You're not approached by any creatures on the way down the road, although every once in a while you think you spy a trail of black smoke disappearing down a side street or into an alley. Word must have gotten around.

At some point which seems to you like halfway between the house where you met those creatures and the dominating edifice on the horizon, you arrive at an intersection between two roads, and hear a faint sound coming from your left. You take a few tentative steps towards it, and as you do, it resolves into something more familiar: a boy yelling, his screams laced with terror.

There's no doubt about it – the voice is too low to be Mariko's. There must be someone else trapped in here besides the two of you, and it sounds like he's gotten himself into the same situation you just escaped from. There's no guarantee that you'll make it in time to save him, but right now there's no one else around, let alone anyone who stands a chance against those monsters. In a sense, the power of Launcelot leaves you with no choice.

With a deep breath and resigned sigh, you turn away from the path that leads towards the center of the strange village and veer north to investigate the cause of the commotion.

With each block you travel, the screaming grows closer and closer, rising in volume and in pitch, telling the story of the victim's desperate bids for escape. Eventually, the path opens up onto a wide square, and the sight that meets your eyes still manages to defy your expectations in spite of everything you've witnessed to this point.

The first thing that catches your attention is the boy. He looks to be around your age, with a mat of long, wavy black hair that looks like it would obscure his vision, but fails to hide the expression of sheer terror plastered on his face. He wears your school's uniform, too, but that's not his most distinguishable feature. What you notice above all else is his wheelchair, his skinny arms pumping at the rims of its wheels frantically as he flees from the next thing to arrest your attention.

It looms almost eight feet tall, a mishmash of iconography and appliance. From the neck down, it's similar to the typical image of an angel in sculpture and paintings – flowing, pristine, white robe, pale, porcelain skin, and spread, white wings. However, this heavenly image is then immediately blasphemed by the low-end television set perched upon its shoulders, antennae bent and displaying nothing but the image of a sunburst mask – the same those creatures were wearing – on a background of static. Manacles are clamped tightly around its ankles, chains rattling behind it as it pursues its target.

You make to step forward into its path, to put yourself in between it and the boy in the wheelchair. However, you can barely move an inch before a bolt of lightning erupts from the thing's antennae and strikes the boy's chair. The strike upends the chair, sending it skittering across the square on its side and pitching the boy onto the ground. He doesn't move at first, and immediately you fear the worst. He got hit by lightning while sitting in a metal chair – by all rights that ought to kill him. But amazingly, he groans loudly and laboriously turns himself onto his back to face his attacker. He's in pain – but alive.

His eyes flit towards you, and he notices your presence for the first time. They go wide, pleading with you for some kind of help. He pushes himself backwards on his hands, his legs unresponsive in front of him. It's now or never.

The sky opens up just like before, and with a crack and a flash of light, an enormous card strikes the pavement, sending pieces of cracked brick flying into your face. However, it's not the same card as before. And the phantasm materializing opposite the creature is not Launcelot.

Its shape is decidedly feminine, slimmer and with wider hips. Its hair flares out behind it in thin strands like shafts of sunlight. They're so intense, it almost looks like they're on fire. It's wearing a strange sort of crimson, angular suit that tightly hugs its body and flares out along the legs and arms. Thin, intricate detailing that shines with a piercing, sparkling light run up and down its body seemingly feeding into its palms, where two balls of crackling flame hover gently. Its face is nearly obscured by the brightness, but you can barely make out two dark, round eyes and the hint of a smiling mouth.

"Step aside and stay out of the way," commands a muffled voice to your right. Someone wearing what looks like a black scuba diving wetsuit with turquoise piping and a motorcycle helmet places a hand on your shoulder, pushing past you to stand underneath the new Persona. The wetsuit's pretty form-fitting, leaving little question to her gender. But the helmet obscures her entire face and hair, and effectively masks her voice. In her right hand, she holds a nine-iron golf club, which she twirls like a baton as she stares down the creature. It stares (or at least, as far as you can tell, it's staring) back at her in an almost confused sort of way, its screen flickering rapidly in a hum of static feedback. For the moment, it seems to have forgotten all about the guy in the wheelchair, who continues to crawl towards some bushes on the side of the road. The girl in the wetsuit then begins talking to no one in particular.

"Looks like I've run into something interesting! What do I have here?" she asks. You have no idea what she's talking about and you're about to tell her so when a clear, confident voice resounds out of nowhere. It belongs to a guy, probably someone close to your age from the sound of it.

