This Is the End
By BladeOfHope
Prologue
Was it worth it?
Time stands still as the darkness absorbs me. It swirls around inside my mind, eating away at my very being. Soon it will all be over, and nothing will be the same.
The silence is almost unbearable. I am trapped in a dark, soundless expanse. No life exists here, and I feel that I could go insane if I stayed here for too long, sealing myself inside the shadows invading my mind.
When will it be over?
A sudden beam of light catches the corner of my eye. I can't feel my body well enough to be able to turn towards it, but as I wait anxiously, the light seems to grow brighter. I feel a strange sense of warmth creep into my paws, and for the first time I notice how bitterly cold it is here.
As the warmth gradually spreads through my body, I find that I am regaining the ability to move. I turn my head just slightly toward the light. I narrow my eyes against the intensity of it as it grows brighter.
Maybe now I can escape.
My paws start to cooperate, but when I try to run I find that it is impossible. This empty expanse has no surface for me to travel across. I have no way of reaching the light that I so desperately want to reach.
I strain towards the warmth, but I cannot move towards it. I hang suspended here by some invisible force. With horror I realize that the light is dimming. I try to call out, but no sound leaves my mouth.
What is happening?
Eventually the light fades entirely, and the warmth starts to leave me. I lose feeling once more, and I can no longer see anything in this expanse.
I close my eyes before I lose all movement. I give in to the emptiness and surrender myself to its frigid silence. It is all I can do. I can't stay here, all alone. I can't remain here for all of eternity. I give into it and let it pull me away, piece by piece, until I slowly start to disappear.
So this is the end.
Chapter One
Echopaw struggled to her paws. Her opponent launched himself at her again, hissing. Echopaw ducked and whirled around; the tom landed clumsily behind her. She jumped and pinned him to the ground. "Give in!" she said in what she hoped was a commanding voice.
"Very good!" a friendly voice meowed from behind her. Echopaw looked up to see her mentor, Mistyrain, walking up to her with warmth in her eyes. "You can let him up now."
Echopaw stepped off of the young tom, who stood up and shook the dust from his pelt. "You messed up my fur, Echopaw," he complained.
"Sorry, Bramblepaw," Echopaw purred. "Maybe we should change your name to Dustpaw."
He dropped into a crouch and wiggled his rear. "Is that a challenge? Whoever loses the next round gets to be renamed Dustpaw?"
Mistyrain stepped between the two apprentices. "Enough," she scolded, but Echopaw could see her amusement. "You both did very well."
Bramblepaw's mentor, Flamingsun, glanced at the sky. "We should get back to camp. It's going to rain soon," he observed.
Echopaw followed her mentor out of the training hollow. She fell in beside Bramblepaw and nudged him with her shoulder. "I'll beat you next time, too, Dustpaw," she teased.
He pretended to be upset. "What did I do to deserve this?" he meowed in a whiny, high-pitched voice.
"Let me think," Echopaw purred. "You existed, of course."
He gasped and feigned shock. "Well! Maybe I won't share my fresh-kill with you!"
Echopaw stopped walking and watched as he hurried ahead and said something to Flamingsun. The huge ginger tom flicked his tail over his apprentice's back, and they vanished into the undergrowth, with Mistyrain close behind.
I like training with Bramblepaw, she thought. He's fun.
Suddenly a raindrop landed on her nose. She looked up at the stormy sky. Lightning flashed across the gray clouds, and thunder shook the ground. She ran in the direction of the camp as the rain started to get heavier.
She skidded under the bush that made the apprentices' den and dove into her nest, shivering. Bramblepaw lay in his own nest next to hers. "Forget Dustpaw, your name should be Wetpaw," he told her, whiskers quivering.
Echopaw stood up and shook the water from her pelt. Bramblepaw scooted into the farthest corner of his nest, but most of the rainwater landed on him anyway. He glared at his wet pelt with indignation, and Echopaw stifled her purr of amusement by pushing her muzzle into the moss.
