Chapter 20: Your Mission

I walked in, the cave was absolutely amazing, it was even better than the one with the moonlight a few weeks ago. There were vines and crazy looking rocks with mossy everywhere. The cat named Stoneteller must be very lucky to live in a place so beautiful.

I walked into the cave, I could see the shape of a cat moving from not too far away in the corner of the room. Mint jumped back as if she was a little bit scared and I could see why.

I could not see the cat anywhere but I could here it moving from what seemed like everywhere in the cave, Kettle had not come in with us in the cave so I did not know if everything that was going on was normal. Maybe I was in a dream and I would wake up with Mint sometime soon.

I had been in dreams before that had seemed so real, back when I lived with my owners and after. This seemed like a dream because I could see stars and what seemed like other cats that were all over the small cave.

"Do not be afraid... These are the cats that are your answers, they are grieving for what happened to the clans. I have not been the leader for long but you have been passed on through many generations of leaders." Stoneteller said as he walked over to me. The cave was so dark I could barely see him from nearby.

"Yes... You are the cat that they have been telling me about in my dreams... You look so young to be a leader..." I said to the cat as he got closer to me. He looked small and very young, he looked like he could be no older than me, which seemed a little bit strange because I had been heard that most cat's were older when they got leader because it took them nearly a life time to earn that.

The cat let out a bit of a per and then a laugh and then he jumped down from the large boulder that was right ahead of me. Now I could see him a little bit closer and he looked even younger than I had even thought before.

"I'm not a leader, I am just a cat that tells others about revelations. That is my job, the cats fend for themselves but they look up to me for advice." Stoneteller said to me smiling at me.

What he had just told me sounded like a leader to me. But I did not say anything about it. Mint had been completely silent this whole time just watching what was going on and looking around a bit confused as if she was seeing things.

She was seeing things, she probably thought that she was going crazy though. I could see them as well...

"So... You are the cat that Moon has been telling me about for a while?! He wanted to see you so badly, he keeps telling me about clans, but I am just a little confused. I feel bad for slowing him down because he's been in such a hurry to meet you." She said to him. It was true and I looked down when Stoneteller looked at me a bit disdainfully.

"From the badger I suppose? Yes I have a lot to tell you, both of you, even if you think you know all young little Moon... You do not." He said to me. I had not thought that I knew all and it made me a bit upset that he was assuming that I did. I still felt bad about rushing Mint so much she was clearly not fully healed.

"Wow! How did you know? Are you one of those star cats?" She asked him. He smiled but then he shook his head. There was no way he was a star cat, it was pretty obvious because the star cats were dead and they had stars all over their pelt that made them look almost invisible at times.

"No... I am not... I am much like them though and I speak to many of them in my dreams... They have been looking for you for a very long time Moon... They were expecting you to be alone... It is good to have a companion with you." Stoneteller said to me. He was speaking a lot of truth, I don't know how far I could have made it alone I was grateful to have Mint by my side.

She looked at me with such affection, I could see it in her eyes as she was staring at me with such compassion. It made me feel so much better about myself with her be my side, making me never put my head down and give up.

"Yes they told me you had something to teach me, and tell me..." I said to Stoneteller. He smiled and then nodded for me to come over and follow him as he continued walking further down a little tunnel that was in the cave.

At the end of a tunnel there was another room that looked even more amazing than the room that we were just in, it made that room almost look like garbage. Mint ghasped when she saw it and I almost did as well but she beat me too the punch.

"This is amazing! The other cats must love it here!" I said to him. He smiled at me and then he just layed down and stared at me.

"Unfortunately most cats in my small group if you would like to call it that... They have not seen this room before. Your friend Kettle that you just met is one of the few ones that have... The only other one that will come in here is not alive yet..." Stoneteller said to the both of us. Mint nodded and I did the same as well.

"This room is beautiful, you are lucky to have this..." I said to him. He nodded a thanks but then grunted at the same time which kind of confused me. Was there another room that was even better than this that he had not shown us yet?

"Yes... It is... However I am not in here much... I am only in here when the cats in the sky's wish to listen to me... Or the starclan cat's on occasion... As of lately they have asked me to. Usually when they ask me too, it is not for a good reason... I will hope that this time it is." He said to me. I had not realized that it was now it kind of made me feel bad like something was about to happen to me, possibly Mint.

