Warriors 1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The air was thin, much too thin to breathe in. The once clear blue sky was replaced with a swirling grey mist that advanced closer and closer, covering up the beautiful starry nights. The trees had begun to die, the leaves couldn't hold on any longer and silently drifted to the ground, vanishing as they landed. Birds fell silent and just seemed to be gone. The joyful cheers, laughter and words between loved ones with no borders just wasn't here anymore. Where had it gone? All that was left was emptiness.

* * *

It was dark and heavy in a parallel section of the universe. Dark, black, bloody… like always. A metallic smell forever hung in the unsettlingly quiet atmosphere ahead. The black sky never seemed to shift to day, and the stars and moon? Oh, even they hid from the fangs and claws that scraped and clashed together everyday here.

This was the Place of No Stars. But it was different.

A dim, eerie silvery light with no apparent source drifted through the chilling air. Occasionally, the unnatural breeze would make the bare trees' gnarled branches clatter and whisper in a hoarse, slithering voice.

But something had changed.

An old, dark grey tomcat, his pelt smoky with a white outline in the faint light, padded through the shadows of the trees and emerged from the darkness into a more lit-up clearing. His fur, torn out here and there, reflected the light that settled on his body unevenly. His piercing ice blue eyes were slitted and glared through the darkness, sliced through the ghostly atmosphere, and stared defiantly into nothingness.

Then he sighed and everything inside of himself came crashing down and collapsed. He heaved, as if not catching his breath, and under the call of a distant raven, his thin shape seemed more frail and weak than ever. Frail, weak, and…

Disappearing.

"Greyfang! Father!" A worried voice rang through the tall, inky black trees that loomed overhead. A lithe shape bounded out of the pitch dark, revealing herself to be a smaller she-cat. She crouched down beside the grey tom and her eyes suddenly grew wide at the sight of her father, once so strong and determined, and now only grief, worry and defeat strained his narrowing blue orbs.

"Father, what's wrong?" she growled, helping the fallen tom. She could feel him leaning on her, almost depending on her entirely to just stand up. Then she noticed something that made her breath catch in her throat.

"Wait, why are you…" the light silver tabby she-cat breathed, her voice starting to tremble even as she tried to stay strong. His pelt, his body, his entire _being_, it was just… fading. Her tone was unsure and her voice was nothing but an almost inaudible whisper now. "You're… You're disappearing."

The tom turned his icy eyes to stare right into her soul. "Not just me."

She bared her fangs and whipped her head around, as if something physical was attacking. Flashes of a dark brown tabby spun around in her mind and suddenly came back to her, but she only shook the thoughts off, focusing on the current situation.

"B-but why?"

"Memory, Silverfall," he groaned as he felt his bones creak even under the support, hissing at the she-cat and trying to stand up, only to fall down again. He leaned against a large boulder that jutted out of the dead, frozen earth. "It's the memory that keeps us here. That keeps _them_ there." He spat "them" like it was poison on his tongue.

"What… What do you mean?!" Silverfall panted as her voice almost rose to a yell. The smoky tom's body was getting fainter and fainter, and one could clearly see every pebble, every dried leaf, every speckle of dust that lingered in his place. His shape started distorting and sweeping away like a fast-moving fog.

Silverfall could almost feel tears sting her eyes, tears that she never knew existed, as she watched the close friend lift up into the air, floating away as only a few swirls of mist was left. "No! Don't disappear!" But as her heart pounded in her chest and her vision started blurring from running after it, she knew her cry couldn't be heard anymore.

"FATHER!"

Her voice cracked as she yowled his name again, but that being she once knew was already gone.

_"Silverfall…"_

She hung her head and silently sobbed as her paws stopped dragging herself forward to no destination.

_No… No…_

A murky tear fell to the ground and vanished into silver mist, then vanished into thin air. Everything around her suddenly came crumbling down.

_Why?_

* * *

The once beautiful trees, hung with vines, gorgeous green, golden and scarlet leaves, and streaked with lines of dewdrops were all gone. They were dying and everything around them was dying.

"It's getting worse, Whitesky," a deep voice meowed. A dark ginger tom padded out of a grey land and emerged to join a white she-cat. His fangs were bared in a pained snarl at himself. He clawed the ground angrily, but the land beneath his paws simply started shrinking away.

"I know," Whitesky sighed and replied solemnly, her green eyes depicting no apparent emotions, but the ginger warrior knew she was as concerned as any spirit here. "And you know why it's happening, Blazestorm."

Another cat, a sleek tortoiseshell, overhead their conversation and jumped down from the branch of a tree, her orange eyes flickering with worry and doubt as she joined the two other StarClan cats.

"We are spirits," the last one mewed quietly, staring at the ground and lost in thought. "We cannot survive like normal cats, ones that are alive, can. We depend on their memory to live here in this afterlife. If they forget us, then we will–"

"Disappear," Blazestorm interrupted and turned his head away, flexing his claws nervously.

Whitesky fell silent for a moment and turned to the other she-cat.

"But how, Leaftail?" the white warrior asked, her tone desperate now, almost like the wail of a kit. "How can we be forgotten? We are StarClan! Hundreds of cats before us were here, and thousands more will call this place home afterward. How can all of this just be a distant past?"

Leaftail didn't avert her gaze from the ground, which was cloudy and drab.

"Truths were passed down, which eventually turned into stories," the tortoiseshell replied quietly. "Stories shifted into fantasies, fantasies became lies, and now those lies just faded as fewer and fewer cats believed it and talked about it."

"No, there must be at least one cat who still believes we are real!" Blazestorm defended, his eyes narrowed in determination, but maybe just one to mask his true fear of what might happen. "There has to be one that still remembers us, and we can connect to them."

