My first thought was water. Water. Everywhere. From the small outcrop upon which I stood, there was nothing else besides water. I shuddered. I'm good at swimming, but this is insane. It was deep too. No bottom in sight. Nothing but water. It lapped at my ankles. Ankles? Wait. The water was rising.

It had started to flow down the hallway behind me. Shit. I cursed. There was nowhere to go but into the water. With a hasty glance at the walls on either side of the door, I eased myself quietly into the water, barely making a ripple. I didn't want to attract anything that might be lurking in the water. Slowly I lowered my head under to look around. The water didn't sting my eyes. Good.

Breaking surface again, I licked my lips and found that the water was fresh. Even better. Maybe somethings were going my way today. I began to swim, trying my best not to splash or make ripples. Finally, I gave up. Treading water, I turned my head to see how far I had come. I couldn't see the door, but I knew that I hadn't swum far enough for it to disappear. I continued to swim.

And swim.

And swim.

And swim.

And swim.

I stopped again. There were no landmarks, nothing. I could have been swimming in circles, for all I knew. There was nothing in sight, only a vast expanse of water. I continued to swim in the direction I thought was forward.

I stopped, a little more out of breath than last time. My heart sank. Still no land in sight. I kept swimming. Thoughts kept popping randomly into my head. 

What did I last eat? A cheese sandwich. 

What part was I at in my book? I can't quite recall. 

What if there is no land? Don't think that. They couldn't make this test impossible.

What if they wanted me to fail? Why on earth would they want that?

What if there was something waiting to attack me when I let my guard down?

That last question jolted me out of the daze into which I was falling. I had to stay alert. Several times this happened to me. I began to lose hope. I was going to die, alone. Alone in a watery world. My heart sank. 

Then I realized what this stage of the test was about. Endurance of the mind and body. Reinvigorated, I pushed onward.

I stopped, looked around, and was just about to keep swimming when an irregularity caught my eye. Land! Or something. But an endpoint nonetheless. I continued to swim, with the black lump in the distance never seeming to grow any bigger.

A/N Shout out to IamDapplepelt for being AWESOME! Check out their profile if you like the Warriors Series!