[X] The Beginning

[Mysteryfaith]

Title: The Beginning
Author: Mysteryfaith
Chapters: ?
Pairing: ?
Summary: Lunarflight is an average RoseClan warrior, struggling to train his rebellious apprentice Mysterypaw and get the one he loves, the cruel Blossomclaw, to love him back. However, everything changes when a deadly sickness wipes out the two-legs, leaving just the animals behind - but they're blighted with a plague so fierce it wipes out most of the feline kind in one night. So many are dead... but this is just the beginning.
Editor: ?
Cover: ?

First Notes: To be started later.
Last Notes:

[Chapter #]

[Story]

[Mysteryfaith]

PROLOGUE

"Lunarflight!" The desperate howl of a tom rang out through the night like a siren. "Lunarflight, please!" Pounding rain smashed against the forest floor, splashing up against leaves and soaked branches. A dark shadow flew through the forest, hiding behind tree and shrub, waiting in the storm...

Another tom rushed out of the bushes, eyes wild with worry. "Mysterypaw!" he yelled frantically. "Help me, Mysterypaw!" The silver tabby pelt of the tom sparkled in the rain, dripping with water and abnormally heavy on his shoulders. But he didn't - couldn't - care when his apprentice was lost...

The shadow crept closer to the two wild, lost felines, grinning in the deep of the woods. Another victim... The dark humour pulsed through its beast-like veins, an icy trickle of evil tickling his thoughts. This is how it should be - this is how the Clans should be.

A dark blue-grey tom slid out of a pool of mud, still howling for his mentor. "Lunarflight, where are you? Lunarflight!"

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Lunarflight, stay. Only you can save the five Clans now. Only you can be the hero. But be warned, Lunarflight - unlike any hero before you you will die before your time comes. Hurry, Lunarflight!

[Mysteryfaith]

CHAPTER ONE

"Come on, Mysterypaw, this is important!" Lunarflight couldn't hold the anger back from his voice as he watched his blue-grey apprentice sit stony-faced before him. As usual, the young tom was refusing to train with his mentor. "Now let's try it one more time, and then we can get back to camp."

Mysterypaw sneered, and unsheathed his claws, digging them into the stiff, frozen mud. "I've told you already, Lunarflight," he snapped, growling menacingly. "If you try to be my master, you're in for a shock. I am your master, Lunarflight, so you'd better listen to me."

Lunarflight scowled. "We've gone through this!" he cried in despair, almost wishing that he wasn't presented with the challenge of training this apprentice at all. If his leader wasn't so determined that he could do it, he'd sprint back to her right now and tell her immediately how strange and stubborn an apprentice he was. "I am your mentor, Mysterypaw, as Reedstar made me. Now, even if that isn't enough for your tiny, childish mind to accept, you need to understand this: only good warriors are kept by the Clan."

"That's not true," Mysterypaw scowled, raising one slender paw. "Reedstar looks after anyone, even Cheetahbloom. No one has to pull their weight in this puny Clan, so why should I?" He defiantly flicked a clot of mud at his mentor, who wisely decided to ignore the gesture of disrespect.

"Fine then," Lunarflight growled. "If you're so clever, Mysterypaw, then please accompany me to Reedstar's den. We'll have to inform her of your thoughts immediately."

A smug smile spread across Mysterypaw's face, and he trotted ahead of Lunarflight. "I'll lead the way, Lunarpaw," he meowed, sneering at his mentor, "and from now on, you'll call me Mysteryheart."He padded on, unaware or just ignoring his mentor's swishing tail.

Lunarflight clenched his teeth, and nodded. "Yes, Mysteryheart," he hissed through his grimace, determined to keep his temper under control until they reached Reedstar's den. Just let him wait - now he's in the eye of the storm, he thought, holding on to the scrap of patience he had left. Soon both Reedstar's and my tempest will be unleashed on him.

Mysterypaw followed the path that led to the camp until the gorse tunnel was in sight. Casting a glance back to his mentor, he purred, "careful here, Lunarpaw. We wouldn't want you to get hurt on your first day of training."

Lunarflight winced, and nodded, holding back the urge to slice a claw down the tom's flank. "Now, Mysteryheart, I want to be the first to see Reedstar."

Mysterypaw shook his head. "Lunarpaw, you must respect your elders! I'll enter first - I insist." He flexed his claws, now probably thinking that the gesture intimidated his mentor. "Unless you have a problem with that?"

"Well, the highest form of respect I can give to you is to introduce you to her - after all, you deserve the best, Mysteryheart." Lunarflight hated saying those words. How could the tom be so obnoxious?

Mysterypaw paused, then nodded before thrusting his small body into the tunnel. "Yes, of course," he meowed thoughtfully, appearing at the other end. "Alright, you go in first. I just need to consult with Harepaw about your training."

Lunarflight silently ignored his apprentice's remark, and wasted no time in getting to Reedstar's den. He barely announced himself before bursting in, his fury beginning to radiate from him.

"Mysterypaw cannot be trained," he growled, glad to see that the russet she-cat was awake and eating a vole. The she-cat looked up in surprise and confusion as her warrior entered. "He's disobedient, defiant, and now he wants me to call him Mysteryheart."

Reedstar chewed pensively, then set her gaze firmly on Lunarflight. "I'm sure he can be -"

"No!" Lunarflight exploded, now letting every scrap of rage he'd collected since Mysterypaw's first day of training half a moon ago. "There is no way I can continue training him."

Reedstar frowned. "Are you sure?" she mewed, clearly not seeing the tom's fury. "May another warrior be able to train him?"

"I doubt it," Lunarflight meowed. "Look, he's coming in to 'give you some ideas' in a moment. Please, he's driving me mad!" His anger turned into desperation; if only the blue-grey apprentice could understand that his actions were completely unacceptable in a Clan...

Reedstar sighed, and took another bite of vole. "I can do nothing," she meowed in a small voice. "If his disruption is so important to you, then only you can fix it. I'm sorry." She looked away, chewing slowly.

Lunarflight could control himself no more. "Listen, Reedstar!" he shouted. The noise echoed around the den