Thunderblood's tone now had a note of snidness, "oh Sophia. What was that pause about? Am I your match? I'm honestly flattered." 

I rolled my eyes the best a cat could roll her eyes, "first of all, I get to be snide. You know what? You can have snide. I'm takin' snarky. Let me give you a little refresher on some vocabulary. I mean, you should have learnt this in English Language Arts. Snide means being derogatory or mocking in an indirect way while snarky means extremely critical or snide. Most likely directly. In other words, you get to be mocking, or showy off-y. While I get to be highly critical." 

"You said being snide is being indirect. I'm not being indirect quite frankly." 

"You're not wrong," I paused. "You're direct, I have to say I like that. But you're hiding something I know it." 

"It's funny how you say 'you're not wrong' instead of saying 'you're right'. You don't like being wrong, do you?" 

"You're avoiding me saying that you're hiding something, aren't you?" 

The psychopathic fox shook her head back and forth gently, then looked back at me with her eyes that always seemed to be blazing an evil fire. A Wildfire... "You don't seem to understand, imbecile." 

"We're crystal clear, Thunderblood," said I with a note of being offended in my voice. She called me an imbecile which was far from the truth, and she knew that. That's why I'm still talking about it. 

"Are we? Beg my pardon in saying this, but I have a theory that you aren't being transparent. In fact, I'm being more transparent than you are." 

"Oh really? Then tell me this, what is your gun? I ask this because you told me where you put the gun, in your burrows. Oh wait. Wait... I forgot a question to ask you. When are you going to use your gun? 'Never put a gun in a room if you're not going to use it.' Hmm..." I paused to think about what I was going to say. I surely needed to choose my words wisely, and for my age I wasn't as wise as I had liked to be. I was just clever. Pixels would have probably sternly glared at me. Hazel would have said something like, "are you really gonna let a daft old fox beat you?" I could hear her in my head, I could imagine her standing there in my head, in such a dark room. "I'm not letting her win, she just is." Hazel rolled her hazel eyes, "who ever said she was winning? You're the only one who said that." I started to walk away from Hazel in my head, but she followed, now at my side. "You didn't win, did you Hazel? You perished in a fire, and it's all my fault. And after you died, I keep losing." She sighed softly. "Just because you lose someone, doesn't mean you've lost everything. I know it feels like it, but you have other friends, and if they're your true friends, they'll help you through your loss." 

I lightly chortled, still in my head. I couldn't bear look at Hazel, even if she was in my imagination. In my head. If I had looked at her, she might have seen something along the lines of sadness, and hurt. But not fear... Never fear. "Who ever said I have or had friends? I only have a few allies." 

She paused, "any ol' idiot can be an ally, but only a select few can be your friend." 

I gently chuckled, "I'm closer to two-thousand than to one thousand these days, do you really think I have friends? Did you ever wonder, when you were alive? Did you ever wonder why I never had friends? I'll never know if you ever wondered because your dead. And you'll never know the answer because guess what! You're dead." 

Hazel sighed, and I blinked, coming back to the real world to see Cinnamon waving a paw in front of my face. It was his paw, of course. He didn't have a severed fox leg, and was waving that severed paw in my face now. Just his paw. 

"Sophia...?" Cinnamon asked in a tone that seemed so far away to me. I felt light-headed, as if I wanted to faint. Don't faint. Fainting is bad. I need to have my bearings when Thunderblood show me what her "gun" is. My voice was ever so slightly slurred, "when are you going to show me your gun? That's the final question that I missed, correct?" 

Cinnamon put his paw down that was his, and not a severed leg. I could see Thunderblood in the corner of my eye, but right in front of me was Cinnamon. My voice was much less slurred now, "Cinnamon." 

Someone in the Fox Kingdom laughed and between laughs barked, "Cinnamon?! She calls you Cinnamon?!" And at that most of the Fox Kingdom was put into a fit of laughter. I assumed the ones that weren't were Thunderblood, and Cinnamon. "Oh, did I embarrass you, Cinnamon? You called me Sophia, so I guess you ought to tell me your real name now." 

