|[ Natural ]|

Instructions

|[ Story ]| (Warning: contains moderate violence) Pain hit Raven like a bullet. No, it wasn’t a bullet. A knife. A knife dipped in ivory and spinning with deadly accuracy, laced in angered detail sharpened by the finest. A glazed bone on the end so you could lace it around your teeth or curl it in your paws, etched with cries of mercy. It spun into her chest and she gasped, awakening from confused sleep to feel the rush of blood that stained her pelt. It wasn’t obvious, too black against her already dark coat, and the burn of the night left only the moon to howl through the windows. She staggered up from her resting position only to fall back down again, calling out in strangled, warbled cries that never reached the ears of the drugged guards. Footsteps richocheted off walls and laughing shook the atmosphere, things that never hit Raven in her daze. Warmth pooled in her body before going cold, brittle as the tile beneath her. She whined and began to let herself go, numbness filing her muscles, paralysis masking her completely. Her vision turned to blur and the late-night shrieks and calls began to go into a fine hum. As she began to slip away into eternal slumber, a jolt drove through her mind. Weeks earlier, her mother began to fall away in sickness. It was unusual, as she was still quite young. Being the first female birthed in her litter of four, she was in clear line for the throne. Although she was not entirely prepared for such destiny, she knew her mother’s advisors she was already close with would help her quite well in her duties. All of this drove into her last thoughts. She had to get up, get back to her chosen destiny. With sudden strength Raven lurched up from the stone ground, pulling herself up in a sort of sucking motion. She shook herself, all the pain gone all of the sudden, and looked around for the murder weapon, her mouth falling open in shock. There, in front of her, was her own body. She stumbled backwards, catching a glimpse of the eternal wound in her chest. It shone a pearly white, a careful splatter that would never wash away, a remnant of her death. Away, she heard voices. They were of sly laughter, but she threw open the door anyway, standing out in the open of the grand hallways with open windows. Before Raven stood the eldest of littermates, who was also her best friend, Crow, and his girlfriend. They stopped in shock at the brutally swinging door, carefully turning to each other with an eye on the door. “Did you see—?” He trailed off, but there was no reason to conclude it the sentence. “The door just... on it’s own...” The two walked closer, wearing the same confused expression as Raven. They padded through her, the particles of her sheen coat exploding in contact, whirling around like a trick of the light and pulsing back together as the two cats moved. Crow let out a choked sob and his girlfriend yowled at the sight, rushing back through Raven on her way for help and reassurance. Raven carefully slipped next to her brother as he examined her cold body, placing the paws into rest and the eyelids to a close. He looked around, immediately noticing the dagger that had clattered to the floor as the murderer had left. Angrily, the black tom shook his fur and stalked up to the two guards that had silently appeared. He shoved the dagger to their faces. “Is this not Sparrow’s blade?” he roared. The soldier faced him calmly. “Yes sir, it is.” “I thought so. Has she not been out to get the throne since her birth?” The soldiers did not know what to make of this. Crow answered himself. “I thought so. D*mn her.” A pause. “It’s a bloody good thing Raven will never know she was betrayed by her own sister.” Description was too long... I don’t usually stick it into two sections for easier reading purposes but it had to be done! Sorry :/