Prologue: Of Shadows and Men
A Shadow is a dark part of one's ego. When mastered by the ego, a Shadow becomes a Persona.
That statement is meant to be purely metaphorical, not to mention theoretical, but I can personally attest to the quite literal nature of those words.
Shadows are monstrous beings of pure hatred. They come in many shapes and sizes, but share one commonality: they are born from the suppressed thoughts and emotions of human beings. Shadows don't normally manifest themselves in the human world (otherwise, I wouldn't be explaining them to you), but rather in another dimension. One such dimension was the Dark Hour that occurred between the passing of one day to the next; this temporal anomaly was eventually eradicated. Another of these dimensions is the Midnight Channel, a realm within television sets that contains the thoughts, desires, and wishes of the common man.
Occasionally, within the Midnight Channel, a person would be trapped inside. There, he or she would be forced to face his or her personal Shadow. More often than not, the captive would deny that the Shadow is another version of him- or herself, causing the Shadow to separate from its host and gain immense power. Then, once the fog clears, the Shadow will attempt to kill the human from which it spawned.
I had to face my own Shadow in such a way. He ridiculed me and taunted me and revealed my darkest emotions. When I denied him, he very nearly killed me in his fit of rage. If it weren't for Teddie, I wouldn't be alive right now.
But I digress.
There exist very few people who have mastered their respective Shadows and obtained the power of Persona. Of those, an even narrower group exists: those with the Wild Card power, or the capability to possess multiple Personae. One of those was Makato Yuki of Port Island, who gave his life to prevent Nyx, the embodiment of darkness, from bringing about humanity's doom. There's also Yu Narukami, a high school student from Inaba, who vanquished Ameno-Sagiri and Izanami in the Midnight Channel.
And there's me. Takuma Yuuto.
Although I possess the Wild Card, I am still a novice at using the power of Persona. Even though I've fought countless Shadows in the Midnight Channel with my closest friends—my only friends—none of the Shadows I've faced have been particularly powerful. I had great potential—potential to be as strong as even Narukami, but I am still weak. It didn't help, having my Shadow spill those deep, forbidden thoughts into the daylight like that. To this day, I have nightmares about my encounter with my Shadow. Until I have the strength to overcome my Shadow once more, I will always be a step behind, a cut below. I will always be in their shadow. I will always be dependent, upon Rise, upon Naoto, upon Kanji, upon Yosuke and Chie and Yukiko. They are the reason I fight, and why I keep on living.
Without my friends, I am nothing.
I have only had to face the world on my own once. Without anybody to guide me. Without anybody to comfort me.
It was one of the deadliest, most harrowing trials of my life.