Cinnamon growled at me under his breath, but just loud enough for me to hear it. Of course it was. "Cruelstorm. My name's Curelstrom," muttered Cruelstorm to me. I couldn't suppress a grin, "Cruelstorm? Did you come up with that?" 

He gave me a look that made me feel like if he could've rolled his eyes, he would have. "No, Sophia. I didn't come up with it. I merely accepted it." 

I'm sorry if you're not familiar with Fox Kingdom naming systems. Let me get you up to date on that. 

All fox pups in a Fox Kingdom are named for something unique about them. Let's say there is a fox, and he looks like your average red fox. Foxes rarely name their children based on their fur patterns because they all usually start with short black fur. Anywho, the Mother-Fox, or Mère-which is the term in fox for "Mother"-would be named after his or her personality. For instance, if his personality was a bit strange, the Mère would name her son "Quirky" which is just another word for strange. 

Then twelve weeks go by, and most fox pups will have died by then if they aren't "strong enough". And by then they start to learn survival skills that they need to survive, and loyalty to their Kingdom. By this time as well, they have grown the color of the fur that they will have for the rest of their life, and their snouts and claws and fangs have become longer for hunting. 

Say "Quirky" the fox made twelve weeks. Quirky would now have to undergo a series of tests. Three tests to be exact. The tests depend on which Kingdom you belong to. But they will test your strength, cleverness, and other skills such as running, or hunting. Or perhaps even fishing. 

After Quirky has proven himself worthy of the Kingdom, he has also proven himself worthy of a name. Quirky will take a vow that they will have to recite from the second-in-command. Kind of like when two people who love each other are getting married, they repeat whatever the person who is marrying them. Unlike the tests, the vow is always the same. Created by Queen DirtPaws herself. Or so says the story. Such as when two Humans are marrying each other, they say "'Till death do us part". And other terms that are too dull for me to recite. 

After repeating the vow, line after line, stanza after stanza, the second-in-command of the Kingdom steps back, and everyone takes their place in order from highest rank, to lowest rank. 

Have you ever played "The Telephone Game"? 

Well if you're not familiar with it, it is basically a game when you get a line of people, then someone comes up with a word or phrase. They whisper it into the person who is next to them's ear, then that person whispers to the person beside them, then the next, and so on. Once the last person hears the word or phrase that has been uttered, they yell out what they heard. Usually, the word or phrase gets all mixed up by the end. You can only win if no one misheard what someone else had whispered. 

What Humans call "The Telephone Game", foxes call "The Naming Process". Not very creative, eh? 

The Naming Process is like The Telephone Game. But not exactly. Brace yourself, Reader, this might get a bit complex. 

The leader either the King or Queen-depending on who is the highest rank-says a name that is always two words made into one. Like "Thunderblood", "Silversparks", or "Cruelstorm". They mutter it into the second-in-command's ear-unless there is no second-in-command. A name they think might suit Quirky the fox. Then the second-in-command now has a choice to either keep that name that the first-in-command whispered, and whisper it to the next Fox in line, or change it into something else. The second-in-command decides to keep the name that first-in-command had muttered, and tells the first Knight in the line. The Knight hears the name, and doesn't think it suits Quirky, so he whispers something else to the second Knight. And this goes on, until the name reaches the last Peasant. Fox pups are not allowed to participate in the ceremony. So the Peasant either yells out the name that he or she heard from the fox next to him or her, or some other name. 

The Peasant decides he or she likes the name she heard, so he or she yells out the name she had heard. 

Now Quirky has two options at this point. He can accept the name barked by the final Peasant. Or his second option is he can accept a name that only the first-in-command knows. So he has no idea what the name the first-in-command's name is for him. And the name the leader is thinking of can't be the name he or she uttered to the second-in-command. It has to be some other name. 

The thing is if Quirky kindly declines the name yelped by the Peasant, he is forced to accept the name that will only be revealed if he declines the name yelled by the Peasant. 

