Rainpaw, a quiet, obedient apprentice never even being outside her own Clan makes an unlikely alliance with a bold, troublemaking loner with a dangerous secret. A prophecy looms over their heads, and they must defeat the demon who holds a terribly dark power to save everyone they know. But what if the biggest danger actually holds the most secrets about both their pasts?
Prologue
A thick inky smoke layered the land, hanging low above the bare, rattling treetops against a crisp, chilling wind. A tired black hawk cried a shrill, mournful call as it circled above the dark world, wingtips touching the grey sky.
Aside from the groups of feral cats that lived in the forests and hills, there was barely any life. Birdsong was growing fainter and weaker by the second, and only a few small creatures could be seen scurrying amidst the tall grass and undergrowth. Taking a closer look at the wild cats, it could be clearly seen that their pelts were dirty and not groomed well, their bodies were sickly thin, and their ribs could be seen through their fur.
It was a dark age. Winds howled and the temperature dropped colder and colder. Prey was scarce and dying by the second. The cats had nothing to live on. Just bits and scraps of a meal were extremely precious now. The drastic, sudden and unusual changes brought hunger and aggression to the Clans. It wasn't just cats being weak and hungry in their own Clans. The four, whenever met at the borderlines, would break out in sudden accusations and fights. Nothing was peaceful now.
A prophecy loomed overhead, one that the Clan cats didn't know about and one that StarClan couldn't decipher. Not yet.
"In the age of the demon, elements of the universe will merge as one and clear the world of death and darkness."
A pale grey she-cat, her body half-transparent and glittering with tiny stars, emerged from a large cloud of mist up in the sky. Her deep blue eyes were dull and troubled. A dark brown tabby tom followed close behind the first.
"Is there something wrong, Willowstar?" the tom murmured to the grey she-cat.
Willowstar looked down upon the land and sighed. She could look through her paws and see to the trees, but the lifeless place was no longer beautiful.
"The Clans," she replied quietly. "They have been in battle, with aggression and hunger taking its toll on them. I don't know how long they will last, Birchclaw."
The tomcat lowered his head and narrowed his amber eyes. "They are strong, Willowstar. I'm sure they'll be fine. This definitely isn't the first difficult season they've had to live through."
"No, not just that," the grey she-cat murmured. "The prophecy, everything, it just seems . . . different from usual. I do not know what it means yet."
Birchclaw sighed and sat down, his faint pelt twinkling in the heavens. "Me neither. We just have to wait and pray that everything will be explained, that the Clans will get through."
"Pray?" Willowstar narrowed her dull eyes. "Who can we pray to? We are the dead. The living pray to the dead, but the dead — "
" — Pray for the living," Birchclaw finished confidently. He looked at the StarClan she-cat with a leveled gaze. "We cannot do everything for them, but we can warn them, help them, guide them through. The rest is up to themselves, but I trust they'll figure everything out. They have before, they will now. Don't you agree?"
Willowstar looked down. The bare trees, the lifeless, dark earth and the chilling atmosphere. Something was definitely not right, but Birchclaw had sense in his words.
"But this is something new, I can feel it. This is something bigger than what they've faced before. Before it was only Clan against Clan, cat against cat. This time there'll be something else," Willowstar whispered lowly, turning to look at the brown StarClan tom.
Birchclaw didn't flinch. A breeze ruffled his fur. "Maybe, but I believe difficulties will be overcame. I have faith. Don't you?"
Willowstar felt the intense amber gaze on her pelt. She sighed reluctantly and nodded with a weak smile. "I . . . I do. I always did."
"Good. And I will too." Birchclaw smiled as well and followed her away when they saw a few more starry-furred cats walk out.
However, no masked smile could hide what was really inside their minds. All the blurry questions and worries that they couldn't quite decipher, didn't really know. Below their world in the moon and stars, fangs and claws were colliding, insults and threats were being thrown across borderlines, and blood was still being shed.
The whole Clan territory, and miles beyond that, suddenly became darker and darker. The clouds became heavier, hung lower, and became an intimidating, unusual pitch-black color. All of a sudden, dark green leaves started wilting, falling and dying right in front of the cats' paws. Tree branches crinkled and gnarled, became grey and black instead of healthy golden brown. Rivers dried, plants shriveled, and a giant shadow spread throughout the land. Everything became duller, darker, and only the blood seemed to still pierce through the inky surroundings.
Through the dying trees, black clouds and coal-colored smoke, beneath the drying leaves and splattered blood on the land, hidden deepest within the darkest cave, two glowing crimson eyes opened.
Thousands of cats' and other creatures' lives were sucked away at that instant. Trees died all at once and the crippled fragments of dried leaves just vanished into the air. The world became dreary and darker than ever.
And a demon was born.
A/N: My first Warriors fanfic! Well, first one that I published. I wrote a lot of others that I didn't publish on FFN. But I hope it's okay so far. I promise it'll get way more exciting later on, and the other chapters will be much longer because this is only the prologue. Please review! Thanks!
– Darky