AN: Yeah, guys (and girls) this is again written before any you have responded. Sorry but no one has responded and I've actually waited quite a while after writing those last few chapters. Well, I will continue as I have been doing, switching and then keeping the same perspective other chapters. Hope you all enjoy!

Ember- Chapter 7: The Pool Of Sight

Breeze didn't sleep well, horrible nightmares coursing through her head.

She stood beneath a tree, it falling slowly down on top of her. But she couldn't move. It was like her paws were stuck in mud. "Help!" She tried to scream but no one answered. All she saw was endless streams of cats running past her. She heard a horrible screech. Breeze realized it had come from herself as the tree shattered all the bones in her body. She seemed to rise from her body, up and up and up. But there was no eternal darkness or light to tell her she had moved on. Breeze had realized she had closed her eyes in wait, but now she opened them. She saw what those cats were running from. She couldn't turn to look away as cats couldn't keep up and fell into the eternal black abyss that had opened up behind them in large cracks. Breeze watched in horror as chunks of earth fell beneath some cats' paws.

The dream changed abruptly. She saw five cats standing in an odd shape. They all spoke as one, and Breeze felt her heart squeeze inside though she didn't know why. Their next words told her why though. "Ultimo custodes, et omnes intra infernum custodimus. Nos autem iam non huius regni tutamen. Feles et secum habet finem. Animas recolitur sanguine perditus, vovemus, tueri, et in perpetuum vota nostra. Sed ultimam sacrificii sidera nobis ut animas nostras ad spem, ut eruamini de hoc saeculo in consummationem. Quod animae, ut novum et definitivum sacrificium Hic sanguis repetebant. Sanguine Lacrimae flebat Animas seruantur, erit, quo bello cecidit. Vita igitur et nos suscepistis, et restitui." No... Breeze thought, her eyes widening. 'The Last Guardians, We Guard The Afterlife And All Those Within. But No Longer Can We Protect This Realm. It Has Come To An End And Cats Along With It. Souls Renewed, Blood Lost, We Vow To Protect, And Will Forever Keep Our Vows. Now, With A Final Sacrifice, We Give Up Our Souls To The Stars In Hope This World Will Be Saved From Utter Destruction. May Be Souls Renewed, And Blood Regained With This Final Sacrifice. Blood Shed, Tears Wept, Souls Kept, We Will Be The Only Fallen In This War. Take Us Now And Give Them Back The Lives You Took.' Breeze recognized the sacrifice ritual as clearly as day. Her mouth was dry as an feral screech rose from each of the cats, and the ground turned red around them. "No!" She screamed, having the sinking feeling she could have saved them all. The cats faded away before her eyes and her eyes focused to a blood red pool in the middle of the clearing. There was a message there, black as night amongst the blood. It echoed in Breeze's head, her heart pounding. 'You are the only ones to stop this from happening. You must destroy the army of war and darkness rising to stop this destruction from happening. You are the only ones left who can save them.' Breeze tried to tell after the voice, "What do you mean?!"

A voice answered her though it wasn't as ominous as the former was. "Get away Steele, can't you tell? She's having a dream. It may be important to what we do next." Breeze recognized the voice as Shadow's.

Breeze closed her eyes tightly, hoping that was just a dream and not what Shadow was suggesting. She yawned, though she was wide awake. "Why are you all huddled about me?" She asked, though knowing fully why.

"You were having a nightmare." Steele meowed, giving Shadow an 'I told you so' look.

"Well, it must have not been important because I don't remember it." Breeze lied. Shadow just looked at her and Breeze could tell Shadow didn't believe her. "It must have been terrifying though, if I woke you all."

Celestial sighed in relief. "Well, I guess it's all for the better. We are all awake and ready to journey to the Pool of Sight. Shell, can you please prepare some traveling herbs for us all?"

Shell nodded. Breeze met his eyes and could tell he didn't believe her either, but she knew he would leave it. She wasn't so sure about Shadow though. "Why don't you all go talk amongst yourselves or something? I will get nothing done if you keep standing here like this."

