Persona: FRAGMENT
By
R.A. Burgard
First Shard
Ignition
It had only been an hour, but the boredom of the train ride was finally settling in with its rhythmic bumping and shaking. I have my headphones on, but not even the music could hold my interest or keep me awake. The day had been long, and the goodbyes hard, but I knew I'd see my family again in good time. Today I begin my transfer to Carroll State University, a large school in the middle of Pennsylvania. Financial troubles made me switch to a state university, and this was the cheapest I could find that would offer my major, so reluctantly I'm to study at this large university.
No new texts on my phone; the only ones were from friends at my old college wishing me luck since my new one started a few weeks before them. My phone was silent now and seemed to be mocking me, almost telling me how my future would be at my new school: lonely and boring. I don't know how it's possible to be alone in a school so big, but somehow I get the feeling that's what I'm in for.
I can't hold it back any longer, and I let sleep take me into its dark folds. Maybe a dream is just what I need to keep myself going.
I wake up in a plush chair in a room with velvet lights shining all around. I'm seated at a table with a velvet cloth covering it, and across from me sits a man with the most gargantuan nose I've ever seen. With his head down his nose looked to be a good half a foot long, and I could see the balding crown of his head: straight, long grey hair coming down the sides. He wore a pressed black suit, and hardly seemed to notice me.
"Ah, you're awake now," he exclaims looking up into my eyes across his incredibly enormous nose. "I was wondering if maybe I should take a nap too to pass the time." I was about to reply, but he simply put a finger up to halt me. "No need, I know just what you're thinking. My name, is Igor and I am delighted to make your acquaintance.
"This is the Velvet Room. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room only those bound by a "contract" may enter. It may be that such a fate awaits you in the near future. Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?"
"My name is Oscar Belcourt, but my friends call me Oz," I reply, caught up in the mystery and atmosphere of the room.
"Hm…interesting. Do you believe in fate Mr. Belcourt?"
"I've never given it much thought before, sir."
"Igor, please call me Igor. Now, how about I give you a reading and see if your mind changes? Each reading uses the same cards, but is always different." The man laughs to himself for a brief moment, then pulls out a deck of Tarot cards. "Isn't that interesting? Life is much the same." He hung for a moment, letting the words sink in, then began the reading.
"Hm…the Hanged Man in the upright position represents sacrifice and introspection. In the future you will face a choice that you must not make a rash judgment upon lest you misread the paradox before you.
"The next is…oh my, Death itself has shown its face. However, Death is not always in the sense of the end of a life, but it is in fact the end of something. The question is, what will end, and what will begin?
"In the coming days you will enter into a contract of sorts, after which you will return here. The coming year is a turning point in your destiny. If the paradox remains, your future will be forever lost. My duty is to provide assistance to you to ensure that it does not come to pass.
"Now, it is time for you to wake up. Victoria, will you show him the way?"
"Yes sir," a female voice said. Looking up, I see a tall woman with wavy blond hair and golden eyes. She was striking, and I couldn't look away.
"Come along Mr. Belcourt," she said calmly. "It's time to wake up." She came forward, and rather than grab my hand she shoved me backwards as I fell through the floor and into a deep, endless darkness.
I awoke instantly in my seat, nearly falling out and onto the floor. I thought it had been the effects of being shoved through the abyss, but it turned out the train itself was violently shaking. Passengers were screaming as they tried to get out of their seats, but it was no help. Many were on the floor scrabbling to get up, and others were knocked out cold.
Looking across the aisle, I noticed a woman sleeping through it all, and when I called out to her to wake up, I noticed that she was sweating intensely. I also saw that the light on her body cast no shadow.
Despite that, I have no time to recover as I saw, in the window behind the woman, a gigantic red eye staring at me. A loud roar cut through the screams of the passengers, silencing them all. Then, the train shook its most violently as it was derailed and sent careening off into the wilderness. The train is rolling across the ground and I'm trying to keep my balance but I lost my footing and-
The world is out of focus, my sight fuzzy. I feel grass under my hand and something wet and warm trickling down my forehead. I try to stand but my body is too weak to move. I hear flames roar and crackle all around me, but I still can't move.
