The Dawn of Time

.:Chapter one:.
Oriana flicked her tail. I'm not going to let this one go, she thought. She crept closer softly, making sure not to make a sound. Then, she jumped onto the squirrel, sinking her teeth into its flesh.
After she ate the kill, she licked her black paw, wondering what dierection she should go in next. Oriana knew that if she didn't hurry, the humans would find her and bring her back home. A stab of guilt washed over her. She knew she shouldn't have ran away from home. There was nothing wrong with the humans, and there wasn't anything wrong with being a house cat. But there was so much to do out here. So much to explore.
Could she really live off of a few squirrels now and then? They didn't exactly taste bad, but then didn't taste good either.
Suddenly, a loud yell came from behind her, jolting her out of her thoughts. "Oriana! She's there!" A human came racing towards her. It was one of the kittens. Its long brown hair flew behind it as it came running. Oriana began to run, pelting through the trees until the humans were tiny specks of black, getting smaller and smaller.
***
A loud bang woke up Dahlia. Startled, she looked up to see a human, holding a long, black stick - pointed at her. The human wasn't far from her; just a few rat-legnths. But Dahlia knew that humans meaned trouble, so she rose to her paws and pelted away through the forest.
After a while, the rat sat down, tired and lonely. Oh, Nikil, she thought, pained. Why did they have to take me away from you? Why? Dahlia knew that the humans had probably kicked out Nikil, too. If that was it, then maybe she could find her friend. Oh, don't be stupid! The world is bigger then you can ever imagine. I'm not going to find one rat in a giant world like this one!
Dahlia knew she had dozed off, because when she opened her eyes, she was curled in a moss bed and it was night time. She realized she was hungry and she hadn't eaten for days, but there had been no luck finding food. Yep. I'm not going to find any food out here in the big, wide forest, am I? Crossly, Dahlia crept out of her bedding in search of food.

***
Sage padded through the snow, troubled by his own thoughts. The soft feeling of the cold snow reminded him on home. It's my fault Lunar died, he told himself over and over again. The stupid humans had killed his mother by cutting down the tree. It had fallen on her while Sage was walking past, and she had yelled, pushing her cub out of the way. How could I have been so careless? I should have known that the humans were cutting down the tree.
Sage ducked his head when a branch almost poked him in the eye. "I'm so caught up in my thoughts, I don't even look where I'm going!" he growled to himself, padding on.
His family was gone, and it was all his fault. He had to have someone take care of him, otherwise he was going to die. A lynx shouldn't be left on his own.
After hours of walking, the sun began to rise. Sage couldn't walk any long. He fell to the snowy ground and rolled around in it for a few minutes, before drifting off into deep sleep. At least I can dream about you, Lunar.

.:Chapter two:.
Oriana's paws were tired, and she knew they couldn't carry her any longer. She lay down, exhusted. She had ran all the way from her old den to Blueberry lake. Oriana licked her black pelt clean before walking to the lake. She dipped her head down and began lapping at it.
The water tasted dirty and salty, but it was better then nothing. This was a nice place to stay: It had a lake for drinking from, bushes with little, round balls on them, and a few trees around the lake to climb up and moss to sleep in.
Maybe squirrels and mice came here, also, to drink the water. It was such a nice place, they had to decide to travel here.
Oriana searched for prey, but it was no use. There wasn't a squirrel in sight. Oriana eyed the bushes with the balls on them. Slowly, she walked over to them and sniffed. Curious, she pawed a single ball off and chewed it. It was juicey and sour at the same time. Oriana decided that if she had to live off of these, she would.
She began picked off every single ball off of every single bush, but it didn't fill her, and she didn't know when they would grow back. At least she had saved one for later. Oriana pawed at it and pinned it to the ground.
Just then, something stepped on Oriana's tail. She span around, and almost toppled over. There stood a orange, fluffy animal with a long snout, white underbelly, and black paws. Oriana was too scared to move.
