The Persona in Yellow

Foreword

The following is mostly copy-pasted from my November 18th, 2025 entry on extrospection:

I got a lot of inspiration for this fic from various different sources (games, books, etc. (man I should read more)) which I wanna talk about. I categorized them into the following on the google doc I'm writing the story in:

• Main

  The King in Yellow

  I was introduced to this book via Flawed Peacock's excellent analysis video done as a "bite-sized prelude to Signalis" (bite-sized being used quite liberally) and grabbed an annotated copy for myself. While I have a stronger affinity for the first four stories like a lot of other people I'm thankful that Mr. Floppy gave the last six a proper look as well. Maybe I should read it again, it's been a while.

  Lovecraft's works.

  Even if he was a bit of a racist (😨 😨 😨) I still like some of his stuff... plus the persona series wore lovecraftian influences on its sleeve (this was much more explicit in the first two games plus a bit of the third semester in 5) so it's a natural fit.

  Junji Ito's works

  By far one of my favorite manga authors. I read a lot of his stuff (inc. Uzumaki, Tomie, Gyo) and really liked it. Glad I came into his stuff blind, personally. The vibe especially of an ever-present horror manifesting itself into a town as seen in Uzumaki is something that will probably show up in the story

• Environment/Mind Palace Designs

  Valle Verde

  This series has some really awesome environments, especially in the Alamo where all the weird symbolic stuff the rogue AI made gets discarded into. It was in fact my main environment design influence for the version of the persona story that's currently up on the site, but I'm taking a lot more cues from other sources.

  Kowloon's Gate

  This game is a quite surreal experience that involves a lot of convoluted shit happening in an alternate version of the infamous City of Anarchy... the real place's environment is something that I and a lot of people find captivating, and it is in fact the source I'm gonna take a lot of cues from when it comes to designing the shadow world; some parts of it will be claustrophobic, filled with pipes, stores, paths going to nowhere, while other parts will be more open. Navigating a maze of a world to find lost memories is something I find quite fitting for the story.

  Psychonauts

  Probably a minor source of inspiration but holy balls does the game share a lot in common with persona in terms of... uh... I dunno, exploring the literal mind dungeons of people!!!

  Spiral Knights

  Oh boy this MMO has consumed a lot of my life. You can see some of the dungeons in images above this very post, in fact. I'm def taking some inspiration from this game's dungeons...

  Godhusk

  Was reminded of this recently thanks to Super Eyepatch Wolf, and damn is it still a gem. Made by the same author as VERMIS, it's a game manual for a non-existent post-apocalyptic world where you play as a vessel and scavenge for parts whilst exploring said world which has been fucked many times over. It's got this artificial environment to it that I absolutely am a sucker for. The illustrations in it, as always, are impeccable.

• Monster Designs

  deSPIRIA

  This game is yet another surreal experience from the same game studio (who I unfortunately can't recall the name of as I'm writing this) behind Hellnight. As for monster design inspiration, just look at the minds present within the game. Minds in deSPIRIA are kinda similar to demons in the SMT franchise (the game even has a fusion system) and they look really neat. I gotta search for images of them for my story's illustrations. Shoutout to Marsh for introducing me to the game (and SMT by extension, tho RTGame dragged me into it further).

  Valle Verde

  In addition to the Alamo, there's also the monsters that lurk inside it. That one thing that flies in to jumpscare the viewer in episode 1 iirc is one example that I find pretty cool. Then there's also the flying golden Moloch that a robot is sacrificed to in episode 3 as another example. I borrowed a lot from this series in the first version of the story...

  Godhusk

  In addition to the environments, Godhusk has, of course many NPC designs (some enemies, others friendly, etc.) that will likely serve inspiration for my designs.

Complications in Bridgepoint

In which a series of unusual events occur in the New England town...

Chapter 1 - Disturbance

Josephine woke up. On the floor. Again. She sighed as she stood up, barely being able to pick up her blanket due to how exhausted she was. Her phone’s alarm hadn’t even gone off yet. She picked it up, the blue case just barely illuminated by the sun’s morning rays.

6:15 AM, the screen read.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” she mumbled. She plopped it down on the nightstand and took a bottle of medicine that stood right next to it. After opening it, she let one of many purple pills that lay inside, dropping it into her mouth. She recoiled slightly at its taste, a mild headache taking hold for only a few seconds.

“Man, why are they bitter now?” she murmured, laying in bed as she tried in vain to fall asleep.

After a moment of tumbling around, she lifted herself up and went to the bathroom.

Josephine constantly fought to keep her eyes open as she brushed her teeth and got herself ready for school. Despite it being around the middle of September, and despite her friends still being around, she remained nervous each day she had to walk there. In no small part due to them, but thankfully she didn’t see any of them peering through the windows.

As she put on her clothes, she heard her sister’s door open. Josephine popped her head out of her door to see Viola out in the hallway.

On all accounts, the two were as close as siblings could be: they loved each other's company and there was practically nothing that they wouldn't do together, whether it be drawing (which Josephine enjoyed), homework, or anything in between. Josephine was the younger of the two and stood at 5' 2", whilst Viola stood a foot taller and was two years older. Both had black hair, which Viola preferred to have longer than her sister's. Viola preferred to wear green and orange, which contrasted with Josephine's blue wardrobe.

“Morning!” Josephine managed to say, catching Viola by surprise.

“Jo! You almost gave me a heart attack!” Viola replied.

They laughed a bit before Josephine asked: “How are you?”

“Just woke up…”

Viola rolled her eyes. “Still a bit tired. Did you sleep okay?”

“I don’t know… I woke up on the floor again.”

Josephine tried to remember what she dreamt about last night, but nothing save for bad feelings came up.

“Might’ve had a nightmare, I can’t remember,” she added.

“Darn. Hopefully you’ll sleep better soon,” Viola said.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“But… uh, could you help me with something?”

“Hm?”

“I dunno what to wear today. It’s just… so hard for me to decide what shirt I should wear now. I don’t wanna wear something ugly.”

“Vi, don’t worry! You’ll look good in anything!”

A slight smile formed on Viola’s face before morphing back into a frown.

“Thanks, Jo, but… I just need some help deciding.”

Josephine nodded and agreed to pick out a shirt for her.

—

Just as the two were packing their lunches together, their mother came downstairs. She smiled as she saw her two daughters in the kitchen.

“Good morning!” Claire said to them.

“Morning,” each of them said back.

Claire went over to Josephine. “You’ve taken your medicine?”

“Yeah,” Josephine replied.

“Was there anything wrong last night?”

“I don’t remember, but I woke up on the floor again…”

“Oh…”

Claire frowned.

“Just let me know if anything else happens. I’ll change your prescription to something else if things get worse.”

“Mhm.” Josephine nodded.

“Now, I’ll be getting ready for work. You two have a great day!” Claire said as she headed upstairs.

The sisters smiled as they continued to pack up for school.

—

Viola groomed her hair as she walked with her sister. A few other students were making their way to the building that lay ahead: Bridgepoint High, which had proudly stood for the past fifty years. Josephine still felt a bit uncomfortable despite having started school there two weeks ago. The fact was that she still felt out of place, especially with the atmosphere that had brewed there.

Josephine glanced around at the road, watching for when any of them appeared. They’d been materializing a lot lately, despite the medicine that she took. Nothing so far, thankfully: just a couple students gossiping. She eavesdropped on them, catching bits and pieces of their conversation.

“...you heard anything about that guy…”

“...that he was like, freaking out about something… said that they were in a trance…”

Josephine’s eavesdropping was interrupted, however, by an enthusiastic “Hello!” coming from behind her.

“Maisie!” Viola exclaimed, with the brunette beginning to walk alongside them.

“Have you been doing okay?” Viola asked her.

Maisie took a moment to think, then nodded. “For the most part, yeah. I’m still losing track of time sometimes. It’s like… I’m walking through a dream, sorta, but it’s always the same? It’s kinda weird but kinda cool at the same time!”

Maisie giggled as Viola sighed. “Of course you’d like it,” Viola said. “You’re knee deep in all that occult stuff.”

“It’s like those Lovecraft stories, right?” Maisie replied, her face beaming with amazement.

“Uh… isn’t that supposed to be terrifying?”

“Maybe, but it’s not like Cthulhu is real, right?”

Viola stared at Maisie with an expression that conveyed the message “You have got to be kidding me” to her friend.

“Just… be careful, okay? I mean, especially with what’s happening here, you never know if you’ll suddenly go crazy.”

Maisie nodded. “Yeah, yeah, you don’t need to remind me about the malaise again. I’m still hearing people talk about that guy who was laughing his ass off outside of school a couple nights ago.”

“Wasn’t that the guy who tried to break in?” Josephine asked.

“No, different guy,” Maisie replied. “Though that one was kinda recent too…”

A shiver ran up Josephine’s spine.

“Two people succumbing within a few days of each other? AND at school?”

Viola put a hand on Jo’s shoulder. “Relax. Both of them happened to be there at night, so no danger.”

“Yeah, but still… this makes me feel off.”

Josephine breathed in and out, focusing in on her breathing as they approached the school gate. The news and rumors about the malaise put her on edge without fail. Something deep inside her reacted negatively to it, but she didn’t know why.

The talk about the malaise thankfully dropped once the three of them entered school and went their separate ways. For Josephine, that meant homeroom with the English teacher. At least Elly was there to keep her company.

The blonde perked up once she noticed Josephine enter the classroom.

“Morning!” Elly said as Josephine sat next to her. She awkwardly moved her right arm onto the desk, twirling her hair (which she had done in a jellyfish haircut) with her good hand.

“Morning…” Josephine repeated.

“Is something up?”

“No, it’s just that I heard about some guy laughing outside of the school a couple nights ago.”

“Oh, that…” Elly said, recognizing the story. “Rumor has it he got committed. Institutionalized, you know,” she added, stumbling on the word ‘institutionalized.’

“Yeah, let’s not talk about it. That stuff stresses me out for some reason.”

Elly nodded and the two of them looked at the whiteboard. Mr. Holloway had already written an agenda on it. More Catcher in the Rye. Josephine rolled her eyes.

“Gosh, I hate that book…” Josephine mumbled.

“Same. Why’s the guy gotta be such a jerk?”

Josephine nodded. She looked back at Elly, noticing her bad arm slowly inching off of her desk.

“Elly, your arm!”

“Oh!” Elly said, moving it back up the desk. “Thanks.”

“No problem. Is your arm doing ok?”

“Same old, same old,” Elly replied. “It’s aching a bit more than average, though.”

