Thunder rumbled in the ground, awaking every cat in the Clan. It wasn't anything new, but it was startling nonetheless. The leader called the Clan to order, telling them it was time to move camp to one of the other, impending another ground-rake that had been rearranging the land lately, but unease filled the cats. For leafbare, the ground was warm, and steam leaked through pools and cracks in the earth. While most liked to keep their paws dry, it was odd. Very odd. And no one was buying that something wasn't happening.
Rumbles. Hot, hot- hot! It got hotter and hotter as they gathered up their able-bodied, unable to spare a moment any cat who couldn't make the journey. Elders, the sick, the Clan was a flurry of activity and barely-concealed panic and -
BOOM.
StarClan came from the mouth of their sacred mountain home, spewing black smoke and ash, and red liquid that started to cascade down the mountain rocks and burning the forest around them.
"RUN!" the leader shouted, but it fell on deaf ears as every Clan cat had already bolted.
Ash fell. One by one, cats succumbed to the hot liquid they'd once praised.
Those who ran fastest survived, those who did not, would not. A cat didn't have to be the fastest, but only faster than the cat behind them.
Two in total survived. A tortie named Silverwing and a smoke tom named Mistdusk.
Uprooted from their home, they decided to find a new one far from the Burning Mountain. One that would be able to outlast the one they'd lived in their whole lives.
