Chapter 34: Cursed Lands
|July 5th|Aeternus HQ Meeting Room|8:30 am|
It was time for yet another meeting between the Ater Vox. The atmsophere was thick with tension. Even after everyone had sat down, their eyes were focused only on their monitors. Several minutes would pass until that silence was finally broken.
"Josephine. Archibald. Do you realise that your recent antics have cost us four hundred and fifty two lives?" Carlos said, slamming documents on his desk. "Two hundred and thirteen on the Freedom League side, and two hundred and thirty nine on the Angelic Vanguard side. Not only that, many segments in the power tunnels between Saragel and Farawell were damaged! And we still don't have the Divine Spark, making this entirely pointless!"
"Don't get upset with me. Josephine's the one who began this little game. I merely rose to the challenge. Not that there is much of a challenge." Archibald said. "Roger has proven rather bloodthirsty. It would seem he would stoop to any length to achieve a world of total chaos."
"Karen simply needs to put more faith in me! I'll rebuild the ranks of the Vanguard, and prepare a more defensive strategy." Josephine said. "You poor, grotesque old fool, you will see just how capable I am!"
"This is boring." Pierre said. "You guys do know that completing the Eternal Road is this organization's ultimate goal, yes? Then why do you two have to squabble over it? It'll benefit us all in the end!"
"You're not entertained? And here I had you down as a sadist, Pierre. Personally, I'm enjoying watching the shenanigans. Especially the Amara from the other world fretting over Miss Karen." Nihane said, smirking. "It's at least more captivating than another story of failure from Nina."
"Nihane, I said I was sorry! If I could have fought my sister alone -"
"You still would have come up with an excuse to lose." Nihane said, chuckling. "Well then, if that's out of the way, I have news to impart. I have a rough estimate of where the next Divine Spark is."
"Whoa, really?! Where?" Nina asked, excited.
"Settle down, Nina! It is in Takanawa. Unlike Farawell's, the location in that spot has changed over the years. In ancient history, a foolish man tried to build a castle in Takanawa, to build a 'thousand year kingdom'. Needless to say, that kingdom didn't even make a year, due to his rather totalitarian regime. Far inferior to ours, of course." Nihane said, laughing to himself.
"Nihane, are you implying that the university is the location of the Divine Spark?" Archibald said.
"No, I just felt like we could all bond over a history lesson. Of course that's what I'm saying!" Nihane said, sighing. "Ever since that university shut down, a fair amount of Shadows used to dwell there. Yet lately, they're disappearing. We detected similar activity in Farawell Cathedral."
"Then it is clear what we must do. Archibald, we shall finally test our Last Soldier's full strength there. Friday night, Karen will prevail over Roger." Josephine yelled.
"That's about as likely as you removing all your cellulite." Archibald said, amused. Josephine shook her fist with rage, whilst Archibald simply stared at her pitifully.
"Nihane, what should the rest of us do?" Nina asked.
"Nina, Carlos, and Pierre should check the other districts for activity, in the event another Divine Spark comes into being. Archibald and Josephine shall be at the University Friday, as will I. I won't let those rebels interfere." Nihane said, with a crazed smile. "If they think they can defeat me, they're horribly mistaken. And the Divine Sparks will not be stopped!"
|July 6th|Real People Offices|10:23 am|
"What's wrong, Amara?" Stella asked. "Aren't you happy? Roger and Karen are finally together again, and the article on the mall should give it even more exposure and increase our popularity as well!"
"I know, I should be happy. It's just, tomorrow night, Zao and I are going bowling." Amara said.
"Oh? Those bowling shoes are uncomfortable. You do get your normal shoes back afterwards, though. It's just uncomfortable until you do." Stella said. "Or is it something else?"
"Zao invited Karl." Amara said. "You know...my ex boyfriend."
"I see. You haven't told me much about him, other than him being possessive. Were you fond of him?" Stella asked, looking into Amara's eyes.
"Of course I was! In my art case, there's a picture of me and him when we went to some charity dance ball. His entire soccer club went that night." Amara pulled out the picture of her and Karl, showing it to Stella. Amara had her hair done, and was wearing a little black dress. Karl had a very smart black suit, and the two of them had genuine smiles, arms around each other. "It was a wonderful night, but after that, things got way out of hand. I had to end it, and I did."
