The Endless Prophecy - Night

Chapter 8

"Hey," the sweet scent of Rosepaw enveloped Nightpaw has she opened her eyes, blinking. Stretching, she pulled herself up into a sitting position.

"Hey."

"It's Firepaw and Softpaw's ceremony. Want to watch?" Rosepaw nuzzled her.

"I wish I could," Nightpaw said ruefully. "Grayfeather won't let me."

"Well, I'd better go, I'll tell you the news later," Rosepaw blinked once, then padded out.

Nightpaw sighed. She would have liked to go with her, but she needed to think. Now that she knew Sneezekit was the Second, she knew they needed to find the lone One.

Rolling onto a more comfortable position, she closed her eyes. StarClan, a soft meow breathed in her ear. Seek your answers in StarClan.

Nightpaw concentrated on the voice as wind blowed through her fur and whirled around her. She felt the warm moss of her nest disappear and transform into the soft grass of the forest in StarClan.

"Nightpaw?"

She blinked open her eyes. Sneezekit!

"You have access to StarClan too?" he asked her.

"I do," she replied. Rising to her paws, she swept her tail along Sneezekit's flank.

"I've just been apprenticed," Sneezekit told her. "My new name is Skypaw now."

"That's great!" Nightpaw purred. "So you changed your name too?"

"Yeah, and my mentor is Palesky! He's a great mentor!"

"Palesky? Oh, I've heard about him, he's one of the senior warriors, isn't he?"

"Yeah..."

The wind blew again. The apprentices turned around to see two bright shimmering lights appearing. Then they morphed into the shapes of cats and as the lights faded, Nightpaw recognized Dovewing, and Lionblaze, whom the elders had described to her countless times.

"They've come to tell the news," Nightpaw whispered to Skypaw. If Dovewing or Lionblaze had heard her, they showed no sign.

"Welcome to StarClan, apprentices," purred Dovewing. 

"You may know that we have found our Second, Skypaw. Now you must find the One, and complete the prophecy," said Lionblaze in his deep meow.

Nightpaw and Skypaw looked at each other then sighed. Another impossible task in front of them.

"It's like they're using us," Skypaw muttered. Lionblaze gave nothing more than an irritated flick of an ear, then cleared his throat.

"I know this seems hard, but think of what situation the Clans will be in if we don't try our best to save them."

"Hold on," said Skypaw. "What is this danger you're talking about? So you've told us to unite the Three, but what use will we be if we don't know what we have to do?"

"Because this is how StarClan works," another bright light shimmered, and died down to reveal a gray tom with blind blue eyes. "Yes, I know, if we told you everything, it would be easier, but not better. There are some things in life that one should not know until it is, as what we call, 'their time'."

"And who may you be?" questioned Skypaw.

"I am Jayfeather," he replied. "You may not understand, but trust me, and the cats around us, this is how life works."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Nightpaw saw many more StarClan cats appearing and gradually forming a circle around them. Then she heard Lionblaze whisper something to Jayfeather.

"... always late, that's you. I swear by StarClan that your head's stuck in RiverClan..."

"Shut up!"

Lionblaze looked around and saw Nightpaw. He winked at her, and nudged Dovewing.

"The darkness is rising, find the One, and the Three shall be reunited. Where you hear, what you hear, where you fight, out of pure goodness only. Never underestimate your powers, nor your enemies. Now we shall leave, in the hope that you shall save us."

No cat moved, nor spoke, yet Dovewing's meow lingered in the air, as if hundreds of cats where echoing her words, until it grew louder and louder, unbearably loud, Nightpaw had to cover her ears, a flash of white light....

She hit the ground with a thud, yet she felt no pain at all. Opening her eyes, she was back in ThunderClan, Rosepaw had come back from the Clan meeting, and was now sitting beside her.

"Hello," Rosepaw purred. "Welcome back to ThunderClan. Had a good dream?"

"Definitely," Nightpaw purred back. "What are Firepaw and Softpaw's new names now?"

"It's Firethorn and Softsong, if you ask me, I think those are some nice names."

"Let's hope we don't get Nightfightwithablaze and Rosebramblebush," Nightpaw joked. (Author: UGH THIS IS CRINGE) 

"Me too," purred Rosepaw. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"I can?"

"Yeah, Baypaw just told me you're loads better already."

"Oh, yeah..."

As they travelled through the forest to the lake, Nightpaw felt her energy fizzling inside her. She cast her senses away, across the lake, where silver fish leapt, atop the trees, where birds nest, into Clan camps, where warriors scurried from one side of the camp to another, and elders droned on with their never-ending stories, kits tumbling over each other, apprentices moaning about their lack of sleep...

Lionblaze had mentioned something to do with RiverClan. Was it related to the One? Directing her senses towards that direction, she listened in the medicine cat den. Jayfeather could travel to StarClan with free will, so this meant the One could do the same, too.

Nobody was in the medicine den except for a sleeping elder. Breathing in the fishy smell of RiverClan, she noted the scent in her mind and opened her eyes.

"It's quite nice, isn't it? Being out in the forest, I pity all the kittypets, trapped in the Twoleg dens," said Rosepaw dreamily.

"But the kittypets probably feel more safe inside, they're not trained to fight foxes and badgers or even hunting!" Nightpaw reasoned.

"Probably," agreed Rosepaw. 

"But you have something to tell me, right? You didn't take me out just to talk to me about kittypets."

"Well, yeah... You know Firethorn?"

"What about him?"

"I-I think I love him..." whispered Rosepaw. "I love Firethorn."

"Firethorn?" Nightpaw widened her eyes. She never knew about that! So that's  the reason why her sister was being so dreamy. If Firethorn loved her back... then that would be just lovely, she couldn't imagine a better mate for Rosepaw. "He's nice..." She trailed off, remembering the day when it was their first time in the training hollow. Firethorn had asked her about Rosepaw then...

"Yeah, I wish I knew how he feels about me, though."

"He probably loves you back, you know that day when you went into the brambles around the training hollow?"

"That was kind of embarassing," Rosepaw muttered.

"He asked me about you in the apprentice's den. Rosepaw, you've got a mate!" Nightpaw exclaimed. Then she turned around as she heard pawsteps.

"Hello there," meowed Firethorn.