"I'm too tired to argue," the brown tom sighed, making himself comfortable again. "Mistyrain and Flamingsun know how to make us work hard."
Echopaw meowed her agreement. "At least no cat would ask us to go out on patrol while it's raining. We can get some rest."
Bramblepaw had already fallen asleep. Echopaw rested her head on the side of her nest and let sleep whisk her away as well.
They just won't stop.
My life is far from peaceful. Terror grips my mind as I try to find my way out of this shadowed place. I was only an apprentice when they killed me. I don't know enough to figure everything out.
That was an unjust battle. I was so young; they, as full-grown warriors, had no right to kill me in the way they did. But I had to do something. I couldn't let them kill my denmate.
Was it really worth it?
This is the question I have asked myself so many times. After sacrificing myself to save him, they vanished and took me with them into their dark world. Here I live after death, but this a life I would never wish upon anyone, not even the enemies I had when I was still alive.
I can only hope that it will end someday. I hope that I can somehow die again and be freed from this land. Even a life as an invisible spirit that no one remembers must be better than this.
Sometimes hope is the only thing a warrior has left to cling to.
I have remembered this phrase from the time when I was still alive. It is something that my mentor told me. I have forgotten nearly every other detail about my life. I think the only reason I remember this phrase is because I was so terrified when I was first brought here.
My memories are growing hazy as time goes on. I do not know how long I have been trapped here. It may be that I have been here only a few moons, or it may have been many season-cycles ago that I was slain. No matter how long it has been, there is still an indefinite length of time stretching out in front of me.
The end has not yet come.
This is what I remind myself. It is not over, no matter how much I want it to be. At least I know that either no other cat has been forced into this awful situation, or somewhere there is a way out. I have never once seen another frightened cat wandering this world.
Knowing this is the hope that I have left to cling to. It is the only thing that keeps me going. At the same time, I know that I have to find a way out of here. I cannot remain here forever.
Somehow, I will escape.
Chapter Two
Echopaw awoke early the next morning. Sunlight streamed into the den. The warmth of the light cutting into the coldness pricked some vague, distant memory at the back of her mind, but she couldn't figure out why the sensation was so familiar.
She looked over at Bramblepaw's nest and saw that he was still asleep. She quietly left the den and let the light of dawn stream over her, filling her and chasing off the hidden shadows of sleep.
Mistyrain saw Echopaw and beckoned her over to where she was sitting with Flamingsun. "We were just discussing your assessment," she called in greeting.
Echopaw hurried over. "You really think Bramblepaw and I are ready to become warriors?"
Flamingsun exchanged a glance with Mistyrain. "Not Bramblepaw," he said slowly.
"What?" Echopaw was wide awake now. "Bramblepaw is just as skilled as I am!"
Flamingsun shook his head, irritated; Mistyrain at least had the sense to look ashamed. "We just don't think he's ready," Echopaw's mentor replied awkwardly.
"But he's just as experienced as I am!"
Flamingsun growled, surprising Echopaw. "We feel that he isn't quite as mature as you are," he said gruffly. "Bramblepaw isn't ready to be a warrior yet, and that's final."
Echopaw's mind was whirling. She had dreamed of becoming a warrior with Bramblepaw for so long... "Then I won't be a warrior either," she blurted.
Mistyrain looked alarmed. "What? But Echopaw, you've worked so hard!"
"So has Bramblepaw," she insisted. "If he doesn't become a warrior, neither do I." She turned and walked over to where the Clan deputy, Sharpnettle, was arranging patrols. "Can I go out with a hunting patrol?" she asked him.
The brown tom glanced at her. "Sure, Echopaw. You can go with Mosspelt and Redlily." He turned back to the other warriors and immediately got into an arguement with one of the warriors. "No, Clawderp, you can't catch a robin by growing wings and following it all over the territory!" he said angrily.
Echopaw hurried over to where Redlily was waiting. "Sharpnettle said I could join you. Is that okay?"
