Infinita Frigus

Prologue

The tom woke to an eerie silence. He was surrounded by trees, the RiverClan camp nowhere in sight.

Where am I? he wondered.

He stood up and took in the beauty of the new grounds. A stream trickled through the forest, reflecting light from the sun that draped its way through the trees' branches. The delicious scent of fish lay in the water. He padded silently up to the stream, looking for a way to catch a fish. And that was when he heard the voices.

He pricked his ears in alarm as a female cat yowled in the woods beyond. He followed the sound as though hypnotized. Finally, he came to a fern and crouched there, listening as the female spoke.

The gray tom was eavesdropping. Not that he enjoyed listening to the strange warriors' personal affairs. He just wanted to find out what was going on.

"How could this be happening, Rushstar? You said the Keeper of Frigid Winter would be careful!"

A pale gray she-cat snarled the words.

"Harshness will destroy the Clans. No cat will be saved from the destruction that is coming! Frigid Winter has betrayed us, and you sit here like a moonstruck mouse about to be caught by a hunter, not caring what is about to happen!"

The cat the she-cat was berating was an elderly brown tom. He merely took in her words, but said nothing as she spat at him in fury. Only once the gray cat had finished did he speak, his voice clouded by sadness.

"This is not what I expected from the Keeper of Frigid Winter. I thought we could trust him to keep his emotion and loyalty under control. Unfortunately, we were wrong. We must send a group of StarClan cats to seek him out in his dreams and persuade him to avert the cold approaching, and we must let the medicine cats and the rest of StarClan know immediately."

As though all was decided, he rose to his paws and padded into the ferns opposite the spy. The she-cat sped fast and blocked his way. "No! We cannot worry all of StarClan and the live Clans! There is nothing we can do. Frigid Winter will just ignore his dreams."

"Then what do you propose we do, Silverlily?" Snapped the tom called Rushstar. "Sit on our tails and watch our Clans die in front of us? No, we must find a way to help them."

The eavesdropper was stunned. These cats were StarClan cats. How was he dreaming this? It was a path that only medicine cats would tread. It was all very confusing. His crouch became unbalanced and he fell, face-first, out of the ferns and into clear view of the arguing cats.

"Mouse-dung!" He cursed, as the cats whipped around to stare at him with hostile gazes.

"What are you doing here, warrior," rumbled Rushstar.

"N-Nothing," stammered the gray tom, taking a step back.

"You should not be here," growled Silverlily. "This is not for prying eyes to witness. Leave. Now."

"I-I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I just wanted to know what was going on. What cold is approaching? Who is the Keeper of Frigid Winter? Who are you?"

"It is not for you to discover the future, but there is no point hiding it from an eavesdropper."

The tom's pelt burned with embarrassment.

"I will explain. There are three Keepers, the Keeper of the Starry Night, the Keeper of the Blazing Sun, and... the Keeper of Frigid Winter. They are in charge of seasons, warmth, coldness, night and day. The Keeper of Frigid Winter has accidently betrayed us. His emotions have somehow gotten the better of him and the power of freezing temperature he holds is about to be unleashed upon the Clans. You must brace yourselves."

"But can't you just ask him to stop?" asked the tom.

"If you were eavesdropping properly, you would have heard us say that his emotions are too powerful for him to listen to us. We actually need live cats to help us, because he will not listen to StarClan," Silverlily hissed.

"The cold will be among us within the next moon of green-leaf," growled Rushstar. "You must refrain from telling any cat, even the ones you are closest or most loyal to. The Clans must face this death and destruction on their own."

"Why won't you help us?" squeaked the RiverClan warrior.

"StarClan is powerless against a force of this magnitude. We can only guide you so far. You must wait for this to occur," murmured Silverlily, looking small and defeated all of a sudden.

Rushstar gently pushed her aside and came to stand, nose-to-nose, with the spying warrior. "You can expect a sign from StarClan to defeat the cold, but we will have to discuss this with warriors who have seen the Frigid Winter before. Please leave. Go back to your duties. Though this will hang over your head, you must remain strong for your Clan. We have faith in you, eavesdropper."

The tom was tired of being called an eavesdropper, but he consented. "I will not say a word unless my Clan needs this information," he vowed.

"Thank you. Hopefully, the Clans will not panic and we will have time to help them. I already have an idea. Now if we could just-"

All of a sudden, the warrior's surroundings vanished and were replaced by the walls of the warrior den. A cat was shaking his shoulders urgently.

"Rushingpelt! Rushingpelt! We're on the dawn patrol, come on!" a voice whispered frantically in his ear.

Rushingpelt got to his paws groggily and followed his awakener outside. Though he looked fine, he felt hollow with the knowledge he now wished he did not know.

Something horrible was about to happen, and the Clans would be begging for mercy when the force of the cold was be unleashed.

Looking around the RiverClan camp, Rushingpelt sighed heavily. How many of his Clanmates would be lost? The Frigid Winter, dreaded by StarClan, was upon them. It was time to brace themselves for the worst and unpredictable leaf-bare coming their way.

A/N: Prolouge written by The One That Disappeared on FanFiction.net.