Chapter 5: New growth
December 21st, 1621
"So, you're telling me that you had a dream about some key that would give you a journey, you followed a beam in the sky to get here, then a scroll attacked you, throwing you into this 'mirror world'. You almost got killed, but gained some kind of power. One that doesn't use mana at all." The bird may not be able to give real facial expressions, but Asta can guess what her face is saying.
After Asta screamed for a few seconds, he calmed himself down and rationalized that the bird couldn't hurt him, and began explaining his circumstances.
"Pretty much, yeah. I was planning on looking around here some more to see what's around." Asta explains.
Getting up from his seated position, Asta holds his arm out to the bird. She just looks at it.
"What are you doing?" She asks
"Trying to bring you to my head so you can sit?" He says like it wasn't clear.
"You don't even know my name, and I'm a talking bird. You trust me?" She questions.
"You brought me to food, even if you didn't need to, you almost drowned yourself trying to save my bag, and you came after me, even though I didn't know you could speak. I think those are grounds for trust." He casually explains.
After a moment passes, she steps onto his palm, and Asta brings her to his head.
"I guess that's fair. My name is Secre. It's nice to meet you." She says in a monotone manner, but underneath, he can hear a faint tone of joy.
"My name is Asta, it's nice to meet you as well." He says excitedly.
(Take your time)
After a good 20 minutes of searching, Asta has doubled back and is heading back to the study, Secre on his head all the while.
Not expecting much else to happen, Asta is taken by surprise when his clothes change in a flash of blue flames. Gone are the rags, here are the fancy clothes that manifested when he first summoned John-Ball.
"What's happening? What was that?" Secre asks, with a light undertone of fear.
"I don't know, the last time this happened, there were-"
Whatever he wanted to say next is cut off, as a splat sound comes from behind. Turning around, he is met with the sight of a Shadow-like figure, multiple faces coming from all sides, with even more arms protruding.
The weird thing is, the arms have shackle handcuffs on them, on all of them. Sprinting for cover, Asta grabs Secre passive-aggressively, and sets her down a distance from him. Peeking his head around the corner, Asta can see that the creature hasn't taken notice of him.
As his eyes fall to his dagger on his side, he comes up with an idea. The creature has faces coming from all sides, but he can see that it doesn't have one on the roof of its head.
A few moments is all it'll take for him to attack if he can get on top.
Devising a strategy, Asta jumps, trying to grab the edge of the roof, but somehow, jumps way higher than expected. He easily clears the edge, and now has a perfect view of his target.
Taking a deep breath, he leaps...
And lands right on the head.
As the creature starts to writhe and flail around, Asta desperately grabs for one of the chains on the arms. After grabbing one, he pulls the dagger out, and runs it through the chain.
It stops moving.
The pair of arms falls limp.
He can feel that it's knees have given out, and jumps off before he falls with it.
But when it hits the ground, it erupts into the red and black mass, like when he fought that fake Yuno.
Emerging from that mass, is a black horse with two horns. It falls to its knees, and Asta uses that opportunity to try what he hopes to any deity listening, will work.
He looks deep into his soul, and find a familiar face. As he reaches for it, the chains on his arms start to glow. With a wave, he manifests the chains to come.
As they do, they shatter at random points, but their job is done.
"PERSONA!" He shouts
Appearing in a burst of flames, John-Ball comes.
"Cleave, John-Ball!" He orders.
John-Ball raises his blade, and charges at the Bicorn. As it tries to get up, John-Ball finds its target in a very swift strike.
Alas, it's not enough to defeat it.
As John-Ball disappears, the Bicorn manages to get to its feet. Neighing, it makes a move, but Asta doesn't know what until it hits him.
Literally.
A burst of green wind hits him, knocking him back, but not enough to tear him from his feet. As he recovers, the Bicorn stumbles on its front feet.
Taking this as a sign of its low health, he pulls John-Ball out, and wills it to use Eiha. Luckily, it finishes the job, bursting into a black miasma.
As his clothes rerun back to the rags, he looks at what the Bicorn left.
Yuls
At least 30 yuls.
Grabbing the coins with a shaking hand, he counts it as best he can with his limited seven year old intelligence.
