Shattered Lands - WindClan’s Disaster

The snow laid across the moor like a blanket, muffling any sound that happened to originate from beneath its surface. The rolling hills were eerily quiet, the only sound coming from the ever-present breeze that howled over the peaks and through the valleys. The sun hadn't yet made its way over the horizon, and the only sign that dawn was on its way was the faint glow heralding the sun's arrival on the boundary between land and sky. The cold had wormed its way into every corner of the world, it seemed, and the bite of its frosty teeth were the first thing that Olivestar registered as she came to that bitter morning. Letting out a shiver, the leader rose to her paws and stretched, feeling her muscles relax and the tension in her joints ease as she let out a sigh of relief. Looking up to the clear sky above, still holding onto a few stars as the sky began to lighten, she wondered briefly what this new day would have in store for her and her Clan.

Looking around, she saw that she was the first awake, that she could see, though she was sure that Softbreeze was already awake and at her duties. Olivestar felt a smile cross her face as she took in the sight of all of her Clanmates resting peacefully, and felt warmth and happiness bloom in her chest as she saw her family, all curled up together in a snoozing pile of gray, brown and white fur. For a moment, she was tempted to snuggle back in with them, to help ward off the chill that winter had brought. She resisted the urge, however, and instead, pressed her nose into the neck fur of Zinnia, Morningdove, and Lilacsong in turn, before making her way to the base of the Tallrock, where she began her morning grooming session as she waited for the rest of her Clanmates to follow suit into the world of the awake. As she groomed herself, the sun climbed slowly into the sky, seemingly clawing its way over the horizon as her Clanmates woke up, sleepy murmurs greeting the leader's ears.

Casually greeting her Clanmates as they woke up and prepared to start their respective days, the leader was preparing for her own, while also planning patrols, thinking about how much longer the cold would last, and how they'd find enough prey to make it through the rest of the cold season.
Oh, how I can't wait for leaf-bare to be over with...

As if on cue, the sun finally peeked over the camp wall, bathing the dip in the hills with weak sunlight, and the leader basked in it for a few moments before standing up and beginning to organize patrols for the day. However, she didn't get far, a sinister rumble cutting her off midsentence, and before she could wonder what could have been making that noise, the ground began to shake, gently at first, then increasing in intensity until the ground was bucking underneath WindClan's feet, fissures breaking open like great wounds in the ground.

There was a stunned silence as the Clan struggled to process the calamity before them, before a startled yowl broke the spell, and all chaos broke loose, with panicked yowls and wailing kits splitting the air with their fear as they tried to escape. Olivestar, too, was broken from her stupor, and yowled above the din,
”WindClan! Gather the kits and head for Highstones!"

With the order given, the leader looked back at the shattered camp before her, and felt her heart break as she looked at the remains of what it once was. Driven by a pang of grief, she raced back to where the cluster of nests were, and found her own miraculously untouched by the tremors of the earth, and dug through it, finding the little moss wrap with the many shiny green stones she'd found all those moons ago tucked snugly away inside the moss. It might have been a dumb thing to go back for, the leader admitted to herself, but she had been driven by sentimentality, and she knew she needed something to remember the moor by, should they never return.

Softbreeze had been in her den that morning, doing her usual proceedings. Sorting herbs and making a mental note that her coltsfoot and ragweed were running low. A small melody flowed from her maw in the form of a quiet hum. Smallbean lay peacefully sleeping in his nest still, and Softbreeze didn't have the heart to wake him just yet. She'd let him sleep longer, after all she could count leaves on her own.

The medicine cat spared a glance in the corner of her den, where Aspenheart's nest still lay, untouched despite the tom having died many, many moons ago. Grief pricked her heart like sharp thorns, but she shook her head and turned back to the task at hand. Marigold was unusually low, she'd definitely need more of that. Yawning, she stretched, having woken up at dawn (she was a morning creature,) and a flash of gray fur caught her attention. Olivestar was awake. A soft smile graced her features as she thought of her leader and friend. Despite being thrust into leadership so soon, she'd excelled at it.

