LEADER: Servalstar - Skinny gold tom with amber eyes and black swirls

DEPUTY: Jaguarclaw - Pale orange spotted tom with a white chest and underbelly

MEDICINE CAT: Lostsea - Dusty gray and brown patched she-cat

WARRIORS:

Darkwind - Dark colored tortoiseshell and white she-cat

Breezefeather - Cream tabby she-cat with a whiteunderside and dusty gold muzzle

Leopardheart - Tan-gold she-cat with white paws and a brown underbelly and green eyes

Sandclaw - Twin sister to Leopardheart, only with amber eyes

Patchfur - Unusual dilute calico tom

Tabbytail - Orangey-brown she-cat with long fur and brown eyes

Hawkfeather - Ginger tabby tom with dark amber eyes and a black muzzle

Lizardclaw - Brown tabby she-cat with bright green eyes

Horseheart - Light brown tomwith darker fur on his back and tail

Aquadrop - Blue-gray tabby she-cat with a white star on her chest

Tangledthorn - Rough-furred golden tom with faint, darker brown stripes

Crowleaf - Dark silver tabby tom with blue eyes

Lavendarlight - Light cream, almost white she-cat with purple eyes

APPRENTICES:

Ratfang - Scruffy, mousy brown tom with sharp claws and amber eyes

Shadedpaw - Black, shady-colored she-cat with dark blue, almost black eyes

Cloverpaw - White tom with pale gray rosettes and clover-green eyes

Jaggedpaw - Dark gray tom with brown tinges and one of his canines jagged and broken

Arcticpaw - White tom with pale blue eyes and brown tabby stripes

Sunpaw - Light ginger tabby with yellow eyes and one wite paw

Cherrypaw - Dark ginger she-cat with white paws, a white chest star and black ears

QUEENS:

Snakeflower - Dark brown she-cat with brown-green eyes

Desertflower - Light golden-tan she-cat with bright green eyes

Graycloud - Grumpy, longhaired gray she-cat with long whiskers

KITS:

Streakkit - Sleek, silver tabby tomkit

Cougarkit - White she-kit with ginger patches and black tips

Daykit - Golden she-kit with paler yellow stripes

Indigokit - Gray and white tomkit with short fur

Inkkit - Black and white tomkit with a longer-furred tail

ELDERS:

Birdwing - Big black and white tom with a lot of scars

Layla - Paler ginger tabby with a black muzzle and white paws

Firecloud - Dark ginger tabby with one white patch on his side and orange eyes

Loneheart - Pale gray, almost white tom with white ears

Streakkit was alone on a fine, stony substance. In front of him crashed endless waves of water – even more than a cat saw at his old home in RiverClan. His eyes were stung by the salt in the water and he backed away, mewling for his mother. The sky only continued to get darker and stars disappeared mercilessly. A cold breeze ruffled his fur and made his skin tingle.

"Mother! Mother? MOTHER!" The tabby kit's voice rang out in the night, showing just how alone he was. Nobody answered him. The only sound was the echo and rhythmic beating of the endless pool. Then a new noise – the crackle of flame. He had never heard it in his waking hours, but now, here, at this moment, he knew it was fire.

So Streakkit ran. He panted and gasped for air to fill his kit-lungs. The fine stones under his paws were kicked up behind him and made the fire louder, fueling it. The land in front of Streakkit was never ending. None of it ever got any closer. The tomkit knew that he had to do, but he didn't want to. Surely it would kill him? No, it was just a dream…

He faced the fire and skidded to a halt. His energy wasted fed the flame and made it stronger. The less energy he used, the less the fire grew.

There they sat. It seemed like an eternity before Streakkit knew, the only way to get rid of the fire was to get rid of himself. He was the fire.

Flames singed fur as he leaped in. Behind him he could sense his mother, sister, whole Clan behind him, watching in terror. It seemed like a thousand jaws wanted to hold him back but he did it and he jumped. And Streakkit couldn't help it – a blood-curdling yowl pierced the night air. More followed from his friends.

But the fire didn't welcome him into its mouth. Instead, a pair of dark black eyes narrowed at him from the waves of heat. The head, neck, body, legs, tail of a cat formed in a smoky essence around them, and the cat grinned toothily. The black spirit's white razor claws unsheathed. One swipe, and now Streakkit felt the true blow of pain. It engulfed him like thick air. He fell to the ground, writhing in pain…

"Streakkit! Streakkit, are you all right? Sweetheart, wake up!"

Desertflower, Streakkit's mother, stood over him. Her golden-colored face with it's sparkling green eyes that were normally happy was contorted into a fearful expression. Her hackles were raised in nervousness.

Still breathing hard from his dream, her son sat up, still shaking. He licked a quivering paw and nodded. "Uh…yeah. Yeah, I'm all right." His voice was faint, but those words were enough for Desertflower. She covered him in furious licks and nudged him to his feet.

"Were you dreaming?" asked Streakkit's friend Cougarkit. Cougarkit was a rugged-looking white she-kit with ginger patches, the normal kit-blue eyes that were starting to show a trace of green, and black eartips and tailtip. Her short, somewhat tangly fur was raised. "You were wiggling like an angry adder."

Streakkit coughed once in amusement. "And when have you seen an angry adder?"

"That wasn't the question," she huffed. Desertflower padded out of the nursery after casting a last glance at Streakkit, and brushed the kit's head with her tail. Cougarkit batted it away irritably and rolled onto her back, legs splayed in all directions. "Anyway, nevermind that. I wanna talk about something else. Even if you were dreaming, it probably didn't matter. Just a nightmare."

Her silver tabby companion nodded slowly and stared, squinting, into the watery morning sunlight. A few raindrops fell from the pine needles that covered the nursery, and Streakkit could tell that Graycloud, the expecting queen, was very grumpy and in an awful mood. Her warm gray fur clouded his view as she slunk out of the nursery to go visit with the other queens.

Cougarkit bounced on the tips of her claws and shifted from paw to paw impatiently. "Come on, whaddya want to do? I've been really wanting to play a prank on Indigokit, the prat…" she continued on about what they could possibly do to the black and white kit while Streakkit stared at the ceiling in unease.

Even if you were dreaming, it probably didn't matter… Streakkit wanted to believe her, but somehow he had the feeling that it did.