She sighed. “Sometimes, I wonder how my arm got messed up. I just can’t remember…”

“Weird,” Josephine remarked. She’d known about Elly’s arm for as long as she herself could remember. But just like Elly, she had a hard time remembering things, specifically things before her first year of middle school. Sometimes she wondered why she couldn’t recall those memories.

She gazed up at the ceiling, wondering about it all. Elly’s arm, her own lost memories… things didn’t add up.

However, her thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Holloway reentering the classroom. Time to start another day.

—

“Darnit… no,” Josephine cursed under her breath. She’d seen one of them in the hallway, a black silhouette staring at her with piercing yellow eyes. Those things, more than the news about the malaise, put her on edge. Whenever she saw one of them, she made a beeline to the next class as fast as she could. Having entered the refuge known as art class, she’d evaded the third one today.

She worked on her latest drawing, one of a scene depicting a tropical beach. She had to use one point perspective for this project; for this reason, she drew a rock in the middle ground, framed by foliage in the foreground. The drawing itself was half colored in, with the top right part awaiting the colored pencil.

Josephine gazed out of the window, catching something fluttering outside. A blue butterfly flapped its wings, which moved unnaturally slow. Wait…

Time seemed to have slowed to a standstill around her.

“What the heck?” Josephine thought as she looked around. She saw her classmate across from her working on her own drawing in slow-motion. She turned back to the butterfly.

“...remember…” she heard herself whisper. No… not quite. Josephine realized that this was someone else speaking in her voice.

“Remember?” Josephine thought.

“...please… remember what you… forgotten me?”

Josephine tried to listen to whoever was speaking before the butterfly vanished into thin air, time resuming its normal pace.

“That was weird…” she thought to herself as she returned to her drawing. Maybe she did have to change prescriptions after all.

She gripped her head for a moment as a mild headache appeared, lingering for a moment before vanishing as quickly as it had come.

Today was not going as well as she’d hoped.

—

Lunch was not going well either. Josephine, Viola, and Maisie sat together, but the latter stared out into empty space, her eyes glazed over and her mouth forming a small smile. She was in a state of bliss, detached from the reality she sat in.

“Um… Earth to Maisie,” Viola said, waving her hand in front of Maisie’s eyes.

Maisie did not flinch.

“Hello?” Viola asked. “Maisie? You doing ok?”

After a moment of waiting, Viola shook her a bit, finally causing Maisie to snap back to reality.

“Aah! What was that?” Maisie said, her eyes darting around. She let out a sigh of relief once she saw that she was in the cafeteria.

“You spaced out again,” Viola explained.

“Oh… but I was having a really good dream. There was this hotel and everything…”

“S-seriously?” Viola interjected. “Let’s just dig in.” Viola gestured to her lunch.

Maisie took out her own lunch, putting it on the table where the other two girls’ food sat.

“Yeah, it was nice,” Maisie continued. “It had a Victorian look to it. It was a really beautiful place.”

“Never mind that. You said you were dreaming?”

“Yeah… The teachers woke me up a couple times, though.”

“What?” Josephine exclaimed, a discomfort rising from the pit of her stomach.

“How did you even get through the school day?” Viola added.

“I dunno. Muscle memory, maybe?”

“That’s a miracle, Maisie. If only I could dream like that through math class…”

The two friends shared a laugh while Josephine grew more nervous. She drew parallels between Maisie’s daydreams and the hallucinations she sometimes saw. Thankfully none of them were around.

“Oh, yeah, I was meaning to ask you something…” Maisie said. She leaned into Viola’s ear, whispering something that caused her to react with confusion.

“Maisie, what the hell? Is this another one of your occult things? The heck is a ‘Yellow Sign’ anyway?”

“Shush! Not so loud…” Maisie replied. “Though I guess you haven’t seen it…”

Josephine was also confused. As if today didn’t make her anxious enough…

—

Thankfully, the rest of the day passed by without incident. Viola, Maisie, and Josephine all managed to return home safely, with Josephine insisting on accompanying Maisie home to ensure her safety. That unburdened her from a lot of the stress that had accumulated.

Josephine and Viola sat together, taking out their folders and starting on their homework.

“I just hope Maisie is gonna be okay,” Josephine said.

“Yeah… that whole thing during lunch was kinda weird. Seriously, though, what was she asking me about? I can’t get it out of my head no matter how much I try.”

“Don’t remind me about that…” Josephine murmured.

“Okay. Sorry, Jo.”

They shared a moment of silence as they continued with their homework.

“I’m just… today’s made me really anxious for some reason. What happened with Maisie didn’t help.”

“Yeah, true… Wouldn’t want her to get the malaise, right? Yeah, now that I think about it, that makes me kinda anxious too.”

Josephine sighed. “Maybe homework will keep that out of our head?”

“Oh, god… I don’t even wanna think about math any more than I have to.”

Josephine laughed as Viola looked down at the page of problems she had to solve. But, together, they managed to pull through. Just as they were wrapping up work, they heard their mother’s car pull up in the driveway.

“Dang, she’s early tonight…” Viola remarked as they heard Claire’s footsteps approach the door.

The two of them greeted their mom once she came home. As she opened the door, they saw that despite returning home early, she was twice as tired as usual. Claire struggled to keep her eyes open as she returned their greeting.

"What happened?" Josephine asked.

Revulsion instantly materialized on Claire's face.

"Work," she stated. "I somehow got so much to do there today. I could fall asleep at any moment."

Claire stumbled over to the couch and plopped on top of it. She yawned, her body tempted to fall asleep on the spot.

After making food for all of them, Josephine and Viola went upstairs.

—

Viola stared at herself in the mirror, holding her phone in one hand. She’d been scrolling down her social media feed the entire time she’d been in the bathroom, carefully inspecting herself to see if a single eyelash was out of place.

She still couldn’t comprehend how people managed to look so pretty. Surely she could do the same, right? And yet, whenever she adjusted her appearance, she always found something small, a little thing that her mind couldn’t help but point out to her on repeat.

Viola groaned, putting her phone down on the edge of the sink and accidentally letting a video about applying makeup play.

“Shit…” she whispered to herself.

She knew that she shouldn’t worry this much about how she looked, and yet she couldn’t help but feel trapped by those thoughts. Her recommended feed didn’t help with that either.

“God, I’m so nervous,” she continued. “What’s a girl gotta do?”

She paused the video, exited the social media app and turned her phone off as she headed to bed.

—

Josephine dreamed again. She saw that blue butterfly again, its wings flapping just out of her reach. She ran to it, trying to grasp it, but its form slipped through her fingers each time.

“Please… remember me…” she heard her voice say as she ran through the black void.

“Remember? Remember what?” she heard herself ask.

“Remember me, your other self… remember me soon…”

“What do you mean? Wait! Wait!”

Josephine heard herself repeatedly screaming that word at the butterfly, yet it flew away from her. Faster and faster it evaded her as Josephine felt herself be pulled into a sinkhole.

The last thing she felt before waking up was a terrible burning sensation overtaking her entire body as she flailed around in vain trying to escape the hole.

The next thing she knew, her body was sprawled out in the middle of the hallway.

Chapter 2 - Cold Touch

Josephine laid there for a moment, confused as to how she ended up all the way out here, of all places. She unwrapped herself from her blanket, plopping it on her bed as she checked the time.

5:45 AM, the screen read.

“Seriously!?” she thought to herself, the shock of finding out she’d woken up a full half-hour earlier than yesterday providing just enough energy to keep her awake.

She took a pill from the bottle from her nightstand, moving to the bathroom as she thought about the dream she had.

She remembered it as clear as day.. She knew it wasn’t unusual for people to forget about their dreams after waking up; mom had told her that. This dream had felt way too vivid for her liking, however.

But, as she ingested that purple pill, she felt the bitterness. It was more intense than yesterday, almost making her gag on the spot. She had to gulp it down with some water from the sink just to have it go through to her stomach.

“Why… why do you choose to forget…” she heard her voice say to her.

A headache appeared, causing Jo to fall on the floor, leaning on the edge of the bathtub for support.

“What… who are…” Josephine mumbled.

“Please, remember me! Your other self…” she heard. “I am your other self… don’t forget…”

The headache vanished, along with the mysterious presence in her mind.

“What’s going on with me?” Josephine whispered as she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. Her short hair was a complete mess: strands of it went in every possible direction. Her face told her that she was right on the boundary between exhaustion and tiredness.

Despite this, she willed the strength to start getting ready for the day.

—

“Jo, what’s up?” Viola asked her. “You look like you could fall asleep on the spot.”

“Do I? I swear I’m awake…” Josephine answered.

“You are literally struggling to keep your eyes open, I can see it.”

Josephine sat on the couch, her eyes nearly snapping shut as Viola sat next to her.

Claire came downstairs and noticed them sitting there.

“Morning!” she said to them.

Josephine only managed to mutter something unintelligible as Viola simultaneously returned the greeting.

“Jo… what happened?” Claire asked upon noticing Josephine’s tiredness.

“Weird dream last night… woke up in the hallway,” Josephine managed to say.

“What? What did you dream about?” Claire asked. Her curiosity was only matched by the concern she had for Josephine.

“There was a butterfly I was chasing… it said I needed to remember something, but I don’t know what.”

Claire nodded as Viola listened in.

“That’s… interesting,” she remarked. “And your medicine?”

“I took it, but felt kinda bad for a moment. There was this really strong headache and…” Josephine dared not speak further than that. She didn’t want to worry her mom any more than she already did.

“Oh god… I’ll see what I can do for you, Jo. If it hurts you like that again, you can stop taking it for now. Just keep your head straight.”

Josephine nodded as Claire headed upstairs. Viola looked at her sister with concern.

“You sure you’ll be fine?” she asked.

Josephine managed a weak smile and nodded.

—

Fortunately, Josephine’s exhaustion had partially been put at bay by the time she and Viola were walking to school. Maisie joined them early on, and they were walking past a small park flanked on all sides by three-story brick buildings. At the end of one of the narrow alleyways, Josephine noticed a strange piece of graffiti. What appeared to be a set of grand double doors crudely drawn in white spray paint beckoned her to open them, despite them being unopenable, or so it seemed.

“Weird…” she thought as she passed by.

As Viola and Maisie had their usual conversation, Josephine glanced away from the buildings and instead at the park, specifically to a lone elm tree. Her heart dropped when she saw one of them peering from behind its trunk, bearing the star-like yellow eyes that always pierced through her soul.

She stopped for a small moment before catching up with the other two. She blinked, and it had moved such that it was right by the fence.