Then, to her surprise, the animal spoke in cat. "D-do you know where any f-food is?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with terror. Oriana slowly nodded. She picked up the ball with her paw and gave it to the animal. "Here," Oriana mewed. "Have it. It's all I've got." She watched the aniaml eat the ball.
Then it turned back to her and spoke again. "Th-thank you," he rasped. "Wha-what's your name?" Oriana knew she must be dreaming. "I'm Oriana," she replied. If this was a dream, then the animal wouldn't hurt her. "I'm Ulrick. Nice to meet you. Oriana, I have to repay you for that blueberry," the animal said. Oriana shook her head. "No, it was only a- wait, what did you say it was? A blueberry?" Ulrick nodded. "Why else would this place be called blueberry lake? It has blueberries in here."
Oriana shivered. "Well, I have to go now," she announced. "Wait!" called Ulrick. "Isn't there anything you want?" he pleaded. Oriana thought for a moment. "Anything in the world?" Ulrick licked his paw. "What is it, then?" he murmured. "I want a squirrel. But you don't have to bring me one becau-" Oriana was cut off by Ulrick's yelp of joy. "I can bring you one! Easy!" he raced off into the trees.
Oriana rolled her eyes. If they are so easy to catch, she thought to herself. then why didn't you just catch one instead of crying to me about hunger?
.:Chapter three:.
Sage padded through the snowy forest. A piece of prey would be nice, he grumped to himself. It had been days now since Lunar had died, and he hadn't eaten a single thing. He longed to cuddle with his mother again. And Lunar had been the best hunter ever. She could always catch the most juiciest, mouth-watering, prey, and she wouldn't mind sharing it with him.
But Sage had to be strong, he knew. He had to catch his own prey. He was alone, now, with nobody to take care of him but himself. He padded on through the cold, soft snow, and he thought he would survive for a moment. Then the sky began to cloud up, and the air got colder and colder, and a snow storm started.
I have to get somewhere to rest. Somewhere to shelter. Finally, Sage came up to a human den that was made of large sticks. Sage padded up to it and clawed at the door. After much waiting and yowling and clawing, the door swung open. There stood a tall human female, staring at him in horror. It shouted something, but not anything Sage could understand. She kicked him, but Sage wasn't about to give up. He slashed his claws through the human's leg. She screamed and slamed the door.
Sage was still for only a moment. He needed to get inside that warm den that the human's had. He could see inside a window. There was three humans sitting around a fire, and the one who he had attacked was there, saying something to them with big, terrified eyes.
Sage scratched at the door some more, but it was useless. After hours of whining and scratching, he finally walked away, back into the blizzard.

.:Chapter four:.
Dahlia knew the chances of finding food wouldn't be big. She had walked so long without finding anything. Once, she had came across a dog, which she had luckily gotten away from with only a scratch going down her flank. It was still bleeding now, but it wasn't as worse. Soon, Dahlia came to a big pool of water. There were trees and bushes around it, but the bushes didn't have any berries on them.
Dahlia lay down and began licking her wounds. She looked up to see a fox creeping towards her. It looked at her, then pounced before she could move. The fox pinned her down. "NO! LET ME GO!" Dahlia shouted, trying to get free by wriggling. The fox was surprised she could speak. It was so surprised that it fled away through the trees. Dahlia was safe.
Just then, another creature came trotting up to her, muttering, "Where is that furball? He was supposed to catch me prey!" Her eyes caught with Dahlia's. "What do we have here?" she mewed, padding closer. Dahlia squealed and got on her paws, but a giant black paw held her down. "Now, now," she murmured. "Don't be shy." Dahlia whimpered. "This is the end!" she screamed.
The creature didn't seem surprised. "So, you can talk too?" she asked, still holding Dahlia down with her paw. Dahlia spoke. "Let me go. I have to live to find Nikil." The creature winced. "Is that so? And who is this Nikil?" "My.. My mother. We used to live together in a house, but then the humans kicked us out, and I've been living on my own since then, and-" The creature growled and took her paw back. Dahlia stared at her. "You're not going to eat me?" she said smallily. "No, but you can repay the favor of leaving me alone!" The animal stalked off. "But wait!" Dahlia got up and followed her. "What's your name?" she asked.
