Tale of Death

Chapter 24 - Exploring the Cave

Hours had passed before Shi woke up once more— peacefully.

She felt refreshed and reenergized; after all the troublesome things she had been through she deserved it.

She groggily tried to figure out how long she had been asleep, but couldn't tell how long it had been since it had no sunlight underground; she was sure it had been a few hours at the very least.

Her body was no longer tired or worn out, and her mind was as clear as it could be; she was once again ready to keep exploring this underground world she stumbled upon, and this time she would hopefully find an actual way out from it.

Sitting up from her lying position in the grass— she glanced around the chambers once more to see if anything had changed since she fell asleep.

Thankful nothing at all had changed— the room was still as empty as she remembered it, unless you would count the plants as a sign of life, but she didn't.

Shi's eyes were then drawn toward the cave wall in the distance; it was there where multiple openings to different tunnels stood. Those very tunnels were going to be her way out of here— she hoped at least.

'Before i get going i should stock up on some water, maybe even some food if i can find edible plants here.' She thought to herself as she stood up from the ground— stretching her body out of habit.

She first ran her hand along the back of her head, shaking her hair of any dirt that was stuck on it; she did the same to her clothing since grass and dust clung to it.

While the grass may have been comfortable to sleep on, the dirt that came along with it was very annoying to the skin.

Once finished, she looked towards the stream that ran in the cave chambers. While she would love to store some of the water with her and carry it, she didn't have anything to store it in. Not unless she makes something.

"Maybe i can create a canteen using some plants from here. I never learned how to do that but how hard could it be?" She mused to herself as she looked around at the flora that decorated the cave chamber.

Plants of all kinds littered the walls, floors, and even the ceiling of the cave. She was bound to find something, or multiple things, that could be used to make a canteen. And if she couldn't, she just might have to suffer through the dehydration until she got out.

She made her way to the nearest wall, all the while keeping her eyes on the ground to see if she could find anything of use. Unfortunately, it seemed like the lack of sunlight limited just what could be grown underground; because while the place had moss, grass, and even some flowers she hadn't seen before, it didn't have anything that she could use.

Reaching one of the walls in the cave, she instantly realized how different the plants that grew near it were from the ones that didn't.

'Odd, how come the plants here are so much bigger and more diverse than the ones on the floor?' Curiosity entered her mind at the thought of that. Shi wanted to find out why this was the case— even if it was useless information to her.

"What could cause such a difference?" She wondered aloud as she reached out and touched one of the plants that grew near the wall.

It was roughly three feet tall and looked to be about two feet wide; its vines ran in and out of the wall, clinging to it like it was made to be part of it.

The leaves were green with a hint of red on the edge of them, and while it didn't look like a flower, it certainly had the shape to fit one; except instead of petals it had leaves, and instead of stems it had vines that clung to the wall.