So the adventure begins.

I'm really, really sorry about this. Really, REALLY sorry.

Chapter 31: The Cat Who Devoured Shadows

All of a sudden, they were no longer in the forest under the pressure of a thousand sets of claws. Mountainstone gasped as he opened his eyes and found himself standing on a hill of silver-ish dying grass. He heard simultaneous gasping and turned at once to realize that Bluemoon was standing beside him.

"Bluemoon!" Then he looked around and saw that he wasn't alone here, but that all of them were there: Ivypool, Doveheart, Lionstar, Littlefalcon, Jayfeather, Birdfeather, Willowleaf, Skysong. Ivypool rushed towards her daughter, then turned around. "Greyheart!"

"What are we doing here?" Mountainstone turned around to see Mouseclaw, Icecloud, and Greyheart right behind him, standing on unsteady paws. He saw approaching another form and blinked in surprise.

"Rushfire!" Birdfeather passed them to intercept the RiverClan medicine cat. "What are you doing here?"

"They're all connected," said Littlefalcon in a grim voice. "Bluemoon and Greyheart because Ivypool's mind was in the Dark Forest when she kitted. Rushfire, because he nullifies Birdfeather. Mouseclaw and Icecloud, because Willowleaf and Lionstar gave their lives to protect them."

"This is really happening, then?" Icecloud's eyes were sad.

"There's no use standing around here," said Jayfeather. "Every second we're here is another second we can't be healing our Clan-mates."

"I must get back to RiverClan," said Rushfire. "They need me."

"We need you now, too," said Birdfeather, glancing up at him. Rushfire gritted his teeth.

"What about Tigerstar?" said Bluemoon to Mountainstone. Mountainstone shook his head, unsure what to think. "Mountainstone, he's in the forest."

"I doubt he'll be there for long, once he's realized where you've gone," said Ivypool. She looked around. "Come on. We should go to the border."

"And what do we do once we get there?" asked Skysong, but they had all turned. Skysong fell into step with Mountainstone as Ivypool led them. Bluemoon stayed at Mountainstone's other side.

"You really need to explain to me what's going on," said Bluemoon. "Now."

"You saw the stones in the forest, right?" said Mountainstone. "That's me. I can control rocks and stuff. Birdfeather can control fire. Willowleaf, ice – uh…water, I guess. Skysong can control air."

"That's like the least surprising part," said Bluemoon. "What's this? Where are we?"

"StarClan," said Skysong lowly. "For moons there has been a border that separates the Dark Forest from StarClan's hunting grounds. That border has been failing. Once it does, the cats from the Dark Forest will be able to come here and destroy StarClan for good."

"StarClan has been corrupted," said Mountainstone. "They were corrupted in the War of Shadows, and it's been killing the land."

"So that's why it's so desolate," said Greyheart. Bluemoon shook her head.

"What does Tigerstar have to do with it? And me and Greyheart?"

"I don't know what you two have to do with it," said Mountainstone. "Don't leave my side. We'll make sure you get out alright."

"That's noble of you, but do you even know what you'll have to do?" said Bluemoon. "What's about to happen, Mountainstone?"

"The prophecy will finally be fulfilled," said Skysong. "This is the night we complete our destiny."

"It's kind of complicated," said Greyheart to his littermate. She lashed her tail.

"You knew!"

"I'm Skysong's mate, of course I knew."

"Stop bickering!" Jayfeather cast a look over his shoulder, his eyes remarkably clear. The group slowed their pace. They were standing on a long-sloping hill. Mountainstone could see over the others down below, at the throng of spiritual cats pressing against an invisible barrier that blocked them from rolling fog. It was an eerie sight: a thick mist came in waves from a darkness beyond, stopping short at this narrow piece of energy that could stop all these cats. It seemed like all of StarClan was there: rows and rows of cats that pushed at the wall, mewling desperately like kits that had lost their mother.

"No way," said Mouseclaw. "That can't be…"

"StarClan is not itself," said Jayfeather. "This sickness in their minds has destroyed them. They are no longer reasonable."

"What now?" asked Doveheart, looking at them. She was partially leaning on Ivypool's shoulder, her eyes drooping. Mountainstone realized with a jolt that the rush of energy from earlier had been from Doveheart using her powers. He understood now that she had brought them here, and that somehow she had also broadcast the fear of all the Clans to them and the peace that she sought so desperately. It was powerful, and Mountainstone felt a little awestruck. He hadn't realized that anyone could use their powers for something so innocent. But it had definitely taken a toll on Doveheart, who now looked exhausted.

"I thought the border was supposed to fall?" said Skysong, tilting her head. "On the night the Clans clash."

"It can't fall on its own," said Littlefalcon quietly. The golden tom stood a little farther away from the group, sitting with his tail wrapped around his paws. "The balance must be restored. It does not restore itself."

"What does that mean?" said Rushfire. "That the Dark Forest must be allowed to come here?"

