Hello to all readers! I’m so sorry for not updating in a long time, but I hope to make it up to you this year with regular bi-weekly updates of what I hope will be a good story. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors; this is a fan based product from which no profit is being made.

Chapter 1

Darkness. Darkness is everywhere. It covered everything. There was no light to be found. The atmosphere was thick, heavy, and it pressed into her, a weight on her shoulders and back, pressing down, down. She was trapped, lost in an endless, silent abyss in which nothing could reach her and she could reach and see nothing. And suddenly through the gloom a roaring sound became prominent, a relentless, loud crash of water cascading into her tight, enclosed area. She tried to get out of the way, but her legs seem to be covered by something, preventing her from moving from her trapped position. Waves, frothy upsurge from the sea crashed into her body, covering her with liquid, pulling her down, drowning her, covering her so that she could not breathe. As her panting grew harsher, turned to gurgles as she swallowed more water then air, she could see a white light getting steadily brighter, brighter, and then-

Amberkit shot awake, eyes wide with fright and mouth open in a silent scream of terror. She could hear her own harsh panting, heart beating frantically underneath her pelt, flank heaving as if she had exerted herself in life as she had in her dream. Looking frantically around her, she slowly calmed as she was greeted with the comforting sight of the hanging brambles that covered the top of the TreeClan nursery.

Sighing and allowing her body to relax, she slumped back into her moss nest, snuggling back with her black furred sister, Emberkit, who mewed quietly in her sleep and nuzzled Amberkit’s flank. Even as she let out a fond smile, Amberkit’s mind whirred and churned with confused thoughts and reasoning’s. Why was she being plagued with such nightmares each night? Every single one was the same, a cat trapped in a small space somewhere, unable to get out as the cavern filled with water and the poor feline drowned.

She had no idea why these dreams were coming to haunt her, but she wanted to know why. Was it StarClan? Amberkit flicked her tail in thought, and resolved to speak to the medicine cat about it by the end of the day.

Now, looking outside the den, she could still see the lack of sunlight and knew that it was still nowhere near dawn. So wearily, she allowed her drowsiness to wash over her once more, and finally she fell back to sleep.

~~ ~ ~~ ~~

“Amberkit, wake up! Amberkit, Lilyfire says that I can’t go outside until you’re awake so get up now!” Amberkit startled as she was pulled from her dreamless sleep by the sound of her sister’s loud mews. She opened her eyes to see Emberkit standing above her, large blue eyes eagerly watching her sister wake.

“Good, you’re up! Mom, she’s up, can we play now?” Amberkit looked around the den, noting the forms of other cats still curled up in attempt to stay in their slumber. On the far corner of the den was Daisyflower, a gray and brown she-cat with her kit, Birdkit, a ginger she-cat. The other side of the den held the other nursing queen, Dovefoot, whose kits were a black she-cat named Nightkit and a tortoiseshell she-cat, Rosekit. Next to Amberkit was her mother, Lilyfire, whose beautiful golden pelt Amberkit shared.

With all of Emberkit’s yelling, the rest of the cats in the nursery were being disturbed from their sleep. Lilyfire, who barely had one eye open, looked outside the nest quickly before turning back to Emberkit.

“Don’t get into any trouble, I want you in front of the nursery by sunhigh and for goodness sake don’t wake any of the Warriors!” Emberkit let out a squeal, only to find her sister’s tail in her mouth.

“Yes Mom, we’ll be careful.” Amberkit whispered to Lilyfire before dragging her sister outside. “You have to be complacent if you want to get anywhere with adults. Now why did you want to come out here so badly?” She took a look around the camp, staring at the immense trees that acted as the main boundaries of the edges of the camp. The tree roots were so large that when the first TreeClan cats came, they had dug under them and the large spaces made were perfect for dens.

“I was bored.” Emberkit bounded over to one of the tree roots, jumping and clawing her way up the root so that she was about a foxtail above Amberkit. Once stable, she puffed out her chest. “I am Emberstar,  leader of EmberClan. Amberkit, do you wish to be a part of my Clan?” Amberkit pretended to think about it, looking around at the little area that they were in.

“Your territory is not very pleasing. If I join, will I be a warrior?” Emberkit jumped off and after stumbling a bit, faced Amberkit.