"Seems you've found the Persona. Not quite what we're looking for, but it's a good opportunity to really piss off the Dreamweaver. Don't let it get away, but be careful."

"When aren't I?" the girl responds with a shrug of her shoulders and begins marching towards the creature. Needless to say, the situation's somehow gotten more confusing. These things that come from the cards are supposed to be Personas, or at least that's what you figured. But now that television angel thing is also a Persona? You'd like to ask this wetsuit girl to explain herself, but she's a little busy at the moment.

"Come on! First move's yours!" she shouts through the helmet, pointing her golf club at the Persona like a sword. At first, it doesn't react to her challenge, instead leaning towards her like a curious cat inspecting a bug. You inadvertently begin holding your breath, waiting for it to cast lightning at her like it did the other guy. For a few seconds, neither one moves. Then, as if tired of the stalemate, the girl heaves a heavy sigh, steps forward, and cracks the Persona on the underside of the television with a swift swing of her club. She moves so fast, you barely see it happen. Its screen goes black as if someone had switched it off, and it goes reeling backwards across the square, its wings beating frantically to stabilize itself. When it does manage to regain its balance, the screen flickers back to life with a wicked hiss of red static, and the image of the sunburst mask shakes violently in the picture.

"That got her going," the girl muses, standing her ground as the Persona charges her with its arms outstretched.

"Just don't take it too far. Elaine really doesn't have the right tools to incapacitate this thing," the voice reprimands. "And from what I'm getting on my end, it's quite a bit tougher than any Enforcer Persona we've seen so far."

"Technically, I guess," the girl says, sidestepping the Persona's charge like a matador and delivering a precise blow to the small of its back. "But I'm the one fighting it right now, and it seems pretty clumsy to me. I might not even need Elaine." It tumbles to the pavement, rolling over on its side until it comes to rest near the opposite side of the square. The force of her blow is astounding – she doesn't look like she'd be able to hit that hard, yet she's been knocking this monster around the square like a sack of potatoes. You and the girl watch it cautiously, but it doesn't seem to be moving. Is it…dead? It doesn't seem very likely, considering that some people wouldn't even be killed with a couple swings from a golf club.

The girl doesn't seem to think so either, as she keeps her distance and doesn't recall her Persona. "This one wasn't nearly as fun as I thought it would be. Let's just put it away already. Elaine!" She nods to the Persona, which has been patiently coasting in midair just behind her this entire time. It lifts its palms towards the sky. A mass of dark, reddish clouds begin to form above the prone Persona, swirling ominously and accompanied by a distant, low rumbling. That rumbling begins to grow louder and louder, ramping up in pitch, and as it does so, a hole opens up in the clouds, a bright, orange aperture that seems to suck the light from the surrounding skies.

Then, spears of flame rip the clouds apart, seeming to ignite the entire sky. A massive pillar of fire erupts from the hole in the sky and screams towards the Persona, colliding with it and bursting into a massive ball of fire that explodes outwards towards you and the girl. You flinch and raise your arms as if that would save you from being immolated, but the wall of flame dies out before it reaches you, despite the size and force of the explosion you just witnessed. Compared to Launcelot, the power of her Persona is overwhelming – it has a definite weight to it that you can feel hanging in the hot air.

"Agidyne? That might have been a little overkill," the voice remarks. The girl sniffs at that.

"There's no such thing as overkill in the Cloud. And besides, weren't you the one who's been telling me it was tough?"

The voice sighs. "Whatever, we don't have time for this 'he said, she said' thing. Just move on and focus on tracking down that Dreamweaver."

"What about the other two? They could see it."

"Really? Persona users?"

"Doesn't seem like it. They were about to be killed before I showed up."

Well that's hardly a fair assumption. You're about to tell her that you were about to take care of that Persona yourself when a shadow within the slowly dying flames behind the girl catches your eye.

You can hardly believe it. Despite the massive impact of the blast from that girl's Persona, the creature is somehow pulling itself upright again. It hasn't come away from the attack unscathed. There are a number of holes burned through its robe, which is now grey with ash, and the old-fashioned wooden paneling on the television screen bears numerous scorch marks. Despite that, the thing is still alive, and spreading its wings wide for another strike at the girl, who's completely oblivious to the fact that it's practically survived being nuked.

"Hey! Watch out!" you yell out to her. She whips around to see the Persona collecting electricity in its antennae, ready to fire.

