Prologue ~
A small sliver of moon dangled delicately from the clouds, lighting up an empty clearing in the woods. A gust of frigid wind swept abruptly through the tranquil scene, and illuminated silver blossoms swayed precariously with the night breeze.
Movement from one corner of the foreboding forest caught her eye. She turned, and lithe shapes of cats filtered slowly into the moonlit meadow, glowing eyes bright through the shadows. They shimmered like they were made of water, and as they drew closer she noticed that their bodies were translucent. She watched them intently as their fragile images crowded together into a mask of silver light. Whispers latched on to the bitter winds and flowed together till she could hear nothing more than the sound of breathing from these cats that cast no shadows.
"Silence!" A resonating voice called out, belonging to a she-cat standing at the center of the clearing. "We must give them a warning. If we send a message to one of the worthy maybe he can be stopped."
"No, Ravenstar." A grey tom interrupted. "He is too dangerous. You saw what massacre he will start. It is best not to get involved."
"Then what?" Ravenstar's eyes blazed. "We let him destroy all the Clans! We let him destroy what is most precious to them! He cannot be stopped so at least we must prepare the Clans. It is the only way…" The black she-cat trailed off, lost in thought.
Whispers of the cats started up again, louder. In confusion, she searched the crowd of cats, pushing her way through their luminous bodies. She submerged into the noise, trapped in a white light growing with fury. As the light consumed her, panicked screams rose in her throat and a hot pain laced tightly around her head.
"Help!" she called.
The light shattered into tiny shards of glistening white and she broke into slivers of darkness.
A shrill scream pierced into the silent night.
A black cat lay in the middle of the nursery, almost invisible compared to her dark surroundings. Her blue eyes glowed dully and she gasped as another spasm racked her body. The glint of tightened muscles gave away the black and white tom sitting next to her, wincing as his mate let out an agonized wail.
"Just hang in there, Hollytail." A silver tabby she-cat comforted as she ran into the bramble enforced den.
"Will she be okay? " The tom asked the silver tabby
"Queens are made for giving birth." the medicine-cat replied, her foggy blue eyes sparkling. Her paw reached over to rest on the she-cat's contracting stomach. "It's going to be a big litter."
Suddenly, the black cat's eyes flew open and she groaned loudly.
"The first is coming!" the silver she-cat exclaimed. A black kit squeaked as she fell into her father's outstretched paws.
"Quick!" the medicine cat instructed. "Nip the sack and place her next to her mother."
Hollytail purred gently through her pain as her daughter burrowed herself into the warmth and safety of her thick fur.
Another kit was born soon after, but this one was greeted with silence.
"A stillborn." Silvermist mewed plaintively.
"No! No-" the tom gasped, furiously licking his dead son. "Please come back," he whimpered.
His mate gasped inwardly and a tiny black and white she-kit slid out behind her. Silvermist placed her next to her sister, and she let out a little wail.
"Quiet my pretty love." Hollytail cooed as the a new burst of spasms tore through her.
A big dark gray kit started to form as the queen pushed through the last of her contractions. His green eyes shone like hard gems as he took his first breath.
"Born with his eyes op-" Silvermist broke off as her pupils rolled backwards into her head and she crumpled into a heap of shining fur. "Someone please come!" Hollytail wailed, and two warriors ran into the nursery.
"What happened?" A red tom called. "Are you and your kits okay?" He stopped in his tracks as he saw Badgerstrike hovering over his stillborn kit. "We're okay!" Hollytail yowled. "But Silvermist, after my last one was born…" She inhaled deeply. "Silvermist just collapsed." The queen finished lamely.
"I'll go get Goldenstar." The other warrior suggested, then ran off. The red tom gently tugged Silvermist's body out of the nursery by the scruff.
Hollytail stared at her kits, taking in their fragile state and delicate beauty. Tiny little shadows of the strong warriors they will become. They will become something so much bigger…. My kits. The queen smiled although her eyes were coated with a flimsy mist as she remembered a few days back when her first born, Spiderfur, had his warrior ceremony.
"Badgerstrike." Her soft voice coaxed her mate, breaking through the bubble of his silent sorrow. "Please come here, my love, help me name our three kits."
"Our four." He responded, but picked up the stillborn and carried him to his mate.
"I know, I know." She soothed, the meaningless mantra hushing him. "Look, Badgerstrike." A kit feebly turned to face her father.
"The firstborn of the litter." He smiled, but his eyes were empty.
"Badgerstrike, please. What do you want to name her?"
"How do you feel about Blossomkit?" He offered.
"That's a wonderful name." Hollytail purred, then glanced, concerned, at the spot where Silvermist collapsed. "How about we name our other pretty daughter Mistkit, after Silvermist?"
"That suits her perfectly." Badgerstrike agreed, eyeing the silver swirling over her black pelt. "I want to name the stillborn too, so that the Clan can offer him to Silverpelt. What about Silentkit?"
His black mate licked the unmoving bundle between the ears. He would have been so handsome… Is this my fault? Why did he never get to take his first breath? "Silentkit," she echoed, a splitting pain bursting in her chest. Hollytail melted into a river of tears and leaned on her mate, crying for the kit who never was.
Nobody recalled the dark gray tom lying under the depth of the endless night.
Maybe when they found him they felt guilty for momentarily neglecting their last kit.
But maybe, when it was all over they wished they had left him there in the shade.
For the name that they gave him foresaw his invisible flame that tore the Clans down.
The darkness inside him that overwhelmed the whole of the forest.
Long live Shadekit, the forgotten.
May he always be remembered for what he truly was.