257A Simple Twist Of Fate
By: Belle the Shadow-Cat
The revised Chapter 1: Cytosine
"Hard times are about losing spirit,
and hope,
and what happens when dreams dry up."
-Out Of The Dust, Karan Hesse
It was a normal day in the forest of Paradise Valley. The birds were singing merrily in the summer sunlight, enjoying the peaceful, sunny afternoon. Most of the animals were sleeping. The only animal visible was a cat walking through the forest. The cat was of the Species called Felida, although most referred to them as cat since most creatures did not bother themselves with such formalities. Now the cat looked quite similar to domestic cats today. It was a little bigger than a lynx, although certainly a lot leaner with longer legs. These cats were most famous for their speed and agility, hence the nickname "Cats of the Wind". The cats' could reach speeds of about 65-70. Although some of the more talented felida could hit 80. The felida were very evasive in battle, preferring to duck and dodge, then when the opponent was off guard, attack. The other thing that set them apart was their claws, which were very sharp, making that made them a quite formidable opponent.
The Felida went by the name of Cytosine and she had short, beautiful orange-gold fur, much like the color of the leaves carried by the breeze of autumn. The only thing that wasn't orange-gold on her fur was a white patch of fur surrounded by her orange fur that stuck up on her front right paw. Curiously, it was in the shape of a crescent moon. Any cat in the valley having seen Cytosine once would've told you that this was a felida of aristocratic parentage. Although she was one of high parentage, Cytosine was a loner. She had an air of one that knew how to take care of herself, and indeed she could. She had few friends since she never joined up with any clan, and not being in one meant that she was forced to hunt smaller game. So that is why every once in awhile she would stay with a clan for a day. (After all, rabbit and mice can get boring in a hurry.) Today Cytosine was taking one of her usual strolls through the forest; she always enjoyed it because it gave her time to think about things.
"Perhaps I'll visit Ryo's clan today but," she thought to herself as she wandered through the forest, "it almost seems like a waste of time."
Why? came a voice inside her head. They treat you well enough don't they?
"Yes, they treat me well enough," she agreed with the voice. "But that is because they're afraid of me. They probably think I'll turn them into a mouse or something. Besides, I know what they say about me . . ."
Just then she remembered what she had overheard a felida had said about her, in its high snobbish voice. "That stupid, little golden felida. You know who I'm talking about don't you? The one who chose not to settle down in a clan just like what a sensible, normal felida would do." Cytosine winced as she remembered the rest of the felida's statement. "But if she asked to join my clan I wouldn't let her settle down anyway. She's a Light felida, you know, Sela. But she's different from the other Lights. She's a Tainted Light now! Maybe even a Shadow!" and then they had laughed. Laughed at something they didn't know. Something they didn't understand.
"I never wanted to JOIN your stupid clan anyway!" she yelled to the felida tribe, not that they'd hear it.
Just then she arrived to where her own clan used to live, every once in a while she'd end up here never knowing why, for she never wanted to come here. It would just end in heartache.
"If they only knew," she thought again.
It was had started here four years ago*, at this very place. She was only a kitten then. That fateful day her family had been torn apart by the dragons. Out of thirty felida, she was the only one who survived. That is why she had always hated dragons, particularly Dravidar's clan. They were the ones responsible for ruining her life. So, she vowed that someday she would revenge her family.
Of course, maybe Cytosine should have expected it. After all, that year the felida seers from all the different clans all said that bad things were going to come for felida in the wind clans. The warning from the Seer's had gone unheeded. The cause was perhaps the unreliability of the many Seers'. But at that time she happened to be Cytosine of the Wind clan; at least that was what she used to be. Now according to felida custom she fell back to her own sign: Light. She was now Cytosine of Light. And she would be Cytosine of Light forever until she either joined with another clan or started her own. Neither was on Cytosine's list of priorities. Nor did she want it.
The felidas' signs consisted of six elements: wind, water, earth, fire, shadow, and light. The sign you took on was determined by what phase the moon was in when you were born. Lights were on the full moons; Shadows were on the new moon or 'no moon' ; Winds were on the crescent moons; Fires was on the waning gibbous moon; Earths were on the first half of the half moons; and Waters were on the second half of the half moons. Felida custom always required a clan member to take on the sign of their clan leader as well as their own sign.
Lights were considered the luckiest and one of the rarest of all signs, since the full moon only came once a month. Perhaps that was why Cytosine had survived, because she certainly had been lucky. But then again she was unlucky enough to bear the pain of her family's sudden deaths. Was that truly lucky? Or was "fate" just intervening?
"Fate," Cytosine bitterly spat out. "What a word. My family believed in it too much. And they paid its their lives, with their blood, and with my happiness."
Cytosine walked further into her familys' home ground, she went over and sat beside an old beech tree - her family's climbing tree.