"If there is," Leaftail mused, "we must find that one. If there isn't…"

Whitesky calmed herself down and shook her head. "No. No "isn't". There _must_ be, and we _will_ bring all those lost spirits back. We will resume order to the clans without it being the chaos that it is now."

"There has to be something we haven't discovered yet," Blazestorm hissed. "Ages and ages of trust can't just be destroyed like that."

"Maybe there is," Leaftail murmured. "But we need to find out quickly…"

They heard a loud crash in the distance, as if there were actual pillars holding the heavens up, and everything was beginning to collide and crash down.

"…Before it's too late."

And they could only watch in silence as the world around them and everything they've built themselves upon came tumbling down in a heartbeat…


	2. Chapter 1: Only Light

**Chapter 1: Only Light**

Ever since she first opened her eyes, her world was bright and cheerful. She heard melodies when no birds were singing. She felt warm sunlight even when it was cold and dreary. She saw the beauty in everything, even as a kit.

She would watch the sky for hours, just staring at the clouds that drifted by. While the other kits in the nursing den entertained themselves with balls of moss, pouncing on beetles or playing "kill the fox", she always stood to the side. Alone. Content.

Happy.

Her parents loved her just like they loved their other kits from the second she was born. But after a while, they started to worry. She wasn't ever part of her brother and sister's games, but she never wore a frown on her face either. Her blue eyes sparked joyfully as they reflected a light from outside the den, from somewhere off that they couldn't see, whether it was a sunny day or not. She seemed obsessed with going outside, exploring every crack and pebble and tuft of grass in her way. And the way she gazed out at the starry night, her aqua orbs filled with a longing that her parents couldn't even place their paw on, was a bit surprising to them.

But on that first day when the little golden kit arrived into the clan with her two brothers and sister, she was still blind, unseeing, unhearing, and with no contact to the outer world other than touch, she was already the most energetic of the group.

On that newleaf day, the medicine cat had shooed the other cats out of the nursery as she tended to the new mother. Even the she-cat's mate was forced to stay outside, and he could only anxiously, impatiently pace back and forth around the nursery.

"All good, Firepetal," a smooth voice mewed from inside the den.

A small sigh of relief came from a ginger tabby she-cat who was laying on the den floor in a corner. She was panting, her tail thumping feebly on the ground, but the wide smile that spread across her lips definitely couldn't be mistaken.

A spotted light brown she-cat picked up some poppy seeds on a leaf from the ground and grasped it in her jaws, careful not to let any of the useful seeds fall. She padded over to join the new mother and placed the herbs down in front of her muzzle. Firepetal sniffed and brought the poppy seeds into her mouth, swallowing them at last.

"They'll help you numb some of the pain you might be feeling," the medicine cat explained.

"Thank you, Larkfeather," Firepetal breathed out, rolling onto her side and letting her head rest on the ground.

Larkfeather cast her leafy green eyes at her for a few seconds more before asking gently, "Do you wish for Stormclaw to come in?"

"Yes," Firepetal replied without hesitating, another smile forming. "I'd like him to meet his new kits."

Meanwhile, the dark grey tom waited outside, his teeth clenched tightly and his tail flicking back and forth nervously, waiting to hear the news that everyone wanted to know at this moment. He almost jumped a bit in surprise as a familiar spotted she-cat padded out of the den. The tom's ears pricked up instantly.

Larkfeather's lips curled in the faintest of a smile, but Stormclaw caught it and his eyes widened in happiness.

"Come meet your new sons and daughters," the medicine cat mewed.

The grey tom almost burst inside the nursery immediately, to which Larkfeather hissed quietly to him, "Gentle!" She sighed and walked to her medicine den, sorting out some herbs in the meantime while leaving Firepetal with her mate and new kits alone for a while.

Stormclaw's deep blue eyes widened as he (quietly, this time) padded into the den, brushing back some of the leaves and thin branches that overgrew and fell at the entrance. His vision focused on his mate and the four tiny shapes huddled at her belly, and it felt like everything that ever happened, that he ever had to endure, was completely worth it now.

"Wow…" the dark grey tom breathed, making his steps as silent as possible to not disturb the newborn kittens. He settled down beside his mate and pressed his muzzle into her cheek affectionately. "They're beautiful."

Firepetal only smiled and nuzzled into his fur while he gazed lovingly at the little kittens. Two toms, a grey-and-white one and a dark ginger one, and two she-kits, a grey tabby and a golden tabby.

"Have you thought of names yet?" Stormclaw whispered into Firepetal's ear after some time, his gaze still not taken off his new sons and daughters.

Firepetal shook her head slightly, her amber eyes half-lidded. She looked up at Stormclaw. "I was hoping we could name them together."

Stormclaw entwined his fluffy grey tail with Firepetal's thinner ginger one. Making a thoughtful expression, he finally answered, "Well… I've always wanted to name one Firekit." He eyed the dark ginger tom and gave a small smile at Firepetal.

"Firekit it is," Firepetal chuckled. She swept her tail across the ground and turned to the grey tabby she-kit. "How about Fallenkit for the grey she-kit?" she mused, tail flicking.

"Fallenkit sounds great," Stormclaw purred. "And for the other tomkit, what do you think about Hailkit?"

Firepetal just gave a soft purr in response, meaning yes. They both gazed at the last one. A bright golden pelt she had, and though she couldn't even see the world around her, her seemingly tireless energy did surprise both of them a bit.

Stormclaw gently nudged the golden she-kit back to her place with a chuckle. They both saw a great future for all of them, but there was something about her that cheered up both of them right that moment just a tiny bit more. And all they wished for now was for the path she walks on as she grows to only be filled with happiness and light.

So when the word came out of their mouth in unison, it simply harmonized as one.

"Lightkit."


End file.
