'Cougars are not known to be the strongest swimmers and have a general dislike for getting their fur wet. Hopefully, he's not hungry enough to try and come in here after me'

After holding his breath for as long as he could, he popped his head up for some air and to look around.

Instantly he spotted the piercing gold eyes boring straight into his soul.

'Shit!' He thought, before ducking back down. 'Why is it still there?!'

Swimming further away from the shore, Kain once again came up for air.

'It's still there!' Suddenly he felt a stabbing pain as something wrapped around his ankle and pulled him under again.

Looking down, he saw what looked to be a vine covered in sharp needles gripping into his flesh, as it dragged him slowly towards what looked like the gaping mouth of a venus flytrap.

Gripping his knife, he endured the intense pain still coming from his ankle and tried to cut away the vine. When he was almost out of breath, he finally managed to cut through and quickly swam to the surface again for air.

Gasp

'The river is no safer than land, I need to get out of here' He thought. But unfortunately, the cougar was still pacing along the shore while staring him down.

Looking around he spotted a floating piece of land covered in moss jutting out of the river. 'When did that get there?'

Not thinking anymore about it, he swam towards his only hope and collapsed on its surface while breathing heavily. It was more spacious that he thought, large enough to fit 20 of him lying down.

'I'm surprised I missed it when I first jumped in'

Looking at his ankle, he saw the disconnected portion of the vine still wrapped around it with needles digging deep into his flesh causing him pain.

Carefully, he unwrapped vine while wincing in pain and the needle were removed. 'I could really use my first aid kit right about now…'

There was a bright red bruise left around his ankle, but thankfully nothing appeared broken.

Kain took the opportunity to look around and catch his bearings. Thankfully he could still more or less tell his location. I think I'm only about 3 hours from the city wall.

'Today is officially the worst day of my life' He thought, before closing his eyes in exhaustion.