Book 2 - Warriors: The Servant's Promise

Chapter Thirty

"This story starts after the death of the first four leaders," said Cheetahfur. "Only moons after the thriving Clans mourned for their lost leaders, they became corrupt with evil thoughts. For instance, ShadowClan wished to take over ThunderClan, and WindClan wished to hunt in RiverClan's territory while RiverClan would simply live on fish. No one could agree with each other despite StarClan's efforts to get them under control.

"StarClan was very weak at the time," claimed the golden tabby she-cat. "They had no medicine cats, so there was no connection to their ancestors. They could send dreams, but most cats would just believe they were only what they seemed—dreams. Only a few thought them important. So, StarClan decided to give itself power. They planned to entrust connection to one cat in each Clan and give them guidance and healing. This would be called the medicine cat."

"So the Clans did not begin with medicine cats?" asked Demonfang, her voice still soft. Cheetahfur shook her head.

"No, only healers who guessed at herbs were allowed back then," Cheetahfur explained. "They were permitted to have kits and have mates. The medicine cats, however, held a religious factor that StarClan knew they had to keep strict. They created the Medicine Cat Code so that they knew the cat that had connections with StarClan would have dedication and no distractions from their supernatural duty.

"Anyway, the medicine cats were chosen easily, and the Clans calmed down," Cheetahfur told them. "But of course, evil always finds its way into the hearts of innocent cats. Soon, so much monstrous cats reigned through the Clans, and StarClan began to give up hope. The Dark Forest began to rise to tremendous power, and the larger their territory became, the smaller StarClan's was. It was a time of dark indeed.

"The medicine cats tried, but they were counted as weak in this time. Two of them were exiled with their apprentices while the other two became shunned by their Clans. StarClan had no control, for again, their powers were limited when it came to mortal cats. We were defenceless."

"But what about the power it has now?" asked Evectri. "Like the power they had when they created my kind?" Cheetahfur looked to the Volan.

"That power was not given to them yet," said Cheetahfur. "So they relied on the cats to fend for themselves. However, the Dark Forest began to get greedy, and so battles erupted everywhere. Between Clans, within Clans, against two Clans...Many died, and as the cats were divided between StarClan and the Dark Forest, it seemed that the Clans would come to end no matter what happened.

"And then the four leaders—which is to say, Thunderstar, Shadowstar, Riverstar, and Windstar—had a dark idea. Santus, a loner tom who had come from Twoleg owners, appeared between the chaos and death that everyone had come to know. He was a reasonable tom, one who understood war and how evil it was. Inevitable—that's what he told the cats. However, he told them that it should not have gone on this long. He managed to let some see how dark their acts were, but not all of them wanted to believe they'd done wrong.

"The leaders came to Santus in a dream, asking if he would like their help to save the Clans. They told them that they could give him power to bring peace amongst the fighting. Santus, one who did not believe in StarClan, refused, stating he had his own ways to help the cats below.

"The Dark Forest tried to force Santus under their control as well, but the brave tom told them the same thing. StarClan decided to ignore the tom, but the Dark Forest became angry. They forced a curse upon the tom, one in which made him crazy at odd times. He killed some of our own cats, and the Clans began to go back to war again without Santus's teachings.

"StarClan, in panic, put a soul within him. It was a soul in which had died from the war, and so this gave Santus a connection with our ancestors. It was amazing what happened next—the soul took over the curse for the tom and became partners with Santus. The brave tom named the soul Selios, and so both stopped the war, defeating those who believed it needed to continue.