smoke & mirrors (hiatus)

.: chapter three :.

.: ♔ :.

AS Heronskip returned from his long day at work, he felt his brain start to twinge. He tried to shake it away but he couldn't. It was like someone was trying to tell him something...

But when Minnowskip didn't run up to him as he approached the den, he forgot about it completely. She did that every day— she came up to him before he could come in.

"Minnowtail?" he called into the hut. Barely any sunlight was still in the sky, so he couldn't see incredibly well into the den, but he saw Minnowtail there, and that was enough.

His sister was curled up in her nest, looking almost dead. "Are you okay?" he exclaimed, running towards her. He placed a paw on her shoulder. It was warm. She's alive. Heronskip sighed in relief.

"Waspclaw ended it," she whispered softly. She was facing away from Heronskip, her ears flat against her head. A growl rose in her throat, but it faded away.

Heronskip backed away in shock. "No— no way." As much of a jerk Waspclaw was, Heronskip didn't want his sister to be so upset.

"It's true. So leave me alone," she hissed, lashing her tail.

Heronskip did. He curled up in his own nest, but instead of curling his tail around his paws, he stretched it out to touch his sister's tail, in a gesture of comfort.

And then he fell asleep, and woke up looking into a pair of unfamiliar amber eyes. A white muzzle poked his nose, and Heronskip flinched as the unknown cat unsheathed his claws. The cat was quite small.

"Wh-who are you?" he squeaked, jumping back. "What do you want?"

"Nothing to do with you. Where is the healer? Fawnsplash?" the weird cat said. He had a few black patches, but other than that, the cat was totally white.

"I'm not her— oh wait. This is a dream. You aren't real. Are you from Star Kingdom?"

"Eh, you're pretty close to a healer, anyways," said the cat, ignoring Heronskip's other question. "Here's what I've got to say to you, scoundrel. Listen up: Darkness, darkness, surrounds this place.
If you find the spirit cat without a face,
Perhaps you can fix what has been built on lies.
Do this, come home, and unravel all the ties."

"What? An omen? I thought only Snowhawk got those."

"A prophecy," the cat meowed, and disappeared.