Littlefalcon didn't look at them. Icecloud tentatively approached him, but Littlefalcon shook his head.

"It's not my turn to act," he said. He turned towards them carefully, and his eyes met Mountainstone's at the exact same moment the cats below noticed them.

"Uh, are they supposed to all be looking at us?" asked Bluemoon. She nudged into Mountainstone's side. Mountainstone heard silence fall upon the StarClan cats below them, and he heard the others moving. He knew that all of StarClan was moving, in a silent trance, towards them.

"Birdfeather, now might be a good time to divert them," Rushfire was saying.

"Are we going to have to fight them?" Mouseclaw was asking. "We can't fight StarClan…can we?"

"There's got to be some indication of what we have to do," muttered Skysong. Mountainstone still looked at Littlefalcon, into the depths of those amber eyes, and realized that it had to be his turn. It was his turn.

"Prepare to fight," said Lionstar. "This has to be the way."

"No." Mountainstone felt his paws moving of their own accord. The words of the prophecy pounded into his mind again: rock must knock on the door of balance.

"Mountainstone, what's going on?" asked Skysong.

"The balance must be restored," said Mountainstone. "I'm the one who restores it." He glanced back over his shoulder at his family, at his friends, and lastly at Bluemoon. Doubt twisted his stomach into itself, and his heart was in his throat, but he was sure in the very depths of his soul that this was right.

So he looked out over the slope at the fog that recoiled, realizing that this barrier was quite similar to a wall of solid, albeit invisible, stone. Mountainstone focused, hard, and felt that the wall was straining to begin with, just waiting for a paw strong enough to knock it down. Mountainstone was the ultimate warrior, the strongest cat that had ever lived. All he did was focus on the border and take one long, deep breath.

Then the wall came tumbling down.

As it did, the balance was restored, light and dark colliding, shadow and its origin slamming into one another with a force that devastated StarClan's hunting grounds. Mountainstone was falling, others were screaming, and he fell through space and so many layers of consciousness, in and out of all his dizzying nightmares, until he hit stone.

He was standing in a very familiar cavern. It was pitch black, and he could feel that once, there had been inky tendrils here, except they were frozen in deep layers of ice. This time, though, a small light was cast above their heads, solid light like sunlight through leaves, right against an icy ceiling where Mountainstone knew a rift would have been. They had been here before. Here was where Willowleaf had cast her ice powers and sealed the burrow of shadows, where they had stopped the earthquakes. Then, they hadn't been able to see it, but the cavern was large, and the floor was made of black vine-like things, now all frozen solid under the sheets of ice that had sealed this place. Below the light was a deep, pitch black hole that fell away into nothingness. Only a layer of ice stood between them and falling. Mountainstone shivered. He recognized instantly that if he fell into that gaping hole, he would not wake up from this dream-like state.

"Mountainstone?" Mountainstone turned around at the voice. Bluemoon was getting to her paws, shivering in the cold. She peeled around a set of tendrils that were poking up from the ground, perhaps where Skysong and Mountainstone and Willowleaf had once stood when they had stopped the earthquakes. "Where are we?"

"Where all the shadows come from," said Mountainstone. He shook his head. "There's so much dark energy here."

"I can feel it," said Bluemoon, coming to stand beside him. "It's frozen?"

"Willowleaf," said Mountainstone. He indicated at the light and the iced-over tear above them. "That rift being open is what caused the earthquakes."

"She stopped them?" said Bluemoon. "That's incredible."

"But…what are we doing here?" Mountainstone lashed his tail.

"The balance has been restored." The light blinked once, and then standing in the center of the ice over the hole, like shadow had birthed him, was Tigerstar. Mountainstone shivered, then tensed up, taking a step to put Bluemoon behind him.

"Back for more?" sneered Mountainstone.

"No, no," said Tigerstar. "I mean only to congratulate you." He swept his tail from side to side along the ice, and from the edges of the cavern, Mountainstone noticed it darken once more, pieces of the ice thawing slightly to release tides of darkness into the air. They shivered along the cavern's ceiling. "You restored the balance. Well done, Mountainstone. But all is not accomplished."

"I'm not going to do what you want," said Mountainstone. "Let me go."

"But you're fulfilling your destiny," said Tigerstar. He unsheathed his claws, which sank into the ice below him and cracked it. Mountainstone watched the cracks run along the ice. "This is the heart of the Place of No Stars. This is where darkness first emerged, where our forest was built. With the border now gone, the darkness has power in ways that it didn't before. Before, everything was slow. But now…"

He narrowed his eyes. Bluemoon gasped from beside him, and Mountainstone glanced over her shoulder to see that she was backing up, towards the shadows.

"Bluemoon!" Mountainstone galloped backwards. Bluemoon screamed as her paws became engulfed with darkness that worked its way up her body. "Bluemoon." Mountainstone tried to scrape away the shadows, but they took their hold, surrounding Bluemoon up to the neck. "No!"

