In Zack’s dreams
He passed through a blue door through the darkness, and once he was inside, he saw two people standing in front of him.
The Mysterious Old Gentleman says “Welcome to the Velvet Room. My is Igor. I am delighted to make your acquaintance.”
Igor looked at the girl next to him and said, “This is Elizabeth. She’s a resident here, like myself.”
Elizabeth says “Pleased to meet you.”
Igor said, “This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… Only those have signed the contract can enter this place.”
Then something blue shined on the table, and it turned into the document that Zack signed at the dorm.
Igor says “From now on, you shall be welcome here as a guest in the Velvet Room. You are destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require my assistance to do so. I only ask one thing in return… Abide by your contact, and assume full responsiblity for the choices you make.”
Zack nodded and said, “All right.”
Igor says “Hold on to this.”
Then something blue above Zack’s head came down, and once it reached his hand, he saw it was the ‘Velvet Key’.
Igor said, “Until we meet again…”
4/9
In the Early Morning
Zack was getting ready.
He looks at his phone and says in his head “It feels like I had a strange dream… it’s time to go to school.” and he closed his phone.
At Gekkoukan High’s Gate
Zack was walking and was stopped when he heard Junpei’s voice say “Yo… I’m so sleepy.”
Zack turned his head to see him and Junpei said, “In times like these, the best course of action is to sleep during class! That adrenaline rush you get from dozing odd right in front of the teacher can really spice up your dreams.”
Zack says “I know what you mean, man.”
Junpei says “It’s real addicting, ain’t it? After you build up the courage to do it once, you gotta try it again! …Then again, since I’m not listening to the lecture, I’m pretty much screwed later! Oh, but we have classic literature today… That means we’re stuck with Mr. Nasty ol’ Ekoda.”
Zack said, “Junpei, come on, man. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Besides, we got each other for class, right?”
Junpei nods and says “You’re right. Who couldn’t get excited to see us in class!”
Zack shakes his head as they walk to class.
In the Classroom
In the Morning
Mr. Ekoda says “Ahem… I’m Mr. Ekoda. I’ll be your classic literature teacher. We’ll be learning all about good old Japan through some truly great stories. Exciting, right? Now, some people say classic lit isn’t relevant anymore, but oh, are they wrong!”
Zack was already getting tired of hearing this guy talk.
Mr. Ekoda said, “The students, the other teachers– they don’t know what they’re talking about! Nobody really understands it like they should…”
Zack says in his head, “I’m feeling sleepy… Should I close my eyes for a few minutes?”
Zack shook his head as he decided to stay awake.
Mr. Ekoda asks “Hey… Are you even listening to me? Let’s wake up, shall we, children? Now, open your textbooks. First on our syllabus is Ise Monogatari, the origin of Japanese literature. It’s very interesting story. You youngesters might even call it ‘da bomb’. *sighs* I can tell you people are ‘zoning out’ on me…”
Zack said in his head, “I forced myself to stay awake and listen to the lecture…”
Zack’s academics has increased.
After School
Zack was sitting in his chair and Junpei walked over and asked, “‘Sup! How’s it goin’? Wanna stop somewhere on the way home?”
Zack asks “...Where?”
Junpei said, “I dunno, maybe grab a bite to eat? Thaaat’s right, you’re new around here. No worries, I’ll show ya. It’s just around the corner from here. Let’s go!”
Zack says “Fine, but you’re paying.”
Junpei said, “Whaat?!” as he jumps back from that.
Zack laughed as he left the classroom leaving Junpei shocked.
Junpei ran out and asked, “Wait, are you seriousI I gotta pay!?”
Later
At Paulownia Mall
Junpei said, “This is Paulownia Mall. Whenever I hang out with the guys from school, we end up comin’ here. There’s a karaoke box, an arcade… Oh, yeah, you can rent out CDs, too. Then there’s that club over there… Not that I’ve ever gone in myself.”
Junpei walks over to the arcade machine outside and says “This place may not look like much, but I’m not complaining. Let’s check out the CDs first…” then he noticed the arcada machine.
