Prologue
It was night in the forest. Cool breezes swept down from the moorlands to the north, and the crescent moon shone through the high treetops of the four massive oak trees. Beneath the bristling canopy of orange and red leaves, stood a giant rock. Five cats stood atop the Great Rock, speaking in hushed tones to one another.
"Petalstar," one of the cats, a wiry gray tom meowed impatiently. "You're paranoid. How do we know that something is going to happen? What if your hare-brained medicine cat just had a dream? Why do you always think it's a warning?" Petalstar, who was pacing across the cool surface of the rock, bared her teeth. "Because I don't doubt Brackenleaf's abilities, Wrenstar," she snapped. "If what she's saying is true, all of the Clans might fall." Wrenstar rolled his blue eyes.
"Sure. So you want us to start preparing for a war that might never come?" he asked dryly. A small ginger she-cat sat at the edge of the rock, gazing intently upward towards the trees. "You know," she meowed thoughtfully. "We should listen. ThunderClan isn't usually wrong about things." Wrenstar's eyes widened in disbelief. "So you'll agree because Petalstar is all-knowing?" he snapped. "It's always ThunderClan, isn't it? They'll always end up saving our pelts! And you of all cats agree, Squirrelstar You just got out of a war with them -" Squirrelstar stood and rounded on the tom.
"Last time SkyClan didn't listen to a medicine cat, we got our leader and a load of others killed. So I don't think ThunderClan is the greatest Clan in the forest, but I do think that we should listen."
Wrenstar hissed, but said nothing more. Petalstar smirked triumphantly at him.
"Don't take that that the wrong way," Squirrelstar warned the white she-cat.
"Well," a deep mew grumbled from a dip in the rock, startling all three of the others. "ShadowClan will prepare, but I feel like I'm on Wrenstar's side of things," he told them, standing and revealing himself to be a giant smoky gray tomcat. "Nothing is probably going to happen." Wrenstar nodded in agreement.
"Some cat has some sense," he muttered. Petalstar scowled.
"You all are fox-brained," she snapped. "What happens when this threat does come? You'll come running for our help, that's what." Squirrelstar rolled her eyes at the ThunderClan leader, but turned to a glossy silver she-cat that was laying lazily on the lower part of the rock. "Where do you stand?" the cat shrugged. "I suppose I'll prepare, but RiverClan will be absolutely fine," she meowed. "Whatever menace that will rise from one of the Clans won't hurt my Clan, I assure you."
"Then this meeting is adjourned," Petalstar meowed, leaping down from the rock. "I'll see you all at the Gathering." The leader then padded across the wide clearing that was sheltered by the four oaks, slipped into the forest, and was gone. Without speaking, Wrenstar slid down the face of the rock and stalked off, fuming, and padded off to the moor.
"Wrenstar!" an angry hiss greeted him as he returned to the sandy hollow that made his Clan camp. "Where have you been?" The wiry tom scowled.
"Petalstar called a meeting at Fourtrees," he repeated, a little apologetically as a brown she-cat stepped in front of him. She had short cropped fur and brilliant blue eyes. "I went to your den to find you, and you weren't there. I..." her voice quivered. "I had a horrible dream, Wrenstar." His eyes widened in alarm. "What was it, Mudheart?" The she-cat licked her paws quickly, then looked back up at the WindClan leader, and took a long breath. She then replied.
"It was... it was Mothflight, you know, the first medicine cat? And she told me... she told me that..." Wrenstar hissed. "Go on."
"A seed of darkness will sprout from the heart of the forest," she whispered. "And the Clans will be plunged into everlasting night."
"What?" Wrenstar growled, his short tail lashing. That's the same prophecy that Petalstar said her medicine cat was sent. "Is there any way to stop this darkness?" he asked, fear creeping into his voice. "Can we do something?" He looked at Mudheart for reassurance, but the she-cat just shook her head slowly. "I'm sorry, Wrenstar," she meowed. "There is nothing we can do but prepare for whatever is coming to the Clans."