Busying herself, she'd hardly noticed when one of her Clanmates mewed a tired greeting to her, and she dipped her head to them after realizing. The sun had begun to rise and now WindClan was waking up. It seemed like a normal day. That was, until the ground shook. As a kit, she'd been raised on stories of the flood that swept the Clans away.

But the river was only slightly higher, so what was this? It felt as though a thousand monsters were roaring past. Perhaps that's what it was? The ground then begun to tremble and rumble and roar, and Softbreeze yelped as she lost her balance, falling onto the den ground. She heard Olivestar yowl a command and with terrified eyes she watched a fissure open up inside her den. Panicked, she nudged Smallbean, urgently trying to get him out of the den. "Go ahead, I'll get some herbs wraps!" She instructed.

With swift paws, she dove into her stores. Never before had she been so thankful for her storing style. The herb wraps were easy to grab, and she first got one for broken bones. That had a stick at the end, and she could easily slide other parcels into it. With swift paws she nimbly grabbed random parcels (later finding out she'd grabbed greencough, infection, and anxiety wraps), and a scrap of moss from Aspenheart's nest as an impulsive last thought, before mad dashing out of the medicine den.

"Olivestar!" Softbreeze called out, "We must warn the other Clans, they might be in danger!" The look in her eyes told her dear friend all she'd need to know; Softbreeze would not take no for an answer. Passing the stick and herb bundle to Smallbean, telling him to be extra careful not to drop the moss scrap, she looked back to her leader. "I'll be quick; I just need to tell them to head to highstones. I'll go to RiverClan; then RiverClan can send a cat to SkyClan and SkyClan can go to ThunderClan, and ThunderClan to ShadowClan, or however they want to do it! Please, Olive! The future of the Clans is at stake."

Downtuft couldn't believe his ears. "Softbreeze are you insane?" Downtuft hissed, fear prickly his pelt as Shyfawn leaned on his shoulder. The trembling of the earth had taken him by surprise, and he'd wasted no time in rushing to Shyfawn; she was an elder and therefore at great risk.

In most cases, Zinnia was slow to wake; she often slept lightly, but struggled to actually remove herself from whatever place she'd settled in. Today there was no such luxury, as she was awoken not by her mate or another of her Clanmates but the shaking of the very earth beneath their paws. "I'm awake," she called, rising swiftly, before realizing that the danger wasn't just a lingering thought from her dreams. The words were lost in the cacophony of yowling as the ground began to shatter beneath them, but she heard Olivestar's voice ring loud and clear above the sound.

Gather the kits and get to Highstones.

Those were simple enough instructions to follow, something she could latch on to and focus on in the meantime, and Zinnia grasped one of the kits by the scruff before starting to make her way to higher ground. Softbreeze's voice reached her ears too late to respond, unwilling to risk dropping the kit she was carrying, so she settled for a gesture of acknowledgement with her tail as she passed. She wasn't sure that trying to warn the others was a good or safe idea, but she wasn't about to start an argument in the midst of a disaster. Certainly not with kits to protect.

That night, as like many nights for many moons, Morningdove dreamed of the stars. Not of their cool, comforting gaze, not of their unparalleled beauty and gentle shine, but of their power. Their anger, like claws digging into her fur; their righteous retribution, like a powerful strike bearing down on her; their vengeance, like... well, you get the idea, and Morningdove did too. This time around, it was a little different, though not substantially; the fury of the heavens was causing the ground to shake, and she envisioned herself standing there, paralyzed in fear, as a rift opened up beside her, all-too-familiar spectral paws reaching out from within it to drag her in. The shaking intensified, and so too did the fervor of her enemy, piercing rays of sunlight lancing down to spark fires around where she stood, a muddy sludge of blackened water cresting the horizon to bear down towards her, the spectral paws finally reaching her and brushing against her neck fur hauntingly, and--

"WindClan!

Well, that part was new; the dream-warrior struggled to listen, to find the source of the sound, even as the ground around her cracked and split open even further. Aside from StarClan's emissaries in the role of reproachful judges, Morningdove's dreams were usually far more of a private affair. So what would Olivestar's voice be doing here?

"Gather the kits and get to Highstones!"

