The Sea of Everyone's Soul

“Showtime.”


A strange voice echoed through Xavier’s mind. It was like a mixture of many pitches, tones, and yes both genders. The daze he felt as he took a survey of his surroundings was strange for a dream. And then there were those hairs on the back of his neck, which stood at attention from a macabre presence that was no doubt behind him—it was always behind you, never in front of you—that would be far too radical.

The area was small, and for now, completely stagnant. He noticed a single light bulb hanging from the ‘ceiling’, but it refused to turn on and lend him some shine. [For lack of a better word. He actually couldn’t tell where the top of the room…stopped. There was not cut off] So for now, he was in the dark. Alone. With some mysterious presence, this certainly was some dream. By the way the floor in front of him (he believed it was tiled black and white, he believed it was) curved about he imagined the room to be of circular shape. Then again, he didn’t take architecture. So he could have been wrong.


“Yo, took you long enough!” It was his voice. Granted, it was highly distorted and warped, but there was no doubt about it. Someone with his voice was speaking to him now, and that someone was right behind him. “Turn around, or are you scared to face yourself?” The specter was taunting him in such away that he couldn’t simply ignore it—besides, something told him that if he did so…it wouldn’t end well.

“Tch.” Xavier bit his lip at the second owner of his voice. It was him; a wispy, shadowy version of himself, with haunting yellow eyes. The copy had an impish way about him, with his hands shoved into the pockets of his khakis, he threw a plaid blazer over a white dress-shirt. “Why are you wearing those rags…I haven’t seen those in years.” He crossed his arms and spoke in an aloof manner, all in an attempt to throw on his best display of bravado. The dark mirrored image of himself cackled, amused at his double’s comment.

“What, you don’t like em’? I picked these out special, just for you! I thought you’d like this, remind you of those old days.” With a twisted grin he patted the monogram on his chest, mocking a sense of pride at the image. “Ignacious Academe’, hell, I had fun there. But you…you hated it didn’t you?” The shadow stepped a bit close to his original, yellow eyes locked on the target.

The single suspended light bulb flickered on, revealing the room in all of its glory. TVs, the walls were made of hundreds of 1960s styled televisions. All of the boxes flickered on in a domino effect, starting with the ones right in front of him.

Why can’t you just grow up Xavier?

Your father and I are…

Don’t hit me!

The images on the televisions were of different scenes in Xavier’s life; many were before he even came to Olympus, back when he was still a ‘problem’ child. One memory in particular stood out to him; the first time he hit a kid that didn’t even deserve it. The boy was a grade below him, and for some reason, a young Xavier Wallace decided it would be ‘cool’ to beat him to a pulp. No matter how much frustration you had inside of you, there was no reason to take it out on an innocent person—he knew that now but back then those words were completely foreign.

“You were rough huh?” The shadow smiled, waving his arms in a fantastic manner at all of the images surrounding them, “Those were the days. Things got even better when ma sent us to Ignacious…to ‘better’ us, or some shit like that.” He shrugged while Xavier clinched his fist, tight. The ‘real’ Wallace boy was holding back his intense desire to slam his knuckles right into the specter’s cheek. “You look like you wanna hit me…you DO wanna hit me don’t you? Do it!” The shadow stepped even closer to the original, and leaned forward now, pointing at his face with his thumb, while the other had rested in his khaki pockets. “But you can’t—that’d go against that promise you made with your pappy. What a wimp.” He drew his body back, placing his exposed hand back into its pocket.

Xavier grunted, full of frustration at his own hesitation to strike the shadow. “That’s not…” He was biting his bottom lip so hard he was drawing blood. “Tch. Fucking dream.” That set the mirror image off. He exploded into a fit of chilling laughter, slapping his knee in amusement nearly a dozen times.

“You still think this is a dream Xavier? Haah. I must be one vivid figment of your imagination huh?” He grabbed his gut from weakness, “Whatever man, I’m gonna let you go. I’ll let him deal with you for the time being…” Xavier watched with a mixture of despair and relief as the figure decomposed into a plume of black smoke, and floated upwards, into the darkness above. The TVs changed ‘channels’ now, and they all showed images from today—and the dream he had the night before.


Welcome to the…

They believed in a ‘mask’ a persona has called Persona-

It’s my favorite, so you have to promise to take care of it!

You guys have them too?

