Fate Is Determined By Whatever Lurks Below: The Tower

With another day passing, the employees of Markeeth's ever so lovely travel agency were still enjoying there time on the Eye. Yet in one of the hotel rooms, an idle René was trying her best to think up a romantic surprise for Jaina's birthday. 

As the blue haired woman went through her phone, trying to pick the perfect picture for the card, she was reminded of just how much they had been through. From the two first meeting at a casino and drinking the night away together, or time they got matching tattoos of a blue dragon breathing fiery mist, yet she could also choose the photo from the time they both got really into MMOs and blew half their savings on micro transactions. That was a fun one. 

Yet all these photos didn't have the right punch to them. They didn't scream "By the way, I'm also proposing so let's keep the card forever." 

Admittedly, René wasn't even sure what she was even doing anymore, but she couldn't exactly turn to Misha or Jae for advice, since they weren't really in relationships. She wouldn't ask Eli or Charlie since... They are quite possibly the most dysfunctional relationship she'd ever seen. And asking your boss for advice was kind of sad... But asking your boss's ex girlfriend wasn't a bad shout. (In her mind at least.)

"So you want to ask me about relationships? Well, I suppose I could try." Mollia smiled, flicking her hair back to show off her "good" looks. "Well, the Dr said you were in a long term relationship and from what Misha said about your world, your entire legend was about you loosing the girl you loved... So, I want to avoid the same mistakes."

Mollia's confidence dropped, replaced with a slight scowl. "We didn't break up... She was taken from me by a goddess with nothing better to do than crush a hero's hopes and dreams for love."

René nodded along, typing down in her phone; "Don't piss off gods during love."

"And besides. They used some bullshit excuse of "Oh, you're tainted and your fate is dictated". All a load of bollocks really." The former hero sighed, leaning into René's bed with a long sigh. Despite the many claims from Misha about how Mollia was this undefeatable god who could do no wrong, René just saw a sad woman with nothing left to do without her world. 

"You doing good? Like, head wise?"

"Would me saying yes reassure you?"

"Kinda?"

"Then yes. I am perfectly fine." Mollia sighed before sitting up with a more stoic expression. "Now if you want to learn about my exploits, go to Rat. She will talk your ears off with a long winded story about my past. Even the love story part."

But René began to get a bit curious. While she would've liked to ask more about love advice, she was slightly more interested in what bans a person from travelling to another world. From what she understood of the infinitely long rule book, the first rule of it was that anyone can travel to another star, even if their world was one dictated by fate. 

And as she pressed Mollia a bit more for information, the hero just gave a shrug in response. "I figured it was to do with this wererat curse I have... But thinking about it, that doesn't actually make sense." 

René's curiosity was somewhat satisfied by the answer. if even Mollia didn't know what prevented her from leaving, then that was it. The two continued to talk about the idea of proposing, yet Mollia was clearly distracted by the idea of what caused Penumbra to stop her. 

With a quick goodbye, Mollia decided to at least try and get an answer from Markeeth. Meanwhile, Grimm had just returned after a single day of hunting, and her new appearance was nothing short of funny to the rest of team R.A.A.T.

"What happened to you?" Ave asked as he stared up from the pool, being recorded for another livestream for their multiverse audience. "Your story didn't go to plan, right?" Eve snickered, turning the camera up at the now decayed dog headed horsewoman.

"Shut up... I got swept up in a whole plan and then some stupid anomaly exploded my head." She grumbled, not exactly happy about what had happened to her last head. Yet this wasn't the first time this had happened. But Grimm hated the fact that she didn't even get to be a real threat for her story. Just a simple plot device in her own words.

"Where's The Penguin? I want another shot."

"Sorry, but we got next dibs." Ave and Eve cheered in unison, quickly pointing their camera to themselves and chanted; "Our viewers are gonna love the heights we'll soar when we capture the anomalies!" 

"Whatever..." Grimm muttered under her breath, tossing her cape to the side and dipping her toes into the pool, watching as Giyugi slowly drifted beside her in the pool. "Are you ever going to move from the pool?" She asked with a smirk.

"🕈︎♒︎♏︎■︎ ❍︎⍓︎ ❍︎♋︎⬧︎🙵 ♑︎♏︎⧫︎⬧︎ ♐︎♓︎⌧︎♏︎♎︎📪︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎ ⬧︎⧫︎◆︎◻︎♓︎♎︎ ♌︎♓︎⧫︎♍︎♒︎📬︎" The fish responded with a kind hearted smile. "Still no clue what you're saying..." 

As the team enjoyed their little break, eventually Ave and Eve left to prepare for their new mission. The one where they'd stream the capture and defeat of their opponents in a dazzling display of excellence. 

And yet Mollia, joined by Rat, were walking along the sandy beach that sat right next to the hotel. Eventually finding Markeeth staring out into the horizon of the sea. "Ain't it pretty, beautiful and downright majestic?" 

"I suppose. Then again, you must see nice sights every time you travel." Mollia said in a rather flat tone as she stood next to him. Despite her monotone voice, even she could appreciate the beauty of the sea. 

Yet Rat on the other hand just wanted to get to the point of their chat. "We wanna know why Peni didn't let us leave The Iris."

Markeeth let out a sigh, having guessed this question would one day come and he'd prepared a perfect explanation for her. With a quick reach into his hat, he pulled out an old video game cartridge and handed it to her.

"Final Fight 6? What is it?" Mollia questioned, a bit confused on how this would explain anything. Markeeth, never one to disappoint, waved his cane around and summoned an old school game's console and TV. "It's a game. No better way to put it. Just put it in, play through it and find what it is your looking for." 

With that, he calmly walked away, leaving both Rat and Mollia with the game. "You reckon it's a backstory thing? Like he made a game that'd reveal why Peni is a... You know." 

"Perhaps. Let us see what lies in wait." Mollia said as she turned on the magical TV and put the cartridge in to begin playing what would surely answer at least a few questions. 

The game was a rather simple RPG with decent pixel graphics for the era it was made in. As Mollia began to play, she felt a wave of unearned nostalgia for something she'd never played before. The story was that of a simple hero coming from another world.

"That's familiar." Rat snickered. The rodent did always find it amusing how simple most stories start out. Mollia continued playing the opening act, coming to find that the hero was tasked with beating the demon lord. A simple trope. 

The two weren't exactly finding the game interesting, but considering it was the opening act, they continued on and Beat the tutorial. Yet as they left the forest, the first NPC they came across had a familiar look. 

Even in a 16bit, they'd recognise that face anywhere... Or more specifically...

"W-Who are you?"

[No one special] [Not important]

"Hmm... You are not of this world, are you?"

[Yeah... I don't really know where I am. Do you know of a way for me to leave?]

"I suppose I could help you get home. 

What's your name?"

[Please enter name: Rat]

"Rat, huh? That's a nice name.

Me? Oh, just call me Mollia. Mollia Chordarum."