When they first met, Wilbur would’ve sworn Philza was an Angel.
It felt like awe. Never once did it cross his mind this was battle delirium, not when searing radiance poured over him as the basement door opened, causing his already ragged breath to catch in his throat. The writhing shadows shrieked and fled in a way Wilbur had never known before, leaving him vulnerable and utterly exposed. But why shouldn’t they flee when divine fire incarnate strolled into the room? An Angel, that’s all He could be, Wilbur knew it at once by the glowing arch of light around His head, by the glittering flash of emeralds and countless flashing eyes pressed into his skin, by the silhouette of imposing wings filling the doorway. The creature’s gaze felt like drops of sunlight, ancient and falling with equal deadly disinterest over sinners and saints alike. They quickly fastened upon Wilbur, the sole survivor amongst piles of brutalized dead.
It felt like awe, but only at first, because then it felt like mortal panic. Wilbur didn’t believe in things like angels, he believed in hunger and pain and abyss and fighting for every second you breathed. But Wilbur knew well the horrors of the demons in the dark, surely there were others out there. A life riddled with shadow entities, was the end of both heralded simultaneously? That’s what the humans said angels were for, didn’t they? Collecting souls?
Did I die? Did I not even notice?
Wilbur had been fighting for hours at that point, trembling and aching and vibrating with adrenaline. Monster hunters were relentless, and his mouth tasted like blood, both his and theirs. Perhaps he hadn’t actually made it out of this one, his fourteen odd years of life finally cut short like it was always going to be. He’d been running from the moment he could walk but finally it all caught up to him.
The being stared at him with shocked golden coins for eyes, but it settled into what might’ve been a paternal smile if Wilbur had known what that was. All he could recognize was sharp inhuman teeth just as deadly as his own. As radiance dimmed, the figure sharpened into comprehension. Not eyes, but jade scales scattered like constellations. Not a halo, but the reflection of hellfire upon twisting ivory horns. Viscera decorated the being just as surely as silk did, or at least it did until the blood staining His hands steamed, unraveling into smoke until there wasn’t a single trace of violence on the holy being.
The question in Wilbur’s mind soon shifted as He descended, claws dragging against the series of wooden steps, leaving scorch marks. Not did I die, but will I die? And the answer was a short acerbic laugh and a yes, but was that reply now? Maybe the entity found a room of corpses, but maybe He was about to ensure totality of a reckoning. Wilbur could feel the familiar hands of mortal panic tightening around his throat. Whatever He was, He was like Wilbur, and that meant He was a threat.
Not a lot of people have the bravado or the desperation to point a knife at a god, but Wilbur had never had much in the way of reverence when he was a teen. And if it took ending an immortal’s life so that his fragile mortal heart continued to beat, Wilbur wouldn’t hesitate to get ichor on his hands.
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OHHH Hollylark is a Tom I got it- this whole time I thought Spark was just getting herself a wife instead. While I do love lesbian Sparkpelt, Tom Hollylark is very nice
The idea of combining the two is also a really cool idea. I’d never of thought of it. If it’s not spoilers for the rewrite how did this change come along or how will it change/tweak the narrative?
I'm so invested in this AU, you have no idea. Question! So Hollylark is two characters combined into one, but he still becomes Sparkpelt's mate, even though Hollylark is Lionblaze's son? And Sparkpelt is Squirrelflight's daughter? Do I understand that correctly or did I miss something?
@katiek101 (Combining this reply into this ask)
The change came along because I was overhauling the family tree! Lionblaze is a major reason why the current tree is so messy, with THREE reproductive kits in ThunderClan alone, with a total of EIGHT grandchildren.
I think it'll also be better for there to be less direct Firestar descendants in general. With my rework, now the only direct grandchildren of Firestar are from Dovewing (in ShadowClan ironically), Ivypool, and Hollylark.
And hell, it's weird they never did anything with Hollytuft! I'm fixing that.
Squirrelflight
Sparkpelt is no longer a child of Squirrelflight! Squirrelflight is completely infertile and will not be giving birth to her own children. Sparkpelt and Alderheart are the children of Jessy and Bramblestar, with Spark being named after her father's beloved mentor, Firestar.
(as a side note, I also imagine Sparkpelt is a really dark orange with bold stripes, like an auburn Tigerclaw. Her amber eyes stand out from her gloomy pelt, like sparks.)
Instead, Squirrelflight is Sparkpelt's mentor! The two of them end up super close, with Squilf being someone extremely reliable in Spark's life as Bramblestar still has a ton of personal issues.
How else does this change the narrative?
Hollylark is from Lionblaze's second litter following the events of OotS. Cinderheart didn't learn about how badly he pushed their first litter until shortly before they were born. He sent one of their children into Hell as a spy! He ruined the other one's childhood with a prophecy he barely even understood! It takes her a time to trust him again.
So, he's doing everything he can to prove to her that he can be better for this one... but in the meanwhile, he is not allowed to be involved in the early childhood of this litter. I imagine this causes some issues for Holly, growing up feeling like he's caught in the middle of an argument he doesn't really understand.
But he DOES know that Hollyleaf sounded like an honorable, noble woman. That's something both parents agree on, that they love and miss her very much. Legacy is something Holly struggles with.
And that's something he really bonds with Spark over. Grappling with legacy, the goodness of Firestar, they share an interest in stories and tradition. Absolute birds of a feather, and that's a reason why it absolutely breaks Sparkpelt when she loses him. She loses her very best friend, one she's had since childhood, when they were expecting their first litter.
He would have made an excellent father. And he is, watching over her from StarClan, with their daughter Flickerflame.
I won't be changing anything about ASC until all six books are completely rolled out, but I will say this; Nightheart inherits Hollylark's adoration for old stories. That shared interest reminds Spark a lot of Holly, and it leads Night to learn a lot about WindClan tunnelers, Leopardstar, TigerClan, so on.
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