“Jo?” Viola asked with concern. “What’s wrong?”

“I-It’s nothing,” Josephine said.

She blinked again. It had crossed the fence, now standing right in the middle of the street. A car phased through it, the driver unable to perceive the shadowy figure. She picked up her pace a bit, staying close by to her sister.

“You sure? You don’t look too good.”

It had nearly crossed the street. Josephine locked eyes with it, unable to tear her gaze away from it. She froze in place.

“Jo, what’s wrong?”

She glared at it from across the street. Before she knew it, its ice-cold touch enveloped her. Her vision filled with black as she struggled against it, falling onto the cool sidewalk below. Out of the pitch-black void came a symbol, a two-dimensional representation of an impossible object, swirling and spiraling around itself endlessly. It shone with a yellow light that made her want to vomit.

For a few painful moments, it flashed in front of her, rotating in every direction it could in flagrant disregard for the laws of reality. Then, it faded along with the blackness which had so suddenly consumed her vision. In front of the sky were Maisie and Viola’s faces.

“... is she waking up?” she heard Viola say.

“Maybe,” Maisie replied. “Wait! Look! Her eyes are opening!”

Viola helped Josephine sit against a wall as she sat, regaining her bearings.

“What happened…?” she asked, her voice hoarse.

“I-I don’t even…” Viola said.

“You were screaming your lungs out about there being a fire or something,” Maisie explained. “You were speaking like a little kid, too. I don’t know why.”

“I… I did what…? No!” Josephine said. “There was a… a-a thing… and I…”

She refused to explain further.

“What thing?”

Josephine shook her head. “Not talking about it, n-not now, please…”

Maisie and Viola tended to Josephine as she recovered from her affliction. Her mind raced with thoughts about what happened, her mind replaying the view of that symbol on that repeat.

“What the heck is happening to me…” she thought as she stood up, still reeling from the freezing grasp of that thing.

“L-let’s go. School will take it off my mind.”

Josephine forced a smile as she wearily walked forward, Viola and Maisie following closely behind.

—

“Jo, what happened to you?” Elly asked as Josephine sat next to her, head slouched on her desk.

“Nothing… might need more sleep…”

Josephine forced her eyes to stay open.

“Did you stay up late?”

“Nuh uh.” This wasn’t a lie: she’d gone to bed a bit earlier than usual, in fact.

Elly leaned over to get a closer look at her face.

“You look like you just saw a ghost,” Elly said. “You sure you’ll be fine?”

“Mhm…”

Josephine buried her head deeper into her arms just as Mr. Holloway entered the room. His lecture faded out of her perception as she thought about that dream. She imagined the blue butterfly clearly; its shining wings had left a lasting impression on her memory. But what was it telling her to remember? That racked her mind, leaving her confused as to the meaning of it all.

“Josephine,” Mr. Holloway said.

She shot up, straight as a ramrod while Mr. Holloway stared at her.

“What answer did you get for question one of the homework last night?”

She internally sighed with relief as she took out her sheet and stated her answer, while a couple snickers were made at her expense. She knew, however, that today was going to be a long day.

—

Never in her life did Josephine want a day at school to end so badly until today. She constantly had to keep her exhaustion at bay as more of them kept appearing everywhere in the school. Worse still, it seemed that the teachers had it out for her. She always got called on to answer questions, and she felt their eyes gaze at her as she tried sneaking in a few minutes of sleep at a time.

It was for this reason that she thanked the heavens when lunch arrived. Sitting and talking with her sister unburdened her from some of the exhaustion and stress that had built up until now.

However, she noticed a certain someone’s conspicuous absence.

“Do you know where Maisie is?” she asked Viola.

“Uh, I dunno… I haven’t seen her since this morning. …Uh, Jo? You look kinda pale.”

“I-I’m worried about her, that’s all. Since she’s got, you know, the whole ‘daydreaming’ thing going on.”

Viola’s heart sank. “...oh. Hold on, let me—”

She took out her phone and texted Maisie. Josephine waited for what felt like hours, but Maisie never came. However, she noticed a crowd forming at the edge of the cafeteria. With nothing better to do, Josephine stood up, wanting to see what the bickering students were looking at.

In the center of the crowd stood Maisie, possessing those glazed-over eyes she saw yesterday. She stared vacantly at the body of students.

“Maisie! Maisie, what’s up?” Viola said, pushing her way through the students. She shook Maisie a little bit, hoping to make her lucid again. Yet she still carried that same smile.

“You’re kinda rude, y’know…” Maisie slurred. “Frickin’ room service…”

“Maisie, what are you talking about?”

She pushed Viola off of her.

“Just leave me alone, dammit,” she mumbled. A scowl briefly manifested on her face before it returned to its blissful state.

“Is this… what I think it is?” Josephine heard a boy behind her whisper.

“She’s totally out of it,” another girl murmured. “Gotta be that ‘malaise’ thing.”

“Maisie… Maisie, please,” Viola said, shaking her again. “C’mon, you’ve gotta—”

Maisie’s eyes shifted. She looked directly at Josephine, who was once again reminded of the shadowy figure’s piercing eyes. She took a few steps forward; now her face was inches away from Josephine, who couldn’t back away due to the crowd of students behind her.

“What the hell are you doing?” Viola said, trying to pull Maisie away from her sister. But Viola did not affect her.

“Josephine Ariel Seabrook…” Maisie whispered, her nose now bleeding slightly, “you will not escape.”

“What the f—”

Josephine stopped herself as she tried to process whatever Maisie, who had now fallen to the floor, just said.

“Maisie! Maisie!” Viola shouted.

The crowd of students slowly backed away, chattering among themselves as Viola tried to wake the unconscious girl up. Josephine stood frozen in terror for a moment, her mind racing with trying to decode the meaning of what Maisie said.

“Escape… from what?” Josephine thought.

“Yo, that was so freaky…” she heard someone say to her.

She turned around to see a boy, slightly taller than her with brown hair and glasses.

“Who is that, anyway?” he asked, gesturing to Maisie.

“That… is my sister’s friend.”

The boy nodded, looking at Viola as she pleaded for Maisie to wake up.

“I just can’t believe we saw someone get the malaise at school,” he said. “That was crazy.”

Josephine nodded, looking at the tiled floor below her as she frowned. Footsteps were heard by the crowd; “Excuse me,” the nurse said, “excuse me!”

The crowd parted to let the nurse through. She and Viola supported Maisie as Josephine followed them to the nurse’s office, the crowd dispersing behind them. Viola sat in the lobby after Maisie was laid out on the bed in the adjacent room. Josephine comforted her sister as she recovered from her shock.

Viola took a few deep breaths, composing herself as she hugged her arms close to her body.

“Vi? Are you ok?”

“... not really,” Viola said. “I-I just hope she’ll be fine but—”

She paused, taking in another breath as the nurse exited to retrieve some medicine.

“Ever since she started doing, well, you know, part of me thought that she was gonna be a-a goner, but… but… I still hope she’ll be fine. I still hope…”

She trembled in her seat, attempting to hold back her fear.

“I’m just so worried,” she finished.

The nurse finished getting her medicine and reentered the room where Maisie laid. Seconds later she emerged, confusion and terror evident in her expression.

“Did you see anyone leave the room?” The nurse asked.

Both sisters shook their heads.

“Then we have a problem,” she said.

“Huh?” Viola gasped.

“That girl, she just disappeared!”

“What?!” Both sisters said in unison.

Viola rushed into the other room to discover a bed that lay vacant.

“Maisie?” She shouted, running up to the bed. “Maisie! Where are you?”

“I don’t know what happened to her!” The nurse said. “She was there on the bed earlier, and now she’s gone! I… I don’t even…”

All Josephine could do was stand there, just as helpless as the nurse and Viola were in this bizarre situation.

“What the heck is happening?” she thought to herself as Viola slumped onto the bed, sobbing.

—

News of Maisie’s sudden disappearance spread like a contagion throughout the school. Josephine swore that at least two thirds of conversations she heard were about the strange occurrence. Most of all, however, she felt Viola’s pain. A connection like that, severed without warning… she felt the hurt that her sister had.

It didn’t take long for the news to breach containment, either. Once the principal announced that authorities would begin their search for Maisie, said authorities began investigating the nurse’s office as soon as school ended for the day.

Viola and Josephine walked home together in a tense silence, with neither one of them wanting to say anything.

Josephine gazed down that narrow alleyway again, observing the peculiar graffiti once more. That same feeling struck her: she swore that she could grab one of its painted handles from the wall and enter the other side. Yet, she passed by. After all, no door painted onto the wall would act like a regular door, especially a crudely spraypainted one like that. Right?

As the image of the door nagged her mind, she faced Viola. She wanted to say something to her, but she hesitated. The last thing she wanted was to make her more stressed out than she already was.

“Vi…?” she began.

Viola looked at her and mumbled something incoherent.

“Vi?”

“Yeah?”

“I… I just… uh…”

Viola raised her eyebrows. “Jo, what’s up?”

“I know you’re freaking out with the whole… you know… But, I’ll be there for you, Vi. I hope as much as you do that Maisie gets home safe…”

A moment of silence passed before Viola spoke up.

“Thank you, Jo… I just…”

Viola sighed. “I don’t know if I can get over it right now…”

Josephine nodded in understanding.

“Dammit… Maisie, where are you?” Viola whispered.

Silence accompanied them for the rest of the walk home, much to Josephine’s worry.

As soon as she entered the house, Josephine immediately rested on the couch, not even bothering to take off her shoes.

“Y-you okay, Jo?” Viola asked.

“I’m stupidly tired…” Josephine yawned. “I could just… fall asleep… right…”

Josephine’s eyes closed and her head hit the couch as she fell asleep on the spot.

“Holy crap,” Viola murmured. “She actually…”

Viola chuckled to herself in amusement.

“I’ll grab you something warm, Jo,” she said to her unconscious sister before heading upstairs.

—

Josephine stood in a black void with nothing else around her. She could tell she was dreaming, but this felt far more vivid than last night’s dream. After a moment, the blue butterfly flew from the corner of her eye, fluttering just out of her reach.

“...remember… follow…” she heard it say in her voice.

The butterfly taunted her with its luminous form, compelling Josephine to chase after it. She ran through the void, chasing the beautiful insect until she saw something visible ahead. The butterfly was quite nimble, which annoyed the girl as she tried to catch it, getting closer and closer to the landmark.

“Dammit! Come here!” She shouted as she saw the landmark more clearly.

