Warriors: Calling Wild

Chapter Nineteen

Water surged into his ears and mouth, making it hard to stay afloat. He thrashed his paws wildly, as if trying to attack the wet enemy. His head went under. The water was considerably less dangerous deep under.

He thought he saw a silhouette of white against the black sea, but he blinked and it was gone. Instead, there was another thing there, a black figure. There was still the faint glow of light behind the darkness, bit it was burning out. It sang a song that sounded soft and sweet. It went like this: 'now is your time to choose whether you live or die, the battle remains but your time is finished.'

Sootpaw swam through the darkness like it was water and came face-to-face with darkness. He was disturbed by the likeness of the creature. It looked exactly like Sootpaw, right down to the tiny scar across his pink nose from a session with Mousepaw. And it mirrored all of his movements too. It was like looking at yourself through somebody else's eyes. It was a little unnerving and made his skin crawl. He turned his head to the right, and before Sootpaw even thought about it, his mirror was doing it too, or was Sootpaw the mirror. It was hard to tell, they were simply doing the same things at the same time.

His companion was being rained on now, from an invisible cloud. Water drenched his pelt and made his eyes dull. His fur was soaked now and blood trickled from a gash in his forehead. But remembering they were mirrors of each other, Sootpaw looked down at his paws. Sure enough, water flowed through his coat making it wet and heavy. Now, without Sootpaw, his shadow moved on it's own. It carried a sickly wicked smile on it's face and blood cried from it's eyes. Sootpaw tried to scream, but only a mere squeek managed to escape his throat. He skidded backwards until he was up against a rock wall, or what he thought was rock. In reality it was a wall of bone. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed. He wished he had stayed with the light filled cat, but it was too late. He had a feeling the darkness was taking him to the dark forest, left alone to rot and corrupt.

StarClan help me!

His ancestors must have heard his cries because he felt crisp wind through his fur. He opened his eyes and saw he was in unknown territory. The sun felt hot on his fur and he had to let his eyes adjust to the sudden brightness of the real world. He didn't know if what he had witnessed was a dream or just a hallucination, but it had seemed so real. Memories came flooding through his mind,and threatening black spots danced around his vision. He blinked them away and took a deep breath. He didn't know how long he had been in the river, but his fur was tainted with a saltiness that made his nose wrinkle. The salt made his fur stiff and sticky, and Sootpaw tried to lick of the salt, but he would have to wash it off if he really wants it gone. He didn't want to take any chances going back in the river, so he looked around. The river was behind him now, but it opened up into a dark blue pool that stretched as far as the eye could see. He was surrounded by water on three sides, so the only option was to his left. A few trees spotted the land, but they were unlike any he had ever seen before.

They had no branches into the very top, but they were short and leaves extended from their tips, long leaves, nearly big enough for a cat to nest. The trunk of the tree had visible layers going all the way up, maybe enough to climb? Some of the trees had round brown balls attacked to the leaves, and some scattered the ground. The ground was strange, too. The whole if it was sand, not a shred of grass or hard earth in sight. A single twoleg nest sat near the salty water, with a wooden path going over the water. It looked abandoned, but Sootpaw wasn't sure. He padded warily over to the fixture. A window was open, just wide enough for a cat to squeeze through. He sniffed at the opening, not scenting any twolegs, just the faint smell of dust. He pushed through the opening and found himself on a flat wooden surface. Flat sheets of white lay scattered across the surface, with a few stains on them.

He leaped from the wooden statue and onto the ground. A thick pelt-like thing covered the once hard surface, and he felt like he had to grip the substance to stay in one place. He forced himself to keep his claws sheathed, but his heart was racing in his chest. Dust covered every surface, making his nose itch. He sneezed so violently his whole body shook. He tried not to breath in the tiny particles, but it was hard when they where everywhere.

A slight rustling in the corner of the den disturbed Sootpaw from his daydream. He parted his jaws and smelled she-cat, with a tint of fear. He turned his head slightly, not to sudden as to scare off the assumed kittypet and saw that she was a small brown cat, young by the looks of her with a single white paw and gleaming yellow eyes. She blinked twice. Her figure was tiny, and every one of her ribs were visible. Twolegs wouldn't let their pets starve would they? Sootpaw started to walk toward her, wit slow small strides and she took off running.

Sootpaw chased after her, avoiding the bulky objects littered on the floor. She darted into a room with no door and when Sootpaw entered after her, she had vanished. Her scent still lingered in the air, but Sootpaw couldn't pick it out of all the cat smells. It seemed as though there was a whole clan in just one den. He turned to flee, bit he was surrounded on all sides by hostile cats. The brown she-cat was among them. It had been a trap and Sootpaw ran straight into their claws. Now they were going to finish what the river had started.