“Long face, turn it upside down,” Xavier turned around (indeed, it would be WAY too radical to have the person appear in front of you for once) to see a familiar face. It was the man from his dreams. Even sitting down on the ground as he was now, it was clear that the fellow was extremely gifted in the height department, and his sleek frame was ripped with muscles. His body was covered head to toe in war paint, white on the left half, black on the right; the same motif was present in his samurai-style pants. Thanks to the afro-sporting man's shirtless-ness one could see his scar covered body.


"Its you…that's a different song from the one you normally play, what gives?" With a point to the boom box he had heaved over his right shoulder, the student addressed the cross legged sitting individual, who looked at him through a pair of amber tinted, square framed sunglasses. It was odd, but seeing enigmatic man made him feel a lot more relaxed than before.

“Different track for a different chapter, ya dig?”

For no more than 30 seconds, Daniel had thought to himself where his double might be in this twisted game of hide-and-seek. He went over every place in school in his head, from Classroom 2A to the Auditorium. If the his clone was indeed him, would he go somewhere familiar? The place Daniel was most familiar with was Classroom 2A. That would be his first destination. Racing up the stairs, Daniel didn't know if there was some sort of time limit, before he woke up or any consequence for failing to find the copy. Really, he should have dismissed everything as an extremely wierd vivid and lucid dream then wait for the dream to end, but he felt compelled to defeat his other self. He tripped on a step, just managing to catch himself before his face would land painfully on the steps. He muttered a curse, then reaching the the second floor he sprinted as fast as he could to 2A. Once there, he all but broke down the door, gripping the knob and pushing with all his strength. To his bitter disappointment, the classroom was completely empty, no other "Daniel" anywhere in sight. He checked behind the door just in case. Still nothing.

"You will have to do better than that, Danny-boy!" the clone chortled. "Hey, are you really so stupid, you're dumber than yourself?"

"Gonna stick something huge and nasty up that bastards ass. Hey, he can see what I'm doing? How the hell is that fair?"

Growling to himself, the next option was to look into every room on the second floor, using the same method (minus the angry door-pushing). When he came up with nothing again, he kicked a wall out of frustration.

"C'mon don't be so pissed." This only added to the frustration.

"I'll find you!"

The next stop was the 3rd floor. That was where Xavier's homeroom was. Maybe the clone would be there? It didn't matter if it wasn't there, but eventually, Daniel knew he would find it. There were only so many places one could hide, even if Daniel didn't know where those places were, he would find the clone. On the way to Xavier's homeroom, he stopped at the trophy cabinet. He stared at it, reading the names.

"Heh, you wish that was you with all those nice shiny cups and brass badges. You wish your name was on them don't you?" came the copy's voice.

"Yeah..." it almost came out as a whisper.

"I can make it happen," there was a noise like someone snapping their fingers and the engraved names all changed to Daniel Gray. Should he be happy? No he wasn't, especially since he knew the awards would never truly be his, as he hadn't earned them. Actually he felt worse, because he had stolen someone else's rightful prize. He turned away. "Ungrateful prick..."

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************

4 hours of searching and Daniel had still not found his double. He had searched every room, although the ones he had never been in were filled with darkness. The darkness wasn't solid and he didn't want to know where he would land if he jump into into it. The only room he knew he had never been in, but wasn't filled with black was the music room. That was where he was now, musical instruments.

"Boy, you sure wish you could play any one of those don't you?" sighed the clone. "Like Saiya, I mean, she can play guitar. You can't of course. It is shame. Since you can't find me, maybe you should start learning the basics?"

"Just please, shut up."

There was no reply from the voice.

"Hehe, can't find him. Guess I'll just wait until I wake up." Daniel chuckled. He had given up when something he had heard before came back to him.

"Destroy the part that chains you to your weakness!"

At first, he had thought the copy meant itself, but now that he was in the music room, surrounded by things he wished he was skilled at and having seen the trophy cabinet, where the awards that other people had earned were. Awards he wished that were his, only so that he could stand out from the crowd and be recognised. But there was a huge reason why he didn't. Now he understood.

