Tales from the 4th Wall

By: Persona

Disclaimer

The 4th Wall Bar and Grill and Persona are (c) Persona

Author's forward:

Those who know me know I've advertised the 4th Wall for a while now in my Canadian Rant spoofs, and the AS Side Stories.

Though up until now it's only been a piece of character background with an occasional cameo here and there, I'm proud to announce that I'm finally turning the 4th Wall into an ongoing series. Those who know me also know that I'm not the fastest person in the world when it comes to updating!

I'll try to work on my updating frequency as the series progresses, so please bare with me. Also, I want this series to be as reader interactive as possible, so any and all are welcome to make cameo appearances. More details about this at the end of the chapter.

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Part One: Origins

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Unbeknownst to most, there is a point in dimensional limbo that intersects all possible realities. One who enters this area has the option of travelling anywhere in the multiverse, assuming they know where they want to go, and even more important, how to get there. This inter-dimensional nexus was, at first, a very unstable environment. Occasionally spawning random portals and taking those unfortunate enough to be near those portal openings back to it's dimension of origin. Some of those taken managed to make it back to their own dimension, while others have become lost upon the 'trans-dimensional hi-way'.

Then one day, a man whose name has been lost to history found his way into this dimensional nexus. Where as all others were obsessed with trying to get back home, or just too overwhelmed to think straight, this man was more than content to stay and explore this uncharted territory. Armed only with his curiosity, he set about the arduous task of trying to unravel the secrets of this strange dimension. His discoveries were astonishing. The dimension was hard pressed to reveal it's secrets, so his first discovery came, quite literally, with the passage of time.

After several days in the nexus, he noticed that he was not suffering from lack of food or water, despite the fact that he had gone almost a week without either. After a full month was spent there, the fact remained that neither hunger nor thirst had touched him. He had concluded that while in this dimension, time was either moving extremely slowly, or stopped altogether. This slowed time also seemed to affect one's metabolism, as the month spent here without food or water had proven. Theoretically, it was quite possible to live forever in this place. Taking this to heart, the man couldn't help but smile to himself. He knew then that he would unlock the secrets of this dimension. He had, after all, all the time in the world to find out.

As the years passed by, he had made two amazing discoveries. The first of which being, that while the portals which lead into the nexus were spawned at random, those that lead out to all the different dimensions are in fact fixed and stable. He had spent several centuries traversing the dimensional nexus, attempting to take note of which portals lead where, helping the occasional wanderer find their way back home, and eventually finding his second, and most important discovery. That being the very center of the dimension, where the force that held it together was most powerful. The core of this dimension resembled a giant multi-faceted crystal, roughly seven feet tall and three feet wide. As much the same way light passes through a prism and refracts into different colors, energy would pass through this crystal and refract into dimensional gateways.

The centuries of wandering the chaotic dimension coupled with contact with the central focus point of the dimension's energy did leave it's mark on the man. He found that he could alter his surroundings within the nexus, change untraversable chaotic areas into stable ones, and could stop AND cause the portals that lead into the nexus to appear. This new found ability to alter reality within the nexus however, proved to be the man's undoing in the end. As it often happens with most humans, the power ended up going to his head.

He attempted to remake the dimension into a less chaotic version of itself, but tried to do it too fast. Given the centuries wandering this shapeless void, it was no small wonder that he would want a change of scenery, but his lack of patience in his matter turned out to be a grievous error. As it turned out, attempting to reshape a dimension was just too much for his body to handle. Though he had the power to do so, the strain of reshaping a dimension coupled with his own lack of experience controlling this new power, led to his channeling way more power than his body could cope with, resulting in his own destruction.

