Broken Dreams [🦋/❄️]

                                    

                                          
In the woods of AuburnClan, autumn had descended upon the land like a gilded shroud, coating the forest in a carpet of crimson and golden leaves. 
The chill in the air whispered secrets of change, and the auburn-colored embers of sunset ignited the skies, foreshadowing the turmoil that brewed in the heart of one small kit.
Magmakit, the only daughter of the noble warrior, Emberglide, and the esteemed medicine cat, Willowleaf, had always felt the pressure to shine in the clan's traditions. 
From the time she could walk, the whispers of greatness surrounded her, a chorus of expectations that rang in her ears even during the quiet moments of shadow-strewn twilight. 
Being born to a medicine cat family made her the brightest star in AuburnClan; it laid the foundation of an unyielding bond between her and the position her mother held.
Yet as she played with her fellow kits beneath the wise old oak that stood sentinel at the edge of camp, Magmakit often found herself dreaming of claws scratching against the earth, of great hunts and fierce battles alongside the warrior apprentices. 
She wanted to race through the forest, not to gather herbs, but to chase the wind and revel in her freedom like a bird out of a cage.
The turning point came at six moons old. An assembly was called, the crisp air carrying scents of desperation and admiration as her clanmates gathered around. 
Thornstar, with his calm demeanor and twinkling green eyes, announced that Magmakit was to become the next medicine cat apprentice after her mother. 
Gasps of excitement rippled through the crowd, while joy lit the air like fireflies. Emberglide and Willowleaf celebrated, their cheers full of tinkling joy like the chimes of church bells.
But for Magmakit, her world came crashing down.
"Me? A medicine cat?" she shrieked, voice faltering in disbelief and dread. "But I want to be a warrior! I don't want to—"
Her protest was drowned by the excited buzz of her clanmates, who saw her as a beacon of hope—a healer who was destined to bring prosperity to AuburnClan. 
The elders spoke of her lineage; the warriors told tales of her mother's prowess in healing. Magmakit felt her heart constrict as she was renamed Magmapaw, a wounded bird in a cage of lofty expectations.
No one listened to her protests; they thought she would get over the disappointment of not being a warrior and grow to love healing. 
They couldn't have been more wrong.
The days turned into training sessions filled with herbs, poultices, wisdom shared among the clan's oldest members. Magmapaw learned the arts of healing, but each lesson felt like chains binding her, clawing away at her spirit. 
The glimmering dreams of hunting with her friends faded under piles of crushed leaves, the cloying scent of juniper, and the whispered incantations of healing. 
She found herself spending long hours in the cramped corner of the medicine den while her friends thrived in their training, their joyous laughter ringing from just beyond the threshold.
Her parents, particularly her mother, heaped her with tons of praise and excitement that she had gotten the esteemed role of a legendary clan healer, but Magmapaw only grew to resent them more for not seeing her pain.
As time passed, rejection festered into bitterness. The more she learned, the more she loathed the position Thornstar, their leader, had thrust upon her. She had not chosen this life; it had chosen her.