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Where... am I?
You opened your eyes. Bright sunlight streamed down, almost blinding you. You blinked, feeling like you had just woken up from a long nap.
You were lying on a small island in the middle of a clear lake. Green and golden trees grew on the shore around the lake in a ring. A cool breeze ruffled the lush grass around you, and behind you...
"A sta-choo!" you exclaimed. You had learned that word from a book Miss Ivy read your class.
The statue was tall, much taller than you, and looked like a person with wings, holding an orb in their hands.
You had never seen a real statue before. Since your parents never took you out, your only chance to see the city was on the bus ride to and from school. Still, this place didn't look anything like the city where you lived. It was too clean and pretty. There wasn't even any garbage in the lake!
All of a sudden, you remembered falling down from the maple tree in your backyard. It had hurt a lot...
You gasped. I know what happened!
"I fell through a magic portal in the ground and landed here!"
In your excitement, you spun around in a circle. Your body felt strangely light... had you learned to fly after all? You looked down. Sure enough, you were floating a few feet off the ground.
Wow, it's even easier than walking!
You floated up to the statue's face, which took a bit more energy and felt like climbing. Up close, you could see that its eyes were closed. "Hi, Mr. Sta-choo!" you said.
The statue didn't respond.
Maybe it's sleeping. I don't like it when people wake me up when I'm sleeping, so I'll leave Mr. Sta-choo alone!
Next, you tried to cross the lake. You were a little scared, because you didn't know how to swim, so you moved slowly and tentatively. Thankfully, it was just as easy as floating over land.
I wonder if there's any fishies in the lake?
You used to have a pet fishy, but your mama cooked it while you were out at school. Maybe you could get a new pet fishy here!
You glanced down at the water and caught sight of a strange creature. The creature looked like a round blue mushroom... with eyes!
You waved at the mushroom creature in the water. The mushroom creature waved back at you, lifting one of its little tentacles.
You blinked. The mushroom blinked too.
Is that... me? I'm a mushroom?
It really is me! The magic portal must have turned me into a mushroom!
You spun around in the air until you got dizzy and fell down into the lake with a splash. Instead of sinking, you bobbed on the surface like a leaf. You could feel your energy restoring with every drop of water you absorbed.
Plop! Plop!
You saw a red blob bouncing around on the opposite shore of the lake, where all the trees were. It looked like it was made out of lava!
"Hi!" you said, floating over to it. "What's your name, blob?"
But the blob only bounced around some more.
"Since you won't tell me your name, I'll call you Mr. Cheeto!" you decided.
You bounced up and down with the red blob for a while, but it made you tired. "How come you're bouncing around so much? You're gonna make me dizzy!"
The red blob looked across the water at the island in the center of the lake, then back at you. Then across the water, and back at you again.
"Ohhh! Do you wanna cross the water, Mr. Cheeto? I can help you!"
You lowered yourself to the ground, and Mr. Cheeto landed on your big, round head. Then you floated across the water, and Mr. Cheeto jumped off.
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After helping Mr. Cheeto, you decided to leave the lake and explore the dense green forest beyond.
On the way to the forest, you noticed a yellow flower on the ground. It smelled sweet, like your favorite dessert, so you reached down and picked it.
Yummy! It's so sweet!
You nibbled on the flower, holding it in one of your tentacles, as you floated through the forest. After you finished the first flower, you saw another flower growing near a tree and flew over to pick it.
This flower was a little harder to pick. It seemed to be stuck in the ground. You wrapped all five of your tentacles around it and yanked the stem with all your strength—
BOOM!
Out of the ground popped a weird blue flower-monster!
"Waaaaah!" You leaped back in fright. "Don't eat me, Mr. Flower Monster! Mushrooms are bad for you!"
Surprisingly, the flower-monster didn't attack. It only eyed you quizzically, as if confused, and then spoke: "That's Ms. Flower Monster to you. And I'm not a monster, either."
"Oh! Sorry, Ms. Not-a-Flower-Monster!" Beginning to recover from your fear, you approached the not-a-flower-monster. "But what are you?"
"I am a Cryo Whopperflower. And you... you're a Floating Hydro Fungus. What are you doing all the way here in Mondstadt?" the Whopperflower asked.
"What's a Mon-stat?"
Astonished, the Whopperflower said, "Why, it's the city of the wind. Even a Sweet Flower would know that."
"What's a Sweet Flower?"
"It's the yellow flower I was disguised as. I was hoping to lure in an unsuspecting adventurer for my lunch. But all I succeeded in luring was a little mushroom, so..." the Whopperflower sighed gustily, evidently disappointed.
You flew in a circle around her. "Ms. Whopperflower, you're really cool! You can disguise yourself as a Sweet Flower and play tricks on grownups!"
Ms. Whopperflower puffed up proudly. "Little one, I'll have you know I can turn into a human, if I want."
"Wow! Can you teach me how to do that?"
"Well... I don't see the harm. We non-humans have to protect ourselves," the Whopperflower said slowly.
"Yay! Thanks, Ms. Whopperflower! You're the best!"
"But only Whopperflowers have the ability to transform naturally. I'm afraid you'll have to drink some Whopperflower nectar first."
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The Whopperflower collected some nectar from one of her petals and gave it to you to drink. It tasted icy and a little bitter, like cough medicine, but you managed to swallow it. Then she began teaching you the art of transformation.
After an afternoon of practice, you finally mastered how to transform into a human. According to Ms. Whopperflower, you looked "passably human." You had no idea what 'passably' meant. It probably meant 'adorable'!
Before you returned to the lake, she called out, "Come visit me when you have the chance, little one! I'll be here." With that, Ms. Whopperflower disguised herself as a Sweet Flower again.
It was a little hard to walk on two legs after floating in the air for so long. When you got to the lake, you checked your reflection in the water. You looked like a short, chubby child wearing a round, blue hat—just like a mushroom! Your hair still looked a little like tentacles, but... you were definitely a human!
As you were admiring your new clothes, you heard a voice from across the lake.
"You can swim right across, Traveler!"
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