(Rainkit's POV)

Rainkit buried his nose into his mother's luxurious white fur and inhaled her soft, sweet scent. His own grey pelt was sodden and weighed down with rain. Featherstar had dragged him back into the Nursery after she'd caught him playing in the rain and rolling around in mud for hours on end. And now he had to pay the price for not obeying his mother's words.

"You're going to catch green-cough, playing like that!" his mother purred, gently scolding him while licking the top of his head, cleaning it from the debris that littered his pelt.

Rainkit pouted as he complained, "But Berrypaw and Leafpaw, why do they get to play out in the rain?! They do it all the time and I'm not even allowed to sniff it!"

"Now, now my darling. They're much older than you. If you were a couple of moons older, I would've had no problem with you joining your friends. Now why don't you tell me why so you so desperate to go out and play in the rain?" Featherstar crooned softly.

"Well," he thought for a moment before replying, "we played many games. However my favourite one was the last one we played. I think it was called the Warriors versus the Inferno! Berrypaw was the Inferno and Peachkit, Dappledkit and I were the warriors! We won!" 

"I see," his mother replied. He thought he saw a glimmer of uncertainty flaw across his mother's eyes, but he must've imagined it as it vanished as soon as it appeared.

"Who taught you the last game?" his mother asked, her smooth voice caressing him.

"Berrypaw did!" he meowed with excitement, tilting his chin up in the air.

"Do you know the real story behind the game, dear?" Featherstar asked him.

"No...Berrypaw never told me. Could you?" he mewed, his voice full of hope. In the rare moments when his mother was busy with clan matters or too tired to do anything, he'd be lavished with her stories. They were worth the wait though. Featherstar was such an amazing storyteller and would enthral him for hours on end.

"Perhaps it's time you heard it. Fetch Peachkit and Dappledkit, they ought to know too," Featherstar replied, her voice full of apprehension.

Rainkit's voice echoed through TorrentClan's camp.

"Peachkit! Dappledkit! Story time!"

He sprinted back to the Nursery after notifying his denmates. It would be disappointing to miss the story, especially because they were so difficult to come across.

"What's the story about?" Peachkit mewed, breathless from running across the camp.

"Well, you're about to find out," Featherstar meowed.

------

Blood drenched the forest floor. It saturated the earth and decorated the trees with its morbid colour. The entire forest seemed to reek of death and destruction. In a series of two consecutive nights, a mysterious cat who went by the name of Inferno had killed three queens, five kits, two apprentices and a warrior. No cat was safe from his devastation. OakClan was struck first, followed by MistClan, then BreezeClan and lastly, TorrentClan. The leaders agreed to gather together that night, fearing not only the lives of their clanmates, but themselves as well. It would only be a matter of time before they died.

"We have to do something before it is too late," growled Stonestar, the King of BreezeClan.

"No kidding, mouse-brain. Do you think we're blind?" Frogstar, King of TorrentClan sneered at him.

"This is not time for fighting!" yowled Rippledawn, an heir of TorrentClan.

"As much as I despise agreeing with TorrentClan, Rippledawn is right and we must do something now," sniffed Birchstar of OakClan, slightly annoyed by her own voice agreeing with TorrentClan.

Only a muffled rustle gave away the tom's presence. The scent of fear filled the clearing as the pure black red-eyed tom silently stalked towards the leaders. His movements were slow and cool as he surveyed the Royals and the accompanying heirs.

"A paw for a paw, an eye for an eye, a life for a life. You took everything from my world, now I'm gonna take everything from yours," he growled. Despite his composure and voice remaining relatively calm, the ferocity that burned in his eyes revealed everything.

At that moment, it seemed that everything stopped moving, that everyone stopped breathing. A single realisation hit all the Royals and Heirs. They were too late. The clans would perish and they would all die.

A single, frightened yowl broke the silence that formed between everyone.

"I beg you, spare me, please! I have kits!" yowled Dewstar, the mate of Frogstar.

"You dare plead for you life after all you've done to mine?!" Inferno snarled, his lip curling over his muzzle, revealing bloodstained teeth underneath.

"I dare say so!" Rippledawn growled back with equal brutality, "we've provided you with nothing but a safe haven, more food than you could ever eat and the love that a mother has for her kits, you repay us like this?"

Without a word, the wide blue eyes of TorrentClan's heir met briefly with the red ones of Inferno for a fraction of a second, as he leaped at Rippledawn, claws outstretched, flickering with flames, and burnt her alive, her charred body contouring into gruesome positions as screams of pain erupted from her.

Frogstar leaped back in horror as his eyes widened in fear and snarled,

"What kind of abomination are you?"

Inferno whirled around, surrounded by flames and the scent of burning vegetation filled the air as flames danced across his eyes, replying,

"I'm the worst nightmare you've dreamed of, every wicked thought you've had come true, every sinful wish you've uttered. I am the Inferno and I am the one who will inhale your last breath."

Inferno lunged at cat after cat, burning them to crisp within mere seconds and those he did not burn with his claws, their life was ended with a quick bite to their neck, crushing their windpipes.

Inferno would won with ease if it wasn't for one brave apprentice, Silverpaw, who'd barreled into him by accident, sending him hurtling to the edge of the cliff. She suffered severe burns from her actions and in her final moments uttered,

"There's one thing that you can trust evil cats on doing. And that is...they will only commit acts of evil, nothing more, nothing less."

As Inferno struggled to grasp onto the edge of the cliff, he hissed,

"I may have lost this time, but from now on, you'll find that some cats in your clan will have unique powers like me. From time to time, this shall remind you that power does not, and never will lie in your paws, but the paws of us, the Elementals."

With that, the last of edge of the cliff fell away, along with the Inferno, his paws still flickering and glowing against the darkness.

-----

After Featherstar finished her story and gave a wide-mouthed yawn before laying her head on her paws, a pregnant pause formed between them.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked, despite trying to avoid any form of nervousness clouding her voice, she looked at the trio of kits.

"Why was Inferno so evil?" Peachkit piped up, clearly not as bothered by the story as the other two were.

"That is something we'll never know. It's up to us to decide why he chose that path," Featherstar sighed, looking at the kits.

Rainkit sat very still and only thought about the devastation that Inferno had cause upon the clans. Now he knew why Elementals were so hated amongst the clans and he did too. He swore to himself that if he saw an Elemental, he'd kill them on sight. They were a danger to everyone.

"He won't come back, will he?" Rainkit heard himself ask, voice full of distress.

"Of course not! Even if he does, you're safe with me," his mother gently mewed, the tip of her nose touching her kit's head.

As the exhaustion from playing for hours finally reached him, he snuggled up close to Featherstar, lulled by her warm breath and the undulating rhythm of her breathing, he fell into a dreamless sleep.