Chapter 24: 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. 

The feeling of the leaves was somewhat rough to the touch— it felt like they had tons of tiny bumps on them and Shi quite enjoyed touching them.

Shi wasn't quite sure what this plant was called— she had never seen it before in her life— and no books she had the chance of going through had any images like this. It might very well be a plant that was local to underneath these caves, however, Shi couldn't make that assumption without more proof. 

Not that it mattered.

"Could this be of use? The leaves are big enough to hold some water in it, maybe if i find a way to make it into a container it'll be useful." She pondered to herself while observing the plant further. 

There were several ways she could go about making a canteen from this plant. One would be to cut the vine off the wall and make it into a tube of sorts, fill it with water and then tie it shut with the vine. Or she could use the leaves to form a container that she could tie together with the vines.

Both ways would require time and effort to complete since Shi had never tried this before. But as they say— there is always a first time for everything.

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"Let's try that, but first, let's look around some more." She spoke aloud like she was speaking to someone else, but in reality, there was no one else here with her. Maybe she was just lonely— she had been alone for a few days so far.

Turning her gaze away from that plant— she gazed along the wall for more plants. She got just that as the wall flourished with different types of plants; from small different colored flowers that were embedded into the wall; to odd-looking vines that spiraled back into themselves. 

She even spotted a weird-looking plant that was half blue and half red in color. It looked almost like a fruit that had vines steeming out from it— she was tempted to touch it, but when she tried reaching out for it, the vines suddenly moved which scared her.

After that scare she backed away from it, not wanting to end up in another hole of trouble. She sighed and simply moved back over to the plant from before— deciding to use it for the container.

During this short investigation for another plant, she realized the reason for the spike in growth around the walls— they were warmer. It seemed that the heat from the surface somehow was able to travel through the wall, which helped the plants grow better, and the ones away from the walls didn't get that heat.

"This will work, but i don't know how to make a container out of it yet." She mumbled to herself as she placed her hand against the plant— breaking off a piece of the vine.  

It took quite some effort because of how thick it was, but it was nothing her vampiric strength couldn't aid her in doing. 

Once the vine was out, she first emptied out the inside of it so that only the outer casing would remain. This was easy because inside the vine was only filled with an odd sticky liquid along with thin string-like things that ran through it. 

"Alright, now i just need to seal the bottom, and i can fill it with water." She muttered to herself as she finished scrapping out all the liquid from the inside— leaving it completely hollow. 

She looked around a bit and ripped out the biggest leaf she could find; using it to wrap around the bottom of the vine and essentially seal the hole. With a smaller piece of vine from another plant— she tied the leaf in place tightly so that it wouldn't fall off or leak.

"That should do it, i just hope it holds!" She smiled and said loudly— her voice lanced with excitement. 

All she had to do now; was wash out the inside a bit since it was still sticky from the liquid, then she could fill it up with water for the road. And it was just that she did.

Walking over to the stream on the other side of the chamber— she knelt at the edge of the bank and stretched her hand into the water. She didn't dip the whole thing into the water since she wasn't sure if the vines holding the leaf would loosen out from the flow; instead, she cupped some water in her hand and threw it in.

Repeating this process multiple times— she threw in water, rinsed it, and then threw it out again; until the container was as clean as it could be inside. 

"Seems like it should hold, that's good. I just need to be careful not to shake it up too much otherwise it might loosen out." She said to herself as he filled the container with water to keep this time.

It held pretty well. It didn't have much water in it to way it down to begin with, but she also didn't need much water anyways. Just enough so that her throat wouldn't dry out.

'I would have preferred blood.' She thought to herself before shaking such a weird thought out of her head.

Even though she had never willingly drank blood before— that time in the fight not counting— she knew that her instincts were screaming for it. Her mind wanted to feed on fresh blood— no matter how much she thought the idea was obscure. 

When she finished filling the container with water and was about to put it away she suddenly noticed something. 

Movement.

There was the faintest of movement under the surface of the water, located in the middle area where it was deeper. 

If it wasn't for her enhanced vision, she was sure she wouldn't have made it out; but she was sure she saw it— the water rippled slightly.

Jumping back she stood up on her feet in a quick motion. The last time something like this happened, it ended badly; she wasn't going to let something like that happen again. This time she was ready.

'Let's see what it is this time.'

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