Rise from Ash

This is the first FanFiction in the Ash series.

Prolouge
Prey's eyes opened sharply at the scent of smoke. He coughed the foul scent before peeling the heat pricking at his pelt. ''Fire. ''He quickly jumped off his special spot on the couch, where he had been sleeping.

He looked out through the window, it was night, and nobody was awake. But he was too busy running running out of the living room and trying to find and exit, to question how a fire would start in the middle of the night. The lights were off so it was impossible to see, but that didn't matter, Prey knew the house like the back of his paw.

He pushed himself to continue running, and fight against the pain and the burning on his pelt. He successfully reached an open window using the memory of his house. Just when he was about to use his remaining strength to jump out of the window, he heard a scream.

It was coming from upstairs where the parents and his best friend were sleeping. Prey didn't have to think to turn around, and go save them. He was turning around when a burning wall fell in front of the stairs, the fire created enough light for Prey to make out the carpet on them molding away. He couldn't do anything now, he would just have to pray for the best. His heart pounding like lighning, and anxienty taking over him, he jumped out of the window, where he waited patiently, not minding the cold of the night.

As he watched ambulances and firetrucks pull in he kept wondering the same thing, ''Who had hated the Green's enough to burn their house down. ''He knew this was no accident, it couldn't have been. He waited patiently though, and was thrilled when he saw his masters being pulled out. His delight soon changed to dread and misery as he realized their body's were limp. The firefighters knew it too because they sighed and didn't bother to put the bodies into the ambulance.

Prey felt his heart shatter. Those were his owners, the people who played with him, the people who took care of him and provided him shelter, the people who loved him. And they were all gone, now he had nobody, nothing remained for him to do anything but weep and mourn over his loss. The only thing that he had left was now a big pile of Ash.

Chapter 1
Lil' Sun was disscusing who she thought her mentor would be with her siblings, Lil' Night and Lil' Brave whene she heard the cry of horror. Immedeatly the three kittens' and their mother's smile and laughter dissapeared as they ran out into the clearing.

"Leader Prey has died, he was killed by a badger! Leader Prey is gone!" Lil' Sun didn't want to believ it when she heard Prey's second in comand Spark cry. But a body was being dragged into the clearing and it was obviously Leader Prey's. Rosemary and Powder were carrying their leaders body, adn laid him mournfully on the ground. All of Lil' Sun's excitment about becoming a warrior-in-training the next day dissapeared. Her mom Mother Fluff froze and the sight of the stiff body, and she quickly started soothing her kits, trying to keep them calm.

Spark steped onto the Rockpile, a fair sized pile of rocks that made the from which Leader Prey used to adress the clan. Not that Prey used to have much of a clan to adress. ALl he had was a deputy, a healing cat, six warriors, three pre-warriors or warriors-in-training, a mother with three kits, and a elder that was due to die any time now.

The clan refused to let this dicourage them however. They might only have three dens; one to sleep in, one for eating and sharing tounges and one for the leader and healer to stay in, and cats might only get once piece of prey per day, but the clan was new, and they had made very good progress in the time since it had been formed. It had only been four short seasons since Leader Prey had lost his old comforatble life and lost himself in the wild. He ad started this clan from nothing but ash, and that's what he named his clan after.

Lil' Sun knew the tale of the clans forming because her mother constantly told it to her. When Leader Prey came to the forest, he had to survive alone, but he befriended two cats and they agreed to help each other out. The two other cats who were elder, Old feather, and the medicine cat Mud, mated and Old feather gave bith to four kits. They were cared for and when they were old enough they began to help hunting as well. Eventually more cats joined, some were born into the clan, some mothers submitted their kits to the clan so that they could be taken care of, and some cats came to the clan seeking shelter in return for their services. Ashclan took everybody in, who wanted to join. About one third of the cats who joined Ashclan are dead, not a very good rate, but your chances were lower in the wild out on your own against terrible beasts like bears and badgers.

Ashclan did have borderd but they were very small, so the warriors ofter hunted beyond the clan bounderies to get whatever prey was left. Several cats have died defending territory, but their sacrifice proves nto to be in vain as the boundaries are always protected. Leader Sprak was very strict on protecting the little amount of land which beloinged to his clan.

Ashclan had a rather large camp though. The dens were well protected since they were dug into the ground and covered by bramble thickets. The healer stored his herbs under different rocks, and had to quickly be able to recognize which rock had which herb in an emergency situation.

There was a pile of prey, which was guarded by one warrior. Around evening Leader Prey would jump onto the rock pile and make his anouncments as well as ceremonies for the day. Cats would usually eat there prey then, as Leader Prey talked about the ansecntors that lived in the clouds, a place where there was enough prey, and ll cats who were noble would go there. Lil' Sun wondered if he was in Starclan right now.

Lil' Sun was also wondering is she would become a warrior-in-training tommorow, now that Leader Prey had died. One of the laws of the clan were that at one season, kittens become apprenticed, and at two seasons they were assesed to see if they were worthy of becoming warriors.