"Okay, then why didn't you just tell Zao you don't want Karl there?" Stella asked. "I'm sure Zao would understand. He can see his childhood friend anytime!"
"I suppose, but I thought Zao would get upset if I said no. Damn...it's going to be so awkward..." Amara said.
"Fine, then I'll go with you. If Zao can bring a friend along, so can you!" Stella said, smiling.
"Go on then. Amara said, smiling too. "You can use your power to tell me the best way to throw the ball."
"That's cheating!" Stella said. "Besides, then I'd do the same moves..."
"Less chatting, girls." Lucy said, busy writing notes.
"Alright, alright." Amara said, sighing. "I wonder how Karen and Roger will get on tonight?"
|Solar Ray Mall - Fountain|16:20 pm|
Serena was on her phone looking at Kyle's Facebook page, where he had uploaded many pictures of France from his mobile. His mother thought it would be funny to put a fake moustache on him, and a beret. He put on a smile, but Serena just knew he wanted to curl up in a hole and die.
"Oh, Kyle."
"Yo!" Blaine said, walking over. No longer in uniform, he seemed pretty happy to be done with work for today. "What's new?"
"Not much! I was just looking around. Kyle's having a great time in France. Good food, good sights, and lots of art galleries!" Serena said, smiling.
"Art galleries? Meh, not my style. But if Amara ever ends up there, she's never gonna leave! So...how are your parents doing?" Blaine asked.
"Why are you asking about that?" Serena said, frowning.
"No reason. I've just been thinking about stuff lately." Blaine said.
"You sure it's healthy for you to do that?" Serena said, giggling.
"Hey, don't laugh! I'm the one who helped you with your homework!" Blaine pouted. "Seriously, though, it sucks about your parents."
"Tell me about it. Ever since they told me, I just can't talk to them. I come home from school, go upstairs...go to bed, wake up, go downstairs and go to school...I can't even look at them." Serena said, shaking her head. "Why can't my parents be cool? Like you?"
"Me? Cool?" Blaine said, surprised. "I can't argue with that. But you're stuck with them, for now. I'm still your 'Cousin', remember?"
"Oh yeah! Anyway, you're out tonight with Lucy, right? I heard she's a real slave driver when it comes to her work." Serena said.
"Yeah...but I like girls who work hard. She speaks her mind, and she's not afraid. It helps that she's hot, too!" Blaine said, and the two of them laughed. "The best part is, I seem to be everything she looks for in a guy. Yet she always finds something about me to nag about. It's hard, being a man sometimes."
"We'll all got it hard, haven't we? As well as our normal lives, we have to go into another dimension and try and restore order. And you know what would happen if we tried to tell anyone who wasn't like Stella. Speaking of which, we're going over there tonight." Serena said. "Looks like you'll have to end your date early!"
"...Shit. I never thought about that. I'll have to come up with an excuse to go home. Maybe I'll say I have to get up early tommorow for a repair man for the dishwasher or something. Only problem is, if she asks about it later on, I'm gonna have to get Dan to go along with it...Goddamit, I hate having to lie about this stuff. But I can't tell her the truth. Even if she believed me, she'd never let me go in case I got killed." Blaine said. "But that's enough doom and gloom. Since we're here, shall we look around?"
"Okay! Lead the way, cousin!" Serena said, and the two of them walked around the huge shopping complex for the rest of the afternoon.
|Albion Inc. - Nathan's Office|16:33 pm|
Another day at Albion Incorporated, and the business was ticking over as usual. Apparently, Joe Kowalski arrived early today, but in a rather melancholic state. The rumour was that he had gotten into a fight with his girlfriend, and it wasn't just a small tiff over the TV remote. Nathan didn't let it bother him, and simply ignored the whole matter. Joe seemed to be staring at him, for some reason, but Nathan paid him no heed.
"Hey Nathan, I was thinking. Why don't we have a barbecue this summer?" Priscilla said, as she looked over a few invoices.
