Follow The Sun - A Warrior's Based Story

✥ | Chapter 1: Wall-Filled Relationships | ✥

The rocky ground is hot, almost unbearable. Even Zuka, a cat trained to withstand his it, is considering faking an injury just so they can go back to camp.

Lush, green bushes sit to their right, in front of an odd structure of reddish rock. Far behind them is their camp, hidden inside of the mountain side they will one day scale for their Skytest.

Near the camp is a small oasis that has never dried out and probably never will. It can freeze over, though, which is why the season where it's cold is called Frozenwater.

The most interesting area, in Zuka's opinion, is the Grasswalker's path. It's a long way from Vast Territory, but from what they're told, half away across the path, a gray surface appears. If you continue to follow it, you can see moving earth hurdling across.

At the end of the path is a where many large, colorful spirals spring up. Grasswalker's flock to that area in huge numbers. One of them may bring you to their home, which is a less harsh world that every Vast cat fantasizes about.

What are Grasswalkers? Well, they are long, usually furless creatures with the ability to go anywhere in the world. Vast cats worship them for a very specific reason; they can travel in ways they never can. That's why getting their help is a necessary step to freedom.

Once you enter the Grasswalker's world, you're free of rules, traditions, and all barriers. You've become worthy of the life you seek.

Zuka wants that future for themselves. Who wouldn't want to live independently, seeing everything they can, tied down by not a single cat? Just the thought sends the young cat's heart fluttering in anticipation.

Really, they aren't far off. Cats are usually allowed to leave for the Skytest at around ten to thirteen moons old. They are currently nine and a half moons.

"How much do you bet Yaemix is going to be as prickly as a cactus for this training session?" asks Avive, his morning grumpiness showing. Once he wakes up, he'll be a lot more polite and a lot less pessimistic.

Avive is Zuka's partner. Every cat gets a partner once they start training, at around three moons old. They keep this partner all the way until they start their new life, when they can make the choice of staying with their partner or moving on.

Zuka thinks of Avive as a friend. Not even a close friend, because the tom has a hurtful tendency of shutting them out of anything personal. It's almost like there's a wall between them, and the non-binary cat has been forever deemed unworthy of scaling it.

So you better believe it's hard to imagine that they will one day have kits with him. Then they'll abandon those young kits with nothing but a small message to remember them by.

"Follow the sun." Yes, that's their fathers message to them. Short, but meaningful. While they can't exactly love a person who they never met, they can still appreciate that he left something. He must have cared at least a little, right?

Slowly, Zuka looks up and stares at the smoldering sun. Then they turn to Avive.

"A cactus run and a half," they reply. A cactus run is one of the worst punishments a cat can be given. You have to really, seriously mess up to be forced into doing that. It involves running straight through a long path of sharp cactuses. You'll be lucky to come out with less than a dozen cuts.

"Well, let's hope we learn about herbs tomorrow. That's always easy," he grumbles. Zuka laughs.

"You say that's every day. Do you plan on being a herb expert like Zie once you enter the Grasswalker's world?"

He glances at me for a small moment. "Yeah, I guess."

That's a very good example of the wall that exists between the two young cats. Joking, complaining, and anything about training are all acceptable topics, but that's it. It's not nice to know your friend limits you like that. What are they gonna do about it, though? Confront him and make everything harder?