Beginning New Lives

It had been a long journey to get them there.

Long and tiring…

Shred paused a moment to look at her companions as they paused at the entrance of the cave. Sunlight has spotted it at sunset the previous evening, but with its positioning high above where they’d been they’d waited out the night and found the path up in the morning.

At least, the calico let herself muse, the path had been fairly easy to traverse, even if difficult to find with their untrained eyes that were still learning the mountains.

She turned her gaze to the cave once more.

Their future home, the Shades had told them.

And wasn’t that odd, she mused, to know two cats now who had spoken to and knew the same shadowy beings that she did. To know others who walked in dreams as they did in life.

Creek was studying their surroundings, serious as ever. They’d crossed paths nearly a season before they’d reached the foothills, and Shred couldn’t help but be grateful for his quiet companionship.

For the way he was unwavering in his belief that they’d find this place, that they could pull of the mission they’d been given.

To bring back the thing that the Forsaken Ones had once destroyed…

Sunlight’s tail flicked as the slender molly took several steps forward into the gentle shadows of the main cave, ears pricking as she looked around. Creek and Shred had met her less than a cycle ago, among the foothills of the mountain.

A healer, she’d called herself with pride even as she sheepishly explained the reason for her ribs showing through her pelt was the difficulties she faced hunting.

It hadn’t been a problem since they’d joined up, at least, the golden and black cat already filled out to what Shred could only reason was her normal state once more with others to aid her in acquiring food.

“Come.”

Shred’s ear flicked at the call, so rare in the daylight, but with one last glance at the two cats who’d become her friends and confidants, she strode forward, the duo falling into step behind her as they flanked her.

She looked around as she walked, letting her paws guide her through the chamber. It was… massive, big enough to not only support tunnels to other parts of the cave but to have ledges and ridges and different places to lounge within this area.

She could only imagine how many cats could call this place home. How many had once.

“The history here…” Sunlight breathed, wide eyes taking in everything. “What do you think is in all the caves?”

“I don’t know,” Shred admitted quietly.

Sometimes, it felt they’d been told so much about this place, about its history. Others, like now, it felt like they’d been told nothing at all, left to learn first-paw.

“We will learn,” Creek murmured. “We always have, and we always will. This is our home now.”

“Well said,” Sunlight agreed softly as the trio continued, pausing at a tunnel set into one of the walls that dropped steeply downward into darkness.

“Come.”

Sunlight nodded, her ears perked and expression set despite the nervous twitch to her tail tip. Creek set his own expression, eyes narrowed just the slightest bit in concentration.

Shred took a breath and plunged into the tunnel first, the light fading away behind them soon enough and leaving only the faintest outlines of the tunnel to guide them, the smell of rock filling the air and the silence only broken by the sound of their pawsteps.

Deeper, deeper…

How far down did this tunnel lead?

Then, suddenly, she got the feeling the tunnel opened around them, though even as Shred peered around it was hard to get a grasp of just how large it was.

“You’ve arrived at last.”

The voice was almost as startling as the gleaming red eyes that suddenly opened before them, the glow barely illuminating the pitch black form of a cat’s face.

More eyes started to glow from the darkness, an array of colors and shades.

“Welcome,” the first Shade spoke again, the glow of his eyes intensifying to illuminate his front as he stepped forward. “Welcome, to the Shaded Mount.”

The Shaded Mount…

They’d really made it.

The confirmation seemed to ripple through the living trio, Creek’s muscles seeming to lose some of their attention, Shred’s muzzle lifting in a smile, Sunlight raising her head in quiet pride.

“We expect you’ll be the first of many to call this place home, and a great weight has been placed on your shoulders.” The Shade’s eyes closed for a moment in acknowledgment before his red gaze fixed on them once more. “But you will not be alone in this endeavor, Founders of the Tribe. We will walk with you, in dreams and in death. We will guide you, and embrace you.” He paused once more, regarding them. “You have come this far. Do you accept your place on this path?”

Shred didn’t need to look at her companions to feel them both nod. “We accept,” she confirmed aloud for them.

She got the impression the Shade smiled, that the shadowy forms around them watched on with approval.

“Then it is time for the Tribe to be reborn, and once more welcomed among the shadows. Shred, step forward.”

Shred took a breath, before obeying and striding to what almost seemed to be the middle of the clearing.

“Do you promise to dedicate the best of yourself to your Tribe, with both of your lives, until you become one with the shadows of the Beyond?”

Shred bowed her head. “I swear my lives, waking and dreaming, to my Tribe.”

A ghost of a touch rested against the top of her head for a moment. “Then be hailed as one of us, Shredded Past, Shadevoice of the Tribe.”

Shadevoice… She recognized the rank. The Tribe’s leader…

She nodded and stepped back, accepting the mantle easily as she barely made out Creek and Sunlight’s smiles and nods of acknowledgment.

“Creek, step forward.”

Creek took a breath and stepped forward, head held high.

“Do you, Creek, promise to dedicate the best of yourself to your Tribe, with both of your lives, until you become one with the shadows of the Beyond?”

Creek’s expression set in grim determination, claws unsheathing for just a moment. “I swear my lives, waking and dreaming, to my Tribe,” he practically growled.

The Shade seemed to smirk  as he brushed his nose against the living tom’s. “Then be hailed as one of us, Frozen Creek in Winter, Shadestep of the Tribe.”

Shadestep, the Tribe’s second-in-command.

Shred nodded her approval as Sunlight smiled, Creek rejoining the mollies.

“Sunlight, forward.”

Sunlight took the place Creek had vacated, eyes set with determination.

“Do you swear to give the best of yourself to your Tribe, with both of your lives, until you become one with the shadows of the Beyond?” the Shade asked.

“I sear my lives, waking and dreaming, to my Tribe,” Sunlight vowed, unwavering and unflinching even as she bowed her head in respect.

The Shade’s muzzle pressed to the place between her ears. “Then be hailed as one of us, Broken Ray of Sunlight, healer of the Tribe.”

Sunlight stepped back as he concluded, the gleaming eyes around them beginning to meld back into the shadows entirely.

“You have begun your journey in true now. Go, and know that we will walk with you until the day you join us.” Then the red-eyed Shade faded too, leaving the trio of living cats to make their way back to the surface with the profoundness of the ceremony following them.