Omen of the Sun Book Three: Dusk

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Sunpool

It took a few moments for Sunpool to register what had happened. Emberpaw had jumped, her entire body had hurtled over the canyon edge, and she was dead. 

Swallowing back nausea, Sunpool was the first to move as she made her way over to the edge. Keeping her paws firmly on stable ground, she peered over the edge.

It was a sharp drop down, and her head swum when her eyes landed on Emberpaw. The tiny apprentice's body was caught on the side of the canyon, half in, half out of the water. The water rushed by faster than she could see, growing pink from Emberpaw's blood.

Sunpool stepped back hastily and blinked to try and clear her vision. When she spoke, she tried to keep her voice as steady as she could, but she wasn't sure how well she did. She was all numb. "I... she's dead. She's definitely dead."

The three apprentices all reacted quite differently: Fernpaw was silent, Briarpaw started letting out little whimpers, and Rainpaw collapsed into a fit of hysterical laughter. Slowly, the laughter transitioned into sobbing sounds, and she lowered her head. 

Sunpool swallowed a wave of nausea and turned to the warriors and StarClan cats. "I think... I think we need to get her body," she said, her voice thick. She swallowed again. "We need to... to bring it up. She died for this. It can't be in vain. We need to bring Goldleaf back."

"Okay," Lilycloud whispered. She straightened her shoulders; Lilycloud, who took charge. "Everyone, single file behind me. I want to make sure there are enough paw holds to get down safely. Cinderstorm," she added to the gray she-cat, "you stay up here with them. Keep them safe."

Cinderstorm nodded, and Sunpool realized that her friend wouldn't be emotionally able to go down and retrieve Emberpaw's body. She wondered if she would be.

Lilycloud turned and began picking her way down the side of the cliff. Falling in behind Frost, she stuck her tail out and tried to remember anything she'd ever learned about balancing. It would be kind of a problem if she didn't make her way down safely and it ended up that Emberpaw wasn't the only death of the night.

She wished very dearly that Lionscar hadn't shown up.

When they reached the bottom, they slowly made their way over. The StarClan cats gathered around Emberpaw, and Sunpool moved forward too. Lightningfeather came more slowly, and together they hoisted Emberpaw's body onto their shoulders. When they divided up the weights, it was like she weighed less than air.

It was awkward going up though, and there were several times when they all slipped down. Finally, though, they all reached the top of the cliff safely.

Sunpool darted ahead after making sure Emberpaw's body was supported and muttered, "Cinderstorm, we've got the body. I don't think it'd be good for the apprentices-"

"No," Rainpaw said from behind Cinderstorm. Her luminous blue eyes stared up, enormous, into Sunpool's face. "We're not kits. This is our sister. We need to see her. We need to say-" she choked, swallowed, and managed to say the last word. "We need to say goodbye."

Sunpool nodded after a second, and involuntarily, felt her heart swell. She knew it couldn't have been all Rainpaw's idea to do this, and stepped aside to let the apprentices slowly forward.

They simply looked, and moved to gently butt the older cats out of the way. They took the weight of their sister's body on their shoulders, and bore it.

Lilycloud, who seemed to be the only one who had any idea where they were going, lead the way back, and Sunpool tried not to think about how this was all her fault. If only she hadn't taken Goldleaf out that day... if only, if only, if only....

Emberpaw would still be alive right now.

-=-

When they reached the resurrection stone, nothing had changed. Lionscar was sitting to the right of Goldleaf, who was still glowing in the moonlight. Sunpool wondered why they hadn't woken up yet, and wondered if time was frozen.

Wouldn't be the weirdest thing that had happened tonight.

"Oh, is she dead?" Lionscar asked brightly when they came into the clearing. He brightened. "Yes, that'll do the trick exactly!"

"Don't sound so happy," Lilycloud snarled, shoving him aside with her shoulder. Doveheart narrowed her eyes at him.

Lionscar rolled his eyes. "Now, the rest of this ceremony should be fairly painless. Put your body there on the stone, and it'll transfer into Goldleaf, and everything'll be over!"

"This better work," Lilycloud snapped, but Lionscar only laughed.

"Oh, it will, dear Lilycloud. It will."

-=-

He was right, of course.

They laid the body on the stone, and stepped back. Slowly, Emberpaw's body began to disappear, and Goldleaf's body grew brighter, and brighter, and brighter still until-

It let out a dazzling light that made Sunpool think she would go blind if she looked at it for too long. She averted her eyes, snapped them closed, but felt the sting on her eyelids. She could see it through the thin skin of her eyelid, and suddenly, the light receded.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, almost afraid of what she would find. She turned back towards the resurrection stone.

Goldleaf's body was gone.

Well lookeee here who made a filler chapter just so she could update because she hasn't updated in years!

SO MUCH SAD-SOUNDING MUSIC WAS PLAYING DURING THIS AND OHHHH MY GOD IT WASN'T WORKING.

TROYE SIVAN SONGS ARE ACTUALLY REALLY SAD SOMETIMES.

LIKE HE HAS LIKE ZERO HAPPY SOUNDING SONGS???

EXCEPT FOR LIKE EASE AND MAYBE BITE A LITTLE

UGH

MY FAVES

ANYWAY BYE

~RAINFEATHER