Hello!
I'm Akila/Pondfrost, author of TEOA. I'd like to thank you for clicking, and welcome you to a fanfiction that's not like any you've read before.
HEY DON'T SCROLL DOWN THIS IS IMPORTANT
This is four stories. (Yeah, weren't you wondering why it's hundreds of thousands of words long and still not over?)
If you check out the chapter directory (on a computer), you'll see that each chapter says Lightning:, Breeze:, Wave:, or Dark:, before each chapter title. If you're on mobile, just take my word for it.
That's because in each set of four chapters, one is from the perspective of Lightningkit, one is Breezekit, one is Wavekit, and one is Darkkit. They each have their own lives and worlds in ThunderClan, WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan respectively. Their stories interwine quite a bit, but each has their own story to tell.
You could read every chapter chronologically. It'll be a challenge; it's a vast amount of writing and trying to keep track of four lives is exhausting. (I would know *wipes away sweat, saves and closes the fifty page document, hides enormous notebook under bed*)
If you're interested in keeping your sanity, I would recommend choosing one of the four cats and reading the whole story from their perspective. If you're nutty enough to read all four, good luck to you sir/madam and I wish you a speedy recovery. Not to say that you can't, but it will probably make more sense to just read one, and then maybe move on to the others as well.
The four cats are, to remind you, Lightningkit of ThunderClan (she-cat), Breezekit of WindClan (tom), Wavekit of RiverClan (tom), and Darkkit of ShadowClan (she-cat).
If you're interested in picking one and following them to the end, read the first two chapters (this one and the next) as it's important to at least read that much. (They're the two prologues)
Then, if you've picked Darkkit, for example, skip Lightning: Rocks, Breeze: The Dog, and Wave: Herbs and Arguments, and go straight into Dark: Elder's Tails.
Continue skipping every chapter that doesn't start with Dark:. I promise you won't miss any of her story.
Or just read all of it. I won't stop you.
Everything else you need to know will be picked up pretty easily by reading. This is set far in the future; no cats from the original series are alive, though some descendants may be casually referenced. There won't be spoilers, don't worry.
Without further ado, the Prologue, part 1.
Prologue.
It was the darkest night.
The moon flickered palely in the sky, obscured by the thick underbrush of ThunderClan territory. Even the yowls of pain of the she-cat giving birth could not fully penetrate the thick silence of night.
"Two daughters, you have one more to go," the medicine cat told the queen reassuringly. "You're doing great!"
The queen shrieked in pain again as her body contracted with the force of a spasm.
The other she-cat hurried around her, doing her best to make the queen more comfortable as new mother wailed in pain and fear. The medicine cat's eyes met the new father's, who gave her a sharp nod and pressed himself to his mate's side.
"Two kits, you're almost there my love," he murmured, licking down the fur on his mate's head as she whimpered. "You can do it."
As the queen shook, the sound of rain slowly made itself known on ThunderClan territory.
The medicine cat ignored it, all her efforts focused on making sure the queen got through the birth and would be there at the end to care for her kits.
The queen screamed, her voice rising in a bone-chilling howl that drowned out the rain briefly. The water droplets lashed down harder than ever, increasing in intensity by the heartbeat.
Trying to focus on anything but the death-raising shrieks of the mother, the medicine cat licked the fur of the kits that had already been successfully delivered. The last kit is always the hardest, she lied to herself. Three kits means good fortune.
The medicine cat abruptly stopped licking the two kits as she realized it wasn't just raining, but fully storming at this point. StarClan, please let this birth be finished before you tear ThunderClan's territory apart with thunder and lightning.
For whatever reason, whether it was the heavy air of the storm, the hard birth, the deafening rain, or simply her own stress, the medicine cat felt her fur rise and her heart beat faster than ever, like it was trying to escape her chest.
Ba bump.
Thunder exploded through the sky.
Ba bump.
The purplish clouds were lit as a white fork of lightning cracked into the lake.
Ba bump.
A third bundle slid onto the ground.
Ba bump.
The medicine cat passed out.
…
When the medicine cat came to, she had a splitting headache.
She staggered to her paws.
The territory that stretched out in front of her was completely unfamiliar. The grayish grass underfoot was sparkling with starlight, but the sky above was thick with fog, featureless.
Though she was certain she'd never laid eyes on it in her life, it was strangely familiar.
"StarClan?" she murmured, blinking groggily. "Is- a vision?"
She swung her head around, searching for any sign of what it might mean, but the wind simply whistled through the grass, not revealing-
Crack!
Lightning slammed the ground in front of her, white-hot and brilliant.
She tried to jump away, terrified out of her pelt, but her paws were rooted to the ground.
As the burning light faded from her vision slowly, she recognized the faint outline of a cat in front of her, broad shouldered and larger than her. The afterburn of the lightning had blinded her enough that she couldn't distinguish any feature of the cat.
Before she had a chance to say anything, see anything, do anything, the cat whipped around and dashed across the starry land, disappearing into the fog.
The medicine cat blinked, clearing her vision, and squinted into the fog.
"Who are you!?" she called, her voice cracking as the wind stole her volume.
There was no reply from the mysterious cat.
She bounded forwards, racing into the fog, trying to catch up to the faint outline of the cat.
"Please!"
The cat only seemed to get farther with every step she took.
But now, the faint outline was being joined by three other cats, also indistinguishable in the fog.
Though their pelts were hidden by the thick mist, their physiques ranged from two that were bulky and broad, the cat in the lightning and another, to scrawny and tiny, to lithe but powerfully built.
It could be any cat that the medicine cat knew.
Suddenly, she leapt back as she heard a voice boom through the fog, husky and low but undeniably a she-cat's.
"The ground will split."
She blinked, and glanced down, but saw nothing.
Then a tom's, lighter and rich.
"The wind will twist."
Though the wind continued to blow through the grass, nothing was recognizable as 'twisting'.
The third voice was smooth and cold, deeper than the other tom's.
"The water will smash."
And the fourth, another she-cat, brighter than the first's but no less strong and passionate.
"The thunder will strike."
Then two voices, which the medicine cat had an odd certainty weren't coming from anywhere physical but rather resonating inside of her.
"The stars and the Clans will tear each other apart."
The quality of the voices was indescribable. Measured, almost amused, but lurking with ancient power and danger. A tom and a she-cat.
The medicine cat shook, her eyes fluttering shut.
…
The third kit was shivering on the ground of the ThunderClan camp.
The medicine cat was shaking from the last remnants of the vision.
The storm continued to rage unabated.
The queen bent her head and touched her final kit's head gently.
"Lightningkit."
That's the first part of the prologue. The next 'chapter' is the other three parts of the prologue.
It's a fairly short start, but regular chapters are at least two thousand words, usually about three thousand five hundred, but can be as much as six thousand.
Thanks for reading!
Leave me a review on your way out!
~Pondfrost