why are the cats of nightbreeze becoming suddenly aggressive when they never used to be? why are their eyes torn out, rendering them blind? who is doing it to them? and why?
in a world where thunderclan and riverclan joined forces many moons ago, tu...
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reedgaze fell back as the cat landed on him. he heard nothing but the buzz of adrenaline as he wrestled with the cat.
a loud slam rang through the clearing as sorrelmask was hit away from the blinded nightbreeze cat. reedgaze whammed his right paw into the cat's head, but the cat just drove it's teeth into reedgaze's left eye.
reedgaze screamed in pain and agony as cats began to come out of the warriors' den. turtlemist ran forward and reedgaze fell back again as he watched her attack the nightbreeze cat.
the thinker howled with rage and dug her claws into the cat's neck. she pulled herself against the cat and then kicked him off of her with what reedgaze thought must have been all her might. the nightbreeze cat landed on the ground a few feet away, and sorrelmask, who had recovered, snapped its neck, ending it's pitiful life.
reedgaze was dragged back into reality as his left eye socket throbbed miserably. "help.." he croaked, and blacked out.
when he awoke, he was in the medicine den. his vision felt half complete— but then he realized it was only half complete. he let out a quiet sigh.
the medicine cat, otternose, glanced at him from the other side of the den. "wakey, wakey," she meowed, turning back to her herbs.
"what happened to me?" he croaked, glancing up at her miserably. paws shaking, he tried to stand up but couldn't.
otternose blinked once. "your left eye was torn out."
reedgaze had no response to this. he looked down at his paws. there was still blood caked in between his claws. he sighed again.
"you like sighing, do ya?"
"what?"
"nevermind." otternose returned to her herb sorting. "it's claw-moon, by the way."
"claw-moon?" reedgaze exclaimed. he jumped to his feet, and his head ached miserably. "oh no— have there been any more accidents?"
"we lost seedpatch on a patrol yesterday," otternose mumbled, looking down at her paws. it struck reedgaze that otternose and seedpatch were sisters.
"i'm so sorry," he meowed gently, "but i have to go."
but otternose's eyes were closed, and she showed no signs of hearing. the fawn she-cat curled her tail over her nose, and her ears flattened against her head.
not wanting to disturb the grieving medicine cat, reedgaze leapt out of the den. "turtlemist!" he cried.
the thinker was nowhere to be seen. he walked over to poppystar, who was standing by the prey pile. "poppystar, have you seen turtlemist?"
she glanced at him, incredulous, and looked paralyzed. "what?"
"i said— what are you looking at?" reedgaze mewed, snapping out of focus. "what is it?"
"your eye, it's just, i didn't expect it."
reedgaze's vision blurred. he had never been judged for his appearance before. steadying his paws, he looked poppystar in the eye. "where's turtlemist?" he repeated.
the stormcreek leader stiffened. she blinked a few times and then met his gaze. "she went off to the gorge. she said something about 'earthshine', whatever that is."
reedgaze's eye widened. "what?" he screeched, suddenly wild. he turned and ran out of camp, and didn't stop running for a long, long time. he burst through the underbrush and ducked under low branches. the run seemed to stretch on for hours.
finally, he was almost to the gorge. stopping abruptly, he scanned the part of territory he was in now— thunderclan's old territory.
reedgaze had always been afraid of thunderclan's old territory. it was very dark and the absence of noise was frightening. unlike stormcreek's main camp, there was no constant background noise, like the bubbling river or fish splashing around.
he crept through the territory, heart still racing from his long run. the darkness wrapped around him, and his breath came out in huffs; he struggled to regain steading breathing. reedgaze straightened his posture and continued to walk through the territory. he was almost through. there! he thought. the exit!
as he ran up to the light that shone in from outside thunderclan's old camp, something stopped him. a rustling noise. very, very faint. he turned around. it was the silver cat. reedgaze's heart stopped. he felt like he was frozen in time. horror filled his body, taking over him with a chill. the fur on his back rose.
she looked at him with a blank expression. tilting her head, she flicked her tail in a odd motion. soon her whole body seemed to be wavering. reedgaze found himself hypnotized as her blue eyes danced around, he only beacon of light in the dark world he was standing in.
"moon.." she began to say, but suddenly, a huge bang interrupted her statement. she ran away, fleeing in a matter of seconds. the silver spotted cat moved so fast that reedgaze didn't know what direction she'd run in.
reedgaze stood there for a few minutes, staring into space. he felt like his head had been messed with, and he had the sudden urge to kill.
