petal by petal. It's fate will be yours."

After listening closer, she realized the voice sounded as if it was coming from the cave. "Who are you?" She asked in frustration, finally turning around to enter the cave despite the overwhelming feeling that seemed to fall over her as she stepped inside. "What do you-"

She stopped, fixated on what laid in the cave before she even processed what she saw.

Blue eyes, immediately, met her own. Yet they hadn't turned to meet her. They were soulless as glass, and fully still. 

She stood still, feeling something inside her snap as she perceived the scene. There they were. That cat she loved, the last relic of her own world. Yet they lied before her, their body crooked and mangled to the point it was hard to recognize them by their form. But the memory of those blue eyes would never be corrupted. 

Stormray? 

Deep down, Silentdawn was struggling to process what'd happened. It was as if her whole universe was being warped beyond even imagination. Then, finally came the realization that nothing was left. Every single cat she'd known, every cat she'd held on to was now dead. Her world was an abyss. Nothing laid within.

Stormray had abandoned her, they'd left to die. Just like everyone did.

And as her identity dissolved into despair, she sensed that she was being condemned to the past. She no longer was this she-cat's primary self, she was no longer her ego.

This was her death, too.

"You murderer!" Those were the last words she heard, before she could no longer move forward in time.

"Me?" the calico replied, her voice shaking as she struggled to comprehend everything. "The...murderer?"

"Indeed," another cat meowed, stepping from the shadows. "You killed them, why are you acting like someone else did this?"

"I...I..." She couldn't speak, her mind was such a blur she could barely remember words.

She simply stood, silent, before she began stumbling back. It felt as if she was going to drop dead upon the ground. No. She was wrong. She'd abandoned all the cats she'd loved.

It was all her fault, everything in her life was her doing, she felt. It was her crime.

Turning away, she silently stepped out of the cave entrance. Her thoughts spiraling, she felt urged to clutch her head to confine the chaos in her mind as she wandered withered through the complex. It all felt as if it was tilting around her, and she was hit by vertigo. She was trying to run away from her sins. But there was no way to escape it. She was a damned soul.

Future. Past. Happiness. Emotion. The concepts were fading from her mind. She'd never feel these things, so they didn't exist to her.

Life.

Deep down, she didn't consider herself to be alive anymore. 

She was dead. She was supposed to be dead. Everything that'd given her purpose was gone.

//

A/N

I think this chapter was actually really good, even though it's confusing. Interpret what happened yourself, there's a canon answer it's not ambiguous, but read everything closely!