The white deaf she-cat startled Oleanderkit awake with a gentle nudge, making a the young tom jump slightly. He shook his head, recovering quickly from the small scare, he gave his adoptive mother a nasty glare before remembering something.
His apprenticeship ceremony was today! He jumped to his paws excitedly. He looked to hemlockwhisker then to the dens entrance, silently asking permission to leave, when the queen nodded, Oleanderkit bolted.
Almost tripping over his own paws as he darted out of the small, well protected den. Before oleanderkit could even reach the tallstone they smacked muzzle first into acidflick's side.
“Woah!” the taller cat wobbled at the force of the younger tom, acidflick looked like he was about to insult the other untill he realized who had crashed into him, “Oleanderkit! I'm guessing you're getting ready for your ceremony?”
“Mhm, I just woke up,” Oleanderkit nodded enthusiastically, tail swaying playfully, “who do you think Flarestar will choose to be my mentor? I bet it's somecat cool! Like- uhh-” before he could finish that thought, the leader called.
“All cats old enough to scale the jagged cliffs gather below the tallstone for a clan meeting!” the orange she-cat's voice was loud and harsh to Oleanderkit's long ears.
Both young cats trotted to center of camp, where the tallstone loomed, atop the large rock stood flarestar, her amber eyes gleaming in the sunlight.
As the clan quickly gathered, Oleanderkit started to feel even more excited for his apprenticeship! He'd get to explore and interact with other cats around his age, something that he hadn't been able to do being the only kit in the nursery.
“today, brightclan welcomes a new apprentice,” flarestar started, “Oleanderkit, please step forward,” oleanderkit quickly bursted forward, tail waving in anticipation, “until you finish your training, you shall be know as Oleanderpaw, Coalpelt,” she called for the short warrior.
Coalpelt Walked out from the crowd. Oleanderpaw couldn't get a clear read on the bland-looking tom as he approached, but that didn't matter, he was finally an apprentice!
“i hope you can pass your experience down to this young cat,” meowed the brightclan leader.
Coalpelt nodded and pressed his nose to oleanderpaw's. Excitedly oleanderpaw excitedly asked, “What are we gonna do first? Battle training? Hunting!?”
“I'll tell you once the meeting ends,” Coalpelt replied flatly, walking over to the spot where he had been sitting before.
Oleanderpaw looked disappointed as he went to sit down by his new mentor, he wanted his mentor to be cool and interesting, but Coalpelt seemed far from that.
As the new apprentice settled, flarestar spoke again, “Scorchgaze informed me that rogues have been hunting in our territory. If any of you find these rogues,” she paused for a moment, “do not let continue hunting, and chase them out. Meeting dismissed!”
As cats started to disperse, Coalpelt signaled for Oleanderpaw to follow him, “I'll be teaching you the territory today,” he murmured while squeezing through the crevice that acted as brightclan's entrance.
“Only that!? But what abou—”
The older tom quickly cut Oleanderpaw off in a dull tone, “If you want to do more, you can gather moss while we're out, lightningwing said she needed more anyways.”
Oleanderpaw frowned, lowering their head to sulk. He knew it wouldn't get him anywhere but Coalpelt was just so incredibly boring!
As the duo walked into the more forested part of the territory, Oleanderpaw perked up a bit, new smells hitting his nose, “Woahhh! It's so.. green here, and there are so many smells!” the young cat admired his surroundings, he had never been out of the rocky, gray camp, to his knowledge at least.
Coalpelt's whiskers twitched in slight amusement as he padded north, “we'll being seeing one of the borders soon, if there are cats from fallenclan there, don't be hostile,” as they approached the north border, oleanderpaw felt a strange sense of familiarity, he didn't quite know why...
A large ravine entered oleanderpaw's sight he froze up, horrible images flooding their mind, so vivid and bloody. Coalpelt noticed his apprentice's mortified expression and stiffness, “Oleanderpaw, is everything alright?” he asked gently, his usually stale voice laced with concern.
Oleanderpaw snapped back to reality, shaking his head wildly and breathing heavily. The young tom looked like he had just witnessed a murder.
“Oleanderpaw, what's wrong?” Coalpelt questioned again, stepping closer to oleanderpaw. The apprentice jumped when he saw Coalpelt get closer, hissing in a confused terror.
Oleanderpaw panted and started to calm down slightly, still radiating fear scent. “i-i saw something... so much blood- and...” he shook his head again, as if trying to shake the graphic thoughts from their skull.
“maybe you should see the medicine cats,” Coalpelt suggested, incredibly worried for his new apprentice, “we can reschedule the tour of the territory for another day..”
Oleanderpaw shakily nodded, slowly moving closer to his mentor with hesitant steps. Coalpelt guided the fear dazed apprentice back to camp, wondering what was happening to oleanderpaw.
As the pair made it back to camp, Oleanderpaw started to feel distrustful of his surroundings, the familiar places feeling less like home.
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A/N: I'm proud of this chapter- this is the first time I've been able to write something that's over 200 words! Anyways if you liked this chapter or have some criticisms please comment! Interaction fuels my motivation! If you have any theories on what the "images" that oleander saw were, please share them!
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Warriors: burning flowers
Mystery / ThrillerOleanderpaw starts his apprenticeship, incredibly excited! But that excitement slowly fades as he starts getting strange nightmares... !!ALL ART IN THIS FIC IS MINE UNLESS I SAY OTHERWISE!! Cross-posted on quotev under the same username.