I prayed to the starclan cats that they would not do that too her. She had already been through so much following me and having her belly torn open. It had been a very rough passage for her, I was surprised that she had not given up at this point. I was so thankful to have her with me.

"Now... Both of you must sit down and lay to rest, they will meet us together in a dream." Stoneteller said to me. Me and Mint sat down like the night that the moon had sat down on the rock so beautifully, this room did not have that but it did look amazing.

I wasn't sure if it was night or not quiet yet, it was kind of getting dark when we had walked into the group and all of the other cats had seen us. I'm sure it was at this point, either way I had been tired all day, I had been staying up late for a while just making sure that Mint was okay.

"Wait... I can tell you 2 are hungry, have some food, Kettle just brought in some for us..." Stoneteller said. I was a bit confused, we had already been in for quiet some time if there was still food out for that long, especially since he had been out most of the day for me. I did not want to eat something that nasty.

"How long has that food been out? He has been out with me all day..." I said to Stoneteller. He laughed and he just continued walking, I didn't want to eat that, it would be nasty and it could get me sick at this point.

"He just came in and dropped it off for me right now..." Stoneteller said to me. I was a bit confused... How could he possibly know, had Kettle gone threw the tunnel and dropped it off when I had not noticed?

No... He had not as I found out when we began walking out the exit of the tunnel. This cat was strange, was he listening to everyone at all times? Firestar had said the starclan cats knew everything that was going on at all times. It kind of freaked me out... It meant that there was never any privacy. This cat seemed like he might have something like that as well.

I did not say anything about it as we walked back into the little cave we had been in earlier. There were 3 birds all sitting there and when I walked over to pick up one of them I realized they were still warm.

I didn't say anything about it, I was hungry and I could tell that Mint was as well, especially since she was still healing. The food was good and I thanked Stoneteller for giving us hospitality for the night and being giving to us.

"You don't have to thank me, I must thank you for coming here, semi safe for the next stage of the destiny of your life and mine..." Stoneteller said to me. I was a bit confused, they had told me that there was a cat I would have to look for but it would not be Stoneteller.

He nodded to us as we began walking back into the other smaller cave. It seemed so weird... Everything that had happened to me lately, it all seemed like a big dream and some day I would wake up back at my owners place.

Once we were back in Stoneteller nodded for both me and Mint to lay down. We did and I closed my eyes when I noticed that Stoneteller had already fallen asleep. It did not take me long for me to fall asleep as well.

I woke up, I was in a bit of a strange woodland... There was a large dip underneath almost like a ravine or a valley but with more width and less length.

It was almost like a very deep circle that went far beneath me. I almost slipped on it which scared me a lot. I looked up and turned around seeing both Mint and Stoneteller on the other side. It would not be hard to walk over to them though as I did in just a few moments.

"This is the place you will be living..." Said Squirrelflight as she brushed through the trees. She had told me that this would be the one of the last times I would here from her when I met Stoneteller. It was sad because her, and all of her companions had taught me so much, without them I would be dead from starvation if something else didn't get to me first.

I looked at Stoneteller, seeing if he was listening but he was gone and it was just me and Mint that were left. I wondered where he had gone but I just shook my head there were more important things that Squirrelfight was going to tell me first.

"You will live here for a while, the clan you choose will be your own choice, there are 4 more areas I will show you." Squirrelflight said. I was a bit confused because she said they were far apart because there were so many cats in the 1 area would not be enough to feed all of them.

All of the sudden as I blinked my eyes we were in a new spot, Mint hopped up and down excited with what was going on, she too knew that it was not normal and it made her seem as if she controlled all of this.

"That last place was Thunderclan, this is Windclan..." Squirrelflight said to me. I nodded this is where Onestar had taught me to train twice before, one for rabbits and the other for fighting. Onestar was obviously a Windlcan cat as I had just found out.

This was the first time thar Squirrelflight had told me the names of the so called clans. I had found out at this point that they were a large group of cats with a leader, and a deputy and Lionblaze would like to tell me. I nodded to her and the next blink I did we were in a new spot.

This spot I had met Blackstar a few times before as well, the area did not smell the best but it looked a lot nicer than the Thunderclan forest. There was more room to see and a lot less leaves.

