Four starry figures walked through a forest that glimmered brightly; their pelts were shining just as much as the forest, although one of them had a slight fade. They continued walking until they found themselves in a small clearing where a small, round pond shined from the beautiful moonlight above.
The starry cat with the slight fade spoke first, his ginger pelt gleaming brightly like fire. "Our new message gravely worries me, my dear friends. Something about it is off."
Another ginger tom looked at the tom as he spoke their name. "Firestar," he meowed as he curled his tail over his paws. "I wholeheartedly agree with you. I fear the meaning of this prophecy with a fiery intensity, and I also fear its consequences if it is ever to occur."
A silver tabby spoke up. "I do too, Lionstar, and while I usually do agree with your opinions, I feel it is in our best interests to not freak out and fret over this prophecy. We need to remain calm and vigilant simultaneously."
     Firestar nodded in agreement as a black and white tom also spoke up. "There may also be more to this prophecy than what we see," the black and white tom added, semi-ignoring the silver tom's words. "Something we missed."
     Lionstar sighed in frustration as Firestar added. "With all due respect, all prophecies are like that, Tallstar. They also have a tendency to be highly connected to past events that were also supposed to happen."
     "Then explain the course of events that had occurred to those Clans about three moons travel away, Firestar?!" Lionstar retorted. "Explain why they had a failed prophecy, and forced the StarClan over there to figure out to do to remedy the consequences! Only to find a nice, totally not coincidental, new prophecy after a whole moon of searching! And then chaos erupted and one of the leaders of one of the Clans killed a bunch of cats!"
    Firestar looked at Lionstar calmly as he responded in a soothing, quieter voice than his fellow former ThunderClan leader. "Prophecies over there work differently than here," Firestar explained. "When has a prophecy ever failed here? None. Everything goes accordingly and smoothly."
     Lionstar scowled at the last sentence. "Smoothly," he spat bitterly at the word. "Smoothly?! Are you crazy, Firestar?! Have you got bees in your loose head?! No prophecy has ever gone smoothly! You of all cats should know this! After all, your own prophecy was what got you killed! It is what got me killed! We are the pawns of those at a higher place than us! Cats that don't ever fade away while we do! Just take a look at your fur! It is fading! Being forgotten!"
    Runningstar nodded as he looked at Firestar. "That is where I will have to agree with Lionstar once again. While he has conveyed it in an...unprofessional manner, he is still right. Every prophecy has always foretold something going awry. Nothing has ever gone smoothly. There is always a tragedy before there is light. While you are right that no prophecy has ever failed, anything is still possible. The only thing that has ever determined whether or not a prophecy comes true are the Clans themselves."
     Tallstar started to pace around impatiently as he waited for the three bickering mouse-brains to finish. "Is everyone done now?" Silence filled the clearing, and Tallstar nodded. "Good."
     "Excuse me?" a voice called out to the four leaders. Everyone turned swiftly to see a third ginger tom appearing from some starry bushes. "I'm sorry if I am interrupting you all, but I had overheard something about those other Clans and couldn't help but stay and listen."
     A flash of happiness shone in Lionstar's eyes as he meowed. "Ah, long time no see, Flamestar!"
     The other three leaders nodded in respect to Flamestar, and he sat down next to them. "I remember those other Clans. RootClan, SunClan, LakeClan, DuskClan, and BirchClan I believe they are?"
     Tallstar nodded. "Yes, they were."
     Silence hung in the air, and Firestar broke it first. "We must ignore the unfortunate fate of three of those Clans. We have more pressing matters to attend to."
     Flamestar looked around as he asked. "What was the prophecy you guys were told?"
     Lionstar flattened his ears, his face showing how anxious he was. "I-I don't know if we a-are allowed to tell you..."
     Flamestar slit his eyes as everyone agreed. "They made you all agree to the upmost of silence, didn't they?"
     Runningstar shook his head. "No, they didn't. We just don't know if we are allowed to tell others. That's why we went all this way to be in the middle of nowhere. To ensure that no one overheard us in the first place."
     "Why don't we tell him?" Tallstar hissed. "It isn't like StarClan to keep secrets when it comes to prophecies! This change of policy has been frustrating me to no end!"
     Firestar's tail made a sudden flick of annoyance, but he made sure he didn't show it. "Like Runningstar said, we need to be calm. Acting out will only make things worse. I have already gotten in enough trouble for defying the new policy."
     "Your fading pelt is proof of that." Lionstar grumbled. His eyes were initially dull and blank, but went bright with fury as he quickly hissed. "You know what? I agree with Tallstar! Enough is enough! I am done with this new prophecy! I can't believe cats like Bluestar and Ravenpaw would stand back and support it!"
     Runningstar nodded and he added. "And same with Tornear, Breezepelt, and Heathertail."
     Firestar shifted his paws uncomfortably. His starry green gaze flickering around anxiously. "Listen to me, it isn't worth the r-risk! P-p-please, don't do this...Don't do this to yourselves!"
     Tallstar hissed in retaliation. "In all of my moons as leader, the one leader I had the most respect for was you, Firestar. To see you hide away is disappointing. The Firestar I knew never gave up from doing the right thing. It was what made him one of the most respected and feared leaders of ThunderClan!"
     Firestar glared back at Tallstar. "If you knew half of the things I knew, you would hide too! Take a good look at me! I tried to fight back, and I am now fading away despite not being forgotten! I am dying, Tallstar! Dying because I fought back!...I don't want you all to suffer the same fate that I am facing..."
Silence hung in the air once more, and every cat was now looking around anxiously. Lionstar walked forward towards Flamestar as he meowed to Firestar. "We will fade away and die anyway if we don't do something. Maybe then the rest of StarClan will see what is happening here. For now: the Clans shall know what is about to happen to them," Lionstar continued as he brought his attention to Flamestar. "The battered bracken will flee from the swirling wind. Soon, a decision is to be made. Either the bracken returns, or war will roar like a falling river."
     Flamestar looked around expectantly for any additions, but none came. He soon spoke quietly. "Should I go now to warn the Clans?"
     Runningstar dipped his head as he replied. "Yes, go and warn them. Especially the WindClan medicine cat."
     Flamestar dipped his head as well and rushed. They soon could hear Firestar hiss under his breath.
     "I guarantee you all, you have made a grave mistake. You will soon see the consequences when they strike us down!"

-/-
Thank you so much for reading this prologue! It has been a doozy working on it, but it has been finished! With that out of the way—

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Thank you for reading this prologue, and I wish you all an excellent day!
(September 16, 2021)