A light grey she-cat rolled over in her nest in a dark den, trying to get comfortable. A younger cat, a silver, white, and black dappled tom, slept in a nest near her nest, while further away a younger cat, barely out of kithood, slept soundly after eating some poppy seeds. She closed her green eyes, trying to fall asleep, yet sleep evaded her like a skittish mouse evading the hunter. It was really late in the night, and she knew that all of the cats of her Clan were asleep in their nests. All but her.

She tossed and turned for a few more minutes before sighing softly as she sat up, giving up on sleep for now. She slowly and carefully stood up, silently stepping out of her nest and padding out of her den into the clearing of Riverclan's camp. She looked around before turning toward the entrance, silently padding out of it. She dipped her head in greeting to a large brown warrior who was guarding the camp.

Turning, she carefully made her way through the shallow water that surrounded her clan's camp, the hidden pathway that led to her camp. She continued toward the bank of the river, carefully making her way through the marshes. Ears pricked, she took everything around her in, the songs of crickets, the soft noise of the wind rustling through the cattails and other such plants, the soft peeps of the tiny frogs.

Once she had finally reached the bank, she was completely relaxed and at ease, blue eyes sparkling as she sat down on a smooth stone alone the bank overlooking the river. She watched the water softly flowing past her, calm and shallow as in the time of newleaf. She smiled as she saw the reflections of the stars in the water and slowly looked up at the stars that were those of her warrior ancestors and lost one.

She studied the stars as she remembered those that she had lost in her thirty moons of life; her mother, Mistystream, her brother, Otterpaw, her mentor, Marshfur, and her closest friend, Fallingrain, who she had just lost three moons ago to a boundary skirmish with Thunderclan over Sunningrocks. They had lost that time, but she was sure that there would be many more skirmishes over time.

That one skirmish was the only one that had resulted in a lost life for quite a while, though there were a few others that had happened in the last few seasons. In fact, besides that skirmish she couldn't remember a life lost in a skirmish in the eighteen moons she was medicine cat, and only two lives lost in the twelve moons that she was an apprentice. Those two lives were her brother, Otterpaw, and a warrior, Larkwing.

Of course, there had been other lives lost; Lostfoot, a golden she-cat elder who had lost her foot to a fox and died of old age the previous bare leaf, and Three-toes, an old gray tom who had three toes on one paw who died that same bare leaf, and three stillborn kits from different litters; Dawnkit, Lionkit, and Lightkit, and their leader, Graystar, had lost one of his four remaining lives to an infected wound.

Silently, she mourned those losses, though her mind immediately moved on to more happier things, like the three litters of kits that had been born in the last few seasons, all but one of the litters apprenticed. Her apprentice, Bubblingbrook, had just received his medicine cat name, and she was truly happy for him. Besides the litter of two kits who, in less than moon, would be apprenticed, there were two other queens in the nursery who were expecting, one queen, Icestorm, was due any day while the other queen, Dawnlily, would give birth in another moon or so.

She was brought completely out of her thoughts by a splashing sound and immediately looked around, eye wide for the source of the sound. When she didn't see or smell anything, she relaxed and went back to looking up at the stars, at ease. A familiar scent drifted to her over the breeze, telling her that she was no longer alone. She didn't look away from the stars as she sensed the approach of another cat, only turning to look at the cat once she had settled down beside the silver she-cat.

The she-cat that had joined the medicine cat was a light silver tabby with white stripes and green eyes that was exactly the same shade at the silver she-cat. The silver and white striped pelt glittered with the stars and seemed hazy marked her as one of Starclan, the cats of the Clans who had died for their Clans and who lived in the eternal Hunting grounds.

"Mistydawn," the silver she-cat said, dipping her head in greeting and smiling, yes sparkling with warmth.

"Echosong," the Starclan warrior responded, seeming both stern and warm at the same time.

"Is there news from Starclan?" Silvermist asked, looking a little worried. She had only received visits from Starclan when they warned her of something, and all had come true.

"There is something dark coming in the seasons to come, something that Starclan can see yet can not stop. Something that can, and will, crush and destroy the Clans," Mistydawn said, frowning as Silvermist's eyes widened.

"What? The Clans are going to be destroyed? Is there anything that can save us and stop this darkness?" Silvermist asked, looking both worried and hopeful.

Mistydawn nodded. "There will be one, born in your Clan, who will have the power to stop the darkness, but only she alone can do it. No one else can do it but her. Though she may receive some help from some close allies, it will be up to her to stop it," Mistydawn said as her green eyes slowly dulled.