So if the name from the Peasant is "MysticMoon" and Quirky declines that name, he can no longer have that name. He now is forced to have the name that is revealed by the first-in-command to be "DarkStorm". Now he will be known as DarkStorm forever when he could've been known as "MysticMoon" forever, but the name DarkStorm would have always been a mystery to him. 

By Cinna-I mean.... CruelStorm. By CruelStorm saying to me "I merely accepted it" means that he accepted the first name said by the Peasant, and not what the leader had in mind. And I didn't doubt the leader at the time of his naming was Thunderblood. 

This lead me to believe that "CruelStorm" wasn't particularly fond of Thunderblood. And he most likely didn't want to be named by her. Then why did he hang around? I thought back to when I knew him as "Cinnamon". He had said "and just because you're famous-and the reason I'm here in the first place-doesn't mean you're worth more than a grain of sand." And for some reason, the insult at the end stung a little more now. 

Despite my recite of the insult, my grin grew as I opened by jaw to let out a question, but I cut myself short. I assumed CruelStorm did not want her knowing whatever he was up to. My original plan was to start some treason within Thunderblood's own Kingdom. But now, I changed my mind, and at that moment I realized I needed to come up with a new plan. 

"We're you going to say something, Sophia?" Thunderblood sneered. 

I shrugged it off-if cats could shrug, of course-and she continued her sneer-smile at me in a way that made me feel like every single living being in the universe was glaring at me specifically. 

 I blinked away any worried that I had, and smirked at her confidently. "Where were we before the whole laughingstock of Cinnamon? Ah yes," my tone was just as confident as my gaze upon her. "When are you going to show me your gun? Did you know, that quote 'Never put a gun in a room if you're not going to use it' by Anton Chekhov is a form of a plot twist. It's a plot twist when you use foreshadowing but everyone fails to notice the upcoming twist. Then, BAM! All the sudden everyone is surprised, and the story ends. Leaving every single Reader dumbstruck, and holding their breath. They'll slowly close the book, and most likely scream, and totally freak-out, pretty ticked that the author left them on such a cliffhanger. But they can't help but admire the brilliance of the author's twist. And now they're left Googling when the next book is going to come out. So, when are you going to show me your gun, and is it worth my time?" 

I'll tell you now, my beloved Reader, by the time you have finished this book. This first book in a series of adventures, I can assure you that you will be absolutely breathless once you finish this. So if you want, you can stop reading now, so you don't have to hear about more mysteries. More of my mysteries. If you stop reading now, you'll be satisfied with not knowing the answers to the current mysteries, but the mystery at the end of this book will haunt you forever. You'll be left in the dark. Just as I was left in The Dark Forest for the time being. I guess if you keep reading, I'll see you on the next paragraph. But if you stop reading now, I bid you farewell. 

"Yes," Thunderblood said with a grin that made my blood run cold. "It'll be worth your time. For once you can trust me." 

"So are you going to lead me to the burrows, or are we just going to keep going 'round and 'round?" 

Thunderblood's face was now fully composed with seriousness. "As much as I would love to do that, Sophia, I'd much rather see you so surprised and shocked that you will finally keep your big mouth shut. In fact, you won't even be able to breath." 

"Wanna bet on that?" 

"Let's go," CruelStorm suggested, a note of impatience in his voice. 

She swiftly nodded, not seeming to notice his impatient tone. 

If I could have clasped my hands together in glee, I certainly would have. Instead I scratched an itch behind my ear with my back paw, looking up at the sky. Biding my time for my newest plan. Okay, original plan of starting some sort of treason had been sunk worse than The Titanic. Plan number two. Is... I kept scratching, watching the dark blue sky. It was going to be morning soon. There were no clouds, and no stars. All I could see when I looked further to the horizon line, I could see the sun beginning to peak from behind loads of trees, and behind the small hills. 

