When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in my grandfather's library. Or at least, a place that looks like it. Everything was mostly the same, except for the thin layer of fog covering everything in a yellowish hue.

I glanced down, just to make sure that I still had both my arms. They were both there, so at least I have that going for me.

I raised my hand to my face and twisted my fingers around just to make sure that everything was still working. Once that was done, I put my hand down to take in the library that I had just been… I guess teleported would be the right word.

"And we are officially in fantasy town," I muttered to myself as walked forward onto the compass. I mean, it was the only real explanation. "Not how I would have expected to fall into a fantasy story but okay…"

"And you would know all about fantasy, right?"

I turned around and saw my copy standing across from me. Or at least, mostly a copy. Her eyes were bright yellow for some reason. By coincidence, we had ended up on opposite ends of the compass star. I stood on the east point, while she stood on the west.

"Let's try another fantasy. The fantasy that I can ever make any friends," My copy accused with a venom that I didn't know my voice could do.

"I mean, you're not wrong," I admitted sheepishly. "But do you have to be so mean about it?"

"Why shouldn't I be mean? It's not like I'm talking to someone who's worth talking to in the first place. Such a pathetic little thing. Secretly wanting friends but too scared to reach out to others. Too scared to do anything but put up your paper walls to keep the world out,"

The copy started walking around the compass as she spoke. As she talked, I could see her smile getting bigger.

"Because books are so much easier than people," She continued. "Because it's so much easier to call other people airheads when you really just want to talk to them yourself. Let's face it, if it wasn't for Robby, would you even talk to anyone at all?"

"You're being really harsh about this," I pointed out to the copy even as I felt all her words hit home. "Are you like, some sort of… not evil version, but a mean or cruel version of me?"

The copy of me smiled as she spread her arms out in a dramatic gesture.

"I am a shadow, the true self," She boasted. "I am all the little parts of yourself that you deny. The parts that you hide away from the world,"

"So you're me then," I told my shadow. "So what now, are you going to try to attack me, take my place?" I asked guarded as the shadow just smiled.

"Well I guess that all depends," The shadow said as she got right in my face. "Do you deny any of it? Do you deny being a friendless little girl who's too scared of rejection to reach out to others?"

I took a deep breath and thought about it… I mean, as much as I wanted to admit it, my shadow self had a point. I did have a tendency to push other people away…

"Maybe you have a point," I grumbled. "I do kind of push people away. And talking to other people is scary…"

The shadow backed off a bit as I gripped the bottom of my hoodie.

"Honestly, I don't know how to fix my problems. I don't know how to talk to other people, but pretending that I just don't want to talk to them at all is just lying to myself,"

The shadow's face was mostly emotionless as she slowly nodded her head.

"You are me, all the parts that I wanted to pretend that didn't exist," I told my shadow who began to fade.

A circle of blue light appeared around her feet, pushing away the fog and filling the library. My shadow began to float in the air as I heard a mysterious echoing voice in my head.

"You have gained the strength of heart to face yourself," I heard it say as my shadow vanished and was replaced with a new figure. "You have gained the façade to overcome life's hardships, the Persona Lamia,"

I wasn't sure how to feel about what was in front of me. My shadow had been replaced with something new. She still looked like me from the waist up… but from the waist down she had the body of a snake. Yellow scales covered her belly while the top was colored with alternating bands of red and black.

She also wasn't wearing a hoodie anymore. Instead she was wearing a short sleeved black crop top just tight enough for anyone who saw it to know how little there was under it. On her upper arm she wore a silver bracelet designed like a snake. Her face was still the same as mine, expect for the inclusion of long elf ears and fanged teeth.

Lamia faded away as a shining blue card fell from the sky. I grabbed the card as it came down to me. On the card's back was a blue background with lines of black diamonds running from top to bottom. I turned it around and saw an image of a bearded old man standing at the edge of a cliff. In one hand he had what could have either have been a walking stick or staff. In the other he held up a lit lantern, the only source of light in the image.

Printed on the bottom were the Roman numerals for 9 and the words 'The Hermit'.

I looked at the card as it faded away. But somehow I could still feel it in my hand… like all I had to do was reach out and it would be in my hand again.

I grasped for the card and it appeared in my hand again. I waited a few seconds and watched it fade again.

"Neat… but what does it do?" I asked the mysterious voice that I had heard before. I glanced around the room, waiting for an answer. "And how do I get out of here?"

Only silence answered me back. Looked like the mysterious voice wasn't going to be too helpful. I was going to have to figure this out on my own.

My first guess was that I could get out if I walked out of the library. I walked over to the first door and tried it. I let out a frustrated huff when it turned out to be locked.