"What the…" she breathes, and at that moment, the creature looses the bolt towards her. Instinctively, you cry out for Launcelot. There's a blinding, bright flash as your Persona appears and the bolt of electricity sizzles through the air. For a while, you can see nothing but white, but gradually, you blink the world back into focus.

The girl is alive, standing right behind Launcelot, apparently unharmed. Launcelot's shield smokes where the bolt hit it, and static leftover from the attack crackles wickedly in the air. Your uniform is even sticking to your skin because of it! She turns to you, her expression concealed within her helmet, but her voice betrays her surprise.

"You…that's…" she stammers, looking back and forth between you and Launcelot, which is busy poking at the enemy with its lance. The moment of bewilderment doesn't last long, however, as she quickly straightens back up and rests her golf club on her shoulder.

"Well then, that explains some things. But let me tell you something: if you let your Persona fight her Persona, you're going to get yourself killed. You know that, right?" You shake your head. You haven't had Launcelot for very long, so you haven't considered what would happen if it died. And considering how well Launcelot seems to be holding its own right now, it hardly seems relevant. The girl shakes her head in disapproval.

"Should have figured. You probably just awakened to him, right? There's no time to go into a whole spiel about what a Persona is, but know this: that Persona isn't just a part of you, he is you. They don't say all that 'thou art I, I art thou' stuff to hear themselves talk. Whatever happens to him, happens to you, and vice versa. And right now, your Persona is ridiculously overmatched. That Enforcer isn't real physically strong, but her magic packs a wallop. One good zap and you'll be toast. For now, why don't you let Elaine and I help you get rid of this one?" she offers, extending her hand. You grasp it firmly and give it a brief shake.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you sure about letting him in on this? I was under the impression that we were trying to keep a low profile," says the voice.

"We're not letting him in on anything. In fact, you should be pleased: I'm calling you right about the Enforcer. It's too much for either of us to handle on our own. So for the time being, we may as well pool our resources."

"If you say so. Hey, buddy," the voice calls, presumably to you.

"Yeah?" you respond.

"Oh wow, you can already hear me. Guess that makes sense what with the Persona thing and all. Anyhow, would you mind letting me take a look at it?"

"What? Why?"

"Oh, for Pete's sake, dude, I'm just gonna analyze it real quick to find out if your Persona's a little better suited to taking that thing down than hers. Just gimme a minute."

The voice falls silent for a few moments, and you look nervously back towards the battle where Launcelot and Elaine are grabbing the other Persona's arms to keep it from lunging at the two of you. The mask on its screen is jittering around madly, and it looks like your Personas are struggling to keep a hold of its thrashing limbs. Then, it manages to pull one of them free and clamps it over Launcelot's helmet. A surge of electricity surges through its arms and into Launcelot. Immediately, you feel a surge of pain course through your body, from your head all the way down into your toes, and you crumple to your knees with your extremities tingling and shaking involuntarily. Elaine quickly grabs at the other arm, bringing them together behind its back and trying to avoid being buffeted by its flapping wings.

"Are you alright?" asks the girl, bending over to help you up and get your body back under control. You've never been shocked before, and you don't have any desire to be again. It feels like every inch of your skin is vibrating, and your muscles have turned to jelly. "Hate to say I told you so, but this is the kind of thing we're talking about. If you want to fight using a Persona, you'd better be tough enough for it."

"Well, sometimes it's better to find out the hard way," the voice says. "Anyhow, we're in luck. Looks like this guy's Persona specializes in wind magic. If he can land a solid hit on it, that ought to knock it out long enough for you to really put it away."

The girl turns towards you again. "Did you hear that? All you need to do is get your Persona to hit the Enforcer with some magic, and I'll take care of the rest. Sound simple enough?"

You nod, as does Launcelot. "Tell your Persona to let go of it!" you shout to her. The girl then gestures to Elaine, who lets go of the Enforcer's arms. Free from restraint, it emits its loudest hiss yet and surges towards you. Visible ropes of electricity course along its figure as it charges. Now that it's running you down, it seems ten times more terrifying than it was when you were watching it get knocked around by a girl with a golf club. But if she can stand up to it, so can you. Launcelot needs to hit it full-on, so you need to stand your ground as long as you can to make it an easy target.

