OoC: This is my story for our site-wide plot. I will not go ahead of where the site is in the plot, so nice try :3 Hope you enjoy!
Prologue
A large tabby cat strode through deep undergrowth, ignoring leaves from bushes and ferns that brushed his face. His amber eyes seemed to glow with the light of the half moon, penetrating the canopy of trees above the cat. The footsteps he took were incredibly soft for a cat of his stature.
The look on this tom’s face was determined. He had a place to go, and he was anxious to get there. It took him a little while, but soon he reached his destination.
It was a clearing, and already seated on the ground were four other cats. All of them had some form of tabby in their fur, and each had a similar body structure to the big tom. When he stepped into the clearing, they dipped their heads.
“Greetings, Furion,” spoke a fluffy tom with yellow-green eyes. The big tabby—Furion—nodded his head once in this cat’s direction.
“Storm,” he said in return. Furion then turned to the other cats in the clearing.
The cat to Storm’s immediate left was a light gray tabby she-cat with mint-green eyes. She had a hint of a smug smirk on her face, and she mewed, “Father, it is good to see you.”
“And you, Vixen, my sweet,” Furion smiled.
The next cat was also a she-cat, but mixed tortoiseshell and tabby, and with peculiarly colored gray eyes.
“Maple,” the older tabby said, and the she-cat before him merely blinked once.
Finally, the fourth cat sat tall, looking very proud.
“Father,” he said, his voice strong and confident. “I hope you are well?”
Furion took in his youngest son’s brown, tabby fur and amber eyes, so much like his own.
“I am well, Aspen,” he answered. “As are you, I believe.”
Aspen smirked in reply.
Furion turned around to take a seat facing his four children. Once he was comfortable, his amber eyes bore into the cats, asking a question.
“Where is Shade?” he voiced icily.
Frightened looks were exchanged between the four; none of them knew.
“I can smell him,” Furion growled. “Where is he?”
Just then, a rustling at the edge of the clearing alerted them to a sixth cat, and inwardly, Furion’s four children breathed out in relief. A fluffy black tom entered, his fur ruffled and wild-looking. He wore a grin that stated he was easy-going.
“Sorry I’m late,” he apologized, taking a seat at the end of the line of his siblings. Each of them glared at him, and slowly, it dawned on him that they were. His grin slid off his face. “What did I do?”
“You’re late,” snapped his father. “And you had better have a good reason, Shade, because you were late last time as well, and you remember how that went, right?”
Shade flinched involuntarily, then put on a brave smile.
“I had some…issues to discuss with a, ah, a friend.” Shade grimaced, having realized how lame that sounded. The others could tell he wasn’t giving them the full truth, but none questioned it except Furion. He got back to his feet and paced towards Shade slowly.
“That’s not a good excuse, son,” he snarled softly. Shade relaxed, and told Furion, “You need me healthy and strong, Father. You wouldn’t hurt me now.”
Anger and frustration blocked out Furion’s judgment, but what Shade said penetrated the wall. Taking a calming breath, Furion stepped back to where he had been sitting before his middle son had shown up.
“You’re right,” he said reluctantly, closing his eyes for a moment. He opened them again. “We are here for another purpose. You are all about to discover the reason you were born.”
More curious glances at this suggestion. Vixen spoke up, her voice feminine but strong.
“Furion, what do you mean the reason we were born?” she asked.
“You didn’t think that I loved your mothers and just wanted children, did you?” Furion replied, and chuckled to himself when his children looked horrified. “I did like your mothers, and I did want children, but for a different reason than you would think. I need you for power, power which you will share.
“I have been conversing with other cats, cats who hold their own in the wild. They have managed to organize a system for being separate and yet still are in harmony with one another. For some reason, they live under a heaven of sorts that they call Starclan. I suppose it is what keeps them together.
“There are five clans: River, Thunder, Sky, Wind, and Shadow. Each has its own territory, and each clan has different groups of cats, divided by age and skill. Also, each clan has its own method for both hunting and fighting. And I have a plan from speaking with Deathberry.”
“Whoa, hold on,” Maple cut in. “Who is Deathberry? And why do we need to know about these clans, or whatever?”
“Ah, good questions,” Furion grinned. “Deathberry is in Shadowclan with the rank of medicine cat. She is her clan’s healer, and she speaks with their Starclan, or so she says. I choose not to believe them and their silly faith in this higher power, but to each his own.
“As for you needing to know about them, we are talking about the power I raised you to have. With these clans, we’re talking a multitude of cats that are easily influenced. We can take over them with a simple thing such as a prophecy. But we cannot do it without each other.”
An eerie silence fell over the clearing as Furion’s children soaked in what he had said. Aspen seemed to be the first one to get it, and he liked the sound of it.
“What will we be doing, Father?” he asked eagerly. Next to him, Shade grinned dangerously.
The older cat smiled back, his eyes narrowing in anticipation.
As the night went on, Furion described his thought-out plan to his only living children. Starclan looked on in sadness, knowing somehow that they would not be able to help. Hardly a fox-length in any direction, the clans slept soundly, not knowing that their security would soon be coming to an end.
