Book One: The Shadow Outcast

***The Shadow Outcast*** is the first book in The Shadow Saga, formerly known as ***Behind The Shadows*** and ***The Shadow Prophecy.***

## Dedication

*For Devon—who challenged me to write this. I could never have written this Book without your amazing guidance and your challenge. If it wasn't for you, this dream would have never happened.*
## The Blurb

***The martyr. . .the pariah. . .the shadow. . .the martyr. . .the pariah. . .the shadow. . .the unloved. . .the unprotected. . .the unwanted. . .the unloved. . .the unprotected. . .the unwanted...***
*I am human, or I was. I was fine, and now I'm cursed with insanity. They say I can do great things, but all I've done so far is kill. Sacrifice can only get me so far, and the feeling of exile and outcast isn't new to me. Is this what you wanted StarClan?*
## The Praise

*"This deserves more reviews, as it is very well written, and captured my interest from start to finish. I am guilty of sometimes giving up on a book after reading half of the first chapter if it doesn't catch my interest, but I read this one all the way through and plan to read more beyond that!" — Sandyfire*

*"You are an amazing author, I have no idea in the slightest how you can so perfectly write this amazing story. The only reason I have not commented earlier is because I have not been able to tear myself away from this story! It's AMAZING and I think-- No, KNOW that you deserve all the praise and positive everything from your readers and I cannot express how amazed I am at this story. Of course, I notice about 20-30 mistakes in every chapter, but guess what? I love mistakes! :3 Especially stupid ones! KEEP WRITING!!! YOU ARE AMAZING!!!!! P.S. I am a hardcore Hetalia fan, and I noticed from the very beginning that you, very skillfully I might add, had the twins be named Matthew and Alfie like America (Alfred) and Canada (Matthew), the twins!!! This made me very, very happy, considering that in my group of friends I am considered the (Fem!) Canada! (My boyfriend is our America, but, :P) P.P.S. I am now going to follow you and ♥ your stories because I find you inspirational and overall a great person! ~\*\(^\_^)/\*~"*  — Biella

*"7th time reading this? XD......" — Rosepaw*

*"This story instantly grabbed me with the PERFECT way it was written in the summary, and the actual prologue - it was so detailed! Behind The Shadows seems like an fantasticly-plotted (if that's a word xD) book, and I can't wait to read the rest of the chapters. A very well done story so far! ;D" — FrostTheCat*

*"​This is such an interesting concept for a story! There are a number of morphing stories out there, but very few of the ones that I've seen for Warriors have seemed worth my time at all. I love the way you set this all up, letting a dead cat visit the real world. It makes it seem as though she's not quite ready to give up her life yet.*

*I love the descriptions you use, too, making everything seem realistic. I can totally envision Cheetahfur as an actual, real-life feral cat. I think it's interesting how interested she is in this Twoleg. I'm also intrigued by the idea of this prophecy.*

*StarClan's decision is definitely an odd one. There almost has to be some underlying cause for such a strange choice. I also love the mysterious note that the chapter ends on. What if, indeed?*

*I think there's a lot of potential for this to be a good story - and clearly it is a good story, with all of the comments and votes on it and a sequel. I can't wait to read more; I'll try to comment as I can, but whether I take the time to comment or not, I'll definitely read it and vote on all the chapters :)*

*I'm Blade from WFW, by the way. I didn't feel like commenting on wiki since (as you've pointed out a number of times) it's such a long page, and scrolling back and forth between story and comment box can be a pain. But I told you I'd try to comment, and so here I am C:" — Bladeofhope*

## **History**

Book one of *The Shadow Saga*began in November, 2009, when the Author, Rose, was first introduced to the Warrior Cat series. From then until December 25, Christmas, Rose had been consistently reading through the first series and jotting down ideas on her mothers laptop whenever she could. It wasn't until Christmas when Rose received a laptop. After writing some *not so good*original pieces, and showing them off to her best friend, her friend gave a challenge to see who could write the longest story in the shortest amount of time. It was thanks to this challenge that Rose decided to put together the ideas she had formed and started to write The Shadow Outcast.

Among many other beginnings, the story originally started with a girl called Annie. Much like her own life, Annie's parents were no longer together. She lived with her father and younger brother in a house near a beautiful forest. She loved to protect her younger brother as prior to the story's beginning, her other brother had been murdered in front of her eyes; she was lucky to escape. It seemed that the Cats of StarClan had been looking down upon her, and every once in a while she would notice a peculiar orange, spotted cat that would sit and watch her. After the four leaders of StarClan, decided that Annie needed a new life, she was taken from her life and turned into a cat in order to play a role in a Prophecy for the Cats of the forest.

After writing out most of the story in the perspective of a female and uploading it onto a website, one of Rose's friends mentioned it would be better if the main character was a male, so, following the friend's advice Rose went back through the original novel, changing "Annie" to Oliver, and all the she's to he's. For some reason, Rose had also uploaded the female version to a popular website called "Wattpad", although she ended up deleting it and replacing it with the freshly edited male version, where she had gone and changed most of the names, including Oliver, who was now known as Matthew.

In it's past, The Shadow Outcast has been many things. It has been "Behind The Shadows", "The Shadow Prophecy", a failed attempt at a book, a challenge, and a dream. As of now, it is inspiration, and the Author hopes that you enjoy it and become inspired to write your own.