"Sure," Redlily said warmly. "We could always use some more paws. Ready to go, Mosspelt?" she called to the gray tom, who had been talking with a group of young warriors.
"I'm ready," he said, meowing a goodbye to his friends. "Where should we hunt first?"
"How about the old Twoleg nest?" Echopaw suggested. "No one's been there for a while."
Redlily nodded her approval. "Good idea. Let's go."
As Echopaw followed the two warriors out into their territory, she felt a pang of unease. Why won't they let Bramblepaw be a warrior? she thought. He's just as ready as I am.
She pushed these thoughts to the back of her mind and tried to concentrate on the scents in the air. It was going to be a long day.
The day is getting closer.
I can feel it. I just know something is going to happen soon. I can't explain it; it's a feeling I have deep in my heart. My heart is telling me that an escape will open itself to me soon.
For now, though, I must still stay here, abiding by the rules of cats with shadowed minds. However, the darkness does not seem so complete as this ray of hope pushes its way through me, coursing through my veins like my very blood.
Maybe I can save myself.
I whisper these words aloud. My voice is hoarse from having remained silent for so long; all the same, the words seem to have a deeper meaning than I can yet understand.
My death was not a pleasant one. I had snuck out with my denmate to try and solve a problem on the edges of our territory. We were ambushed by shadowy cats who tried to kill my denmate. I sacrificed myself to save him. I would do anything to be able to go back and save myself from this fate.
I shouldn't have spoken.
The shadows are pressing in, and it feels like they are slowly suffocating me. I close my eyes and take a few deep breaths, reminding myself that fear will only crush me if I let it. I've learned a few things from being here for so long.
Sure enough, a heartbeat later I can breathe normally again. The shadows still block the edges of my vision, but they are no longer surrounding me.
I am safe, for now.
There is no telling how long I will remain safe, though. I know they want to weaken me. They want me to fail and give into their dark ambitions. I must not give in!
I must remain strong. I cannot let them know how deeply they affect me in my weaker times. It feels like the shadows want to lead me to a better place, where fears do not exist. These are all lies. I know that if I give in, I will be under their control.
I will not give in.
Chapter Three
Mistyrain huddled next to Flamingsun in the warriors' den. Their nests were in the one part of the den that the rain couldn't reach, but it was still cold. A sudden clap of thunder made the she-cat move closer to her fellow mentor.
Flamingsun ran his tail across the she-cat's spine. "It's okay," he soothed. "It can't hurt us."
"I know," Mistyrain meowed, burying her muzzle in Flamingsun's ginger pelt.
"Look, don't worry about it, okay?" he told her. "Just because Echopaw refused to be separated from Brambleclaw, we don't know that the plan is ruined. We'll make it work."
"I know," Mistyrain murmured. "We'll win somehow."
They fell asleep curled up together on that stormy night.
Meanwhile, in the apprentices' den, Echopaw and Bramblepaw were similarly huddled together.
"I'm scared," Echopaw whispered. "It's so loud."
"I'm scared too, but it's alright," Bramblepaw reassured her. "It can't hurt us. It's just a storm."
"I know." Echopaw rested her head on her paws. "I just can't sleep. I'm scared I'm going to dream about the shadows again."
"You know they're just dreams, Echopaw."
"But they scare me!" Echopaw stood up and started pacing around the den. "They're so realistic. It's almost like I really am trapped in the shadows and unable to escape." She collapsed back into my den. "I just know that if I go back to sleep, they'll come back."
"I'm here, Echopaw," Bramblepaw said quietly. "If I think something is wrong, I can wake you up."
Echopaw pushed her muzzle into his brown fur. "Promise?"
"Promise." Bramblepaw licked her ear. "You need your sleep, Echopaw."
"I know." Echopaw breathed his familiar scent in one more time and curled up in her nest. She fell asleep quickly, and she didn't dream.
Neither apprentice knew about what their mentors were talking about at the exact same time.