Tigerstar felt Firestar's jaws close around his neck, and he writhed, trying to dislodge the tom. Then, a snap echoed around him, and he felt the pressure vanish. He was falling, not to the Dark Forest. He couldn't go back. He felt his body suspended in nowhere, and he cracked an eye open.
Everything was black. He felt something like a current tugging at his fur, but he didn't want to go. He didn't want the current to take him.
He righted himself, marveling in the way he was floating. It was like a river, he mused silently. And rivers… well, you can swim in rivers.
Tigerstar tested his paws, paddling them as he had learned to in the Dark Forest. A pang shook him as he realized that he had failed, but he kept swimming forward.
A light grayness… Tigerstar squinted, trying to make sense of the change in colors. He could see his whiskers… Maybe he was getting to the end of this weird place…
The light grew in brightness, and soon became the look of sunlight. He could still see nothing above or below him, but right in front of him… A window stopped the darkness.
In time, he reached the opening, and placed one paw tentatively on it. It held, and he climbed up, letting his tail hang over the side.
Cats milled below him, in some sort of camp. He didn't recognize it; he had been to all the Clan territories, and this one matched none of them.
Without realizing it, he was tilting forward. He felt an immediate sense of alarm, but it was too late. He slipped off his hold and fell, watching as it faded away from sight.
Unbeknownst to him, this was happening to many other cats. Those who had faded in the fight that Tigerstar himself had died in.