Prologue
There exists a sea known as Life...
Unpredictable, vast, beautiful…
Above it soars a bright burning star…
Its heat powerful enough to dry the sea…
But only in small amounts…
This star is known as Death…
Through all of time, Death has taken from Life…
Life continues to be because of the rain that heals it…
The rain known as Birth…
The Rain of Birth, the Sea of Life, and the Star of Death
Together, these three make the Triad of all Souls…
Existing in a natural cycle…
Death takes from Life and gives to Birth…
Birth takes from Death and gives to Life…
Life takes from Birth and gives to Death…
A natural cycle that proceeds without end…
However, two forces within can easily influence this cycle…
Light and Dark… Good and Evil…
Day: 1/31/2010
Place: Tatsumi Port Island and Iwatodai
Time: The Dark Hour
The bright yellow full moon of the Dark Hour casts a green ominous light over Iwatodai. The streets are lined with coffins and spotted with puddles of thick red blood. Silence heavily blanks the entire city. Farther into the distance stands a grotesque tower that reaches for the corrupted moon, the roof encircled by dark clouds. Beyond hides an extraordinary event that no one will ever know; a battle the will decide the fate of all life.
On the roof of the tower, large pillars with crow statues atop each one stand along the ends. The moon is so close that it looks like it can be touched.
In the wind, enormous crow wings flap with great force.
"The moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate..." says an eerie voice. A strange halo-like object hovers in the air.
"Entrusting his future to the cards, man clings to a dim hope…" A redundantly large sword is being held by a humanoid creature covered in black feathers and black armor.
"Yet, the Arcana is the means by which all is revealed…" The creature reaches out its left hand.
"Beyond the beaten path lies the absolute end…" The creature covers itself with its massive wings.
"It matters not who you are…" The creature uncovers itself to reveal its dreadful, smiling pale face.
"Death awaits you."
The creature stands, casting its hollow smile on a teenage boy in a school uniform, with his headphones hanging from his neck, a red armband with the acronym "S.E.E.S" printed across it on his left arm, the bang of his short, unkempt, dark blue hair covering his right eye, and a short sword in his right hand, who is favoring his right shoulder and trying to catch his breath. He glares at the creature with his fearless gray eyes, showing his unshakable will to fight.
The black feather creature raises its sword. The boy jump steps to the right to dodge the swing and runs to get enough distance to regain his ground. The creature summons a shower of ice blocks and hurls it at the boy. The boy takes a direct hit from one of them while trying to dodge the attack and kneels to the ground. The creature summons a concentrated lightning blast and uses it to attack the boy again. When the smoke clears, the boy is not hurt, but a blonde haired girl with robot appendages and bearing the same armband as him has taken the hit. The boy rushes to her as she drops to the ground. The robot girl turns to him.
"Ngh! A-Are you alright?" she asks with a strained voice. Suddenly, the creature prepares to strike with its sword.
"Oh, no ya don't!" an unknown man's voice yells. From the left, a mysterious being with wings comes and blocks the attack. From afar, names are called out.
"Artemisia!"
"Caesar!"
"Kala-Nemi!"
Three spirits, one with a whip, one with a robot body, and the one with a world globe in its left hand, unleash a combined ice/lightning attack and knock the creature back. The three-headed dog spirit rushes past the three and jumps to bite the creature on its left arm to distract it. An older boy with white hair, a red vest with a long sleeve white undershirt, black pants, leather shoes, and brass knuckles, once again sporting the same armband, roars as he rushes in with the spirit with the globe to help.
A spirit that looks like an egyptian crown with a bull motif wraps its wings around the boy and the robot girl and disperses a healing aura to heal them. Two girls rush over; one older woman with dark red hair, wearing a blouse, red ribbon, black skirt, and high-heel boots, wielding a rapier, and one light brown haired girl wearing a pink sweater jacket, red ribbon, black skirt, black stockings, and brown shoes, with an arrow quiver on her back and wielding a large bow, both of them sporting the same armband.
"Are you two alright?" the woman with the rapier asks.
"Come on! Hang in there!" yells the girl with bow. A white dog with a yellow shirt with wings on its back and a mechanical collar, clenching a knife its teeth, and a small boy with light brown hair, wearing a school jacket, orange hoodie underneath, black shorts, knee socks, and white sneakers, wielding a naginata, rushes past the group of four.
"Sanada-san!" the younger boy yells. The boy with vest, who the younger boy called Sanada, quickly dodges the creatures sword attacks. He jumps back to get some distance and glares at the creature.
"You cannot avoid death," the creature says. "To live is to die; they are one in the same." A scruffy looking boy in a school uniform, wearing a baseball cap, wielding a katana, and sporting the same armband comes rushing in.
"Don't you know when to shut the hell up?!" he yells. The boy ducks to dodge the creature's side swing. The younger boy uses his staff to pole vaults into the air to attack while the dog jumps to attack with its knife. Suddenly, an aura appears around the creature.
"Huh?!" When his attacks connects, the aura fires a powerful blast at the boy and the dog at point blank range.
"Ken! Koromaru!" Sanada calls out. He rushes back to the group to catch the boy while the boy with the cap picks up the dog and rushes him back to the group. An unknown girl's voice echoes through their heads.
"Everyone, hold your attacks!" she demands. At a distance from the fighting, a girl with green hair wearing a school uniform the same armband the rest of them bears uses the spirit she is inside of to relay the message.
