StarClan's Wrath

Chapter 3

"Slow down, I'm not that fast," Birchpad called as Brightpaw stumbled up the slope. It was the night of the half-moon. Although he wanted no part of being a medicine cat, he was curious about what it would be like in the Cave of Whispering Spirits, or the Spirit Cave for short. Maybe Brightpaw would meet those StarClan cats again. Ahead, he saw two cats.

"Who are they?" Brightpaw asked.

Birchpad finally got to the top of the hill. "Those are the medicine cats from the other Clans."

"I think there's another apprentice! If I'm not mistaken. I don't feel so lonely now." Brightpaw and Birchpad started walking down the other side of the hill and toward the cave.

"Remember, young one, sometimes medicine cat apprentices have already recieved their name. Cloudbelly, the gray-and-white tom down there, has already completed his training. So techincally, he isn't an apprentice anymore."

Brightpaw let out a huff of disappointment. He continued walking with Birchpad until the two reached the entrance of the cave. It was much bigger than Brightpaw had thought. Cloudbelly and his mentor, a red tom, nodded their heads in greeting. "This is Birdfeather," Birchpad gestured toward the red tom.

Birdfeather purred at the sight of the apprentice. "Finally taking on an apprentice, eh?"

"Oh, hush." Birchpad tried to look annoyed, but the amusement in his eyes gave himself away.

While the two medicine cats chattered on for a bit, Cloudbelly approached Brightpaw. "Hi. So you're going to become a medicine cat?" Brightpaw shrunk back a bit. The voice of Cloudbelly almost scared him. He was basically fully grown! "Sorry, did I scare you?"

"No," Brightpaw half lied. "And I'm... not exactly going to be a medicine cat. But I had this weird dream that--" Suddenly, Birchpad used his paw to cover Brightpaw's mouth. He immediately moved backwards and looked up at his mentor with confusion.

Cloudbelly stifled a mrrow of laughter. "It's all right," he mewed. "You're not allowed to tell your dreams, unless it's something that will affect all Clans. I made that mistake a few times too. When the other medicine cats get here, we'll all go in. Their names are Whitefur and Spottedtail." He hesitated a bit before adding, "Whitefur is actually a black cat. Some sort of weird irony, I guess. Spottedtail, as you can probably guess by her name, has a spotted tail."

Just when Cloudbelly finished talking, Whitefur was guiding a limping Spottedtail toward the cave entrance. "Sorry we're late," the black tom mewed. "I met up with Spottedtail and she had a thorn in her paw, so I pulled it out and she started limping. I guided her all the way."

"I'm okay now," Spottedtail remarked.

Birchpad's eyes lightened up. "Oh, Brightpaw! Remember the herbs I taught you today? What do you do after you pull a thorn out of a cat's pad?"

"Ummm..." Brightpaw hesitated.

"It's all right if you don't know."

Brightpaw shook his head. "I know this, I know this..." He thought for a moment. "Ummm... put a cobweb on it?"

"You have an apprentice!" Spottedtail realized. "How long have you had him?"

"Today is his second day as an apprentice," Birchpad remarked.

Spottedtail's eyes widened. "Wow. You've got a lot of training ahead of you! I remember when I was an apprentice. I was so scared of the other medicine cats..." She went on for a while, but abruptly stopped when she realized that she was taking up precious time. She's a talker. Brightpaw held back from rolling his eyes.

The six cats entered the Spirit Cave, travelling through darkness. Brightpaw could feel his left whiskers brushing along a stone wall. "Follow our scents," mewed Birchpad. Brightpaw could smell a mixture of ShadowClan, ThunderClan, RiverClan, and WindClan. It was strange smelling everything at once, but he knew that if he could smell at least one of them, he was safe. After walking for what seemed like forever, a light peeked out from the end of the tunnel. Brightpaw rushed to the front to see what was there. His jaw gaped open at the sight of it. A pool of water was surrounded by a circle of rocks. The pool looked silver, and in the middle was a large, clear stone. The light from the moon made the clear stone appear a blue-white. "Amazed, eh? This is the Moonstone. Though, it's really a giant quartz crystal. Surrounded by it is the Moonpool. I know, we basically have Moon-everything here. But what you do is cross the pool, gently put your muzzle into the Moonpool, drink some of the water, and make a mark on the Moonstone by touching your nose to it."

Brightpaw nodded and approached the circular pool. He looked nervous to walk on the stepping stones. "Young ones first," Whitefur finally spoke to him. "You can jump over if you want."

I don't want to look all reluctant! Even if I am going to become a warrior later on! He carefully put his paws on the stones, crossing until he made it to the end. The other medicine cats followed. Brightpaw put his muzzle into the cold water and almost recoiled back from its temperature. He went back and lapped a few gulps, then did as told and touched his muzzle to the Moonstone. Immediately, he felt dizzy. "Wh-what's happening to me?" he mumbled. He started swaying back and forth.

He could barely hear what the other medicine cats were saying. "This has never happened before."

"Should we take him back immediately?"

"He's fine. Just a little dizzy."

"I don't know, he seems..." Before the last voice could speak, he blacked out.

Waking up, Brightpaw found himself in a strange pine forest. It was bland, and lacked a lot of color. Everything seemed so... gray. An odd, static sound filled his ears. "Hello?" he tried shouting. But despite how loud he tried to make his voice, it only felt like a faint whisper. "Is anyone out there?" he called. Then, he started seeing the heads of the StarClan cats he met before circle him. There was the familiar Tigerstripe, a brown cat with a white head, and a blue-gray cat. They were each speaking at the same time.

"Accept your destiny,"

"This is how it's supposed to be,"

"You're a medicine cat. Not a warrior."

The static began getting louder. A nearly black cat started running toward Brightpaw.

"You're Brightflower, not Brightf-."

"Don't listen to them!" the black cat exclaimed. "They're trying to control your life!"

Then, the voices began to overlap eachother. They grew louder and louder, along with the static. The heads and the running cat came closer. Brightpaw began to feel dizzy again. He heard so many voices. So many whispers. It was overwhelming. His vision started to get blurry. His ears began to ring. Just when he thought that he would drown in the voices of StarClan cats and collide with another, the voices suddenly stopped, and his vision went black once more.