Random Short Stories

The Quarry Rogue [🪽]

(Garfield reference omg)
The sun hung low in the sky, casting a warm golden glow across the sprawling landscape of Sunnyville. Kunzite, a young cryptid with a sleek, lilac coat and striking hyacinth eyes, paused at the edge of a familiar clearing.

The air was thick with anticipation, and the soft chatter of the other Guild members faded into the background as he soaked in the rich scent of pine and earth.

Today was different; today was a day he had long anticipated.

"Do you remember what I told you, Kunzite?" came the soft whisper of his Guild-mate, Hackberry, who was a few paces away, his stained white fur shimmering in the fading light. "Do you know what to do later?"

Kunzite's heartbeat quickened. "Travel to the Sage Canyon Quarry, meet my mom and go back to the rest of the Guild when you call for me to come back."

Flora; the name echoed in his mind, a melody of kinship and longing. She had given Kunzite to the Guild for them to raise when he was just a kit out of fear for his safety, a shadowy figure in the stories told by elders at night.

Each tale painted her as a caring guardian with a heart of pure gold, someone who sacrificed everything for the love of her son. He could almost see her vivid gaze and hear her laughter blending with the rustling leaves.

Hackberry flicked her tail, the amusement at the smaller apprentice's clear excitement evident in his posture. "Promise me you'll be careful," he urged.

Nodding, Kunzite turned toward the railway path. "I will. I have to go see her."

With a resolute flick of his ears, he took off toward the rails that travelled towards the quarry, a tingle of excitement coursing through him. The journey to Sunnyville had long been pushed back for him, given his tumultuous and rigorous training.

But the whispers of his only kin left had guided him back, revealing places where his mother might linger, where heartbeats reminiscent of home could resonate.

After a few heartbeats of flying past towering trees, Kunzite found himself at the edge of the Sage Canyon Quarry. He began to explore the crevices and narrow pathways carved into the stone, and came across a particular glint amid the igneous rocks.

Curious, he approached and discovered a small, glimmering greenstone nestled in the Earth. Crouching down, he investigated further. Something deep in his heart urged him to keep it, as if it were a piece of a much larger puzzle.

With the stone cradled in his paw, he pressed further towards the quarry's heart, the anticipation quickening his pulse. He padded forth, mind racing with questions.

Would she recognise him? Would she remember him at all? As he crossed the rocky ledges, a pang of fear lingered, but he pressed on, the urge to know overwhelming.

Before long, he found himself at the edge of a glistening brook that wound between the tall grass. As he crouched to take a sip of water, he heard a rustle behind him and quickly turned, muscles tensing in anticipation.

Emerging from the thicket was a figure—lean, raggedy, and yet so unmistakably distinct. A thin she-cat with a coat nearly the same shade as his, her stature emanating strength and grace and the torn collar around her neck jingling.

"Flora...?" The name escaped him as more a question than an assertion, trembling on his tongue like a half-remembered dream.

The she-cat blinked, her olive eyes slightly clouded. Her gaze swept over him, searching, as if painting his features onto her memory. "Kunzite?" she whispered, caught between joy and disbelief. "You've come to see me."

He nodded, taken aback by the depth of emotion in her eyes. For so long, he had pictured her only in dreams, as an ethereal spirit woven from threads of longing and imagination.

She took a step closer, and in that moment, everything he'd felt in her absence flooded back—a tapestry of yearning. "I missed you so much, mom," Kunzite cried as he fled into her embrace.

Her fur was coarse and dusty, a stark contrast to his own glossy and sleek fur, yet that didn't stop the small cryptid from burying his face into her chest as she wrapped her paws around his shoulder blades in a gentle hug.

"I missed you too, my boy," she replied softly, her voice full of love and happiness that her son had come back to see her after so long. "You've grown up so strong, so brave. I'm so proud of you."

"But I couldn't grow up with you," Kunzite whimpered. "I couldn't show you the wonders of the Northern Kingdoms, I couldn't give you an easier life of freedom." In a way, that was what made Kunzite feel he'd let his mother down.

"I'm sorry I let you down, mom." The smaller lilac cryptid bowed his head, shame pooling with sadness in his clear eyes. His mother gingerly lifted his chin with a coarse paw, her own olive green eyes gazing kindly down at her son.

"Oh, there's truly nothing to be sorry about, Kunzite," she murmured softly to him. "Not all of us are cut out to be quarry rogues."

At that, the small Guild apprentice scoffed slightly and mumbled back, "I'll say." Flora gazed at him quietly, before she began to speak again in her lilting voice.

"Kunzite, this is really for the best. You would have never survived here." She paused for a moment, her whiskers twitching. "You have a good life; a much easier life in the Northern Kingdoms. We all envy you."

The small lilac tom felt his eyes beginning to water as he glanced up at his mother for what would probably be the last time in the next few moons. "I'll miss you," he choked out softly.

Flora smiled sadly down at her son; she felt his pain. She secretly longed for him to stay with her too; but she knew it would never be possible for him to adapt to the quarry. "I'll always be with you, Kunzite. And if you ever need me, I'll be there."

Mother and son remained curled up together for a long while, for what felt like hours in a warmth that made Kunzite finally feel like he was complete; the puzzle which had pieced itself together. He wasn't even aware as the sky darkened into dusk.

Flora tilted her head as she heard the distinctive, low pitched whistle of her son's Guild-mate, Hackberry, calling out for him. As much as she wanted to keep her son with her, she knew he had a better home in the Northern Kingdoms that she couldn't provide.

Gently, she nudged him to his paws and escorted him to the mouth of the limestone cavern. "It's getting late; your Guild-mate is calling for you. Now, go dear. It's starting to get dark. The skies are calling you."

The small lilac tom sniffed as he embraced his mother for the last time in a few moons, feeling her warmth and drinking it in. As they pulled apart, Flora smiled softly down at him and murmured, "Kunzite, I love you."

And as the smaller lilac tom set off back to his Guild, he cast a last glance at her and choked out, "I love you too mom."