A pause, and the warrior's eyes snapped open, focused not on the source of the voice, but on the ground beneath her - covered in a network of cracks and growing fissures, shaking just like- no, worse than- her dream. It wasn't hard to figure out what was going on here; StarClan had finally had enough. So as Morningdove pushed herself up, she made a firm promise to herself that this time, not a single other soul would be hurt by the consequences of her actions. (The cat's famous immunity to consequences had faded long ago.)

Sparked by instinct and spurred by a healthy dose of emergency, Morningdove found herself running towards the nursery, her brief lapse in timing more than made up for by her speed, only skidding to a halt when she overheard the tail end of Softbreeze's plan. You're going to get yourself killed!, she wanted to say; We can't lose you!. But then, a moment of horror, of realisation - Softbreeze would be fine, because Softbreeze wasn't the one StarClan wanted dead. Morningdove was. Which meant that, wherever Morningdove went, the assault on the territory would be strongest; and right now, she was in the middle of the Clan, surrounded by cats. Endangering them all.

"I'll go make sure the path to Highstones is safe!", Morningdove called out, before letting her legs carry her as far as they could in the direction of Highstones - and, more importantly, in the direction of away from everyone else before I get them all killed.

Turtlekit had her eyes closed as someone picked her up by the scruff. She was aware of breath on her neck and wind whistling through her fur as paws thundered on the rapidly splitting ground. She knew the earth was shaking, but she didn't know why, and figured it was best if the older cats handled it. This was actually pretty fun. It was great to be pulled through the air so fast, faster than her tiny legs could go. Maybe this was usual for everyone else. They sounded distressed, but it would all be okay.

Right?

Eyes closed and fluffy tail wrapped around his small body, Smallbean lay awake in his nest, his only movement being the faint rise and fall of his flank as he breathed. He wasn't too sure how long he had been awake for, nor did he know what time it was. If he had to guess, it was probably some amount of time after sunrise, based on the amount of sun he felt on his face. It wasn't as if he planned on sleeping in or anything, but he wasn't going to scold himself for it either. Every now and then he would allow himself to sleep past sunrise, as he had Softbreeze there to wake him in case he was needed.

After a few moments, he opened his eyes and sat up in his nest, looking around the den to see what Softbreeze was up to. He found his mentor sorting herbs on the other side of the den, humming some kind of tune. A small smile spread across his maw before he stepped from his nest, back arching as he stretched. Walking over the the she-cat, he figured he would see if there was anything she needed help with. "Good morning Softb-" his greeting was cut off when the ground suddenly shook beneath him, causing him to immediately lose balance and fall to the ground with a soft thud. Within heartbeats he had scrambled back on his feet, eyes widened with fear and worry. "What... What's going on?"  His words were panic stricken, it was obvious that he was frightened out of his mind.

At the sound of a large bang, he turned his head to look out the den entrance and into the camp. He witnessed the camp floor seemingly crumble into pieces, some pieces rising above others, the ground becoming uneven. Loud cracks and rumbling sounds filled his ears. What was going on!? Surely this was a nightmare! It had to be!

Being shook from his thoughts, he turned his head to find Softbreeze. Whatever orders she had given him had gone right over his head, but he gave a dazed nod as if he understood before looking back out into camp. He refused to believe that any of this was real. It had started out so normal, so it had to be fake, right? Something like this wouldn't happen out of the blue. It couldn't.

Despite having been watching the camp crumble, he hadn't noticed his clanmates running toward the camp entrance until just now. Without giving it any thought, he joined the crowd, not knowing where they were going or what they were trying to do. No sooner than he had taken three steps, Softbreeze had rushed up to him, giving him an herb wrap. He took it into his mouth without saying a word to her. Turning back to the camp entrance, he followed his clanmates, now hearing their directions and orders, previously blocked out by his thoughts. "H- Highstones?" He muttered the words through the herb wrap. He was beginning to contemplate if this was really happening. None of his dreams had ever been this extreme before, not even his worst nightmares. And the way everyone knew what to do. In his dreams, no cat acted the same way they would while he was awake. This seemed to logical to be a dream. "What's going to happen to us!? What about camp!?" He cried out as if any cat could understand him, the herbs he held and yowls coming from his clanmates drowning out his voice. Eventually he quieted down, anxiously listening to the worried words of his clanmates. He could only wonder how the other clans were fairing.