Heart of Diamonds

 heart of diamonds

 "the prophet has come"

prologue - non-believers
“Shut up, Lily!”

The small cream she-cat flinched at the harshness in her leader’s tone, flattening her ears to her head. A golden tabby sitting beside her stepped forward, dipping his head slightly in the presence of someone who outranked him.

“With all due respect, Storm, don’t you think you’re being irrational?” the tabby meowed. Storm bristled, and the tabby braced himself.

“You are the one being irrational, Orion,” Storm snarled, lashing his crooked tail. “There has been no signs of a Prophet in all of the years I’ve lived in the Alliance, or in all my father’s years, or his father’s years! You are all as blind as a newborn kit!”

“But what about the Testaments?” Lily asked shyly, concern lighting her gaze. Storm rolled his eyes.

“The Testaments were made so weak cats had something to cling to when they had lost their sense of self.” A shudder passed down Storm’s spine, as if he remembered a time when he was one of those weak cats.

A white she-cat with thick, long fur beside Storm nudged him. “Storm, surely you can’t be giving up hope yet. Maybe the Prophet will arrive soon.” Her orange eyes shimmered.

Storm’s gaze softened as he turned to look at the white she-cat. “Maybe so, Chelsea, but we can’t sit around waiting for some mystery cat to save us. We can’t contact our ancestors either with their sudden silence,” he sighed.

Orion twitched his whiskers. “Maybe we have to go seek out the Prophet ourselves?”

“No,” Storm growled, glaring at Orion. “There will be no such thing.” Lily shrank close to her brother and pressed her pelt to his as Storm’s stare hardened.

“The Prophet is not coming.”