Darkness

Silence

Red

Blackout...

Opening her eyes, Twilightbreeze found herself lying in the dark, trembling. She searched for wounds on her back, still remembering the rock falling straight on her when she pushed Sleekpaw away but finding them all vanished. She glanced around the dark. This feeling was not like standing in the middle of the night without the dim moonlight, it felt like the whole world disappeared, fading into nothing. Cold shot up and spread inside her body like lightning and electricity, making her fur straightened up.

Thousands of thoughts clouded her mind, making her miserable. She lost her direction. Who was she? Where was she? Where were the others? She did not have an answer.

She shouted many names, Featherfrost, Sleekpaw, Ravenwind, Blazesky, Waterripple... She was not even sure who would be here. Who was alive. Or who was alive in another place - StarClan. She wanted to stand up and wander around, but her legs seemed to call off on a vacation. Eventually, she gave up, wrapping her white fluffy tail around herself, shivering in the dark. But she could not feel the softness of her fur. She could not feel anything.

There it came, a shot of light sparkled in the dark. Twilightbreeze unsheathed her claws, ready for whatever attack in front of her. Then, a not-so-familiar but familiar black pelted she-cat stood in front of Twilightbreeze. She blinked, not believing what she has seen standing in front of her.

"Ravenwind?" Twilightbreeze mewed. She was delighted to see her mentor again as she mewed, "Are you taking me to StarClan? Was this a dream again? Or a vision?" 

Ravenwind mewed using the familiar cold tone, "You will see." Ravenwind's fur shone and she touched her nose with Twilightbreeze. She was shocked to see her fur shining too. Darkness covered them as a wave of colors and shapes flashed in front of Twilightbreeze's eyes. She did not even have time to look nearer for it, they faded away...

Twilightbreeze did not believe what was in front of her eyes when her sight started to be clear again. She asked, "Is this StarClan? Or you want me to experience something bad so I can be grateful for the beautiful scenery of StarClan?" 

Ravenwind let out a dry laugh and mewed, "StarClan, it is."

Twilightbreeze glanced at the forest in front of her. There was a dim light as the darkness covered the sky, the shadow of the tall trees looking like a great monster, haunting her mind...She remembered the StarClan that she usually went to in her dreams that were full of light, peaceful cats and green plants. It was like traveling to an imagined place, although Twilightbreeze wished that this place was imagined by her too. 

"Come on!" Ravenwind's call brought her back to reality. She walked on the hard ground, missing the soft ground she was stepping when she was in SkyClan. Suddenly, Ravenwind's voice made her concentrate on what she was looking at.

"Here is the territory of SkyClan, you can smell the scent along this stream. The stream is shared equally with RiverClan. Tomorrow, I will bring you to the place where you can find herbs for healing." 

The stream twisted and slithered like a snake, slow-flowing and languid in pace, slowly making her way toward the end, to the place where Twilightbreeze could not even see. The fainted starling flashed on the stream, like tiny little stars, greeting Twilightbreeze with winks. Twilightbreeze was sniffing beside the stream when a question popped into her head, "What do you mean? The clans are separated?" 

Ravenwind sighed and she went closer, Twilightbreeze feeling her breath near her face, "Things changed..."

"Here is Sunningforest, the only place in StarClan that you cannot go, Twilightbreeze, although I know that you are very curious. It contains some dark secrets that you do not wish to know."  Twilightbreeze followed her to the place under the bright stars. Starlight made polka-dots on the ground, lighting up the tree, young or old, where shelves grow. Birds tweeting sweetly, welcoming everyone to make a visit and the leaves on the trees dancing on the branches. The constant sound of the breeze, gently swaying in its caress.

How come I cannot go? This place is so amazing! The words are coming out of Twilightbreeze's mouth when she spotted that Ravenwind walked away already. She swallowed them back when she was struggling to catch up as Ravenwind stopped at the huge patch of grass. 

"Here is the meeting place of SkyClan and that is the Great Oak." Twilightbreeze glanced around, unable to find the Great Oak. But when Ravenwind signaled her to look up, she found the huge oak shooting right into the sea of stars. Twilightbreeze watched wide-eyes as she glanced. That would take a lot of work to get up to the dens. Well, if there were dens. 

Ravenwind continued, "A clan meeting will be held with the leaders standing on the branches and deputies sitting under the Oak. The medicine den was in a tree hole at the root of the Great Oak. StarClan cats sleep on the ground straightly instead of staying in a den except for deputies, leaders, and medicine cats. There are leaders, deputies, medicine cats, patrollers, watchers, hunters, queens, kits, and advisors, you know that right?"

Twilightbreeze nodded and she asked, "Wait! There is an 's' for 'leader'?" 

Just at the moment, four cats stood on the Great Oak's lowest branch and one of them called, "Let all cats gather around the Great Oak!" Twilightbreeze stared at the cats on the tree, surprised to find that Leafstar, Goosestar, Twistedstar, and Oakstar, all looked familiar to her. 

As the crowd gathered, more and more cats noticed Twilightbreeze's arrival. They looked at her curiously and continued their conversations. Some of them murmured a greeting and Twilightbreeze was delighted to meet with who she had lost before. But as a loud call silenced all of the cats, Leafstar announced, "I am here to announce that Twilightbreeze died in a rockfall saving Sleekpaw was honorable behavior. We now welcome Twilightbreeze to join StarClan and become a medicine cat!" 

The crowd cheered and shouted her name as her eyes met with Whitestripe's, who was a deputy and father of her. He shot her a gaze which was one of the best praising he would have ever given.

She looked back at her father, then at the dim stars. The night came and the dim moonlight shone as the cats lied on the grass and had dreams. Twilightbreeze followed Ravenwind to the Great Oak and found the tunnel to the den. Twilightbreeze found a nice spot near a hole and covered the spot with moss. She looked up to the starry sky. 

What would be awaiting for SkyClan and StarClan?