Junpei ran up and said, “Oh, whoa, that’s new! I gotta try this… Lemme show ya my mad crane game skills!”
Junpei had put his money in and started to play it.
Once Junpei missed, he said, “Argh, dammit! Ohhh, come on, man… I am not leaving empty-handed! Dude, help me look from the side.”
Then Junpei gets excited as he says “Yeah, that’s it! …Or not.” as he lost the prize. One more try… Just one more!”
Zack hung out with Junpei for a while before heading back to the dorm.
At Night
Back at the Dorm
Zack entered the dorm as Mitsuru saw him and said, “You’re pretty late. I don’t mena to be overbearing, but please don’t make this regular occurrence. Well, in any case, you look quite tired. Why don’t you go to bed early tonight?”
Zack nods and leaves for his room and enters.
Zack sat on the bed, and he was having a hard time trying to stay up to change his clothes.
Zack said in his head, “I feel exhausted… Maybe it’s because I haven’t gotten used to living here.”
Zack leaned back on the bed, and he pulled out something out, looks at his hand, and said, “Just who was that old man from the dream I had last night…? And what was that ‘contract’ all about?” then he falls asleep.
An Hour Later
Zack was woke up by a sound that shook the building.
Zack stood up and decided he should check what’s happening outside.
Then he heard someone banging on his door and thought it was Yukari calling out “Wake up!”
Then he knew it was her when she said, “Sorry, but I’m coming in!”
Yukari came in and says “There’s no time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!”
Zack said, “All right.”
Yukari says “Hurry! To the first floor! We’ll leave through the back!”
Yukari remembered something and said, “Oh, wait! Take this, just in case.”
She handed him a shortsword, and she says “Okay… Let’s go!”
Downstairs
They got to the back door and Yukari said, “All right, we should be safe now–”
Then Zack heard Mitsuru’s voice in his head as she says “Takeba, do you read me!?”
Yukari said, “Y-Yes! I hear you!”
Mitsuru says “Be cafeful! There appears to be more than one enemy! The primary one’s lurking somewhere nearby!”
Yukari shouted, “What!?”
Then the backdoor was being punched.
Yukari says “Wh-Whoa! Let’s pull back!”
Zack nods as she says “What are we going to do? It’s at the front door… Should we go upstairs for now?”
Zack said, “Yes, we should. We can stay away from the… enemy that way, so that they would have to come inside to get us.”
Yukari says “Good call. Hurry. We have to get to safety!”
Zack and Yukari ran to the stairs as she says “All right, let’s get away upstairs.”
Zack said, “Let’s hurry.” and they ran upstairs.
On the second floor
The building shook again, and Yukari said with a hint of frighteness in her voice “I-It’s getting closer!? I need to calm down. It’s gonna be okay… Getting to safety is our priority now!”
Zack nods as he went upstairs to the third floor.
On the Third Floor
They got up there, then they weren’t there for very long since they ran up the stairs to the fourth floor.
On the Fourth floor
The building shook again and Yukari asked, “What was that!?”
The building shakes again and Yukari says “Don’t tell me it got inside! It’s getting closer! Keep moving! Hurry!”
They went upstairs again, and Yukari saw the door to the roof and said, “Right! If we go out through here, then…!” and she ran out the door.
On the Roof
Yukari sighs as she says “Whew… I’ve locked the door, so we should be safe for now.”
Then the building was shaking and Zack and Yukari say in unison “Huh!?”
Then they heard a roar.
They both begin to pant heavily, as they slowly turn around looking at the edge of the roof.
They saw a hand grab onto the side of the building, Yukari said, “No way.”
Then more arms started to grab the side, and once they saw a face mask being held as it looks around.
Zack was confused.
Yukari saw it up, then once it noticed them, it armed itself with swords.
Zack didn’t know what to do about this thing.
But knew it wasn’t gonna be good.
Yukari said, “That’s it. One of the monsters that attacked us… it’s a Shadow!”
Yukari quickly grabs her gun and points it at her head.
Zack was confused.
Yukari stared at her gun for a while.
As she was trying to pull the trigger.
She took too long trying to pull the trigger, and The Shadow knocked her out of the way.
