𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗥𝗦ᶠᵃⁿᶠⁱᶜᵗⁱᵒⁿ 一 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔷𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔱 [𝟑]

❆☾𑁍𓆱ᥴhᥲρtᥱr 𝟹𝟹𓆱𑁍☽❆

Squiggles — colourful, bouncing squiggles everywhere in a lake of gloom. They made noises. The faster ones had a high, echoing tinkling sound, the slower ones rattled.

Their movements became more irregular, more aggressive. They began to collide and merge with each other. Finally, a glistening ball of different, rapidly flashing colours had emerged.

Pain shot through Larkwing's head, as intense as if someone had rammed a stick through it with full force. Panicked, she tried to squint her eyes to protect herself from the light. But she couldn't. She couldn't do it at all. Why couldn't her eyelids close? Did she even have eyelids?

Suddenly — a humming. A melody consisting of two short and one long tone that repeated itself. This caused the ball of light to begin to deform. Within a few heartbeats, it began to bulge, stretching in length and width before finally exploding. The only evidence of its former existence was a rain of countless tiny speckles.

With a gasp, Larkwing raised her head and lowered it to the ground again the next moment. All is well. It wasn't real, she told herself reassuringly, although her heart wanted to escape from her body. Just a crazy nightmare. No wonder, after everything that has happened.

"Well, are we awake now?"

Her field of vision still not adjusted to her surroundings, Larkwing searched for the source of the voice. There seemed to be a cat sitting there, scrutinising her with glowing green eyes.

Larkwing was about to pull herself to her paws when dizziness took hold of her. Powerless, she lay still. "Sun... Sunray?" she croaked. "Is that you? What's happened to me?"

The she-cat started to move. The closer she got, the clearer her shape became. Indeed, it was Sunray. "Oh, it's terrible what you've had to go through."

What is this supposed to mean? Suspiciously, Larkwing curled her muzzle. You're the one who did this to me.

"And yet you just won't let yourself be broken. I have to admit, that's impressive. I didn't expect that from a she-cat like you."

Larkwing found her voice again at last. "What are you talking about?" She wanted to growl, but only a choked whisper came out of her mouth.

"Shh." Sunray raised a paw. "Likewise, I didn't expect there to be cats so foolish as to be willing to die for you. That tom, for example, who killed Pebbles, Moth, Feather and Leaf and helped you escape. Unfortunately, my subjects failed to finish him off." Her muzzle came very close to Larkwing's face and she hissed. "And do you know why?"

Clenching her teeth tightly, Larkwing shook her head. At the same time, she felt a refreshing wave of relief flood through her. Lakepelt is fine. What luck. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if he had died because of me.

A look of pure hatred came into Sunray's face. "Because he was a homicidal monster!" she hissed. "He could have at least faced my subjects in a fight. But no, instead he had used every opportunity to minimise my followers. Otherwise, he would've had no chance of escaping death on his own."