The moonlight slipped through the ferns. The leafy plants circled a clearing which four cats could enter comfortably. In the centre of the clearing was a flower. It's petals unfurled into a beep bend, almost into a spiral. Hundreds of the long thin petals decorated the around the black centre. The moon's shine washed over the white petals, making them glow like the stars.
Four sleek cats padded forth and surrounded the flower. A pure white she-cat stepped forward and gazed at the flower with her amber eyes. Switching her gaze to the moon floating high above, she spoke.
"I, Iceflower, am here before the Starflower, in the Moonferns." Dipping her head, she murmured, "ThunderClan is present."
The white she-cat stepped back and let a tortoiseshell tom of equal ginger black ad white patches take her place.
"I, Fallpatch, am here before the Starflower, in the Moonferns." The tom also dipped his head and murmured, "RiverClan is present."
He also stepped back beside the white she-cat and a young pale gray tabby tom looked at the moon.
"I, Pebblestripe, am here before the Starflower, in the Moonferns. WindClan is present."
Then a dark brown, almost black, she-cat stooped before the shining flower. "I, Midnightpelt, am here before the Starflower, in the Moonferns. ShadowClan is present."
With that, the four cats surrounded the flower and gently pressed their noses to a petal.
Iceflower opened her eyes and got to her paws. She was no longer by the Starflower, or in the clearing of the Moonferns. She was in a larger space, surrounded by brambles that rose over her head and bent again to the other side. Cats, fur lined with starshine, rose to greet Iceflower, and she dipped her head respectfully.
"Iceflower," an old tom rasped. "Something comes."
The white she-cat blinked at the tom, confused. "What is it, Bramblestar?" The tabby looked grave, and when Iceflower gazed around, the other cats looked just as solemn.
His voice changed, into what sounded like all the deceased warriors in one, smooth tone.
"Something comes
Though there is hope.
The paths of four
are hard to follow."
The cats' eyes suddenly went wide, and the amber and blue and green turned to white.
"Air."
The calm stillness of the bramble enclosure was suddenly whipped into chaos as the wind of a brewing storm passed. The wind vanished as soon as it had come. Iceflower's fur bristled.
"Water."
The sky turned dark and then icy raindrops pounded through the brambles, washing over the dirt until it reached Iceflower's belly fur. She tried to rear back, but something held her paws down.
"Fire."
Iceflower's eyes stretched wide in terror as the water disintergrated in the burning heat as hot flames lapped through the brambles, raining the clearing with ash.
"Earth."
The brambles grew back, the ash gone. As thought the silence before a storm, the clearing went quiet. Then the ground trembled, and rock split cleanly, until Iceflower thought she would fall into the deep abyss the ground seemed to be splitting into.
The warriors' eyes turned back to normal, and Bramblestar stepped forward to touch noses with the ThunderClan medicine cat. "Be wary. Something comes."
With that, Iceflower collapsed, and her sight went black. All she could do was listen to screams of terror from running cats and the tremble of the earth, the heat of fire, the whistle of the wind, and the slapping of the water.