A small, golden cat sniffed around the forest, hunting for a plump vole; the one she had seen a moment before. Out of the blue it dashed behind a tree, sending up twigs and dirt in a dark cloud. The cool breeze swept it away, and the cat followed the vole, leaving her mouth ajar in case she got a quick scent of the vole. It sat beneath the tree, but it appeared to be trying to get into a hole between two roots. A claw struck it, hooking the twitching creature with a short thanks to her mother's spirit for the good hunting skills she had provided. Glittering teeth dug into its neck, and within seconds it was a cold, motionless figure in the moonlight.
The she-cat padded back to her home on the edge of the forest. The full-moon shone bright, casting an eerie glow over the trees. Soon the small cat stopped at the base of a small hill and began to climb, higher, higher, and higher still, until there was no where to go except down. Her pelt seemed to glow as the moon set and the sun began to turn the sky gold. The combination of sun and moon, as she saw each night, made the stumpy pile of ground she called home seem like it was shorter then it was- as if it was flat ground. There were no shadows at all, nothing to show depth of any kind. Bending down to take a bite of her meal, she noticed a shadow creep around the base and begin the short climb up next to the cat. Once he reached the top, the cat sat next to the she-cat.
"Jewel," he sighed, placing a mouse in front of himself, "how long can we keep up with this? One day we will be old and tired, and your kits will be gone, off to fend for themselves." He glanced down at the two small bundles of fur, now crawling towards their mother for suckling. Jewel drew them closer, hesitating at her mate's hard question. The orange one, like her mother, finished quickly, and began squealing for attention. The tom obliged, lightly pawing at her with sheathed claws. The kit hopped onto her father's back, yowling with triumph. "Lion, you silly kit, whatever you're doing, I'd bet it wasn't good for me!" The white tom chuckled softly, shaking Lion off gently.
Finally Jewel gave in, giving her mate a hard stare. "I know how concerned you are... to be honest, I think about that every time I catch prey," she admitted. "But I don't think that we should be concerned with that at the moment, Reed. It is hard enough to think about it, rather then try formulating plans with no good inspiration." She shook her head, the weight of her mind pressuring her to lie down, to give up. "Perhaps the answer will come to us soon." Jewel glanced down at her other kit, this one white with amber and green eyes and a brown tail, like his father's. The kitten ran over to his father, jumping over to Lion and knocking her off of her father and giving him some time to breathe.
"Phew... thanks, Frost," muttered Reed. He struggled to get up and gave himself a nice shake. Turning to Jewel, he nodded. "I suppose you are correct. We should stop worrying for the moment. Let's finish eating and then we can rest for a bit; ever since leaf-bare began the prey has all been asleep, and I think that it gets harder and harder every year to hunt." Jewel finished off her meal next to Reed, their pelts brushing. Frost and Lion both sat nearby, both pretending they were fierce loners like their parents, fending for themselves against invisible foxes and badgers. Their mother and father looked on with approving smiles, happy for their kits' good lives.
Eventually the small family crawled into the cozy nest, Reed on the outside; Jewel next inside, and Frost and Lion side-by-side in the center of the warm huddle. The kits fell asleep first, their gentle breathing ushering Reed to join them. Jewel was the last to sleep, eyes wide open until finally her breathing calmed and she rocketed off to her dreams.
At first, Jewel seemed to be in a dark, flat clearing. All she could make out were the faint outlines of four tall trees surrounding her, a light breeze whispering around the branches. There was a large hole in each, a short but think branch protruding from the rough bark right underneath. The gentle queen looked around, beginning to panic; she could hear many cats in the clearing. Glowing eyes and starry pelts peeked through the bushes that surrounded her. She stared back at them bravely, though her pelt was crawling with worry. And then one of them spoke.
"It is her!" it whispered in shock. "We have found the chosen one!" Jewel tilted her head to the side as the cat who spoke stepped gracefully into the clearing. "Hello," it meowed, "I am Firestar, and I am the former leader of ThunderClan." Suddenly the clearing was full of light. Jewel sighed and sat down, ready for the lecture he was about to give her. She could tell it would take a while. "Long ago," Firestar began, "ThunderClan thrived with RiverClan, WindClan, and ShadowClan by their side. Every cat hunted, as you do, and trained and such, the only real difference being that we lived with a large group of cats, normally at least seven, and we lived by a set of rules we called the warrior code.
"Every cat had to follow those rules or risk punishment. I'll talk to you about that later. The four clans eventually had to move to new territory when twolegs took over our territory. And again we thrived, this time in our new territory. Many moons passed, and as I grew older, I realized that our clans were edging apart. I suddenly knew that the only way to keep our clans together was to get through hard times; we had to move again. Though the territory was perfect and we were well settled, I did receive a message from StarClan, our warrior ancestors, telling me that my mind was in the right place. The next moon, underneath the full moon, we left.
"But unfortunately, StarClan was against us. Once we found new territory, war broke out among the clans. It was an all-out battle. No one even knows why it began. The clans were not properly reformed, and everything was lost, all because of StarClan. Our ancestors never spoke with us again, and we, the ancestors of the lost clans have named ourselves ShineClan. Though there are many cats from StarClan I will miss dearly, we all must face the facts; out ancestors have abandoned us, and this time it is not in poor judgment." Firestar sat down, sighing. "And, because I feel it is important for you to know, the land you are standing on now was the clans' final territory before they split apart. We are in Owltrees, located in this territory. It was where we peacefully met underneath the full moon in a truce. It was only peacefully used once, then, the next gathering, fight broke out and the clouds that usually covered the sky signaling the end of the gathering never came."
Jewel stood and walked forward until there was but a tail-length between them. "So," she hissed, "what do I have to do with this? Am I supposed to find out what happened to your little friends? For your information, I have a life involving my mate and two little bundles of fur that I like to call my kits!" By this time her fur was bristling, a hot tear streaking down the side of her face. "And how do I know that this isn't fake? We are after all, in a dream. I bet this is just my imagination, trying to make me do stupid things." She snorted and turned to leave, realizing with horror that she didn't know how to get out of her dream world.
"Please, listen!" he called, tail drooping. "You are to fulfill a prophecy! You are a descendant of ThunderClan!" Jewel froze and turned. She shook her head slowly, dumbfounded. Firestar continued, "Jewel, you must recreate the clans. I've recreated one clan before, and I doubt that there will be enough descendants like you to recreate all of them, so you only have to make one. Since there will be one clan, and it shouldn't be one of the original clans, you may make the name, but we will not handle that now. Do you accept?" Jewel took a second to think, but suddenly she straightened her spine and took a deep breath.
"I do," she declared, "and they will be named FrostClan. Now, teach me everything I need to know." Jewel sat down in front of Firestar. The cats in the bushes all either left or came forward to sit next to Firestar and Jewel.
"These are the past leaders," he mewed, "the ones who died with me in the war. They will help you find descendants of their clans. I, as you know, am Firestar of ThunderClan." He flicked his tail at each cat as he introduced them. "Blackstar of ShadowClan. Leopardstar of RiverClan. And Onestar of WindClan. Now, let us explain everything you must know about the clans." Jewel nodded and breathed deeply.
"I'm ready," she meowed, "let's begin."