As the sky shifted into hues of oranges and reds it matched the scene unfolding on the ground below. The sun was setting and the ravine that had been bustling with activity moments prior was gripped with battle. Yowls and screeches of war echoed off the cliff walls. Unseen by the mortal cats the starry pelts of those long gone lined the ravine walls. They watched in mourning as all the progress that had been made by the newly sparked clan was diminishing quickly. Joining the starry furred cats were ones that had fallen in battle.
One could practically taste the tang of iron in the air. As the lightning elemental cats decreased in number bodies had begun to litter the rocky ground. The forms were many from both sides, but primarily those of the Tribe of Strikes. To eyes belonging to those of both Celestials and mortals, the carnage was unsettling. An elder's disfigured form was flung partially in the entrance of their den. The nursery was in no better state. It had collapsed entirely. The tiny forms of two bloodied kits, as a fallen queen reached out her paws feebly towards them even in death. A Tribe of Breeze apprentice laid at the bottom of a cliff. Her form crippled into a jagged mess of blood and bone. What little members of the Tribe of Strikes retreated long before the final yowl of loss from their Overseer. They fled from their home and fallen comrades that remained dirty and bloodied in the ravine. Tribe of Breeze was victorious, but at what cost. The air elemental leader had a pool of blood seeping around his form. It mixed in with the dirt from the earth and that of the blood from other's that had been spilled. No one walked away uninjured. More loss was to come in the future for some. A loss of lives that weren't even yet realized. The lightning elemental clan was no more. It's remaining members had scattered to all parts of the territory. A few made their way with tired paws across the river towards the fields where the Tribe of Heather resided. |
Hawk Belly began to loose his faith in the Celestials for their silence. The months had hardened his heart, only driving the Overseer to grow full of nothing but resentment. He grew bitter and distant from both his tribe and family. It was also during this time Dark Stream would be ambushed by Oak Storm who was set on avenging his father. She was believed to be dead, but this was only a ploy to escape her clan-life. Instead she would seek out Badger Heart, the two she-cats growing a romance between one another.
In secrecy they would meet with Hawk Belly, spinning tales that only continued to fracture the leader's mind. They would talk him into allowing them into his tribe, abandoning the Celestials altogether. They were to become his new Council, ruling beside the Overseer. That very thing happened, announced at a clan meeting by Hawk Belly himself. The cats of the Tribe of Breeze were shocked and those who spoke out against these new ideals were punished with beatings or burns. The following months for those of the Tribe of Breeze were spent in fear under this new regiment and leadership. Ebony Mist would not stand for this, however and began to form a rebellion in secrecy. The situation in the tribe went unnoticed by the other tribes for quite some time. It was Ebony Mist alone who snuck out to the Tribe of Heather, speaking to Hollow of the current situation that plagued her tribe-mates and family. While Hollow was empathetic she knew not of how to lend aide or help to the neighboring tribe that so desperately needed help. |