In this choose-your-own-adventure book, you create a character and lead them through their journey before they are ready to join the stars. Will you succeed, or will you fail?
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
PROLOGUE
"Mother?" Nightkit whispered. It was a cold leaf-fall night, and the wind could be heard, gusting through the trees as if it wished to break into the warm nursery and spread its icy chill. Blazelight held her two kits closer to her.
"What is it?" Blazelight replied gently, smoothing a tuft of hair sticking up on Blisterkit's head, who lay curled up next to her brother. Blisterkit pulled away, wrinkling her nose.
"Well, Blisterkit and I were wondering..." Nightkit started, and Blisterkit eagerly came to her brother's side. "If you could tell us the story of how the Clans came to be." Blazelight perked her ears. Usually, the kits only asked for tales of great battles and fierce warriors.
"And what got you thinking of this?" She asked.
"We went to visit Minnowtail, and she was going to tell us, but then Elkstar called a meeting," Said Nightkit, speaking for both Blisterkit and himself. Blisterkit was very shy and usually hid behind her brother. She hardly spoke much, except to Blazelight, letting Nightkit do the talking for her. "She said that three spirits guard the forest, the Elk Spirit, the Wolf Spirit, and the Owl Spirit. But spirits aren't real, are they?"
"Well," Said Blazelight, "StarClan is real." The kits looked thoughtful for a moment.
"So..." Said Nightkit. "Will you tell us?"
Blazelight nodded. "Of course," She closed her eyes, thinking. She remembered the time when she had asked the elders when she was young, no older than her own kits. Recalling the tale they had told her, and thinking of ways to add her own to it, she began the story. "This legend starts long ago. Generations and generations back, before the Clans were formed. When the namesake of our Clan still roamed this part of the mountains in vast herds. The time when the forest spirits, the cunning wolf, the mighty elk, and the swift owl, came down from the stars and played in the forests.
"Three cats, who's first names have long been lost to time, came into the forest one frigid Leaf-bare night. They were cold, they were tired, and they were hungry. They had no place to go, and no nest to sleep in. " Blisterkit shivered as if she could feel the cold night herself, and Nightkit watched Blazelight with sparkling, thoughtful eyes, hanging on every word.
"In those days, there were many more fierce predators than there are now. These three cats had to be careful, with dangers lurking at every turn. Through the night, each became victim to the elements. One plunged through the river ice, one fell from crumbling snow off a cliff, and the third was caught in a raging avalanche. "
"But," Blisterkit finally spoke, her voice worried. "They can't die!" Blazelight chuckled and licked down the spike of hair on her head again.
"Listen, my kit, and you will see. The tale isn't over yet. The spirits of the Mountain heard their desperate cries, and they came quickly to save them. The great owl swooped in and rescued the one falling from the cliff, the elk, with its massive horns, used its size to block the snow from the avalanche. The wolf, with its thick fur, jumped into the river to save the drowning cat.
