The Demise of SkyClan

An endless sea of grass swayed with a warm breeze like a wave, a beautiful combination of silver and green under the eternal moonlit sky. It was a serene place, StarClan's hunting grounds, but tension was high in the air. This would be a fateful night, and they had summoned Silentstar here for a reason. It was the death of a Clan. SkyClan had seemed cursed, and death came at random to the cats. Flamestar, brave and strong Flamestar, lost all of his lives from a single snake. Larchcloud, mauled by a fox. Kestrelflight, killed by cold and sickness. Two apprentices going off into the forest, never to be seen again. A queen and beloved former deputy, murdered by her adopted son. It was far too ominous.

And now only two remained; Silentstar and her kit.

A circle of cats had gathered around the sleeping body of the silver leader, illuminated by starlight. They looked worried and distraught, unwilling to wake the leader up. Still, it had to be done.

A light gray tom sighed, stepping forward. He closed his icy blue eyes before finally speaking, breaking the unbearable silence.

"Wake up, Silentstar."

Silentstar, awakening from her sleep, felt a gentle breeze come in. Her fur gently fluffed up from the light winds and she felt such a serene feeling that she wished she could stay here forever. Then, she realized that she was in StarClan.

'Am I dead already?' the leader thought, before releasing an alarmed look. 'No! I can't be! I can't leave Lavenderkit and Drizzlekit! There's nobody left in SkyClan to look after them!'

Seeing a light gray tom she thought she never saw before, but felt like she recognized him from somewhere. "W-who are you? And... A-am I dead?" Silentstar asked, her eyes in fear and her fur bristled. Ears drooped down from stress, she never felt so tired in her life. The leader's eyes were dull.

It seemed impossible that she was somehow managing to take care of her kits, catch prey, and do patrols by herself. No kin, no clanmates, just her kits and herself. Hardly a clan any longer.

The gray tom shook his head, but still looked solemn. "No, you're merely sleeping." he said, curling his tail around his paws as he studied the leader carefully. She was young, perhaps too young to shoulder a burden like this. "But we don't have much time to speak, Silentstar, so please. Listen to me." he said, and while he tried to keep calm, his words were almost blurted out and were laced with urgency. "SkyClan doesn't have a place in the forest anymore." Even while he said it, his eyes looked grave. The other cats in the circle kept silent, but their slumped posture said everything. "At least... for now..." he said more quietly, averting his gaze.

Calming down a little bit, the leader listened to everything the tom said. 'No place in the forest? How can that be? There have always been five clans...' Hearing the urgency in his voice, she knew what he meant... SkyClan no longer belonged here and should leave. However, her kits could never make the journey... She would have to leave them with another clan. Thinking over the choices, she wanted to ask the tom what she should put them in, but decided against it.

Seemingly satisfied that she hadn't hit him with a barrage of questions, the tom closed his eyes. "The other Clans will show no pity. They'll devour SkyClan's territory like hungry foxes, and won't hesitate to drive you and your kits out if it means more land for them." a look of disgust covered his face for a second, before he looked back at Silentstar. "You will have to leave them somewhere, but you cannot stay. You have an important role to play, Silentstar." he seemed to look right past her as he said it, and the beautiful night sky slowly darkened, the silver light slowly disappearing before being replaced by a jet black blanket. The wind increased its speed, blowing faster and faster and making the grass ripple and wave violently around like a cyclone.

"The skies have fallen, but they will rise again."

The cats gathered around Silentstar snapped their eyes open, all a vivid blue, and then darkness overtook Silentstar once again, bringing her back to her nest.

Closing her eyes, she heard the tom say, "The other Clans will show no pity. They'll devour SkyClan's territory like hungry foxes, and won't hesitate to drive you and your kits out if it means more land for them. You will have to leave them somewhere, but you cannot stay. You have an important role to play, Silentstar."

Silentstar muttered quietly, "No pity?... Take our territory away... Drive us out? I... Can't stay with my kits?"

Feeling the wind get harsher and the tom's mysterious words, she said, "W-wait! What does that mean?" Trying to resist the wind, Silentstar tried to walk towards the StarClan cats, but suddenly opened her eyes, in her own nest.

'No! I don't understand!' the leader thought before she thought over the ominous prophecy's words again...

"The skies have fallen, but they will rise again." Silentstar repeated the words over and over again before understanding.

'This just means... that SkyClan has fallen, but we will rise again and show the clans... that one day, we'll show them how strong we truly are.' she thought before heading out of her den to depart for new territories and to leave her kits with another clan.

She wouldn't dare leave them with ShadowClan - she didn't trust them. While ThunderClan had been nice to SkyClan during the Deomilities attack, Silentstar decided that it would seem too... weak to leave her kits there. SkyClan cats hate water, so RiverClan isn't a choice. That leaves WindClan.

Sighing, the leader rested her muzzle on her paws, stressed out, and hoping that the tom's prophecy will come true...

"StarClan, have mercy..."