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| - "Fire." I'm walking alone through the darkness, using the glowing light from Sunshine as my way back home. Turning around, I see a cat bound up to me. She seem so familiar … "Fire!" She calls again, and I take a closer look, realizing who she is. It's Holly - the apprentice of the Head Ancestor. I stop where I am, and wait for Holly to catch up. "Holly?" I ask, perplexed. She stops right next to me, and catches her breath for a second before looking up at me, her bright amber eyes wide. "Fire, I've come to warn you." She says simply. I stiffen at once - I should've known that the Ancestors might do something to twist their promise - even after Rainbow won the bet I made. "What happened?" I ask stiffly. Holly observes my expression, before a smile breaks out on her face. But she falls silent afterward, after I anxiously look back for Sunshine and Rainbow, who have left. "You must find something 'magical' to contact the Ancestors with. Otherwise your deal cannot be worked out." "Where can I find this 'magical item'?" I ask her, anxiety crashing through me. Sunshine and Rainbow are long gone; the only light is coming from Holly, who is glowing. "It's in your valley. Only the fire that you love will be able to truly find it." "Fire? But the only one who's name is 'Fire' is, well... me." Holly shakes her head at my words. "What other fire do you love?" I close my eyes, thinking hard. Who do I love, who's like a fire? It finally hits me, and I open my eyes, smiling at Holly. "It's Flare, isn't it?" Holly nods her head. "Good luck, Fire." She says, and starts running away. "Wait!" I call out, realizing I have no way of getting back. "Holly!" She's back next o me in a flash. "What's wrong, Fire?" "I have no way to get back." At that she laughs, and touches her tail tip to my head. "Flare's rock will be the only way to communicate with the Ancestors." She whispers. And then she vanishes. ~ "Fire? Fire!" I open my eyes to see two pairs of eyes - one leaf green, and the other ice-blue. I can't seem to identify who they belong to - anxiety is overriding my thoughts. It might be because the green pair is about two inches off my face. I stagger backwards and end up crashing into the side of my nest. I look up again to see Blizzard and Flare waiting at the foot of my bed. Flare has on a sheepish smile. "What happened?" I groan, trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes. Turning around, I realize that Rainbow isn't in her nest, and I become alert at once. "Where's Rainbow?" I ask, getting out of my nest. I give myself a wash while Blizzard answers. "She left a while ago. She went hunting." A pang of sadness hits me. Rainbow didn't want me to come with her? Blizzard seems to know what I was thinking. "She said to let you rest because you didn't have a good sleep the night before." "But she was the one who fought Holly last night!" I yelp. Realizing what I said, I clap my tail over my mouth while Blizzard and Flare stare at me in shock. "Rainbow... got into a fight last night?" Blizzard asks, his blue eyes wide. "Forget I said anything, Blizzard." "But-" "Just leave it, Blizzard. Trust me. I'll tell you guys everything." I pause to yawn before continuing. "Let's go find Rainbow." The three of us pad out of the corner and, thankfully, Rainbow is right in the clearing. "Rainbow!" She looks up at once, and she lights up at our presence. "Fire!" She runs up to me. "I couldn't find you last night... I got a bit side-tracked with Sunshine." She hangs her head. "Sorry." I wave my tail, accepting her apology. "It's fine. Holly came to find me last night. She told me something vital. We ne-" "Okay, seriously! What's going on?" Blizzard interrupts us, and Rainbow shots him a look, more out of affection than annoyance. Blizzard turns back to me. "Fire," he says pointedly. "You said you'd tell us everything." Glancing at Rainbow, I sigh. "Fine. Both of you, come on. Rainbow and I will tell you the whole story." I walk to the edge of the forest before I stop. I need to find a way to get Flare with me, because we need to look for the rock. It can only be Fla- "Fire! Hello?" I'm brought back to reality by Rainbow, who has