He was floating, floating somewhere strange, but safe. The pain and suffering of the battle still lingered, but it was a dull ache; the terror that had struck his heart as sharp as claws before had lost it's cruel edge. Is this what it's like to die? He asked himself. Suspended in this bridge between life and death?
Wispy shadows drifted past him, tickling his muzzle. He recognised the shadows as warriors of the forest, dying to protect their Clans from Tigerstar. He suppressed a snarl, his emerald green eyes flashing in anger. Tigerstar. Those long, sharp claws...his greedy amber eyes, always wanting more. A cat like none other, he thought.
The darkness surrounding the ginger tom was beginning to fade, he could feel the cool earth beneath his paws. A dull murmur began to arise, hard to hear, but not impossible. It began with one voice, chanting a single word again and again: "Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire, Fire"
More cats joined in, and dark, lithe silhouettes swarmed around him. The volume rose. They were repeating the word, again and again and again. He lay down, his paws covering his ears, in a futile attempt to block out the sound. The chant had became a deafening roar and he could not take it anymore. He was just about to yowl in despair when the roar came to a halt. Silence. No cat dared to speak; you could have heard a dove's feather light down on a riverbed.
He opened his eyes reluctantly. A beautiful tortoiseshell she-cat stood in front of him, stars glittering in her sleek fur.
"Spottedleaf." He meowed.
"Firestar." She replied.
Spottedleaf touched her nose to Firestar's. "It's time."
Firestar didn't understand, but he closed his eyes and tensed his muscles. The countless cats of StarClan seemed to fade away, leaving Spottedleaf and Firestar alone in the darkness.
"I'm ready." The words came to him.
A strange sensation came over Firestar, his paws began to tingle, and the ground beneath him began to disappear. Scenes of his long life began to flash before him, and he seemed to be drowning in his own memories. He opened his mouth to call for his childhood sweetheart, but no sound came out. He was falling, falling into an eternal darkness. Firestar felt that he could never escape, never break free, and the feeling filled him up until he thought he could burst with the pressure.
His strength failed, his vision faded.
Before he lost consciousness he heard one last thing. A final breath of wind whispered the words into his ear:
'A Flare of Night will come, history will be rewritten, and Fire will not save the Clan.'
His paws gave way.