Today was meant to be a special day. It was the day when all boys became men, when the caterpillar transformed into the butterfly, and when wings unfurled to reveal their splendor. From the moment that the child opened their eyes, they had dreamed of that fated moment, for all their blood and tears would culminate in the palm of a not-yet-wearied hand.
And here he stood.
Chrysalispaw hardly listened to the drivel that poured out of Blazestar's mouth, the noise like the babble of the running river in the distance, a hum from yonder's phantasmagoria. It was just promotions, apprenticeships, and nothing that was relevant to him. Whiskers twitched as they followed the vague melody of the kite-light winds, conductors of an uncertain fate. Distraction came easy to the boy who cared naught for anything that wasn't right at his snout. That was, until his ears perked up at the sound of his own name among the rest, as though he were summoned from the vacuum of his own avocation. 'Chrysalispaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?' "I do." A loud declaration and yet the antipode to his defiant fire, a calm and collected ice that did not creep but settle onto his tongue. He knew, if there was any time to be civil, it was now.
Chrysaliswing. That's my new name? The thought almost incredulously bubbled into his head, as if it were a slippery thing that he could not grab onto, an insect that fluttered just out of clawed and flawed grasp. Perhaps it was the shock of such a big change being one and done just like that... After all, what was meant to be momentous was just that - in an ephemera, in a blink, and Blazestar had moved on. Mismatched eyes darted around for a familiar longhaired tom, one whose sable pelage rang through the crowd like it had been torn from the night, though it brought none of the comforts that twilight allotted. Chrys searched, and searched, and searched, though he already knew the answer to what he sought. He wanted to convince himself it wasn't true, that he allowed himself to be proven wrong just this one time... He only found that his father was completely absent.
Not even a sneer scratched itself onto his face as if the chimaera's face had been etched into marble, an unyielding force only marred by the impassable and temporal force of the elements. The seconds skipped by just as quickly as they always had, but the feline wanted to grab at those sleepless seconds and make them stop. Stop, just for a breath. Even that was as futile as snapping at the water and hoping to catch the droplets. Chrysalispaw's usually-fiery face bayed and stalled in uncharacteristic calmness, even as he raised his head from a bow and moved back to where he once sat. Geathery paws twiddled and waited for the moments to grow shorter. This is supposed to be the best day of my life, and I feel nothing... Is there something wrong with me?
( Late but I wanted to reply! )
