Eclipse, a 2-year-old Drolgonet of Pacree Sky, shuddered. Asch had just told her the story of the missing Drolgon. No one knew what happened to the poor she-Drolgon.

Apparently her mother had found her dead in the forest, her sister knocked out beside her.

     Eclipse sat beside her two sisters, FeatherCloud and Solar. StarFlower - FeatherCloud, Eclipse, and Solar's mother - stalked angrily over to her Drolgonets. She wrapped her wings protectively around the three sisters, and scowled at Asch.

"What were you thinking, telling them that stupid horror tale?" StarFlower demanded.

Asch shrugged, flicked his tail, and walked away.

StarFlower glowered at him until he disappeared from sight, and then turned back to her Drolgonets. "I'm so sorry that mean Drolgon scared you, my loves" she murmured, gently licking FeatherCloud's trembling head. "The story's not real. You're safe with me."

Eclipse shook herself, erasing the frightened look from her face. She couldn't let the other Drolgons know how scared she was by the story. She was going to be out of the nursery-den in three months, after all.

StarFlower guided her Drolgonets into the nursery-den, where SunnyHeart was already sleeping with her Drolgonets – Sapphire and SkyChaser – and Breezy was just laying down with her Drolgonets: Reed, Wind, and DarkFlight.

Settling into her nest, StarFlower let Eclipse, FeatherCloud, and Solar lay with her. Eclipse snuggled into her mother's warm fur, and StarFlower rested her wing over Eclipse. Then sleep came, sweet and calm.

    Eclipse padded through the forest, darkness all around her. It was eerily quiet, and it made Eclipse's pelt tingle with anxiety.

"Mother?" She called quietly. "FeatherCloud? Solar?"

There was a rustle in the undergrowth at Eclipse's side, and Eclipse jumped away in fear. Then StarFlower stepped out of the bushes.

"Eclipse!" She exclaimed, rushing over to her daughter.

"Where are we?" Eclipse asked.

"I don't know, but... I think this is a dream. Although, why would we be having the same dream? That's really strange..." StarFlower said.

Then Solar and FeatherCloud burst out of the undergrowth on the other side of the small clearing.

"What's going oooon?" FeatherCloud wailed, shoving herself into StarFlower's wings.

"We're all in the same dream," Eclipse answered.

"Correct."

Eclipse spun around, searching for the new voice.

Who are you?

"I have summoned you here." A Drolgon materialized in front of StarFlower, Eclipse, Solar, and FeatherCloud.

Eclipse glanced up at her mother. StarFlower was staring at the translucent Drolgon in shock.

"CloudyWing?" StarFlower whispered.

Eclipse had heard a little about CloudyWing. She was StarFlower's great-grandmother. StarFlower's father's mother's mother. The missing Drolgon was CloudyWing's daughter, sister to Snowfall, StarFlower's father's mother. She kept claiming that the missing Drolgon was killed by something called a Darkbeast. Everyone in her Pacree had thought she was crazy, and they exiled her. She later got killed by an unknown animal.

"CloudyWing, please don't scare my Drolgonets into thinking that your horror tale is true" StarFlower muttered.

"The story is far more true than you could imagine," CloudyWing whispered. "I know what happened to my daughter. Opal was cruelly slaughtered by the Darkbeasts."

Eclipse shuddered as CloudyWing's pupil-less gaze rested on her. Then CloudyWing's eyes stretched wide.

"The ShadowHunter!" She gasped.

Eclipse stepped backwards in shock. "W-what?!"

What is a ShadowHunter? And why am I one?

CloudyWing began to answer, but StarFlower wrapped herself around her Drolgonets, making CloudyWing's reply inaudible.

"Enough, CloudyWing," StarFlower growled.

Then she instructed her Drolgonets to squeeze their eyes shut. Eclipse and her sisters obeyed. When Eclipse opened her eyes again, she was back in the nursery-den, next to her mother and sisters. They were still snoozing, but Eclipse could tell it was without dream.

She slipped out of the nursery-den, and into the dark camp. She padded softly over to the arch-like entrance to the camp, and was about to go through it, when a wing blocked her path.

"Where are you going?" Storm asked.

Eclipse grunted, and batted at his wing with a paw.

"Outside," she growled bluntly.

"You're not allowed outside."

Eclipse rolled her eyes, and pushed past him anyway. She stalked into the forest, and sat down in the shelter of two bushes.

She hated Storm. He was always putting Eclipse down. It seemed like every time she made a mistake, he was there to criticize her.

