//------------------------------// // Chapter One // Story: The Prophecy of Destruction // by Fryguy //------------------------------// It was like any other day in the Windclan Camp, some kits were playing with a dead hare from the fresh kill pile, patrols were out and about protecting the border that runs along the Riverclan and Thunderclan border, the elders told stories that were like mythology, and Onestar's deputy, Ashfoot, was giving orders for a hunting party. But since the Dark forest attacked, he kept thinking about his now dead friend, Firestar. He couldn't sleep at all at night, because he grieved over him, they were good friends since Firestar and a fellow warrior in Thunderclan brought them out of exile and hiding from Brokenstar and Shadowclan, but when Onestar became leader, things started changing. They warred and were enemies for a day before the sun vanished then came back like if Starclan were angry. They also had a battle when at a gathering Jayfeather, the Thunderclan medicine cat, was accused of murdering one of the Shadowclan medicine cats, Flametail was the victim's name. Onestar and Firestar never had a chance to fix their friendship when Firestar was reported dead when a lighting bolt hit a fallen beech and Firestar, killing him. Onestar could not control his emotions from that day, sometimes he would go outside camp alone and grieve, he could not imagine how Thunderclan must feel about their great leader dying like that. But he died with honor was what he heard at a gathering from the new leader Bramblestar. "He died with honor after striking down Tigerstar, my father won't ever haunt us again." Was what he said, some of the Thunderclan cats that Onestar saw were tearing up and mourning, Firestar's mate, Sandstorm, and his daughters, Leafpool and Squirrelflight, now the deputy of Thunderclan, must have been hurt most because they were kin of Firestar, and tears were flooding down their faces. Blackstar and Mistystar, the leaders of Shadowclan and Riverclan, were also shaken by the news of Firestar's death, and pretty much everyone but one were shacken as well, the one that Onestar noticed though were Breezepelt, one of his warriors. He was spitting on the ground and was hissing silently. "But maybe everyone does feel sad about this death, in their own way." Was what Onestar thought after that gathering. Now he was in his den, the Windclan leader, still shaken about what had happened a half moon ago, tried to get some sleep, hoping Starclan would allow him to see Firestar. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashfoot was still awake, she could tell that her leader was in his den, because she could hear him talking to himself, and rustling in his sleep. "He must be having a dream." she thought, it was a long day today, organizing patrols, trying to control the kits from ruining fresh prey, hunting, watching some apprentices and their mentors train, it was sort of a chaotic day really. She thought her day would never end, and when she led the midnight patrol, she was tired, and in no shape to fight anyone with an insane mind to sneak around at night. She could now finally get some rest, and sleep soundly through the rest of the night, and not worry about anything until morning. Ashfoot walked up to her cat like nest, it felt so warm to her paws, and she could fall asleep right away, with a groan, she collapsed onto her bed, the sound of snoring could be heard from some other cats like Crowfeather and Nightpelt, they were so noisy, it gave the Windclan deputy a headache. "Like nothing can stop it anyways." Ashfoot mumbled, with a yawn, she curled up into her nest, and closed her eyes. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Onestar found himself in a forest filled with stars that shone brightly, it glittered in the trees, it was a beautiful sight. Then right then he knew he was in Starclan, the home of the deceased, and where he usually got messages from his ancestors. In the horizen, he could make out a couple of cats walking towards him, their pelts shone brightly like they were stars themselves, Onestar recognized one of them, the leader before him, Tallstar. His tail was long like a snake, and his black and white pelt seemed brighter then ever. Then there was the one with the pelt of fire, it looked like the cat was on fire himself because his orange fur glowed like a light in silverpelt. "Firestar!" Onestar thought to himself, he smiled and showed it, he was happy to see his friend again. "Welcome Onestar." Tallstar began. "We have come to you to share with you a few things you will need to know." Onestar nodded, he knew it had to be important. Firestar took a breath then told the Windclan leader. "Great trouble is coming to all of the clans, they will all be wiped out unless you and the other clans find a creature of colors. That is your only hope of survival, you'll be facing a big and deadly threat that only that creature can face, we've seen her perform well from all the way here." Onestar was taken aback, a warning of destruction? He longed to ask more of it but before he could, the two leaders started to fade away, and things were becoming blurry in Onestar's vision. "No! Don't go! Please! I need to know more!" But it was too late, Onestar's cries were in vain, and he woke up and found himself shivering with fear. It WAS the middle of leafbare but he didn't feel cold at all, he just felt fear brewing in his heart, and it felt like his emotions would burst out and get out of control in fear. Why would Firestar and Tallstar come to him instead of his medicine cat, Kestrelflight? Was there a reason for such a decision to come to him? Onestar kept thinking and thinking about his dream and what it could mean. He didn't go to his medicine cat, and kept away from the other warriors, he put his deputy Ashfoot in charge of the camp until he could think straight and realize what was going on. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ashfoot sat by the leader's den, waiting for Onestar to come out, she could hear him shouting from his den and rushed over from the warriors den. Her paws trembled as she waited for a response from her leader, and she hoped that Onestar didn't ignore her. "Onestar, is everything alright? I could hear you from the warriors den and I think you woke up everyone in the whole forest!" She tried to put a little humor in her statement to see if it would calm her leader. "Come in Ashfoot." Came the reply, and Ashfoot walked inside, still trembling, into the den. She found Onestar in his nest trembling in fear, bad dream maybe? "I-Is everything alright? What happened?!" Ashfoot hoped her leader didn't have a warning of some sort of trouble from Starclan. "Hope it was just a bad dream, hope it was just a bad dream...." Her mind kept repeating that statement over and over again, hoping her the best. Finally Onestar spoke. "It's alright, just a bad dream, that's all, but I'm gonna have to be alone outside the camp if you don't mind, your in charge while I'm gone, okay?" Ashfoot groaned, she was tired of having to take charge of the camp, she toiled every day keeping order while Onestar goes out and maybe does something relaxing and can rest. But she didn't argue, she nodded and headed outside of the den, still a bit annoyed to have to toil yet another day. As Onestar left the camp, Ashfoot had just finished organizing hunting patrols. It was tiring, knowing that she herself would have to hunt, but she couldn't fulfill that task until she heard what the sun high patrol had to say and decide what to do if there is suspicious activity, and maybe send out another patrol. Ashfoot started wondering what Onestar was up too, relaxing on the hills maybe, or drinking by the lake. "Or meeting someone in private..." Ashfoot thought suddenly, was her leader putting her in charge and going out of camp to meet someone secretly? It could be hard to believe, but it may be true, you never know. Ashfoot felt dizzy thinking about it, her own leader, friends with someone from another clan or rogue. "Or a kittypet..." Ashfoot felt so dizzy thinking about these thoughts that she felt like she was gonna pass out. Luckily for her, the sun-high patrol had returned. Forgetting about her thoughts of her leader, she hurried over to Crowfeather, Owlwhisker, and Whitetail. "Traces of Thunderclan scent over the border near the lake, probably Jayfeather from last night, since it was the medicine cat gathering, Riverclan scent is everywhere on the border, and they're fresh. I think a hunting party came near the border, way to close to the border. Also..." As Owlwhisker continued on with his report, Ashfoot noticed Breezepelt with his hunting party and apprentice, Boulderpaw, come into the camp, she couldn't help but notice that in the apprentice's jaws was a chipmunk, almost like if it was hunted over the border with Thunderclan and brought back over. Plus Breezepelt along with his apprentice stunk of woodland scent. "Where did you get that Chipmunk Boulderpaw?" Ashfoot asked. But before the apprentice could answer, Breezepelt stopped and turned on the deputy. "Does it matter? He got it from the hills like he was supposed too! Why would you be curious to where the stupid chipmunk came from?!" Breezeplet had a point, but it wasn't a good counter argument. "Because not only do I smell woodland scent on BOTH of you, but I also want to point out chipmunks like trees, not open moor or hills. So I'll ask again, where did you get that chipmunk Boulderpaw?" This time Boulderpaw didn't let his mentor interrupt him, and he told Ashfoot. "I'm sorry! But Breezepelt thought I could try hunting Squirrels and I got this chipmunk! Don't make me check the elders for ticks!" Breezepelt snarled at Boulderpaw, saying. "That was supposed to be a secret lesson you stupid apprentice! Now look what you've done! Your in trouble now! You can't squeak out every little thing your told you know!" But while he was shouting in fury, Ashfoot forgot about the Sun-high patrol's report, so she left the two alone and turned back to the patrol. "Please continue with your report please." It's gonna be a rough day... _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Onestar sat close to the camp, he saw Breezepelt's hunting party come home with unusual prey. "Better let Ashfoot handle it." He thought. It felt good to be out of the camp sometimes, thinking about your troubles and what to do with them, especially now. He couldn't stop thinking about what the dream and warning could mean. He wanted to save it until the gathering, which would be soon, but he couldn't let his clan be clueless about it, Ashfoot may have realized sooner or later that he lied about it being a bad dream. Plus he felt like Ashfoot and him were getting more distant now, she was probably starting to loathe him ever since he kept making her in charge of Windclan every day. "She must be suffering to control the troublemakers." He thought, the decision of keeping Breezepelt and his position as mentor to Boulderpaw seemed nothing like a good idea, but he made the decision anyway. It wasn't the wisest one, but losing a warrior may mean weakness, so he decided to keep him, but his treachery to Windclan and his allegiances to the Dark Forest made his trust questionable. It was like he was an untrustworthy cat, which he was. Onestar's judgement on Breezepelt was over-turnable if Breezepelt betrayed his clanmates again. "Hopefully that doesn't happen again." Thought Onestar. He kept thinking about his problems with Breezepelt and how to make him a better warrior, but there was also the dream and warning he got. "Find the creature of colors..." What did that mean? Troubled by his worries and his confusing dream, he got up, and trotted back to camp, hoping to deal with his problems later.