Zack saw her land, but also saw the gun land right in front of him.
Zack yelled, “No!”
The Shadow started to walk to Yukari, Zack sighs as he doesn’t know what to do.
Then he looks down at the gun, and begins to breath heavily, as something was telling him to grab it.
Then he saw a vision of the kid from before.
That’s when he grabbed the gun, then he had another vision of the kid.
The kid looked at him and said, “...Go on.” as he hears the voice echo in his head.
Zack pointed the gun at the side of his head.
Zack said this one word in parts, “Per… so… na…”
His eyes begin to glow blue, and that’s when he pulled the trigger, as it looked like the bullet went through his head.
And that’s when something behind him started to manifest.
The thing behind him said, “I am thou… Thou art I… From the sea of thy soul, I cometh. I am Orpheus, master of strings…"
Zack started to chuckle at that and looked at the shadow and shouted, “Hey! Big ugly!”
The shadow looks at Zack, and he says “Come at me, Shadow.” as he motions to himself.
Yukari looked up to see the Shadow staring at Zack, and Zack having a Persona.
Yukari gasps at the sight.
Then Zack got a headache, as he begins to grunt at the pain.
He began to hold his head in pain as he bends down.
He saw the kid as a vision as he continues to grunt.
Orpheus behind him begins to screech in pain as it roars at the moon.
Zack looks up at the sky letting go of his head, and screams “Ngh… Aaaaaaaaaah!” at the Moon just like his Persona.
Then Orpheus ripped himself apart, from his mouth, as his Persona evolved into another one, as it threw the pieces of Orpheus off.
Zack knew the name of this Persona.
Thanatos, was the name.
And Thanatos roars at the Shadow looking at Zack.
Zack saw Yukari backing away from the Shadow scared.
Thanatos then screams at the moon, and after that pulls out a sword.
Thanatos goes flying over to the Shadow, as it attacks the Shadow, rips off an arm, and cuts the face mask in half with the sword.
The arm falls off as Yukari whimpers.
Thanatos roars and looks at the arm it was holding, as it squeezed it, then it busted with this black goo.
Zack’s eyes dim back to it’s original color as he begins to breath heavily.
Zack looked at his Persona, in front of the full moon, then it looked like his persona glitched, and it was back to it’s original form, Orpheus.
Zack’s heart was beating fast and he could feel the adrenaline.
Yukari was on the ground and asked, “Is it over…?”
Then More shadows came up to them, and Yukari screams “Eek! No… G-Get away from me!”
Zack said in his head, “I need to protect her…!”
Zack pulled out his sword, as he stands on his side.
Yukari asked, “Those Shadows… Did they break off from that other one!?”
Zack look at the enemy to his left and he pulls out the gun, puts it to his head, and yells “Orpheus!” as he pulled the trigger and used Agi on the enemy as he blasted them with fire.
Zack looks at the other and attacks them with his sword killing them.
Zack said, “The monsters are gone…” he groans and falls down on the ground face first.
Yukari gasps and shouts “Ah!” she got up and ran to Zack’s side and asked, “Are you okay!? Come on…! Can you hear me!? Oh, say something…!”
In the Velvet Room
Zack saw where he was, and it was the Velvet Room.
Zack sees Igor, as he says “It’s so good to see you again. Your lost consciousness after awakening to your ‘power’. Ooh, I see that it was Orpheus who heeded your call. Very interesting…”
Zack was confused and Igor said, “That was the power of Persona… The manifestation of your psyche.”
Zack asked, “Persona?”
Igor says “A Persona is a facet of your personality that surfaces as you react to external stimuli… You can think of it as a mask that protects you as you brave many hardships.”
Zack asks “A mask?”
Igor said, “The power of a Persona is the power of one’s soul… And the soul is fueled by the depth of one’s bonds. As you form these bonds by becoming involved with others, your own Social Links will gradually develop.”
Igor says “The strength of these Social Links will foster the growth of your Persona abilities. Please remember this. Now, then… Time marches on in your world. I shouldn’t keep you here any longer. Next time we meet, you will come here of your own accord. Until then… Farewell.”
To be continued…