Prologue
Moonlight streamed over the horizon, creating a blanket of light over the forest below. It was almost midnight, and the stars shown bright with anticipation of the coming day. Birds were silent. The crickets did not chirp in there melodious tune. It was almost like the passing forest was mourning, the wind groaning in anguish. Few clouds covered the length of the starry sky, making plenty of light to guide the treading cats below.
Under the line of pine trees and through the walls of bracken walked many cats soundlessly through the night. They made no noise, for thy were born with the gift of silence. The leader of the cats drifted effortlessly onward through the eerie forest as the cats behind her followed. They were on a journey, one that seemed to have no end through the eternal landscapes. But they traveled onward, knowing that one day they would find what they have been looking for. Though the journey had lasted generations before even the oldest of cats remembered, they still continued. Nothing could stop them.
Near the end of the group ran a small, young cat. She guided the elder beside her, reassuring him with soundless nods and looks. The young cat knew that when her leader was in a trance, following the paws of her ancestors to their ultimate goal, that no one should speak. To disturb the leader would set them all back many paw steps in there almost never ending travels. It was strange, being so quiet, for the young cat was used to the squabbling of the kits, the gossip of the queens, the grumpy elders and their stories, and the wise words of her leader and medicine cat. She wised more than anything that the night be over, for fatigue started to creep up her limbs, and tire taking her eyes and mind. She wondered why her leader had to go into her trance at such a late hour.
For many minutes they walked, until the leader suddenly halted. The young she-cat looked feverishly to her leader, wondering if the trance had stopped. The elder beside her looked hopeful as well, surely wanting to rest for the night. The leader held her head downward, and it seemed that she was trying to listen to a message, maybe from her ancestors. The medicine cat quietly walked up to the leader's side and touched her tail to her shoulder. A few seconds later, the leader let out a yowl of pain.
"Lightstar?" The medicine cat spoke with worry deep in her tone. The leader turned her gaze to the wise cat beside her, sadness filling her vision.
"Our ancestors... they..." Lightstar spoke softly, choking out each word, "they have left us.... They say that we must guide ourselves... that we must find... them...." Suddenly, the quiet group behind Lightstar broke into a mass of yowling, to confusing to make out any words. The young she-cat stepped backward, almost knocked back by the sudden volume of noise erupting around her. The deputy quickly stepped in to the fray, speaking for the leader while she sat with strange emotions filling her eyes.
"Please! Everyone! Calm down! Our ancestors could not have completely left us! Have hope!" The deputy flicked his tail at the crowd of cats, trying to settle them down from the chaos. He turned to the medicine cat, but she was busy talking to leader, but the young she-cat could not hear their words, for they were too quiet."We must hav-"
"Wait...." Lightstar's head rose, and she seemed to be back in her trance. She started to tread onward toward the dark pine forest, disappearing through the trees. Every cat was silenced by her sudden departure. The deputy blinked wide eyed at the direction that his leader had just left. For many moments no cat moved, until the medicine cat spoke up.
"Come! We must follow our leader! Come!" the medicine cat followed the path her leader took into the forest. The deputy immediately trailed after her, and flicked his tail at the cats behind him. The crowd looked from one another, and decided to follow their deputy. The young she-cat moved with the crowd, still supporting the elder beside her. He sniffed at her, breaking off from the young cat.
"I don't always need help, young one. I was a warrior once!" He nodded at her and dashed off into the large group of cats. The young she-cat stifled a laugh. Elders could be so grumpy sometimes. Done with her humor, the young cat ran into the forest after her group.
It was dark for a few moments, the bramble and bracken looming over the young she-cat. Everyone was soundless, not meowing a single word. But soon the moonlight broke over the cats once more, turning their fur into a silver sheen. The young she-cat realized the ground was sloping downward, and she walked to the tip of the hill. As she looked down to expect another endless landscape of pine, she saw something different. Something beautiful.
Before her was almost an entire world, at first a pine forest stretched across the hill, but then stopped to reveal a river filled area. Soon the rivers smoothed out to a grassy moor. From there it broke off into a bigger forest, a bare, leafless forest, one that would feel like home during the warm air of greenleaf. If the young she-cat squinted hard enough, she could spot a tiny hollow beneath the snowy cover. All of it was so different, so new, so fresh. It was so much to take in. The young she-cat had never seen something so amazing and been so awestruck before in her life. And in the middle of it all sat a huge lake reflecting starlight of it's gentle surface.
Lightstar grinned, and purred so loud that the young she-cat could hear it a couple of tail-lengths away. She stuck a paw high in the air, speaking with a firm, yet joyful voice. "Our ancestors have not left us to die! We have found what so many generations of our Clan have searched for!"
Every cat meowed and purred in success, even the young she-cat who was so surprised that she could hardly speak. Lightstar yowled in victory, brushing her fire like tail in the air. She turned to the crowd before her, meowing in a low, powerful voice. "FireClan! We have found what we sought for so long! Now we shall get our respect, our territory, and our revenge!"
And somewhere in the night, a lone bird crowed....