"That sounds good. I love those burgers wrapped in bacon! Although I probably should watch my figure." Nathan said.
"It's the summer. We should let ourselves go!" Priscilla said. "Anyway, why don't we invite some of your new friends? I've met Amara and Serena so far, but not that Blaine person."
"Are you sure you'd want him around? He is from Kanaloa, so -"
"I know! I didn't think you'd ever hang out with someone from there. Don't worry about it, as long as he minds his manners I'll be more than happy to have him." Priscilla said, smiling. "How about next week?"
"Sure!" Nathan said. "Sorry, I need to finish this report. Can we talk about it when we get home?"
"Of course." Priscilla said, and she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Try not to work yourself too hard now. Bye!"
Nathan smiled, and continued typing up the report. Anyone else would have found this monotonous, but for him he enjoyed normality when he could get it. Of course, his idea of normality had nothing in common with someone like Blaine's, who as far as he could tell went out drinking or driving his motorbike every night. At least it wasn't both at once.
Suddenly, he felt a strange compulsion...a compulsion to search something. It was like someone was telling him to do it, but without a voice or even a command. He put aside the report, and clicked on the search engine bar.
"Why am I doing this now?" Nathan asked. The letters came out of nowhere - ANJCPE. He had no idea why he would type such a random string of letters, but here he was. They had no meaning to him whatever, and after he had typed it, he didn't feel any other strange urges. Perhaps it was one of the cloaked people... The web search results yielded nothing useful at all. Yet, Nathan knew the initials had to mean something to whoever gave him the impulse to search for those letters. So he clicked on the image results, and the first image that came up made it all clear. A photograph of six people, in lab coats, but some of them were familiar.
"No way!" The image was hosted on a once-popular hosting service, but it was the only one posted on that account. It was the Ater Vox - including the two Nathan hadn't met yet, Pierre and Carlos. Josephine was there, but she didn't have any of the malice Nathan had seen. Neither did Archibald. Nina had her arm around him, smiling away, and then there was Nihane.
Nihane Kronos had the biggest smile of all. He looked like the youngest person there, around the same age as Amara. Yet his eyes were blue, and they were filled with an innocent happiness.
"So this is them before they discovered Shadows?" Nathan said. Taking out his memory stick, he saved the image onto it. The others would probably find it interesting to see. Yet, it didn't seem to provide any pratical use at all.
"Wait, ANJCPE... Archibald, Nina, Josephine, Pierre, Carlos. Then who is 'E'?" Nathan noticed E wasn't near N on a standard keyboard layout, so it couldn't have been a typo. Even so, Nihane was hardly a normal first name. So was Nihane Kronos an alias? What was his real name? Nothing on the image's page hinted at it. Nathan resumed writing the report, even if the normality was lost from the moment.
|Silver Web|18:30 pm|
The Silver Web was a somewhat trendy bar in Farawell, and thus Blaine had never been there before. He preferred places with a more natural atmosphere, without any post-modern artwork or chairs that defied the laws of gravity. Yet, Lucy wanted to come here, so he decided he might as well come along. Besides, he might as well have fun before he headed into battle.
"This place is funky. Really funky." Blaine said, looking at all the metallic spiders on the ceiling.
"Relax, would ya? They're not real!" Lucy said.
"C'mon, do I really look like the guy who's afraid of spiders?" Blaine said, flexing his muscles. "A tough old bastard like me can handle anything!"
"Sure you can. Just...stop doing that." Lucy said, poking Blaine in the nose. He stopped, but he noticed her suppressing a laugh. "This place is better than The Mole, don't you think?"
"Sure is! More expensive, though." Blaine said. Lucy pouted, and folded her arms. Blaine simply laughed. "Kidding, kidding! I don't mind. You sure look pretty tonight."
"Thanks. Colette was going on about what to wear tonight...but I just ignored her. Come on, let's sit down."
The two of them sat down by a strange fountain-like decoration, with colour-changing lights embedded in a stone web.
"It's kind of hypnotic, looking at that thing." Blaine said. Watching it go through every single colour added to the peculiar vibe of the place. It almost felt like he was the helpless fly, stuck on the web. And Lucy was the spider who had spun said web, ready to devour her prey. He shuddered, and turned back to Lucy.
