The Curse of Cocoonclan: Ch. 5

Instructions

Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1055415290/ Previous: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1055312787/ First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1054702971/ Spiritkit arrived back in the nursery, only to find that everyone was waiting for her. "Do you feel better now?" Smokestar asked. Spiritkit nodded. "Yeah." Smokestar and Quietmist exchanged a look. "Come over here," Smokestar said, gesturing next to where Scatterkit was sitting. Spiritkit padded over, then gazed eagerly at her father. Smokestar sighed. "Since you are nearing your apprenticeship, there is something your mother and I need to tell you. Something very, very important." "What is it?" Scatterkit asked, his eyes wide open. Smokestar looked very serious when he answered. "It is a curse." Spiritkit felt a flower of fear blooming inside of her as Smokestar continued. "As you have heard the elders tell you many, many times... our forest was not always filled with fog. But when the fog took over... every kit after that was born with a curse. It could be physical or mental, the thing that will make you feel the worst. Everycat receives their curse the day they they turn 6 moons old, their apprenticeship ceremony. That's why nobody's ceremony had been delayed in the history of the fog." Spiritkit stared at her father, wide-eyed. She suddenly wasn't looking forward to her ceremony at all. What if her curse was something absolutely terrible?? "Is there a way to stop the curse?" Scatterkit piped. Smokestar shook his head. "Any kit born within the mist is prophesied to have a curse. And we cannot go outside the mist because of the barriers that contain us." Spiritkit felt a question burning at the back of her throat. "What are your curses?" She had to ask. Could curses pass on? Would she receive one of her parents' curses? Smokestar looked solemn when he said, "You mother was unable to speak after her ceremony, no matter what they tried. As for me... during an incident with a fox, we found I could never die." "Isn't that a good thing?" Scatterkit asked. Smokestar shook his head. "It is not." Loudpaw bounded across the moors, the sunlight glowing across the bright grass. It was always bright in Brightclan. The rabbit he was currently chasing was very fast, but Loudpaw knew he would catch it in the end. Lilypaw had said that she would cut the rabbit off before it reached the end of the territory, but as Loudpaw neared the tall-grass that marked the end of the territory, the was no cat in sight. "Come on, Lilypaw..." Lionpaw growled under his breath. As if speaking her name had summoned her, Lilypaw leapt out of the tall grasses and landed right on top of the rabbit, finishing it off with a quick nip to the neck. "I thought you had ended up on the wrong side of the territory!" Loudpaw teased. Lilypaw rolled her eyes. "At least I caught it. You were chasing that rabbit for what seemed like a moon!" Loudpaw opened his mouth to retort, but then the wind parted the tall grasses for a moment. Beyond the grasses, Loudpaw could see a dark forest shrouded in mist. Could it be...? But then the grasses righted themselves, and the forest was out of sight. "Are you okay, Loudpaw?" Lilypaw asked. Loudpaw shook the eerie feeling off and nodded. "I'm good. Race you back to camp!" "Hey! No fair!" Lilypaw groaned as Loudpaw took off. She picked up the dead rabbit and chased after him.