What's worse, Storm was her father. He was also the Delta. He was a little proud of FeatherCloud and Solar, but he was always so disappointed in Eclipse.

Why can't he just be a good father?

She slumped down onto the ground, and wrapped her tail around herself. The night air was cold, so she fluffed up her fur.

Something moved in the corner of her eye, and Eclipse snapped her head in its direction. She was easily spooked now because of the story of the missing Drolgon.

She noticed that her horns had gotten caught in the bramble bush beside her, and she shook her head fiercely to untangle them. She looked again at the space where something moved.

Nothing.

She sighed, and got to her paws, shaking out her wings. Her mother and sisters would wake up soon, and wonder where she was.

She was about to go around the bush, when lightning split through the air above her. The air was scorching, and the sky was turning yellow with storm clouds.

A warm wind swirled around Eclipse, fluffing her fur the wrong way. She shook herself, and crouched on the ground, squinting. She couldn't see much through the wind, but she did see a few light shapes among the bushes.

What are they?

Then thousands of voices started chanting.

"Beware the shadows. Beware the dark. Opal was just the first with The Mark. When Drolgons will fight and the world falls apart, the Darkness will come and the evil will start. Relentless and bloodthirsty, they will destroy all. The Pacrees will surely fall. The one way to stop this end is if the ShadowHunter's faith would not bend.

Prepare yourself... For the Darkness."

Eclipse dug her claws into the dirt, the wind buffeting her so hard she thought it would carry her off her paws. She squeezed her eyes shut, starting to panic.

What do they mean?!

When she opened her eyes again, everything was back to normal. No wind, light shapes, voices, or even a storm.

Confused, Eclipse took at tentative step forward. Nothing seemed to be wrong, so she headed quickly back to camp. She did notice, though, that her fur was still fluffed like she actually had been in a windstorm. The end of the prophecy kept repeating itself in Eclipse's head.

Prepare yourself... for the darkness.

Wait... Eclipse realized something. They mentioned the ShadowHunter... me. But what's a ShadowHunter?

Just outside the archway, Eclipse smoothed down her fur. Then she stepped inside, and found a very furious Storm standing just inside the camp. Eclipse flattened her ears, and glanced around the camp.

StarFlower, FeatherCloud, and Solar came rushing toward her.

"I was so worried, Eclipse! I didn't know where you'd gone! You know you're not allowed out of the camp!" StarFlower exclaimed, wrapping her wings fiercely around Eclipse.

Eclipse sighed, and saw that the Alpha of her Pacree was also there.

"Eclipse, you shouldn't have gone out of the camp," HailClaw – the Alpha – said sternly.

"He's right," Storm growled. "Be a good Drolgonet for once, like your sisters."

Eclipse flinched away, and let her wings and tail droop.

"Storm..." StarFlower shot him a pointed look. "Don't compare her to her sisters."

Storm rolled his eyes, and padded away to his den.

StarFlower sniffed in annoyance, and sat down next to the prey hollow – a dip in the earth filled with prey – to eat a deer.

Eclipse went over to a shady spot in the corner of the camp, and sat down, tucking her tail around her paws. The other Drolgonets – Sapphire, her brother SkyChaser, Wind, and her two brothers, DarkFlight and Reed – came over to eat some prey with Eclipse. FeatherCloud and Solar came over too.

"What's it like out there?" SkyChaser asked, flicking his tail toward the archway.

Eclipse decided not to tell anyone about the weird prophecy. "Uh... it's very leafy, and there's lots of bushes... and the trees are pretty tall, too."

"I wish I could go explore..." Sapphire said wistfully.

"Well, you'd get in trouble, like me," Eclipse grunted.

"Right," Sapphire sighed. "Sorry that happened, Eclipse."

"It's okay," Eclipse muttered, trying to get Sapphire's beautiful, sorry face out of her head.

Wind, DarkFlight, and Reed started chatting amongst themselves.

"Want some of my rabbit?" SkyChaser asked Solar.

Solar nodded, and settled closer to him, taking a bite of the rabbit. SkyChaser smiled, and Sapphire gave him a teasing look.

Eclipse stifled a giggle. Solar glared at Eclipse playfully, and Eclipse flicked Solar's nose with her tail.

Solar gave a mock growl, and launched herself at Eclipse. Eclipse readied herself for Solar's attack, and rolled out of the way. When Solar landed, Eclipse jumped on top of her, pinning her to the ground. Solar wriggled, and Eclipse let her go.

"Okay, okay, you win!" Solar said, giggling.

FeatherCloud smiled, shaking her head.

Eclipse looked around at her friends. She was so grateful for their support and loyalty.