What appeared to be the end of a corridor showed itself to her, covered with papers and posters with chicken scratch written all over them. She entered it. To her dismay, it was narrow. Her shoulders grazed the walls as she tried to snatch the butterfly from just below the ceiling. She sprinted after the insect, which just barely outsped her.

She lunged after the butterfly, screaming as she hit a wall in front of her. She rubbed her head, standing up from where she fell after colliding with it. The butterfly flew above her, circling to her right before flying in that direction. The faint smell of smoke permeated the air.

“Wait… what is this place?” she whispered.

The corridor was dimly lit. Bits of charred wallpaper showed themselves where the papers and posters failed to cover the wall, and piping coated the ceiling, with the occasional large pipe dropping down into the floor. Josephine also heard faint singing coming from distance. A key hung from a nail in front of her. The silver artifact had a design of a compass rose engraved on it. Josephine looked at it for a moment, feeling déjà vu.

“This is weird…” she said, moving her head closer to it. The way its metallic surface caught the light and the engravings on it told her that this key was hers, despite having never seen it before. At least, as far as she remembered.

After hesitating for a moment, she took it before following after the butterfly.

As she ran after it, the singing grew in intensity. Now she could tell that it was a woman’s voice singing, and a stringed instrument was being played alongside it. No words were discernable.

The butterfly continued to elude Josephine’s grasp as she continued her way through the narrow passage. The lights grew dimmer, transitioning from an incandescent white to a faint blue as Josephine approached the source of the singing.

Finally, the corridor opened up, revealing a door covered with locks and chains that the butterfly flew in front of. Behind the chains Josephine made out a “V” engraved into the door’s blue frame. She held the key in her hand, approaching the door and putting it in one of the locks.

Suddenly, all of them flew open with such force that they embedded themselves into the ceiling and walls around her. Josephine let out a yelp as she ducked, the bursting noise of the locks and the clinking of chains filling the corridor. After the racket subsided, Josephine hesitantly stood up.

“What the fuck…” she murmured.

The singing on the other side was almost clear, only muffled by the wall separating her from the room on the other side of the blue door. Guided by the butterfly, she opened it.

Instantly, the singing became crystal clear. The woman singing it had an alluring voice, making Josephine want to come closer. She didn’t see her due to a wall being the first thing she saw after opening the door. As she stepped inside the blue room, she noticed that, like the corridor, it was claustrophobic, with the slightest hint of ash coating the bottom of the walls. Déjà vu filled her mind again as she shimmied sideways to peer over the corner and observe the woman singing.

The woman was petite, and wore a strange ensemble. Its coloration matched that of the room: blue with the occasional gold accents. It consisted of a long-sleeved peacoat with large buttons, gloves, and a long dress. She was seated before a microphone and her instrument, which was long, almost like a piano.

Nearby was a bizarre old man, seated behind a table and wearing a suit. He was bald, only having a small remainder of gray hair, and had an unusually long nose and pointed ears. His almost bloodshot eyes overlooked his perpetual Cheshire Cat-like grin as he clasped his gloved hands together. He immediately noticed Josephine, his eyes meeting hers.

“It appears our guest has returned,” he said, causing the woman to pause her song.

The woman smiled at her and bowed as she seated herself beside the man.

“You may sit here,” he said, beckoning Josephine to a chair in front of the table.

Josephine sat on the cushioned seat, discomforted by the old man as he greeted her.

“Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young lady…”

Chapter 3 - Threshold

“It has been a long while since we’ve last seen each other,” the man said.

“I-It has?” Josephine replied.

He nodded. “Quite so. Now, for our re-introductions. My name is Igor, and this,” he said, gesturing to the woman, “is Genevieve.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again!” Genevieve said in an optimistic tone.

“I-I don’t remember you two, though…” Josephine countered.

Genevieve’s expression faltered instantly. “Oh… right.”

Her voice carried with it a viciousness that took Josephine off guard.

“Now, now,” Igor said. “Don’t be discourteous. Our guest has forgotten about us.”

Genevieve uttered a quick apology before returning to a smile.

“This place is between dream and reality, mind and matter,” Igor explained. “Fate has drawn you to reopen the way here and remove the obstructions imposed onto you long ago. Look at the key you hold with you.”

Josephine held up the silver key she found in the hallway. It shone under the blue light occupying the room and felt light as a feather in her hand.

“This is your desire to move forward made manifest which shall unlock the path to the future that lies ahead of you. And speaking of…”

Igor pulled a deck of cards from a drawer in his desk.

“Do you believe in fortune-telling?” He asked.

“No, not really,” Josephine replied.

“Regardless, entertain me for a moment…”

He shuffled the deck in the air, the cards riffling against each other with a satisfying noise. Then he chose three of them and spread them in front of her.

“To think that these cards are inscribed with the fates of all who draw from them… quite interesting, don’t you think?”

Josephine nodded, pretending to agree with Igor’s words.

“Now, for the forces of the past acting upon you…”

He revealed the card to her left.

“The Six of Cups, in the upright position. It seems that things that have vanished in your past may re-emerge shortly. As for the present day…”

Now it was the center card that was uncovered.

“The Three of Swords, in the reversed position. Disorder and confusion are acting upon you at this moment in time… interesting.”

The one on her right was the last to be shown.

“For the future… the Tower, in the upright position. A catastrophe looms ahead of you, so it seems. But do not be alarmed. Our duty is to guide you through it when that time comes.”

Before she could speak further, Josephine was interrupted.

“Until we meet again…”

The room faded away to black as she tried speaking to them, yelling about how many questions she had to ask them.

—

Josephine woke up with a start. It was dark out, and both her mom and Viola sat at the dining table, eating together. She felt a blanket wrapped around her: upon closer inspection, it was her favorite, one with little ocean sunfish patterns woven into it.

“How long was I out for, and what was that dream about?” she thought as she sat up.

As she woke up, she felt a peculiar object in her hand, which was cold to the touch. Its shape was unmistakable: it was the same key she held in her dream. She let out a small yelp, surprised by the object’s inexplicable appearance.

“Why is this thing in my hand what the heck is happening?” she thought as Viola noticed her.

“Jo! You’re awake!” Viola said as she and Claire walked over to her.

“How was everything?” Claire asked.

“It was alright. I was just really tired all day… I didn’t expect to fall asleep right away, though.”

“When Viola told me about that, I got worried,” Claire admitted. “I’m glad you’re awake. Dinner’s waiting for you, by the way.”

“Really?”

Josephine rushed over to the table and saw her mother’s homemade pasta sitting atop it. The spaghetti was topped with marinara sauce and sprinkled with paprika, the scents of which had filled the kitchen before she’d woken up. She immediately began to eat, wrapping the noodles around her fork before each bite.

“Someone’s hungry,” Claire remarked, stifling some laughter as she sat back down.

“I haven’t eaten since lunch,” Josephine murmured. She placed her key on the table before continuing to eat the pasta. “Man this is so good. I haven’t had this in aaaages…”

Claire smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, but you know how work is for me. There’s always a lot of stuff that I have to take care of every day, and that takes out a lot of energy.”

Josephine nodded, taking another bite of pasta.

“Did you have any bad dreams while you were asleep?” Claire asked.

Josephine shook her head. “I mean, not really. I did dream about getting my fortune read or something, though.”

“Oh?”

“I dunno, something about a catastrophe in the future,” she explained. “I mean, I don’t believe in those fortune-telling cards, but it felt vivid. The dream, I mean.”

“Well, I hope that fortune doesn’t come true,” Claire said.

“Yeah, only Maisie would take that seriously,” Viola added, her smile turning into a frown as she said this.

Josephine returned the expression, causing a tense quiet to hang over the dinner table. Their mother understood the situation as well.

“I just can’t believe she vanished like that,” Viola said. Josephine nodded in agreement.

“Vi, don’t worry. They’ll do everything they can to get her home safe.”

“B-but how? She disappeared from the nurse’s office! How do you think they’ll find her, huh?”

“I– They’ll comb the entire city to find her, I’m sure.”

“No, you don’t— ugh…” Viola sighed. “There was no sign of anything bad happening in there when Maisie disappeared! She just went into thin air!”

Claire’s eyebrows raised up in surprise.

“Really?”

“Yes, I swear!” Viola exclaimed. She turned to Josephine. “You saw that too, right?”

“Uhuh,” Josephine said.

“Damn… No wonder you’re so worried. But, I promise, Vi, they’ll do everything to save Maisie.”

Viola had no choice but to acquiesce to her promise as they continued to eat together, even if it felt hollow.

After dinner was finished, Josephine hurried up to her room and did her homework by herself. Normally her sister would work with her, but she felt like Viola needed space after what had happened today. She thought over the events of that afternoon, replaying those moments several times over.

The circumstances of her disappearance were bizarre. Maisie had shown signs of her mind being in another place entirely before she vanished. The malaise, in other words. Then there was what she uttered before collapsing in her .

“Josephine Ariel Seabrook…” She had heard Maisie whisper, “you will not escape.”

Josephine remembered her face: a blissful smile tainted by a trickle of blood coming from her nostrils. Just thinking about it gave her the creeps.

“And what exactly won’t I escape?” She thought.

Suddenly, she heard a noise in her room. She looked around her and discovered a shining circle on the floor. An intricately designed cross with writing in Greek encircling it spun under her, and a chain of glowing beads traced its way out of her room, the sound of chimes echoing in her mind as each bead appeared. Then she noticed her fist was clenched over that key from her dream.

“What the…” she whispered, bewildered at the sight before her. “This is… is this real?”

She shook her head. The path and everything immediately vanished.

“Oh my goodness,” she murmured, resuming her algebra work. “What the heck is going on with me?”

—

Even the monotony of finishing her homework couldn’t distract her from the strangeness around her. She’d taken out her sketchbook and scribbled chaotically over several pages by now. Maelstroms of blue and black ink swirled around each of them.

Josephine had clenched her key a few times to verify what was up with it. Each time, the same shining circle and path of beads appeared, leading her on the same path out of her room. Each time, something in her subconscious told her that Maisie was at the end of that path.

“But that can’t be true, right?” Josephine thought aloud. “Why… why is this key even here?”

Josephine sighed, lifting her black Micron pen onto a new page. She let her subconscious mind guide the tip over it as she became distracted by her own thoughts. Having used the key a few times, she could not refute the notion that it actually worked. In fact, each use reinforced that conclusion.

“A magic key…” she said. “What the heck…”

She looked out of the window above her desk as she continued sketching, watching the Bridgepoint skyline’s lights twinkle over the night sky. She wished that the Moon would have been full, but alas, tomorrow it would be a new moon. Thankfully, she had the weekend to look forward to after tomorrow.