"Now, Launcelot!"" you yell when you can't afford to stay still any longer. As you slide down to the ground, the Enforcer soars right over your head so close your skin prickles, and continues right towards Launcelot, who's been waiting behind you with its lance clasped in both gloved hands. He raises it skywards, and with a flash of green, blades of wind slam into the enemy, accompanied by a tremendous gust that sends you rolling along the pavement.

Dragging yourself to your feet, you see that your strike was dead on – the enemy Persona's crumpled up into a heap on the ground, stunned.

"That's perfect! Now's our shot at an all-out attack!" cries the girl. She raises her club up over her head and charges past you towards the dazed Enforcer. "C'mon!" Removing your guitar from its case, you heft it over your shoulder and leap after her. With a mighty swing, she bashes the Enforcer in the back of the screen, the image of the mask cutting out in a spurt of static. You follow up with a blow to its back, your guitar twanging with the impact. The Enforcer tumbles onto its stomach and its head smacks into the ground. As it attempts to pick itself up, you can see a thin crack running from corner of its screen to the other.

"Don't let it get back up!" says the girl. "Let's finish this now!"

You both rush towards it with your makeshift weapons raised, and bring them down onto the Enforcer's head with all of your strength. The contact sends shivers skittering up your arms as your guitar and her club smash right through the top of the set. The Persona's entire body shudders violently, then falls completely still. You and the girl exchange glances, unsure of whether or not it's over.

Suddenly, the Persona explodes in a shower of black butterflies, and you fall onto your backside out of surprise as they swarm into your face. As they rise higher and higher into the air, the black begins to chip off of their wings like old paint, revealing the same luminescent blue of the butterfly you saw earlier after defeating those monsters. The flakes of black drift gently back down towards your upturned faces, vanishing in little puffs of smoke before hitting the ground.

However, a soft glow redirects your attention back towards the ground. A translucent, shimmering figure hovers where the Enforcer fell. In some ways, it resembles the Enforcer, but it's not entirely the same. The television set head and mask are gone, replaced by a gently smiling, kindly woman's face with streaming brown hair. In her arms, she cradles a large, hefty sword with a blade that's nearly as long as you are tall. Two angel's wings flap idly behind her, emitting sparks with each beat. She nods towards you once before fading out of sight.

"Wait, what was that?" you breathe to the girl.

"That was what her Persona really looks like; how it was before the Cloud's Dreamweaver took control of it."

"Sorry, but all that? It means almost nothing to me."

She cocks her head towards you. "This really is your first time in a Cloud, isn't it?" She sighs. "I don't really have the time to explain every last thing to you, but here's the best I can do. This whole place-" she gestures broadly around in a circle "-is a Cloud. A Dream Cloud, as a matter of fact. A big one, too. I'm sure you've noticed, but this place is a little separated from reality."

You nod. After everything that's happened this afternoon, this has by far been the easiest bit of information to swallow. "Then this is someone's dream?" you ask.

"A projection of someone's dream, actually. Their perfect world, drawn out of their mind by a Dreamweaver and given tangible form, if we're just going to out-and-out spill everything we know," the voice chimes in. "A Cloud is a weird little area between mind and matter, born from a person's subconscious. Naturally, that makes it easy for Personas to manifest…as well as Shadows. I'm sure you've seen a couple by now – they seem to like that disgusting, blobby shape around here."

"Bit of a shame. Ruins the aesthetic," the girl remarks.

"Right. Would that they had the sense of style you, do huh? Anyhow, if you're wondering why you don't see anyone else around, that's why."

Your face scrunches up in horror. "They got eaten by those things?"

"What? No! No. They are those things. Kind of. Rather, every Shadow you see is a representation of someone's innermost thoughts and feelings. Right now, they're all asleep, in a way. That is to say, they've bought into the dream. They've accepted it as reality. The only reason why you're not appearing as a Shadow too is because you're 'awake'. There must have been something your brain couldn't accept as real, and it rejected the illusion.

"The Shadows, though, they don't like that. When they sense that something's wandering around 'awake' in the Cloud, they try to eliminate it. Same with Enforcers like the one we just fought. They're basically the dreamer's Persona that's gone berserk from the shock of the dreamer's internal thoughts suddenly becoming external. It makes it easy for the Dreamweaver to let them loose and send them after threats. That's why people wandering around like that without Personas are a bit of a hassle. You're basically walking targets."

"Speaking of which," says the girl, "where's that other guy?"