“Even better. You can be my deputy, Amberstorm. Together we’ll rule the forest.” At the sound of a little yawn, they turned to see Birdkit stumbling out of the nursery. “Excellent. Birdkit, you can be my medicine cat!” Birdkit sleepily stared at Emberkit before nodding. Emberkit began cheering, but Amberkit wasn’t paying attention as she watched a few warriors across the clearing coming out of their dens, yawning. One, a tom with a distinctive black pelt, was with them. Amberkit squealed, and ran over to the sleepy cats.

“Dad!” She weaved her way through the now glaring cats to stop at her father, who by then had turned to look at her, an amused twinkle in his eye.

“What in the world has brought you out here before the dawn patrol has even left camp?” Rainshadow rubbed her head lightly with his tail, sending her an affectionate look. By then Emberkit and Birdkit had also migrated over, and Birdkit was greeting her father Whitepelt just as eagerly as Amberkit did Rainshadow.

Amberkit gestured to Emberkit with her tail. “She got bored and woke us up. Are you going on patrol? Can we come?” Rainshadow and a few other warriors chuckled.

“Amberkit, you are far too young to be traipsing through the forest. Be patient, you will become an apprentice in time.” All three kits let out wails of disappointment, and Emberkit gave a huff of annoyance.

“But that’s ages away! What are we going to do in the camp for four moons?” Rainshadow and Whitepelt exchanged glances, before a sneaky glint came to their eyes.

“You know what? We could use your help.” Rainshadow gestured for the kits to follow him, and he led them across the camp to an area that the warriors had not yet patched up. Bramble and tendrils of vines had been threaded between the roots of the trees, but this area, having been recently ruined by a storm, had not yet been fully repaired.

“This patch of the camp has yet to be repaired. Any gap in the defenses of the camp could allow enemies to come in.” He gave them a serious look even as behind him, many of the dawn patrol were laughing or giving him impressed looks. “That is why I want you to take loose brambles you find on the floor of the camp and carefully weave it into the loose parts.” Rainshadow had to hold back a laugh at the looks of determination that appeared on the faces of the three she-cats.

“We can do it Rainshadow!” They shouted in sync to the amusement of the watching cats. Rainshadow nodded to all three of them.

“Quietly and carefully take brambles and such off the floor and carefully weave them in between the roots. Like this.” He demonstrated by picking up a loose bramble and threading it nicely through the others already there. “Do you understand?” At the enthusiastic nods of agreement by the kits, he left them to it.

As the day went on, the kits scurried all over the camp, cleaning it nicely from the brambles that littered the floor after the storm that had ravaged their camp two moons prior. None of the other cats objected, as it was a chore that needed to get done sooner or later, and it was keeping the kits out of trouble. Many watched while sharing tongues as the she-cats picked up everything and reinforced the wall.

Amberkit dashed happily over the camp, looking at the ground for something to build with. She noticed a tendril by the wall of the warriors den, and she went to it, using her paw to tug on it. But as she was pulling it out of the ground where it had been buried, she felt a sudden flash of pain in her paw.

“Oow!” She exclaimed, immediately dropping the tendril only to find that it was no normal vine, but rather a thorny one. A big thorn was lodged in her paw, and as she stared at it, she could see droplets of blood well up before falling off of her pad. Lilyfire, who had been calmly washing herself then, darted to her daughter and looked at the paw.

“Amberkit, go to the medicine cat den. Darkwhisper will take care of it for you.” Amberkit limped over to the medicine cat den, smelling even from where she was the sweet scent of herbs that always filled the area. Carefully she ducked under the fern that sheltered the entrance and limped into the den.

“Darkwhisper, I have a thorn in my paw. Can you help me?” Amberkit called after not seeing the black she-cat anywhere. She heard rustling from the back of the den. Darkwhisper stuck her head out, and upon seeing Amberkit, padded out to the kit. She looked sternly down at her.

“How did this happen? You didn’t try and mess with the thorn bush again, did you?” Amberkit flicked her ears at the reminder of last week’s instance with the game of hide- and- seek and the thorn bush just near the rear of the camp.

“No Darkwhisper. We were helping rebuild the weak parts of the camp walls. I accidentally stepped on this.” Amberkit whimpered as Darkwhisper began licking her aching paw, teeth missing the thorn and instead biting her pad.