"What's with that look?" Lucy asked. "Chill out a little. Once you get past the weird decorations, this place isn't so bad."
"You think crazy stuff on the walls is gonna ruin this evening for me? I'm fine." Blaine said. "I'm just glad to be out with you again. So what are you having to drink?"
"I'll have a Malibu and cranberry. I like that stuff. Anyway, your friend Roger. He finally came to our work yesterday!" Lucy said, smiling. "I think I can finally do a great piece on the mall. But best of all, my boss Karen...he used to be in love with her. And now they're together again! Isn't that sweet?"
Blaine nodded, and yet he gulped at the thought of them. They may be happy at last in this world, but in tonight's destination, they would be bitter enemies, corrupted by two nefarious members of the Ater Vox. And mere words weren't enough to make them drop hostilies.
"What's wrong? You look nervous about something." Lucy asked, confused.
"Oh? Uh, I'm fine! Just been working all week. It's good to enjoy the weekend with the cutest girl in the city!" Blaine said, winking.
"I love it when you say that." Lucy said, blushing. "That's not the only reason you're here with me, is it? So you can take me home, and have your way with me?"
"What? No! Dan will still be home, and a guy in his thirties sleeping on the couch doesn't really add to a romantic atmosphere!" Blaine said, flustered. "Oh...and there're plenty of other reasons I'm here! Like, your confidence, your charm, your intellect, your -"
Lucy burst out laughing yet again, and silenced Blaine by covering his mouth. "I'm kidding. I can tell you're not like that at all. But plenty of other men are. I sure as hell don't want a repeat of my last boyfriend. He seemed nice when I first met him. But there was only one thing on his mind...and there were so many things on mine."
"One thing, huh? What a jerk. Me, there are a million and one things on my mind." Blaine said. "Come on, let me get your drink. On me."
Half an hour later, Blaine and Lucy were laughing again over his rather naughty jokes. It was hard, trying to think up ones that could be reasonably classified as witty and not just crude, but he seemed to be doing well. Lucy, on the other hand, was making him laugh about the crazy things her cat Lilith did, involving scaring away an entire pizza delivery chain. But then he realised what he had to do next. Hopefully, he could salvage his relationship and depart to the other world.
"Sorry, girl. I was having such a good time, I completely forgot to tell you. I need to go home early tonight. We're having a guy come over in the morning to check the washing machine, and Dan's 'gonna be at work!" At least it was better than the mid-life crisis story.
"Aww, what?! You're no fun!" Lucy said, angrily. Blaine looked away, sadly. He wracked his brains for the best apology. Hopefully, he could make it up to her with a proper evening date soon. Finally, she broke the silence. "Okay, I'll let you off - this time. But next weekend, you better take me somewhere nice. Or else I'll put girly stickers on your motorcycle!"
"Now there's a death threat right there!" Blaine said, chuckling. While he genuinely was afraid of the image of his motorcycle covered in pictures of flowers, kittens and who knows what, at least she still had her humour. "Alright, I will. That's a promise, from me to you."
"You talk like that with all the women, don't you? But...it's still sweet." Lucy said, grinning. "Come here. At least I have you for a little while longer." Lucy quickly reached over and kissed Blaine.
"Looks like I still have that charm, huh?" Blaine said, face red.
"You certainly do! If we only have a few hours, let's make them memorable!" Lucy said. And so, the evening went on, as they kept staring into each other's eyes. Blaine couldn't remember being this happy with another girl…if only he could cancel tonight. Hopefully next week, nothing big would be going on, and he and Lucy could have some real fun!
|Secret Base|20:00 pm|
"Hello, everyone-do I smell alcohol?" Aimee said, disapprovingly.
"I was out with my girl tonight! Gimme a break!" Blaine said. "Wish I didn't have to leave so early."
"Well why not bring her here?" Zao said. Everyone looked at him, in disbelief.
"No fucking way!" Blaine yelled. "Just for that, I'm going to get serious about your training. That means we'll have to try the weights around your ankles. You have got some skinny legs, you know..."
"Please, no! Not that!" Zao said, shuddering.
