//------------------------------//
// 1 
// Story: Crystal Clear 
// by toxiconym 
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I woke under a dark and fluorescent night sky. Before my mind forms its first thoughts, I sigh in relief. My limbs ached no longer. A cool breeze blew over me, brushing my hair. I have always loved the wind, it feels nice to the touch, the cold temperature it brings and folds around my body makes me feel fresh. Youthful. Energetic. Warmer temperatures make me glow in contentment, but not for long. Hot, humid air stales quickly. For the cold breeze blowing by this morning, I am grateful.

I do not, however, like the grass I am lying on. It's itchy. It's probably full of ants and insects and other gross oddities. I am neurotic that way; I've never been bitten by a spider or stung by a wasp, and I plan on keeping it that way. Deep down, it's more of a personal achievement. I know it's not so bad to be stung by an insect, I've heard people say that it's not that bad of a pain.  They might be right. If they are, I'd rather not try it out. There's a first time for everything. Doesn't mean I have to experience everything, though.

I want to sleep more, and I do not want to sleep on grass, so I stand up and look around. I see there is a tree with low branches that I could sleep on. Then again, my back is crooked enough as it is, and it's not like a tree would solve the bug problem. There are some vines on the tree that I could use to make a hammock, but I don't know the first thing about tying knots. Those vines don't look that sturdy anyway.

I walk around the tree to see what I could find.

I found more trees.

I wasn't in a forest, mind you. Have you ever seen a hilly area? When most people think of hills, they think of round bumps sprouting from the earth that are covered in green grass. The truth is that most hills aren't that way, they're covered in trees. When most people think of mountains, they think of tall slopes of solid rock. That's not true either. Lots of mountains are covered in trees at the base. A hilly area is like a forest, except that the canopy rises and lowers at a predictable pace. And according to my surroundings, that's where I am right now.

Remember the chilly wind I talked about? Most hills are cool and fresh no matter where in the hemisphere you are. Higher elevations make the temperature drop. So really, I still don’t know where I am. But that's a problem for tomorrow. Back to the original topic, there weren't just more trees behind the tree; I spotted a body of water too. Usually lakes in places like these are artificial, which could possibly mean that there were people nearby. I want to walk towards the lake, but if I did that then I faced a problem. It was way too dark out right now to see anything other than the lake. Water stands out, but houses don't. I probably wouldn't be able to knock on the door anyway, due to personal embarrassment. Have I mentioned that I was naked yet? I’m not even wearing any accessories, either. It's not unheard of to find naked people exploring the hillside, but even if I did have clothes on, I'm rather shy.

The lake was artificial, I assumed. It wasn't covered in mud, grasses, and icky substances. Well, it was, but it was obviously being managed. Managed to the extent that a patch of grass-less ground surrounded the body of water. I walked to the patch of dirt and laid down on my side, hugging my knees. Doesn't exactly do wonders for my back, but it was this or the tree. Or knocking on the door. At an unknown time of night. I could probably guesstimate what time it was by the stars if I was an astronomer, which I am not. I can't even find the big dipper.

The soft dirt was not soft. Why do people always call dirt soft? Have you tried lying down on the ground? It is certainly not soft, unless it's eroded to the point that dirt sticks to your clothes. Or, well, my figure, in my situation. Might as well sleep on a large stone. Now that I think about it, this still doesn't solve the bug problem.

I won't say "I was fast asleep before my head hit the ground" or some shitty lie like that. That's just not possible. At least for me. Even if I'm exhausted to the point of bodily breakdown, it takes me a few minutes before I can lose my lucidity and fall asleep. I laid uncomfortably on the dirt, naked, for nearly half an hour before I even started feeling sleepy. It took an hour for most of the thoughts to cease from my mind, and another fifteen minutes for me to actually fall asleep. Sleeping on the floor is hard.

I woke up a few hours later. My vision is hazy and confused; static edged my peripheral vision. I tried to stand up, but my senses were so numbed that I tripped over myself and fell on my back. Not caring enough to figure out what woke me up, I obeyed the aching in my body and let myself fall asleep.

I woke up at eight in the morning. That was an estimated guess, there was no way for me to know for sure besides the fact that I usually wake up at eight. Not to attend a job or to go to classes, no. There’s something about waking up early that I enjoy. Maybe it is the sun's heat, and the fresh breeze that always seems to be so much fresher early in the day. I'm the sort of person that showers in the morning, so without thinking too much, I dove into the pool of water. Naked. Not like anyone would care or anyone would be watching, that's not usually the case in this kind of landscape. The real problem is the temperature. I was expecting it to be cold and refreshing. It was not. It was gross and lukewarm and ugh. At least it looked clean. Hopefully no one was going to be drinking water from this.

I climbed out of the water cold. Just because the water was warm doesn't mean I was. Water cools up quickly, and since the trees around me block the wind from blowing too hard, I'm going to have to let the sun slowly dry me. I shivered; the wind didn't feel as nice right now as it had yesterday.

And then I saw it.  A green pegasus slammed into the ground, five feet from me. I rushed over to get a closer look, but a searing pain in the back of my head knocked me down, and the only thing I remember happening afterwards was my vision going black.