"Yes I do Starlingpaw." Briarpaw purred. "Like I said, you're my first real friend. And y'know, when you banish the eternal night as a warrior...I'd like to be your mate."

"That's...I can't believe it." I gasped. "But your parents-"

"Can go jump into the river if it bothers them so much. Or they could have more kits, I don't care." Briarpaw scoffed. "I just wanna be with you."

"The wait to become a warrior is going to feel so far away now." I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder. "But it'll be worth it."

"What're you two doing?"

I looked over Briarpaw's shoulder to see the sisters Jasminepetal and Deerflight again, the former's eyes widened with...hurt?

"You two seem to be acting pretty cozy for a pair of friends." Jasminepetal meowed nervously.

"Cut it out, she's going to be dead in a few moons anyway." Deerflight hissed.

"Knock it off, we're just talking about our warrior ceremonies." Briarpaw lied. "Nothing else."

Jasminepetal and Deerflight left to the warrior's den, and with our secret confession of love, me and Briarpaw left to the apprentice's den to sleep.


I realized that I was dreaming again. And when I looked up, I saw Stoneheart raising his paw above me while the other was pinning my throat.

"I'm going to finish what I started!" He coughed violently, before his claws headed for my throat. I gave a loud yowl before suddenly he was gone and I was no longer in the apprentice's den.

Instead I saw myself surrounded by cats, yowling at a pair of them that I couldn't identify. I noticed the leader, angrily growling: "You can't leave, you can't leave."

"I DON'T CARE!" I heard the dream me yell. "This isn't fair! I've been deceived! I'm getting out of this forest and I'm never coming back!"

Then the dream me stormed off and I followed her to see her at the end of the forest.

"You can't leave!" I tried to tell the dream me, but she didn't listen. What happened next surprised me.

She walked out of the forest and I followed her to see a trail leading to a land that my mind registered as Twolegplace as if I had heard of it before.

Then she turned around to face me.

"You are the cat of the prophecy, able to leave the forest while the rest of AngelClan cannot." Dream Starlingpaw confirmed. "But you're not going to become a warrior, something so horrible will happen that you will want to leave. And you will."

"NO! I'm never going to leave if AngelClan needs me!" I protested. "They may be unkind, but I have my mother! And Briarpaw!"

"They're going to get to yoooooooooooooou." She taunted me.

"I WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR ANGELCLAN! NOW LEAVE. ME. ALONE!"

I slammed into the dream version of myself and everything disappeared including the other me.


"Starlingpaw! Starlingpaw! Wake up!"

I jumped in fright to see it was only Briarpaw looking at me with great concern in those bright yellow eyes of his.

"What happened? You were yowling in your sleep." Briarpaw whimpered.

"I...I don't know. I guess I can't remember." I lied. "I'm exhausted, tell Gracecloud I was having sleep problems and need more time."

Briarpaw nodded and left the apprentice's den, fortunately leaving me by myself. I had thought I wouldn't receive anymore dreams after I talked to Hollyleaf a moon ago, but apparently they were back.

They had to be a lie, there was no way I would leave this Clan. With my love beside me, I would always stay strong.

After getting my thoughts together, I left the apprentice's den to see my siblings glaring at me again. Probably because of the yowling in my sleep.

"You are going to learn about battle training for the first time with the help of your siblings." Gracecloud told me. "Right now there isn't any threat. But when the light and entry into our forest returns, cats may try to drive us out like DarkClan tried to so many generations ago. So we'll have to learn how to defend ourselves."

Suddenly, I was no longer with them but in a post-battlefield with AngelClan cats I didn't know. I looked to see a white-furred queen shaking violently over her kits, a long slash across her body.

Before her and next to me was a black tom with blue eyes and a grey muzzle. He stood over her with cold eyes and unsheathed claws.

"Not so happy and fun-loving now are you?" the black tom cackled. "You try to start your pathetic LoveClan on the other side of the river, but AngelClan will be the only Clan to roam this forest!"

"Nightstar, this forest has always had more than enough room for two Clans!" the queen cried. "My...my Clan is dead now. Show me and my kits mercy please, and we'll leave!"

"I'll never do that Heartstar, if that's even you're real name." Nightstar snarled. "If LoveClan is to never come back, I need to make sure all it's cats are dead."

I looked away after Nightstar leaped at Heartstar, and after several agonizing moments, I no longer heard her or her kits. They were all dead.

Then it fast-forwarded several moons later for me to see Nightstar heading towards the Nursery happily, to stop abrupt in his tracks to his dead mate and three kits at her belly. All pure black.

"Nightstar! Nightstar! You need to hear this!" a white tom cried out as he entered the camp. He stopped and his jaw dropped when he saw the tortoiseshell queen dead. "Oh no...your mate Crescentberry...not her..."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN NOT HER?!" Nightstar yowled. "What did StarClan tell you Garlicfeather?!"

The medicine cat told Nightstar a prophecy and he only looked angrier.

"Every tenth kit would be born with a pelt of black that'd bring eternal night." Nightstar repeated. "Then do all my kits have black pelts?"

"Because you were the one that decided to kill off LoveClan." Garlicfeather answered. "So they decided to take your mate and curse your kits."

"Well, we'll just live in night then." Nightstar casually replied.

"No, they need to be killed while we have the chance. Or else there'll be no way to stop the night till the cat of the prophecy arrives." Garlicfeather growled.

"I will not let you hurt my kits!" Nightstar snapped.

"Bloompelt, Sunlight. Hold him back." Garlicfeather hissed.

Nightstar attempted to get to the Nursery but a grey tabby tom and a orange and white she-cat pinned him down as Garlicfeather walked to the three kits still at their dead mother's belly.

He unsheathed his claws and slashed through all three of them till their mews were cut off. I felt my chest tighten and my eyes water at the killing of kits.

"NO! NOT MY KITS!" Nightstar wailed.

"Unfortunately, we'll have to take you of your remaining lives too." Garlicfeather told his leader as he came out of the Nursery with bloody paws. "We can't have you killing the rest of us."

After Garlicfeather killed Nightstar he turned to Bloompelt and Sunlight.

"Lead a patrol to bury all these bodies." Garlicfeather told them.

"When cats wonder where these cursed kits come from what do we tell them?" Bloompelt asked him. "We can't just tell our kits we threw out an innocent Clan!"

"Easy, attention all of AngelClan!" Garlicfeather yowled. "Whenever you tell kits about this curse, you will tell them we defended ourselves from a Clan called DarkClan. Telling the truth instead will be punishable by death."