Warriors: The Dark Realm (Complete)

Chapter 1

 Silence.

 Bristlefrost gasped for air, shaking uncontrollably. She looked around.

 Darkness.

 She couldn't see anything. She saw no clouds, no trees, no nothing. She couldn't see anything except darkness. Everywhere she looked, to the left, to the right, up, down, she only saw complete darkness. She looked at her paws, but she could see them. Her mind felt hazy.

 Where.. am I?

 Bristlefrost got up, her legs shaking. Then, memories came flooding back.

 Over the past moons, the Clans have been dealing with something they have never dealt with before. Ashfur, a former ThunderClan warrior, hurt because Squirrelflight rejected him to be mates with Bramblestar instead, never forgave her and cut off the connection between StarClan and the Clans. He took over Bramblestar's body when he lost one of his lives and pretended to be him just for Squirrelflight to love him. One by one, the other cats have finally found out that Bramblestar wasn't who he said he was, and most cats only found out after a devastating battle. Ashfur was imprisoned in ShadowClan, but managed to escape and took Squirrelflight to the Dark Forest against her will through the Moonpool. Her, Rootspring and Shadowsight went there to save them, and more cats came to their aid. She remembered the bloody battle that took part. She remembered killing a cat, and briefly seeing Antfur.

 Then, she gasped.

 Thoughts of Shadowsight and Ashfur filled her mind. She saw herself running forward and jumping on Ashfur, dragging him with her in the dark water. She had saved Shadowsight, and the Clans. Ashfur faded away.

 But she did too.

 But then.. why am I here? What is this place? Bristlefrost looked around, fear taking control of her. She didn't recognize this place, and she wasn't at the lake territory.

 She suddenly remembered her wound in her neck. She hesitated, then shook her head repeatedly, but she felt no pain. Her wound was gone. What in StarClan..?

 She looked down. Her eyes widened when she couldn't see her paws. She began thrashing her paws just for her to fall down on her back.

 "Ow!" Bristlefrost hissed in pain, then got up and looked down. She still couldn't see her paws. She raised one of her front paws and it reappeared again. She then understood. There was a low, black mist around her paws, hiding them from sight.

 She felt sick.

 Suddenly, she remembered Rootspring. The fluffy, yellow SkyClan tom who had won her heart. She remembered his alarmed, distraught expression and his desperate yowl when she ran towards Ashfur. Her heart seemed to break.

 We can never be together now. He has to live without me.

 Bristlefrost lowered her head in sadness, but then she shook it and raised her head. No, I can't be sad right now. I have to find out where I am, and why I'm here.

 "Hello?" Bristlefrost yelled, looking around. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

 Her yowl echoed.

 Bristlefrost's heart quickened. She thought she heard something in the distance. Was that a cat breathing, or paw steps? Or was it all just in her mind?

 Bristlefrost backed off, shaking from fear, but then she closed her eyes. I can't be afraid. I must face whoever is coming toward me. I must be brave. I have to. For Rootspring. For myself. And for the Clans.

 Bristlefrost opened her eyes and bared her teeth. "Who is there? Show yourself!"

 "Remember me?"

 Bristlefrost's eyes widened in shock as two familiar eyes appeared in front of her. She saw these blue eyes before. She heard this voice before.

 "S-Snowtuft?"

 "That's right." A white tom with a long scar snaking from his belly to the tip of his ear padded forward, looking at her.

 Bristlefrost growled. "You almost killed Rootspring!"

 Snowtuft's eyes widened. "I didn't want to! Ashfur was controlling me!"

 Bristlefrost's tail tip lashed. She remembered seeing Snowtuft and Rootspring circling each other, about to attack each other.

 "Ashfur was controlling Rootspring! Not you!"

 "No!" Snowtuft's meow sounded desperate. "I promise! Ashfur took control of both of us! He wanted to make us fight each other because I betrayed him and because Rootspring helped Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. Before that, I wanted to help Shadowsight and Rootspring. I hate Ashfur, he's an evil cat. I would never work for him. But, when you and Shadowsight came to help Rootspring, don't you remember how I came to help all of you? Ashfur killed me because of that."

 Bristlefrost listened in silence as Snowtuft spoke. She slowly nodded. Memories of what Snowtuft just told her came back to her. She then remembered Willowshine saying that Snowtuft was killed by Ashfur.

 Bristlefrost froze, then lowered her head. "I-I'm sorry, I forgot.. I just forgot a lot of things, but I don't know why."

 "It's all right." Snowtuft meowed. Bristlefrost raised her head and saw Snowtuft's sympathetic eyes look at her. "You died, didn't you?"

 Bristlefrost nodded, letting out a sigh. "More cats came to the Dark Forest. We were fighting against Ashfur and his cats. Ashfur was about to push Shadowsight in the dark water, but I saved him. Both I and Ashfur fell in the dark water, and now I'm here. Do you know what this place is?"

 Snowtuft's expression turned into sadness. He looked away. "This is the Dark Realm. When a cat dies a second time, they come here. This isn't StarClan nor the Dark Forest. This is an endless darkness. We're all stuck here. We can't die another time. All of the faded spirits are here. I've met a lot of them. Some of them tried to attack me, but they just couldn't. Nobody can attack or kill each other."

 Bristlefrost's heart lurched. "But that's horrible!"

 "I know." Snowtuft sat back down and let out a sigh. "I've tried to escape. Some of the other spirits want to leave too. But there's no way out of here. We're all stuck here for eternity, and there's nothing we can do about it."