new beginnings.

prologue.

darkness. darkness was all she could see, which was weird for the young molly. usually she had dreams that were bright and vivid, and she could clearly remember them in the morning when the sun rose. but she was faced with darkness. 

before her, a shimmering light surrounded a large figure which looked to be a cat. "starclan?" she called out to the cat, who turned their head towards her. cloudy, blue eyes gazed into her blind green one, which sent a shiver down her spine. "heavysky.." she mumbles softly, her paws taking her closer to the tom. the old gladeclan medicine cat turns fully to the small she-cat but walks past her. confused, the molly watches his every move, gasping when she saw who the tom was heading to talk to. fennelbranch, her now deceased mentor, was sitting peacefully, while heavysky sat beside him. 

"fennelbranch.. have you deciphered the vision?" the large tom asks with a surprisingly soft voice, turning his head to the other. with a grunt, the yellow tabby shrugs and looks away. 

"no.. starclan hasn't given me much help.. what sort of a vision is an adder around a hickory nut, what is that meant to symolize?" the tom, clearly irritated, asked but not looking for a true answer. heavysky hung his head and sighed, gaze focusing on the details of the ground. as soon as the molly processed what was happening, the scene changed again.

before her was a mottled brown tom that she recognized as fallowstar, leader of gladeclan. heavysky was there as well, but it seemed fallowstar was angry with the medicine cat. the medicine cat was older now, worn down. she suspected he was about to retire and step down as medicine cat so grassyear would take over as medicine cat. "how dare you accuse my son of being evil!" the brown tom snarls, fur standing on edge as he paced back and forth in front of heavysky. said tom seemed calm, on the other hand, simply looking forward with cloudy, blind eyes. "relax, fallowleap. i never said it was for certain, just that hickorykit was mentioned in a vision starclan shared with fennelbranch. as deputy and father of the kit, i felt i must report this to you. i didn't mean to add more stress, as i know you and grassyear have to travel to the moonstone tonight." once heavysky finished, the tom turns his head to stare directly at the she-cat.

the form of fallowstar faded away as heavysky stands and approaches the molly, who was speechless at what she was witnessing. finding herself shrinking to look smaller than she already was compared to the large tom, she gazes up at him, blind blue eyes meeting her own blind green eye.

"beware, smokeygaze. some cat you hold near and dear to your heart will betray not only you, but all the clans. he has decided to manipulate a young apprentice, corrupting their mind with evil and darkness. four will be the saviors, you and the other medicine cats must work together to figure out who it will be." the tom explains with a dark expression, towering over the small she-cat. smokeygaze goes quiet for a minute before nodding a bit. the tom fades away into the darkness that enveloped around her, leaving her alone. 

...

tangledpaw had woken up by now, blinking with a whine at the bright light of the moonstone. it wasn't his first time sharing tongues with starclan, but it was the first time receiving a vision. he decided to tell his mentor, but as he looked over, the she-cat was still asleep. yet, it looked as if she was whimpering in her sleep. concerned for his mentor, the tom gently nudges at her shoulder in an attempt to wake up.

smokeygaze stirs a bit as her eyes blink the sleep from her eye, sitting up. "hm.. sorry it took longer than usual.." she mutters, licking her paw to drag over her ear as tangled gazes at her with a worried look. 

"smokeygaze.. starclan told me that danger is coming." the small tom mews softly as his mentor turns her head towards the tunnel they traversed to get here. "should we be worried?" he curiously tilts his head as he stands up, ready to travel back. the she-cat sighs softly and stands as well, padding out of the moonstone den and into the tunnel leading outside as tangledpaw followed her. the tom could tell something was off about her, but decided against questioning it anymore. he already knew the deal from this point, when they returned the tom would get some sleep and then tell littlestar what he saw. 

the pelt colors of the toms he saw in his vision ate at him as they travel back to ebonyclan camp. the brown of the younger looking of the two, and the shaggy black, ginger, and white pelt of the elder tom sitting together as they watch over dark forest cats training to fight. the tom shivers and shakes his head, although nothing would truly shake away the picture of bleeding cats scrambling and fighting for their lives and calling it 'training' that was burned in his memory. the most peculiar part was  they finally reach their camp, and tangledpaw notices the she-cat leader was awake and sitting on top of shade rock, the moonlight making her pale grey pelt shimmer. littlestar watches as they walk into clan and hops down, padding over to them.

"welcome back. i'm glad you two are safe." her voice was soft as she flashes them a smile. tangledpaw felt a tail brushing his shoulder, turning to see smokeygaze looking at him. she gestures to the medicine den, gesturing for him to head to bed. he frowns, but obediently walks off to get some more rest.

not too tired yet, he sits by the entrance of the den to eavesdrop on the conversation. he couldn't hear a lot, but there were bits and pieces he caught.

words like 'manipulated' and 'betraying the clans' stood out to him, his fur on edge. he thinks back to the vision of the toms and the dark forest cats, which made him queasy.

but it was the words of his mentor that shocked the tom the most.

"littlestar... i think adderjaw might be the cat heavysky was talking about."

his mind instantly connected the dots, the elder tom in his vision looked exactly like the medicine cat's brother. it started to make sense.

to answer his own question from earlier, he feared they should be worried.

but who was the brown cat he saw?