Never before has StarClan sent such a prophecy...
"The givers of life, one of each Clan, shall brighten and lead the way out of darkness and back to stars."
The givers of life: queens. They have never been the most recognized cats in the Clans. True, they are essential to bear kits for future warriors, but is that all queens are? Kit bearers? No, they are compassionate. They are concerned for each and every one of their Clanmates. They are closer to StarClan in spirit than any cat, though they do not know it.
It is time for the queens to rise. This prophecy shall brighten every cat...
Chapter One: Into the Darkness- Firestar (Not that one. Troll.)
The flame-colored leader whipped around frantically. "Hello? Who is there?"
"Help me!" A scared yowl rang once more through the trees, bouncing off every leaf and every branch, echoing into her ears from every direction. "Help!"
"Who are you?" The leader demanded, feeling her heart race and pump against her chest painfully."Where am I?"
The forest was shadowed with a black, starless sky. Tendrils of knotted grass grabbed onto the red cat's paws like a hungry eagle's talons, strong and painful. She was paralyzed with fear as the roots and vines slithered up her legs like snakes and tightened around her throat.
"You will never escape." A distant whisper said. "No cat ever escapes."
The suffocating she-cat tried to writhe out of the forest's grasp. Her ears were pierced by the screams for help and the foreboding whispers. Suddenly, she realized she was having a nightmare in the Dark Forest. What happens to a living cat in the Dark Forest is real...
The thorns and leaves dug into her fur and scraped at her skin. What happens here will remain when she wakes up. If she wakes up that is. The tendrils squeezed tighter around her throat. Froth dripped from her chin as she fought for air. The last breath in her body was drowned by her own blood as the sticky, hot liquid dribbled out from her mouth.
"Help me...!" She cried weakly. Her last words were lost under the screaming voice in the distance and drowned out by the gurgling of her blood.
"Hello, Firestar." A long-furred tabby tom greeted her grimly. His pelt was glittering with silver frost. A blue aura surrounded him.
"HELP!" She yowled again. "Oh?" Looking down at her paws and neck she saw that the roots and grass were gone. She started to breath fine. Her mind cleared away the fear. Her wounds and scratches were dripping with blood but she started to feel relief. A sweet healing wash enveloped her body.
"Firestar," the former ThunderClan leader brushed his plumy tail over her face down to where she stood. "You're fine now. StarClan are healing your wounds."
Firestar watched as time seemed to reverse. The blood dripped up into her scratches. The wounds closed and her red fur grew back in.
"I'm losing a life... I lost a life..." She looked up, her yellow eyes flickering with confusion. "Barkstar, what happened?"
"A cat summoned you into the Dark Forest." He sighed, sitting down and wrapping his tail around his paws neatly.
"But why?" Firestar asked him. Perhaps the leader before her, Sunstar, had summoned her and killed her. Or perhaps her former apprentice, Treeshade, called her for revenge. She looked up at him expectantly.
Barkstar shook his head. "I do not know. Something horrible killed you with no trouble at all. Now do not look so grim, please. There are some cats here who want to see you."
Firestar nodded and took a deep breath. Beautiful misty woods surrounded her now. There was no more creeping tendrils of withering plants now. Stars were everywhere. Not even one speck of evil and darkness was hiding under the ferns and the flowers.
A band of starry cats padded towards her from the lacy mist. Their fur was beautiful and their eyes shone healthy. There was her mate, Berrystripe, her best friend, Silverleaf, and Silverleaf's kit, Wolfstar. If Wolfstar, or Wolfpaw when she died, had lived on, she would have become a leader. The sight of her friends made her heart flutter in happiness.
"Firestar." The ginger tom bowled her over with one strong leap. His star-strewn eyes were happy to see her. "I've missed you since the day I died."
Knocking him off of her, Firestar sprang back up. "I'm happy to see you again." She couldn't help but roll her eyes at him though. She often had dreams with Berrystripe. Tonight, however, she had a much stranger dream... A nightmare... A living nightmare...
"Oh, hello, Firestar!" The youngest cat meowed, a hint of her in-born sassyness laced with each word. "I haven't seen you since your leader ceremony thing!"
"Yes, it has been awhile, Wolfpaw. Er, Wolfstar..." Firestar corrected herself awkwardly. She couldn't help but feel odd to be in the presence of a StarClan apprentice made leader.
"It's okay." Wolfstar shrugged. "It's weird. All these ancient flea-bags call me Wolfstar. But I guess StarClan is pretty cool. I mean, look!" She hopped around on her paws. Wolfstar had been born missing a back leg, but now a starry silhouette replaced the missing limb's place.
"It's wonderful." The ThunderClan she-cat agreed.
