Luna ran into the restaurant and asked the lady up front were me and Rider where. She pointed towards us and Luna walked over to us. "Luna what are you doing here?!" Rider asked. She was out of breath. All she could do was hand us a paper.
Hello!
I would love to bring to your attention that the Big Oak Tree is on fire. We have most of the packs helping to save the tree but we need you guys to help too. The house by the tree is close to the flames and about to light on fire. We need your help before the heart of our world gets destroyed.
Sincerly,
Alexander Jey Hunter
Rider dropped the paper and ran out of the restaurant. I quickly paid the bill for the dinner and told Nadellie to just have the cook put the dinner in to-go-boxes. Then I ran out. We jumped into Rider's car. He drove to the forest and we all jumped out of the car. "Rider how are we going to get back?" I asked. “Didn’t you forget about the pendants that Alexander gave us?” Rider said not looking back at me. He was trying to find his pendent. I opened my purse and pulled out me and Rider’s pendants. I handed Rider his and me and him transportend to our main world.
After we got there I seen something so unbelievable that I thought I was having a bad dream. I thought that Alex was testing us. If anything this could be an illusion or I could be asleep and having a bad dream. I was the first to start running. Rider followed closely behind. As soon as we got to the tree Rider dropped to his knees. “N...No…” He pleaded. His brother was laying on the ground. His life almost to an end. Everything seemed to be in slow motion at that point. Rider crying at my side and everyone running around trying to save the tree. My father, with fur missing on the bottom of his neck from him and Rider’s fight, looked over at me and glared. My heart dropped. I couldn’t believe what was going on. It was like everything was crashing around me. I looked down at Rider, he was starting to get up. “Rider?” I grabbed his hand, “What’s wrong?” He took his hand away from me and ran to Justin.
I followed close behind. Everything was confusing me. The tree was on fire and I didn’t know what to do. That old oak tree is the heart of this world and I don't know what would happen if it ever vanished. I seen Beka standing by Justin’s limp body. Her face burned from the flames. I ran up to her and hugged her. “Beka! What happened to you!? Why did you go near the flames?” She didn’t answer. Instead she cried and hugged me back. “Arrai, I tried to help save Justin. He told me to stay here but when he fell and couldn’t get out of the flames I had to do something so I helped save him. I didn’t want anything to happen to Rider’s brother.” She started crying even more. “Beka, darling its fine. Everything will be alright.” Holding the young girl in my arms like a mother would a child I talked to her and calmed her down.
Soon she stopped crying and then I heard more sobbs. I thought they were someone I didn’t know at first. But then I turned around and I seen that it was Rider. He was knelt down by Justin’s side. Tears dripping off of his face and onto Justin’s bare skin. I knew that his shirt would have been too burned up by the flames that it would be almost impossible to wear it. I couldn’t stand to see my boyfriend like this. This was supposed to be the most romantic night of my life and then this happened? I walked over to Rider and hugged him. I knew that no matter what I did, I couldn’t change the fact that Rider’s brother was probably dead. Everything up until now, their childhood, and fights. They all seemed like distant memories. Even though I didn’t even know what they were they still seemed like distant memories. My childhood with my family, it was all training. Never playing, never going out to the lake to watch shooting stars with my friends.
Now that I think about it I never did have any friends. I was always training to become a defender or our territory. My mother more or less could have cared less if I was unhappy. If she got what she wanted from me thats all she cared about. Until the day that I couldn’t take down three of the warrior cats from the clans. I guess I was tired and weak from the training. But that is when my mother abandoned me, thinking I was sick. She left my gray tail out in the cold. It was winter then and I remember the fresh fallen snow against my paws. I started crying and covered my face with my hands. The faint sound of Rider’s voice came through to me. He was trying to get me to come back from the flashback I was having. “Arrai. Love, it’s OK. What’s wrong?” I hugged him and started crying. I looked at Justin and seen that he was starting to wake up. “Rider! Look!” I pointed at Justin and Rider looked over at his brother. I had missed a lot when I was having the flashback. But seeing that Justin was waking up made me feel a little bit better. I stood up and ran over to Justin. “I didn’t know that wolves also had nine lives.” Justin said weakly. He started laughing and I just looked at him and smiled. “They don’t but looks like heaven just wasn’t ready for you yet.” I said.
Now that he was awake I felt a little bit better about the whole situation. I was too busy worrying about Justin and Rider that I didn’t realize how cold it was getting. “Snow.” Justin whispered. I looked up and seen snowflakes falling from bright white snow clouds above. I stood up and held out my hands. The cold flakes of white fluff landed in the palm of my hand and on my nose. Then the memories of that night my mom abandoned me came back. I fell to my knees and started crying again. The memories were too much for me to handle. Even though it was a long time ago it is still too much. I couldn’t take the pain of my parents betraying me. Every night I was on my own I used to think that I was not wanted. That I didn’t belong here. But the night that I was found I found that I was meant to be here. The snow was cold. I smiled and looked at Rider. “It’s snowing. For the first time in 2 years it’s snowing and I enjoy it!”