""The Leopard alone can save the clans from the night bringing forever darkness, only she alone has the power to stop them. Remember that, Echosong, and never forget it," Mistydawn said, her voice taking on the voices of the many cats of Starclan.

"I won't forget it, Mistydawn," Echosong said, watching as the Starclan warrior slowly faded away to nothing, everything else also fading to black.

Echosong woke up with a gasp, looking around the medicine den as she slowly regained control of her breathing. Once she saw that both her apprentice and patient were still asleep and everything else was in place, she looked toward her entrance to see the the sky slowly lightening to a blue color. Getting to her paws, she quickly and silently slipped out of the den and headed directly to her leader's den, eyes full of concern and worry. She had to tell Graystar.

Once she reached Graystar's den, she hesitated a moment before softly calling his name. "Graystar, I need to talk to you. It's important," she said, her tone urgent. She only had to wait a few moments before a deep mew was heard, telling her to enter.

She immediately entered the den, stopping just inside the entrance as she allowed her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the nest. Her gaze immediately went to the long- haired gray tom who was her leader, who was now sitting upright in his nest, his posture proud as he looked at her.

"What has happened, Echosong, that has made you come and wake me up before dawn," he asked, not unkindly though with concern. He could remember her only waking him up to tell him that one of the Clan had died, and now he worried that someone else had joined Starclan.

"I'm sorry for waking you, Graystar, but it is urgent,' Echosong said, waiting until Graystar dipped his head, silently telling her to continue. "I recieved a dream from Starclan, a vision, telling me that something dark is coming to the clans, along with a prophecy; The Leopard alone can save the clans from the night bringing forever darkness, only she alone has the power to stop them." Echosong said before stopping, watching Graystar.

Graystar frowned as he mentally went over the prophecy in his mind. The Leopard? Did that mean one of the ancient cats of the spotted clan would come and save them? Or did it mean another cat would have the power to stop it? Who was this cat? Would this prophecy be soon, or would it be moons before it happened? And, who was Night?

He thought it over for a couple more minutes before returning his attention to the silver medicine cat. "I think we should keep this prophecy to ourselves until we know for sure who the Leopard is and see the prophecy happening," Graystar said. Echosong immediately nodded in agreement. "If you receive anymore visions or messages from Starclan, come see me immediately."

Echosong nodded before dipping her head. "Of course, I will," she said, backing out of the den before turning and heading back to her den, her mind on the prophecy. She would not tell anyone about this prophecy.

…..

Up in the sky above, in the Eternal Hunting Grounds, several cats sat around a pool of water, staring down into it. Among the cats was the silver tabby she-cat, Mistydawn. In the reflection of the pool was the image of Graystar and Echosong talking before Echosong left, heading back to her den. The water slowly began to darken as the picture faded out, and the cats immediately looked at each other.

"Do you think that this will be enough warning, Riverstar?" Mistydawn asked, looking concerned.

The long furred gray tom sighed and nodded. "It is the only thing we can do, for now," he said, trying to soothe the she-cat. Another cat, a golden she-cat, spoke up.

"We can still walk her dreams, Mistydawn, leading up to the she-kit's birth, and even after that. But, we can only do something when the little she-kit is born," the golden she-cat said, to which the other four cats nodded.

"This darkness, will the Leopard be enough to stop it, though?" a dark gray tom asked, concerned, to which River nodded.

"We can only hope, Stonypelt, and guide her throughout her life leading up to the darkness. Remember, though, that she will be one of the more powerful cats that the clans have ever seen," River said, to which the fifth cat snorted.

"One of the more? She will be the most powerful for many, many moons to come. Because of this, she could be a danger as welll. Mouse dung, she could even join the darkness" The white and black tom said, to which the golden she-cat hissed at him.

"She won't turn to the darkness, Steppingstone! We won't allow her!" the golden she-cat said, eyes glittering. to which the tom, Steppingstone, snorted.

"You only say that because she is your kin, your daughter's daughter, Sandybank," Steppingstone said, to which Sandybank opened her mouth to argue.

"That's enough, you two! What's done is done, we can not stop whatever will happen, but we will try our hardest to alter it's outcome. It's up to the young kit to do this, no one else," River said, to which the other cats slowly nodded in agreement. "We will continue to watch and wait, and once she arrives, then we will decide on what to do next," River said with finalty, to which the other cats could only nod in agreement.

All but the golden queen turned and headed away from the pool, leaving the golden queen alone. She turned to the pool and smiled down as an image of a small she-kit with a pelt of gold with black and brown spots on her and a white muzzle and underbelly laying between her mother's paws, her eyes not even opened yet.

This little kit would be the one who would save the clans, and so much rested upon the kit, who wasn't even born yet.