Dovefeather was gone.

Emberpaw glanced around for Lizardtooth. But the older warrior was missing as well. She had sworn she saw them before putting her vole down.

Did that mean Currenttail was gone too?

She whipped her head around, yet he was still recovering from the crash. When he looked to no Dovefeather or Lizardtooth though, his eyes widened.

"Dovefeather?! Lizardtooth?!" Emberpaw yowled.

Currenttail nudged her, "We should go tell Fernstar and Sparrowtuft. We might go missing as well if we linger here, it's better to let more cats know. So they can have at least a few clues about their disappearance."

Emberpaw gave him a nod. "Alright." Wow. That was something they actually agreed on.

But it wasn't the time to be thinking about that. She looked for the pathway to camp. Yet all the trees and rocks looked the same.

It wasn't like that before... and Emberpaw knew the whole territory by heart.

"Uh- is it just me or does everything look the same to you?" She questioned Currenttail. Taking a quick glance to make sure he was still there.

There was a long pause from the tom. She saw his eyes dart around, assuming he was looking for a difference. Yet he had been looking for a while.

"Your right... It doesn't even look like FreeClan." He muttered.

"I can't believe it! We're lost in our own territory!" Emberpaw exclaimed. She started to pace in frustration.

She knew every branch on every tree by heart. She knew what each rock had looked like, each point on it. She knew where all the fallen trees were. Every patch of grass even was recognizable as different.

Yet everything looked the same, each branch was in the same place, the same length. All the rocks had been smooth and large, all trees were a fox-length away, none had been fallen. The grass looked like a bunch of green sticks pointing up out of the ground. There wasn't even any scent of prey anymore.

"Wait, look." Currenttail had spoken again. He pointed his tail towards a rock, "that's the pointiest rock in our clan. If that's there then..." he pointed his tail a tad bit to the right, "camp should be that way."

"I didn't see that before." Emberpaw admitted. Though she was relieved that he had spotted it. She was a bit embarrassed for not managing to spot it herself. Now that she remembered, she did recognize it. She just for some reason remembered a smooth one being there.

Right after she had said that though, the rock vanished in front of both their eyes. It left an empty patch of grass where it should've been. Now that made her unsure if that was the right way to camp...

She backed up a bit when she watched it vanish. She bumped into Currenttail again, but she didn't push him over like before. The both of them froze. Was this something created by StarClan? If it contributed to her dream that'd be great. But she had no idea what this meant!

"Are you sure this is FreeClan..?"Currentail muttered as he searched for the rock again.

Emberpaw circled around but everything was the same again, "Maybe we should just go that way and hope it get's us to clan?" She suggested.

"Yeah, but first. Where did we want to go again?" Currenttail asked. Emberpaw wanted to point out the direction, but since the two cats had moved away from it they lost track of where it was. She desperately looked for any sign of a way to came as she frantically turned to each direction. She examined it closely for change, finding nothing though.

"StarClan, we don't know what's happening! Please give us a clearer sign! Or just get us home!" Emberpaw pleaded as she looked up to the sky, even the clouds looked the same, though there weren't many. The sun didn't make her squint either, questioning her even more.

"Let's try looking for somewhere that doesn't all look the same." Currenttail murmured, ignoring her other efforts. She rolled her eyes and sighed, following him as he went in a random direction.

Yet nothing had changed as they walked through the unknown territory they lived in their whole lives. Moments became longer as time passed and they couldn't tell anything apart.

"Is this what Dovefeather and Lizardtooth did? Did they wander so far like us that they couldn't get back?" Emberpaw asked Currenttail.

He shook his head, "No, that doesn't explain them vanishing out of thin air..."

"That's true."

She sighed as she sniffed the air and looked for anything. Herbs that were in one spot, a piece of prey that was different. Anything, anything!

"If I vanish or go missing scream really loud." She ordered, "or I'll do it, so you can find me..."

Currenttail gave her a shrug. He rolled his eyes as he kept on hearing in the same direction. Perhaps they would end up in another territory, that would help. Yet the forest seemed endless.

Silence came after that. It was just then looking for any clues on how to get out. Or even better, get to camp. Yet nothing appeared.

And the forest starting to dim, dark cloud rushed over them as the sky turned dark. Fog filled the forest. The trees started to look dead, with brown leaves.

Emberpaw shrieked. The sun could have set, but it didn't set this quickly! Plus this many clouds couldn't have rushed over that quickly.

