Here's a little short story I wrote a few weeks ago, I hope you enjoy it and feel free to leave any comments or questions you have!! 

Emerald’s Path

Kai set down his blown out torch beside him as he sat in the small cave. He had noticed the hidden spot while trotting through the forest on his way back to the family cottage. It seemed to have been created by fallen rocks from the mountain that it was at the base of. Trying to stay as silent as possible, he sat, waited and listened. The birds were quite. There was a slight rustle of the leaves as the brisk, autumn wind blew against the trees. All the elves had seemed to find their way home for there was none, other then Kai, roaming about. 

  Kai took  advantage of the rare privacy he had found for himself and emptied out his pockets and to organize his new treasures. While most elves coveted all things shiny, beautiful and valuable, Kai was exceptionally at awe with such possessions. On the cave floor he placed a coin, a small gem with a chain attached to it, and a shell from the lake shore. He picked up each treasure individually to observe them more closely. The emerald with the silver chain dangling beneath it was right in front of his nose. His eyes crossed marveling at its beauty. 

“Beneath the stone, you find my path,” Kai whispered as he read the engraving on the chain in beautiful, delicate letters. 

       The light outside the cave was growing dim, warning Kai that he should continue on his way home. Kai didn't want to make his family worry because then they would come in search for him. He filled his pockets back up and crawled out of the cave and as he did so, the emerald seem to grow cooler in his pocket. Kai carried on, assuming it was just the brisk air. He headed for the quaint cabin right on the edge of the forest. The garden in front of the house normally bloomed with brilliant, bold colors from the flowers, but as night came along they had closed up to preserve their petals. Inside, Kai hung up his tattered green hat along with the seven others and sat down in his chair for what was left of the family’s dinner.  

Morning came and Lima’s first chore was to poke her brother until he got up to help with breakfast.

“Kai. Kai! Get up! Mama said to wake up!” Kai swung his feet off the edge of the bed as he raised his arms above his head to stretch and then made his way to the stove to stir the eggs. 

“Well, well, that girl must be gettin’ better everyday. Only took her five minutes to wake you up this mornin’,” Mama said jokingly.

“No. I’ve just reached such a point of complete laziness that I can’t even argue with her about it,” he replied returning the smile. 

After breakfast was served and eaten, Kai went foraging for wood in the forest to stock up for the coming winter. With his hat on his head and his coat pocket still occupied by the gem he had found on the forest floor the day before, he gathered all the logs he had already cut into a neat pile and then added the newer pieces he found today. Since his morning chores were completed he decided to search for the cave. In the cave, Kai emptied his pocket and held the emerald in his hands, which were gritted with dirt. The gem grew hot in his hands, not painful, but noticeable. He stared at it with curious eyes and it then gained a slight glow. The dim glow grew brighter and eventually filled the cave with a mystical, green light. Upon the cave ceiling, Kai noticed more writing, similar to the engravings on the chain.

“Follow the path, 

meet me at the end.

Come quickly,

my friend, 

and meet me at

the end” 

Engraved in the stone right above Kai’s head were these words. He read them over and when he looked back down, he saw that the cave was no longer small. It had opened up into a long narrow passage that glowed with the same green light of the emerald.

“How could I have missed this before?” he whispered to himself. He looked down at the engraved message in the chain once more. “Could this have been meant for someone else? Possibly a message…,” he thought. 

Kai eyed the passage skeptically. He loved exploring, but he hadn't come across something this strange before. The green light was inviting, however. Kai took a step forward, then another, and continued taking larger and larger steps into the passage. 

The passage slowly began to vanish as he ventured farther down the path. The green light dimmed and the cave grew smaller, but Kai walked on, mesmerized by the path, the gem and the light. He continued to disappear along with the passage, until he was no longer there and seem to never have been there.  The cave was a small space hidden beneath fallen rock at the base of the mountain. The elfish cottage resided right on the edge of the forest, where Lima followed Mama about the small garden. And the emerald gem with the silver engraved chain lied harmlessly upon the forest floor, waiting for another.