AN: Hopefully the pacing for these chapters is consistent. It's nice writing smaller, more character-driven chapters. I don't need my standard 10,000 word count. It's a welcome alternative.

Been playing a lot of games lately. Lethal Company, Baldur's Gate 3, Lies of P. Fun stuff.

RISES IN THE EAST

[Teal]

Teal was awoken by a firm knocking on her door. She leaned out of bed and stared at the door appraisingly.

"Teal? You in there? C'mon, it's Keara. Please open up."

Teal hesitated for a second, wondering if she shouldn't just stay quiet and wait for her to leave. She felt a bit guilty, and she knew talking with Keara would only worsen it. However, the knocks grew incessant. Keara refused to leave. In the end, Teal caved and opened her mouth.

"...Just a second."

Now she had to open the door. She willed on her clothes and the pink band tying her hair up. She stopped short of the door, steeled herself with a deep breath, and then swung it open.

Keara's eyes sought Teal's immediately before she spoke a word. "Hey, Teal."

"Hey." She replied automatically.

"Haven't seen you for a while. You doing alright?"

Teal looked Keara over carefully. "Are you doing alright?"

Keara glanced to the side. She was fidgeting. Antsy.

"What about Tomas, is he doing alright?" Teal asked next.

"We weren't... we weren't trying to avoid you or anything. I mean, I know we canceled our extreme horseback plans, but..." She trailed off.

"No, I get it. We've been walking around each other. I'm not mad or anything."

"Good." There was a beat of silence. "Nitebane shook him." Keara admitted in a rush. "The stuff out at those cliffs, he-" She cut off when her voice shook. "C-Can I come inside?"

"Yeah. Of course." Teal said immediately, ushering her friend in. Keara crossed the threshold in a rush and, when Teal closed the door and it was just the two of them, everything came out.

"I was shaken too. I was so scared back then." She whispered breathlessly. "Getting jumped like we did and almost dying. I thought we were done for." She hugged herself to stop shaking. "We do death defying shit all the time, but that? That was a little too close for comfort. I still have trouble sleeping."

"Mhm." Teal said noncommittally. "Tomas'... been the same?"

"Yeah, but I think he's taking it harder than me. He asked to sleep over a few times because he's afraid of being on his own. It was only a month later that we realized you'd slipped our minds. I know it's hella late, but are you feeling or having any problems?"

"Yeah." Teal said forlornly.

"Like what?"

"Uh, j-just more of the same." She said hurriedly. "Restless sleep and jumping at shadows."

"How bad? Any nightmares?"

"Nightmares? Um, yeah." Teal shrugged, rubbing the back of her head. "N-Not so bad, I guess. Not like what you guys got."

"Regardless, we shouldn't have discounted you like we did. Sorry." Keara apologized. "Just because you handled those Griefers the best and seemed okay, we should have delved deeper. That's what friends are meant for." She offered an apologetic smile. "Would you like me to sleep over? It helped having someone with me."

"Thanks, but... I-I think I can manage." Teal stepped back.

"You don't need to put up a brave front if you're suffering, Teal. We're all in the same boat."

"...Right." Teal's smile became strained. "The same boat... So, like," she shifted from one foot to the other, "you guys haven't done any extreme thrill-seeking since Nitebane?"

"That's what I wanted to talk about too." Keara admitted. "After how close we came to death in Nitebane, Tomas and I agreed to take a break from all the near-death stunts. Just for a little while. Until we get over whatever trauma we got. We can still hang out, though!" She insisted earnestly. "We were thinking about getting dinner tomorrow night. You in?"

"It's a date." Teal flashed finger guns, her bubbly personality rising for that one moment to reassure her friend. The two agreed on a place and time before Teal bid Keara goodbye and she left her home.

As soon as the door closed, Teal pressed her forehead on the door and dropped her smile.

"...The hell is wrong with me? I'm not getting any of that."

Teal was having problems following the stuff at the cliffs, but not like Keara and Tomas. She wasn't having any nightmares, nor was she afraid to be by herself. In fact, she'd spent the last month thrill-seeking by herself while Keara and Tomas were lost in their trauma. Hence, why she felt guilty and reluctant to speak with her friend. She was cutting them out of thrill-seeking and doing their group thing on her own.

But she was telling the truth when she said she had problems. She didn't think it was trauma, but she wasn't sure. For some reason, the thrill-seeking she had once enjoyed had become stale and repetitive. She wasn't experiencing the same high she used to get while doing them.

Like the extreme horseback thing. She went ahead and did that without Keara and Tomas, but it didn't get her blood pumping like she wanted.

And the day after that, she skydived onto the slime block pads. That had really given her a rush the first time, but now it hardly got a jolt out of her.

And for the water rapids, she actually gave up her allotted time slot after five minutes in the water.

Something felt wrong inside of her, and she didn't think it was because she was doing these things alone instead of with friends. That was part of it, but not all of it, no.

This had been going on ever since the incident in Nitebane. Since her life was threatened. Since she killed that guy.

She'd never killed another Crafter before then, so maybe this was a result of that. A loss of feeling from taking a life. That's why Keara and Tomas felt different. But then, how long until it passed? Would it ever pass? She wanted to enjoy life again, like she used to! She wanted her heart racing. She wanted excitement!

