It did not know what to expect. After all, it was only following its instincts, but strange as it was, Soul could not help but enjoy the peculiar sensation. Travelling through the air, it could actually feel the rushing air tugging at its pelt. Blue faded to black as it soared impossibly upwards, far, far beyond imagination. By the time it stopped, it reckoned it was at the edge of the world, almost in the legendary emptiness called Space. But how? Nothing should exist this far upwards, and beneath its paws was blackness. Yet it was not falling, so something must be there. It took a tentative paw-step forwards, testing the mysteriously solid air. Resistance met it, so it took another step, and then another one. There was an invisible floor to the sky.

It wandered round for a while, exploring this new place. The plain seemed to go on for forever. As fascinating as this phenomenon was, it couldn't help wondering why it was here. A bright glare appeared a few paw-steps away, as if in response to its thoughts. Seeing as it had nothing else to do, it walked into the blinding light, slitting its eyes to try make sense of the mass of colours.

Through the light was a whole new world. A meadow suddenly sprung into existence; grass swaying in the breeze, familiar scents drifting over the peaceful setting. It went for mildly confused to confuddled in a heartbeat. Meadows were not supposed to randomly appear from nothing, let alone in space. Somebody or something must have created it, but it had seen no-one since it arrived. And the place was so realistic, so crazily real, only extremely powerful beings could have made it. But where were they?

Here.

Soulblaze started. It had thought it heard a voice.

We are the Highers. Welcome to our domain.

"Where are you? Show yourselves!"

We are all around you Soulblaze, we are the stars and the void itself.

"Why have you called me? What do you want?"

So many questions you have, but we cannot answer them. Follow us, and perhaps you will find what you seek.

"How will I follow you if I can't see you?"

In answer, a small, brightly coloured bird swooped into reality, staring meaningfully at the spirit with intelligent eyes. It circled above Soul's head, before flapping off towards a clump of trees. After a slight hesitation, the spirit trotted after it. When in doubt, always follow the magic bird.

Darting above the long grass, the bird lead it on a merry dance through the meadow. It could have sworn it was purposely making the journey twice as long as it should have been, more than once they seemed to be going away from the trees. This wasn't helped by the bird's insistence of performing complex aerial acrobatics and the fact it almost seemed to be laughing at Soul. That was fairly irritating, but it would restrain the temptation to swat the feathered nuisance out off the sky, as the trees were pretty close.

Suddenly, the bird swerved to the left, heading not for the forest, but towards a stream meandering beside it. This threw the spirit, who for some reason, had assumed the 'place' was in the trees. They followed the stream for a bit, watching as it widened until it was more of a river. Then it just stopped. Cautiously, it edged forward, wondering where the water had gone. Soul looked over the edge of a large waterfall, the bottom obscured by a cloud of spray kicked up by the torrent.

Jump Soulblaze.

"What? No way!" The spirit was aghast. It wasn't going to kill itself for no reason.

Trust us. You won't die.

"No."

A small breeze set Soul's fur dancing, it was almost like a sigh.

Do you want to know why you are here?

"Why else did I follow that stupid bird?"

Then you will trust us. Jump. We promise you shall not die.

The bird folded its wings and plunged down out of sight. Soul sighed in resignation, took a deep breath and leapt into space. What a brilliant way to die.

Mist coiled around it, stinging its eyes and obscuring its vision. The only indication of its falling was the wind tearing at its fur, and a thunderous roar growing louder and louder. It was a continuous, overpowering sound, the water pounding relentlessly against the rocks below, and still it fell, plummeting towards the bone smashing bottom below. Then an invisible force grabbed it, jerking it to a stop.

A path appeared in front leading into the waterfall, boulders slick with spray. Heart still pounding, Soul carefully negotiated the slippery surfaces, pausing at the solid sheet of water in front of it. The bird appeared again, chirruping. It was a shame, as Soul hoped it had not survived the drop, but of course it was alive and immensely cheerful, squawking in an irritating fashion. For a few moments it seemed to stare at Soul expectantly, waiting for it to do something. But the spirit just stood there panting, sopping wet, thinking of how easy it would be to kill the feathered fiend, and how good it would taste. As if reading its murderous thoughts, the bird promptly flew straight into the waterfall, disappearing with a taunting cheep. One last obstacle stood before Soul and answers. Wondering what it had got itself into, it gritted its teeth and stepped into the crashing water. The shock almost made it slip, the immense force of the water hammering it down, but another step bore it out of the pounding 'fall and into a large cavern.

See? It wasn't so bad after all.

"I nearly died!" Soul was fairly glad to hear the voices again, but at the same time it was a bit peeved.

But you didn't. We saved you.

"Couldn't you have done it earlier?"

Now where's the fun in that?

Soul snorted. They had a sense of humour. Brilliant. "Now I have trusted you, can I at least see you?"

Shining droplets of water detached themselves from the waterfall and floated into the middle of the cavern. They hovered, pulsing with inner light, before exploding, splattering the cave floor with liquid. Outlines of cats appeared floating in mid air.

Is that better?

Soul stared in awe. So there were higher, more powerful spirits than the ones in StarClan. Amazing. The bird, who had been perched high up on the cavern wall, fluttered down to greet the new arrivals. Annoyance flashed across its mind. Of course the bird had to be here.

Soft laughter came from the group of beings. Please refrain from eating Avain, we are quite attached to him.

"You can read my mind?"

Yes.

The spirit shuffled its paws self-consciously. It resolved to keep its thoughts in check around these creatures, incase any unwanted feelings were sensed.

Good. You are learning already.

"Why am I here?"

Ah. You are perseverant aren't you?
You are here because we need you. To help us in the times to come.

"Why would you need me? Aren't you far more powerful than me? I'm just a spirit guardian."

You are powerful, more so than you think. Besides, we have our matches to deal with, but we cannot deal with yours.

"What do you mean?"

We are not the only Highers in this place. There are our siblings, who feel resentful towards your clans and want to destroy them. We shall save the full explanation for later, as it is getting late, and you would benefit from some rest.

"But I don't need rest"

Here you do.

A queer feeling came over Soul, as its limbs suddenly felt unbearably heavy. It sank to the floor, fighting to keep its eyes open. Before long, it was slumbering peacefully in the cavern behind the waterfall, in an unknown world.

It had a name for that feeling now. Exhaustion. Something it would get to know all too well.