I felt the soothing sensation of soft dirt underneath my pads, along with warm grass and sunlight pouring down on my pelt and heating my back. The warmth was tremendous to the point where I was hot and my pelt felt like it was burning. I wished to get out of the sun, and walked a few steps to the shade of a large tree.

My eyes grew wide as I looked around me.

The grass here was tall and yellow, like the strands that we were sleeping on in the barn.. The Great Paw was so bright that it stung my eyes to look anywhere near it, and the sky was bright blue with a few fluffy clouds that disturbed the pretty cover every now and then.

In the distance I could see mountains, but all that surrounded me now was many, many miles of this dried-up grass that grew tall from the ground. The one, tall tree was the only of it's kind for thousands of tail-lengths.

And my sisters were here, one on each side of me. How had I not noticed them before? It seemed like they had just now appeared.

I turned to examine Hannah and Fallan, who were only a few paw-lengths away from me. They looked different- Older, somehow, even though we were all full-grown as it was.

Hannah was taller than before, and Fallan a serious expression on her face (which is saying a lot).

The usual round-faced, grinning and laughing cheetahs were no longer there. Instead, they were replaced by the same cats who acted and looked much older and mature.

Now I felt concerned for them.

It was almost like they were posing- and as I realized this I saw scars appear on their fur. They had some on their backs, their necks, ears, legs, and faces all welling up like wounds without blood. Both of their gazes suddenly turned hard and stone-cold, scowls frozen in time.

Hannah had so many scars that had just erupted from her fur that it frightened me to the point where I stepped back.

Into a different setting.

There was beauty all around me; butterflies dappled the air and floated around completing the bright grassy feel that surrounded my paws. The Great Paw was at it's highest point in the sky, and at my feet appeared water running around smooth rocks in the makings of a river.

It was almost ghost-like. Everything was too perfect to be true, and I realized that I might be dreaming of Cheetah Pride, but there was no cheetahs around me.

My head bent down to drink, then I surprisingly picked up speed and started running through a barren stretch until emerging onto a grassier area.

It confused me how I could be one place in a second and then somewhere else the next just by taking a few steps. Bewildered, I felt my head reeling.

Dreams like this had never been a product of my sleep- I usually only dreamed about chasing mice or gazelle!

This was someone's territory. Mine, maybe?

I did not know, but my body stance was compfortable as if I owned the place. The scent marks were strong, though I couldn't tell whose they were.

If they were mine, wouldn't I be able to recognize my own scent, though? Everything was so confusing here, and everything scented strange and foreign.

Yet I continued to run, and as I looked back I saw that the the river was only a thin line, appearing between the hills in the distance. Tiredness began to score my limbs, while the golden grass whipped this way and that.

My chest now burned, which was unusual... I couldn't control what was happening, yet I could still feel it. While I was rapidly running a small watering hole came into view, and then a tall rock that blocked my view of the other side.

I stopped abruptly, so fast that I skidded into something large and furry.

But I didn't back away from it, though my first and natural instinct was to do so.
Why couldn't I do what I wanted here? If anything, I should be allowed to sink my claws into the ground- but I couldn't.

I looked up at the creature.

It was some kind of cat- Maybe a cheetah that was just built weird. All black, and very muscular, with large paws and dark green eyes.

The cheetah didn't look confused as I must have been, and stared down at me without expression. His face and shoulders were much more broad than any cheetah I had ever seen.

I tried to back up and panicked- I didn't know this weird cat- but nothing happened. Actually, my muscles moved me forward, until I was pressed up against the thick black fur.

I panicked inside my mind as he purred and leaned down to nuzzle me.

The dark green eyes were no longer expressionless.

They were full of love and happiness.

I became worried once again as he moved his gigantic head to look behind me, still trying to get away.

No use there, my body stayed pressed up against his. I felt a shudder run through me that should have caused my body to tremble, but instead the wind lifted to where my back-fur swished.

The tom's eyes widened, and my nerves turned over as I realized there might be a wolf coming towards us.

I flipped around as fast as I could over-dramatically, relived that at least now my dream would let me take some precaution.

