Persona Trinity Seal

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

He awakens to the soft sounds of a piano, followed by a slow hauntingly eerie yet beautiful sounding vocal melody ringing through a void of silence. He takes a moment for his eyes to adjust slowly removing the darkness and making out his surroundings. The atmosphere is cold which is odd considering he had been bundled up next to Kotone. Though, now that he thinks about it, he is sitting in a soft cushiony chair, and while it was comfortable it was a stark difference to what he had been expecting to find. He finally begins to gain focus and takes in this place.

He appears to be in some sort of elevator, a broken one at that. The dull grey metal floor beneath him is cold to the touch on his bare feet. He retracts from the cold and now traces the patterns on the wall leading up to the floor indicator, it looks like the elevator is at the highest possible floor judging by the arrow even though he can't make out the exact number. His vision stretches further and, in his view, emerges a small desk with it a strange looking but familiar man and another whom he didn't recognize who sported a head of white hair, yellow eyes and wore an all-blue uniform of some kind. The pointy nose and sleepless looking gaze were one he couldn't easily forget, and now he had a name for the man. Igor.

"Ah, you finally awaken I see. Good, good. We've much to discuss" Igor says with his ever-present smile, yet somehow for just a moment it appeared more genuine.

He tries to speak but barely anything comes out, he only managjng to squeak out a "What...?" though he wasn't sure if the man heard it, as in his haze he barely even heard it.

"I'm please to finally meet you, Shin Kanzato" he says with a small tilt of his head as if examining him "We've met once before, that time was very limited while here a little more is the most I can offer"

Shin tries to speak but again finds himself caught on some invisible force.

"Yes, I do know of you and I know you know me as well, but for the sake of peasantries my name is Igor and I would like to officially welcome you to The Velvet Room"

Wait... Velvet Room. That's the place Kotone had mentioned, this is good maybe he can get some more answers.

"You seem to be getting along quite nicely with our wild card and that is very pleasing to know. Now, usually only those of such a fate are allowed to enter this room but I have made an exception for you. You may not know it now but in due time you will come to realize that while your power and her's are different, yours is no less important possibly even more so"

Shin tries harder and finds himself tightening his grip on the chair unconsciously as he opens his mouth and speaks "You know Kotone, don't you?"

Igor holds his gaze to Shin and seems to widen his smile a bit "I do, I know much about her as well as you, and the reason you both have been brought together now"

"I want you to tell me more, about the wild card, about personas, please"

"The power you come to call persona is but a mask worn to protect its wearer from the dangers around, yet in its greatest purest form it is the true self. Normally one only possesses one true self though in the case of the wild card they may draw from strength gained through forging bonds ones that cannot be broken and will allow one to draw power from the heart and soul of another who would lay down their life for them. Though sometimes things change"

Shin's eyes widen, a sudden alertness at the tone of Igor's voice taken a shift.

"Time passes and bonds may become lost with such time. Identities change and solidify with age, people let go of their true selves often due to losing the same mindset and heart that was present in their youth, they stop believing" he says with a solemn lowering of his gaze, his eyes falling closed in an expression that conveyed a hidden sadness behind the smile.