Prologue

It was almost the peak of midnight. A cold wind was beating down harshly, whipping at tree barks. The round, empty moon glittered coldly in the sky. Harsh moonlight fell onto a clearing, illuminating the silver bracken fronds with its steely white light. The night was still and deadly, crouched like tiger preparing to pounce.

In the shelter of a nearby cave, Hazelfur could feel her pawsteps padding softly on the cold cave floor. All was dark; she could see nothing. The wind was howling outside the cave mouth; Hazelfur's paws scrabbled on the rock, her claws digging into the stone. Her pelt bristled. She was cold, but she took a deep breath of the night atmosphere and walked on. Fear hammered in her heart, pummelling with such force that she felt almost as if she would be knocked off her paws. She used her whiskers to guide her in the humid blackness, her soaked fur dripping from the rain.

She looked back, and her eyes had to squint in the gloom. Did she dare go on? After the accident, she felt she desperately she needed to prove herself, but... She convinced herself to keep on going. At the worst, she reminded herself that she could just turn back later on.

Her mind painfully remembered what had yesterday. Images flashed in her mind; images of strewn warriors in ravines, laying by thundering water; caves filled with dangling stalactites; harsh eyes glaring. What had she done to deserve this? Some of the Clan still thought it had been an accident, but it wasn't enough to convince them she wasn't dangerous...and most of them fully blamed her. No, she was right, she had to go on.

She used her whiskers to guide her in the dark, feeling tremors of apprehension glide down her spine with shudders. She wasn't used to stone constantly scraping her pads, or darkness swimming around her, thicker than water. Blinking as her eyes tried to get used to the yawning blackness, she felt her heavy, shallow breathing rasp in her throat. She didn't like this place much, but at least she was finally alone.

The cold, eerie atmosphere chilled her. She may be used to ThunderClan's close-packed ferns, bramble bushes and undergrowth, and a high canopy of trees blocking sunlight, but even she felt tapped in the gloominess of the cave, as if her breath was being stifled.

As she padded softly into the darkness, deep under the lake by now, she thought back to the dream she had a night ago... You will have a price, she remembered the orange StarClan warrior saying. You will save the Clans and pay the price, or watch them die. What exactly did he mean? You will travel to the clearing between ShadowClan's territory and yours, and find the cave mouth and enter it. Travel along the tunnel, and it will bring you deep under the lake. Make your decision. Go through to the cave, and find out about the Fallen Warrior. Or turn back forever. This, she remembered him saying grimly as his last sentence, is your chance to prove yourself.

As her paws softly padded on, she had plenty of time to ponder her troubles, but every path seemed to lead the wrong way. There was no right path - only a best one. That seemed to be coming here. Then, StarClan, if they really did care about her, could reward her afterward—or rather, unpunish her.

Hazelfur suppressed a sigh in the darkness. It was confusing, after all. Yesterday, a ThunderClan warrior had been found half-dead in a ravine; and it seemed as if the whole Clan was blaming her for his death. Then, that night, Hazelfur was sent a dream, presumably by StarClan, to come here, and achieve a mission. The next day, today, had been her warrior ceremony, though to Hazelfur it had not felt anything like what she had imagined. She had pictured her gleaming coat shining with pride as her eyes glittered for the most imortant moment of her life. Instead she had received glares, piteous smiles, and sniffs of disgust. She had then decided it would better to come here as the StarClan warrior had said, so she had. The memories were carved in her mind; she brushed them off. By now the cave roof stooped low and the tunnel was narrower. Darkness swamped around her thickly, and made it harder for her to breathe. Hazelfur could feel her soft hazelnut-orange flank brushing the humid cave wall. Her ears were pricked and alert - you never knew if you were safe.

She eventually reached a place where the tunnel stopped. By now, her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she could make out a high stone archway hollowed out of the rocks. A prickle of fear stirred her pelt. She looked beyond the it, but all she could see was blackness. As she gazed upwards at the cave roof, she felt the weight of the Clans pressing down onto her shoulders. Could she do this? Could she really hope to take on all of this? Yes, she convinced herself.

Taking a deep shuddering breath, she stepped through the towering archway that cats shadows into her pelt.

Nothing could have prepared her for the sight she saw.

She had ventured into a deep, hollowed-out cave under the heart of the lake. Its smooth rock egdes curved beautifully up into the cave roof, which bore thousands of glittering stalactites and crystals jutting out of the rock, all lighting up as soon as she stepped in. The light almost blinded her amber gaze. The walls loomed like huge, towering treetops, smooth and stony, their shadows extinguished by the light from the crystals. This was the cave from her dream! At last, she had come here.

She paused, quietly. Her fur was still in the dim blackness, and pink glows were cast on it. The air was stiff and cold, with a hint of mystical unease. She could feel StarClan's presence here.

But as she looked back, her face fell with horror then dismay as the cave roof above her trembled and the loose rocks high up shook vigorously and fell with a series of thumps, barring the way back.

Leaping back with her fur on end, the rumbles died. Rocks now marked the way out. The archway she had gone through was no more. She was trapped.

"StarClan, help me…" she whispered softly, regret building up inside her as her murmur echoed, somber, off the cave walls.. Why did she even do this? It would have been fine. Everyone would have gotten over the shock of the accident. She should never have agreed with StarClan to come here.

It was just then that the cave gave a massive shudder, and the smooth ground beneath her paws gave way. She scrabbled backwards, alarmed, as a deep pit unfurled in the centre of the cave, engulfing stones and expanding dangerously. A gray rock, colored with silver shading, rose up in the centre of the huge hole that had formed in the ground. On it, perched, was the flame-coloured cat from her dream. His fur buffered by invisible wind, Hazelfur shrank back at the sight of his piercing expression.

"You have chosen this path," he uttered, his unblinking green gaze staring through Hazelfur as if she were faded. "You shall now find out about the Fallen Warrior. It is time."

"...No!" she began, stammering, as a blinding golden light flashed in front of her, swallowing up the cave and the flame-coloured cat with it, and she began to be dragged towards the terrifying pit.

"No! Not this way! You said you'd show me the Fallen Warrior! Not this!" she shrieked, as her paws desperately scrabbled against the smooth rock surface, in vain, as she, clawing at the ground furiously, was sucked into the golden light by an invisible force, struggling, shrieking.

Her desperate wailing was a sound that filled the whole cave as she was swallowed up into the blinding light, and as she fell, fell, fell into the blackness.