There were three cheetah cubs running as fast as their little legs could carry them in my direction, straight from the same way I'd come. They smelled of me and the giant black-spotted cat, but they were so young...

Could these kits me my offspring?

And his?

My throat closed as I took a breath of one, a small male cub.

Yes, it smelled of this mysterious cheetah and me.
I felt like choking, completely bewildered and weirded out.

But a forced purr rose up in my throat as a little black male kit pounced on my tail and said, "Mama!"

I prayed for the Sky-cat to make me wake up. Stop purring! What is going on?

But it seemed there was one more thing she wanted me to see, because the male cheetah ran across the watering hole and was cut off from sight behind the big rock, leaving me alone while the small cheetah cubs ran after him.

I sighed thankfully as Hannah and Fallan appeared out of nowhere beside me.

This was so freaking weird. Literally, I just blinked and things were appearing. Sometimes in my dreams a mouse would appear near my paws, or a leaf like when I'd had play-dreams as a kit- but never did a dream change this much and leave me wondering why?

Two small creatures appeared from a distance, only a bit bigger than full-grown rabbits.

The older Hannah and Fallan ran up to the things, and I immediantly assumed that the two were prey and were going to die. Noticeably, their scars had dissapeared and only a few were visible over their fur.

But whatever the things were, my sisters seemed to like. They didn't crouch or pounce like you did when stalking or leaping for a kill.

Hannah bent to nuzzle one of them, and Fallan started chattering to the other like it was an old friend.

The one Fallan spoke to was darker and bigger than the other. I couldn't tell what color the smaller cat was- she looked patchy because of the distance and brightness of the Great Paw, but the larger one was defiantly a solid grey or black.

One word suddenly popped out at me, and I was amazed that I could hear only that word from all the way across a field.

"Midnight!"

Stunned, I would of pricked my ears to try and make out the rest of their conversation but everything turned black.

-------------------------------------------

I growled instinctively as a claw hooked into my back, trying to return to sleep. The dream had thankfully not woken me up right away, and I could tell it was still a few hours until dawn. No way was I going to start thinking about odd sleep occourances at at this time of night.

My eyes didn't have the strength to open. Just a few more hours of sleep was all I was asking for, and then the Sky-cat could do whatever she wanted with me...

I was on my stomach, listening to the quiet snores of Hannah and Fallan while tiredness overwhelmed me again, and I started to slip into sleep again with my thoughts beside me. The claw-scratch from earlier must have been a thorn, though I noticeably couldn't feel anything now.

I knew I had had a dream-it was impossible to forget about. I didn't want to think about it now, though.

Rest sounded luxurious, and right now that meant sleeping without dreaming.

Something stabbed my back again. I moaned and moved over, closer to Hannah so that the thorn wouldn't prick me.

The smell of rabbit lingered in my nostrils from last night's eat as I listened to the soft patter of rain outside. It wasn't far from dawn, I could tell, and hoped that the skies were clear by the time everyone woke up.

I gasped as another sharp claw snagged at me. This time it had actually hurt and must've drawn blood.

But this was different, because the clawing didn't stop... The claws were...

Kneading me?

I moved with all my effort into a sitting position, wincing as my muscles ached in protest. Clawing the rabbit cages apart was tiring and my belly had been stuffed as I'd fell asleep. You could bet my fur was rumpled, with eyes half-closed and an expression of annoyance across my face. To top all that off, the small light-source above our heads snapped on when I moved.

Squinting through it, I could see Fallan several tail-lengths away. If she wasn't the thing that had been clawing me, and thorns couldn't move by themself... Then what was?

I drew my sheathed paw back to slap at the dry grass I'd been laying on, and a yelp of pain came from it. Taken aback, I leaped up onto my paws as the heap moved and let out a shrill wail.

Great Sky-cat. What was that?

I hissed as an even stronger wail rose from the makeshift nest and started digging quickly, hoping to stop the yelling before my sisters woke in confusion.

What I found was a huge surprise, but then again, I had suspected not much more than what was there. The scent, as I lowered my nose to burrow through the stiff grass, was warm and milky.

