The Rising Storm

Chapter 9: Home

        Stormpaw stood, he was looking at the tom with a look of disbelief, the uneasiness still showing in his eyes. His began to look at the surrounding area, his eyes narrowing as he thought to himself, this is my home! This has to be a joke! He turned to face the tom, his fur began to prickle with discomfort when he saw the happiness in his eyes. Digging his claws into the soil he forced himself to relax, taking a deep breath he began to speak. "What is this place and why is it dark? Shouldn't there be daylight?"

        The tom shook his head and looked at Stormpaw, his eyes appeared almost guarded. "We do not get sunlight here, we always live in the darkness for darkness is and will always be our home." Stormpaw began to bristle and he took a step back, he could feel his pelt begining to fluff up and his claws slide out. He had heard of cats that lived in a place with constant darkness, he remembered being told when he was a kit how evil they were and how they tried to destroy the clans. He began to open his mouth in a challenge but got cut off by the tom, the toms eyes showed anger. Lashing his tail he growled to Stormpaw "do not assume we are evil because we live in the darkness. Darkness does not always stand for evil." Narrowing his eyes at the tom with suspicion Stormpaw just nodded, slowly he began following the tom and began to survey the surroundings. He felt slightly annoyed because he couldn't see well, he stayed somewhat close to the tom in case he might lose him. Alarm and fear suddenly struck him as his paw suddenly hit air, he quickly shifted his footing and looked to where his paw was, his heart pounding. As his eyes slowly adjusted he noticed a small hole in the ground, his sniffed it and picked up the scent of rabbit. He quickly shook his head and looked up, the tom was still walking not even bothering to make sure Stormpaw was alright. Tail twitching and still shaken from the rabbit hole he ran to catch up to the tom while carefully watching to make sure he didn't walk into another rabbit hole. To his surprise Stormpaw found that he was quickly growing use to the darkness and he could see a fair distance now. The landscape no longer looked dark and evil but he could begin to see beauty and life, he could see large trees bursting with beautiful multi-coloured leaves and small animals running and playing in the open grass. Looking over to the tom with a questioning expression on his face the tom only smiled back at him and kept walking. Stormpaw followed after him with large eyes, everything in this darkness becoming more sharper and clearer to him. 

        He halted behind the tom, nearly bumping into him. Curiously he peered around the tom to see why he had stopped and noticed a small tunnel ahead of them. He walked up to stand beside the tom and mewed "is this where were headed?" He looked up to the tom and just blinked as the tom nodded. 

        "Yes Stormpaw, this is your true home." With those words the tom began heading towards the tunnel and disappeared into its darkness. Stormpaw just narrowed his eyes and took a hesitant step towards the tunnel, curiosity and uneasiness pricking at him like a thorn in his paw. He scented the tunnel and small draft went towards him, along with it the scent of cats who he was unfamiliar with. Ducking into the tunnel he followed the scent of the countless cats who have gone through this tunnel, he could feel his breath and pawsteps echo throughout the tunnel and he focused ahead, not letting the sounds spook him. Noticing shapes up ahead he hurried and suddenly burst from the tunnel and entered a clearing full of cats that just looked at him before continuing with what they were doing. Ears twitching he saw the tom and hurried over to him, uneasy from all the strange stares. When he stopped beside the tom he noticed that the cat the tom was talking too had deep golden eyes, he just blinked feeling a little startled. He moved a little closer towards the tom but relaxed somewhat when the strange cats gaze was warm yet curious. The tom's voice was deep and had a rough tone to it which caught Stormpaw off guard.

        "Hello there, you must be young Stormpaw. Shadow seems to have finally found you, we were starting to fear the worst when you were nowhere in sight after that terrible accident." 

        Staring at the tom in confusion he wondered to himself what accident? Frowning he then turned to the tom that had led him here, curiousity was biting at him as he mewed curiously, "your name is Shadow?" When the tom nodded he blinked in slight amazement but when he thought it over he remembered how dark Shadow's pelt was and how easily he can move around unnoticed.

        Stormpaw just nodded to Shadow unsure of what to say when the other tom looked at him and meowed, "you should rest, Shadow said you were in a exhausting situation, you will have the day to rest but no more." With a nod the tom walked off leaving Stormpaw with Shadow, looking over to Shadow he asked curiously. "What was he talking about, what accident?" He just frowned with concern and disappointment when Shadow shook his head with a sigh.

        "Soon Stormpaw, you will learn about it soon, but it is best that you hear it another time when you are settled in." Resting his tail on Stormpaw's shoulder he gazed into Stormpaw's eyes to the point where Stormpaw started to feel uneasy and look away. Hearing a sigh he looked back up to Shadow when he felt his tail slide off. Shadow was staring at the sky, looking closely he thought he could have seen longing swim through the toms eyes before Shadow shook his head and began walking. "Stormpaw, follow me. I will show you too your new den, I hope it is to your liking." Getting up, Stormpaw followed Shadow across the clearing and they stopped at a small entrance. Inside Stormpaw could hear the sound of excited chattering and he looked at Shadow questioningly before walking in. Crawling through the entrance he found himself in a large den, there were three nests all spaced out and he could vaguely see two small cats around his size both talking together. Their heads were bent closely together and they were mewing in excited voices. Before Stormpaw made his way towards him they both turned towards him with huge eyes.

        Feeling somewhat uncomfortable he meowed awkwardly, does not know what to say to these cats. "Hi there.... I am Stor-" He got cut off as both cats raced towards him, their voices were high with excitement as they talked to him. A light grey  she-cat who seemed to glow in the darkness of the den meowed excitedly.

        "We know who you are! Your Storm! Your practically a legend around here!" She began bouncing around him and squealed, "we get to share our den with you! This will be awesome!" Stormpaw just looked at her, somewhat baffled as to why she was so excited, as he began to talk again he heard another voice cut him off. This time it was a darker grey tom who was not so bright in the darkness as the she-cat.

        "I am Dark and she," he pointed to the light grey she-cat, "is my younger sister Silver. We can't wait to share our den with you. We even made you a nest, I hope you don't mind the materials we used." His eyes flashed hopefully as he finished speaking, he was pointing to a empty nest that was lined with feather's and had soft fluffy stuff in it. Blinking, Stormpaw walked over to the nest and poked at it, he looked startled as to how soft it was and he looked up to them and smiled.

        "Thank you, both of you, it is really soft." He smiled when Dark and Silver both shared a thrilled glance and layed down in the nest, he purred at how soft the nest was. "You two must have spent forever making this, it is awesome." He began to purr drowsily as he started to drift of to sleep, in the corner of his eye he noticed Dark and Silver slowly creep towards him, they looked almost somewhat uncertain. Tilting his head he looked at them curiously, inviting them to speak.

        Dark smiled slightly when Stormpaw tilted his head and then moved over without hesitation and sat down beside him, he sounded partially curious. "Umm Storm.. Do do you know why you ended living separate from us?" Stormpaw suddenly blinked, he almost forgotten completely that this was most likely the place he was born, frowning he wondered how did I end up in the clan if I was born here? Shaking his head no he looked at Dark curiously. Dark seemed to swallow uncertainly and began speaking, "well... There was this accident after you were born. Your mother Willow, that was her name, disappeared from camp along with you and... She was found dead. She was killed by someone we don't know..." he frowned then looked at Silver. Stormpaw just layed in his nest with wide eyes. He blinked in disbelief and dismay. Grief rose in his chest for the mother he loved but forgotten over the years. My mother was, killed? Why!