A/N: Hello, everyone! This is the first part of a story written for the Warriors Challenge Forum (link in profile). It is for the Until Death Do Us Part challenge, set up by Hunter of Sacred Dreams. It was really fun to write, and I hope that this story will go the same way that I want it to. Enjoy!

"Hello?" Roselight calls. Her voice echoes, as though she's in a cave and not a forest. The trees swallow her word, holds it for but a second, and then spits it back out in a twisted symphony. "Leafpatch?"

There is no answer save the echo. The noise sets her on edge, the hackles of her dark ginger pelt rising. The forest that she has woken in isn't normal, nor is it the forest that the StarClan medicine cat normally meets her in. The night sky is pitch black with not a single star in sight, the trees growing close together, their branches blocking out almost all of the light. It is silent here, with no forest-noises and nothing but her uneven breathing to displace the dank air.

The ThunderClan medicine cat takes a step foreward, hesitant, and looks around. No, she decides, she has never set foot here before. For that, she is glad. This forest is not natural.

Deciding to give it one more chance, Roselight tries once again to contact one of her ancestors. "Leafpatch? Silvermist? Is anyone here?"

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Screeching - as though every creature in the forest has taken up the panicked cry at the same time. The noise is so loud that it hurts Roselight's ear, even when she has flattened them to her head and tried to move away from the noise. It surrounds her on all sides, from every corner, every leaf, every tree. Cries of pain and fear, of anger and sorrow, like everything that has ever gone wrong is being protested in that very moment.

Roselight lets out a loud hiss and shakes her head. Then she takes off through the underbrush, squeezing between trees and flying over the fallen leaves, trying to put as much space as she can between herself and the horrendous sound.

It doesn't work. In fact, the faster she runs, the louder it gets.

As she runs, the aimless screaming seems to form words. Incoherant at first but, after a moment, Roselight is aware of the what they are saying.

A blizzard races across the water - help me - fleeing from the fallen as the wind of the sea - I'm lost - tears into the hearts filled with evil, silencing them - they can't find me here - for all eternity.

A root seems to tear itself from the ground, snagging one of Roselight's paws and sending her tumbling onto the ground. Burrs tear at her pelt, sending small pricks of pain racing through her.

Around her, the forest keeps howling.

Without the wind - but I'm scared - all is lost.

The noise reaches a crescendo, once more nothing but aimless calling. It lasts for just a moment long and then, with no warning, it ends. All at once. The forest is completely and utterly silent.

Roselight cannot ever remember being so afraid - and when she wakes up, bits of moss stuck in her fur and the scent of decay surrounding her, that fear is still there.