"What? Why would you care what my name is? It's Oriana." Dahlia chittered her teeth together. "Mine's Dahlia. I'm a rat," she said happily. "Great," Oriana grunted. "I'm a cat. And you can leave me alone," she said again. Oriana started walking again. "Wait! Oriana, come over here. I want to show you something. It will only take a few hours to get there and-" Oriana cut in again. "I am not going anywhere with you. And if you keep bothering me I'll claw your pelt off!" Dahlia wasn't about to give up. "It will be amazing," she begged. "Come on. I think you'll like it. It's called 'snow.' Come with me, please!" Oriana sighed. "Fine, but only because I don't have anywhere else to go."
Dahlia let out a small cry of joy and turned away, leading her to the path that lead them to the snowy, wonderful place Dahlia had heard of.
.:Chapter five:.
Oriana followed the rat for a few miles. Each kept very quiet. "You, know," Oriana growled at one point. "I'm not following you forever. Right when we get to wherever you want to show me, I'm leaving you and you'll be on you're own. You got that?" Dahlia spun her head around. "Sure," she replied happily.
The two finally arrived at a very large, snow filled place called White Village. "What is this stuff?" asked Oriana, scooping up some snow with her paw. She watched as it slowly began to melt. It was cold and strange looking. Dahlia was shivering. "It's called snow."
The two padded on for a while. They were struck by a blizzard storm, and Dahlia became so cold and wet it made Oriana almost sad for the rat.
When the storm ended, they hadn't traveled very far because Dahlia kept stopping and staring ahead. It had annoyed Oriana much. Suddenly, the bushes rustled, and out jumped a animal Oriana had heard of before. It was called a lynx. The lnyx pounced on Dahlia, digging it's claws into the rat. Oriana's fur stood on end as she bared her teeth at it, hissing. She swiped her paw out at the lynx, trying to protect Dahlia. Dahlia squeaked and panicked, trying to get free.
The lynx growled and leaned down, about to bite Dahlia's neck. "NO!" shouted Oriana, although she knew the lynx wouldn't understand her. The lynx looked back at her, it's muzzle covered with blood. It's eyes were surprised by furious.
The lynx got off of Dahlia. She lay there, unmoving. "You killed her!" Oriana screamed. The lynx stood there, glaring at her. Oriana went on. "She wanted to show me something, and now you've killed her. She'll never be able to show me whatever it was now, because you killed her!" The lynx blinked. "I didn't kill her," it said calmly. Oriana wasn't surprised that the lynx could talk.
Just then, Dahlia rose to her paws. Oriana almost ran over to her. "Why did you pretend to die?" she hissed at Dahlia. Dahlia opened her mouth to say something, but then she was cut off by the lynx. "Well, I'm out of here," it said, and turned around. "Wait!" called Dahlia. The lynx turned. "Well.. I.. I kind of wanted.. The prophecy said.. Nikil.. I.." stammered Dahlia. "Well, spit it out already," growled Oriana. Dahlia cleared her throat and said, "I think we should all travel together."
There was a long moment of silnce. Then the lynx said, "Are you crazy? Are you saying that a lynx, a house cat, and a rat should travel together?" There was another moment of silnce. "Well.. yes," Dahlia said finally. Oriana dug her claws into the ground. "You said that you just wanted to show me something. I'm not traveling with you, wether you like it or not, Dahlia!" The little brown rat looked hurt, but she said nothing. Only looked at Oriana with misery. "Okay," agreed the lynx. Oriana turned and stared at it.
