Chapter Three
Night rolled across the landscape, bringing with it the silver hue of the quarter moon that hung crookedly like the dew claw of a warrior while stars surrounded and blanketed the night sky. With most of the apprentices and the entirety of Shadowclan asleep, Bloodpaw thought he could get some well deserved rest. Unfortunately, sleep did not want to come peacefully for the young apprentice. Every few moments would find the apprentice twitching and grunting as the camera angled and spiraled downwards until the whole scene went white.
"What's going on here?" Mewled Bloodpaw softly as he opened up his orange eyes. He found himself in the middle of a vast field of stalks that rose up into a blood red sky like dark figures while waving gently from side to side. Circling high above him, and cawing out into the still night, a murder of crows soared out of reach. Reflecting the crows from his irises, Bloodpaw was mesmerized by this until one of the crows descended from the group and landed in front of his paws. Clacking its beak several times, and giving a soft squawk, the crow began to hop away from him a few paces before stopping to turn to look back at him.
"Fine. I'll follow you." Watching as this cat began walking towards it, the crow began to hop along the ground at a steady pace. High above them, the rest of the crows were slowly following the duo like some strange guardians. Bloodpaw didn't know where he was being led to, but he needed to find out what it was the crows wanted to show him. And the deeper they went into this field, the thicker the stalks became, the taller they became; until the sky was almost blocked out from view. Even on the ground, the stalks seemed to start getting closer and closer, making it hard for the young apprentice to squeeze through. The crow he'd been following, slipped through them with ease, as though they weren't even there.
"Hey, wait up!" The blood red ginger shouted each time he lost sight of the crow. The crow would only respond with a loud squawk the moment it disappeared into the dark depths, forcing Bloodpaw to navigate his way until he caught sight of the crow's tail feathers. 'Just how far is this crow going to go?' He mused to himself as he almost got snagged on a bunch of creeping vines that somehow grabbed onto his hind-legs.
Just when Bloodpaw thought the stalks weren't going to get any thicker than now, the young ginger apprentice pushed through perhaps the thickest clump before emerging into a deep ravine. Looking over his right shoulder, the apprentice of Shadowclan saw that the stalks of the field had long since disappeared so that the rest of the ravine was all that towered over him. But, there was a scent of trouble and tension thickening the area, and as he turned back to look forward; perhaps the biggest murder of crows he had ever seen blanketed everything. Every nook and cranny was filled with crows so that it looked like one giant mass of darkness.
Though he could see their solid black beaks clacking every now and then, no sound came out from their throats. Stranger yet, and as he started to wade through the sea of crows, Bloodpaw could feel their beady eyes watching his every move, even though they made no move of their own to get in his way. They just departed as he strode through them. Walking until he was in the thickest part of them, the young apprentice made to turn back around, only to find himself staring at a bunch of cats that somehow took the places of the crows.
Like the birds themselves, they filled every nook and cranny with their bodies. However, it was their eyes, well more specifically two pairs of eyes; that made him feel a tug of familiarity. Those eyes watched him from a large cave and held two different expressions: one looked at him with pride and warmth. Whilst the other was watching him with a hidden message, as though the cat was trying to tell him something. Turning his head to look at the other cats, Bloodpaw was met with a cat already in the motion of slashing at him with their claws that glowed silver like the moon. Flinching, it was then that Bloodpaw woke up to the sun blazing directly into his eyes.
Somehow, the young apprentice had traversed the apprentice den and got to the entrance unknowingly. "What is with these dreams?" He mewled to himself as he welcomed the day with an air of intrigue and questioning. Shaking his head, Bloodpaw prepared himself for the journey to the Gorge for the race itself.