"That is my weakness. You know, I do want to be good at something. But I have to confess- I've been so goddamn lazy. No it's not that I "can't" be good at something. My parents were right to pressure me. I've never tried to be special. Never joined any sports teams. Never picked up an instrument. Never tried my hardest to get good grades, I studied but did I really try to think about it? No. I wanted it to be all given to me. But back at the cabinet... When the names all changed to mine, I didn't want those awards because I hadn't deserved them. I hadn't tried to get them." Daniel paused for a break. "It all stems from my laziness, all my problems, the ones you mentioned at the factory all come from that. From having all that to live up to, to even having a name that doesn't suck. Because I didn't try, of course my parents would think I had given up on trying. That's all bullshit, cos I never even tried in the first place. That time I told them about them heaping so much pressure onto me? What an excuse to get them to lay off and let me be a lazy asshole. And it goes from there. Not being good at anything, no wonder I got an inferiority complex. Wanting to change my name? Just to make myself stand out even a little bit, I wanted a name that would set me apart from others, but thinking back on that, I'm lucky to have a dull name like Daniel and not something like McDoucheyPants, which would probably fit me better."

"Go on", the other self was back again, and Daniel had never been so relieved to hear it.

"I'm gonna change. Gonna change the way I do things from now on. I will find something I can do, something I can enjoy too. I swear it," Daniel had never felt so good in his life, letting out all of this, and making a resolution. "I'm going to actually try to make something of myself, I'll do well in school instead of constantly giving in half-assed crap I myself labelled "my best". And I will find you." He wandered over to the drum kit. Without a second thought, he kicked it over and watched in mild amusement as it dissolved into white particles. He took an electric guitar, throwing it at a wall. It did the same as the drums and turned into white mist. He did this to every instrument until the music room was completely bare. "Everything that was in this room was something I've never bothered to do. I'm sure there is something I can do although perhaps not anything that used to be in this room. Maybe not, but in the end, I can say I truly, honestly tried my hardest." He was smiling now, a thought having occured to him. "You know what? I think I know where you are now you sonnavabitch."

He left the music room without looking back. His destination: the third floor.

((OOC: Gah, I think I really screwed up with this part, but I'll have to read it tomorrow when I'm not really tired. I think everything that went on in the dream was really random and made no sense when Daniel realised stuff and some of it didn't fit. I'll try to see if anything was out of place tomorrow and change it. But don't worry, Danny won't become a gary-stu who becomes good at everything. He'll just pick one thing which he will get better at over the RP. I'm still deciding. Also, another thing about my writing, I think I'm starting to use the same phrases over and over again and I hate it.))

Atlas Appears

"Different track for a different chapter, ya dig?"


He spoke with a cool, raspy voice, he was smooth with his demeanor as he scratched at the bush on his chin, "You know where you at Youngblood?" The old man (he had to be old, that was the only way someone could get off with that kind of talk) gave a twisted grin, awaiting the boy's response. Xavier crossed his arms and frowned, taking another 180 view of the area. After his assessment, the boy shook his head with dismay.

“Nope, not at all.” He finished this answer with an unconcerned shrug, an act that made the seated man burst into a hoarse laughter. At this Xavier grimaced, unnerved a bit by the enigma's behavior.

"A real smartass..." The fellow ceased his laughter, and with his free left hand grabbed at the air in front of him. Xavier could make out a small ember now in his tiny fist, but it wasn't until the wild looking character brought his fist to his mouth that he realized what it was: a cigarette. The boy watched as he inhaled a large amount of the smoke from the cancer stick.


"Do you have to smoke that here...sheesh," The young man winced as a trail of smoke the one in front of him puffed drifted his way, "How the hell did you even get that?" Despite his resentment of the thing, Xavier was curious how he conjured one out of the thin air. He raised a single eyebrow at this; pulling the cigarette away he expelled a quick gray stream of the smoke from his nostrils and replied with an amused smile.

"Magic," He let out that hoarse laugh of his, which Xavier was quickly getting accustomed too.

"Oh REALLY now?" Xavier let out his own small laugh, he had to admit, and even though he was shady as hell...this old fellow with the boom box on his shoulder was good company.

"Thought you were sharp!" He took another puff of his vice, "Take a seat Youngblood, we've got a lot to talk about," The man motioned for Xavier to sit, and the boy took him up on the offer, after all, there wasn’t much else to do was there?
"Call me Atlas." Atlas waved his hand across the air, creating a set of two wooden cups, and a pitcher full of tea, also wooden. “Help yourself. Now, I asked you before…you know what this place is?” Xavier looked around yet again at the TVs all around him, they were now showing images of himself, black and white throughout the years, it was reminiscent of a silent film.