"Why are you so surprised?" Tigerstar's voice was mocking. The pile of shadows that had taken Bluemoon vanished. Mountainstone cried out, but then he heard her cry from behind him. He turned to see that Bluemoon was now standing, locked in by shadows that engulfed her paws still, on top of the ice directly before Tigerstar. She couldn't move. Mountainstone growled low in his throat and began pacing that direction.

"Careful now," said Tigerstar. He clenched his paws, and the ice began to crack again, shimmering under Bluemoon's paws. "You're a smart little kit, Mountainstone. You know what would happen if she were to fall."

"Mountainstone, what's happening?" Bluemoon tried to writhe away, but the shadows held her in place.

"Stop moving!" Mountainstone cried, seeing the ice crack underneath her paws faster. "I'll figure something out."

"What's the matter, Mountainstone?" asked Tigerstar. "Bluemoon was a kit born in darkness. Of course it should reclaim her in the end."

"No," said Mountainstone. "No, I don't…no. You can let her go."

"Oh, I could, certainly," said Tigerstar. Mountainstone froze.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Simple," said Tigerstar. "I want you to walk away."

Mountainstone blinked, forgetting to be angry and ferocious in his shock. What did that mean?

"What?" he said.

"You see, if you are to fulfill your destiny and everything, you're going to have to undo your sister's great hard work and release the darkness here," said Tigerstar. "And in doing that, kill your darling Bluemoon."

"You want me to walk away?" repeated Mountainstone. "But don't you want the darkness?" He shook his head. "I don't want the darkness to emerge."

"Oh, I don't need it," said Tigerstar. "Darkness is dangerous. It devours." His eyes flashed. "You call Ivypool here, and you walk away. That simple."

"There's a catch." Bluemoon's voice wavered. "There has to be a catch."

"Well of course," said Tigerstar. His whiskers twitched.

"Then you have to do what he doesn't want you to do," said Bluemoon. She looked up into the face of the leader of the Place of No Stars and stopped shaking. Mountainstone felt every part of him numb as she sneered and spat into his face. Tigerstar smirked.

"Mountainstone, just blow it up," said Bluemoon. "Do whatever your powers do, make rocks fly all over this cavern, destroy it."

"But I'll kill you." Mountainstone couldn't manage anything more than a whisper.

"It doesn't matter!" cried Bluemoon. "I know that Tigerstar is evil, and if letting the darkness can destroy him forever, you have to do it!"

"Make your choice, Mountainstone." Tigerstar shook his head. "Kill your sweet she-cat and unleash darkness into the world, or just walk away. It's easy. Not even a hard choice."

Mountainstone thought hard. He didn't know what any of this would do, but he feared the darkness. He had made too many deals with it, had gotten too close, and this was dangerous. If he broke the ice, it could bring the earthquakes back, it could re-open the rift. He would be destroying the cavern, but who knows what else he would unleash? Or he could just let it fester here. Maybe it wouldn't be permanent, but…Bluemoon…

"This is horrible," said Bluemoon. She closed her eyes, and Mountainstone could see her tail beginning to quiver again. She turned, fighting the shadows to look Mountainstone straight in the eye. There was courage in her eyes that Mountainstone had seen before every day, the courage that made Bluemoon who she was. She nodded slowly.

"You have to stop Tigerstar," she said. "No matter what it takes. I believe in you, Mountainstone."

Then she slammed onto the ground with all the strength she had. The ice shattered below her. Bluemoon fell.

"Bluemoon!" Mountainstone felt like the storm had begun in his mind, and everything went blank as he watched her eyes, the color of the bright sky, smiling and shivering as she plummeted out of view. Darkness took her like a prisoner, welcoming her into the void. Tigerstar stood before a hole in the ice, and he only had a startling second to look up with terror and despair before Mountainstone let out a cry that shook the entire cavern.

"Bluemoon!" His voice alone broke the ice encasing on the shadows, and Mountainstone felt the power building inside him, his destiny bursting out of his pelt. Mountainstone released every bit of energy left within him and watched the cavern fall apart, huge shards of ice falling from the ceiling, the darkness folding in upon itself. Shadow exploded from every side, the inky vines free from their casings. Tigerstar vanished in a puff of dark smoke, and only shadow remained, snuffing out the light. Mountainstone screeched with all his might as darkness engulfed him, and with his claws he fought against the intangible darkness. The greatest warrior of all time fought with every ounce of courage and strength he possibly had, driven by the blue eyes that had vanished into the darkness and the pain in his heart that would never, ever cease. For as long as he would have to be so that Bluemoon's sacrifice was not in vain, Mountainstone would be the cat who devoured shadows, and he would succeed.

If you feel the need to kill me, please wait and read the next chapter! And then if you still want to kill me, by all means :P

~Elsi