Monday, Spring 1
5:00 AM on a Cloudy Day
[i]~The Borderline of the Broken Storm~[/i]

It was a cloudy, windy, stormy morning, with the first day of spring announced with the exhilarating squalls of a springtime tempest. The wind howled in short intervals, rattling the budding branches of the forest that surrounded Fiora Falls. They sounded skeletons, waltzing to the tune of nature's cacophony. It was a wild expression of nature, but some of that charm was lost from the lack of leaves on the trees. There was no rustling that mimicked the rain that was soon to come, and only a cool morning dampness chilled the air. No heavy rain yet. Heaven's doors had yet to open upon the Valley.

Brent had been awake an hour prior, occupying himself with a combination of campfire tending and coffee-brewing. Lately, he'd been having trouble sleeping, and such a problem had brought him the much needed time to catch up on e-books in his backlog. Making good of a bad situation was his way of life, after all, and while his insomnia has dulled his senses and killed off his ability to think sharply in the morning, a cup of instant coffee and a cold shower in Fiora Falls was enough to set him straight for a day of part-time work and full-time research. But today was a storming day, and he'd always wanted to take a bath in the rain. After all, if he did that, the young man could finally say something along the lines of “I'm perfectly clean. Just took a shower during that morning storm~!”.

He snickered at that thought, as he began to assemble a tarp over the warm fireplace and second-hand lawnchair. Stretched out tightly by aluminum poles and secured with bright orange spikes buried into the soil, Brent made a small prayer for his roof not to be blown off with the wind, so he had a nice open area in which to dry off his sleeping bag and pillow. Winter was a bad season for him, ultimately. He hadn't expected the snow to fall that quickly, and before he'd known it, Brent had sprained his ankle and caught a fever, spending his time bundled up and sweating inside his tent for ten days. The sickness wasn't even some sort of Winter Spirit Curse, so it wasn't like he had anything fun to write about in his blog.

And after that, his sleeping bag had stunk for days.

Grinning away those memories, and enjoying another wild gust that scattered sparks and threatened to toss his lawnchair into the darkening skies, Brent took a deep breath of the refreshing volatile wind. The atmosphere was full of energy now, crackling with the tension that promised a dramatic bolt of lightning. He stepped out from the cover of his shelter, stretching out with a great big yawn as his kettle whistled. This early in the morning, the only things on TV and the radio would be weather, news, and infomercials. The first storm of Spring, though, that was some nice entertainment to season his coffee with.

And like that, on top of the mountain, heralded by the scream of banshees, a jagged blade of light found its mark on top of Mount Edelweiss, followed by an explosive boom, and then...the storm vanished, the clouds collapsing into a vortex and then disappearing. Not dissipating, but simply disappearing.

For a moment, Brent was silent.

Then he laughed, a mix of shishishis and hehahas, as the Harvest Goddess decided to show Lily of the Valley a warm sunrise instead of a spring storm.

A few minutes later, as he was sipping on coffee while soaking in morning rays, Brent realized that he probably should have at least taken a picture of what had just transpired.
---
6:30 AM on a Brightening Morning
[i]~Ice-melts Water-falls~[/i]

It was still a bit chilly, but Brent wasn't a skilled kindler of flames for no reason! After spending thirty minutes vigorously washing his heavy winter coat and sleeping bag, he was finally ready to soak in the wintry chilliness of the cascading falls. With a smoldering fire nearby, ready to be ignited into a healthy blaze, as well as a good hour-and-a-half before he had to get started with finding jobs and maintaining connections, Brent was prepared to enjoy his Zen time as much as he could.

Everett would probably have more than a few words regarding his lack of fear of hypothermia, or ailments related to temperature, but the explorer was fine with that. He got a fever last time because he was careless. By next winter, he'll train his cold immunity until he could do a marathon out in the mountains, naked. That was his New Year's Resolution. He'll change his Ice Resistance into Ice Nullification!

Humored with another silly idea, the young man insured that the embers were still lively and smouldering under that tent of twigs, before promptly stripping off all his clothes and casting them dramatically aside, flinging them onto the rocks that circled the water falls. It was all in the atmosphere, after all. With the same lack of hesitation that he had with going full-nudist in the wilds, he then jumped into the lake, plunging himself into the near-zero waters.

For a moment, there was a numbing shock, as his mind was utterly white.

Then, in the next instant, it was as if he had been struck by lightning, a shock of adrenaline pouring into him. Blood rushed through his body, and his heart pounded madly as he kicked off the bottom of the lake and exploded outwards, a geyser of white water following him.

And then, the coldness settled in once more, but this time, it was a cold that only served to sharpen and calm him. His heartbeat slowed, settling into a regular rhythm, before, with deliberate steps, Brent slipped under one of the gentler parts of Fiora Falls, partially engulfed in the curtain of water.

Ice-melt cascaded over him.

White noise drowned out the material world.

Pulsating blows massaged his body.

Cold mist covered his eyes.

And, like a Buddhist monk, Brent achieved a state of almost perfect tranquility.

[b][i]“The mind is everything...what you think, you become.”[/i]

“Well, actually, I'd be really damn happy if I could change just by wanting to change, but holy crap, this is way too painful to be meditative!”[/b]

And with that, he hopped out of the waterfall before anything really bad happened, settling for floating along the current instead, bobbing up and away from the white mist.

It would appear that Brent would require much more training before he challenges Fiora Falls once more.