With a slight reluctance, and disappointed at the beverage, Xavier grabbed a cup, pouring a small amount from the pitcher he began, “No idea, it’s different from where I used to see you…and these TVs are so eerie…” He lowered his gaze into the cup in his lap, trying his best to look away from the television screens.

“The light into the darkness, hanging by a single thread. Images of yourself here all around you, can’t look away from yourself now that you’re on the inside.” Atlas let another stream of smoke fly from his nostrils, “No remote button you can just click to mute it all…” At that moment, the TVs began to blare with voices heard throughout his lifetime. “You’re the Hanged Man…sitting knee deep in your Sea of Soul. Just another cul-de-sac of your true self. Dig?” The old man grinned wide, snuffing out his cigarette on the tile below, he reached for his own cup of tea. “Those dreams before all of this were me calling out to you…I’m your mask, your shield. Call me a Persona.” Xavier’s eyes widened—Persona?

“Persona…Sea of Soul…Hanged Man…” He tried to grab for the card in his jeans pocket, but it was nowhere to be found.

“That card will be given back to you after we forge the contract.”

“What’s the contract?” Atlas’ answers only brought more and more questions, and he was sure this next one would be no different.

“Two minds, just two halves of the same soul. Come together for the duet of the century. We’re a team, our single blade cuts through the darkness and the light and brings the new dawn.” Atlas’ cryptic method of answering questions was quickly irking Xavier—was it so much to ask for a straight answer from this guy?

“Uh…”

“All you have to do is prove that your worthy to me, and me and you are on the same team. Simple.” Xavier took a loud slurp of his tea before he replied to the question—he normally didn’t go for the drink…but this was pretty good.

“So how do I prove I’m worth then?” Xavier narrowed his eyes, curious. The tea was gone now, so he sat it back down on the mat between the both of them. Atlas watched him closely as he did this, nodding slowly.

“Did you finish the tea?” Atlas knitted his brows, Xavier nodded.

“Yeah, it was decent. Not bad at all.” The student grinned, he felt bad about being so hesitant to try it. The man with the boom box laughed.

“Well then, consider the contract forged. I’m not picky, if you like a good cup of tea, I like you, not many like that blend.” The old man rose up, letting out an exaggerated grunt as he did so—very Xavier-Like. “Thou art, and I art thou. I am Atlas, the Titan with the world on his shoulders. We’ll make this planet our anthem Youngblood.” Xavier stood up, and extended his hand his way. Atlas smirked at the gesture, but turned around. “I’m against shaking hands—germs ya dig?” He gave that horse laugh, and began to deteriorate into a mass of golden particles. They flowed into Xavier, bathing his body in their warm aura. His card now sat in his left hand. The Hanged Man. The televisions all had a single image of Atlas and Xavier now, standing back to back.

“Where to now?” There was a bright white flash of light, and a blue door stood in front of him. “I’ll take what I can get…” He stepped through the door, a strange tingling overtook him…he felt himself lose consciousness, though only briefly, and when he awoke, he was standing in an completely different territory, looking at a familiar face—it was a girl ((Ionia)), but he wasn’t sure who, everything was fuzzy, was this a side effect from that door?

((Crap post, sorry guys. I wasn’t sure where Ionia was so my end part might be a bit hazy.))

Kari kept breathing slowly now that she was finally calm she was trying to understand what had happened and to help herself she was sitting in seiza position trying to enter in a mediation state with her eye close, something that she used to do only while training. What she had clear was that all what was happening was a dream after all being alone in the middle of a destroyed Kyoto was not normal. No survivors? No rescue at sight? The whole city in chaos except the small area where she was sitting? Right....


When the Dragon lands

Kari opened her eye surprised the voice that came behind her sounded like a woman with a very sweet and cute attitude, without standing she turn dragging her legs in the wooden floor, the first thing she saw was a huge shadow projected in all the area and then the second thing she noticed was the owner of the shadow standing proudly and menacing over the torii was what Kari though was a giant lizard, Kari calculated the length in almost at 4 meters or more... , she only realized her mistake when two huge pairs of winds flapped as it moved definetily it wasn´t a lizard the mere color it had... a light blue that made it´s scales been even more noticeable and a pair of piercing red eyes. It looked more like an European dragon, the mighty beast kept a look that lacked everything the only thing noticeable in the eyes was the sensation of curiosity, but one of eagerness it was the same curiosity a predator would show to a prey as if it wondered how to crush it´s victim.