Breeze pushed the nightmare to the back of her mind for now. She would have to tell some other cat later but not right now. She couldn't put this kind of pressure on the group. It would only bring them down. "Thanks for checking on me though Shadow." Breeze smiled at the older she-cat.

"What kind of friend would I be if I didn't?"

After a bit of comfortable silence, Breeze spoke. "A bad one." Breeze answered simply.

"I'm sorry you've had such a childhood Breeze. Believe me, I know how hard it is to not have family." Shadow seemed to become distant in some old memory.

Breeze finally dared to think about her nightmare and soon became lost in her thoughts.

The thing that broke her from them was Shell saying that the herbs were ready. "The traveling herbs are ready." Breeze was snapped back to the real world, but was only slightly thankful for it.

Celestial seemed to be happier that they were finally going to leave. "You all, Widow, Angel, and Jinx, do not have to come. You will be perfectly safe here. Neither do any of you. This will be a long journey and I do not expect you all to jump up and shout for joy."

No one volunteered to stay behind. Widow looked at her sisters and then at Celestial. "I believe we shall join you. If they do have the Pool Of Sight, we are not safe here anyhow, and we can help if it comes to a fight. We have fought a many foes before."

Celestial smiled at the she-cats. "I am happy to hear you will join us. We embark as soon as everyone gets their travel herbs from Shell."

Shell rolled his eyes. "Why do we have magic and still rely on this old medicine cat to do all the work?" Shell remarked dryly. "Please be orderly for once and not all go screaming at me that you need them first. You would not believe the things I've heard as a medicine cat. The maturity of those apprentices, I daresay." Shell sighed.

Breeze filed in behind Steele, Shadow behind her. "What do they taste like Shadow?"

"You honestly have never tried travel herbs? They taste amazing!" Shadow grinned, a glow in her eyes that Breeze couldn't identify.

Breeze couldn't wait now that Shadow had said that. As Shell gave her the herbs, Breeze's tail was flicking back and forth excitedly. She sat beside the den, waiting for Shadow. Shadow sat down beside her, still smiling. She waited for Shadow to begin eating. "Why don't you try them first? You want to eat them all in one gulp, okay?" Breeze nodded and shoved the herbs into her mouth. She nearly spat them out again at the bitter taste.

"Shadow!" Breeze meowed accusingly as she swallowed. "You lied!"

"I was just having a little fun. You know how many apprentices fall for that trick? It's amusing every time." Shadow laughed.

"So you that's what makes those apprentices so excited?" Shell sighed. "Do you realize that I'm the one who has to deal with them spitting them back out?" Breeze laughed at Shell's response. "It's not funny."

Shadow was still grinning. "You should try it sometime. It's funny when you see their faces afterwards. Say you have some new herb in there or something that makes it taste fantastic."

It was Shell's turn to laugh. "I think I'll try that sometime. I have a few claws to pick back home."

Celestial interrupted their laughter. "I will go with Breeze and Shadow first to the border, then Gray and Myra, Steele and Shell, Lady and Falcon, and Widow, Jinx, and Angel."

Shadow and Breeze padded towards Celestial, ready to go. They all could see that Celestial was sorting them in the way of power to protect themselves.

"Are you ready?" Celestial asked them in a low voice.

"Listen, I've had worse wounds this and fought. But this is even bigger than for just my Clan, this is the world. If this falls, no cat will be able to go to an afterlife and there will be nothing to fight for anymore." Shadow meowed, her eyes serious.

"And everyone will be dead." Breeze felt her heart drop to her stomach as she whispered those words.

Before any cat could say anything more, Celestial whispered, "Close your eyes," And they disappeared in a flash of light.

Breeze stumbled as they appeared in a dark looming forest with mist at their feet. "Wow." She whispered in awe at the beautiful dark rushing river in front of her.

"Why are we in the Dark Forest?" Shadow asked, being more sensible than Breeze.

"The Pool Of Sight is deep inside this island." Celestial meowed.

"The Dark Forest holds such a sacred place?" Shadow looked doubtful.

