Part 2

Chapter 7

It had been almost 2 moons since she had seen Alicepaw. It had been hard on her thinking about what to tell Sagestar or to even tell him, how could she tell him that they had all been wrong, and IsletClan really had powers? Leafpaw felt that she should, it was to help her Clan! But if she did- it felt like a betrayal to Alicepaw, I mean, she hadn't been doing anything wrong, when Leafpaw had caught her, she seemed genuinely sorry that she had trespassed. Leafpaw sighed. Why did this have to be so hard? ¨um, Leafpaw, Sagstar wants to see you in his den¨ said Dewpaw with concern in his voice. ¨Uh, okay. leafpaw said, worried. She trotted outside the apprentices' den and into the leader's den. ¨Welcome Leafpaw.¨ said Sagstar. ¨i was given word that you had met another cat at the border, is this true?¨ ¨Yes Sagestar, I met an IsletClan apprentice whose name is Alicepaw. She had just strayed from the border and I told her to leave our territory, then she disappeared into her territory yelling her name back at me." Sagestar gazed at her. "And there were no injuries or anything suspicious?" no. at least, I don't believe so, she had just strayed, she apologized after so I believe it was just an accident." Leafpaw couldn't believe that the lie had come so quickly, it almost actually sounded believable! Sagestar stared at Leafpaw for a bit and she could have sworn that she saw his eyes flash green. He then finally looked away. "You may go." Leafpaw carefully trotted out of the den, going towards the apprentice's den. When she reached her nest she finally let out the breath she had been holding. That was close, but how did he know I met Alicepaw? Oh, hopefully, she doesn't get in trouble.

Chapter 8

Alicepaw bounded gleefully after her mentor SatinPearl. It was time for the gathering and Alicepaw was excited. She could see Leafpaw again! Even though they had met on bad terms, Alicepaw was hoping she would forgive her and they could be friends. She reached the gathering and was searching the clearing for Leafpaw. She found Leafpaw in the corner of the clearing under some bushes. ¨Leafpaw, I know we didn't exactly meet on good terms but hopefully, you can forgive me?¨ she said, then realized how stupid that sounded. Leafpaw responded with a big smile, ¨of course! Meet me at the river tonight after the dawn patrol¨ ¨it's a deal¨ Alicepaw chirped. She then trotted away to meet with some other apprentices. ¨Cats of all clans welcome to the gathering, usually, a cat's prophecy is to stay within the clan and frowned upon if shared. But I have received a prophecy from the fire cat. He has told us that a dangerous enemy will come and try to take over the forest!¨ Emberstar yowled, her eyes glowing red in the moonlight. "we must be prepared to stop this enemy at any cost!" she bellowed. Shellstar sighed tiredly. "Did the fire cat tell you who this enemy is or at least what they look like?" Emberstar glared at him, her eyes narrowing. "In fact they did!'' This got the other leader's attention. Sagestar straightened up and looked intently at Emberstar, Shellstar's ears had perked up though his face still wore a tired expression. "The cat is black as the sky at the moon, high eyes like the darkest and deadliest nightshade and more powerful than the stars." Alicepaw could feel the cat next to her, Shardpaw she thought, shiver, and by looking around the clearing she could see other cats felt the same. Some were shivering like Shardpaw, others were whispering among themselves, and others wore disbelieving looks on their face, including Maplepaw and Lemonpaw. Suddenly, the sky turned black than the darkest night, storms appeared overhead threatening the forest of hard rain. A black cat with a medallion jumps out from the bushes and howls. Several cats surround the whole island howling and growling. ¨I am Nightsar, I have come to take your territory and to kill as many cats as I can, any who come in my way will die before my warriors.¨ he bellowed his eyes glowing purple. ¨You do not scare us!¨ yelled Shellstar. His eyes also glowed blue. He put his paws in the air and a giant water fountain stood above his head. Sagestar´s eyes glowed green and tendrils of vines shot all over the ground near them. Emberstar was frozen in shock. Leafpaw sensed that she had known this cat before. But as soon as the emotion came, it disappeared. Her own eyes glowed red in hatred though, and she shot huge chunks of fire at the black cat. Nightstar put his paw up and created a purple shield blocking all the fireballs. He rose to his paws and shot a huge black ball of energy. It hit Sagestar and he has knocked off the island! ¨all of you are just weak cats to me! I will make my own territory for now but one day, I will rule the forest! Alicepaw looked at the cat in pure horror. Who is this cat? She felt her eyes travel Leafpaw's and knew they had the same thought in their minds.

Chapter 9

Pyropaw glared at the new intruding cat and felt his claws slide out and grip into the earth below him, his dark grey claws clashing with the blue and green earth. His sister, Flarepaw, was hissing, the tiniest amount of smoke trailing from her whiskers. How dare this cat burst into the gathering and demand respect and declare that he will rule the forest!!! Pyropaw could feel the tip of his tail starting to heat up. His mentor Nightwatcher flicked his face with her tail. "Your flames are showing, calm down." Pyropaw did as she asked and the heat in the tip of his tail went down. Suddenly a flash of water zipped past his ear. He stared at it startled, then gasped. Surrounding the Clans, separating them from Nightstar, was a raging wall of water. Pyropaw whipped his head around, Shellstar was glowing. Literally GLOWING. His eyes were bright white, the glow turning his fur a majestic white-blue. His big white wings were flashing in the moonlight and a pair of antenna seemed to be sprouting from his head.

