Shadows Reborn - Shadowed Prophecy

Chapter 2

"The darkest shadows reborn will hold the light of the stars in their paws to drive out the darkness the Clans have brought on their selves." A mysterious voice whispered a vision of five cats standing against a dying sun burned into Maplepaw's eyes.

They turned to look at her as if she were there beside them. One stepped forward and touched noses with Maplepaw. A blazing pain struck her and everything faded to a brilliant white. But before the vision faded, Maplepaw caught a glimpse of a splotchy tortoiseshell and white pelt and amber eyes, a mirror image of her own self . . .

"Maplepaw, Maplepaw!"

A pair of sturdy paws shook Maplepaw awake. Two worried amber eyes gazed into hers.

"Huh? What? Why did you wake me up?" Maplepaw started to stand up, then crashed back down into the woven brambles and moss again.

"You were yowling about darkness and shadows in your sleep! I was getting kind of worried. You were also kicking me." Maplepaw's brother Thistlepaw stood over her.

"It was just a dream, you mouse-brain. Now let me go back to sleep." She rolled over in her nest.

"Actually Featherstar wants to see you." He prodded her back. "You have to go now."

"Ok, ok, I'm getting up. What does it take for a cat to get some sleep around here?" She muttered.

* * *

"Ahh, Maplepaw, it's nice to see you." The ThunderClan leader greeted her. "Firefeather tells me that you passed your assessment yesterday."

"She did, with flying colors." Firefeather gazed proudly at Maplepaw.

Maplepaw scuffled her paws on the worn dirt floor and tried not to think about the dream that was most likely a vision and could get her a fast ticket into the stuffy, stinky medicine cat den. But the only thing she could remember was the last thing that had been seared into her memory. Her own two amber eyes and splotched pelt, but a much bigger, tougher, and downright scary version of herself.

"-well, I guess I'll have to give you a warrior name sometime, am I right?"

Maplepaw was yanked out of her pondering with a good-natured shove.

"Yeah, yeah, a warrior name! Yippe . . ." She trailed off, suddenly unsure what that meant, and if she was even ready to go before StarClan, when they had given her that crazy dream/vision thing that had only made things swirl and threaten to break down on her like a gathering thunderstorm.