SHIMMERWIND'S RISE
The most ambitious rewrite of Starkit's Prophecy you'll ever see
PROLOGUE
RISE OF THE FORGOTTEN SOULS
There is a place the legends and stories do not dare to tread.
A place as old as time and matter itself, a place some would call an alternate plane of existence, yet one so terrifying no one dares dote on the prospect of its existence, let alone how they themselves would experience it.
A place so quiet, dark and empty, cats created an entire religion to block it's grasp on the ones they loved.
A place of darkness. Of silence. Of nothing.
Limbo.
An ethereal plane standing beyond the seconds and sensations of death. A place holding reign over all souls forgotten amidst the sands of time. The resting place for those billions of souls who have experienced their second death. A Dark Forest cat's fadeaway into nothing or a StarClan cat's final fall from grace.
The last time their name is remembered for the rest of eternity.
Some die quickly, their lives insignificant in the grand scheme of the history of the world. Some thrive for centuries, their names cornerstones in the lives of hundreds or thousands. Those in StarClan and the Dark Forest have accepted this. That their days are numbered within their fame or infamy. However long it takes, they will be forgotten. They will disappear forever. That's how it always has worked and how it always will be.
Until the Great Battle. The battle between light and dark, good and evil. The longest day where the barriers standing between the living world, heaven and hell, were brought down once and for all. It was Judgement Day, and those who failed paid the ultimate price.
They were stripped from StarClan, stripped from the Dark Forest, and sentenced to an eternity in Limbo, where the remains of their very soul would suffocate in the boundless darkness and blinding silence. There they would remain until all forgot their name.
That's how it was supposed to be.
Until someone found a way to escape.
A soul, long stripped of their name, mind and body, found a rift, a crease, and slipped out, away from the eternal darkness. In an escape that existence itself could have never prepared for, they willed themselves out from their sentence to death and brought themselves back into the plane of comprehensible reality.
And once they found out how to do it, it wasn't long until they weren't the only ones to.
Suddenly, Limbo had been ripped open like cobwebs on a fresh wound. Shards of souls spilled out from their final resting place, showering all throughout the world like a meteor shower. Some souls landed alone, left to wander for the rest of eternity, but some souls had a vengeance. An insatiable desire for revenge where nothing would stand in the way.
A desire that could destroy the four Clans and everything they believed in with a single swipe of a claw.
They had to be stopped.
And so our story begins in the catacombs of StarClan, where a congregation of desperate spirits rack their brains together to put together a resistance that could stand against the army of death itself.
An army that could save the Clans one last time.
"What about 'Out of darkness, out of night, the Three must rise to combat the night?'"
Yellowfang groaned. "Have you ever created a prophecy before?"
"No!" shot back Cinderpelt, ears flicking in annoyance, "I've also never planned for cats that have died twice to come back for a third time!"
"Enough arguing!" sighed Bluestar, rolling her eyes, "We need to focus!"
"Why don't we just tell them that there are spirits that died in the Great Battle returning?" cut in Firestar, who was tired of this hours-long argument of what to do. He, Yellowfang, Cinderpelt and Bluestar had gathered hastily after StarClan had seen a vision of souls of the Dark Forest that were killed in the Great Battle wandering the territories outside the Clans. They had no idea what they wanted or what their plan was, but it had to be nothing good, so they were preparing a prophecy to reunite the Three one more time.
"We can't tell them because we don't know what they want!" snapped Yellowfang, at her patience's end, "If we were to just tell them that there were old souls from the Dark Forest lying around, we have no idea how they will react! They could just go on a persecution power trip the moment someone acts suspicious!"
"Alright, so if you're so good at prophecies," challenged Cinderpelt, "What do you have in mind?"
"Simple," said the old medicine cat, "Out of the Limbo between Dark and Light, the Three shall rise to combat the night."
The others were silent before Firestar nodded. "That's actually pretty good."
Yellowfang flashed a cocky smirk at her apprentice, who just rolled her eyes.
"Alright," said Bluestar, "Who will deliver the prophecy to who?"
"I think Cinderpelt should go to Jayfeather," said Yellowfang, "He's tired of me. He won't give a ratshit about what I say."
"Firestar, you go speak with Lionblaze," said Bluestar to the orange tom, who nodded, "He has the most respect for you as a fighter and grandfather. I will go speak with Dovewing-"
"You will do nothing of the sort."
The group of four turned to see a half-skinned very old tom, his dull gray eyes burning with frustrated anger. Yellowfang immediately scowled at him.
"What do you want?"
"To tell you that you cannot trust the Three to go through with this prophecy. Not anymore."
"Oh. Really?!" she snapped, hissing, "Well, who the fuck gave you the right to stand in our way?!"
"Yellowfang," warned Bluestar, flashing a harsh glance at her.
"You did."
"Oh, did I?!" shot back the medicine cat, her voice oozing with snark, "Well, it's a shame it saved the world, isn't it?!"
"YELLOWFANG." snapped Bluestar, causing the old cat to halt, "SIT."