Dahlia used her purr; it wasn't exactly like a cat purr, but it was close, and she seemed to do it when she was happy. "Yay! I'm Dahlia, what's your name?" she asked, still purring. The lynx stepped forward. "Sage. I'm sorry I tried to kill you." Suddenly, Oriana realized something. The lynx - Sage - Probably is only pretending to be nice! Then he's going to eat Dahlia and she won't know about that. "It's okay...I guess.." said Dahlia with a giggle. "Well, we must be off. I'm trying to find my mother, Nikil. What is your adventure about?" she asked, turned around. Sage shot a unreadable look at Oriana before turning and trotting after her. "I'm looking for prey." "WAIT!" screamed Oriana. They both stopped. "I'll come with you," she rasped. "I..I will, Dahlia! I will!"
She followed them and they all set off again. "What's your name, anyway?" Sage asked her finally. "Oriana," she murmured. And then, more quietly, she added, "And you'd better watch it. If you set one paw on Dahlia, I'll eat you."
.:Chapter six:.
Sage and the others walked for miles. Oriana and him had good, long chats with each other. Thay talked about themselves while Dahlia lead the way, keeping quiet. "Well, I don't like humans," Sage began. "They cut down a tree and it fell on Lunar. Careless creatures!" Oriana had been surprised at this. "I used to live with them. I ran away because I wanted to explore the world, and I miss them a lot," she said. "Why would you want to explore when you could stay in one place and have your own territory?" Sage huffed. That was what he had always wanted: A large, comfy place he could call home. He could hunt prey and sleep whenever he wanted and scare off anybody else who tried to steal the territory.
"Well," Oriana began, but Dahlia cut her off. "Look!" she squealed with excitement. She pointed her paw to in front of them. A tall pine tree was standing in their way. Sage blinked. "What? It's a tree," he growled, annoyed. "No, look," Dahlia said again. Sage winced at the tree, and saw that it was craved into the shape of a rat. Dahlia ran up to it and stood on her hind paws and touched the bark with one paw. Oriana and Sage exchanged a glance and followed her.
"It means," Dahlia began. "That we have to go that way." She pointed her tail towards the way that the craved rat was going, which was left. Sage rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? It's just a tree. It doesn't mean we have to go left." Oriana growled at him. "Just go with it," she muttered before turning her back on him. Sage sighed and followed her, and Dahlia shrugged and took the lead again. I don't understand, he thought. Five seconds ago, Oriana liked me. Now she doesn't!
.:Chapter seven:.
Dahlia loved leading the group while the others talked. They had walked all day long, and it seemed like Oriana and Sage were the best of friends. Now, the sun was going down and they needed to rest, and Dahlia knew Sage would start complaining that it was cold if she didn't find somewhere soon.
Finally, after a few hours of traveling, Dahlia found a place that had tall trees surounded by it. There was a small lake and moss bedding. The three walked over to it and they setteled down for the night.
Dahlia nudged Sage when she saw him closing his eyes. He opened them and growled. "What do you want?" Dahlia took a step back. "I just wanted to talk to you." Sage lay there for a moment, then got up and padded to the pond with her. "Well?" he said, sitting down. Dahlia looked up at him. "Uhm, Sage," she started. "There's..signs that I've been seeing that helps me along the way. I mean.. There was this prophecy. It says, 'Three will be drawn together, and they must work together to journey to The Great Dawn Of Time.' A lynx told me that, in my dreams. And we-us three-were drawn together! Sage, I think this journey was meant to happen."
Sage snorted. "It was a dream, Dahlia," he huffed. "But I'll come with you anyway to this 'Dawn of lime' or whatever, just to survive." Dahlia blinked at him. "Thanks. And it's The Dawn of time," she muttered, but Sage had already gone off.
Dahlia wondered if she had been wrong to trust the lynx. After all, it was only a dream. With a shudder, Dahlia caught up to her new friends and settled down for the night.
.:Chapter eight:.
Oriana nudged Sage to wake him up. "Go away," Sage growled, putting his paw over his face. "Come on," Oriana said, annoyed. "I didn't get any sleep last night, thanks to her," Sage retrotted, pointing his stubby tail at Dahlia. Oriana sighed and flicked her tail. "Sleep here and we'll go on without you," she meowed. "All right, all right," growled Sage, standing up.