"Everyone, I'm sorry to interrupt the shenanigans, but can I show you something?" Nathan said, taking out his flash drive. Kyle nodded, and Nathan opened up the image.
"Holy crap! That's the Ater Vox?!" Serena said, staring at the image. "Nina!"
"Here's the thing. I don't know why, but something in my mind told me to search for ANJCPE. I'm thinking our mysterious cloaked acquintances. ANJCPE. Archibald, Nina, Josephine, Carlos and Pierre, yes? But why isn't it ANJCPN?" Nathan said.
"That is pretty weird. Does that mean Nihane isn't his real name? It is kind of a fucked up name to call somebody." Dan said, confused.
"So is Zao, but no one bats an eyelid at that." Serena said.
"Hey!" Zao said. "If you ignore the fact that they're our enemies, it's a really nice photo. They looked really happy back then. I wonder what happened?"
"We shall tell you." A woman's voice said.
Amara gasped. In flashes of light - that resembled Aimee's Traesto - the cloaked people appeared in the centre of the room.
"We know exactly what happened all that time ago." The cloaked man said. Then, they removed their cloaks, which dissipated into nothingness.
"No way!" Blaine shouted.
"Nina?!" Serena gasped. Beneath the cloaks...were Archibald and Nina. Not the ones they had encountered before. They were different, somehow.
"What's going on here? Is this a trap?!" Kyle yelled.
"No, it isn't. Let me explain. Me, Nina and the others met at Aeternus twelve years ago. I had an idea for a project, and needed five people to assist me. So I enlisted the others, and we became fast friends." Archibald said. "One year later, one of us found something unusual - the Shadows. From that moment, we became obsessed with them. We devoted ourselves to creating technology to extract them from their location, and eventually developed them into a power source."
"One of the first things we created was the NDD, which allowed us to move between two points. This wasn't enough - by this point, our own selfish desires had completely overwhelmed us. I even forgot about my sister..." Nina said, shaking her head.
"We used the convention to begin our next step - to amass even more Shadow power. The one who calls himself Nihane said the 'Eternal Road' would do this, and change the nature of the planet itself. Yet to do this, we had to seal the entire city from the rest of the world and create a land of Shadows. In this dimension, our plans continued unhindered!" Archibald said.
"In the other, however, something happened. Me and Archibald suddenly became free of the Shadow's influence. And…we had to do something to stop the city's decline." Nina said. Her voice got more and more quiet as she spoke.
"Hold on - the explosion?!" Amara shouted.
"Correct. The self-destruct mechanism was the only way we could think of to stop the plan. We tried to get people to escape the building, but there were many casualties." Archibald said, looking at Aimee.
"Oh my god!" Aimee said. "In either world, it's all your fault!"
"That's right. We're the sinners who led this city to ruin - and even in the city that remained intact, many innocent people died. Yet, there were still things left to do." Archibald said.
"We knew we had to send Amara, Serena, Nathan and Blaine into this world. Honestly, I'm not sure why, other than it must be done. We did the opposite for the other Amara and Nathan, too." Nina said, deep in thought.
"You seem to know what's going on. Just what is the deal with you guys?" Kyle asked.
"I don't know. All I understand is, we seem to able to predict the future, as if we already lived through it. That's how Nina knew about the battle between the Vanguard and the League on Wednesday, and I knew about that little broadcast." Archibald said. "And tonight, the next battle is at the Tachibana University in Takanawa."
"Wait a second. Could the next Divine Spark be there?" Priscilla asked, suddenly horrified.
"Yes, that is definitely the case. The outcome, I'm not sure, but you have to go and stop it. If you can't, you must at least save Roger and Karen!" Nina said. "We cannot - we don't have Personas."
"How do we know we can trust you?" Blaine asked, glaring at Archibald.
"I apologise. Our actions brought great calamity to the city, and we can't do a thing to reverse it. If I had known any of this would happen, I never would have approached that young man..." Archibald said. "I have to go. There's something I need to investigate. Hurry, now!"
"Wait a second! Nina, if you were alive all this time, why didn't you come home?!" Serena shouted.