Nightstar took a step back, in obvious shock. "GET OUT," Shellstar growled. ¨You are more powerful than I thought¨ Nightstar confessed. ¨But still pretty easy¨ he said with a smile. He rose in the air, wings larger than a horse and he turned to the size of a tree. ¨it my old territory, we were called dragons¨ he said with a grin. He flew around the island, his sharp jagged teeth flashing in the moonlight. After circling the island multiple times, he landed with a thump on the island floor. "You Clans are quite interesting, more powerful than others. Hmmmmm." he looked intently at the horrified gazes of Shellstar, Emberstar, and Sagestar who were on the edge of the island. "I will not kill you all yet... I want to see if you have what it takes to come up against me." He finished his sentence with a casual smirk and disappeared.

Chapter 10

Maplepaw was walking back to camp in complete silence. For once in her life, she didn't want to talk, and she wasn't the only one. Many of the other warriors were walking in silence, and that was perfectly fine with her. They reached camp and she flopped herself onto her warm mossy bed. "I wish I could just forget about this," she thought, and then fell into a deep sleep. The next few days were a blur. Training, hunting, and patrolling. Sagestar had said that we would have to train extra hard, to protect our borders. Him and the leaders had started to meet regularly. We now doubled the size of our patrols, and apprentices could not leave the camp without 2 or more warriors. Plus, the camp was always heavily guarded, even at gatherings. But of course, somebody had to step out of line. I woke up to the sound of branches snapping outside. The memory of the attack from leaflcan flashed in her mind. I slowly crept to the edge of the apprentice's den. I saw two warriors, their fur night black, glowing eyes of white, staring at me. I yowled in fright. My scream woke the apprentices near me who jumped out of their nests. "Maple Paw! Maple Paw! What happened!?" Warriors started scrambling toward the apprentice's den, and I wasn't surprised. After the gathering, the warriors had become paranoid about the apprentices, and it was not fair. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I saw some cat looking at me through the thorn bushes," I said, uncomfortable about the seriousness the warriors were sent off in waves. "They gave me one last look, and Blackcloud signaled to leave. I did as he said, and we walked to the leader's den. Shellstar was lying on the floor, blood flowing down his neck. I was shocked. "Wha! Wha!?" I yelled. The warriors seemed to jump out of their fur. Blackcloud, grab the rest of the warriors and prepare the apprentices, this place is no longer safe. Soon, Crossmatch ran in fur bristling. "What has happened to Shellstar!" He bellowed. I ran outside, to see the warriors waking the apprentices. "What was happening?" her head was spinning, did Shellstar, the oldest leader just DIE? She walked back into the leader's den. "Crossmatch?" Crossmatch was kneeled over Shellstar's body. "There is no hope for the clans," he said, his sadness now anger. He looked up at me, "lead the Clans outside the territories to the mountains, past the mountains is a different forest. I-I will kill these cats" he said, his eyes turning blue. And then I realized. Crossmatch was glowing! Just like Shellstar would have! He opened his eyes to reveal blue eyes with a hint of fire. "I will bring Shellstar back, but for my own life, he will still lead our clans for generations and generations," Crossmatch said, suddenly closed in sadness. He raised his head, eyes glowing yellow! Crossmatch was the multi-power cat! He used the power of water, fire, earth, and finally life. Life was the most powerful power, only one cat had ever wielded the golden power, and now there were 2. He started to glow and his spirit started to float out of his body and into Shellstar. His body started to lose color, and he slumped to the ground, dead. I stood there. This night was just getting worse and worse, I could feel tears swelling out of my eyes. Suddenly Shellstar started to move. I jumped up from where I was sitting and used my tail to slowly help Shellstar up. "What just happened?" he asked, his voice hoarse. "All I remember was a black cat biting my throat, and everything going black. Where is my clan?" he demanded. "Everything is fine Shellstar, but CrossMatch sacrificed his life to save you, he is now the second cat to wield golden light. " I said trying to comfort Shellstar by slowly licking the blood on his fur. "Oh no, he should have been the next leader, I had foreseen my death, but I was so foolish that I thought it wouldn't happen," Shellstar confessed. Head now looking down at his paws. "It is fine Shellstar, you are alive and that's what matters. CrossMatch said you and the clan should leave the forest and make a home behind the mountains." "Ah... That is a great idea. We will leave right away to see if the other clans will join us. Gather the rest of my clan, and we will cross the borders to see FireClan. " He said and then started to limp towards the group of cats waiting near the entrance tunnel. "This was truly going to be the end of the clan," I thought, and then followed him down to the tunnel.