She moved her pen back and forth as she thought about her dream. It felt vivid. Too vivid for a dream. The key that lay next to her sketchbook now had come from it, hanging on that burnt wall.

“But that’s not possible,” Josephine finished. “Something strange is going on here.”

She looked down at her drawing and saw her next scribble. On the page was drawn a symbol, a two-dimensional representation of an impossible object, swirling and spiraling around itself endlessly. It was rendered with a yellow pen atop a void of black ink. She knew instantly what it was: it was the Yellow Sign, the very symbol that it had shown her this morning.

“Wh—what the heck!?” she exclaimed, taking a few steps back from the desk. She’d completely forgotten about the shadowy figure assaulting her until now. But there it was, the sigil she inexplicably knew the name of. Her heart sank as she looked at the scribble.

“Jo?” she heard Viola say. “Are you ok?”

She sprang into action, ripping out the page from her sketchbook and began tearing it into pieces.

“Thisshouldn’texistthishouldn’texistthisshouldn’texist,” Josephine repeated to herself as she focused on destroying the page.

The door to her room opened.

“Vi! No! Don’t come in!”

Viola rushed to her side.

“Why?! What’s gotten you so pale all of a sudden?”

“Don’t look at the page!” Josephine demanded, tearing the page into eighths. “I-I need to throw it away.”

“W-why?! Nothing’s wrong with any of your drawings, Jo.”

“Just don’t!”

Josephine got up and tried to leave her room, but Viola stopped her.

“Please… Can I see what’s gotten you so riled up? You can trust—,” Viola said.

“You shouldn’t look at it noone should,” Josephine interjected, breathing heavily.

“Let me see, please!”

Josephine tried to stop Viola from taking the scraps of paper out of her hand, but failed. Viola laid them on her desk and reassembled the accursed page, much to her sister’s horror. Soon, they both were staring at the Yellow Sign.

“Oh… I see,” Viola whispered to Josephine. “I see what Maisie was talking about… It’s so, so beautiful…”

Viola’s expression began to form a blissful smile. Her eyes began to glaze over in the same manner that Maisie’s had before her disappearance. Josephine stood in a daze for a few moments before shaking Viola a bit, snapping her out of her trance.

“Agh, what happened?” Viola said. “What… It felt like I was out for a moment, but I’m still alright, right?”

Josephine positioned herself between Viola and the cursed page, hands behind her back as she crumpled the scraps of paper again. She looked at Viola with a profound guilt weighing her down.

“I–I’m still alright, right?” Viola repeated.

Josephine hesitated for a moment.

“I think you’re in the same situation that Maisie was in,” Josephine whispered.

Viola looked at her sister, stunned.

“No… no way, right? Right?”

Josephine’s increasingly dejected demeanor suggested otherwise.

—

It was hard for Josephine to wake up the next morning, despite it being a Friday and having had a thankfully dreamless night. She’d taken the key with her before going out to school with Viola, who didn’t seem to be in a trance. Yet.

After what happened last night, Josephine found it hard to look at Viola’s face without having to resist crying. Cursing her with that symbol, drawn by her own hand… It was impossible for her to deny her fault. She’d disposed of that page, but only after Viola had seen what was on it. She thought of Maisie again. Was Viola doomed to share her friend’s fate?

“I hope not,” Josephine thought as she entered Bridgepoint High, having never talked with her sister on the way there.

—

Being questioned by officers about the circumstances before Maisie’s disappearance, the gossip surrounding said event, and the weight of her unconscious actions weighed heavily on Josephine as she trudged through the school day. School without Maisie felt less vibrant, and Viola’s oncoming malaise looming in the background made it even less so. She still had Elly, but that comfort was outweighed by everything else.

As she walked through the hallways towards the cafeteria, she heard an argument take place.

“...the hell are you going on about? Beauty Queen? For real? Get your head straight,” a girl said.

“I must ask that you relinquish your title, Julie,” a haughty, yet familiar voice countered. “I’m the true and honest Queen of Beauty of this school.”

Josephine pushed her way through the coalescing crowd of onlookers to see Viola there, spinning in front of a blonde girl, presumably Julie, her hair flying in the wind and her face formed in the same blissful smile she saw yesterday.

“Viola, I don’t know what’s gotten into you but you really need to shut up with this ‘Beauty Queen’ BS.”

Viola scoffed. “As if I would lower myself to such a level.”

A few snickers were shared by the crowd before Josephine shook Viola to her senses, causing her to look around in confusion.

“H-huh, wha?” she said, looking at the crowd. Julie looked surprised for an instant before an unamused expression formed.

“Now, if you would excuse me,” Julie said, pushing her way through the sisters and into the hallway.

“Haha, so much for that Beauty Queen charade,” one student whispered.

“You think she’s gonna lose it next?” another chimed in.

Viola’s face flushed red as the students mocked her.

“W-what the hell happened, Jo?” she said.

—

“W-what?!” Viola said. “I did what?!”

“Yeah, you were out of it,” Josephine explained. “Julie got annoyed at you.”

“B-but I don’t remember any of that! I was in a, uh, a beauty contest? Something like that. I was competing against her for something, that’s all I know.”

“If it’s anything like what happened to Maisie, you’re getting stuck in something like a dream.”

Viola’s fist slammed on the table. “No. No! No! NO! I can’t be next! I can’t have the malaise! Right? Right?”

Josephine resisted shedding tears as she said, “I… You do, I think. It’s my fault.”

“What? No, no I can’t! Please tell me you’re joking!”

“I’m not…” Josephine whispered.

Viola sighed, taking another bite out of her lunch as she looked out of the window.

“I can’t believe it… I’m actually losing my mind. But, Jo,” she said, turning to her with a faint smile, “you’ll still help me out, right. You know, with the whole snapping me back to reality business?”

“Yeah…” Josephine said. “I’m just… I’m sorry for showing that to you.”

“Showing me what? That weird swirling thing?”

Josephine nodded. “Whatever that thing was, it’s the same thing Maisie mentioned to you when she was in her trance state. I don’t know why, but I’m sure of it.”

“The Yellow Sign…” Viola whispered, careful to not let anyone else hear her. “So Maisie saw it too, then…”

“I think she did.”

“Shit…”

They ate lunch together in silence.

Josephine knew that something strange was going on in Bridgepoint with all the gossip about the malaise lingering within the school, but these past few days had cranked up the weirdness into high gear. A magic key, a butterfly speaking in her voice telling her to remember things, that fortune she dreamed about, and a symbol that curses whoever looks at it being drawn by her own hand being connected to both Maisie’s and Viola’s sudden psychoses… all of these felt interconnected to each other. Whatever it was, Josephine knew she had to save her sister from sharing the same fate Maisie had.

—

“Vi, I’m gonna take a walk. This stuff’s freaking me out,” Josephine said as she placed her backpack on the bench by the door.

“Ok. Promise me you’ll be home soon,” Viola pleaded.

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be back before you know it.”

They shared a laugh before Josephine headed outside. She made sure to text her mother before taking out her key and clenching it in her fist. The circle of light formed under her again, and the path of beads came out of it, tracing the outline of the sidewalk.

So she followed it, walking the familiar path she took to school every day whilst her subconscious screamed at her to follow it and reach Maisie.

“I still don’t know how I’m getting that feeling,” she said to herself. “What’s up with this thing?”

Strangely, nobody else seemed to notice the light show happening around her. She entertained the idea of this being yet another of her hallucinations, but quickly discarded her. This felt too real, but the fact that only she could see it was odd. She thought about the moment with one of them that she experienced yesterday.

Eventually, the path ended at that door-shaped graffiti in the alleyway she and her sister passed by regularly. She took a few steps into the alleyway, inspecting the path further. One of the beads was half-submerged into the wall, but…

“Wait… don’t tell me…” Josephine whispered to herself.

Maisie was definitely not here, and the path was capable of finding its way through doors. It ending at a wall was very odd… unless that spray-painted door was the real thing.

“...I want to say it isn’t possible, but…”

She reached out her hand to the wall, and to her surprise, it caused the brickwork to bend. The wall rippled like water as she moved her hand through the graffiti. She withdrew it back in surprise.

“No way…” she said to herself.

Every instinct told her to back away and return home, but she couldn’t do that. Not when she knew Maisie was on the other side. So she reached her hand through the wall again, submerging more and more of her arm into the wall before a force yanked her fully inside, leaving no trace of her in the real world.

Chapter 4 - Reawaken

Josephine landed face-first on a cold floor. She felt concrete under her fingers as she pushed herself up. Dim neon signs illuminated the narrow corridor, its walls made from a haphazard arrangement of storefronts, doors, and alcoves. Pipes snaked around the walls and ground, entering and exiting at irregular intervals. A ceiling, perhaps two stories above her, was supported by the buildings that were packed together like sardines. Most offputting of all was the smell of smoke in the air and the yellow mist which limited her visibility. She recognized this environment from her dream.

“What the fuck?” She asked aloud, her voice echoing in the street. She clenched her key again, the path showing her the way forward.

She followed it slowly, her eyes darting around at every junction she saw. It became quickly apparent that, whatever this place was, it was a labyrinthine city. The key not only blessed her with the way to Maisie, but also a way to the real world, which she discovered after turning behind her and finding a different path of beads emanating from the cross under her.

The amount of signs hanging on everything from the walls of buildings to wires suspended between them and even posters stuck all over the walls and floor was astounding. This detail she recognized from her dream before entering the Velvet Room. She knew, however, that this was no dream.

One poster caught her eye due to it being something that she could read. She peeled it off from the wall and read it aloud. “Midnight Sanctum Hotel…”

The rest of the text was illegible due to it being a bit charred, but the poster showed a white crescent moon with a tower stretching high into the sky and behind it, all overlaid on a blue background.

“Weird…” she said, dropping the poster and continuing to follow the path.

After passing through an ornate gate made from black iron, she entered a brighter portion of the city. She looked up at the yellow sky above. Black stars and nebulae dotted the heavens, and in the distance, a conical tower loomed, stretching high, high, high into the sky, passing behind the moon and ever higher, reaching for the twin black suns whose dark coronae blotched out part of the sky.

Josephine gazed at the scene in astonishment.

“Is this real?” She said in disbelief. “No way…”

She averted her line of sight from the tower, continuing to follow the path through the narrow streets. More and more posters of the Midnight Sanctum Hotel coated the walls, advertising services like free tarot readings and a vast library of books about magic and other things.

“This would definitely be somewhere Maisie would go,” Josephine thought.