I closed my eyes. In my head, all I could see was pitch black. It was always like that. Even if all of my gears, were shifting, and my clocks were ticking. Clocks, I thought. I never liked clocks. Then, in my head, a giant clock appeared far away. But it was gigantic, so I could still see it clearly without squinting. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. 

"Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock." I almost flinched. That wasn't the clock, that was a voice. But who's voice? 

Out of the middle of the air, came a black cat. A famous black cat, really. And I bet you can guess who. 

"Wildfire," I growled. Once she finished coming out of the middle of the air like Cheshire Cat, she began to walk towards me, her tail waving in a calm, tranquil way. 

"So, Sophia, what's Thunderblood got in store for you?" 

"I haven't the faintest idea, and there's no way I'm discussing this with you." 

"Oh look! The famed Sophia doesn't have a clue on what's going to happen! But can you guess what you're famed for?" 

Wildfire was now nose-to-nose, whisker-to-whisker. Two felines. In my mind. "Let me guess, I'm famous because of everything you did." 

"First off, everything we did. Second, 'Sophia' is going to be famous for her downfall because she's and idiot, and a lunatic." 

"Can't argue right now. Trying to think of Plan B. Or as I like to call it, "Plan Be-cause I Need One". 

"Clever," Wildfire falsely admitted. 

"All puns are clever. And yes, I caught that you were not actually saying my joke is clever. Clever people like puns. I've got one. Don't trust atoms, they make up everything. Ha. Ha. Anywho, psychopath, I need to deal with a different psychopath. Her name's Thunderblood, by the way." 

At that, I opened my eyes again. 

It's intriguing, really, how one can be in one's head for what seems to be a few minutes, and in reality it's only been about five seconds in the real world. Time is always so strange. 

"Are you done now?" asked Thunderblood. "We really must be going." 

"Yep," I replied, putting my paw back to the ground. The good news was that now there was no itch behind my ear. The bad news was I didn't know what was going to happen and I didn't have a plan of escape. 

Thunderblood was leading, and CruelStorm trailed beside her. 

I looked to my side, and saw Silversparks. 

He nodded in greeting to me, but I could tell he still detested me. The way his eyes burned. All of the foxes in this Fox Kingdom had this fire that burned in their eyes. Like a Wildfire, really. 

I looked forward once more. I felt that giddy-fear again. The fear of the unknown, but also excited to see what the unknown was after all. I'm sure you've felt this fear at some point, or maybe you'll understand one day. 

I noticed about a dozen another foxes all around me. As if they were surrounding me. Like I was going to escape! As if! That sounded sarcastic, but I couldn't even be sarcastic at that moment in my time-stream. My brain was clouded up with thoughts of what is going to happen. 

It is almost terrifying, waiting to unwrap a big mystery. Like a gift you get for no reason. You wonder what could be inside, and you cannot bear the suspense a second more, so you tear the ribbon, and the wrapping paper away. And if it's in a cardboard box, then you savagely tear that apart to. Or maybe that's just me, but I think you catch my drift. 

I started to hear my heart beating in my head, just above the steady rate for my heart. I had to keep it at least close to steady, or else I'd probably release a fear-scent. But my heart wasn't beating swifter than usual because I was afraid. No, it was because I had so much anticipation that I had a single thought that I might explode! 

In a situation like this-if there is such a situation even remotely like this one-most people could feel the blood coursing through their veins. Some of that made you let off a strong fear-scent. But for me, the blood in my veins felt as if it was freezing. In the sense that I felt like ice was going through me, not warm blood. And in the sense that all of time in me was freezing. Or slowing down. 

The time on the outside of me felt as if it were freezing as well. As if I would be left in the dark forever. 

But if you're in the dark, you're bound to find someone with a light. No matter how far you've fallen into the darkness. 

I felt like even if I had ever found someone with a light, I had lost them by now. 

As me, Thunderblood, Silversparks, CrueStorm, and the rest of the Fox Kingdom followed to the burrows that were only about six-cat-paw-steps away from me now, I felt as if I were walking straight into a trap. 

