Mossfoot was dreaming that she was in a soft meadow. She purred in contentment as she chased after butterflies. It was fun to pretend to be a kit sometimes.
She squealed in excitement and jumped, batting at the colorful creatures. She continued to have fun, running and pouncing, trying to catch a butterfly. Mossfoot dropped to a crouch. Her tail lashed as she waited for the right moment. She wriggled her haunches before leaping. She outstretched her paws, and she grabbed a butterfly in her paws.
"Yes! I got it!" Mossfoot purred. She let go, still purring. She lazily batted at another butterfly, catching its wing.
She was distracted by a grasshopper that was sitting on a leaf. She dropped to a crouch, her eyes bright with excitement. She pounced, trying to catch the grasshopper.
"Oh well." Mossfoot purred.
She got bored and began to look for something else in her dream. She noticed something near her paws, and she leaned down to sniff it.
"Deaaathhhhhh..." It hissed. Mossfoot's eyes widened, and she leapt back.
"W-what?" She asked. The 'thing' was a patch of wilted grass. How could grass hiss?!
Mossfoot turned away. She didn't want her carefree dream to be ruined by some stupid grass.
"Deaaaatthhhhhhh..." Mossfoot let out a yelp and scrambled back, her eyes wide with terror. In front of her was a dead tree. Bird and mouse skeletons lay scattered near its trunk. Wilted flowers covered the rest of the ground.
Everything was whispering it now. "Deaaaaaattthhhh..." The dead plants were saying. They repeated it over and over again. Mossfoot backed away.
"What is going on?" She cried, flattening her ears.
One moment she was in a dream that kits were supposed to have, the next she was in a creepy, horrible nightmare. What had caused this to happen?
Mossfoot tried to run away. As she did so, she crashed into something sturdy. She looked up to see a badger. Its face was twisted and disgusting as it let out an abnormal growl. Mossfoot was paralyzed by fear as the badger raised its paw to hit her.
"Stop." A scratchy voice brought her back to her senses, and Mossfoot whipped around.
"Wh-who're you?" She hissed. Then she quickly turned back to face the frightening badger.
But it was gone!
Her head whipped back forth, first to look at the cat that has just appeared out of nowhere, then at the empty space that used to he where the badger was standing.
"What in the name of StarClan happened?" Mossfoot asked, her eyes wide with fear.
"The others will be arriving shortly." The tom with the scratchy voice said. Mossfoot (after calming down) finally got to take a good look at the strange newcomer. It was a gray furred tom with one green eye and one blue eye. Half of his face was black, and the other was brown.
"Who-" She stopped, staring. "What are you?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.
The tom gave her a disapproving look that scared Mossfoot. It was strangely menacing...
Mossfoot jumped when she heard the crunch of paws stepping on dried leaves. She was shocked to see that her bright and lively dream had, quite literally, died. All of the plants were brown and gray. Even the sky was a dull color!
She bit back a growl when she saw who had made the noise. It was her arch nemesis from BirdClan, Sorrelfern. "What are you doing here?"
Sorrelfern narrowed her dull blue eyes. "I was wondering the same thing." Mossfoot noticed that the 'dead' she-cat seemed to fit right in her noghtmare. Sorrelfern had a dark gray pelt with almost gray blue eyes.
It was ironic that Mossfoot was seeing the she-cat that she hated so much in her now dead dream.
"Here they come." The oddly furred tom announced.
"What do you mean, 'here they come'?" Mossfoot hissed. "Are you some StarClan cat? 'Cause you sure don't look like one."
The tom didn't answer.
"Answer me!" Mossfoot unsheathed her claws.
"It's no use." Came Sorrelfern's deadpan voice. "He'll not reveal a word. Not until the 'others' come. I've already tried."
"What do you know?!" Mossfoot growled. "You're just a desperate she-cat trying to-" Before she could finish her sentence, there was another crunch. They turned to look.
Sorrelfern didn't look phased. "What are you two doing here?" She asked.
So she and Mossfoot shared a common enemy. It seemed that, from the way she spoke, she liked the two cats as much as Mossfoot did.
"Redpaw?" Mossfoot asked incredulously. "Lilypaw? How in the world did you get here?"
Redpaw scowled. "Don't ask me!" Redpaw spat. "And don't ask Mouse-Brain. He just stands there sputtering nonsense."
"Maybe if you had just been more patient-!" Lilypaw began to retort.
"Who cares? He wouldn't have done anything! He just stands there doing nothing." Redpaw argued.
Mossfoot sighed, rolling her eyes. "They totally forget about reality when they pointlessly argue." She grumbled to Sorrelfern.
"Yes," The she-cat nodded in agreement.
"Wait," Redpaw stopped, finally coming back to his senses. "what are you guys doing here?"
Mossfoot saw Sorrelfern's eyes flash with annoyance. "We don't know. We're probably going to have to wait until he-" The gray she-cat pointed her tail at the tom. "-decided to start talking."
Mossfoot scented more cats. More? And it smelled like..."Sparrowfire? Antfur and Emberfall?" She was getting so very confused. Was this even a dream anymore? Maybe it was a weird gathering set up by StarClan.
Sorrelfern looked down as Sparrowfire approached Mossfoot. "Sis! Do you think StarClan is giving us a prophecy?" He asked. There was too much optimism in his voice. He too must've gotten a nightmare.
"Stop calling me that." Mossfoot grumbled. She turned to look at Emberfall. "Oh, hello again." She and the orange she-cat had grown to become friends, even though they were in different Clans.
"Well?!" Redpaw huffed. "Now will you finally explain to us-"
"Yes." The tom growled, his voice so husky that it made Mossfoot wince when she heard it again. It made her want to clear her own throat. "I have brought you seven here to dream together."
"We that's just great." Antfur grumbled, giving Emberfall a look. Mossfoot narrowed her eyes. What was with that one? He seemed to have something against her friend...
"You were each chosen for a different reason. You each know that reason. If you do not, you will soon find out." The tom continued.
"You still haven't told us your name." Mossfoot lifted her chin.
The tom ignored her. "You will have one moon. The last one surviving will be allowed to awaken once more. The rest will die," The tom fixed his gaze of Mossfoot, making her step back. "never to return to the waking realm."
"W-what is this?" Emberfall hissed. "You can't decide if we die or not! It's not like you can-"
The tom glowered. "You will not wake up until one moon has passed. That is that. There are no other rules. All you must do is survive. Do whatever it takes to survive."
Mossfoot swallowed. "O-okay," She cleared her throat. "Let's say that what you're saying is true. Then were will we be surviving? Er, what are we defending ourselves from?" She stuttered, trying to put together the right words.
"You are in Wish, the land of hopes and dreams." The tom tilted his head. "I mean, crushed hopes and dreams. One cannot ever make a perfect wish. The most deformed ones go here. This is where you must survive."
"Why?" Lilypaw asked immediately.
"You will figure it out." The tom rumbled. "It starts now."
"Wait!" Mossfoot cried. "What is your name? Are we in StarClan?"
The tom gave her one last look. "StarClan will not be able to help you now. Not while you are in Wish. And as for my name..." He flicked his tail. "I cannot say."
Then he dashed off, quickly disappearing into the fog.
"Fog?" Mossfoot blinked. She hadn't seen it earlier...
Sparrowfire seemed shocked. As did the apprentices and the rest of the cats. Everyone except Sorrelfern was rattled.
"So...what do we do now?" Sorrelfern asked, her eyes cloudy.