"Here," pipes up a wispy voice from the shrubbery. The boy slowly emerges from his hiding place, dragging himself forward with his arms towards his toppled chair. The girl rushes over to right it while you help the boy over your shoulder and ease him back into it. "I'm still a little frazzled, but…I think I'm okay."

"Are you sure, dude? You got hit by lightning," you say. He nods his head.

"Y-yeah, I'm perfectly fine, but…what were those things? And just who are you guys? Some kinda superheroes?"

"Hmm…kinda. Don't know about him," the girl nods in your direction, "but fighting these things is my forte. You could call it a service for the people," she says with a smug grin, and the voice groans.

"Knock it off. The last thing we need is a bunch of vigilante Persona users getting in our way. You took out the Enforcer, so let's get a move on and find the Dreamweaver so we can terminate this Cloud already."

The girl nonchalantly swats at the air as if to wave the voice away. "You're just grouchy because you drew nav duty today. Besides, I'm curious about something." She turns to you and the boy in the wheelchair. "You," she says, pointing, "you were probably able to resist the Dreamweaver because you could summon your Persona. But you…" Her gaze turns to the other boy. "What about you? Can you summon your Persona?" The boy's eyes fall to his feet.

"I-I don't think so. I don't really even know what you're talking about, to be honest. Personas…they're those things you used to fight for you, right? I feel like if I could summon one of those, I'd probably know," he says, an edge of dejection creeping into his tone.

"Hey, don't worry about it," she says, stepping forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's not like just anyone can summon their Persona. But," she says, taking on a more serious tone, "if you can't protect yourself, you need to get out of here ASAP. It's actually safer for regular people to stay asleep inside of a Cloud – I don't know how you managed it, but waking up just makes you an easy target for Shadows."

The girl turns her head towards the sky to address the voice. "I'll be taking this guy out of here for now so he doesn't end up as Shadow food. We'll rendezvous at the usual point once I've made sure he's safe."

"Why not just let the other guy take him? I don't know if you've forgotten, but we kind of have a job to do here." The girl cracks a sly smile at that.

"Actually, I want him to take on the Dreamweaver."

"You've got to be kidding."

"Not at all. He can summon a Persona, and the Dreamweaver'll be weak without the dreamer's Persona to boss around. What say you?" she asks you.

"I wouldn't have left even if you told me to. I can handle it," you say. Your only goal since you entered this place – the Cloud – has been to find Mariko and get her out of here, and the more you've heard from this girl and the annoyed, disembodied voice, the more you're beginning to believe that she's been captured by this Dreamweaver. You and Launcelot have taken out three monsters already – one more isn't about to force you to back down.

"I like the bravado, but don't get a big head. Dreamweavers are tricky little cretins, even without their Enforcers. It'll say anything to try and catch you off guard - no matter what, don't believe a word it says. Just trust yourself to do what's right, and you should be okay. And remember, I'm letting you handle this yourself. Don't make me have to come back and clean up after you."

"I said I can handle it," you grumble, trying your best to appear as confident as you can so that she doesn't have a change of heart. This aloof attitude of hers is starting to piss you off - as if she didn't just see that you were perfectly capable of handling yourself.

"All right then, in that case, I'm off. Maybe we'll meet again," she says, and blows you a kiss before grabbing the handles of the other boy's wheelchair and pushing him down the street behind you.

"Frankly, I'd rather you didn't," says the voice. "If you know what's good for you, you'll forget all this business the moment you make it out of there. Well, if you make it out of there. I don't care if you're a Persona user or not - if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to get murdered by a Shadow one way or another. It's nothing personal, just do us both a favor and stay away."

"You sure know how to give one hell of a pep talk," you say, but no one responds. It seems that the voice has followed suit and vacated the premises, leaving only your own thoughts for company.

Turning back towards the complex looming large in the center of the village, you can't help but feel that your situation has only become more enigmatic and uncertain after your encounter with that girl and the voice. Somehow, they know an awful lot about this place and how it works, leaving you to only ponder why. It was simpler when it was just you trying to escape from monsters so you could find Mariko. Now, the idea that there's actually some kind of structure to this madness fills you with anxiety...and the slightest hint of exhilaration.

You give your head a shake to clear those thoughts from your head. There'll be time to mull over the questions still bouncing around inside your mind once you've defeated the Dreamweaver and found Mariko. Summoning up whatever resolve you can muster, you begin your trek towards the nucleus of the Cloud, and to face whatever lies in wait.