Yeah, that 30 yuls alright.
Cheering, he doesn't notice Secre watching him from the corner he set her.
Making his way back towards the study, Asta has seemingly forgotten about Secre. He only remembers that she's with him when she starts the poking schtick again.
"OWOWOW, WHY?!" He flails once more.
"Are you going to explain what that was to me? There are so many confusing things to ask about, and I don't even know where to start."
"I don't know much more than you, but all I do know is that I can summon a Persona to fight those things."
"That doesn't answer anything. Explain what those are."
"I don't-" he trails off, as when he enters the study, a portion of the mirror is glowing a hazy blue. A light vibrating cues Asta into the know that the key wants to be used.
"One second..." he trails off
Removing the key from his coat pocket, it stops vibrating, but still glows. Walking towards the blue haze, Asta sticks the key into the area, and watches in amazement as the mist solidifies into a door.
The door clicks, and creaks open slightly. Taking this as his cue, Asta steps forward, and into the light.
And on the other side, is the Velvet Room.
He doesn't feel the weight of Secre on his head anymore. Well, Igor did say that only he could enter the room.
"Ah, welcome back young man." Igor's cheery voice calls out from across the room. "Come, let us continue where we left off last time."
Heading towards the front of the church, Asta glances around in search of that nun from before. Not finding her, he takes a seat on one of the church benches in the front.
"Thank you for returning in such a timely manner. It is imperative that we discuss the function of the Velvet Room, and how to use it." Igor begins.
Not having anything to say, Asta nods as a cue for him to continue.
"As I said last time, this is where you come to gain new personas. Here, we take personas you collect in the Inversion, and fuse them into whatever choices are available to you."
"For now, you'll only have access to one-to-one fusions, but as time goes by, you shall grow to unlock more capabilities."
"Are you with me so far?" He questions
Slowly nodding, Asta has one question on his mind.
"How do I get more personas to fuse?"
The smile on Igor's face widens ever so slightly.
"I'm delighted you asked. You must make contracts with them, the same way that you did with your first Persona." Igor finishes cheerfully.
You could almost see the question marks above his head.
"How am I supposed to do that? Those things are out to kill!" He yells in fear.
"As I'm sure you noticed by now, Shadows have direct weaknesses to certain elements. Use your abilities wisely, and you can knock down the foes, leaving them open to confrontation."
"When that happens, try and find common ground with them. Should you succeed, the contract will be forged, and they will join the chains wrists
Silence from Asta.
"Would you like me to explain it again?"
"No, I think it got it...So I knock them down, and just start talking to them? That seems simple."
"It'll be as simple or as difficult as you make it. That is all that I have to say for now. You should get going, as your avian friend is waiting for you." Nodding, Asta gets up and takes his leave.
"What does avian mean?"
Upon exiting the church, he finds himself back in front of the mirror, holding the velvet key in his hand.
When she feels that Asta is back in his right mind again, the questions from Secre come at rapid speed. Answering them to the best of his ability, Asta makes his way back out of the study, and into the rooms of the dungeon, searching for any shadows to cross his path.
(Take your time)
The flash of blue flames prompts Asta to throw his head around in an effort to find the threat, and Secre takes that as her cue to fly a distance from him.
"Behind you, to the right!" She shouts as loudly as her bird lungs will allow.
Jumping and rolling the opposite way from the threat Secre found, Asta is met with the same creature that preluded the coming of the Bicorn from before.
Taking a moment to scan the structure around him, he doesn't see anywhere he can jump on it from. He fills his lungs with courageous air, and charges at the shadow, slicing the dagger straight at the first pair of chains he can get to.
*clinkclang*
The chains on the wrists shatter, and the spray of black and red comes. Emerging from it, a girl with blue clothes, red hair, and wings zooms around him, only stopping after two laps.
Not wasting any time, he calls forth John-Ball.
"COME!"
The chains burst, and the Persona follows.
As he's about to unleash a cleave attack, the shadow zaps him. It's not enough to make him collapse, but it hurts all the same. He sends John-Ball after the pixie, but it's agile, dodging the wild swings with ease.
He has his persona pull back some, and waits.
Waits for the moment...
The one moment...