Oddly enough, the man's destruction wasn't the end of his story, but in a way the beginning. While his body was reduced to less than ash by the influx of power he had built up in his attempt to reshape the dimension, his spirit and the accumulated power remained, and merged into one large swirling mass of white energy. This energy then began to become discolored and misshapen, eventually splitting into two separate spheres of energy. One a luminescent gold, the other a deep blood red. Soon the two globes of energy began to contort and take a humanoid shape. The golden orb took the shape of a large man in blue and gold armor, with golden hair, a radiant tone to his skin, and pure golden eyes without pupils. The red orb also took the shape of a large man, only this one was wearing black and red armor, had red hair, a pale, almost pure white tone to his skin, and pure red eyes, also without pupils.

Somehow, the energies of this dimension had sought to revive the man after his destruction, probably due to his contact with the crystalline core of the dimension. But in doing so, the man's spirit had been been divided in the process by the natural chaotic forces forever present in the dimension. What now stood in the man's place were two beings who were the living incarnations of the two most dominant forces of every human's soul: Light and Darkness.

Being polar opposites, the two had quickly called forth blades infused with their own power and alignment and attacked, each trying to destroy the other in this physical representation of the constant battle being waged in the human soul. For what seemed like decades, Light and Darkness were engaged in unending combat. Those who were unfortunate enough to wander into the nexus during this period were witness to this epic battle for a short period, before falling victim themselves to one of the attacks from either Light or Darkness that engulfed large areas all at once. All throughout their fight however, neither could seem to gain any sort of advantage. Aside from their personalities, the two were exactly identical. Both thought up the same strategies, both had the same skill with the sword, and both had the exact same power level, thus resulting in an unending stalemate.

In the end, the battle was brought to an end by the dimension itself. While the man who became Light and Darkness knew more about the dimensional nexus than all others before him, what he didn't know was that the crystalline core of the dimension had what could be considered a rudimentary consciousness, which manifested itself for the first time when it tried to revive the man and instead gave birth to Light and Darkness. Having spent so much time in the nexus, the core's consciousness began to think of the man as another part of itself, which was the reason it tried to revive him after his destruction. Now, the core's consciousness was presented with a different problem. Since both Light and Darkness were born of the core, it was the source of both their power. With the two of them constantly doing their best to destroy each other, they not only were using using up great portions of the core's energy, but doing great damage to the dimension itself.

Manifesting it's will for the second time, this time in an act of self preservation, the core took action against Light and Darkness. Since both were still creations of the core, it did not simply destroy them, as it would be essentially be destroying a part of itself. Instead, Light and Darkness were sealed away into crystal prisons, never to be released. However, as is the case with most other things, as one problem was solved yet another arose.

Light and Darkness had spent so much time fighting each other and channeling massive amounts of energy through their bodies, it had become a natural thing to them. Now that they were imprisoned in crystal, their bodies still naturally accumulated those same massive amounts of energy, only now there was no means of releasing it. They knew what would happen if the energy within them kept building without an outlet for release. It was, after all, the very same thing that caused the destruction of their progenitor.

Faced with their imminent destruction, Light and Darkness knew of a way to save themselves, but neither were very keen about the idea. While they couldn't channel their energy while encased in their crystal prison, they could permanently give up a portion of their power. This would leave them weaker than they were before, but their bodies would stop automatically channeling energy, thus ensuring their survival. While the prospect of becoming weaker wasn't very appealing, it wasn't that they had a problem with. In order to do what need to be done, both would essentially need to give up a piece of their souls, and it was that which gave pause to both Light and Darkness, as neither wanted a piece of their soul lost. However, when at the point of no return, both decided that living while fragmented was a lot better than being whole and dead.

No one, not even Light and Darkness, could have predicted what would happen next. After they had given up a piece of their souls, the positive energy of Light and the negative energy of Darkness met and actually began to merge. As before, the mass of energy began to take the shape of a man, this one wearing a black and gold set of armor. Though his attire looked to favor Darkness, his skin tone was taken from Light. While he had inherited traits from both Light and Darkness, one thing that set him apart from them was his long silver hair and piercing green eyes, also without pupils. Born from the souls of each, this man was a perfect amalgamation of Light and Darkness. He became known as, Balance.