"That barrier around Nyx is very dangerous!" she says. "It'll hurt you badly if you try to attack!" Everyone gathers together to regroup and heal the wounded. The boy with the vest helps the younger boy he called Ken.
"Ken, you alright?!" Sanada worriedly asks. Ken slowly pushes himself up.
"Ugh! That… literally came out of nowhere," he says. The dog whimpers and the girl with the bow sighs.
"Well, he sure wasn't exaggerating," she says with a weary smile. "This thing is tough." The boy with the cap smirks at her.
"He he he… Giving up already, Yuka-tan?" he chuckles.
"Hmph! Not even close!" The boy with the vest puts on a devilish smile.
"I'm glad I decided not to forget everything," he says confidently. "I've never this pumped up in my life!"
"Akihiko… itching for a battle till the very end," the woman with rapier sighs. She glares at the being the green haired girl called Nyx.
"But I do agree with you on one thing: I too stand by my decision to keep my memories," she says with pride. "We have fought so hard to protect this world from the shadows of the Dark Hour. To forget everything is to throw away everything we've fought to protect." She points her sword at Nyx.
"Ryoji warned us that Nyx is an opponent that we could not defeat, that the end of the world is imminent... but that is only his own opinion. No matter what, we will find to defeat her and prevent the Fall! And we die trying to do so, then so be it!" A surge of power envelops Nyx.
"Concentration!" the green haired girl gasps. "She's preparing to attack!" The robot girl stands.
"Athena, I need your help!" she cries. From her, a gladiator spirit with a shield floating around it appears and wraps the party in a strengthening aura. Nyx summon a shower of large fireballs to rain down on the party. The boy with headphones rushes out, switching his sword for something that appears to be a handgun with the same acronym as the armband etched on it. He puts it to the side of his head, finger on the trigger.
"Persona!" he fiercely shouts. He pulls the trigger and the blast forces out a powerful aura and he uses it to summon a spirit wearing a skull mask on its face and chain link of coffin lids on his back like a cape. It pulls out its long knife and uses it to slash apart the fire shower. The aura around Nyx fades.
"The barrier is down!" the green haired girl yells. "Now's your chance!"
"Got it! Isis!" the bow girl yells. She uses an identical gun to summon her spirit and fire a blast of wind at Nyx.
"Trismegistus!" The boy with cap yells. He summons his spirit to fly around Nyx and attack. Caesar, Athena, the three headed dog spirit, and the coffin lids cape spirit join his in an all-out physical attack while Isis, Kala-Nemi, and Artemesia attack from a distance. This continues until Nyx tries to swat away the coffin spirit.
"Change: Orpheus!" the boy with earphones yells. The coffin lid cape spirit flies up to dodge and changes into a mechanical dummy spirit wielding massive lyre as its weapon. Orpheus uses the lyre to bash Nyx on the head, then pull its strings to shoot a stream of fireballs. Nyx uses her wings to blow them all back and uses Concentration.
"Let us finish this!" she yells. "It is the path of your choosing!" Nyx raises her sword and a red black hole appears in the sky above the party.
"Everyone, look out!" the green haired girl yells. A storm of red and black ray comes raining down, exploding with a fury. When the smoke clears, the boy with earphones is still standing, but his allies have been badly injured. Nyx towers over the boy, her shadow from the corrupted moonlight casting over him.
"You were supposed understand better than anyone… who I am… what kind of entity I am… And I am sure terrified by how absolute, a promised fate to all things from the moment they are born… And yet…" The boy hangs his head.
"... Why am I trying to resist…?" A long silence dominates the area before he chuckles.
"... You make a good point… I accept you… I know I can't avoid you forever… Me and everyone else… We're all going to die…" Nyx slowly raises her sword into the air.
"... But here's the thing…" The boy glares at her, his eyes glowing a radiant light blue, steps forth, and uses his gun to call Orpheus and the coffin lid cape spirit at the same time.
"How we die…? That's our decision to make!" The two spirits start to merge together in a ball of light that deflects Nyx's sword attack. The boy shoots hand into the air and shouts a wish.
"Bring us salvation! Messiah!" The ball of light disappear to reveal the result of the two spirits merging: a colorless humanoid spirit bearing his face with wings and a pillar with wings strapped to its back and carrying the chain linked coffin top in its left hand. The boy, cloaked in light blue flames to increase his strength, draws his sword and enters a dance of blades with Nyx with Messiah providing backup, circling around her as she strikes. The boy notices her put up the dangerous barrier and backs away. He jumps back and sprints to his right as he dodges her barrages of magic attacks, drawing her attention away from his allies. She uses Concentration and raises her sword.
"Oh no… Hey, look out!" the bow girl yells. The boy stops, closes his eyes to focus, puts the gun to his head, and pulls the triggers. This time, the blast impact causes him to real back and an extraordinary mass of power erupts from him. The ground begins to shake as he floats into the air, Messiah spreading his wings and raising his hand to the sky behind him. Nyx's rays of red and black rain down on him, but with no effect. The blue haired boy crosses his arms to build up energy, then, with a devastating explosion of power, roars to unleash his most powerful attack, wrapping the entire field in divine light.
On that night... was the Messiah's Ascension...
And the tale goes on still.
Memento Mori:
Remember you are mortal.
Remember you will die.
Remember your death.
Persona Neo: Reborn from the Sea