The path turned a few more times before it reached a building that stuck out from its surroundings. In contrast to the patchwork architecture of its neighbors, this one was built in a Victorian style. A sign written in serif font proudly displayed the Midnight Sanctum Hotel name, glowing with a blue light that matched the color of the building itself. She looked through one of its windows and saw the beads head up a flight of stairs. Maisie was here.

She entered and immediately saw one of them manning the reception desk. The interior was just as lavish as the exterior. Blue wallpaper surrounded her, accented by dark walnut, along with various paintings. The smoky smell from the outside had also dissipated. The thing – the receptionist – didn’t seem hostile, though. It looked up and said to her in a chipper voice, “Welcome to the Midnight Sanctum, how may I help you?”

“I… uh…”

Josephine wasn’t sure how to respond to this thing. Memories of the incident from yesterday flashed in her mind.

“I’m here for a friend,” she said. “I’m supposed to pick her up today.”

“Oh? Do you know the room number?”

“No, but I do know her name. It’s Maisie Bishop.”

“Maisie Bishop…” the thing said. “Maisie Bishop…”

It suddenly jerked its head upwards, accompanied by a sickening snap of its neck. Its glowing yellow eyes’ gaze pierced through her body as it crawled over the table. Josephine took a step backward.

“No… we cannot let you take her away,” it said in a menacing, discordant tone. “She will stay here forever.”

“No! I-I have to-”

“We have no place for intruders like you.”

The temperature plummeted as Josephine ran up the stairs, following the path created by the key. Unfortunately, it ended after one flight, and it connected to an extremely long corridor that she’d have to navigate in its entirety. The muffled movements of the former receptionist grew closer.

She bolted down the corridor, the hallway twisting around its central axis. Gravity shifted such that Josephine was upside down by the time she reached the end of the corridor.

She turned around and saw the thing crawling towards her at an alarmingly rapid pace, letting out a scream as she ran up the second flight of stairs.

This time, she ducked into a closet, waiting for the shadowy figure to run past her. She heard the sounds of claws scratching the walls and rapid footsteps barrel past her a moment after she hid inside, curling up into a ball.

“No no no no this can’t be real this isn’t—”

Josephine stopped herself. This, she realized, was unfortunately real. The fact that one of many shadowy things that she’d seen over the years was now pursuing her inside a hotel within a city on the other side of a wall in an alleyway in Bridgeport was unbelievable yet something she was experiencing.

“This is ridiculous,” Josephine said. She sighed before peeking out of the closet. The coast was clear, but various scratch marks lined the hallway.

One door caught her eye. It wasn’t along the path laid out to her by her key, but the placard had an interesting label:

KEEPER OF MEMORIES

She fully walked into the corridor, looking both ways to make sure it wasn’t chasing her. She tested the doorknob – it was unlocked – and then entered the room.

A projector flashed on as soon as she entered the dark room. A three-dimensional image filled the room, which depicted Maisie sitting in her bedroom. She had a deck of cards spread out on her table, and her face was cupped in her hands. A book was in front of her, open to a page that depicted the Yellow Sign.

“Oh no,” Josephine murmured.

A title flashed on one of the walls:

SEPTEMBER 6th: FOUNDING AND DEDICATION

The image came to life as it faded away. Maisie rocked her head back and forth as she mulled over some of her thoughts.

“Dammit, why is nobody interested in this occult stuff?” Josephine heard Maisie think. “Is that all people see it as? A curiosity? I feel like I’m so annoying when I talk about it with Viola.”

She looked back at the book again, staring at the Yellow Sign.

“But this?” Maisie continued to say to herself. “This is incredible! It’s like each part of the coils holds the secrets of the universe! I’ve got to…”

“There is a place that you may visit…” Maisie’s voice said.

“H-Huh?!”

Maisie stood up from her desk and stared at her mirror. A shadowy version of herself looked back in lieu of her reflection.

“It is within your mind,” the dark reflection continued. “You just have to be willing to enter it. Surround yourself with all the knowledge you seek…”

The dark reflection dissolved, leaving behind Maisie’s regular reflection. She moved her hand around, which produced the expected image in the mirror.

“What the heck did I just… was that a ghost? A phantom? Oh my goodness! I saw a real ghost!” Maisie exclaimed, doing a fist bump in the air.

Her face shifted, now displaying those glazed eyes and vacant smile. Her arms fell limp as she looked at a wall.

“Hello…” she mumbled. “Can I… book a room?”

The image abruptly cut off.

“Was that a memory?” Josephine pondered. “This proves that she saw that Yellow Sign, and that day does line up with what Viola said about her. And that title…”

Founding and Dedication. This title, Josephine reasoned, referenced the hotel itself. But since this appeared to be one of Maisie’s memories, she wondered if this hotel reflected something from her subconscious.

She exited the room, determined to rescue Maisie from the hotel. When she was halfway through the corridor, she heard the cracking and splintering of wood as an object fell from behind her. Emerging from the debris was the former receptionist, whose eyes locked on to Josephine.

“N-No!” Josephine shouted. “Get away from me!”

She ran as fast as she could, but the receptionist outpaced her. It tackled her to the ground, its sharp claws grasping Josephine’s throat as it began to strangle her.

“You do not belong in this sanctuary,” it stated before lifting her up and slamming her into the wall.

Josephine struggled to breathe, trying in vain to push the shadowy figure’s fingers off of her neck. She felt blood trickle down her skin.

“Maisie Bishop is our eternal guest. She will enjoy our library’s vast collection forever.”

“No, no she won’t!” Josephine wanted to say. “I’m gonna get her out of here!”

Just as Josephine’s vision began to fade, time paused. The blue butterfly she’d seen in her dream fluttered in front of her.

“It is time, my other self…” she heard her voice say. “Now you must remember the power that lies within us.”

“What?”

“Do you want your life to be discarded so easily?”

She thought for a moment. “No… I can’t die, not now!”

“Yes, that’s right. Remember me, my other self. My power shall be forever yours if you choose to remember. Now, go… wield our power again on our behalf.”

Time resumed, and her vision returned. She felt air come through her lungs as dizziness overcame her senses. A splitting headache hit her like a truck, causing her to wail in pain. She grasped at the hand of her attacker as she took deep breaths.

In between each, she strung together a single word.

“Per…”

“...so…”

“...na.”

A burst of energy exploded outward, causing the former receptionist to drop Josephine to the floor. She pushed herself up as her eyes glowed a blindingly bright blue, letting out a loud scream. She put her hands on them, and from them pulled out a blue rope, which coiled above her and morphed into a figure wreathed in blue light. The light faded, revealing it to be feminine and dressed in an opalescent black dress with many paintbrushes strapped to a belt.

The word ‘Persona’ had come naturally, by instinct. The figure, part of her soul, floated above her, guarding her. The shadowy creature roared as it swiped at Josephine, who narrowly dodged its claws.

“I am thou…” she heard it say. “Use my power, my other self…”

“I know,” Josephine said. “Aqua!”

A blast of water emerged from under the creature, causing it to stumble back and writhe on the floor. She felt something in her hand – a rapier – and slashed at the shadow with it. It roared, scrambling to its feet as it slashed at her again. It was a direct hit, cutting at her left arm and causing her to recoil back.

“Aqua!” Josephine shouted again. The creature was weak to the element of water, she noticed. It once again fell to the floor, now vulnerable to another spell. She used another Aqua, finally putting an end to the monster.

Josephine leaned on the wall for support, regaining her strength.

“Well done, my other self,” she heard her Persona – Artemisia – say to her.

“T-thanks,” Josephine managed to whisper.

She took deep breaths as she cradled her arm. Her mission wasn’t done yet, but she felt pride in having Artemisia by her side. She wondered if she’d always been within her.

“Yes, my other self… though you have forgotten me, you finally awoke to me after a long slumber,” Artemisia answered.

“Huh… Gah, I need to go!”

She clenched the key in her fist, following the path forward until she reached yet another flight of stairs.

“Your friend is close,” her Persona said.

“Thank goodness.”

Josephine climbed up the stairs and entered a large room. Inside was a large bed in the same colors as the rest of the hotel: a blue mattress supported by a dark walnut frame. Maisie sat on the bed while her dark reflection stared back at her with yellow eyes. Maisie struggled against some restraints that bound her to the bed.

“Let me go!” she shouted. “I don’t want this!”

“Hm? I thought we’d like this place. It’s perfect!” Maisie’s dark reflection countered.

Josephine entered the room, brandishing her sword. Maisie looked at her in shock.

“J-Jo?! What the hell are you doing here?! And what’s with that sword?!”

“I’ve come to rescue you,” Josephine said.

“Rescue?” Maisie’s dark reflection sarcastically replied. “I don’t need rescue from here. I need rescue from all these people who don’t give a damn about the world of ghosts and the occult! They won’t understand no matter how much I gush about those things!”

The real Maisie had no counterargument.

“All they have to say to me is that it’s some bullshit superstitious nonsense! They don’t care about any of my stories, and they never will!”

“Stop it!” The real Maisie shouted.

“Stop? Don’t you want to let out your frustration out onto the world?”

“I…”

“Come on… let me into your shoes for a moment. It won’t hurt…”

“No! No, stay away from–”

Maisie’s dark reflection walked to her real counterpart. A cloud of dark mist formed around the bed, the restraints breaking as the two merged together. A maniacal cackle echoed within the room as the dark mist dissipated, revealing the real Maisie, but with the yellow eyes of her dark reflection. She wielded a spear, which she pointed at Josephine.

“Come on!” Maisie shouted. “If you want to get me out of here, you’ll have to fight me!”

“What?! Maisie, stop! This isn’t like you!”

“It is not,” Josephine heard Artemisia say.

Before she could put in another word, Josephine blocked a thrust of the possessed Maisie’s spear with her sword, summoning her Persona to dish out another Aqua. Maisie endured it, but she had a trick up her sleeve.

“Bufu!” Maisie screamed. A figure of pure shadow manifested above her, shooting a stream of icicles at Josephine. She felt her skin freeze as each of the sharp projectiles hit her. She stood her ground and slashed at her with her rapier, but the possessed Maisie dodged out of the way.

“Dammit!” Josephine shouted. “Aqua!”

Another torrent of water shot out from under Maisie, apparently catching her off guard. Maisie laid completely prone as Josephine commanded her Persona to attack her again. It held up one of its paintbrushes which lengthened into a spear-like implement that stabbed into her.

“Ngh… You really are foolish,” Maisie said. “D-Don’t you understand that this is my home now?!”