Now!
"EIHA!"
John-Ball waves his sword, and beneath the shadow, a burst of malicious red and black energy bursts upwards.
Collapsing to the ground, Asta realizes that he hit the weakness, and tries to open the conversation.
"Uhh...hey there, I'm Asta. What're you doing here?"
The girl stares at him. Damn it, that's making him feel self-conscious now.
"So, no hard feelings about me hitting you with that attack, right?" He gives a weak smile
"If you let me go, I'll forgive you for that." She gives a small smile right back.
"Oh, umm..." this is not going to plan. He can't just let her leave, that defeats the point of him trying to talk to her.
"I guess, sure." Asta promptly wishes to slap himself.
"Heh, really? You're the kind of guy who has a hard time saying no?" That's exactly what it is.
"I'm the same, honestly."
Asta's hopes shoot up in surprise. A faint glow starts to manifest from her.
"Oh hey, I just remembered something! I know what I really am!"
Hopping back in the air, her next words surprise Asta.
"I'm an existence that drifts about in the sea of humanity's souls! And my real name... is Pixie." She cheerfully says
"I'm Pixie! From now on, I'll live on inside of your heart!"
When Pixie finishes talking, she starts to glow like the scroll from earlier did. Shooting out from the ball of light, a pair of chain links interlock themselves around Asta's shackles. This time, they don't burn, but a feeling of fullness that wasn't there before makes itself known.
A sharp tingle snakes its way up Asta's spine, and he can feel that his Persona learned something new.
"Asta?" He can hear Secre from behind.
Turning, Asta smiles at her, and with not much else to say, he simply reassures her that he's alright.
(Take your time)
That feeling of unease never left Asta, as his clothes haven't changed back to normal, simply remaining as the fancy battle clothes from before.
"Hey Asta, let's just get out of here, there's not much else we can do right now." Secre presses.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Letting his memory guide him, he starts to sprint towards the study.
The splat noise and rattling of chains is enough to make him forget about trying anything more in the dungeon's Inversion counterpart.
Throwing the door open, Asta makes a dive for the mirror. The ripple effect gives him a wave of relief.
"Secre, are you good?" He breathily asks.
"Yeah, I'm fine. We should get out of here, I've had enough of this dungeon."
Nodding, Asta gets on his feet and begins to trek his way out of the dungeon as a whole.
(Take your time)
After a lengthy amount of walking and looking over his shoulder, Asta has made it back to the entrance of the dungeon. Grabbing his bag, he splits an apple between him and his companion, and tries to figure out how he's going to get out.
A ton of vines are to his right, and after trying to come up with a plan, Asta enlists the assistance of Secre to fly some of them up to a latching point, so he can climb out.
Time passes, the vine to freedom falls to him, and he wastes no time in climbing. After three minutes of this, Asta's hands finally touch grass, and sunlight pours over his skin.
Standing, a smile breaks across his face upon seeing the village from before he entered the dungeon. As Secre lands back on his head, Asta announces with pride, "We have our next destination Secre!" As he points to the village.
Her response is to rustle into his hair further.
As Asta and Secre make their way to the village, they are woefully unprepared for the events that will follow.
But they will have to adapt, if they're to survive.
To be continued in chapter 6...
A.N: Hello again, it's the writing goblin, ready to bust down in your follow page. So, a few things I'd like to go over and ask. First, I will be allowing the use of the tetrakarn and makakarn skills in the real world. Second, yes, Asta is now a wildcard. This is to cover all his bases for weaknesses in the mirror world. He won't be using one persona to be untouchable, but he will be damn powerful. Third, this is something that I've thought about for a while, the Null Skills. They are stupidly broken. Therefore, I'm going to do this. In the mirror world, Null Skills work like normal, but in the real world, they'll only translate into Resist Skills, for the sake of balance. Can't be that op in the real world, because he's only 15 when he joins the magic knights. And finally, the concept of changing hearts will begin in the next chapter, and should only last about 2 chapters total, idk if I want to do palaces or something like that, but the whole concept of fighting shadows and changing their mind is something that will be done. He is the Phantom Thief after all.
Please review, I'd love to hear your feedback and criticism :)
See you in two weeks :)