"Please don´t stand up... although at your current state I really doubt you will even try." Even if it sounded as a mockery Kari couldn´t help to smile, but not a fake smile it was a real and honest smile, one that she hadn´t show in years to anyone and surprisingly the dragon imitate her showing a smile with it´s huge fangs.

"Well now time to talk... How do you feel here?" Kari looked around once more before answering. What was she supposed to answer? "To be honest? I feel bad what she did..." "No girl. What YOU did" Kari closed her mouth quickly after being cut off. What was the dragon trying to say? "This place, this how you see the life... or maybe I should say your heart. Don´t expect an explanation from my part since it wouldn´t be funny if you don´t realize it yourself."

"I don´t see the funny side on this... eh..." Once more Kari closed her mouth, this time embarrassed the dragon knew her name while she was in the dark "Call me Zeral, it´s the name of your choice after all, by the way you look yummy... I mean cute with your cheeks colored like that." Kari cut all the emotions after hearing that comment, in front of Zeral she felt like she wasn´t able to pretend as always, she tried to change the conversation while trying to hide her feelings. "Why do I feel like you are hiding something from me?"

"I wonder..." The dragon raised it´s long neck watching at Kari with real eagerness "You don´t give yourself enough credit, you can make great things.... when you think. But enough of me, let´s make a quick test if you please me with the answers I will give you a real nice prize." Kari raised her hands in surrender she really felt impotent in front of the dragon.

"Right tell me... Why aren´t you anymore a blood knight?" Kari winked surprised she wasn´t expecting that type of question "Zeral I´m a modern age girl, not some kind of crusader of... your time. I don´t know what you mean with blood knight." The dragon shooked it´s head full of disappointment "Don´t know? Better discover it before it´s too late... for both of you. Next question then... What is a hermit?" "Obvious answer there, is a loser that likes to be alone."

Wrong answer, Kari suddenly felt a extreme pressure in her chest... no more like if it were happening in his heart. She felt like if she was to pass out falling slowly in the floor, the dragon was only narrowing it´s huge eyes focusing on her "Don´t try to test your luck with me, I have enough dealing with you as you are now I don´t want to deal with you acting like an idiot, next time I ask you this if I hear the same answer you will die. Last question... Do you know how to fly?"

"Fly?" Kari felt how the pressure started to dissapear as she fell to... somewhere, more like falling she was floating in a dark space even at that moment she could heard Zeral´s sweet voice in her head as a strange image tried to appear in her mind "Thou art, and I art thou. I am Zeral the brilliance dragon, let my devotion and my intelligence be your strength." As Zeral´s voice faded Kari could see the image clearer it was an old man standing in a cave with a huge dragon in the back holding a lantern to him. Before she could realized Kari was finally static with a blue door in front of her "It cant get worse..." Standing slowly while placing her left hand on her chest Kari opened the door and entered, it felt strange but as she said it wasn´t worse than before maybe she had to thank Zeral for almost crushing her chest before to avoid a greater pain. Now she was in a strange place where two boys stood in silence, no a boy and a girl to be more precise and the girl looked familiar, she was´t sure her eye had problems trying to focus where she was.

Jordan could see. He looked around him as the colors invaded his mind. He had no idea what any of the colors were but he knew what he smelled. Iron. "Blood" he muttered. The mist disappated and he could could see a vast plains covered in bodies. Broken blades clawing at the air and dead faces calling out for salvation. Jordan carefully stepped among the dead and started to bend down to examine a body.

"Don't bother with the dead, boy" said a deep deep voice, thick like tar yet airy like a snake.
"That is right," said a second voice slightly higher but seemed to make the s's last for minutes. "LEave them be, they are weak and are of no importance to the victor.

Snickering was coming from all around Jordan. He was surrounded but he couldn't get fix on where the voices were ecoming from. He stared ahead and drew his blade.

"That is the spirit," said a voice from behind. "I knew he would not disappoint us, come let us play with him a bit.Six heads lifted from the sea of bodies and were soon seen to be attached to necks which were attached the same body.

"Hydra?!" Jordan said despite the situation. He smiled. It was a dream and this time he was to slaughter a beast. It was first time to have a dream such as this but Jordan didn't care about that. When he closed his eyes, out of habit only, he was forced to duck due to the sudden barrage of fanged jaws that descended upon him in a flash. His hands slashed and pierced independently as the threats presented themselves. He was being pushed back. His pride flared and he dashed in only to lose his right arm which was holding the walking stick part. He felt his bones get crushed and flesh torn. but he clenched his and then screamed.

