A golden She-cat paced along the island shore, the lake glittering with broken moonlight. The wind was howling, pulling at her pelt. She could smell leaf-bare on the wind, and the dread that came with it.
   A few tail-lengths away, stood a shivering tom, his thin pelt hardly shielding him from the force of the gale. Ghostly figures emerged from the brush, stars shimmering in their pelts. "Why bring us here?"
   "Yes Honeybrook, what needs to be said here that couldn't be said in Starclan? It's warmer there." A fluffy gray Tom meowed, impatience edging his tone.
  "Oh hush Bluefoot, you know it's pointless rushing her. Honeybrook likes to think before she speaks." An old leathery Tom, Rustpelt, sat by the waters edge, his tail tucked over his paws.
  "She should have done her thinking before dragging us out here." Bluefoot grumbled,
  Silentdove touched her tail to Honeybrook's flank. "Tell us why we're here." She meowed gently.
   Bluefoot flicked his tail back and forth impatiently. "We don't need to sit here in the dark to know what's waiting for the Clans."
   Honeybrook turned on him. "We know what is coming. But I don't think we've understood how ill prepared the Clans are to face it!" As she spoke, a starry figure padded along side the lake, moving among the reeds. Honeybrook jerked her muzzle towards it. "Finchstar? What are you doing here?"
  The ancient cat's eyes flashed as he approached the medicine cats, his pelt hardly visible in the dim light.
"This meeting is for medicine cats only!" Bluefoot growled, his tone bordering on aggressive.
"I am well aware of that, Bluefoot, but I come bearing news," Finchstar flattened his ears. "The four leaders have chosen the medicine cat apprentices that will be receiving the prophecy's."
Silentdove gasped "So does this mean...?"
Lashing his tail back and forth angrily, Bluefoot hissed "The Clans are doomed!"
"We've survived darkness before," Rustpelt argued
"Not like this," Honeybrook insisted. "These young cats don't understand the danger. They've lived in harmony for far too long, and don't yet understand how fear can weave its way like a shadow between them." The stars in her pelt shimmered as her pelt prickled anxiously.
Silentdove kneaded her paws in the earth "The Clans have never dealt with an enemy like this, one of no flesh or blood. I fear this may be the final blow, the Clans will be no more, and there is no way we can stop it."
Finchstar dipped his head "It won't be only the Clans that are lost." He closed his eyes, the leaf-fall wind rippling his fur. "With no one to remember us, Starclan will disappear too."
"So we must warn them." Bluefoot whisked his tail agitatedly side to side.
"We can't warn them more than we have." Finchstar sighed. "How many times have we warned them they must face the future steadily and with haste?"
Honeybrook narrowed her eyes "We can only point out the path. We can't make them follow it."
She looked out across the lake, her starry eyes alight. "Let's hope they find the way. If they don't, they will be tore apart by the coming storm, and nothing will be left of us then. Not even the warrior code."