☆Welcome to the NOVEL VERSION of the prologue of my new comic story, Dark Stars! Press space, arrow keys, or click to read it!☆ ☆Comments☆ This is a novel version of my comic, Dark Stars. Read Valley Stone's story word-for-word in this new edition, and discover details and descriptions that were absent in the original. I hope you enjoy! ☆"And maybe, just maybe … I can be happy."☆ ☆In This Chapter☆ A junior palace guard runs away with an innocent prisoner. ☆Characters in this chapter:☆ Valley Stone ~ Junior Guard (Kingdom of Black Rubies) Queen of the Shadows ~ Queen (Kingdom of Black Rubies) Ocean Sand ~ Prisoner (Kingdom of Black Rubies) Desert Camel ~ Senior Guard (Kingdom of Black Rubies) Summer Leaf ~ Father of Valley Stone (dead) (mentioned) Fern Tail ~ Citizen (Kingdom of Black Rubies) Clay Fur ~ Senior Guard (Kingdom of Black Rubies) Stone Chains ~ Senior Guard (Kingdom of Black Rubies)
Next: Coming soon! Previous: None First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/479103323/ Studio: https://scratch.mit.edu/studios/28714143/ Original: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/479103323/ ☆Background Information:☆ The Realm of Meadows was peaceful and wonderful until a cat named Shadow Claws decided that there should be one cat in power, who is in charge of everything and every cat. She renamed herself Queen of the Shadows and turned the Realm into the Kingdom of Black Rubies. She needed a loyal, strong staff, one that could never dream of obeying anyone except herself. So she gathered her closest followers, those who had helped her rise to power, and ordered all pregnant queens and those with newborns to come to the castle. She then locked them in newly built dungeons and stole their kits, leaving them to starve in the shadowy caves. The kits were sorted into males and females. The males trained to be the strongest, fastest, most menacing and unforgiving cats in the Realm. The females were trained to sit in caves, "mating" the senior guards and producing litter after litter after litter of kits. They were all trained to follow the Queen's orders and nobody else's. An uncompetent guard would be killed. As for everyone else in the kingdom, they lived in fear all their lives, working like servants. Each cat had a job -- fishing, weaving, mining -- which involved gathering food and resources for the castle cats. In addition to that, they had to find food and shelter for themselves as well -- that wasn't the Queen's responsibility. Any cat who was suspected of disobeying a castle cat, neglecting his or her job or trying to escape would be taken away and imprisoned, and eventually killed. If this resulted in orphan kits younger than 6 moon-cycles (moons) old, then they would be taken to the castle and placed among their kits, training to become guards and kit-mothers. Willow Dew and Summer Leaf were mates and citizens of the kingdom. Both were fishers. One day, Summer Leaf accidentally brought a rotten fish to the castle -- the sneaky trick of a palace guard who had suspected him of not having enough loyalty to the Queen. Summer Leaf should have double-checked all his fish, but that day he didn't -- why should he? He was an excellent fishercat, and he hadn't made a mistake yet. But that day, the Queen found a rotten fish in her dinner and Summer Leaf was executed. Willow Dew was expecting kits, and she was growing weaker and weaker. Without Summer Leaf to help her out, it was hard to get enough fish every day to feed the Castle and herself. She worked night and day, forcing herself to eat, for her kits. She gave birth to three, named them and died two days later. Brothers Bright Leaf, Valley Stone, and Fern Tail were taken to the palace and forced to train as guards. The oldest brother, Bright Leaf, died in a practice battle with a senior guard. Valley Stone excelled quickly, and when he became an official junior guard, he begged his brother be released to become a common fishercat, due to the shortage in fish and (secretly) his brother's despair. To the brothers' delight, the Queen grudgingly agreed, knowing that Fern Tail could still be worth something if he wasn't a good guard. Valley Stone never saw his brother again in his time as a castle guard. Meanwhile, Juniper Berry was a single queen whose mate had died on a storm. She was very sick and give birth to two kits, Ocean Sand and Midnight Storm. Midnight Storm disappeared the night the kits were born; rumour had it that he had been kidnapped by the Queen's guards. Juniper Berry and her daughter lived as basket weavers, until Ocean Sand was convicted of getting help from her mother to weave her own baskets. She was taken away to the palace to be sentenced to death.