Lil' Sun wasn't going to deny it, life was tough in the clans, but it was an adventure too. You had friends and frenemies to watch your back, you had exciting moments when you would become a warrior-in-tarining a warriror or become a teacher for one. You also had cats to turned to during emotionl distress. The healer also dealt with a lot of cats that had depression.

But know Lil' Sun wondered if her clan would be able to recover. They had made it through other deaths but this was their leader, the only leader they had ever had. Spark sighed as he paddled on top of the Rockpile ad adressed Ashclan, "May Leader Prey rest in peace up in Starclan. One day we will all join him in that pradise. I will be the new leader of Ashclan and my deputy shall be..." he looked around for a moment, "Leaffy!"

Leaffy looked surprised, proud, and happy but the joy was bitter sweet and so were the chants of te clan. However the chants cheering on Leaffy were proud and meaningful. They still hadn't given up, they were still in this, and they wanted to continue what Leader Spark had started. Ashclan were survive after all though Lil' Sun.

Chapter 2
It hadn't taken a day for the clan to recover. By the next sunrise two cats were up and heading out for their dawn patrol. In the morning there were foive pieces of prey stashed onto the pile of prey, Leader Spark had also entered the den to talk with Mother Fluff about how they were going to become warriors-in-training today. Lil' Sun couldn't wait and she was boiling all of over with excitment. She had to wait until sunset however since it was tradition that all cermonies be done alongside the evening anouncments. Now she was having a debated conversation with her littermates on who their teachers would be.

"Well," Lil' Night murmured thoughtfully, "The only cats availible are Leader Spark, Coconut, Hazel, Rosemary and Powder."

"Momma will become availible too," Lil' Sun added a little brightly, "Who do you want?" she asked Lil' Brave.

Lil' Brave didn't even need to think, "Of course I want Leader Spark," she rolled her eyes.

"I actually want to be apprenticed to healer," Lil' Night admitted and when the two other cats gave her startes she shrugged, "What? She can handle two warriors-in-training for a short period of time. Petal-in-training is almost done training so she will only have to multi-task for a short period of time."

"Did you tell Leader Spark about this?" Lil' Sun asked her.

Lil' Night hook her head, "I told momma but I didn't tell anyone else. I think she told Leader Spark though so I will problably get Mud as my teacher, or maybe Petal-in-training will teach me the basics until she becomes a full healer."

Lil' Sun and Lil' Brave looked at each other, "I don't think we'll get Leader Spark, a leader is too busy leading to train. We'll problably just get one of the warriors, cuz i don't think that he will want to give us momma either. I'm still super excited though!" she exclaimed, to which her littermates squeeled in agreement.

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"Lil' Brave, I free you from the weight of your dependence and start your jouney towards warriorship by taking your name Lil' Brave and giving you your new name Brave-in-training. I have chosen Coconut to assist you on your journey."

Coconut, who seemed slightly surprised paddle onto the rock, "Coconut, just like others have helped you on your jouney it is time for you to help others on theirs. I hope that you pass down all of your durablity and courage to Brave-in-training."

Lil' Sun waited with excitment as Leader Spark turned to her. She already knew that she would get a warrior as a mentor but the thought of finanlly being removed from kithood excited her. "Lil' Sun, I free you from the weight of dependence and start your journey towards warriorship by taking your naming Lil' Sun and giving you your new name Sun-in-training. I have chosen Rosemary to assist you on your journey." A flash of happiness spread across Rosemary's face but it was replaced by seriousness as she paddled onto the Rockpile and and Leader Spark approached her.

"Rosemary, just like others have helped you on your journey it is time for you to help others on theirs. I hope that you pass down all of your your empathy and justice to Sun-in-training."

Finally the leader turned to Lil' Night "Lil' Night, I free you of your dependence and start your journey towards being a healer by taking your name Lil' Night and giving you your new name Night-in-training."

Mud the healer, didn't need to be summoned to the Rockpile. She automatically walked on top of the pile which Sun-in-training was starting to feel squished on the pile of rocks which couldn't hold seven cats. "Healer, just like others have helped you on your journey it is time for you to help others on theirs. I hope that you pass down all of your healing and medicine skills to Night-in-training."

The three apprentices touched noses with their new mentors as the clan started cheering the name of all six cats. They all stood proudly and Sun-in-training felt herself draining all of the energy and support. She would start training now, she would help Ashclan grow and build a huge strong clan, which would have a large amount of territory, lots of cats, t least two pieces of prey for a cat per day. She could just feel that was the destiny of her clan.

But as Sun-in-training gleamed with pride, clouds gathered above the Rockpile and Sun-in-training thought she heard a silent message the clouds were delivering, one just from her. ''All things must burn to Ash. Ash can only become Ash. You are destined to burn with Ash.''

And just like that the clouds dissapeared, leaving Sun-in-training stunned, as light returned to the clearing, showing no sign of the ominous message which had just been delivered.