A strange noise meets my ears through the flames: something that sounds like chewing. I manage to get my head up and see the giant shadow beast feasting upon the bodies of my fellow passengers. Blood washes around the beast as it slakes its thirst and its hunger for flesh. I can barely keep myself from vomiting when I notice that I can move. My body is slow, but I manage to get up without making too much noise. As I move away from the beast, it seems to notice my movement and turns its head towards me. Its red eyes flash in recognition of more meat and fresh blood, as it lopes over the debris and slobbers on the ground.
My body freezes, I'm overcome with terror and I can't hold a thought together because this creature is going to eat me and kill me then I don't know what and my hand is shaking my knees collapse and I grope at the ground trying to find something to use as a weapon and-
"Thou art I…and I am thou," a voice calls out in my head, instantly clearing my mind of all fear. "From the sea of thy soul I come forth. I am Sigurd, Slayer of Dragons. Now, call out to me and I shall answer!" In the clarity of my mind, I know what I must do. I find a shard of glass on the ground and hold it in my right hand over my left.
"Per…so…na," I whisper as I plunge the shard into my hand, the blood spurting out of the wound. Light begins to flash from my hand where I stabbed myself, and the wind rushes around me, rustling the grass. I shut my eyes and let my head travel skyward, allowing the light to flood my body and stimulate all my senses. I was everywhere and nowhere, one and all. I felt everything the world had to offer and slowly my mind reached out to the universe. I knew what I must do now.
"Sigurd!" I shout, letting the word resound through the night. My bloody hand raised high into the air calls out to him, and I feel from the sea of my soul Sigurd respond. The light and wind stop. I know that behind me, with me, is Sigurd: for I am him and he is me.
The beast stops, then roars a bone-chilling sound that stops me in my tracks. It doesn't frighten me, because I know I can win. I know that we will win. Suddenly, I notice that in my hand is a long-sword perfectly balanced and weighted in my hand. It's adorned with white feathers that spread from the hilt, and its blade is silver with an azure and gold inlay that makes it shimmer in the night. It is Sigurd solidified into a weapon I can use to fight: all his knowledge travelling through the handle into my mind. I know how to use the sword, how to fight a beast bigger than me and win. I can do this.
It lunges straight at me, but I quickly dance aside, letting it crash into a wrecked train car. I brought my blade up and slashed at its leg, cutting it off from the main body. The beast howled in pain, but somehow managed to hit me square in the chest with a rogue blow that sent me flying across the wreckage into another car.
It took me a moment to regain my bearings, but by the time I could see again the beast was gone. I gripped my sword tightly, sweat beginning to drip down my hands. I could feel Sigurd's instincts take over and allowed myself to meld with him. My senses reached out for the creature looking for its presence, but it was well hidden. Suddenly, I felt it behind me and I quickly jump out of the way of its crushing blow. The train is smashed in two where I had just been standing, but the beast can't seem to get its hand out of the train. I take this chance and charge up its arm, my sword held in a position that lends to thrusting. I pull my arm back to get momentum, and with a powerful thrust I shove my sword into its head.
The beast's eyes open wide in shock, but soon go slack as death creeps in on it. Tendrils of darkness seethe off of the beast, causing me to jump off and onto the ground. I can no longer hear Sigurd and my sword is gone, but I don't need his power any more.
When the darkness clears away I notice that a woman is lying on the ground where the beast had once been. I run up to her and check her pulse: alive. Her eyes flutter open and she looks at me with her dreary brown eyes.
"What happened?" she asked. "Where am I?" I begin to answer her but a gunshot cuts me off. The woman's body goes slack as blood begins to ooze out the newly made hole in her head. I turn around to see where the shot had come from, and standing over me is a man in a neat black suit. He had slick black hair, and equally black sunglasses covering his eyes. He was relatively pale and in his hand he held a strange handgun. I couldn't see it very well, as he whipped it into a holster on his hip and began talking on a cell phone.
"Target eliminated," he said almost mechanically. "What do I do with the boy?" Silence. I held my breath as the man continued: "Roger." He turned to me. "You are to come with me for questioning."
"Questioning about what?" I asked incredulously.
"You don't need to know now. My boss will explain it all to you shortly." I tried to protest, but he held up his hand. Clearly, I would get nowhere with him so I shut my mouth and followed him through the wreckage to wherever he was taking me.