"Is it my turn to talk to her?" A silver she-cat asked, sounding much like her daughter. She nudged through the tom and her kit. Her green eyes were glittering. "Firestar. Are you okay?"
"Well, losing a life in the Dark Forest is no walk in the woods." Firestar admitted, glad to feel each tiny wound sealing up. "What's wrong, Silverleaf?"
All of her friends blended into the woods except for Silverleaf. Berrystriped faded, his green eyes disappearing into the mist. The ThunderClan leader from long ago, Barkstar, stepped into the woods and was covered in the veil of the stars. The WindClan apprentice, Wolfstar, leapt happily into the sky. She left a trail of frost as she raced to the distant reaches of the stars. Their misty surroundings closed in on them as if the woods were ringing around them protectively so no cat else could hear. StarClan or not,
"I have a prophecy." The silver queen meowed quietly.
Firestar pricked her ears and leaned forward. A mixture of fear-scent and worry was rolling of her friend's fur. Was this a prophecy foretelling the end of the Clans? Was ThunderClan in danger? Her pelt prickled with worry.
"The givers of life, one of each Clan, shall brighten and lead the way out of darkness and to the stars."
"Firestar...?" A voice called out to her.
The leader sprang up, her heart was racing. She was back in the Dark Forest.
Hanging vines reached out towards her, waving like outstretched paws to grab her and take away another of one of her lives. Her throat would be squeezed... Her second life would be taken away slowly... The air would be crushed from her lungs and fluid would rush up to her mouth, gushing down red from her foaming chin.
She was surrounded by darkness, and the vines made what little light there was shadowy and dappled. Firestar backed away from the leafy tendrils. She pressed against the cold, hard bark of a tree. She was cornered.
Suddenly, a ginger tom emerged from the tendrils. His blue eyes were glowing menicingly. It was Sunstar.
"Stay back!" Firestar growled.
"Firestar?" He backed up into the vines. "Are you okay?"
She shook her head. This wasn't the Dark Forest. This was her den in the ThunderClan camp. The tree behind her was just stone. The vines were just the lichen curtain waving the breeze. The tom was just Sunnypaw, one of her Clan's apprentices. She must have thought he was Sunstar since he was one of the evil tom's sons. Firestar took deep breaths.
"I'm sorry, Sunnypaw. I was having a bad dream." She sighed.
"It's okay, Firestar." He dipped his head respectively. "I was just wondering when I'd get my final assessment."
The red she-cat nodded and sighed through her nose. Sunnypaw was long overdue for his warrior ceremony. It was just that Firestar couldn't help but see ThunderClan's evil leader inside the innocent apprentice.
Feeling guilty for being wrong and treating him rather unfairly, she agreed to assess him along with his littermates the next quarter moon.
"Um," Sunnypaw turned to leave, but he looked back over his shoulder. "If I pass, please don't name me 'Sunnyheart'."
"I won't." She promised.
After the ginger apprentice left, Firestar slumped down into her nest. She had so much to do today! She had to assess the younger apprentices' progress today. She also needed to check up on the kits.
Usually, leaders didn't check up on their kits and queens regularly, but Firestar had been a permanent queen when the medicine cat, Littlebranch, had chosen her to be the new leader. The queens and their kits had been treated to so poorly under Sunstar's reign. That was why Firestar made regular rounds to the nursery along with her pther leaderly duties.
Bringing herself back to her paws, she padded out of her den and leapt down to the ground. Pushing the nightmare into the back of her mind, she took a deep breath and gazed upon her Clan. ThunderClan was so good now. Kits were being born when she-cats decided they wanted them. Apprentices were being, for the most part, correctly trained and treated. The warriors were strong and just. The elders were happy and peaceful.
I almost don't want to be leader... When I was a queen I didn't have to look after every single cat! I can't relax anymore. She thought tiredly. Firestar saw Flowerpetal, a young mother, sunning on a rock with her kits tumbling around at her paws.
"The givers of life, one of each Clan, shall brighten and lead the way out of darkness to the stars." The voice of Silverleaf echoed in her head. Was the prophecy speaking of queens? Was Flowerpetal the cat to lead the way? "No, mouse-brain. You are one of them, not her. She's lazy." Silverleaf clarified.
"Thanks, Silverleaf." She muttered before choosing a scrawny finch to eat for breakfast.
Edit: Sorry for the confusion. I named her Firestar on purpose so you would be confused. I'm serious. But not only that, each cat in this story is an OC I've used before in other stories. That's why she is here. She just happened to be a leader and an old mother. Firestar was once a queen named Fireface and blah blah blah StarClan chooses her and blah Silverleaf is the cat that I use for all of my prophecy-delivering, So blah and behold, this ThunderClan cat is not the MAIN main character I have four other she-cats waiting to be introduced...