“This isn’t your home! Even if it’s got everything you want, that won’t change things!”

“You… Get out of my home!”

The possessed Maisie stood back up, letting out another ice spell which Josephine dodged. She felt her stamina drain more and more with each passing moment.

“Dammit… what do I do?” she thought. “Wait for the right moment?”

Artemisia seemed inclined to agree.

She felt drained of her psychic energy, so the two’s weapons clashed. Over and over again, Josephine’s rapier and Maisie’s spear met each other, each connection creating sounds that caused Josephine’s ears to ring.

Josephine felt Artemisia guide each of her strikes. More and more, she relied on her Persona’s strength to help her get enough energy to counter the possessed Maisie’s attacks.

It was a war of attrition. She needed an opening.

“Stop this nonsense!” Maisie shouted as her spear grazed Josephine’s ear. “This is my home! I have all the knowledge I desire for myself!”

The possessed Maisie laughed, lifting her hand up in the air. Several books emerged from the ground, their pages fluttering as each of them opened. The air crackled with energy which emanated from the tomes.

“Be careful, my other self…” Artemisia warned.

Josephine crossed her arms in front of her just as one of the tomes sent an icicle directly at her. As it struck her forearms, her Persona’s energy flowed into them, protecting her from the subsequent barrage of icicles that the other books created.

Maisie cackled as the books dissolved in the air.

“How’s that for some forbidden knowledge?” She shouted. “I’ll kill you with it if you don’t leave my home!”

“Holy crap…” Josephine muttered. “This is insane!”

She swung at Maisie, but the possessed girl’s spear parried her attack, knocking her down to the ground. She struggled to get up, but another ice spell from Maisie struck her hard.

“Artemisia…” Josephine called out.

Her Persona skewered Maisie with one of its elongated paintbrushes, allowing just enough time for Josephine to get up.

“Maisie! Stop it! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“You don’t know the shit I’ve been through!” Maisie shouted. “I’ll kill you right where you stand!”

More books appeared from the floor, their pages ruffling as they opened. Another barrage of icicles shot out at Josephine, but she protected herself just in time.

“Why won’t you die!?” The girl exclaimed.

“I won’t let that happen! I gotta get you back to normal!” Josephine countered.

Maisie howled in frustration as she lunged with her spear at Josephine. It and Josephine’s rapier clashed, producing a pinging noise that reverberated in the room.

Blow after blow was traded between the two girls, with Artemisia and Maisie’s magic interspersed between them. Much to her relief, Josephine saw that Maisie was getting worn down by their struggle. With Artemisia within her, it was only a matter of time before Josephine dealt a decisive strike.

It finally came after Maisie thrust her spear at Josephine’s chest. She slashed at the spear, knocking it out of her hands and into the ceiling.

Immediately, Josephine swung her rapier at Maisie, directly connecting with her head. This knocked her to the ground. She struggled to stand up before dark mist left her body, reforming into Maisie’s dark reflection.

“Maisie!”

She helped her up.

“Josephine…?” she asked, turning to her dark reflection. “What the… no, no that’s not–”

“Maisie, you’re safe. Are you okay?”

“I–”

She looked at Josephine, then back at her dark reflection, which stood silently.

“I don’t know… Why is there a doppelgänger of me there?”

Josephine considered her words carefully. “I don’t think that’s just a doppelgänger.”

“What…? What do you… Oh my god…!”

Maisie suppressed tears as Josephine supported her.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t know I was–”

“I-It’s fine, Maisie. You don’t need to say sorry.”

“But that… those things it said… It’s like…”

Maisie’s eyes flashed with recognition. She had an epiphany.

“Haha… suddenly everything makes sense. A hotel with a whole library of books about magic and ghosts is like a dream of mine come true. But… I know that this ideal fantasy can’t be real. Neither should I stay there forever. And I… I get why part of me would want that. I just feel so weird when I bring up my interest in occult stuff. And you,” she said, facing her reflection, “you’re that part of me that feels so insecure and frustrated about that.”

The dark reflection nodded. Josephine swore she could see a smile on its pitch-black face.

“C’mere. You and me are one and the same,” Maisie said to her reflection.

The reflection disappeared, dissolving into a white mist which coalesced into a spear. Maisie took it, and a translucent silhouette of a woman cloaked in peacock feathers appeared for a moment before vanishing into Maisie’s body.

“Huh… so this is… my Persona?” Maisie looked at her spear, impressed at its construction.

“Yeah, I think it is,” Josephine said. “I–I’m so glad you’re okay now.”

“Me too. God, I’m so sorry I let out all that baggage on you.”

“That doesn’t matter now. Let’s go home.”

“Yeah,” Maisie said as they both headed out of the room.

—

As they walked out of the hotel and into the shadowy city, Maisie marvelled at the architecture.

“Woah… this place…! It’s just like that walled city I read about!” she said.

“Walled city?”

“Kowloon Walled City,” Maisie explained. “It was the densest-populated place on Earth until it got demolished in the 90s. I got this book about it and this place looks just like it!”

“Really?”

“Mhm!” Maisie said, nodding. “It was a huge maze of… city!”

“A maze…”

Josephine held up her key, which showed her the path back to the way she entered. “Thank goodness I have this thing.”

“What is that?”

“Uh, it’s a key. I don’t know how I got it, but it… guides me to places. I used it to find you, actually.”

“So it’s like a GPS for this place?”

Josephine chuckled. “Yeah, I guess!”

As Josephine led Maisie through the narrow passageways, they heard footsteps approaching them. Josephine held her rapier up as they came closer.

“I–Is it a monster?” Maisie asked.

“I don’t know, but we should be able to fight it,” Josephine assured.

The footsteps’ owner emerged from a passage in front of them, revealing the silhouette of a woman. The dim lighting within the alleyway suggested that this woman was made of metal, with Josephine barely making out patches of oxidization on her and the shade of light brown that colored her frazzled hair.

“A robot?” Maisie said in disbelief.

“What…” Josephine asked. “Who are you?”

The robot approached them. “Do not worry,” it said in a monotone voice. “I am not hostile.”

Maisie and Josephine let out sighs of relief, lowering their guard as the metal woman approached them, sitting against a wall next to them.

“My name is Aisha. I awoke here a few moments ago. I felt a strong power from here and was drawn to it.”

“Okay… do you remember anything else?”

“Remember…” Aisha said, letting that word hang in the air. She frowned and answered, “I do not remember anything else other than this world and small bits of information in my memory.”

“That’s strange. Are you from here?” Josephine asked.

“I do not know. May I come with you?” Aisha’s face changed subtly, looking as if she was pleading to the two girls.

“Come with us? Uh, I don’t know… I don’t think any of us have room for a robot in our house,” Josephine explained.

“Yeah, my mom would freak out… Would you be okay staying here?” Maisie asked.

“The Shadows here are hostile. If they find me, I might be destroyed,” Aisha replied.

“Shadows?” Both Josephine and Maisie were confused.

“They are the monsters that inhabit this world,” Aisha said. “They come from the sea of humanity’s subconscious.”

Aisha inspected Josephine and Maisie as that information sunk in. Her eyes scrutinized every detail visible to her in the dim lighting.

“I see you have the power to fight them, however. You are Persona-users, aren’t you?”

This revelation surprised the two girls.

“H-How do you know about that?” Josephine asked.

“That is one of the few things I have stored in my memory. I also have the ability to scan for Shadows and Persona-users and their weaknesses… you are the first of the latter I have seen.”

“Shit… she really is a machine,” Maisie murmured.

“May I come with you?” Aisha pleaded. “I can help you fight the Shadows in this world.”

Josephine thought for a moment. “This woman is strange, but it doesn’t look like she’s trying to murder us. The fact that she knows what Personas are is also kinda suspicious.”

She came to a decision. “Sure,” she said. “We’ll guard you. But once we reach the entrance to our world, we’ll see if you can stay with us or not.”

“That is… acceptable,” Aisha replied. Maisie nodded in agreement.

The three of them walked through the maze of corridors, with Josephine being able to glimpse at Aisha’s body as it was illuminated by the occasional fluorescent light. She was made from brass, and perhaps a type of steel, but her body had seen better days. Patches of rust dotted her form, and several dents were visible on her legs and arms.

“Dang… looks like she did get attacked by those Shadows…” she thought as she guided her and Maisie to the entrance.

—

Josephine and Maisie emerged into the alleyway. Thankfully, the sun hadn’t set yet.

“Holy shit,” Maisie said. “Finally, some fresh air.”

“I agree…” Josephine said. “Oh my goodness, I’m so tired.”

“Haha, yeah. I did try to kill you, y’know…”

“T-That wasn’t really you, though.”

“Technically, it was… but I know what you mean. I’m also really tired. I’m gonna get home.”

“Um… Maisie, you know that you’ve been missing since yesterday, right?”

“What? Wasn’t I walking home from school with you before I was in that weird hotel place?”

“No! You were in the nurse’s office and just vanished into thin air!”

“W-what the fuck!? I was–”

“You fell unconscious during lunch yesterday. I don’t know how but when the nurse went to get some medical supplies, you just vanished.”

“H-Huh? Holy heck…”

Maisie tried to process what she had just heard.

“Does that mean this city is… haunted?” she asked.

“Haunted? I think it’s cursed.”

“Cursed…”

“We should talk tomorrow.”

“Yeah, good idea. I need a nap.”

“Me too… but, um, where’s that Aisha woman?”

“I am currently immobile,” They heard Aisha say.

“Huh? Where are you?” Josephine asked.

“Look down.”

Josephine looked to the ground, and to her surprise saw a metal doll made to look exactly like the robot they’d seen in the other world, damage and all. A keychain was attached to it.

“Oh my goodness, you look so cute!” Josephine exclaimed as she held Aisha in her hand. “You’re like, a doll!”

“I am not used to being this diminutive in stature.”

“I mean, that kinda works out for all of us,” Maisie said. “A doll is a lot less conspicuous than a walking talking human-sized robot.”

“So I can stay with you?”

“With one of us,” Josephine said. “We live in different places. Who do you want to come with?”

Aisha considered for a moment. “I would like to stay with you,” she said.

“Which one of us?” Maisie asked.

“Wait, shoot! We didn’t introduce ourselves yet! I, uh, I’m Josephine, and this is Maisie.”

“I see… I would like to stay with you, Josephine.”

“Okay, I’ll bring you home,” Josephine said. “I might just fall asleep immediately again, though.”

“Um… before we go,” Maisie interjected, “do you think we’ll have to go back in there?”