"I can't return there. Not after what I've done. I saw my other self attack you, and that is my fault. I no longer belong there." Nina said, staring sadly at Serena. "Please, go. Good luck." With that, the two of them disappeared.
"Serena, you okay?" Blaine asked.
"No!" Serena snapped. "She's not the same Nina! If she had just come home, my parents wouldn't have kept going on about her! I...forget it. We have to go, now!"
"Wait, they didn't look any older than they did in that photograph. And they can teleport. They say they don't have Personas, but they're clearly using some sort of power. But what?" Nathan thought out loud. "Never mind, it's too confusing. Let's assume they're right for now."
"Hold on." Kyle said, looking up Tachibana University. "That school shut down years ago, so no one's been inside since. There's no strategic advantage to fighting in that location, unless..."
"Unless?" Aimee said.
"Unless it's the next Divine Spark! They're probably fighting to see who gets to activate it first!" Kyle shouted. "Oh god, we're running out of time!"
"Then we have to go now!" Priscilla screamed. "I already lost someone thanks to those things! I'm not letting anyone else die!"
"Priscilla!" Nathan said. "I'm going to help you, too. My other self would want me to!"
"Then it's settled. We're going! We're going to save Roger and Karen, no matter what!" Aimee said, standing tall. "Follow me."
|Takanawa - Tachibana University|20:20 pm|
Tachibana was one of the many fine institutions of Takanawa students studied all year to get into. In the spring, the beautiful cherry blossoms outside brought a lot of tourists to it's grounds. They once considered changing their name to Hayasaka, but most people opposed the name change. In this world, the building had not been maintained for many years, and thus the walls were dirty and the gardens were overgrown.
"What an eyesore..." Nathan said, aghast at the courtyard.
"Bianca would have a fit if she saw this place!" Amara said. Bianca, I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I won't screw up this time!
"We're not going to get attacked by octopus demons, are we?" Dan said.
"No, Dan, this is not a hentai." Kyle said, rolling his eyes. "Although I do have some on my comp- uh, never mind."
"I didn't think Kyle liked that sort of thing." Amara said, amused. "Anyway, everyone must be inside. Let's go!"
"What's hentai?" Zao asked. "Is it food?"
"I'm kinda interested myself..." Blaine said.
"Blaine, if Lucy caught you looking up hentai, then you'd be back to the single life in phemtoseconds." Serena said.
|Tachibana University - Entrance|20:23 pm|
Lying around the dusty entrance were a number of unconscious Vanguard members. Aimee reached the nearest one, a girl, and checked her pulse.
"She's still alive!" Aimee said, relieved. "Thank goodness. No wounds on her that I can see, either! In fact...none of them do. That's odd."
"You're right. I don't see any signs of fighting, either. It's likely they just lost conciousness! Is it gas?!" Nathan shouted. "Everyone, be careful! Personas might not be able to protect us from it!"
"Sir Nathan, there is something worse than gas that can make them unconscious. A vast amount of Shadow energy is slowly building up. Just like the Cathedral! Those with artificial Personas will find that their power wanes, then they will lose their conciousness. Similar effects have been observed in training documents Kyle has found on the Aeternus server. When Ornatu Legion soldiers enter the fray, and they are vastly outnumbered by Shadows, they end up like these fellows here." Seraphina said.
"Seriously? Then where are Roger and Karen?" Serena asked. "We don't have to search the entire place, do we?"
"If we have to, we will!" Priscilla said. No longer tearful, she had a fierce determination in her eyes. "Seraphina, I thought finding Nathan was my only goal in this world. But deep down, I want to save this city too! I don't have time to mope around anymore. I'm truly sorry. I'll fight as much as it takes, from now on!"
"Priscilla." Seraphina said. "Let us put the past behind us. Tonight, we save others from a tragic fate! And they are in Lecture Hall A24! Onward, we go!" Running past many unconscious Vanguard and League members, the team approached the Lecture Hall.
|Tachibana University - Lecture Hall A24|20:35 pm|
"Holy crap!" Amara shouted.
Karen and Roger were there, swinging their weapons at each other, whilst their Personas constantly cast magic spells.