Flashing a venomous glance at the old tom, Yellowfang sat back on her haunches, her tail curled tightly around her forepaws as she snarled at Rock.
"Yes, this is a dangerous threat," said Rock, advancing forward, "I do not question that for one second. But we made the decision to send the Three down this path almost immediately before they were born. The Great Battle was the one event they were training for their entire lives. This is the first time in their lives that they get a break. To settle down. To have a normal life. How do you think they would react if we were to take that away from them?"
"This is a dangerous threat," retorted Yellowfang, "They'll suck it up and get it through their skulls eventually."
"To be what?!" snapped the old tom, "The mindless slaves of StarClan's will?! Do you know how many times I was almost sent to Limbo myself because of how much Jayfeather ended up hating me?!"
"He has a point," interjected Firestar, "We can't just send them on another prophecy because we gave them powers once. Jayfeather just forgave my daughters, Dovewing is just starting to adjust to life without her powers and Lionblaze is days away from becoming a father. They will pay us no mind, regardless of how powerful this threat is."
"I agree," said Cinderpelt along with a nod from Bluestar.
Yellowfang looked ready to explode. "FINE!" she snapped, "Fine! We'll do it your way if you have a good enough plan."
Rock looked at Firestar. "You said that Lionblaze is about to become a father?"
"Not exactly."
Everyone turned to look at Cinderpelt, who looked uncomfortable disclosing the news she had. "Even though Cinderheart and I are separated, I still have somewhat of a spiritual connection with her, so a couple days ago, I decided to check on the well-being of the kits and, um…"
"One of them is dead?" asked Bluestar.
"There is only one kit," finished the ThunderClan medicine cat, "and I don't think it's heart ever stopped beating."
The five cats were quiet, Rock silently cursing under his breath.
"So we have to do the Three," said Yellowfang decisively, "There are no other queens that are giving birth in time. We have no other choice."
"Yes, we do," said Firestar, eyes bright with an idea.
"I can never win. No one lets me," muttered Yellowfang not-so-under her breath as Firestar spoke. "What if somecat were to donate a piece of their soul? Like in a leader ceremony, where we give part of our souls as lives to cats? If one cat were to do that, then they could live, and we could implant the prophecy in their head!"
"Good idea," praised Rock, "Who shall give up part of their soul, though?"
"Not me," said the gray-furred medicine cat, "I'm about to go to this Limbo place myself."
The group thought a moment before Cinderpelt thought of something.
"Do you remember Snowkit?" she said to the group, "That deaf kit who got carried away by a hawk?"
The group nodded, though Rock looked hesitantly suspicious.
"What if we were to use his soul? The deafness wouldn't carry over since it's strictly hereditary, and it would be ten times better than stuffing a soul as old as us into a kit's body. And it'll give him a second lease on life!"
Well, as long as I'm not the one telling Speckletail about this plan, I'm fine," said Yellowfang.
"So we have a plan now," said Bluestar, getting to her paws, "But we need to retool the prophecy now."
"I got it," said Cinderpelt.
"Out of Limbo between Dark and Light, a star shall shimmer to combat the night."
"Damn," said Rock, "She's pretty good at prophecies."
"Learned it from me," remarked Yellowfang.
"Liar."
"Alright," said Firestar, filled with newfound confidence, "We have a plan. Now let's go save the world."
Welcome.
Welcome to the most ambitious collaboration in this website's recent history.
Starkit's Prophecy has long been one of the most infamous fics on this website. It's unrelatable characters, wildly confused storyline, intense implications of incest, rape, homophobia and pedophilia, and, perhaps worst of all, some of the worst spelling and grammar a human can lay their eyes on, this story was so bad, this website intervened to take it down for failing the quality check.
There have been few stories with the same revolutionary impact as that one. Its atrocious quality is reserved now for the stuff of legends. It is so bad that it is beyond fixing by even the most skilled of writers.
That's not what we will be doing.
This story is a complete reimagining of what Starkit's Prophecy could have been. A combination of some of the best writers on this website combining their genius into one single book.
Who are these geniuses I speak of?
Glad you asked.
PhoenixEcho2007 - Best known for: "Hidden," "Drifting Spirits," "Black Sky" and her work with Mintflight on "The Outcasts"
succulentsofa - Best known for: "Of Brambles and Bees" and "Unfulfilled Prophecy"
Mintflight0245 - Best known for: Several books, including "Shadows in the Air," "New Beginnings" and "Forgotten."
Jayfeather's Friend - Best known for: His JayxHalf Trilogy and his very popular Warriors High duology
Crystalshine of LightClan - Best known for: "Crystallized Ivy" and "The Unknown"
ThatOneVirgo - A longtime roleplayer soon to release her debut novel.
And finally, me.
There's literally nothing notable that I've done. I don't deserve to be in this collab lmao.
And so here we stand at the gates of this probably-crack-induced journey.
This will be the last time you hear from me for a while. My comrades are ready to bring their writings to the table and create something the likes of which have never seen before.
Hopefully.
So once again, welcome to Shimmerwind's Rise.
We hope you stick around for what comes next.
Best,
~Res