decided to wave her tail right in front of my face. I sneeze before following Rainbow to Flare and Blizzard, who are waiting patiently for me. "Alright... change of plans." I look at the three of them, and - unsurprisingly - Blizzard is the only one who looks annoyed. "Okay, Fire. Seriously. Are you going to tell us what happened to the Ancestors, or not?" I roll my eyes before telling Blizzard my plan. "Okay, so you're still going to get the whole story from Rainbow, Blizzard." Blizzard lights up at once, and Rainbow grins at me, evidently pleased. "So, what about me?" Flare asks, cocking her head. I smile at her. "You and I get a special mission." Flare bounds up to my side, and I get a look from Rainbow. Blizzard, for some reason, doesn't really seem to care. It may be because he's with Rainbow, I guess. "Listen," I say, because Rainbow's getting annoying, with her pointed look that's making me start to feel guilty. "I'll tell you guys everything, okay? Right now, I just have something that Flare and I need to do..." Rainbow nods her head, but I know that she's doubtful. I ignore her and signal for Flare to follow me into the forest. "So what are we going to do, Fire? Why am I so important." I can tell that Flare is pleased, but she's also curious. Because we both know that I would usually ask Rainbow to come with me, not Flare. "Because the Ancestors have something for you." We come to a swift river, where I stop. "The job in mind is something that only you can do, Flare-Bear." "And what's that?" She asks curiously. "That is for me to explain." Says a voice behind me. We both whip around to see a small black she-cat, her lovely green eyes sparkling, and her face lit up with a smile. It's Holly. "Who are you?" Flare asks, and I remember that Flare doesn't know Holly. "Are you one of the Ancestors?" "Ancestor in training." Holly corrects. "I'm Holly, Flare." "So what am I supposed to do?" "Close your eyes, young one." Flare obeys her. "You must find the large stone, and engrave the symbols into it." She instructs Holly. "How does Flare know which stone, and what symbols?" I ask her, perplexed. Holly's instructions are so vague. "She can see it all." Holly reassures me. "Don't worry, Fire." Flare opens her eyes and grins. "Fire, let's go!" She says, and I'm about to follow her before remembering something. "What about the other Ancestors?" Holly flinches slightly, but regains herself so that Flare doesn't notice. "They'll be fine. Now, Flare, you know what to do, right?" Flare nods eagerly, and I turn to follow her. "Oh, and Fire - you're not supposed to go with her." I stare at her. "Why not?" Holly shakes her head sadly. "This is something Flare must do - and Flare alone." Holly vanishes and I'm left alone with Flare. "Good luck. Don't let us down Flare-Bear." She grins at me before running off to her rock. ~ "Fire, you let Flare go off on her own?" Blizzard asks. He pretty much pounced on me when I got back. "Bliz? She kinda is a leader, y'know... and Fire can't disobey an Ancestor. That's stupid." "But-" Blizzard, listen. She'll be fine. This is Flare we're talki-" "Fire! Rainbow! Blizzard!" It's Flare. Running towards her, I can see that she has a rock. "See? She's perfectly fine!" I smirk at Blizzard, and Rainbow rolls her eyes. "Flare, is this the right one?" I ask her, moving to observe the rock. "Yep. And I carved in the symbols too." She's right. There are three symbols carved into the rock. The first is that of a rock, the second is of a bunch of cats, and the last one is a pool of water "Flare, how did you carve these symbols in here? This is stone." Rainbow points out. Flare just shrugs. "I honestly don't know. I tried drawing the symbols, and the rock somehow carved them deep inside." "How is that possible?" "Rainbow, this came from the Ancestors. Anything from them is totally possible." I point out. "Now," I say, turning back to the rock. "Let's carry Flare's rock back to where our nests are. She's done a wonderful deed for us." Blizzard, Rainbow, and I push the rock - very slowly - back to our nests. We've finished what the Ancestors want. My plan will go alright. Everything will be fine. ~
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