(CHAPTER 5: RAFT)

After that incident, they pick up their pace a lot quicker. They also chat a lot more often to lighten up the spirit and make time passes by a lot quicker. She told him that the first night she slept within his cabin, she had a same dream just like the one he had during his first sleep. She dream about people calling her name, and having a brother whatever. And she also remember that her name is Brine, a weird name perhaps but she liked it. And it was until today she told her about her name. Which is quite a relief to Hero since things have been quite awkward when you don't know someone's name. Maybe it's the fact that the mist got lighter, or maybe the fact that their mood is lighter, after two days, they manage to make it out of the forest. A sign of relief the moment the tree upon them clear off. The feeling of being trapped in a never ending maze is also long gone.

"They've made out of the forest sir. What's next?"

"Gave them the river."

"You sure sir? If they die the date will be lost with it. You gotta keep that in mind."

"Of course, what better way to spice things up? To test their survivability, at the harsh rumbling river water."

"You got it boss, and the world generation is complete."

"Great, now just sit back and watch the show."

"The air outside the forest ain't what damp and mushy at all eh?"

"Yeah. So what's next?"

"See that river over there Brine, we cross it, and cross our finger for a better land with civilization."

"K, so we swim?"

He stare at Brine, she is too skinny, and even though he helped, those backpacks would weight them down midstream.

"I guess we shall make a boat then, he remark before heading towards the river bank.

"Great idea, but how?"

"You go and collect some vines, meet me at the bamboo forest downstream."

"Got it."

"Get ones that are thick and rough, got it?"

"Yeah got it nanny, stop nagging." Brine answer sarcastically as she ran back towards the forest.

"And remember, don't get lost!" Hero let out his last scream before watching her disappear within the dense forest. He then ran towards the bamboo forest located right at the river bank. As soon as he arrives, he took out his diamond axe and start chopping down bamboos right away. Every bamboo he chop down, a gush of ice cold water pour out from the chopped area. And immediately he would put his water canteen on top of the hole, covering up as well as collecting fresh, drinkable water resources. Clean distilled water is quite hard to collect these days and their water canteen is running empty, so this is two birds in one stone.

At the same time, Brine was carrying a huge stack of vines he just collected. This isn't such a hard task since there were literally everywhere inside the forest. She walk carefully towards the bamboo forest, as the vines were blocking her vision.

After she walk down the slope and reach the bamboo forest, she felt that the chopping sound gets more and more intense as well as his uneven breath. As she got closer, she could sense the smell that only appears on him. A sour, spicy smell that drills up her nose, making her blush as she place down the vines on top of a stack of bamboo Hero has already chopped down, still dripping.

Hero's cloth is all wet right now, as every inch of it sticks onto his body, imprinting every curve and edges of his. He seems not to notice that she is back, the only thing he felt right now is the itchiness caused by the bamboo as well as the cold and damp felling everytime the wind blows through the tiny seams in between the bamboos. It was at this point he noticed that Brine was standing behind him.

"Oh, you're back." He turn his head.

"Yeah." She nodded as she pointed towards the stack of vines piled on top of the bamboo. "I've bought you some vines."

"Yeah, the bamboo should be enough, here." He threw one of his water canteen to Brine. "Its fresh clean water, drink up, you won't be getting them once we crossed the river."

She catch the canteen clumsily which now is now fill till the top. She squeezed open the cork on top of the canteen and take a quick sip. As the clear, refreshing bamboo water flows down her throat, she felt ready to go as ever. After a quick break, they started to build their raft from scratch, starting from building the frame of the raft before filling the bottom with bamboos and attaching all of them together with the vines she had collected before finally adding the final touch by water proofing the entire bottom layer by sealing the seam with honey wax in order avoid water from flowing into the raft.

And finally, the raft is complete.

They take a look at each other and sense a feeling of pride. Slowly the push the raft into the water, testing whether it will float or now.

"Steady girl." Hero say as he slowly step onto the raft, the raft wobbles for a bit but didn't show sign of leakage or unbalance. He signal Brine to hop onto the raft, as she did so, the raft tilted a bit but remains steady. He hops on top of it for a few times to test it durability the raft is still floating steadily in one peace, moving ever so slightly every time the wind blows.

"Pull up the anchor!" Hero exclaimed excitedly.

"Aye-aye sir!" With that Brine cut off the rope that was holding the boat with a tree while Hero uses one of the bamboo as a paddle to steer the boat out of the tiny cove they are and headed towards the land right in front of them.