If her friends were still unwilling to join her, she'd keep doing as she'd been doing to try and fix what had been thrown out of balance inside of her. Then, by the time they were ready to get back into their thrilling stunts, she'd have rekindled her lust for life.

With that upbeat thought in mind, she rushed out the door in search of new thrills.

Spleef, pig-riding, minecart roller coasters, parkour, judo, wrestling, potion tag, Puffer Fish races, swimming, drunk karaoke.

Teal spent the better part of a week engaging in several games and activities she used to adore. However, she found that she had to do multiple things to feel the same level of enjoyment she used to feel. It was like she built a tolerance to it or something. It felt lackluster and she often wondered to herself how she ever found enjoyment in such things.

Even now, participating in a kickboxing tournament. Her movements were robotic - just going through the motions against her opponent. She didn't even work up a sweat before she voluntarily let the other guy pin her.

"Winner: Trey!"

"Good fight." Trey got up off her, hand extended to help her up. She took it and smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes. Usually, she hated losing a fight or a game, but she just wanted to get out of the tournament as soon as possible. It wasn't fun.

Ten emeralds down the drain. She lamented the tournament entry fee as she exited the recreation center and trekked home. It was dark now, Daymonte's redstone lamps illuminating the stone bridges crisscrossing the intersecting chasms.

Teal yawned as she considered her light wallet. She'd have to scrounge together some trade-worthy items for the Testificates. If she won that kickboxing tournament, it would have netted her a nice first place reward. Too bad it was too boring for her.

Just like everything now.

Her friends were getting better every day. She didn't tell them she was doing stunts and games without them, but she had dinner and hung out when she could. Being with people was the cure. It took their minds off the unpleasant things they sought to forget. Teal just wished it would help her as well.

She sighed as she crossed close to the chasm walls.

That was where she heard the screaming.

"Help! Mugger!"

Her head shot up and turned left. There, between two buildings, in a tiny, dead-end niche, a woman was being dragged by a wiry male with a brutish face.

"Gimme your diamonds, lady!" The mugger shouted before backhanding the woman. She cried out as she fell to the ground and the mugger withdrew the diamonds he'd been aiming for. He grinned before kicking the woman further into the niche. Then he took off.

Teal was in his way.

"Damnit. Out of the way, Good Samaritan!" The mugger shouted, an iron shovel being drawn like a weapon.

Teal got into her kickboxing stance and pivoted, delivering a picture-perfect spinning hook kick. Her heel connected with the man's jaw, shattering it, and sending him straight into the side of a building.

The mugger gave a groggy gurgle, his hands trying and failing to pick himself back up. He looked to be clutching his face as Teal inched closer to stand over him. She noticed he had dropped the diamonds, so she stooped down to pick them up.

Suddenly, the mugger's body rolled into her legs and knocked her down. She rolled over quick only for a shovel to smack her in the face. Her nose crunched under the blow and her whole face stung so bad she couldn't see.

Again, the shovel smacked her. This time her arm. Something cracked - a hairline fracture maybe. Teal cried out in pain while the mugger stood over her, mumbling something through a broken jaw.

Teal felt scared. Her life was at risk. Fight or flight.

Her blood started pumping. Heart racing. Endorphins numbing the pain. Her pupils dilated and saw the shovel being raised.

She rolled out of the way as it clanged onto the ground where she had been. Then she spun to her feet and kneed the mugger in the jaw - his new weak point. He clutched his ruined mouth and Teal disarmed him by kicking the shovel aside.

She then tackled him to the ground and pinned him before wailing on his face with all her boxing training. Again and again and again she punched his face until her knuckles hurt. She felt a bone crack in the mugger's face, yet she didn't relent. Her eyes were wild, and blood was pounding in her ear as she kept punching and punching and-

The mugger was dead.

Teal collapsed now that there was no body being pinned beneath her. The mugger's gear became strewn about along with his Head. Teal was breathing hard as she leaned back and stared at the sky. Her heart quieted. The fight was over.

"Oh, thank you!" The woman who had been mugged hurried over and picked up her diamonds before checking Teal. "I can't thank you enough for dealing with that scoundrel. Are you alright?"

Teal had a satisfied, drunken smile on her face as she answered. "Never better."

Dealing with that one mugger had been more enjoyable than all the things she'd done the last week combined.

That was the secret. That was why she felt dissatisfied with her usual stunts. Almost dying to those Griefers only to then kill them was a new high that blew all her other highs out of the water. The body and mind craved new plateaus of pleasure and excitement. What better way to feel alive than to almost get killed and kill the ones that tried? It was euphoric, and she didn't use that word often.

And she had done good! She stopped a mugging! She helped someone and got to feel that awesome thrill again. It was a win for everybody.

Despite the aching face and the light fracture on her arm, Teal still wore that satisfied smile when the guards showed. The mugging victim explained everything, and Teal was questioned for a while before the remains of the mugger were taken away. The guards commended her for doing her part in protecting the kingdom. They healed her back to full and escorted her and the victim home.

That night, her slumber was deep and lovely, with wonderful dreams of bravely fighting rough-looking Griefers or bandits or muggers. She took them all on with just her fists and kicks.

AN: How nice. I have a feeling this is the start of a beautiful, heroine origin story.