Short Stories

Flame sighs, he knows he’s being dramatic, but no one else is in the room and his leg is being a pain again today, reminding him that it’s still there with that incessant ache. It’s why he’s hidden themselves away in their den for most of the day, he’s due to start the long journey to the clans again in a couple of dawns, which means he needs as much energy as possible. Over pushing his leg will not help this fact.
It doesn’t help that the rest of the colony are already bustling about with stress, a large group travelling to the clans is always worrying, it’s a very long journey and not all of the clans are always happy to see them. Not to mention the fact there’s already a group out still, though they stayed more local and should be back just a few dawns after they’ve left, a route far more often travelled so they’re in no real danger, almost as safe as having not left the colonies area. It doesn’t help that the elders are always keeping such a close eye on him before these journeys, worried, he can hear their not so quiet whispers,
“Are you sure Flaming Star should go?” “What if his leg worsens? What then?”
He knows it’s out of fondness that they worry like this but he’s just as capable as the rest of the colony to do this journey, he’s done it before and there’s nothing to stop him doing it again. Yes, his leg will hurt more and he shall have to rest more when they first arrive at the clans, but they can keep pace, at the back most of the time, but he doesn’t endanger anyone or slip behind. And once he’s there it doesn’t stop him from behing able to do their duties, they know he’s best at convincing the medicine cats to try the herbs they’ve found on their way. So if anything leaving him behind would be a detriment. 

He's snapped out of his thoughts by the bushes rustling, the clear sign of another cat entering the den, as he looks up at her she smiles rather sheepishly,
“I’m sorry if I’ve disturbed you Flaming Star.” She states, ears lowered slightly, one of these days he’s going to convince the kitten to shorten his name, it’s alright.
“That’s fine Rho, trust me you haven’t disturbed me at all, in fact you’ve saved me from getting lost in my thoughts again.” His tail flicks and then he feels their leg convulse and he doesn’t miss Rho’s eyes snapping to it, so he laughs softly, “Yeah it’s being a pain today, so I’m making sure it’s rested to know what’s going on. Are you excited? Your first travel and it’s a long one, I trust that you’ll enjoy seeing the clans and the different ways that they live.” He smiles with a purr that he doesn’t mean to let out.
She doesn’t need to give them any form of verbal answer, her entire body answers him, she looks like she’s standing taller and her normally full tail as managed to bristle up even more. This makes Flame let out a fond chuckle. He must admit that they still remember their own first travel with the colony like it was yesterday, the memories burn strong, especially right before another trip. They let Rho get on however, as she quickly pads her way to her own nest, poking something around and Flame let’s his eyes drift back away from the she-cat. She doesn’t need to be disturbed, especially as she clearly wasn’t expect another cat to be in here anyway, it doesn’t take her long however, to finish doing whatever she needs to do. Flame watches her go and just before she heads back out through the bushes she shoots an excited grin back at him which he can’t help but respond.
Almost as soon as this however, his mouth breaks open into a yawn, maybe he’s sleepier then he thought. A nap wouldn’t be too out of place, he doesn’t need to start gathering any of the herbs for trading until sundown anyway, so there is just time to waste, and what better place then out from behing underfoot. It may also do him some good, calm that leg down, it’s probably just picking up on his excitement and nerves about getting ready to leave.

Flame doesn’t know for how long he sleeps before he then raises his head again, there’s still bright sun out, but it’s the middle of the warm months so the sun stays for far longer than the moon. However, he is set on edge as he tries to glance around the room, despite his vision being clear it feels like he’s underwater, as if he’s still asleep and a slight feeling of dread begins to build. This means a vision is coming and he doesn’t like the signs of that.
One final glance around the room alerts him to the fact he’s defiantly alone, and a crane of his ears implies no one will be entering any time soon so he shouldn’t be disturbed while he’s gone. Their body gives him little extra warning before it feels like he’s smacked into a pile of cold rocks, his vision blurring and turning white in barely the time a thought can be generated. It doesn’t last long before his eyes are clearing up again, but he’s clearly somewhere else…
He shakes his head a second before turning his attention to being able to take in as much information as possible, there’s never any sort of indicator for how long a vision can last or how much time it covers. The sky above him is a blazing red, the trees looking as if they’re on fire, but with a quick closer inspection, the leaves are still there, just so soaked in the red sun they look as if they’re reflecting the light. Glancing around at his own level now, he can’t see any cats around him, but the area doesn’t seem empty, and he can feel eyes resting on him, making his fur prickle up. So, he narrows his eyes, screwing them up tight and he catches sight of the rough silhouettes of a field full of cats, nothing about any of them are identifiable from each other, let alone giving him any form of identity tying them to a real cat. What is clear however, is that they’re all staring upwards, staring up into the same direction into the sky, so Flaming Star follows their gazes and as he does so his eyes widen in horror.
The reason for the blazing sky feels so incredibly obvious now, a massive falling star is reaching across the sky, leaving red burning wounds in its wake. It’s getting closer, that he can tell, getting closer at a rather alarming pace, like any second now it’s going to land right on top of them but no cat around him makes a move. All now basked and glowing from the red light in the sky and clear, but no one moves and he just wants to scream at all of them to move.
The abject terror of the vision just begins to settle into him before he can feel his viewpoint being yanked backwards. His vision spins for a second before clearing up, he’s stood at a higher vantage point now, glancing down he can’t see the body he belongs to, but he can see himself stood there, staring up at the vision. Staring up at the Flaming Star that is his name’s sake. They don’t know whose body they’re in now, it’s not usual to be outside their own form. Suddenly there’s a cacophony of voices, he shouldn’t be here he gathers that much…

Flame gasps, before then feeling moss and feathers below his paws, he can feel his chest heaving as he realises, he’s back in his own body. His eyes widen as he catalogues and goes through everything that he just saw, his ears fold back until he’s sure they’re going to fuse into his head. His mind working to process what the vision means, and unfortunately too much of it makes sense, he works out the main meaning of it far too fast.
He knows instantly that he’s not going to tell the others about this vision, especially not right now before they’re going on their journey. They will just panic and tell him to stay behind, that they can avoid this, but visions don’t work like that, there’s no avoiding a vision, but he can hope that maybe it’s not quite as drastic as it seems right now. The spirits aren’t telling him exactly what is going to happen, not the details of it, they don’t really like giving him details, clearly they’re enjoying the symbolism they’ve already given him once before.
What he knows however, is that no matter what happens, even if the colony kept in on den rest this would still happen.
Flaming Star will fall again, and he can only hope it doesn’t mean something horrific.