Erica flipped on her side, and then waking up in a startle as she fell in a small puddle. The water came pouring in from the sky, an unnervingly large amount of water. The cavern she was in had already transformed into a shallow pool, and she was scared to death by what else she saw up above. A large waterfall was pouring into the hole and crashing down to the bottom, just a few meters from her.

She quickly tossed herself up and grabbed her bag, running down the first cave she saw. However, she could tell it was a mistake the instant she stepped foot inside. The path angled down and she did not want to follow it if the cave was going to fill up. She turned around, but the water had already crashed down and was forcing its way towards her.

Only one way to go again. She thought to herself.

She ran down the tunnel, hoping that it would lead out somewhere. She heard the torrents of water crashing against the tunnels walls as she ran in deeper, but she did not dare to look back and just ran through the dimly lit tunnel. She thought she was going to die, there was no way she would be able to go back up against this volume of water. All she could do was move ahead, but even then she was not fast enough, the water was inches behind her heels.

Then the ground shifted as it flattened and then angled upwards. She could not imagine her luck, but she hoped it would not end yet. Now she needed to outrun the water uphill, and run straight up she did, almost tripping several times. The water foamed aggressively behind her, but she saw dim glow ahead where the tunnel flattened again. She was almost out of breath when she finally made it up to the top, but the sight almost took the last one from her. It was a dead end, with a huge wall and many glowing crystals glowing around everywhere.

She looked back for the first time, and thought she was going to die in this watery cave. The water splashed as it hit the bank on the edge. She thought the water was going to keep coming, but it just lapped there calmly. She stepped closer to the water, the torrent settling with a couple of thick branches floating at the top.

She remarked to herself, "I need to reconsider my desires of adventure if I get out of here alive."

Relieved that this predicament was over, now she was faced with a new problem. She looked at the dead end, a plain wall with crystals peppered on it, and could not shake the feeling that something was was not right. She picked up a small stone from the ground as she walked to the wall, then pressed her ear against it as she tapped it with the stone. Her heart raced when she heard an echo. It was hollow, which meant there was another way out through this wall. She pressed her back against the wall and slid down to sit, she needed to to think of a way through this.

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The first thing she did was throw heavy, sharp rocks at it and hoped that would break it, but showed little hope of breaking the wall. She tried pushing against it, only to find that her strength was not enough. Her stomach growled abruptly. Laying her head back, she realized she had not had anything to eat for more than a day. She settled down for a bit to munch on her last bit of food, a mostly beaten up and wet marilla apple. Still she chewed and swallowed longingly, anything at this point was delicious.

She threw the core of her apple to the water lapping at the far end. She had nothing useful in her bag now, just a ball of yarn and a canteen of water. She suddenly remembered she needed to refill her canteen, so she stepped alongside the water she could barely see the bottom of it. While filling up her canteen, she saw the branch bobbing nearby. An idea came across her now and she grabbed onto it, testing its resilience and how sturdy it was.

"Yeah, this will do." She commented with a grin.

Dragging the branch along with her, she looked around for one last item she needed. A crystal that was exceptionally long and wide, and most importantly, one that had a sharp tip. She tried to pull on it and surprisingly, the soil it stuck out from was soft, allowing her to pull it out with ease. She was going to do something which thanks to Sarri had inspired. She was going to knit a pickax, so to speak.

She sat down and set herself to work, pulling the yarn from her pack. Placing the crystal evenly on the end of the thick part of the branch, she tied the string in a crisscross to make her pickax. She pulled on it tightly so it would not break loose easily, and then stood up next to the wall. She held the handmade pickax up high and swung hard, smashing it against the wall. A cling echoed in the small space she was in and despite the annoying sharp sound, she could see it was working as it left a deep impression on the wall. She redoubled her efforts right away, getting herself in a steady rhythm.

She never thought this kind of work could be so exhausting, getting tired already after what she guess was an hour. After one more hard swing, the branch shattered. She fell to her knees, only to jump excitedly back up as she spotted one last branch in the water.

"Great!" She shouted.

She went to pick it out and used what little string she had left to craft another pickax, she then set herself to pick at the wall again. So far, she managed to pick a wide hole that was about a foot deep. As she was picking at the wall, the new branch shattered just as the first one had done. She stopped and examined the small stick that was left, it was slim, but just enough to hold in her hands. If she was going to pick at the wall, she would only have one shot left at it. She flipped it around and reared her pick up high and gave one final and hard swing, the blow echoing loudly in the room as the last bit of the stick shattered. However at this same instant, the wall started to crumble as well. Erica gave a coughing bout as dust was kicked up in the air, which she waved at to find some respite. What she heard afterwards, was not what she expected but still relieving nonetheless.

"Erica?"