CHAPTER 8 – BURN MY DREAD
Saturday, 26th February 2011 - Tartarus
Minako was still cowering in terror of the shadow, who was never satiated with its malice towards her. Outside, the weather had turned for the worse. Several day of consistent rain, icy cold water falling from the sky, signaled the slow end of the winter season.
The rumor of the mysterious midnight channel was spreading around town, and was slowly becoming widespread even among less sociable youths in town. A few days ago, rumormongers have began talking about seeing a "pretty girl with a sunshine personality" asking the viewers to stay tuned and promising a "thrilling end of the world spectacle under the midnight moon's shine". It gathered less attention than the previous rumor. Many had assumed it was an advertising campaign for a low-budget TV movie and carried on with their lives as usual.
Meanwhile, the Minako duplicate was gloating, eagerly awaiting for the time where they could unleash deadly force on the helpless original counterpart.
Unknown to her, Days had passed since she ventured inside and with each further hour, the sadistic glee was only increasing.
On the dawn of the shadow's awaited day, another person had made its way into the dungeon, alarming the being. Fearful of what might happen, stronger shadows were unleashed, but they all fell one by one in a worryingly fast pace. Minako only realized what was happening when the large doorway to the starlit room had been forced open with overwhelming strength.
"No! Don't take another step forward! You can't do anything to stop the fall, I won't let you!"
The shadow cried out, as it was struck by powerful magic, preceded by the cry of "MEGIDOLAON!"
Minako saw the person keeping her captive had been downed, and blown away across the room. Her savior being none other than a person she knew well and had hoped would come to her aid ever since she landed herself in this mess.
"Elizabeth?"
The lady didn't respond, other than glancing and smiling at her while in a battle stance and turning towards where the shadow landed. Indeed, looking in the same direction offered a sight she dreaded seeing after stepping foot on the first step of the Tartarus staircase. The shadow had screeched in pain and was undergoing a transformation. The bloodied replica of Minako's body was dissolving, morphing into a black mass and finally took its true form. The form of the Nyx avatar. She sought to get up and fight, but had collapsed at the attempt, sending her into unconsciousness.
Monday, 29th February 2011 – Hisano Kuroda's house
Minako regained her consciousness to the sound of a Paul McCartney song. She was tucked away in her futon back at her room in Hisano Kuroda's house and was all too eager to dismiss what she saw as a really bad dream. Full of confusion, her memory of the event was quickly fading away, like a dream one only catches the end of. All she could remember was being sent to fight in Tartarus and the extremely lucid memory of Eurydice awakening to kick the asses of some shadows. That alone convinced her it was no simple nightmare, and her persona confirmed that.
Groaning in displeasure of her bad rest, she attempted to get up, but found herself once again too weak to do so. She was forced to lay down again and just listened to the music coming from the vinyl player put on by an unknown person.
Soon after, she heard chatter coming from just outside the room, indistinct enough to identify the speakers, but sounding definitely familiar. The door had slid open and Detective Tamaki Uchida walked inside with Elizabeth in tow, alongside a couple of strangers. It was a man in his mid-40s with light facial hair, wearing a grey shirt and red tie. The other was a much younger man, probably a good 10 years younger, with a full suit on and a bored look on his face.
"...ah, she's awake now." Tamaki had said to the older man, who looked at her bedridden self in return. "I can't say if she can help you out. She's been like that for a few days now. Only waking up for short moments, when we gave her some food." Minako had no recollection of that, but thought it might be related to whatever had happened to her.
"I understand. Still, I don't think it could hurt if we tried to ask her a few questions, seeing how we seem to have stumbled upon just the right moment? Of course, if it's too much trouble we could come again later." Minako couldn't help but be amused by the younger man's annoyed expression, which was noticed by his companion and Elizabeth. "The miss seems to be in a good mood." the man added.
Tamaki looked at her and nodded, as the older of the two approached the futon and sat on the chair next to it, taking out a police journal.
"Hey there. I'm Ryotaro Dojima of the Inaba Police Department. I would like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind?" He tried to put a friendly impression on the girl, to a mostly unsuccessful effect. The police coming to her house with questions was bad. In the worst case, it could even expose her adopted identity, leading to unknown, but potentially dangerous consequences for everyone involved.
"Am I in trouble?" She asked, in a meeker voice than she hoped for.
"Nothing like that. You see, your guardian called us a week ago, notifying us that you had disappeared without saying anything to her and were impossible to contact. We saw on your bank account that you had withdrawn a large amount of money the very same day. Some ¥25.000. Then you showed up again a few days ago, in a pretty bad shape. Could you tell us about what happened?"
Minako knew there was no real way to explain that, for she did not understand it herself either. So she opted to just tell the truth and hope the eye of law enforcement would divert its sight from her.
"I don't know. I was here, working on my headphones and was watching TV. Then... something happened?" She winced as if in pain, and put her fingers on her forehead. "...the next thing I remember is... nightmares… and waking up here in fact."
Dojima-san was trying to maintain a friendly expression, but was clearly unconvinced of her answer. On the other hand, as his partner had mentioned already, no evidence of suspicious activities was found and the unaccounted ¥25.000 was all they had. "What about the money?"
"The twenty-five thousand Yen? It's what I used to buy the TV with."
"Do you have proof of purchase?"
This time, it was Minako's turn to get annoyed. The few questions had turned into an interrogation, which was not unexpected but still unwelcome.
"It should be in my right pocket. If not, just ask the people at JUNES."
