Rain. Ayla had never considered it to be so annoying before, but her opinion had changed drastically after a month of continuous travelling.

It had been raining in the forest for three days straight now, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. The trees were soaked with large drops of water and the leaves were hanging down from the extra weight. Most of the plants on the ground were covered in mud or had died from the heavy rainfall. Every animal was either hiding in its hole or had sought shelter in someone else’s.

But Ayla and her parent were still travelling, trying to ignore the small hurricane that was passing over the forest as much as possible. They were completely soaked, as were their possessions, but they kept traversing the forest, determined to continue. Since it was hard to hunt in the storm, their food supply was just about to run out. That meant that their only hope was to reach a small trading town named Ador before their provisions ran out. There they could spend the night in an inn and stock up on food for the rest of the journey. If Ayla’s father’s navigation skills were correct, they would reach the town by nightfall.

Ayla felt miserable. She was so muddy and wet that at this point she felt more like a frog than an actual elf. If this were to continue much longer, she would probably develop webbed fingers and a croaky voice. She shivered at the thought and looked up at the sky. It was clearly getting darker, but Ador was still not in sight.

“Dad, shouldn’t we be nearly there? I still haven’t seen any roads or people yet.” She asked.

Her dad looked puzzled and slightly nervous, despite his efforts to hide it, but he answered her he spoke with his usual enthusiasm.

“It’s not much further, sweetheart. Hold out for a little longer, we should run into someone eventually.”

Ayla wasn’t fooled however. Her father was a tailor, not a navigator, nor had he travelled long distances before. Not that navigating in this weather was even possible anyway. Ayla just prayed that they weren’t lost completely. If they were, well… Ayla would rather not think about that.

After another hour of walking they stopped. It was clear that their worst fears had become true. Her father went from being nervously looking on his map to having a small panic attack, after which Ayla’s mother had to calm him down. Luckily her mother still had her head straight at least. She turned to Ayla and pointed in the distance.

“See that hill over there? I think a saw a cave when we just walked past it. Let’s rest there and plan what to do next,” she said, to which they all agreed. They all needed a rest.

Ayla’s mother was right and they found the cave with little effort. After they made sure it wasn’t occupied by a family of bears or a gang of murderous goblins, they went in. The cave was a bit moist, but it was large enough for the three of them plus the deer and cart, so they began making themselves at home.

Ayla’s father detached the cart from the deer, that immediately fell on the ground, exhausted. In the meantime, her mother was busy making a fire with a small magic flame in her hand. Ayla asked if she could do anything, so her mother asked her to collect some water. Complying, Ayla took the bucket from the cart and sat down at the entrance of the cave. She watched as the rain began slowly filling the bucket. 

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The hill the three elves were resting inside of had been enduring the rain for over three days. At this point, water wasn’t being absorbed in the ground anymore, making the dirt very loose and muddy. The ground hadn’t shifted yet, up until now.

However, as flash of lightning lit up the sky, quickly followed by the deafening sound of a thunderstorm, the mud began sliding down the hill, dragging along stones, plants and even small trees. The sound shook the earth on the hill, causing even more dirt to collapse.

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As Ayla heard the lightning strike, followed by a large rumbling sound, she panickly turned around to say something to her parents. Before she could reach them, the entrance to the cave collapsed. Ayla felt something pressing on her back before everything went black.