The three began walking again. Sage was perfectly fine in the cold, but Oriana was worried about Dahlia. She was shivering all the time, and there wasn't much food out here on the ice and snow that she could eat. Sage could sometimes catch something, maybe a artic hare, but Dahlia chose not to eat it. "That's her fault," Sage had said once. Oriana had rolled her eyes. They needed to get out of there, and he knew it.
But the other thing that was wrong about the journey was Oriana didn't get along with Sage. He was grumpy all the time, huffing and growling and hissing. And the thing was, was Sage seemed to think that they were friends.
"Look, we have to cross that river," Dahlia said, jolting Oriana out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw a river, and realized for the first time that they had gotten out of the snow. Instead under her feet, was brown stuff called 'dirt,' and there wasn't any snow at all. A river up ahead was in their path. "No," Sage said, surprising Oriana. "We're not swimming, and that's that." Oriana turned to him, bristling. "Look, Sage, is there any other way to get across?" Sage nodded upstream. "Maybe there's a fallen tree up ahead." "And maybe there's not," Oriana growled. "How would you know?" barked Sage. "Stop it!" Dahlia squeaked.
"Sage," she went on. "we'll help you to swim. Oriana knows how. But we have to go this way." Sage snorted. "Why? Why not another way?" Dahlia nodded her head across the stream. Over there, there was nothing but trees and grass. Oriana blinked. "Don't you see? There's bound to be prey over there," Dahlia said. Oriana was starting to like the idea. "Yeah, and we could rest for the night," she put in. Sage growled. "Fine," he said before trotting over to the river. He put his paw in and yanked it back. Oriana shook her head and sighed.
She scrambled over to Sage and peered into the water. She knew it would be cold, wet, and horrible, but she was the one who had said it was a good idea. Besides, it wasn't going to be the end of the world. Oriana took a deep breath and took a step back before screaming, "LOOK OUT FISHIES!!" She plunged into the water, and felt the icy cold waves hit her shoulders.
Gagging, Oriana swam on. Sage splashed into the water. Five seconds later, Oriana heard cries for help and Sage screaming and kicking. She flipped around and saw Sage sinking underwater helplessly. She couldn't see Dahlia anywhere; she hadn't even seen her get into the water.
Sage disappeared from view, and Oriana swam closer to him. She dunked her head down and grabbed onto Sage's scruff, pulling him back up. He gasped for breath. "I thought I was going to drown!" he gagged. "Thanks to me, you didn't." Oriana rolled her eyes. She turned away, but she heard splashing and coughing again. "HELP!" screamed Sage. She turned around. A dark figure was slowly drowning, down, down, down. . .
"No!" Oriana cried. She lunged down and tried to get closer to the lynx, but no matter how farther down she swam, he always got smaller. But Oriana couldn't just let him drown to death! She swam farther down into the river. Suddenly her paws hit something wet and gooy, and she realized she was at the bottom of the river.
She tried to gasp for breathe, but she only swallowed water. Oriana spotted Sage close by, lying limp. She grabbed him and began going up, but she was almost out of breath, and she was worried she would just die there. Suddenly, darkness swallowed her...

Oriana woke up with a startling cough. She was surrounded by trees. Sage lie next to her, nomming happily on his paw, trying to get the dirt out of it. "Are you crazy?!" she yelled at him. He looked up. "You almost got me killed! You almost got us both killed! Lynxes are supposed to be able to swim. And you can't! Are you a lynx or a hippo?" Oriana growled. "What's a hippo?" asked Sage, confused. "Oh, never mind! Why don't you make yourself usefull and go get me something to eat?" Sage sighed and got to his paws, stalking off.
.:Chapter nine:.
Sage crept closer to the sparrow. He stepped on a twig and the sparrow turned it's gaze to him, and with a scream, it took off into the air. Annoyance bubbling, Sage jumped to his paws and ran after the bird. He leaped through the air, sinking his claws through the bird. He flew to the ground with the bird and killed it with a swift bite to it's neck.