A tiny kitten lay with its mouth open, making a gasping noise as if trying to catch its breath to start yowling again.

I started awkwardly licking it to shut it up, and its screams turned into a tiny pink mouth wide open with no sound coming from it. Who's kitten was this? Upon arriving we had smelled several other cats who must have known we were here by now, but what mother-cat would let their kits be found and not herself?

I was terribly tired now, trying to get my limbs and eyes to become alert in the blinding light. Unfortunately my body wanted sleep as much as my mind did, and the fuzzy patched kitten must have felt the same.

As the thing started to purr, I tried to adjust my eyes to see it better, but all I could make out was a patch-furred shape. One distinction I could easily notice was a white diamond-shaped white patch of fur in-between it's eyes.

The scent, no doubt, was that of a cat, though.

Looking around and moving away from the small creature, I saw that there were fuzzy shapes laying on top of Hannah, too.

Fallan was too far away for me to tell if there was anything on or around her, and I didn't bother to go over and look. Kit scent hung in the air, and their tiny breaths echoed around, along with a small patter of paw-steps somewhere behind the pin next to us. Some of the kittens aren't sleeping.

Sleep was all that I truly wanted right now, not to go and look for stray cats beyond our nests.

Kits and cheetahs didn't mix, and full-grown cats were much more likely to scratch out your eyes the first time they saw you. If you were a cheetah like me, though, they didn't often meet each other.

I knew some about regular cats because of what information my mother had given me on various animals. Hannah and Fallan knew nearly nothing about domesticated cats, as far as I'd heard of.

Actually, I think mother told me the ways of life and not Fallan because she thought I would accomplish more in my living time.

Well, she was right. Fallan would always be the same scaredy-cat, compainer and goofball that she had always been.

That was my sister, and I loved her, but it was the truth and it didn't particularly bother me. I'm sure Fallan didn't mind at all that she was more concerned with the simplicities of life than the problems. Her friend was nearly the same way, with just a bit more sense.

One thing was for sure- if there was going to be danger awaiting us on the way to Cheetah Pride, we would need all the help we could get; and maybe that was why I'd been shown all of those different cats in my dream last night.

That big black one still set my fur on edge, though.

The last time I had seen wolves was when my mother was attacked by Ash, so I knew what they were capable of. I had no idea what Ash had had against her, but I knew it was serious.

I suddenly recalled one night when my mother told me a story while Fallan was playing with a tuft of hair inside our tree-den.

She had said that the Sky-cat and a legendary wolf called 'The Howler' had a big fight over who would rule the land. She said that the Great Sky-cat had won, but Howler swore revenge, and everytime it rained the Sky-cat was crying because of something the Howler had done to one of her cats in desperate hate. Somehow the legends must be connected to the reasons why wolves despised cheetah so much, and why we stayed well clear of them.

Some say the Sky-cat had gotten a mate, then the Howler's soldiers had killed him and their helpless cubs for revenge. Was it just a drawn out battle that would never end? Why were wolves and cheetahs pinned against each other like that?

Every time the Great Spot was full, the wolves howled in song to their once-great leader and asked him for help over the matter of something. They howled to, literally, the Howler- who was called that because he was the first wolf.

When it thundered the Howler was barking and growling at the Sky-cat, trying to scare her and promising that he would one day overthrow her. Even stronger thunder was heard when she yowled back at him.

The lightening was blows to each other as the two fought, but the Sky-cat still always won, which is why everything always eventually returned back to normal and became bright again the next day. Sometimes my fur rose when I thought about what the Howler must look like, and wondered if they were even real. But it was a false wonder, because my mother-cat had told me these stories so of course I followed them.

I knew not why I was thinking about this right now, but it completely made me forget about the kits all around me.

I yawned and bent down to grab some paw-fulls of dry grass to drag over to the corner of the half-wall, about the only spot that was deserted and not complete dust for a ground.

Dropping the heap on the ground, I turned in a circle and plopped onto the ground to almost instantly fall into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

Before I closed my eyes, I made sure to remember the name Midnight.