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| - Part of the Passing. Enjoy <3 (Special thanks to brighty for the cover <3) "Sagepaw, don't be reckless and come back." Her mother called out, "Tonight is the Passing, and it's best that we stay in our dens." "But I want to see what the Passing is like!" Sagepaw sighed. Snowflutter ushered her daughter back in, "No you don't, there are dangers in the Passing, if you get sucked in, you won't be able to come back." "How do you know that?" Sagepaw mewed sullenly as she let her mother usher her into the den, "Have you been pulled through there before?" Snowflutter rolled her eyes as her daughter babbled on, and someone was snickering softly from the third world. "She's perfect, when the Passing finally opens, let's take her." "Don't be reckless, Kaya, this passing is going to last only a day. That's barely enough time to get through and come back." Another voice sounded. "Barely, but enough for me." Kaya snarled. "You're going to end up getting stuck in the second world!" The other voice growled, "What do you want that she-cat for anyways? Just another slave in your den?" "You know about our grand scheme, Koal, I need more workers if I'm to finish my part of the scheme. I need more laborors." Kaya mewed. Koal sighed, "Do whatever you want, just don't get stuck in the second world, you know how hostile they are towards us." "Useless scum, we should grab a few of them too." Kaya muttered. Koal rolled his eyes and stalked away, "Do what you wish, Kaya, but don't get stuck." ~ Sagepaw peeked out from her den, desperate to find a break in the ranks of the warriors to escape. She just wanted a see what the Passing looked like, and then she would hide safely in the apprentices' den. Mintpaw was tugging for her to come back, but Sagepaw easily shoved her aside. She managed to slip away, and excitedly bounced through the forest, trying to find the exact location of the Passing. Suddenly a yowl sounded from the camp, and a huge and ferocious wind knocked her over. Sagepaw let out a cry, and there were a pounding of footsteps that can from nowhere. The young apprentice swung her head around, trying to spot the incoming cat. A small rasping noise appeared next to her, and she shrieked. A hole yawned open, and she realized a cat was running through towards her. Then she heard Snowflutter yell, "Sagepaw, get away from there!" But the cat was purring, and her eyes glinted in the faint light. The Passing was terrifying. Sagepaw backed away, but her paws felt rooted to the ground. Soon, the cat would be upon her. "Sagepaw!" She looked back and saw her mother. "Snowflutter!" She screamed. Other cats were appearing, but there were also other cats in the hole. Suddenly, a draft of cold wind overwhelmed her, and the cat was coming closer and closer. Snowflutter had nearly reached her side, but she felt claws snag at her pelt, and suddenly she was falling... Falling... and falling. Snowflutter's image became fainter and fainter, and she was aware of distant cries of grief and horror as blackness began to edge around her vision. More and more wind began to encircle her, and all she could feel was the sensation of plunging through air. The last thing she saw was Snowflutter's sorrowful gaze as she faded into darkness. "Hey, Akuri, wake up!" I jerked awake as someone prodded my side. "Suki, don't be harsh on her! She just fell down a cliff for StarClan's sake!" Everything looked fuzzy. I could barely make out the cats standing before me, and everything was hurting. "I fell off a cliff?" I groaned, my voice barely a rasp. The older she-cat nodded, "I'm Sarki and this is my younger sister, Suki. You're Akuri, or that's what the minders call you. We were shocked to see you falling off a cliff. There was another cat with you, one of the minders in fact." Finally, the fuzziness cleared up, and I realized that Sarki was a dark shade of brown while Suki was light gray. They didn't seem like sisters, and my name didn't seem like Akuri. But I couldn't remember much. "Why am I here?" Suki shrugged, "Most of us wake up with nearly no memory of how we got here. But I do remember I was in FireClan, and that Sarki was in fact my older sister. Other than that, I have no memory of my earlier life, and how I got here." Sarki nodded, "I didn't remember anything about Suki, but I did know that I was a warrior in the Clan before everything became dark and murky." "The Passing!" Suki looked shocked, "What? The Passing? The minders hate it when we talk about that kind of stuff." Her eyes were wide. Sarki looked anxious, "You're nearly healed up, and when you're actually healed up, we'll need to show you your station." "What station?" I mewed, confused, "Aren't we in a Clan?" Suki leaned over and whispered, "I think they grabbed you through a Passing. You're probably like us." She sighed miserably. A gruff voice growled, "Hey, you three, you're to go hunt when she recovers." One of the burly toms shoved Suki aside and kept walking. Sarki muttered something that wasn't pleasant and huffed, "Come on, Akuri, we better set ourselves to work before they do it the harsh way." I slowly sat up and began to groom my fur. Suki nosed me up instead and led me away, "There's no point in grooming your pelt, we're the prisoners here, we have no time for such petty and time consuming tasks." We entered a small grassy clearing where several cats were already hunting. On of the pair of cats bounded over, "Hey, Sarki! We have seven pieces of prey, and since we only need five, you can take these two." The tom purred. He linked his tail with the dark brown she-cat and mewed, "This way you don't have to work so hard for five." "Thanks, Oree." She nudged him playfully. The she-cat standing next to Oree dipped her head to Sarki and Suki, but eyeballed me with a spiteful look in her eye, "Who are you?" She mewed rudely. "Who are you?" I shot back. She gaped at me, and Sarki sighed, "Excuse Akuri, she was just grabbed from the first world to here." The others made noises of sympathy, and I glared at them. Suki sighed miserably, "Come on, the day's going to be a lot longer than you think, Akuri, we better start hunting." Oree and the she-cat slipped past, and I sighed as I trotted after my two new friends. I hope this gray world wasn't where I'd be stuck forever. ~ Images swirled in my head, and I closed my eyes, groaning. "Akuri?" Sarki seemed worried, and she had leaves in her mouth, "Are you alright?" "Do I look alright?" I gritted my teeth, another rocket of pain digging into me. More images flashed across my eyes, but they were too fuzzy to make out. Suki pressed against me, her body warm and non-threatening compared to the images that were attacking me. I didn't even want to think about where I came from anymore. It wasn't worth it. Nothing in this world was. Before long, Sarki was nudging me awake, and we had to go to the fields again. From what the dark brown she-cat had told me, it was best that we stayed on hunting duty, feeding the prisoners that were working down in the tunnels, and feeding the minders that watched over us like hawks. I was starting to feel myself go away, the old "whatever my name was" becoming this Akuri that I would have never become. I learned that we were in the third world, a world of gray colors and a world of hatred, grief, and loss. Apparently I came from the first world, and the Passing was the second world. "Keep moving, you prisoners!" I winced as I heard the yowls of pain that came from the underground tunnels. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live down there, digging in the earth, knowing that any day you could be crushed under all that mud.
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