Chapter 5: The Realm Beyond The Stars
For many cats, be they dead or alive, StarClan or Dark Forest, Clan Cat or Kittypet, there had always been a question none could answer. Many pondered on the possibilities of an answer and some even dared to say they would find out one day, but to no avail.
A question that every cat asked... What is there beyond the stars?
For a Clan cat, many wished to know, but StarClan was their boundary. The Dark Forest cats may ask the same question, but for a cat destined to walk the darkness alone an answer was rare. Even for a curious Kittypet, the question still remained.
But for some cats, that realm beyond the stars would be what they will call home.
And in that realm, an age old war was raging on.
A single cat raced across the starlit sky, his body glowing with energy, his pelt made of striking silver lightning. Bright blue eyes shone in the black night, glistening with the light of the stars and the light of his own pelt.
"Ziku!" He heard a voise from behind, but the warning in his name hit him too late. He felt claws rip into his lightning pelt and pain sparked throughout his body. He opened his mouth to screech, but another impact knocked the air from his chest.
"Shadows!" He choked, feeling blood trickled out from the wound on his side. The blood fell into nothing, crakcling away as if it were made of lightning too.
"I know" The cat who had called out his name stood before him, glowing with the light of a pelt made from pure orange fire. In her jaws was a limp body, which was slowly melting away into what looked like whisps of black smoke. When the entire form had disappeared, Ziku pulled himself up.
"Where are the others?" He panted, the pain of the lightning in his pelt closing up the wound causing him to grind his teeth.
"We had to scatter" The she-cat with the pelt of fire answered, pain evident in her eyes, "I dont know where they went"
Ziku grumbled something under his breath, and then turned to the she-cat, "We need to go back, Sayra" He mewed urgently, "We need to stop them opening the gate again"
Sayra nodded, "I know that" She told him, "We let four Shadows slip through last time. Any more..." Her eyes wandered away from him into the vast emptiness of space.
"I know" Ziku tried to comfort her, but with all the thoughts in his head he couldn't think clearly. He brushed his tail against her pelt, the lightning of his pelt crackling against the fire on hers.
As the two cats made their way back as hastily as they could, they became increasingly aware of serveral pairs of plotting eyes resting on them. The unease hung thick in the air and it seemed to take forever to find a companion.
"Ziku, Sayra" Both stopped as they heard their names called. They were approached by another she-cat, pelt shiny with glittering water and eyes a glowing green. This cat was smaller than both Ziku and Sayra, and seemed to be twice as nervous as either of them.
"Mizu, thank goodness you're alright" Sayra sighed with releif, "Where are Kazen and Rokai?"
"Th-they went to h-help Cyran an-and Raiphyn..." The smaller she-cat stuttered, glancing around nervously, "Are there...?"
"Shadows here?" Ziku sneered, "Yeah, I can feel them watching us. It's making my pelt itch"
"Forget them!" Sayra urged, "We need to deal with the ones closest to the gate!"
"Alright..." Ziku muttered, setting off again with the two she-cats following.
He could feel them watching him. They were dangerously outnumbered by the Shadows - Monstrous beings that lived in the form of a cat, but in truth were nothing but a mass of dark energy equipped with a conciousness. The Shadows had been at war with them, The Elementos Cats, for countless moons, spanning the skies above the stars. Most Shadows were easy enough for the Elementos to handle, but some were more skilled than others and had formulated plans against them, resulting in the dwindling number of living Elementos. The living groups scattered and split, each taking to their own part of the sky to try and survive in the battle with the Shadows.
Ziku was part of a group of only seven. He was one of the few remining Lightning Spirit Elementos left alive. Sayra was a Fire Spirit, and Mizu a Water Spirit. Kazen was the last living Wind Spirit and Rokai one of only a few living Earth Spirits. And then there were Cyran, the Ice Spirit and Raiphyn, the Light Spirit. Each one possesed the abilit to control the element of their spirit, and each one's power was unique.
They weren't, however, truly cats either. Like the Shadows, they took the form of cats to live as instead of the formless energy they truly were. It had been many moons since either an Elementos or a Shadow had returned to their own true form, choosing to live as their ancestors had done in the form of a feline.
Sounds of battle could be heard up ahead. The three cats pressed on, paws making no sound as they hit the makeshift pathway. In this realm, the land only appeared where there was life. Some way behind them the forest was fading away into the black sky again.
They burst onto a scene of riot - Masses of Shadows were heading towards a large, shining blue stone in the centre of the clearing. The pelts of the Shadow Cats whisped at the edges like thin black smoke and their eyes - all the same shade of red - were focused on the cats clustered at the bottom of the pointed stone.
"Kazen!" Mizu shreiked as for a moment the sleek white tom, Kazen, was lost amongst the Shadows. Ziku let loose a staggering bolt of lightning from his pelt, slicing a path through the crowd of Shadows and freeing Kazen from their claws.