Proud of the catch, Sage padded back to Oriana with the sparrow in mouth. The bushes next to him rustled. Sage paused, glancing around. Then, a female lynx jumped out at him. She knocked him over, and he dropped the sparrow. The lynx picked it up and started to pad away. "That's mine! Stealer!" cried Sage. He lunged at the lynx, claws out. He pinned her down easily. Sage growled at the lynx, who was trying to scramble out of his grip. "Why are you here?" he snarled at her. "Why not?" replied the lynx, sounding brave.
"Because," growled Sage. "You stole my prey!" "No, I didn't. I was going to give it back." They both looked over at the tiny sparrow lying on the ground. "Whatever," Sage hissed and got off of the lynx. He grabbed the sparrow and carried it away, off to Oriana. He spotted the cat licking her paw next to a pool of water. "I got you your sparrow," he said, dropping the catch in front of Oriana. "And when did I say I wanted one?" Oriana's tone was sharp. "But you said-" Sage started. The lynx jumped out from the bushes, and for the first time, he saw that it must be starving. He could see it's ribs!
He tossed the sparrow to her. "You take it, if Oriana doesn't want it." He shot a furious glare at her, but she just continued to wash her paw. The lynx bent down without replying and took a huge bite out of the sparrow. He had never seen anyone that hungry looking. A wave of guilt washed over him. A sharp voice made him jump. "Where is Dahlia?! I haven't seen her since we got out of the river! Where is she? We have to find her! She's not gonna be safe! We have to-" "Oriana, calm down!" Sage interrupted. Why is she so worried about Dahlia anyway? "You can just swim back to the other side and look for her," he said, not worried at all.
"But it's not like her to just disappear like that!" Sage could hear the annoyance and fear in her voice. "You hardly know her! I hardly know you! We've been traveling together for two sunrises, it's not like we're best friends forever," Sage growled. Oriana blinked. She turned and stalked over to the river without another word.
Once she was out of earshot, Sage turned to the lynx. "Sorry," he said. "She gets irritating." The lynx sat up. "You seem like you're irritating yourself." "I am not!" Sage growled in protest. The lynx twitched her ear. "So, what's your name? I'm Lari." Sage nodded. "I'm Sage. I came from White Village, but I traveled with my..." Sage trailed off. Weird travelmates? "With your friends... And?" Lari pressed. "And oh, uh.." Sage didn't want to talk about Dahlia's prophecies. Lari would think they were crazy. "And we decided to rest here," he finished.
"Hmm. Well, thank you so much for the meal. And.. Sorry I tried to steal it." Lari yawned and rose to her paws. They were wobbly and she was weak. Sage didn't want Lari to risk traveling again when she was so weak. "Why don't you stay with us?" Sage said quickly. Lari looked surprised but relived. "Uhh, okay," she said. She sat back down. What have I done now? She's just another annoying animal to get in your way!
.:Chapter ten:.
Dahlia watched Oriana swimming in the water. Sage put his paw in, grumbled to himself about something about the cold, and got in. Dahlia was a rat; she could swim if she wanted to. She dabbed her paw in, and yanked it out quickly. It was so cold! She gave a lick to her cinnamon brown pelt. Don't be a scardy rat. You can do this. Dahlia heard faint yowls for help, but she was too much concentrated with the water to care. She took a deep breath. Just jump in! yowled a voice inside her. Her heart pounded and she jumped into the water. It was so cold that Dahlia thought she was going to freeze to death.
A wave came tumbling over to her, and washed over her head. Panic surged through Dahlia, and she popped her head back up, gasping for breath. She spotted Sage and Oriana struggling to not drown. "Sage!" called Dahlia, but another wave swallowed her. This time, she couldn't find her way back up. "Hmlgp!" she screamed, trying to say: "Help!"
Dahlia was in so much panic that she couldn't swim.

More coming soon!