She didn't look for Currenttail's expression. Focusing on looking around for anything that was there. If the area was getting dark and spooky. Who knew of a dog would come out of nowhere or something like that.

She shut her eyes tight, attempting to slow down her breathing and calm down. Yet her heart was racing as her mind filled with thoughts of things happening.

She had fell to the ground. Whimpering like a helpless kit, she wrapped her tail around herself. Curling up into a tight ball as she pinned her ears back.

She peeked open one eye to make sure Currenttail was still there. But now was surrounded by brambles and moss.

The suns rays had lighted her nest as she opened both eyes. Had it all been a horrible dream?

Yet it felt so real. Cats acted a bit strange. But some had perfected personalities. They sounded like the real cats.

That meant Pureheart probably wasn't found. Unless StarClan predicted it and just wanted to tell her first for no particular reason.

Emberpaw yawned as she stood up and out of the nest. She put her paws out as she leaned and stretched. Waiting until she cracked her back.

The apprentice headed out of her den. Maybe she would get to train with Fernstar today? For like the first time.

She took a quick glance to Currenttail. He had been in the dream the longest. He seemed a bit out of it. But it might've been just of Pureheart's disappearance.

He always stuttered around cats, especially Pureheart. It was pathetic, really. So why would he care so much about someone he could barely say "Hello" to?

Emberpaw shrugged as she headed towards the Freerock. She stood nearby it, curling her tail around her paws as she waited for Fernstar to talk to her.

She seemed to be chatting with Sparrowtuft. The two were assigning patrols and discussing something. Based on the latest drama, it was probably Pureheart.

"What if another clan's holding her hostage?" She whispered to Sparrowtuft.

"FreeClan is at peace with the other clans. That would be impossible unless they wanted to start a battle for no reason at all."

"Hopefully she isn't dead yet. Wherever she is, I hope she's safe."

Though worried about the medicine cat's disappearance. Emberpaw really wanted to train. Making up theories didn't help Pureheart. But maybe training an apprentice who could then help would work. She cleared her throat, taking quick glances to the leader.

Fernstar took a glance at her before ending the discussion with Sparrowtuft. Who was left to assign patrols on his own. She headed over to Emberpaw with a calm expression.

"Well, we haven't started training yet, have we? It seems we should probably do it now." Fernstar told her.

Yes! Finally! She thought, Just please don't give up on me. At that point I'd have nobody who would want to train me...

"Let's head out then." Fernstar said without waiting for her nod. Which her excitement made her forget about.

The leader padded out of camp with Emberpaw following behind. She had faith in the FreeClan leader that she would do well. So what was first? Hunting? Fighting?

They had headed to a clearing. Which made Emberpaw assume it was battle training. It was better then Monarchwing making her hunt all the time already!

"I wanna see how much a quick thinker you are." Fernstar started once they got in the middle of the clearing. "So come at me, claws sheathed obviously."

Emberpaw nodded. Fernstar started to count down. The heartbeat she said "go" Emberpaw rushed forward, ramming into Fernstat.

Yet the leader was quick, with seasons of experience. Or more. She dodged to one side before taking a sharp turn. Her paws were already pressed out as she pushed Emberpaw into a tree. Fernstar ran toward, pinning her to the tree by her shoulders with ease.

"Try again, but actually put thought into it. I can tell you're just rushing into action." She told her before letting go.

Fernstat backed up from Emberpaw. Awaiting for her next move. Emberpaw ran forward trying to ram into her again. But she knew the leader would dodge this time.

She skidded to a stop right when the leader dodged. Emberpaw darted to the side as Fernstar leapt for her.

I got to act quick if I can even touch her. She figured.

She ran back to the recovering leader who was already ready to dodge. Instead Emberpaw leapt up. Narrowing her eyes on the leader and landing on her. She pinned her down.

"Much better." Fernstar said. Despite kicking of off with ease. Emberpaw's eyes lit up: that was the first time she was able to perform her battle skills correctly in front of someone. Fernstar truly was helping.

Emberpaw grinned with satisfaction. Though she still wanted to train to get better. With a mentor with skills like that. She had to live up to that expectation!

"Can we go again? I want to try something more quick paced that would help with my reaction time." Emberpaw asked.

Fernstar nodded. Backing up once again to start.

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So that's the end of this chapter. What was that? A dream? Or a message for Starclan? No ones going to think Emberpaw is sane after this :/

Word count : 1808