Reality and Search...

I opened my eyes to find myself floating in the deep ocean, surrounded by a beautiful landscape made up of grown-over high-rise buildings.....I was in the wild yet aesthetically pleasing, Dome City...

*groan*

*Cough* *Cough*

'Dieing always sucks but, death by electricity is the absolute worse so far...I prefer my first death by Chi blocking, it was so peaceful...' my thoughts were frantic and erratic and continued on for a while, this anxiety and muddled train of thought is common for those who, like myself, returned to Dome City or Altissia after something traumatic.

After I finally recovered, I stood firmly on the water, pulled the insect gourd out of my inventory, and strapped it to my back...out of the container, my Kidaichu beetles began to spread in the vicinity...

'Once I make it back to my territory and rest for a bit, I'll descend into Altissia...I need to walk those peaceful streets for a few hours, relax.... and clear my mind.

.......

After going through the proper procedures for descending, I was greeted with the typical prompt...

[Dear Traveler,

You have been approved for descending from Dome City to Altissia, please take note that any abilities, skills and items you have will be unavailable to you unless they originate from worlds accessible to Altissia-based Travelers. We apologize for the inconvenience and wish you a wonderful trip...

NOTE: Access to all abilities can be granted at Heaven's Arena or during the Survival Games depending, please make your way to Traveler's Services in the Gate of Worlds to apply for this exception...]

I read through the message and nodded....'seems fair, I doubt that these rules are applied to everyone equally...I wouldn't put it past him to allow use--WHY am I thinking about him again?...'

I shook myself out of my thoughts, quickly descending into Altissia and making my way towards Anteiku, a wonderful coffee shop of which I am a fan.....the coffee is amazing and the ascetic delightful.

'I'm looking forward to visiting this coffee shop's world in the future...right now though, I need to read up on the forums...'

'Raven's new world called "Parallel" was opened and the multiverse is going wild with curiosity.....no one has returned yet so they assume it's a more "safe" world compared to the others....'

'As expected, what else would it be if the over-arching goal was educating as I've read about...'

.....

I have been sitting and drinking coffee for some time, I was alone up until two minutes ago.....two men walked in and sat nearby, they were loud and obnoxious.....I tried my best to tune them out but it was impossible, plus, eavesdropping could take my mind off other thoughts...

"Yep! I just qualified for ascension, I'm heading up there soon.....gonna get me a sweat-looking monster pet and fly it around Dome City like a boss.." one of the men said to his average-looking friend, who was sporting a red blush.....it was obvious that he was drunk.

"Good for yo- *hiccup*- you man, I don't think I wanna ascend in the near future...I still haven't gotten my fill of The Four Nations..."

Hearing this last sentence, Chastain's ears perked up.....memories of her life in TFNs cross her mind daily, it was a fulfilling and excellent life...

"Dude, why are you still diving in that world?....how many times has it been now?.....four times?..."

*Hiccup*

"Yep! Just finished my fourth.....what can I say man, ever since my first dive all those years ago, I can't seem to get enough. Plus, the ladies in that world are smoking hot....many are freaky, which I'm totally into...I've married someone new each time I dive and I can only say it's gotten better each time!..."

The man brags while drunk wiggling his eyebrows up and down and making finger pistols towards his friend causing the other guy to laugh.

I didn't know what to think at the moment, but a sense of foreboding started to well up as I continued to listen...

"Yep! I married a different girl every time.....the first girl I married was a hot piece of woman who helped me save the world! Her name was Ty Lin....man, that girl was so flexible it was scary..."

"Dude! You always say that you saved the world but have no proof...."

The bragging man scowled and became angry..." you calling me a liar? I took the persona of a great hero and played it to perfection by defeating the fire lord with only my trusty boomerang AND bagging a smoke show...I was even faithful to her for a while but there was this blind girl, man, she was a good side-piece...almost got caught a few times.....that Ty Lin was too good of a Chi Blocker to offend..."

.......

Chastain stopped listening at that moment.....or perhaps, it would be better to say she couldn't listen any longer. A part of her life that she saw as important and impactful was crumbling.....' this guy? ...no...Toph? My best friend?.....is this true!?...' she replayed all of her memories over and over and slowly, things started to click and clues were found.

Her thoughts continued to spiral.....although she should be angry and attack the treacherous and awful man she once called...*sobbing cries*

Chastain cried for hours as quietly as she could, after the two men left the shop she was the only one there.....sadness, pain, anxiety...there was little left within the Ghoul's Coffee Shop.