The gray and blue-gray patched tom stretched his long legs, his short, stubby tail shivering with the effort. He blinked his blue eyes, then turned to Saffron.

She sighed, "I need to talk to you," She glanced at Fallow, "in private." The tom led Saffron over to the other side of the tree hollow. They sat by the shelves of herbs. The strange tom sat down across from his mother, worry in his eyes. Saffron began whispering quietly.

Should I try to listen? Curiosity made Fallow's pelt prickle, but guilt overrode him. No, it's none of my concern.

Fallow walked around the hollow, occasionally bumping shelves and desks with his wings. He saw a large stone along one wall of the ward. The stone looked ordinary, but it seemed...special. Fallow walked over. Dark gray, with a perfectly smooth surface. He touched it with one light brown paw, sliding it across. 

He sat down on his haunches and curled his tails over his paws. His tail with the amber spade gently brushed the stone. As soon as the spade came in contact, pain racked Fallow's head. He yowled in agony and surprise. 

Images flashed across his mind; a cat, a tom, speckled dark and light brown, standing alone at the top of a cliff, staring out at the endless sea, sharp rocks below him. Then darkness.

Another tom, sitting on his haunches while he tended to a blacksmith's fire, soot blasted at his face, but he didn't flinch. His large feathered black and yellow wings lay neatly across his dark brown and black patched back. Then darkness.

A she-cat, laying in her nest, her black and white side rising and falling gently, but she awoke as a pendant around her neck began to glow, out of nowhere, a dark gray tabby attacked her, slashing his claws across her face. Then darkness.

He was suddenly underwater, watching through the window of a small coral den. A SerpentCat tom, gray and blue, his front paws over his face, shark-like tail curled behind him, sobs racking his small frame. Fallow realized through the pain in his head, the tom's ribs jutted through his pelt. He was starving to death. Then darkness.

A dark gray-blue tom sat in the doorway of an oak tree hollow, staring up at the stars. Blue eyes flashing, he turned as a larger, older tabby tom came. He lay his tail on the gray-blue cat's shoulders and led him back inside. Then darkness.

Fallow felt pain on his chest, coming in waves. His head felt like it had been split open. He opened his eyes, blinking at the sudden light.

He saw his mother was on top of him and was slamming her front paws on his chest, panic lighting in her amber eyes. He coughed and shoved her off. Rolling onto his belly, he wheezed with pain. 

"Oh thank Arbros you're alive!" Saffron hugged him, licking his head fur with frantic laps. Fallow shoved her off again, "What happened?!" 

"I turned from my conversation to see you laying on one side. I raced over and your heart had stopped! Your eyes were pure amber and you were completely stiff!"

He stared at his mother in shock, his head still pounding. Fallow jumped as a paw tapped his shoulder. He turned to the tom with gray and blue-gray patched fur. The tom pointed to the stone that Fallow had been looking at.

Fallow gasped. The stone, once the ordinary gray, now glowed forest green. Like a small star, it shimmered in the morning light that filtered in from the window. Suddenly, the light began to dim, and returned to it's gray colour.

"I-I can't believe it!" The gray tom ran over to him, clutching Fallow's shoulders with his paws, "You are one!" 

"What do you mean "one"?" Fallow turned to his mother, "Mom, who is this?" Saffron opened her mouth to answer but the tom interrupted.

"Forgive my manners. My name is Muzak." The old tom dipped his head, his blue eyes sparkling with hope, "The guardians have returned!"

A.N.

Yes, a shorter chapter, sorry. I thought this wrapped up the chapter well. What do you guys think? Better or worse? I kinda changed the plot and story, so this will be VERY different from the original. :)