"Not everything is as it seems Shadow." And Celestial disappeared in another flash of light.

"Breeze, what are you looking at?"

"There's something in the river." Breeze pointed with her tail at something stuck on a rock.

"It looks like a pendant that twolegs wear." Shadow breathed. "But how is it here?"

"What are twolegs?" Breeze asked.

"I keep forgetting you don't know. Being isolated from the world isn't all good you know. You'll have to come with me to the Clans sometime and I'll show you everything." Shadow smiled.

Celestial's arrival was marked by another flash. They turned to see it wasn't Gray and Myra, but Falcon instead. She disappeared almost as soon as she arrived. "What happened?" Breeze asked immediately, aware of the order they were to come in.

"I don't know. Celestial just said there's a change of plans and took me here instead." Breeze was surprised at the casual tone in the tom's voice. "Why are we back here?"

"Back here?" Shadow asked suspiciously.

Falcon stared at his surroundings, a familiar pounding in his head. "No, not now." He murmured. But his wishes were not answered and he slipped into a deep forgotten memory.

Instantly he could tell this was not a memory of his past. This was of another's. "Why do you insist on the pool being here of all places?" There was a exasperated sigh. Falcon stared at his surroundings, knowing he was here now. The river still flowed as it did before and so did the mist that danced at his paws.

The voice came from himself this time. "Do you not understand? This land is sacred. Can't you feel it in the air? The river surrounds this island, a protector. This is the place."

The she-cat seemed to think about it. "I wish you weren't right. It doesn't seem right to put such a sacred thing in the middle of such a sacred place."

"I recall a story of another time, this same place." Falcon's voice seemed to begin to echo across the island. "Thousands of cats were running, are running. Blackness chases after them. A cat, trapped on this island, yowls for anyone to join him. A few cats hear him and begin to run. But the darkness appears in front of them. The cat swipes for them as they fall in front of him. He caught one, and pulled her up to safety. 'Thank you,' the she-cat gasped. 'But we have to run. It's coming.' The tom sighed, his eyes solemn. 'I am sorry. I could not let you all die. But instead I have condemned you to a life of solitude in a sea of endless darkness. I am so sorry.' The she-cat didn't understand. 'What do you mean?' She asked. 'Whoever steps a paw on this island are trapped forever. You can't leave. Believe me, I have tried. So many times.' But the she-cat was grateful for her life and she would never forget that. 'But you won't be alone.'" The she-cat seemed to be on the verge of crying, Falcon hearing a sniffle.

"You can't stop there. Please tell me how it ends."

"They lived together, surviving. They built a family, living off the water and food still on the island. One day they realized that the land had come back. And to their joy, the shield around them that had trapped them for oh so long had disappeared. Their children went out to explore, but they chose to remain, on the island that had saved them from the destruction that had killed everyone around them. And they lived happy for as long as they lived.'" Falcon broke suddenly away from the memory.

"You are a beautiful story teller Falcon." Shadow complimented, and Falcon realized, while in the memory, he must have told the story.

Before he could explain that he wasn't exactly the one telling the story, Celestial appeared again with Myra and Gray.

Falcon pondered the memory, analysing it as when any other came to him. And he fell again away from the real world and into memories.

"Interesting." Gray commented as she noticed where they had appeared.

"My Stars. This place is beautiful." Myra gazed around at her soundings.

Breeze felt a sudden rush to run into the forest and all the way to the Pool Of Sight. "Someone is watching us." She blurted out, not knowing how she knew that.