Not a dream, not a dream.He stood up once more panting. "What the hell is this?" he asked himself.

"A test"
"Initiation,"
"Contract,"
"War,"
"Life,"
"Death"
(edit later sorry)

There it was, just taunting Daniel with it's presence. The trophy cabinet, all sorts of awards just sitting doing nothing. Seeing his name on them disgusted him. The Daniel Gray on these trophies wasn't him. He knew what he had to do. It was just a shame that such a well made piece of furniture had to go to waste, even if it wasn't real. Daniel pulled back his fist and sent it straight into the class of the cabinet. At first he wondered if it was the smart thing to do. After all, this was glass and that would cut him wouldn't it? Lucky for Daniel, owing to being in the dream world, the glass dispersed into harmless little white dots, along with the rest of the cabinet and everything inside it. Behind it was a door, a very plain door, white in colour, the Roman numerals "VI" imprinted on rusting on brass. The door opened by itself, revealing Daniel's clone standing still, smirking. The room was completely covered in grey stone, it was extremely undetailed. It had no roof, only blackness and it was about 10 meters long and 10 meters wide, like a square, even sides. When Daniel was in the room, the door shut behind him and melted away, leaving behind only rock. It didn't matter to Daniel. He was just here to face himself.

"I see you've arrived," the clone was speaking in an old Western accent, like a cowboy about to engage in a deadly gun duel. A nod from Daniel was all it got in response. It beckoned Daniel to come closer. When he was close enough, the clone let loose a vicious uppercut, throwing Daniel back and making him rub his chin in pain. "Man up. Be stronger than yourself. You don't want to be your own bitch do you?"

Deaniel recovered quickly. That was a cheap shot, but he should have expected that. He didn't know any martial arts whatsoever and hopefully his copy wouldn't either. All he had was the fighting moves one used on instinct. He walked backwards until he was only a foot away from where the door used to be. The clone moved back as well. 3 seconds later, the fight began.

At the same time, both Daniels rushed to the centre of the room, circling each other, looking for an oppurtunity to strike. It didn't present itself to either fighter. They were like this for a while, but when Daniel grew impatient, he made the first move, throwing a punch at his copy. It wasn't meant to be a hard one, he just wanted to see how the clone would respond to it. As expected, it caught the punch and pushed and let go. Daniel lost his balance and felll onto his arse. The clone didn't even bother to insult him. Looking into it's eyes, where there used to be cruel malicious intent, there was now nothing. No emotion whatsoever. Freaky. Getting back to his feet, Daniel struck again with another pucnh, but this one wasn't even intended to connect, it stop short of the clones awaiting hand. While the clone was busy trying to catch the fist, it didn't expect another punch to it's groin. It stumbled back a bit, allowing Daniel a chance to dish out a lot of pain. He followed up with knee in the stomach, a kick in the shin and a headbutt, the attacks pushing the clone back into a wall. Just when he was going to sock the other Daniel in the face, it ducked down, manouevered itself behind him and pinned him against the hard grey wall, his chest facing it. Pulling back Daniel's hair, it proceeded to repeatedly smash it into the solid surface,. The pain was unbearable, and Daniel was just about ready to give up.

"Do you forfeit the fight?" the clone briefly stopped the assault to ask the question. Daniel was too disorientated to to answer. "Well?"

Daniel made some quick calculations in his head. If his clone was behind him, then maybe he could...

"Fuck no!" With that, just like a mule, he kicked backwards, and he was met with something satisfyingly soft: his copy's privates. It didn't make a noise, but it did let go of Daniel, so it could cradle it's harmed nuts. It looked at Daniel with hatred. He grabbed the back of it's head with both hands and brought it down onto his knee repeatedly, until he was sure he heard a nasty crack, signifying a broken nose. He forced it backwards and a punch sent it to the floor, the back of it's head colliding with the floor. There was a noise like two coconuts hitting eachother. At this point, a single move would end it all. Lifting up his foot, Daniel brought it down on the copy's vulnerable neck, crushing it's windpipe. It didn't move after that, only a few twitches before it dissolved into white particles.

