Chapter 7: The Crossing
Crossing between worlds hadn't been as instant as Ziku thought it would be. The four Elementos Cats were drifting along in what looked like a tunel of glowing colours, like they were floating through a rainbow. All of them were stunned with the dancing colour show.
"Are we...?" Sayra started, but didn't really know how to finish.
"Shouldn't we be...Y'know, getting to another world?" Ziku pointed out, tail twitching in annoyance. The light show was spectacular, but he couldn't keep his thoughts away from the friends he'd left behind, and what Kazen's plan could've been. He would never admit it out loud, but he had doubts over whether Cyran, Raiphyn and Kazen could win the battle without them. Againts that number of Shadows, he had to hope that their resilliance would be enough.
"We just have to beleive in them" Rokai stated, as if reading Ziku's thoughts, "It'll work"
-----
Kazen hurled away the onslaught of Shadows with a razor-sharp slice of wind, before hurrying to the Gate to join Cyran. The other tom's pelt glistened in the sun, but many of the shards of ice that made up his fur had snapped and were beggining to dull. Raiphyn emerged from behind them, still firing shots of blinding light at the oncoming cats.
"You do have a plan, right?" Cyran mumbled, jaw full of Shadow Cat.
"Somewhat" Kazen admitted, grimacing slightly from his wounds. Although they healed quickly, the pain didn't always leave until sometimes days after the battle. His smooth white fur had been ruffled more than he'd liked and his muscled ached with the none stop fighting.
"I was hoping for a 'yes' or an 'of course'" Cyran huffed, dropping the limp body of the Shadow, "So what does 'somewhat' mean?"
"It means I-" Kazen started, but was cut off.
"Look!" Raiphyn exclaimed, her voice high with surprise. Kazen and Cyran whipped around to join her, only to be surprised too by what they were seeing.
The leagues of Shadows were backing away. They turned tail, some of them fleeing into the tree's others watching the three remaining Elementos with crimson eyes. From all sides, the cats they had been fighting were giving up.
"They're retreating!" Cyran exclaimed, a victorious glint in his eyes, "D'you think they'll get the message this time?"
Kazen hardly heard him - he was watching the retreating cats with a thick sense of releif. But that releif was soon to be shattered.
"It doesn't make sense" Raiphyn was saying, "Why would they retreat now, when we were so low in number?"
If he'd had time to think about it, Kazen might've come up with a reason for the Shadows sudden change in tactic. But the battle was changing faster than he could keep up.
An explosion overhead jerked all three of them from their thoughts. Splinters of shiny rock rained down on them and earthy-brown dust clouded their vision. The force of the blow had knocked Kazen away from the other two, down onto the torn up grass below the Gate. He could hear Raiphyn screech loudly as she was blown backwards, and Cyran yowl in shock. For a moment, Kazen lay dazed as he watched the shards of rock rain down around him and the dust swirl above him in drifting whisps. The only thing he could hear was the blood pulsing in his ears and the thump of his heartbeat.
Grimacing with a new, spiking pain in his neck, Kazen rolled over and pulled himself onto his paws. Through the dust he could only just make out the shapes of the remaining Shadow Cats, hurling blobs of dark energy towards the gate.
He tried to leap for them, but tumbled over when imense pain shook his body. Even with the dust in his eyes, he could clearly make out the sharpened shard of rock wedged in his pelt. Blood welled up and dribbled from the gash between his flesh and the stone.
No! He again tried to stand, but he was rapidly loosing the feeling in his legs.
"Cyran! Raiphyn!" He called desperatly, hoping they weren't as badly injured as he was, "They're trying to destroy the gate!"
----
The cats enjoying the peace in StarClan were rather rudely interupted by the sudden rumbling of the ground. As they all questioned the sudden disturbance, the sky seemed to explode with colour, an aurara of bright light taking the place of the clear blue sky before it. A single white star streaked across the colours, leaving in it's wake a trail of glowing energy.
Cats of all age and rank called out as the ground shook harder, throwing them up into the air and then back down with a bone shaking thud. Sound like thunder echoed throughout the lush hunting grounds, disturbing the bountiful prey and the cats hunting them.
"What's happening?!"
"Look at the sky!"
"The ground's shaking!"
The sky continued to burn with colour as the ground shook harder. The white streak blazed on across the sky, showing no signs of slowing down.
----
On the other side of the stars, the cats of the Dark Forest were equally stunned.
"Wh-What...?" Acornfrost stared at his paws as the ground shook, displacing the ever hanging mist in the air. The trees creeked louder than ever, some even toppling over, and the bleak black sky exploaded with colour. For what seemed like once in forever, the forest that was usually shrouded in darkness was alive with light and sound.
"R-Ravenblaze!" The brown tom hurried along the way the black cat had left, stumbling as the ground shook.
Ravenblaze himself seemed content with the situation, pacing along the path without the shaking ground bothering him. He kept his eyes forward, ignoring the multitude of colours in the sky and the fading mist. A warm wind tugged at his pelt . The smell of burning reached his nose.
"Ravenblaze!" Acornfrost called, catching up to the scarred black tom, "Wh-What's happening?"
Ravenblaze glanced back at Acornfrost, this time showing less ferocity, "Nothing you need to worry about" He repeated, to Acornfrost's disbeleif. The sky was burning, the ground tearing itself apart. How could he call this nothing?
Before he could ask, Ravenblaze had vanished. There was no trace of him, nor his scent or the odd calm he radiated in the situation. Acornfrost stared across the path, cracks forming in the ground where the earth was misplacing itself.
Just what was happening to their home?
Iceclaw 
Silverstream 
Congratulate them 