I turned around to head up the stairs and try the second floor door when I felt the room shake. I glanced at the center of the room and watched as a crack appeared in the compass.

I grabbed the door knob to balance myself as the crack widened. By the time the shaking stopped, the crack had grown wide. I steadied myself and got just a bit closer, just enough to see inside.

Inside the crack was the same fog that had filled the library. But instead of the light fog that hadn't done much to block visibility, the fog in the crack was thick. I couldn't see anything past it, except for a yellow light that was coming from something below it.

"…So am I supposed to jump in or what?" I asked the room hoping for the mysterious voice to say something just one more time. And just like the last time, I didn't hear a thing. Well not quite, I thought I heard something. A low rumbling and the whooshing of air coming from the crack. I glanced down again and saw a dark smudge. A dark smudge that was getting a little bigger.

A dark smudge that was probably something that was coming this way.

I jumped back as a monster erupted from the gap. A long green snake body rushed out of the crack as it started curling around the plants above my head. The end of the body came out of the gap leaving the whole thing in the air above me. As soon as it had cleared the gap, the floor grew back into place, leaving it like new.

It had a long green and gold body that coiled around the model planets. It didn't have a real head, instead it has what looked like a weird trident with its three golden prongs in a triangle formation. In the center of the formation was a white gem.

"Hi?" I said, hoping that it was friendly.

Instead of saying anything, the gem on the snake monster's face started to glow and crackle with electricity.

I had played enough games to know where this was going. I ran off behind a book shelf as the snake unleased a ray of electricity on where I had been standing.

"Cranky aren't you?" I asked as I peeked my head out and tried to ignore the scorch marks where I had been standing before. The snake didn't say anything, just gathering electricity again and switching over to aim at the bookcase. I waited for it to charge a little more before talking off running. I could hear the crackle as the lightning ripped past the books which I really hoped were fake.

I made it past another bookcase when I saw the staircase. I was about to rush up the stairs when a stray thought crossed my mind. The way the snake was placed, all it needed to do was lift its head to have a clear shot of the door.

A door that I knew from memory had no book cases near it. If I tired the door and it was locked I would be a sitting duck. I either had to find another way or deal with the snake first…

"Use my power,"

I blinked as I heard a second mysterious echoy voice in my head. And unlike the genderless, neutral, ageless voice of the first one, this one sounded almost like mine.

"Reach out to my power and make it yours,"

I blinked as I felt information filling my head. Not a great flood of understanding, but enough of a vague understanding to do what I needed to do.

I ran out from the bookcase at the sound of lightning. I stood in the open on front of the snake as I reached out for the card and it appeared in my hand.

"Persona," I cried out as I crushed the card and blue energy erupted from my feet.

I didn't need to look back to know that Lamia was floating right behind me. I could feel her, she was me, and I was her.

I reached down and let loose what I had inside me.

"Burn!" I yelled as Lamia formed a small fireball that I somehow knew was called an Agi in her hand. She threw it as hard as she could at the snake, the flame flying through the air and detonating on the snake's skin. It flinched back before readjusting its head back at me.

Lamia faded away as I ran forward as the snake shot lightning back at me. The lightning faded as I looked back up at the snake and called forth the card again.

"Come, Lamia," I said as she appeared again. Fire had done a pretty good job… but what else did I have? A strange word filled my head after I asked the question.

Rakunda.

Lamia waved her hand in front of her as a blue aura surrounded the snake. As soon as she did, it started looking less solid. I understood that Rakunda was a sort of curse that lowered defense, but I wasn't expecting it to look like that.

"Well, might as well take advantage. Come Lamia," I said as she came forth and fired another Agi at the snake.

The flame burned the green snake, the monster letting out a screech. I wasn't sure how I felt about finally getting some sort of sound of the thing, but it meant that it was working.

There was a long burn running down the side of the snake where I had hit it with Agi. It shook in place before it started dropping.

I ran out from under the snake as it fell down to the ground. I jumped just as it hit the floor, making the room shake again. I landed on my feet and turned around to see the snake slowly turning its jewel head at me again.

"If you will accept them, I can lend you my fangs," I heard Lamia say again as some more information filled my head. I flexed my hands as twin daggers appeared in them. With the snake still slow, I rushed forward and plunged both daggers into the snake's skin.

I stood there knowing for sure that was the dramatic finish that had just ended the fight.

Or at least I did before hearing a certain crackling again. I slowly lifted my head up and saw the snake looking down right at me, its gem almost fully charged.

"…Oh," I said softly before pulling the daggers out of the snake and putting my arms up in anticipation for a world of pain followed by death.

Lightning flashed and I learned that I had been half right.

I screamed as I felt the lightning course through my body. The white hot energy shaking my body.

