The dark shecat sat down by the tree's roots.
"What now Fireclaw?"
"Just wait Ashtail. Trust me." The dark shecat sighed, laying down with her chin on her black and grey paws. Suddenly the clearing exploded with light as the moon's beams hit the crystal tree.
"Touch your nose to one of the roots now Ashtail, and you will be brought to meet Starclan." Ashtail pressed her nose to one of the roots and closed her eyes. She gasped as she felt something brush her fur. Opening her eyes, she saw the clearing with the Moontree and the ranks of Starclan on the outer edges of the clearing. Noticing a certain Starclan warrior, she gasped and took a step forwards.
"Sprucefoot! You're-" Before she could say anything else, a bushy tail brushed her muzzle.
"Sshh." Fireclaw shushed her, nudging her back a step so she would sit down. He sat down next to her and wrapped his bushy tail around his paws. A white and brown dappled tom stepped forwards.
"Thistlestar!" The tom bent his head and touched his muzzle to Ashtail's forehead.
"With this life, I give you strength. Use it to protect your clan well." The life caused Ashtail to shudder deeply with pain. "Thank you." She whispered as the next cat came up. She looked up at the cat who was her mother and gasped.
"Bristlefoot?" The cat touched her muzzle to her forehead.
"With this life, I give you loyalty to know what to do and when. Use it well to guide your clan through times of trouble."
"Wait! Bristlefoot!" The shecat didn't turn back as she rejoined the ranks of Starclan. Another cat, this one much smaller than the others, stepped forwards. The cat was a small brown tom.
"Duskpaw? Is that you?" The tom nodded and like the two cats before him, touched his muzzle gently to Ashtail's head.
"With this life, I give you mentoring. Use it well to train the young cats of your Clan." Duskpaw rejoined the ranks of Starclan as another, this cat a white and brown shecat, stepped forwards.
"With this life, I give you protection. Use it well to care for your Clan as a mother cares for her kits." Ashtail shuddered as she received the life.
"Thank you Snowfoot." Ashtail said softly. The next cat that approached Ashtail and Fireclaw was a strong black and ginger shecat who walked with a purpose.
"With this life I give you compassion," she announced. "Use it well for the elders of your Clan, and the sick, and all those weaker than yourself." Ashtail looked up as the shecat rejoined Starclan. Ashtail knew that the next four cats would be ones that were so much closer to her than the others.
"With this life I give you love," The next cat murmured, who happened to be Ashtail's previous mentor, Brooktail, before he passed away during a battle against Mistclan, as he gently placed his muzzle atop Ashtail's head.
"Use it well, for all the cats in your care." The next cat, who was Ashtail's deceased mate, stepped forward and placed his muzzle on her head.
"With this life I give you courage," Sprucefoot murmured. "Use it well in defense of your Clan." Ashtail shuddered once more as she received her 7th life.
"Two more Ashtail. You can make it." Fireclaw encouraged, brushing her flank with his bushy tail.
"With this life I give you tireless energy," The next cat, who was Ashtail's mother, meowed as she bowed her head to touch Ashtail's. "Use it well to carry out the duties of a leader."
"Last one." Ashtail murmured to herself.
"With this life, I give you nobility and certainty and faith. Use it well as you lead your Clan in the ways of StarClan and the warrior code."
"You are no longer Ashtail, but rather, you are now Ashstar!" The cats of Starclan chanted her name.
"Ashstar! Ashstar!"
"Ashstar." Ashstar looked up in surprise at the new voice, one that she hadn't heard in awhile.
"There will be an abandoned kit outside the camp in a number of moons. She will have paws the color of sunset, and eyes the color of stone. She will, at first, be feared, then hated, envied, and finally loved. Yet, before she is loved, she must go on a quest to find the lost clan and bring them home. Two kits shall accompany and help her on her quest. A kit born in darkness and a kit born from stone. Nothing can happen to these kits, or else eternal darkness will descend on the clans." Ashstar's eyes widened as she heard the prophecy that would haunt her mind until it happened.