"I art thou... Thou art I... I am Priapus, of the Lovers Arcana," The voice was not his clone's voice. It a completely different one, it sounded regal, but gruff. Where the clone used to be, there was something entirely different, not even human. It had the shape of a man, although larger than one. It was made of wood, but it moved as fluidly as any person and wielded a long club. It was bald, and it's eyes were yellow and glowing, but unlike the clone's eyes which were also yellow, this being's eyes were a lighter shade, where there should have been white, there was yellow and it lacked an iris. "Shall we go on a journey? Let me be your strength."

There was a warm feeling as the one who identified itself as Priapus dissolved into golden specks which formed a card. It was a card Daniel was familiar with. Out of all the cards he had lost from the original pack of tarot cards given to him, only one remained. VI, or the Lovers. That card now lay in his outstretched left hand.

"Wierdest dream ever," was the last thing that ran through Daniel's head, as a blue door appeared out of nowhere, everything around it consumed by light. He could only smile as he walked through it.

“Ah~ Xavier: Holá .” Ionia greeted the familiar face with pleasure.

She was being awfully casual considering the oddness of this dream-that-wasn’t-a-dream but if she wasn’t she’d just end up being stressed out of her mind. Besides, she may not know Xavier, but even an acquaintance was many times better company than the doppelganger. She had worked herself into a comfortable position with the butterfly earlier [which involved lying down with her legs up against a wall] but got up now seeing as she had someone with her. In fact, where did that butterfly go?

As soon as she got up there appeared some girl. Seeing her eyepatch reminded Ionia that she was keeping her right eye closed. She hoped she wasn’t being misconstrued as making fun of her. “Wait. You’re the girl that, back in the pa-ah-[/i]anyways[/i]” Ionia’s face either went pale or very, very red; she couldn’t tell. What she could tell was didn’t want to finish that sentence, and she had a feeling the girl wouldn’t want that either. Ionia followed with an awkwardness of the silent kind.

Thankfully to break said silence, there was the entrance of the third familiar face so far. Ionia paused a bit before she could place a name on him though. “You’re... Dan, right? I met you at Ramen Don?” Ionia felt bad for remembering the place better than the kid himself.

She casually strolled as she asked her next question addressed to all present. “So, anyone come across some weird things to get here? Just to continue this odd pattern of ‘coincidences.’ Y'know like all meeting yester--toda--on the same day" What time was it? The clock on her camera was broken. "A simple “yea” or “nay” would suffice.” She, herself, didn’t want to discuss the clone. Since she assumed the others might have come across their own clones [or something equally--or, god forbid, more--disturbing] she didn’t want to pry.

Passing by the white-haired, red-eyed girl, she whispered discreetly so only she could hear. “I need to talk to you about something important.” For the first time Ionia hoped this wasn’t a dream so the news of the picture taken of them could be downplayed. This girl didn’t seem the easiest person to break news to.

"That doesn't matter now, does it?"

"Yeah, it does," Jason replied. The dream was strange, first with a shadow of himself, and now this warrior. To top it off, the Babylonian architecture of the whole place, as well as the odd ocean surrounding the island, made the whole incident undeniably odd. The two of them began to circle each other, around a stone circle in the center, with the Roman letters XVI engraved in them.

"It doesn't matter. My name has held no meaning to the time for over two thousand years. I have truly forgotten it," muttered the warrior, flourishing the engraved blade. Jason raised his mechanical arm in defense. The warrior charged towards Jason, bringing the blade down with a powerful gust of wind. Jason was flung back, and landed on his back. The warrior walked towards Jason, and helped him back up.

"Arrogance, without the power to back it up, is fruitless. Power, without confidence, withers. Remember that," said the warrior, before the sun began to set. Suddenly, the warrior's voice boomed all around him.

"Thou art I, and I am thou. You shall behold the power of the Forgotten and that of the Tower. The power of ages past is now yours. Use it well."

With that, the bronze-clad warrior dispersed into golden flecks of light, which coalesced in Jason's left hand. Jason felt something in his right hand, and took a brief look at it. There, intact, was the Tower Arcana. The ground rumbled, and from the large circle in the middle rose a gigantic gold statue, depicting Jason and the Forgotten, back to back, each with their weapons in hand. A trapdoor appeared by the base of it, and Jason titled his head in curiosity. He walked over to it, squatted down, and opened the door. A bright light engulfed him, bringing him to a room with four others. Too dazed to recognize anyone, he just looked around with a confused expression on his face.