"Wave Rage!" Roger hollered, as Kanaloa's crushing waves struck Karen. She shrieked, but she wasn't about to back down. She slashed at Roger, but only hit the air. Then she summoned Aeshma.
"Tundra Flair!" Karen bellowed, summoning ice crystals to crush Roger. He angrily thrust at her with his weapons, and in her fright, she dodged each hit, but stumbled. Both of them saw the new arrivals, and gasped.
"Stop!" Amara yelled. "Please, stop fighting! This is insanity!"
"You! You're all here to save me, correct?" Karen said, with a sigh of relief. "I can't find Josephine anywhere. Help me vanquish this heathen!"
"There you go again, you coward! Can't you even try to fight alone? And you wonder why I left you all those years ago!" Roger said, rolling his eyes. "Damn! Where's Archie?!"
"Guys, chill out for a second. Josephine and Archibald don't care about you at all! They just want the next Divine Spark to appear in this university!" Zao said.
"The same thing happened at the Cathedral, and that was completely destroyed! Many died, even my..." Priscilla said, unable to finish. "So if you have to fight, get out of here!"
"You fucking idiots must be really stupid! I can use the power of the Divine Spark, and make my own city. Yeah. Nothing's going to stop me! I have to be here to make it happen!" Roger said. Amara started to wonder...was the Shadow energy starting to take them over? She felt fine for now, but...
"Nice of you to drop by. I'm afraid the last Open Day was quite some time ago, so you're a little late for the grand tour." a familiar voice said.
Nihane Kronos?!
Sure enough, the leader of the Ater Vox emerged at the back of the room, with his typical evil grin.
"Who's this guy?" Zao asked.
"I am Nihane Kronos. Don't bother telling me your name, I doubt I'd remember it." Nihane said. "Welcome to the land of Ardwahist! Asa Vashita and Druj Vahista have finally awakened from their slumber, and shall soon pulse with life. A glorious awakening, to be sure."
"I can feel them! It is just as before, entities called Asa Vashita and Druj Vahista are communicating with me! Nihane, what on earth are they?" Seraphina asked, holding her head.
"I'm glad you asked. In ancient times, the land of Amurdad had special names for the districts of our glorious city. Farawell's was Spandarmad, and Takanawa's is Ardwahist. No one else used those names, but the people of Amurdad believed they could enslave the rest of the island with their dark arts." Nihane said, chuckling to himself. "Asa Vahista is this land's force of light, and Druj Vashita the force of darkness!"
"So this is all some kind of ancient prophecy?!" Serena shouted. "You sick freaks!"
"Ha! You're such a naïve simpleton. You're as useless as your older sister! Originally, the Eternal Road was nothing more than a 'meaningful' pilgrimage that would allow the people of the city to achieve divine revelations of some sort. A symbolic journey of the soul, perhaps. Yet this extends beyond foolish sentimental value...this is reality. As of tonight, three of the six Divine Sparks shall be complete!" Nihane said, walking calmly towards the team.
"You don't care who gets killed in the process, do you?!" Dan yelled. "My brother! Or Priscilla's partner! All just sacrifices!"
"You're smarter than you look. Yes, the immense power of a Persona expedites the process. The conflict between Karen and Roger, as well as your emotions regarding the Cathedral incident, have no doubt hastened the land of Ardwahist. Thoughts and feelings rule in this domain, can't you tell by now?" Nihane said.
"You bastard!" Amara shouted. "You're not getting away with this!"
"Is that so?" Nihane said. "Martin, Marshall! Archie and Josephine are waiting for you upstairs. Go and find them, and resume your battle there!"
Roger ran off, and Karen stood there, watching. "I-"
"Karen! Don't go!" Amara yelled. Karen shook her head, and ran out. "Damn!"
"I suppose it's time to show you the error of your ways. For the crime of standing in the way of a new era of existence, you will bear witness to the unlimited power of Janus!" Nihane cackled as his Personas appeared...the male dark side, and the female light side. "Hathor's flames will be reduced to mere embers when you face me!"
"I'll never lose to you!" Amara cried, as Hathor appeared. "Nihane, prepare to die!"
"I'd rather prepare for your death. It'll come long before mine."