Balance was unique in the fact that, while not as powerful as either Light or Darkness, the powers of both were at his disposal. One other thing that Balance possessed that neither Light or Darkness had, was the memories of their progenitor, who was now referred to as 'The Original', who had spent so many years wandering the nexus. With the combined power and knowledge of his three predecessors, Balance decided to continue The Original's work of reshaping the dimension, while being careful of avoiding the same mistake of overtaxing his body.

Deciding to halt all portals leading into the nexus from opening for now, Balance led all those still in the nexus back to their dimensions of origin, and began to practice and fine tune his ability to alter reality. He spent the next few centuries in isolation, slowly learning to master his abilities. Figuring that it was impatience and inexperience that lead to The Original's demise, Balance was determined to know and master every aspect of his existence and powers.

This time of study and training yielded a rather impressive discovery, that being that he could mentally converse with the core. After learning of core's consciousness, Balance made sure to learn all he could from it, finding yet another amazing, if not disturbing, discovery. His being born of both Light and Darkness meant much more than possessing a piece of their souls.

While Balance was always connected to Light and Darkness, it also worked both ways, as Light and Darkness were always connected to Balance. While this connection allowed Balance access to the powers of Light and Darkness, it also allowed Light and Darkness access to his mind. Should Balance ever lose control of his emotions, there was a possibility that either Light or Darkness would fully manifest and take control of his body. Worse still, seeing as how Balance now possessed the soul fragments of Light and Darkness, if they ever were to manifest themselves and take over Balance's body, they would once again be in possession of their entire soul and return at full power.

After about five centuries, Balance felt that he was ready to begin reshaping and permanently altering the nexus from a chaotic shapeless mass, to what appeared to be a large continent surrounded by mountains and water. At the very center of which stood a most impressive landmark, a gigantic crystal tower which housed the very core of the nexus, protecting it from harm. Balance knew that all of his powers and abilities, his very life in fact, depended on the well being of the core. So as you can probably imagine, he tended to be rather paranoid about it.

He also altered the very nature of the dimension. Remembering that extended exposure to the dimension granted The Original his powers, while exposure to the core accelerated their development. Balance didn't want any more like The Original in the future, since it gave rise to the possibility of another incident which may lead to the creation of other beings like Light and Darkness. With that in mind, he began to remove the time dilation which made it possible to live forever while there. With that gone, things like hunger, thirst, and age would become a factor, and anyone who would try and attempt what The Original had done would soon perish from those elements.

However, all the improvements to the nexus didn't come without a price. Balance realized too late that in order to balance out his removal of the instability and chaos of the nexus, he himself had become a beacon of instability and chaos. Balance had quite literally become a disaster waiting to happen, and it would happen quite often. It was at this point that Balance decided to change his name, after all, whoever heard of a central focus point of chaos called Balance? In archetypal psychology, the Persona is the mask or appearance one presents to the world. With him having gone through so many changes in his psyche, it seemed to fit. That decided, Balance changed his name to Persona, and has continued to go by that name to this day. Along with the change of name, came a change of appearance. In place of his black and gold armor, was a black trench coat with red trim, black and red boots, plain pants and a white shirt with a red cross design. In addition to this, his eyes, while still green, now had pupils.

Having now mastered his powers and having shaped the dimension to his satisfaction, Persona decided it was time to reopen the portals which lead here, but in a much different way than it had been in the past. First, knowing that he would be expecting lots of travel and displaced people with no idea where they were, Persona created a second colossal structure which connected to the crystal tower. This second building would be the area where all those who happened to wander into a random nexus portal would arrive and be told how to return home. It would also be a place that those who actively travel the trans-dimensional hi-way could stay for a while, relax, and enjoy themselves. That being the case, Persona gave this building the appearance of an 'inter-dimensional bar and grill', as it were.

