Wont You Shake a Poor Sinner's Hand?

Kestrel opened his eyes but did not wake up to his nest. He was surrounded by a dark, dreary forest. Thich, almost black mud covered his paws. He was a bit scared but kept a straight face. He could feel a presence lurking. Watching. A rough chuckle echoed all around him. Kestrel look around frantically.

"Boo." A voice whispered in Kestrel's ear, causing the tom to practically jump out of his fur. The mysterious tom chuckled again.  This cat was a dark cream color with spots and a pelt accessorized with mushrooms.

"Who are you? Do you have any idea who you're messing wi-" Kestrel was cut off.

"Oh, little tom; dont me afraid. Trust me, if I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so already." The tom tilted his head, giving Kestrel an eerie smile. Pairs of red dots appeared in the darkness behind him, but went away when he stopped smiling.

"I-I'm, not afraid of you, ghost!" The tom chuckled once more.

"Dont kid yourself; I can taste your fear." Kestrel gulped.

"What do you want from me?"

"How rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself. I am Shroombreath, the last Medicine Cat of ThunderClan."

"ThunderClan?" Kestrel had never heard of this Clan before. He only knew of SummitClan, DirtClan, BasilClan, and CraterClan.

"I am from long before your time, child. There were once five Clans in this mountain range. I received a vision from this very forest. They told me that five must turn to four. I knew what I needed to do. I had known I would need to do this before I even had the vision. My mate had been killed in a crossfire between SummitClan and ThunderClan. I had the perfect plan." Shroombreath dug his claws into the mud. "I collected water hemlock and told my Clan it was to prevent yellow cough. I had visited SummitClan and snuck it into their food. I was blood-hungry. I wanted revenge. I slaughter all of the two Clans. And as I stood upon High Rock, feeling the glory of my destruction, I heard a voice call out my name. It way my sister, my mentor, Nightshadevalley. What ensued was an epic battle. I had the upper-paw, but suddenly my sister's mate, Cricketleap, came from the bushes and tore out my throat." That would explain the large scar across the his neck, Kestrel thought.

"What does that have to do with me?"

"After my sister betrayed me, she went on to rebuild the Clan with her disgusting mate. They received a message from StarClan that led them to revive SummitClan rather then ThunderClan. Now, surely you must know Quailstar?" Kestrel nodded. "She is the Great-Great-Great-Great Granddaughter of Cricketleap."

"Seems like they're barely related to me." Kestrel's snarky response angered Shroombreath.

"Hush, you little rat! I have been hunting her ancestors for generations! My connection to the real world has grown weak. I need a cat who hates her as much as I do. I need you." Kestrel looked surprised.

"Why would you need me? Why not Acidrain?"

"Your love for him will make you stronger. It worked that way for me." Shroombreath cleared his throat. "I can give you a gift you've only ever been able to dream of." He held out his paw. "Now, wont you shake a poor sinner's paw?" Kestrel thought about it briefly before he grabbed Shroombreath's paw. Red fire formed around their paw-shake. "Yeees!!" Shroombreath let go of Kestrel's paw. He launched himself onto a pile of corpses, which Kestrel could have swormn was rocks just a minute ago. 

Shroombreath reached out a paw thematically. "Are you ready?" The pairs of red dots came swarming around Kestrel, now accompanied by barely visible bodies. Shroombreath laughed manically as the spritits began to claw and bite Kestrel, giggling with a glitch-life effects. The spirits were clouding his vision, but he could make the black silhoutte of Shroombreath. Suddenly, all of the spirits flew upwards into the leafy roof above them. Shroombreath was now right in Kestrel's face, his eyes a glowing, solid red.

"I, Shroombreath, grant you this life of revenge. Kill her. Not just for what she has done to me, but for what she had done to him." Shroombreath's mouth opened unaturally wide. A red star could be seen, and Kestrel's body was suddenly full of fear. The star from within Shroombreath seemed to be whispering to Kestrel. Taunting him.

Shroombreath sprang forward, sinking his fangs into Kestrel's neck. Kestrel felt immense pain, but at the same time felt more alive then he had ever felt.

Everything went black as Kestrel passed out.

He opened his eyes to find himself in his nest next to Acidrain. He felt new power. He felt anger.

He wanted her dead.