She felt a shift in air and a cat suddenly appeared beside her. Breeze froze for a moment before lashing out, turning around to meet the cat. "Who are you?" She demanded. The cat disappeared again, and reappeared in the forest. Breeze ran after it, needing to know who it was. What if it was an enemy? "Stop!" She yowled after the cat. But it only disappeared and reappeared again, only further away. "Wait up, please!" Breeze sprinted after the cat, not bothering to slow down to catch her breath. "I can't keep up with you!" But it didn't seem to make a difference, the cat only appeared further and further away. Breeze could only run after the places she had seen the cat last. Breeze eventually collapsed, her paws having given out. She saw a pool before her, and her eyes went wide. Flashes of five cats standing around the pool, their feral screech, and the pool just a final blood red appeared in Breeze's mind. But she didn't understand. "Why did you bring me here? It wasn't to just show me the Pool was it? No, you wouldn't have taken me here, I would have come with the others." Breeze stared at a blood red message slowly appearing in the pool. "Drink." Breeze whispered. "Is that what you wanted me to do? Drink from the pool?" The figure appeared again at the edge of the pool, nodding. Breeze closed her eyes, and padded to the edge of the pool. She slowly lowered her muzzle to the water, and drank.

She was running, away from the ground that fell beneath her paws. She heard a yowl. "Over here!" Breeze turned to run at the voice, her paws running as fast as they could. She heard screams of terror as cats plummeted around her. She leaped. As the ground began to fall beneath her paws, she leaped. Her heart sank. She wouldn't make it. For a brief moment Breeze wondered what the afterlife was like, before a strong paw clenched hers and pulled her up. The image changed.

Breeze stood before a tawny brown she-cat, with one beautiful blue eye, and one amber. "Hello Breeze." The she-cat's voice was soft. "My name is Echo. I see the past, present, and future. But I am not as powerful as I sound. My mind was too clouded to see my own, and that is where I fell."

"Echo." Breeze repeated. "Is that why you can't appear in my realm?"

"If you mean because I am dead, then yes. I am trapped in time, forever flitting between the past, present, and future." Echo's eyes were sad.

"Why can't you go back and make yourself live?" Breeze asked.

"You don't understand. I cannot change it. I can only see it and give advice to those who believe in the supernatural. But even if I could, thousands of cats could die or live based on my decision. Only if I knew it would save them, I would go back. But I can only see the past and future." Echo explained.

"But why did you show me those images Echo? How can you meet me here? And how did I get here so fast?" Breeze asked.

"This is a very sacred place here Breeze. It holds the past, present, and future in it's soil. This is where some of the most life changing events happen. This is the only place I can appear, if only for a little while. But this pool, I can connect to cats in dreams. I can change time Breeze, but only a limited amount. In fact that's why I died. I saved a cat but time could only allow some cat to die that day. I sacrificed myself, Breeze."

"Who did you save?" Breeze asked softly.

"I saved my son, Rock." Echo whispered.

"But why did you show me these things Echo? Why not the others?" Breeze questioned.

"Shadow is the only one near understanding besides Falcon. Falcon has his own memories to worry about. He doesn't need to worry about the future too. Shadow would tell some cat. She's a good cat, honest, but it would only stir up trouble. Do not think she wouldn't know that. The secrecy would make her tell some cat. And it may not be you Breeze. Do you see why I could only tell you? But she will understand if you tell her, and she will keep it secret. You may not understand, but Shadow takes it upon herself to keep you safe, Breeze. Like she couldn't her brother, who died as a newborn." Echo sighed. "So many sad things happen in the world. This power I have in my paws is both a blessing and a curse, Breeze. It may allow me to see all the good things, but both the bad." The she-cat was silent for a moment. "And Breeze, those images I showed you were of the future, if you all can't stop the renewal. Please remember my story Breeze, of my sacrifice, and all sacrifices aren't in vain. No matter how hard they may be."

The beautiful she-cat and their surroundings faded to black."I promise Echo." Breeze whispered.

"Breeze, Breeze! Wake up!" Some cat yowled.

"Is she breathing?"

"She is not dead!" The same cat as before growled.

Breeze opened her eyes to see it was moonhigh. She saw Shadow standing over her, with tears streaked down her fur. "She was telling the truth." Breeze managed to say before everything faded to black once again and she slipped back into unconsciousness.

AN: Hopefully this makes up for some of the rather short chapters. This is 3,000 or so words so I do hope you did enjoy. Some of the past and future stuff may seem confusing and I'm sorry if it does. If so, it would help if you would leave a review maybe giving an idea of how I can clarify it? Thanks everyone. ;)

-Faded ;3