Beyond the stars: Ripple of fire (Book #1)

Prologue

In the stillness of the night, the moonlight casts a silvery glow upon the rippling surface of the pond. Perched on the edge of the pond, was Sprucetail — the Oakclan medicine cat — watching the surface of the pond quietly. Her eyes glowed like embers as she watched the breeze send ripples across the water, carrying the faint scent of moss and earth. Sprucetail flicked a pebble into the water and watched as the pond rippled, her eyes widening as a reflection appeared in the water in place of her's.

Sprucetail blinked and stuck a claw in the water, but the reflection did not disappear, and instead the cat in the reflection started to speak.

"When fire ripples like the river", the cat spoke, her voice was low like a whisper "You must go beyond the stars".

"Beyond the stars..?" Sprucetail hissed to herself as the reflection started to disappear "Wait!".

She started to splash frantically at the water, trying to get the strange cat to appear again so that she could interrogate her on the cryptic prophecy.

"Come back!" Sprucetail howled "What does that even mean?"

"Sprucetail?" A voice shook her thoughts.

Under the veil of darkness, a large figure appeared behind Sprucetail, draped in a cloak of dark , smoky gray fur that blended seamlessly with the shadows. Her brilliant blue eyes were furrowed together, probably because the medicine cat was talking to herself in the middle of the night while splashing at water.

"Cloverstar?" Sprucetail immediately stopped splashing around and shook her wet fur "What are you doing out here?"

"I couldn't sleep", the Breezeclan leader mewed, sitting down next to Sprucetail "What were you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep either", Sprucetail turned her head and latched her eyes onto Cloverstar's "I think.. Starclan gave me a prophecy".

"What prophecy?" Cloverstar straightened, her eyes searching Sprucetail's for answers in the dim light.

"When fire ripples like the river, you must go beyond the stars", Sprucetail repeated the the strange cat's words poetically, carefully watching her leader's expression for a response.

"What do you think it means?" Cloverstar said, almost to herself than to Sprucetail.

"I'm not sure.." the white she-cat replied, swirling a claw in the pond "I think its a warning.."

"Maybe there is a traitor in the clan", Cloverstar mewed, turning to her medicine cat for a reply.

Sprucetail nodded thoughtfully as she and Cloverstar basked in the moonlight silently, both of them lost in their own thoughts. The strange cat's words echoed in Sprucetail's mind, making her wonder what destruction was yet to come. The last part of the prophecy made her shiver — did beyond the stars mean that they would no longer be in the presence of Starclan?

Sprucetail titled her head back and let the cool air hit her face.