“Sorry little one. Hold on one moment.” Murmured Darkwhisper, and a moment later she had it between her jaws. Amberkit sighed in relief. She watched as the medicine cat moved over to her herb storage area and pulled two yellow leaves from inside a groove on the tree root. As Darkwhisper chewed on the leaves, Amberkit remembered her dream and that she wanted to talk to Darkwhisper about it.

“Darkwhisper, medicine cats have dreams from StarClan, right?” The black furred she-cat sent her a confused look as she applied the poultice to her paw.

“Yes, we do. But I do not see how that concerns you at all.” Darkwhisper picked up a cobweb and gently wrapped it around Amberkit’s paw so that the poultice would stay. Amberkit flicked an ear nervously but continued anyway.

“I’ve been having this dream every night, the same nightmare.” Darkwhisper’s encouraging look strengthened her resolve to carry on. “In it, I’m a cat, stuck somewhere, trapped in something- a cave or something- with little air and it feels so suffocating. Then water begins filling up the small space, and I feel like I’m getting wet but I can’t move to escape it because my paws are stuck, and the water is filling to the top and I’m drowning and I can’t breathe, I’m suffocating and-oh!” Darkwhisper had tapped Amberkit roughly on the head to break off her monologue, which had begun to turn panicky. Amberkit’s pelt burned with embarrassment, but she looked up anyway into Darkwhisper’s eyes. “What does it mean?”

Darkwhisper flicked her tail, and after assuring herself that the paw was now fine, she sat and faced Amberkit head on.  She studied Amberkit’s bright golden eyes for a moment, and then she began to speak, looking confident and not overly concerned.

“How many times has this dream come to you? Is it a regularly occurring nightmare?”

“So far I’ve been seeing this for about a week.” Darkwhisper seemed startled by this knowledge. Amberkit, oblivious, went on. “And I know that it’s probably not important, probably just some hidden fear that I have.” She looked questioningly at Darkwhisper. “Can cats have innate fears of things they have not seen?” She mused. Darkwhisper waved a paw in dismissal.

“Nonsense, Amberkit. It’s nothing to worry about.” Darkwhisper went to the back of her den and came back a few moments later with a leaf. On the leaf was one little poppy seed. “Take this tonight before bed. I’m sure the nightmare will stop. You’re probably just taking the elders tales too seriously.” Amberkit nodded in consent, feeling satisfied for the moment.

The black furred she-cat led Amberkit to the entrance of the den. “Now then, try not to step on another thorn anytime soon. Make sure you keep the cobwebs on for a few minutes longer before removing them.” Amberkit agreed and padded carefully out of the den, leaf in her mouth, heading towards the nursery.

“Remember to take that before bed!” Darkwhisper reminded her, receiving a tail-wave in acknowledgement. The medicine cat waited until her patient disappeared into the nursery before retreating into her private domain.

Darkwhisper had no idea what the dreams could mean, but she had decided to wait before taking any drastic measures. StarClan wouldn’t send important visions to kits anyway, so Darkwhisper doubted that it was significant. No, the she-cat mused, the real question is why StarClan hasn’t contacted any of us in the last four moons except for when we go to the moonpool. They always say they have important things to tell us, but they never actually get to it since their sessions with us are cut short. What is happening up there?

The medicine cat was not oblivious to the slow stirrings of evil that were becoming obvious all over the borders of StarClan. Many times she had seen glinting eyes, cats straying closer to the border between the Dark Forest and StarClan’s territory then they had in many moons. Perhaps, she figured, StarClan is busy fighting off the Dark Forest and that is why they are not talking to us. Darkwhisper wasn’t sure though. Eventually, she decided, if things begin to go wrong, I could go to the moonpool on my own and demand answers.

With that last thought, the aged she-cat picked herself up and padded out of the den. She was hoping for one of the new kits to become her apprentice, since she knew she was not going to be able to perform her duties the way she used to because of her age. Until they were ready, she would need apprentices to help her.

“Ashpaw, come help me gather some herbs.” She yelled across the camp, startling the black tom from his resting place underneath a tree root.  The apprentice jumped up, and after telling his mentor where he was going, dashed to the entrance and waited for Darkwhisper to follow him. She turned to go after him, but paused when she noticed the jumping form of the golden kit outside the nursery.

Darkwhisper shook her head before padding out of the camp. I’m too old to bother with this. She grumbled before heading towards the river.