There were more Shadows here than any of them had seen before. They writhed and clambered over eachother to make it to the front line, like watching bees in a hive. The shining blue stone in the centre stuck up like a needle to the sky, the base smooth except for a large crack right up the middle. The crack gave way to a pure void, or so it seemed. This was the gate - the gateway to the world down below.
Four cats stood in a battle formation around the crack. Kazen had regained his place directly in front, while Raiphyn, the fluffy sandy-gold she-cat stood beside him. Rokai, the large brown tom who's pelt was covered in plants and Cyran, the small silver tom who's pelt was frozen solid stood further back, defending the stone from the sides.
Ziku let loose another shot of Lightning and darted through the path he had created. The bodies of the electrocuted Shadows frizzled away into nothing but black smoke as Ziku leapt up to his comrades.
"Where've you been?" Cyran hissed, "We could've done with some help!"
"Sorry" Ziku apologized, letting lose more lightning on the cats behind him, "I was Chasing Shadows"
Mizu and Sayra took up positions next to Kazen and Raiphyn. Together, the group of seven were keeping the Shadows at bay.
"There's no end to this" Kazen grumbled, "They keep regenerating"
He was right. A Shadow could regenerate so long as it didn't have a physical body - which none of them had. This skill was what had given the Shadows the upper hand, as it was impossible for the Elementos Cats to do so.
"What should we do?" Raiphyn asked. Her voise sounded calm even in this mess.
"We cant let them get to the gate" Rokai noted, his voice deep and rumbling.
Sayra gathered up a ball of fire between her jaws and hurled it to the oncoming cats. The smarter ones dived out of the way - but those too slow or just unlucky enough to get caught in the blast were incinerated as the compact ball of fire exploaded on impact.
"We cant do this forever!" Sayra mewed urgently, gathering more fire from her pelt into her jaws. Mizu mumbled in agreement, showering the Shadows with sharpened drops of water.
Kazen stopped for a moment, watching the Shadows creep forward like snakes. They were completely outnumbered and running out of options.
They must have planned this... Kazen told himself, blasting the Shadow cats back with a burst of wind. One or more of them planned an assault today... We just have to beat that one...
"Which one of you is the leader!?" Kazen called out into the crowd, partially thinking that the leader wouldn't reveal himself.
And as he thought, there was no reply. There was a slight muttering from a few Shadows, but none gave him an answer.
In that case, I'll have to trick some of the more stupid ones. Kazen deduced, clearing his throat, "I see, your leader is to much of a mouse-heart to speak up!"
"He is not a mouse-heart!" One of the Shadow Cats called, "He cannot answer if he is not here!"
Not here? Kazen thought, why wouldn't the leader be...
Then it dawned on him. A sickening realisation that made him freeze on the spot. He could feel his white fur spiking up, and his eyes grow wide. His head throbbed with new thoughts and a possibility that could lead to their ultimate destruction.
"Ziku"!" He oredered urgently, "Sayra, Rokai, and Mizu!" He didn't give them time to ask, "You have to go through the gate!"
"What!?" All four shouted at almost the same time, each casting a glance away from the battle.
"No time to explain!" Kazen hissed, releasing a large blast of wind at the Shadows, "Listen to me, go through the gate and close it on the other side!" He spun around and gathered the four he had called, pushing them towards the gate.
"But-" Ziku started, "What about you!?"
"Forget that!" Kazen shuffled the four coser to the crack in the stone, "Go!"
"Kazen!" Cyran's growl came from behind, where the Shadow's were begging to overpower him, "We need a plan here!"
"Just hold them off!" The white tom instructed, "Listen to me" He growled to the four cats pressed close together beside the stone, "Destory the gate on that side, and I promise one day I'll find a way to bring you home"
"But you wont survive against this many!" Sayra wailed. The group had always thought of Kazen as their leader, because of his tendancy to put their safety before his own.
He glanced from Cyran to Raiphyn, who were still battling the Shadows, and then back to the four, "I wont die. Not until I bring you home again" He gently nudged Sayra with his muzzle, pushing them all back a mouse-length more. Now Rokai was stood literally in the crack.
"Go" Kazen mewed, tuning back to the battlefeild, "Destroy the gate, stop these monsters from reaching the lowerworld"
And with that he was gone, diving straight into the heart of the battle. Cyran and Raiphyn followed his lead and leapt down from the rock, disappearing in the writhing mass of cats. Mizu called out their names in a desperate cry, but all that could be heard was the screeching and thudding sounds of battle.
"Come on" Ziku growled, pulling Mizu back buy the scruff. He didn't like the idea of leaving them, but he had complete faith in Kazen and trusted whatever plan he had come up with.
Rokai disappeared into the gap first, followed by a reluctant Sayra. Ziku nosed Mizu in before him. And then he stopped.
Glancing one last time at the battling cats, he could see Cyran raising pillars of razor-sharp icicles and Raiphyn shooting beams of bright yellow light at the Shadows. Kazen, however, could not be seen.
Taking one last deep breath, Ziku dived for the crack in the stone, saying a silent goodbye to his homeworld.
Iceclaw 
Silverstream 
Congratulate them 
