Book 1: Stormstar's Promise

Chapter 14

Stormstar's shimmering blue eyes opened, she lay in a pool of darkness. She blinked in recession, trying to pick up any source of light. She saw nothing, and she felt nothing. There was no day or night, warm or cold, only fear.

Fear of the nothing that consumed her.

"Hello?" she whispered, her voice echoed around her until it faded into the vast void of space around her.

Tears began to swell in her eyes, she hated herself for crying, that was kit stuff. She sprang to her paws defiantly.

"Where am I?" she demanded. She closed her eyes tightly and clenched her jaw, she could feel her ragged breath fighting to escape. Stormstar began to count to ten, however no feelings of calmness greeted her. She counted again, becoming more flustered and panicked.

"It is no use fighting yourself Stormstar, there is no one here to watch you but yourself," a gentle voice engulfed her.

"Show yourself!" she ordered, or rather, pleaded.

"Look around, you already are seeing me," the cat instructed. Stormstar's eyes widened, the darkness she saw before now revealed what she chose not to see, her death. She watched the scenes replay over and over again as all six of her lives were stripped away.

One: There was a battle with Seaclan, the first once since she gained her lives. Everything had been planned to perfection, it was supposed to be a simple raid. Something went wrong through, terribly wrong. Seaclan had been waiting for them. Had a traitor warned the clan? Whatever had happened, Ravenclan was taken by surprise on the battle field. A bloody and brutal fight ensued. Like a coward Stormstar called for Ravenclan to retreat, she was running away.

She recalled her first life that had been given by Rainfur, a life of courage.

As the clan was fleeing the Seaclan warriors chased after them, driving them away. A tom knocked Stormstar down in the chaos and slit her throat. He was the father of the Seaclan apprentice Stormstar had murdered.

Two: Her own father, Nightstar, had given her a life for integrity. Stormstar had never been one to chose the right path, she was never one to think twice about getting her own way. She hadn't lost her second life because of this however. She lost her second life to very same sickness that had killed Nightstar.

Three: This was the life Brokenflame had given to her. Stormstar regarded this life the most, but in the end she ignored it as well. Brokenflame had given her a life to know what she had done wrong and too change, but she didn't. She wouldn't.

Stormstar was hunting with Shadelight, they were enjoying the peace and quiet of new leaf. The sun was at its highest point in the sky, it would only begin to descend after its peak. The sky was a bright blue with rolling clouds, birds chirped in the alder trees and small creatures rustled under paw. Shadelight had been Stormstars deputy for only a few moons, but to them it felt like an eternity. The sisters only really ever had each other to depend upon.

Stormstar layed down in a ray of sun to relax in the last of the days heat. Shadelight wasn't tired however and continued prowling around the area, searching for more prey. She accidentally stumbled upon a fox den. There were three new born pups inside, and their enraged mother. The vixen exploded from the den in a frenzy, her long snout was snapping wildly at anything it get reach. Her white fangs glistened as her red tail thrashed around. Shadelight turned to run and the vixen latched onto the deputies hind leg. Shadelight let out a wail of pain and terror as the fox began to drag her into the den. Stormstar heard the fight and came running after her sister.

Stormstar attacked the fox without mercy, digging her claws into every inch of its exposed flesh. Her only thought was to protect her sister, to keep her promise. But the mother fox was fighting for her cubs too. Stormstar managed to help Shadelight scrambled into a tree despite her leg wound. Stormstar drove away the fox, only to die from all the wounds she received to her stomach. She bled out in a matter of minutes. As she lost her third life she vaguely remembered Brokenflame saying she died from a fox attack.