Submission (#2453) Approved

Resonance Quest: Abandoned Abodes

Sunlight was peering through the trees as three kittoms made their way through the forest. The heaviest of the three, Aurelio, was leading the way, his fluffy tail waving occasionally into the face of the kit following him. Tallulah brought up the rear, carrying a few supplies. They were on their way to the frozen lake to do some early morning ice fishing, though they'd lost time due to Drace not waking at the usual hour.

“How much further?” the darker of the kittoms whined, lowering his black ears in dismay. He already had snow clumps in between his paws. Aurelio chuckled, but did not turn around to give an answer – they'd get there when they get there.

Turns out it wasn't long before they reached the shore of the lake. A fresh carpet of snow had formed over the surface – a common trouble they had in Strynhalde. They all took to digging around a spot, moving the snow out the way in favour of creating a hole in the ice for them to fish in. It wasn't long before they found an old hole underneath, and Aurelio popped through the thin ice that had grown over it.

“Pass me a rod” Aurelio instructed, awaiting one to be tossed over. When it didn't he looked over. Drace was looking over at the distance, and Tallulah had also noticed this. The female kittom turned her head curiously to the side, before nudging the dark brown kittom with her paw, that made him jump.

“Woah!” Tallulah called loudly, before putting her paws up so Drace backed off.

“Sorry, I thought I heard a noise coming from that cave over there” he explained, looking embarrassed. The two older Kittoms looked over. There was a cave opening near the edge of the lake they were on, but they were too far to hear any sounds coming from it. They cast a sceptical look to their companion. “I know what I heard!” Drace squeaked in defence of himself.

“Sure you did” Aurelio muttered under his breath, turning to get back to fishing – he was getting hungry after all, and the sun was already up now. The other two shot him a look that he did not see now that his back was turned.

“We can go check out the cave if you want?” Tallulah suggested, and Drace contemplated the option. He wasn't the bravest of kits, but Tallulah was his best friend, and he knew if they didn't check it out, he'd regret it – plus it seemed a better option than sitting on the ice all morning – his fur wasn't as thick as the other two, so it made his bones ache a little.

“A-alright” he confirmed with a small nod. Tallulah turned to Aurelio's back.

“We're going to check the cave out, you coming or what?” she queried in a carefree manner. His shoulders fell into a soft shrug. “I'll stay here and fish up some breakfast for you losers for when you get back. Don't take too long or I'll end up eating it all though.”

“Wouldn't be the first time” Tallulah commented dryly under her breath as they walked off.

When at the mouth of the cave in question they stopped before its mouth. A chill wind blew at them through it. “Ready?” the purple kittom called, and Drace nodded reluctantly, perhaps regretting his decision. “Don't worry Drace, I'm here, so nothing bad will happen.”

They entered.

At first glance, it seemed a perfectly normal cave. Nothing indicated anything was living in there, there was no leftovers or fur in the vicinity, so Tallulah opted to keep going, at least until they couldn't see any further. She looked up at the walls, and there were crude white images etched high up onto the walls of the cave. How anyone would reach there was beyond her – it was well beyond even an adults height. Maybe a dire?

She heard a squeak then a grunt and turned. Drace had tripped over the beginning of a stalagmite. It had grumbled from the impact, and Tallulah pushed the kittom up with her sturdy body, cautioning him to be careful. To easy his mind, she looked and pointed to the images on the roof she'd seen.

...Except they weren't there any more.

“That's weird” she spoke to herself out loud. Thankfully Drace didn't detect any doubt in her voice.

They walked until they hit a spot where an old nest seemed to be preserved, though long deserted.

“Oh look! There's drawings of Elnin on the wall here! They even have puffy chests like us!” he called, and Tallulah nodded but warned him to lower his voice – they were surrounded by snowy mountains, and also pointy rocks above their heads, and didn't really want to start a chain reaction of anything coming down on them.

“That's like the one I saw earlier” the female informed Drace, who nodded but didn't say anything.

“I suppose I couldn't have saw it earlier in the cave though. And makes sense there's more than one,” she reasoned with herself. “not like drawings can get up and go moving around.”

They decided to head back. There was nothing there of note really, and by that time both their stomachs were growling.

“Is this your first time in a cave like this?” Drace queried, stifling a little yawn with a paw before continuing to keep walking. Tallulah shook her head.

“Nope, I've been in a few closer to home before. There's also a few that act as shortcuts because they lead to some interesting places. I found that visiting kittom the other month when he got lost in one. He'd only managed to get to the entrance before getting scared, poor thing. He wasn't a local like us though, so he must have been freezing.”

Drace had heard about this, but still couldn't help be impressed at his friend's bravery.

“My parents, even Aurelio...they keep saying I need to be braver” he spoke sadly, “they're sending to some relatives in Hadaven sometime soon to meet new friends and develop but...I like it here with you guys”.

“Zevija huh? It's not a bad idea,” Tallulah responded with brightly. “I'd love a new experience. I want to travel the world someday, but I think I'll do it when I'm grown up first” she chuckled. She reassured her friend that it wouldn't be forever, and they'd be back home before they knew it, giving Drace back the smile on his face.

As they left the cave, Tallulah saw more cave pictures. She could have sworn they were moving, and winking at her ever so slightly. Nah, must be her imagination.

They made it back to the fishing spot, and Aurelio. He had given up fishing after the line broke, though thankfully he had caught quite the haul already. He smiled when he saw them coming back.

“Finally!” he beamed, padding the snow playfully, “how was your creepy cave?”

“Not creepy. Kind of boring” Tallulah commented, and Drace just nodded along.

“Weird. My parents always told me that place was really spooky – eyes following you and cold paws on your shoulder kind of place. Can't be if Drace went in there though. Maybe I'll check it out another time”.

Tallulah smiled slyly. “Be our guest, wuss.”