As if I were walking into somewhere just to be trapped. As if a million years of torture, and torment were about to be laying right in front of me. I could live another million years. But with my big mouth, I wasn't sure I was about to last much longer. For whiskers sake, I could last a trillion more years. 

After what seemed to be an eternity, we were in front of the burrows just as the sun was almost done coming up. I took one last look at the light, not just the light from the sun, but also whatever light I still had within myself. I found the light of the sun easily by turning my head ever so slightly, it glinting into my eyes. It felt like even the sun was glaring at me suspiciously among the foxes that had cat-napped me only almost a day ago. But I couldn't find any light within myself, even as I hesitantly entered the burrows, jumping in fox-like. I went, then Thunderblood, then CruelStrom, and I lost track after that. 

In front of me lay the inside of a rather luxurious fox burrow. 

I deducted since it looked pleasant for a fox burrow, it was most likely Thunderblood's burrow. I soon noticed that I was left in the room with only Thunderblood and CruelStorm. Only Kings, Queens, and Knights were allowed in a den such as this one. 

I then recalled Silversparks-before I knew he was Silversparks-mentioning under his breath about something along the lines of "he can't do it just because he's a Knight", and some other complaints, but Sparky did say he was a Knight. I knew he wasn't a King. There was just no way Thunderblood would have someone with such a high power, even if she still ruled over them. 

The dirt looked like it had once been wet-most likely on purpose-and was patted down with many different paw prints all the size of a fox paw. More than one different paw, in fact. Many, many foxes had been down in this burrow. Generations of Kings and Queens and Knights. I couldn't help but admire the brilliance in something that seemed so simple. 

"So where's the big ol' secret, eh Thunderblood?" I asked. 

She and CruelStorm were still behind me. CruelStorm spoke first, "right through that hole in the wall." 

I turned on my heels to the side of me, discovering a hole in the wall. It was very dark... Almost menacing. "You know," I decided to comment. "I liked you more when you were Cinnamon." 

He was probably shrugging best a fox could shrug, "I liked you more when you were Kitty." 

I half-rolled my eyes. "Surprising you liked me at all." 

Thunderblood didn't seem to mind the little chat. 

"Everything is surprising if you see it like that. But surprises are supposed to be special, so for once, don't try to question everything, just enjoy it while it's here." 

I almost grinned, "I question everything because if my friend brings me a poison apple, I'll be ready. More ready than Mrs. Snow." 

"You shouldn't have to be afraid of you're friends harming you." 

"I don't have to be 'afraid' because I don't have any friends. Anywho, can I see what's in that hole now, or are we going to keep stalling because I can stall all day." 

CruelStorm was now next to me, "suit yourself, Sophia." 

"Okay then, CruelStrom," I said, walking into the deep black hole in the wall of the burrow. 

You might be thinking that it is stupid for one to go into a deep dark hole-especially when your enemies have set something up in the dark hole for you. Of course it's stupid. You might as well throw yourself in front of a train. Which is something you should not do. But I was metaphorically about to throw myself in front of a train. And I knew it too. 

I walked through the darkness, and eventually found a low light. The light seemed to be coming from a light that you might find in a person's room who loves the stars. There was light coming from a lantern perhaps, and there were stars that had expertly been cut out of the metal that was blocking most of the light. It felt like I was in the stars. 

Then I looked to a figure that was almost a silhouette. After a few seconds, my aqua-teal eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting, and I could see the figure before me. 

It was obviously a cat. A She-Cat. She looked healthy, and had a particularly strange pattern on her short fur. It looked like she was a pumpkin-orange tiger. There might have even been a few spots, but I wasn't exactly paying attention to what her fur looked like. 

I looked into her eyes, and I thought I had an idea of who she was. 

My friend who I had lost to a fire so long ago. 

Her eyes were almost fiery. 

She was even named after her magnificent eyes. 

I suddenly felt an unexpected surge of emotion as I realized for sure who this cat was. I had thought her name over and over again as if it were some sort of consolation. And I thought her name one more time. 

Hazel.