I was still screaming when the lightning ended and I nearly collapsed to the ground. I just barely caught myself as I landed on my hands and feet.

Everything hurt, everything burned. Even trying to move sent a wave of pain through the offending limb. My head felt like it was splitting apart and I could hear my heartbeat racing in my ears.

I could hear my heartbeat.

I was still alive.

I could still get out of this.

I looked up at the snake, its gem dead for now. I knew it wouldn't stay that way though. I had to get up. I tried to move my limbs only to feel another surge of pain. It was no good. But I had to move. The snake's gem was starting to glow again. I was running out of time…

"Persona," I said as I crushed the card that appeared in my hand. Lamia appeared above me just as I heard the lightning again. She dashed down and picked me up just as the snake fired its lightning.

I felt like screaming for so many reasons. Being bridal carried like this made me want to scream in pain. The rush of moving through the air like this made me want to scream in excitement. The sensation of escaping danger with my own plan made me want to scream in triumph.

I wasn't sure which of the screams I let out as Lamia carried me up to the second floor. Maybe it was all three?

Either way, when Lamia set me down on the second floor, I landed on my feet, the pain already fading somehow. When I glanced down and inspected myself, I somehow looked the same. No burnt skin hair or clothing…

"Did the Persona make me stronger?" I wondered before I heard the snake start to move through the air again. It still looked wrong, out of synch with reality. Rakunda was still going. Lamia followed my will as she sent another Agi at the snake.

It wretched in pain but stayed airborn this time. It was also starting to look normal again. Looks like that curse of mine had run its course.

I thought about using it again when I hesitated. It had been faint at first, but after that last Agi I was sure of it. Every time I called forth Lamia… no every time I used Lamia's magic, I was using up something inside me. Something that could run out.

I had to think of some other way to hit this thing that wouldn't use up that thing inside me…

I felt just bit more information fill my head. The knowledge of one more attack that I somehow knew represented the extent of my powers.

"Sick em Lamia," I said as Lamia came forward and rushed right at the snake, her nails glowing purple and leaving streaks of light as she went through the air. She pulled back her hand and then rushed it forward, stabbing her nails into the monster's flesh.

Blight fang, I somehow just knew that that the attack itself was pretty light. But it didn't matter.

Because while blight fang might not have done that much damage, I could feel that I hadn't used up the stuff that I used for my magic. Instead I somehow felt a bit more physically tired. Not ideal, but worth it considering the second effect.

Lamia reached her arm back, leaving a glowing purple wound. A second later the snake started shaking as it started glowing with a purple aura as well. Poison, right from Lamia's own nails.

The snake moved its head, the purple aura intensifying as it did so. This time when the snake started charging its gem, its whole body pulsed purple. I ran out the way and took cover behind one of the second floor bookcases.

Here I was, in a magical version of my grandfather's library, using magic powers to have a fantasy rpg battle with a giant flying lightning snake…

And I was about to lame it out via status effects.

The lightning fired, burning down my hiding place and making me run to a new one. While between bookcases, I glanced over to the snake.

Its head was drooping, and the purple glow was looking real bright now. If I didn't know any better I would say that it was on its last… okay not legs but point was the same.

"Might as well speed this up," I said as I reached the end of the bookcase and crushed the card that appeared in my hand. "Come Lamia,"

Lamia appeared to let off another Agi at the snake. And while I could feel it drain the power that I had in me, I was sure that the snake felt far worse.

It turned at me again and started changing up its gem again…

Only for it to pulse purple again and lock up. The gem stooped glowing as the snake came crushing down to the ground. I ran ahead to the railing and watched as the snake began to blacken and then dissolve into ash.

"I did it," I mumbled to myself as the floor compass began to glow. I watched as light grew out of it and turned into a bright circle. Could that be…?

I rushed down the stairs and jumped into the white circle. As soon as my feet touched the ground, the world around me shifted.

I blinked and I was in my living room again.

"Okay so was that a dream or…" I said as I tried to call forth Lamia again. I looked down at my hand, expecting to find it empty.

The card was there.

The card was there, but I couldn't feel any power coming from it. Like it was a machine that had been discontented from its power source. I dismissed the card as I started mumbling.

"I got magic. But I almost died. But I got magic. But I almost died. But I got magic," My brain went back and forth like the two halves of my brain were playing ping pong.

I wasn't sure how long I stood there repeating the same two phrases. What I was sure was what stopped me. I glanced up at the clock and read the time.

"Wow it's late…" I said as the two thoughts kept going in my head. I wasn't going to be able to come to a decision about this, so I decided to call it for the night.

And by call it, I meant pass out in bed and worry about it in the morning.