PROLOGUE

Night had fallen upon a weary landscape scarred by winter. A cold moon shone desperately above the horizon, its pale light only decorating the shapes covering the earth below with faint glows, and the world was still. Far below the reach of the pale eye lay frozen bodies of the fallen, wrapped in a thin carpet of snow. Sorrowful howls could be heard echoing across the valley for all to hear as their families, friends, and clanmates mourned their loss.

Sparkstar was still, only watching in the moonlit clearing as Moonhollow and Thunderheart gently closed the eyes of the cats slain in battle. By StarClan, there were so many. So many lives had been lost.

"We have not had peace," Sparkstar choked out, swallowing his grief. "Not since the day that Foreststar died. We have lost so many." Sparkstar looked over Foxheart, Thornbranch, Sandtree, Fleetpaw, and Rivercloud, surrounded by their grieving clanmates. He spared a glance at the fallen SilhouetteClan warriors lost, too, because they had lived, just like his own clanmates. Shaking his head, Sparkstar looked up at the moon.

"It has gone beyond the point of no return," said Sparkstar, surprising himself with the control he had over his voice. "The world we live in is in shambles." A snowflake drifted down onto his muzzle, signifying the return of the storm. "This war, this crisis, is the fault of all cats. Now, we need to work harder than ever to stop it because sooner or later, we will all kill one another."

Sparkstar was silent again. He glanced at Thornbranch and swallowed, his eyes watering. His brother had been a good cat. It wasn't fair that he had to die this way.

"Sparkstar, they're gone. I checked and—" Moonshine had come into the clearing at some point. He made half an effort to shield the she-cat from the horrors that lay in the moonlight, but she had stopped dead, her mouth opening and closing. "No."

Moonshine looked at the still forms of her sister and mate as her indigo eyes widened in grief. "Foxheart! Thornbranch!" The black she-cat raced over to where the fallen lay, shaking her head rapidly. "No. No. No. I'm imagining this."

Sparkstar closed his eyes, unwilling to see any more of Moonshine's pain, but it didn't help to disguise the wail of pure grief that erupted from the other side of the clearing. StarClan, help us. Please. Don't let this suffering go on any longer.

Above, the moon watched ever stoically.

After they had left the burial clearing, Sparkstar led the silent Clan into the TreeClan camp. All of the cats' tails were drooping, ears flat, whimpering. It had been a hard night, and single-file the cats filtered into their respective dens. It was snowing again, though it was more like rain than earlier. StarClan cries with us, Sparkstar thought bitterly.

After ensuring that the Clan was safely put away and that no dangers were lying in wait outside of the protective barrier, Sparkstar readied himself and leaped up into the old human structure he had made his den. He had no problems with the humans; he was a little wary, but that was only because they had taken his brother Konakit when he was little.

Shaking his pelt to dislodge the snowflakes it had gathered, Sparkstar crouched low under the overhang and entered the space. It was mostly free of snow, a little at the very edges of the platform, but his nest was clear. So, with a heavy sigh, Sparkstar simply fell into the fabric and drifted off.

It felt like he had only been asleep for a minute before he was waking up again. Sparkstar groaned and opened one eyelid, only to see that he was no longer in his den but in the astral plane. Scrambling to his paws, he looked around frantically to see whichever StarClan cat had called him there. "Hello?"

"Sparkstar, hi!" A warm chirp came from behind him, and turning around, he saw Foreststar, young and healthy. He grinned.

"Foreststar!" he greeted, walking over to gently touch their foreheads together. "What are you doing here?"

Foreststar sat back on her haunches and waved a paw. "Oh, you know, same old stuff. Dreamwalking, stalking, blah blah blah." Sparkstar chuckled, glad to see that Foreststar was still snarky in the afterlife. After a moment, Foreststar's face turned serious. "I'm actually here to give you a prophecy. You called for help from StarClan earlier, and rightfully so—" Foreststar's face momentarily crumpled, recalling her daughter, Foxheart, "—so we looked to the future. We think we have the answer."

Sparkstar looked at his old leader. "An answer? To–to all of this?"

"Two are coming," she said. "These two cats are unlike any cats that the valley has ever seen. They'll come from unexpected places, from different backgrounds. But they will be the most powerful cats to have ever lived." Foreststar stood and walked over to a purple pool that had opened up near them. She sat down next to it and beckoned Sparkstar with her tail. "Not power like a leader, not power like a medicine cat, and not even power like a StarClan cat. But they will have the power to cease this irrational war that has sprung in my absence."

Sparkstar felt a wave of guilt at that, and Foreststar smiled reassuringly. "You are a very capable leader, Sparkstar. Never forget that. This was destined to happen, and no other cat besides these two can stop it." Foreststar sighed. "It is time. Are you ready to receive the prophecy?"

Sparkstar murmured his assent, and Foreststar dipped her sparkling tail into the purple water before spinning it slowly. As the pool formed a whirlpool in its center, Foreststar removed her dry tail as it turned faster and faster. Suddenly, the tornado spit out a ball of yellow light, which slowly rose above the two cats. Its glow flooded the entire astral plane, and then the yellow light flared, and Foreststar's voice came through.

"A storm will come, bringing with it chaos and uncertainty. The fallen shall rise, and unity will be more necessary than ever. Break past the conformity of borders and Clans to see the true enemy. Together, flame and light will rise from the ashes of battles past to bring peace at last to the Clans. They will bring upon the Clans a future reborn."

As the astral plane began to fade from Sparkstar's vision for the night, and Foreststar's image was fading in and out of view, he heard her calling to him through the dense fog of his sudden sleepiness.

"Sleep well, Sparkstar, and may you find the cats who will light the paths of the Clans!"

Flame and light. Flame and light. Flame and light…