"This is Shadowclan... This is where you were being trained with Blackstar... There is 2 other clans we will look at now..." She said to me. 2? I had heard of 4 not 5... She had said there had been another clan that had been thrown out twice before.

The 2nd time was because there was not enough room on territories for  them. They were thrown out and never heard from again. She said it took even less time than the other cats to stop believing in Starclan, the clan fell apart in just a couple of moons. I had never met in a place and another clan like that before though.

I had only met cats in 4 different locations... I had assumed that would probably be the 4 clans that we would be with but I had just come to find out that I suppose she would probably want me to rebuild this clan as well. As I blinked and we were in the spot I had never seen before.

"This is Skyclan, they are in between 2 clans..." Squirrelflight said to me. I looked around a lot of it was woods but there was a fair amount of clearing. I liked clearings quiet a little bit better because I could see more through them.

Once again, for the last time potentially I closed my eyes and we woke up in the final clearing which was riverclan. It was hard for me to catch a fish it took nearly 2 days but I had finally caught one anr I had noticed a river nearby the cave on the mountain I could not wait to catch one and show it to Mint.

"This is Riverclan... The final clan, you were here for several days with Mistystar... You accomplished something I never could... Catching a fish." Squirrelflight said. I tilted my body up high as a way of bragging about it. I looked at Mint to see if she had heard but she was too busy looking around.

"All of this is amazing... But what is that big thing of water over there... I saw it in Windclan and Skyclan..." Mint said looking at Squirrelflight a bit confused. I had already known what it was for a long time. I had seen it in several dreams, Tristan had told me what they were when I was really little.

"That is a lake... Hold on one second there are 2 things I must show you." Squirrelflight said to us. Mint nodded and I did as well, wondering what it could possibly be.

Once again when I blinked again I opened my eyes to soo that we were at a much smaller lake, if you could call it that. It tooked amazing just seeing it with the moon glittering down on it. Mint looked at me looking so happy. I was glad to have her with me, life could never be the same.

"This is Moonpool, it is much like the one you saw the other night... The rock... You will only come here if it is something important, we cannot tell you anything if it is not." Squirrelflight said looking right at me. I nodded and for the last time I closed my eyes to see that we were in a smaller clearing on the side of the lake.

"This is the gathering place... When there is a full moon you will take the clans to here..." She said to me. I nodded and she looked at both of us to make sure that we understood everything that she hold told us.

"That is all I can say for now... Soon you will find the cat that is brown in the next few days, you have seen him in a dream before Moon." Squirrelflight told me looking right at me. It made since now, that had to have been the cat that I saw in the dream the other night. I could not remember his name though.

"Thank you Squirrelflight, I will do my best to rebuild the clans, I do not want to make any promises..." I said to her. She looked at me and then she just smiled. She then layed her body down on the ground and then nodded for us to do the same.

"I will not hold it against you... This is your destiny I have known about it for a long time, it was destined in the stars..." Squirrelflight told me. "Now head to sleep, there is much Stoneteller needs to teach the both of you."

I closed my eyes and began to head back into a normal sleep. But when I opened them when it seemed fit I was in the same cave with just Stoneteller and no Mint to be seen.

"Where is Mint?" I asked the Stoneteller he just sat there and smiled at me. I was starting to get a bit confused and slightly scared. Had the cats all lied to me? Had they gone and done something to her? Was my whole life just all one lie? I had to be stuck in an endless dream.

"We are still asleep... There is a little bit I must tell you." Stoneteller said to me. I sat back thankful that nothing had happened to her. I had been so afraid that something bad might happen to her like the night with the badger. I could not risk that again, Squirrelflight told me I had to choose the clans over her but I could not bring myself to it no matter how hard I tried.

"Oh okay... I'm just afraid for her because I love her..." I said. It was the first tine I had admitted to it, but I felt like I could trust this cat. I didn't want to tell Mint because I didn't know if she had felt exactly the same even though she said she did. I didn't want to die and have her in deep sorrow.

"That is okay and that is good and healthy..." Stoneteller said to me. I sat back and just looked at him wondering what it was that he needed to tell me. Even though the clan cats had told me they were done teaching me it still seemed like there was so much that I needed to learn.

"What is it?" I asked him. He turned around there were cats shimmering around and then they just disappeared as if they were never there.

"Do not be afraid... This is your destiny... I trust that you will save the clans for extinction... This your mission."