The younger man had reached for the jacket she wore that day, hanging from the coat rack next to the door, but was stopped by Tamaki who instead took the jacket to Minako, who had herself extracted the receipt from the place she said it would be in.
The interrogator relaxed, knowing he'd be unable to reach anything today and gave back the slip of paper to the girl. "I guess that settles that. One more question before we go: Do you know a man named Tatsumi Kanji?"
"Who?" The lack of recognition on her face was genuine, and Dojima saw that. He got up from the chair, took out a small cigarette case from his pocket and said: "Alright, I think we're done here. Sorry for the trouble. We'll keep in touch if anything happens or we find out something new.", he turned away towards the door, and pat his partner on the shoulder. "Let's go, Adachi."
The two men had gone outside and got into Dojima's Land Rover as Elizabeth heard the younger one complain that he knew it'd be pointless to interrogate the girl. It was then that Tamaki opened her mouth. "Sorry about that. My Aunt called the cops before calling me. They won't get anything though; that's usually how it goes with demon-related cases."
"There is no reason to worry. The younger one would have not done anything even if he had a mountain of evidence. The appearance of a fool was a blessing indeed." Elizabeth broke her silence to speak uncharacteristically harshly of a man, insulting him like only her brother had been before.
"Elizabeth, what happened to me?" She asked the white-haired woman, back in a comfortable position.
"You were stuck in a cognitive world. A palace, as it is known. This one… was your own."
"A palace?"
"A place where one's hidden self rules. Its appearance is shaped by one's powerful desires, strong fears, distortions of the perception of reality and similar invisible secrets of the soul. With your fate, it is not unexpected for you to have one, or even to have a shadow self within. Although, the fact that you were able to witness it for yourself is very concerning."
Minako was flooded with vague memories of the place, including the evil self she had faced and the utter fear that paralyzed her alongside it.
"The other me. I remember."
"Indeed. Almost every person who awakens a persona will not face their shadow, as it had become redundant and absorbed by their soul. Your history made you an exception."
"Orpheus and Nyx." Elizabeth nodded to her statement and repeated the two names.
"So what did you do? Did you kill that other me?"
"No, that would be an awesome blunder from dear me. For you see, you would have been died about thirty minutes ago."
Neither Minako nor Tamaki understood the why, so they allowed Elizabeth to continue explaining.
"To kill a person's shadow would be to eliminate a fragment of their self. It would be to kill their soul. Once the shock of the contact wore off… a most tragic way to die indeed."
"What else can be done with a shadow? Could they influence the real world in any way?"
"The shadow's world is a world only for the one who possesses it. Even in the worst case ill-fate of a total collapse, bloodshed and mayhem within a palace, the only one affected would be the person whose mind built it. You can change a man's behavior and way of thinking, kill them, torment them, or worse if you find a way to enter it and interact with the shadow or the world around it."
"Change a man's behavior and way of thinking. A scary tool in the wrong hands."
"It can be seen that way. Indeed, sometimes all it takes it to find an object that represents the founding stone of the palace and take it... I saw some people do it in a movie."
Tamaki thought of her own experiences during high school, of how the Principal of Karukozaka High had changed irrevokably from an ambitious and arrogant man after she retrieved the Ring of Gluttony during the Hazama incident. She smiled at the memory, but kept it for herself as to not derail the conversation.
Silence fell between the three, as the music from the record player had long stopped playing.
"So what happens now?" Minako asked
"You rest." Tamaki stated bluntly. "We'll investigate in any way we can, so that it does not happen again."
Minako was yet to see the detective in action, but the aura of confidence, of experience was worth more to her than a dozen of successfully closed case files at the current moment. Further reassurement came from her Velvet Room friend. "I've sealed the entrance to your palace with magic. Besides, with the spells I've hit your shadow with, its minions there will get a lot stronger from now on. Only one who would be able to defeat me would have any chance of doing you any harm."
Minako smiled at her friends with gratitude from her futon, as the door was heard opening once again.
Any further discussion had become impossible, as Hisano Kuroda had entered the room with a tray of tea, to share with the weakened girl and her two older friends.
That evening, just before leaving, Elizabeth had turned to her and whispered a comment that made Minako feel completely revitalized: "Request Completed. He'll be in town for Golden Week, at the Amagi Inn."
Tuesday, 29th February 2011 – Evening - Minako Arisato's futon, Inaba
Shiomi Kotone – Sent, 9:34 PM – hey guys, sorry for not writing for a long time.
Aigis - Sent, 9:34 PM – Minako! Elizabeth had informed us of what transpired: We were eagerly awaiting your recovery.
Shiomi Kotone – Sent, 9:35 PM – she did, huh?
M_Kirijo – Sent, 9:35 PM – She has. It was a worrying event, but we do not have the means to do anything about it for now. The Shadow Operatives are investigating. However, there was unfortunately no mention of similar events in the past in our records.
Yu-Ta26 – Sent, 9:36 PM – There's no need to overthink this until Mitsuru's people have found anything. For now let's just be glad Minako is safe. Shiomi Kotone give us a call if you need our help!
FYamagishi92 – Sent 9:36 PM – Yukari is right. For now, all you can do is rest.
Junpei_Iori – Sent, 9:40 PM – Hey, Minako! Mind if Chidorita & I drop by tomorrow?
Kotone Shiomi – Sent, 9:45 PM – thanks guys. Junpei_Iori by all means! i'll send you the address. M_Kirijo i got some people i trust looking into it already, but thanks!