The night was quiet, but the patrol padding beside the river had gotten used to the silence. Not a bird chirped, and there were no sounds of cats on the other side of the river, where the sand rose up to meet grass underneath the protection of trees. But of course there wasn't any noise! ThunderClan were a thing of the past. While many in RiverClan said that life would be easier without the rival Clans, many missed the battles and drama and glory of feeling like a warrior. To be a warrior, one had to fight other Clans and hunt during famine to keep their Clan alive. A warrior would be the reason their Clan was alive. But these days, the prey practically jumped onto the warriors' claws. There would be no risk of famine, even though the cold night was the beginning of leaf bare.
Not everything had gone with WindClan, ShadowClan, and ThunderClan, though. The RiverClan warrior ancestors still walked the skies. They had split apart from the ancestors of the other three Clans in order to watch the Clan they used to live in. But even StarClan's hunting grounds were bleak. A RiverClan cat could look at the sky and no longer be wondered or entranced by what he found up there. The sky was duller without the brilliance of the four Clan ancestors put together. The stars didn't shine as brightly, and were often covered by clouds.
There was nothing the RiverClanners could do to rejoin the Clans, though. The three were gone, and probably dead, too. RiverClan cats never set foot on the old territories. The old scent marks that grew staler every day brought back raw fear to every cat. They missed their rivals and the strong, purposeful feeling of fighting for their Clans. The only fights to have these days would be with your apprentice. But there is always a calm before a storm, and this calm would end very, very quickly.
Every cat in the patrol padding beside the river had no idea of what was to come. They couldn't know the ideas about to be birthed in their minds, or the very short amount of life left in some of their cats. They didn't know that one day soon the four territories would be thriving with cats once more. Their medicine cats wouldn't even see it coming, as StarClan were only learning of the plan themselves. And when StarClan did find out, the short minded would be full of fear, and the cats who predicted best would be just as sad. But they couldn't see the effect of the sad event to come, and this cataclysmic event would not only change the RiverClanners' lives but also save them.
When this day came, a great new dawn would come to the forest, and RiverClan would no longer be alone. They would have cats to battle, cats to yell at, cats to socialize with, cats that would test one's devotion to the warrior code and their Clan. But RiverClan would be ready, no matter how dull things seemed right now.
The time was passing by, ever so slowly, and the gray she-cat who led the patrol had just lifted her blue eyes to the sky above when not one, but two shooting stars blazed across the black expanse of night. Mistyfoot's eyes followed it and then dropped back to the ground, quietly shocked at the unexpected color across the night sky. She couldn't resist the impulse to look back up. The rest of the patrol seemed to have sensed that something had come past as well, because they all lifted their heads up to examine the night sky. Their searching eyes followed the trails left behind, searching for hope, but instead they found something much more promising, something they hadn't seen for moons.
The two shooting stars slashed right through the full moon floating in the sky. The lines seemed to block the moon, but still the moon glowed. Changed in appearance, but the same as before. The RiverClan warriors' eyes filled with hope at the raised spirits of StarClan. As the four cats abandoned the patrol and raced back to camp, the soft keening of StarClan started to be replaced by a joyful yowling, as at last the real future was reveleaed to the ancient cats.
I hope you enjoyed this first part. Please critique!