She had depended on fate when she was young and alone to see her through to the next day. Even if she wasn't sure herself whether she wanted to live or not. And as it turned out, fate had been kind enough to string her along for the past four years. Cytosine wasn't even sure what she believed in anymore, or what she should believe in. All she knew that she was absolutely tired of playing with fate's sick little games that had turned her world upside-down. She had lost a piece of herself that fateful day, the innocent piece of her that knew nothing of the cold world she lived in. Back then she knew not of pain, sorrow, or anguish, only joy. Back then she knew what she had: she had her family, and that was all that mattered. It was enough. Now her life contained little joy, and she still had yet to find that missing piece that she had lost so long ago. Perhaps she would find it once again . someday.
"It's not fair! They ruined my life for no reason. I hate them!" Cytosine cried out-loud, unsheathing her claws digging them into the nearest tree slashing furiously.
"Hate to be the Dragon that runs into you," commented a voice.
"Yeah, look what she did to that tree!" Cytosine then surveyed her handiwork, the tree had several deep, long scratches in it, though it brought little satisfaction.
It was only Luna and Silver of the earth clan - her only true friends, and the closest thing to family that she had. Silver and Luna were twin brothers and they were always with each other. They were always finishing each other's sentences like they knew what the other was thinking. Both were pitch-black with a silvery tint on their fur. The only things not black on their body were their eyes, which were deep amber. No one, not even Cytosine could really tell them apart. Luna's full title was Lunar Stellaris but they all called him Luna. They lived in a clan not too far from where she roamed. Their personal elements were ironically both Earth. This would automatically deemed them lucky in the felida custom, especially since their clan was highly superstitious.
"I'm sorry," she said looking down at the ground. "I was just - I - your clan they-"
"It's all right," said Silver, who was easily the most levelheaded of the two brothers. "We heard what they said yesterday. We're sorry. They didn't have any right to say that. And they didn't know you were there or they wouldn't have said that."
Luna ran up to Cytosine a grin on his face. "Yeah, you should have seen the looks on their faces. They went pure white, when they saw you!"
Luna was a felida who had changed the smallest over the three years Cytosine had been around. He still retained an air innocence and naïveté that Cytosine had lost all those years ago. He believed that there was a spark of good in anyone. And his curiosity knew no bounds, and it was legendary among his tribe.
Cytosine made a weak smile. She knew he was trying to make her happy.
Luna quickly realized he mistake, "I'm sorry for bringing it up. I-"
"It's all right, Luna," Cytosine said, her face then went serious. "You know you could say I un-bewitched you, and go back to your clan and live a normal life. Superstition is the only reason their letting me hang around you. I don't know how long that'll last, they'll have to start realizing my "shadow powers" aren't for real."
"Nah," said Silver. "We tried to convince them that you were a real nice felida and you didn't bewitch us into liking you. They really only talk about it in gossip now."
"But don't you ever get lonely? I mean, they rarely talk to you now. Perhaps I should just go away. Your clan would like that."
"Don't think like that, Cytosine!" said Silver horrified. "I've told you over and over you're no bother. We like you. Believe it or not, you're special, Cytosine. We wouldn't trade your friendship for anything. You're different from all the other felida in our clan. You're not stuck-up or obnoxious. You're fun to be around. Besides," he added with a smirk on his face, "we wouldn't get to do half of the things we do if you hadn't shown up."
"Yeah, I agree with Silver. Besides," Luna added, an adventurous gleam coming into his eyes, "we found a cave yesterday. One we've never been in. It was great! The cave had beetles and this big kind of spider -"
"We get it, Luna!" sighed Silver.
"Thanks guys. But you know I might go off one day. To try and find the dragons . . ."
"We know, Cytosine. And if you go, we'll come with you," said Silver his face breaking into a grin. "Besides if there was a dragon here I'd go up and give him the old one-two," said Silver putting up his paws, making quite a comical figure giving imaginary dragons the old "one-two" then accidentally hitting a rock.
She shook her head in silent mirth watching Silver prance back in forth, trying to soothe his sore paw. She had often marveled at their uncanny ability to unexpectedly turn up when she needed them, and no matter what mood she was in they could always make her laugh. They gave her something to live for.
"What do you mean you would give a dragon the old one-two? You can barely beat up imaginary enemies without hurting yourself," mocked Luna.
"You'll regret that" Silver said lunging at his brother and they started tussling with each other. Just then they stopped when they heard a loud, resounding crash.
"What was that? Someone should check it out."
"We will, Cyto. We'll be back before you know it," said Luna.
"Yeah, and if it's a dragon then I'll show Luna here what a real felida can do."
If only he knew what awaited him, he wouldn't have been so eager to make that remark.
*Felida hardly ever use years to express time, usually only when large amounts of time, usually four years or more have passed. For the most part they use Seasons; therefore four months would equal roughly one season. Four seasons in a year. They also sometimes use the expression full moon to equal a month. Therefore one full moon old=one month.
A/N: Yeah finished chapter 1. Now please review. All you have to do is push that button over there. It'll only take a minute to comment Next chapter is up-Belle