The building was almost a dimension within itself, for even though it was a respectable size from the outside, the room inside was near infinite. After some traveling outside of the nexus to see what people of this day and age enjoyed doing, the building ended up containing a large dining area, lounge, game room, kitchen facilities, pub, night club, arena, MST theater, and even an inn with eighty floors. Persona wanted those who came to this place to have everything that they may want to do available, and there was always room for expansion.

Perhaps the most important room in the entire building was the portal room. Seeing as how the building was going to be the main point of inter-dimensional travel, it seemed only reasonable that the portals to and from the nexus be located in the building.

And so Persona set about the arduous task of creating a large room for each portal, labeling what dimension it lead to, and moving all the fixed portals in the nexus to their new locations. He soon, however, gave up on that idea. There were just too many portals to even attempt it he painfully realized.

Instead, he settled on creating one universal portal. Everything in the multiverse has a unique dimensional energy signature, and using that signature as a key, this universal portal would take those traveling through it back to their home dimension. Once that was complete, all that remained was to name the place. After considering and rejecting a number of potential names, Persona settled on the ironically appropriate '4th Wall Bar and Grill'.

Now that the facilities were ready for use, Persona began travel the multiverse looking for those who would like to work at the 4th Wall, as well as making numerous deals with various people and sources to supply various foods, drinks, and other items to sell at the 4th Wall. While Persona was able to use his powers to create the goods he was purchasing, he felt that frivolous use of his powers would result in him getting used to using them for everything. Extended and careless use of the power at his disposal were, after all, the leading factors in the destruction of The Original, and the imprisonment of Light and Darkness. Persona had no desire to walk down that path, and so decided to import what he felt he would need instead. Though this meant that he would have to charge his customers, it seemed better than the alternative. Besides, Persona had nothing against making money, a fact that would majorly come into play in the near future.

Another thing that he learned during his journey through the multiverse, was that after he left the nexus his powers dropped considerably. While in the nexus, his powers, and those of Light and Darkness for that matter, could be equivalent to that of a demi-god, and that's taking into account that all three were made up of fragmented souls. While outside of the nexus however, his powers were cut to less than three-quarters, though it was still more than enough to ensure his safety in most cases. One good thing about having his power cut so dramatically was that it was almost impossible to overload his body, meaning that he could make plenty of use of his powers and not have to worry about it, save for extreme situations. He was also subject to the physical laws of the dimensions outside of the nexus, meaning that things like hunger and thirst would become a factor for him.

After the re-opening of the portals, Persona knew that people would once again be randomly pulled into the nexus, just as The Original was so long ago. Only now, those who wandered in would have a much easier and enjoyable time than the ones who came before them. What's more, once someone had entered the nexus, Persona could give them the option of returning at any time they wish, if he felt so inclined. For while the natural portals that lead to the nexus were spawned randomly and never in the same place, Persona had the ability of opening a gate to the 4th Wall, allowing what were to become his regulars free access.

His work finally done, Persona smiled and waited for the first arrivals. The 4th Wall was open for Buisness.

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Author's notes:

Would you like to get an invitation to the 4th Wall as well? Well you can! The 4th Wall is a place for characters AND authors to meet during off hours and talk, have something to drink, grab a bite to eat, or to have authors discuss their stories with the characters they're writing about.

But I will not start mentioning authors in the 4th Wall without their permission. So if you want to make a cameo, or have a full blown scene, simply e-mail me and let me know. Writing your own scenes is welcome. Simple cameos require little more than "This is who I am, this is what I'm doing." Please remember to include something like: '4th Wall cameo request' or 'Scene for Tales of the 4th Wall' in your e-mail subject, or it might end up being tossed out without having been opened. Sorry, but with all the viruses popping up in e-mail's now, I tend to delete anything I don't recognize.

Those who write in will get their scenes shown as I update the series. The only rule is to keep it tasteful, anything like "This is who I am, and I score with so and so..." will be promptly tossed in the trash. That and I reserve the right of editing for content.