Josephine remembered Viola’s condition. If it would work out in the same way that Maisie’s condition had, Viola might appear in the other world. Her expression turned serious.

“I think so. I’ll explain tomorrow,” she said.

—

“Claire?”

Carl Levitt entered Claire’s office. He was one of many technicians assigned to the department of which she was head researcher. Levitt was bewildered at what he was about to relay to her.

“Carl, what is it?” She asked, hands clasped on her mostly empty desk.

“You know that missing persons case that happened at Bridgepoint High yesterday?” Levitt asked.

“Oh, Sharon's daughter?”

“Well, they just found the girl a few minutes ago. Actually, Sharon told me that she just walked into her house.”

Claire nearly lost her composure. “Excuse me?”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either. One moment she disappeared from the nurse’s office and the next? Poof! Reappeared like nothing happened.”

“Well, this furthers my suspicion about the cognitive world being involved,” Claire said. “I’d keep an eye on her to see if she develops symptoms of the malaise again.”

“Yep. Still, we’re lucky that she appeared alive.”

“Yes, indeed…”

“We’ll get an interview out of her. I’ll go ahead and schedule one as soon as possible.”

“Yes, please do that.”

—

The last thing Josephine expected was to reappear in the Velvet Room after falling asleep. Igor and Genevieve were there, but she felt a sense of pride for her coming from both of them. Genevieve’s smile was especially vibrant.

“It’s so good to see you again,” Igor said. “I see that you’ve reawakened to your power.”

“Wait… don’t tell me that you know about Personas too,” Josephine replied.

“Indeed,” Igor explained. “I see that it was Artemisia who heeded your call… a different one than what I have seen… interesting.”

“Different?”

“Never mind that,” Genevieve said. “Listen to what my master has to say to you.”

“You have reawakened to the power of Persona. Think of it as a part of your psyche that you wear to brave the many hardships in life,” Igor continued. “I see that you have already begun finding those whose bonds will enrich this power over time.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Think of your power as a blank canvas. Empty, yet holding infinite potential.”

Josephine felt Artemisia resonate with Igor’s words.

“You’ll know what that means in due time, my dear guest,” Genevieve added. “For now, it’s time for you to return to the waking world.”

“Wait! Wait, I have so many…” but her voice trailed off, her words unheard by the attendant and her master.

As she awoke in her room, Josephine’s heart sank.

“All of this is definitely real… some weird stuff is going on here,” she said to herself.

Chapter 5 - The Abyss Gazers

It was Saturday, and both Josephine and Viola looked forward to the weekend. It was one of the few times where their mother could be home, though this wasn’t always the case. Sadly, this weekend appeared to be one of the ones where Claire would work.

“I’m sorry,” Claire said as Josephine and Viola stood at the porch door. “I try to get as many days off as I can, but sometimes I’ve got no other choice.”

“But next time, we get to go somewhere, right?” Viola pleaded.

Claire nodded, though she looked unsure. “Yes, I’ll think of something,” she said.

Before another word could be said, they heard a familiar voice come from the street.

“Heeyyyy!”

Viola gasped in surprise. “I-Is that Maisie?!”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you that she was found yesterday,” Claire said.

“Really?!”

Maisie ran up the porch stairs, her eyes landing on Viola. Viola flew out of the house, embracing Maisie as they spun around together.

“I-I was so worried about you!” Viola exclaimed.

“I know,” Maisie replied as the two let go of each other. “But I’m back and in one piece!”

She made the victory sign.

Claire chuckled. “You three enjoy yourselves. I’ve gotta go. And be careful out there.”

She walked outside, got into her car, and drove off.

“I’m still waiting to go on a trip…” Viola said, dejected.

“I know, right? It’s been a while since we’ve gone to the aquarium,” Josephine added.

Maisie and Viola chuckled.

“You really wanna see those jellies again, don’t you?” Viola teased.

“Y-yes? They’re really cool, you know?”

“Man, I should go with you guys one day,” Maisie said. “Mom’s kinda freaked out with my whole vanishing thing so I’m probably stuck here for now…”

“Yeah, that’s a bummer,” Viola said.

“But anyways! Anything happened while I was gone?”

Viola’s expression faltered before quickly changing back to a straight face.

“Uh… Vi?” Maisie said. “Is something up?”

Josephine and Viola glanced at each other, though it was the former who broke the news to Maisie.

“Vi… might have the malaise,” she said.

“Are you serious?” Maisie exclaimed. “N–No way that’s true…”

“I think it is,” Viola replied. “You know how you were daydreaming about a weird hotel or something?”

Maisie remembered what happened yesterday with Josephine. “Yeah?”

“I’ve kinda been having those kinds of dreams too. I’m just in some sort of beauty contest or fashion show or something like that instead.”

“Oh…”

Maisie frowned.

“I mean, it started happening after I saw one of Jo’s scribbles. What did you call that thing, Maisie? You asked me if I saw it that one time, I think.”

Her frown turned into an expression of abject horror.

“No… don’t tell me you saw it too!”

Viola sighed. “Yeah. I don’t know what that thing is or how I just know its name, but…”

Viola’s eyes began to glaze over, her lips forming a smile. “...I’ve learned a lot from it!”

“Vi, what the heck? You gotta snap out of this!” Maisie shouted. Josephine took a couple steps away from her sister.

“I mean, come on! How else would I, the Queen of Beauty of Bridgepoint High, learn how to look so fabulous?” Viola said, swaying her hair in an attempt to imitate a fashion model.

Maisie tried to suppress laughter, but failed. “W-what the fuck, Vi!”

Viola squinted at Maisie’s shirt. It was white with long red sleeves and a design displaying a field of poppies against the background.

“I want that shirt. Give that to me, you peasant!”

Viola grabbed the sleeves of Maisie’s shirt, causing her to struggle against her grip. Josephine gasped as she watched the scene unfold.

“W-what the hell, Vi! Get off me!” Maisie screamed. “And what’s with that freaky smile?”

“Give that shirt to me…” Viola demanded. She grabbed its collar and tried pulling it off of her.

“Stop!” Maisie shouted.

Not a moment of hesitation passed after this before Josephine ran over to Viola and slapped her across the face, snapping her out of her daze. Viola withdrew herself from Maisie as she looked at her hands.

“Ow… W-what happened?” Viola nervously asked.

“You tried to take my shirt off…” Maisie said.

Viola gasped, her eyes wide with terror.

“I-I did… no… no, I didn’t…”

Her eyes darted from Maisie to Josephine and back several times. She took a small step away from the two girls.

“I wasn’t… no, no no no NO!”

She ran upstairs, with Maisie and Josephine hearing a door slam violently a moment later. Josephine sat against the wall, controlling her breathing to the best of her ability. Maisie stood there, trying to process what just happened to her.

“Oh my god…” Maisie said.

Josephine looked at Maisie with a sorrowful expression. She trembled, clutching herself with her arms. She breathed a bit faster. Maisie knelt next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“Hey… are you ok? Come on, breathe in… and out… in, and out…”

Much to Maisie’s relief, Josephine followed along with her, the breathing eventually coming under control.

“T-thanks…” Josephine murmured. “When I saw V-Vi do that, I-I got so scared… I don’t know w-what I’ll do if she just l-loses her mind forever…”

“Yeah… I don’t know either. But, I’ve got your back, Jo. Especially after what happened yesterday.”

Josephine was immediately reminded of the labyrinthine city she’d entered to rescue Maisie. Maisie’s disappearance, the key, her Persona… A thought crossed her mind, causing her anxiety to rise again. Her breathing grew fast.

“Jo? What’s wrong?”

“D-Don’t tell me she’s going to vanish… P-Please d-don’t…” she whispered.

“If she does, we can save her,” Maisie affirmed.

“Y-You’re sure?”

“Remember what you did to get me out of that weird hotel place yesterday? The dueling my shadow and guiding me out of there with your magic key stuff?”

“I… yeah, I do…”

Then, Josephine’s eyes lit up with surprise and realization. “Oh! T-That reminds me, I was g-gonna say that we might have to go back into the other world to save her…”

Maisie nodded, smiling with approval. “Yeah! We’re on the same wavelength, Jo!”

Josephine smiled back just as Maisie’s phone vibrated. She took her phone from her pocket, reading a text message. She typed a lot on the phone while Josephine stood up and peered over her shoulder. Maisie noticed and looked at her.

“Mom’s asking me to come home. Like I said, she’s freaked out over my whole disappearing thing. Do you want to come with me? I have a lot of stuff I need to tell you about.”

“Sure,” Josephine answered.

“Bring Aisha with you, too!”

“Ah, I forgot about her!” Josephine exclaimed.

Josephine headed to her bedroom, where Aisha in her doll form laid on her desk. The doll’s eyes were closed. She took a better look at her as she held her by her keychain. Only her face was tan, with the rest of her body displaying the original color of the metal she was made of. Suddenly, the doll’s eyes opened on their own.

“Wh-aah!” Josephine yelped.

“I am awake now,” Aisha said in her monotone voice.

“Seriously? I thought your eyes closed on their own, you know… physics!”

“I slept pleasantly this past night.”

“Well, that’s nice, but I didn’t know you needed sleep!”

“I sleep to conserve energy.”

“I… I guess that makes sense? Anyways, me and Maisie are gonna chat about stuff, and she wants you there.”

“I will gladly come with you.”

“Thanks.”

Josephine let Aisha dangle from the keychain as she walked out of her bedroom. Before leaving, she made sure to text her mom and stop by Viola’s bedroom.

“Vi? You ok?”

No response.

“I just wanna tell you that me and Maisie are gonna hang out at her place. I’ll be back in a bit!”

She lingered by the door, waiting for a response. But nothing ever came.

Josephine sighed as she headed downstairs.

—

Maisie’s room was full to the brim with books. A large bookshelf sat by her desk, packed densely with books of all sizes and genres, though most were incredibly bulky. A square book, just shy of one foot on each side, lay on her desk.

Josephine couldn’t help but be impressed by the sheer amount of information contained within that room. Maisie brimmed with excitement as she took the large book off of the table.

“So, I may have done some research last night,” Maisie began.

“I can tell,” Josephine said, smiling.

Maisie chuckled. “You should know that I love diving into weird stuff by now. Anyways…”

She opened the book to a page with a picture of an enclosed alleyway on it. Rubber pipes dangled from the ceiling, with a bundle of them entangled among a pile of rubble. The few lights within it illuminated some puddles that had formed on the ground, with the rest of the pipes obscured by darkness. A few signs were present, all written in Chinese.

“Remind you of something?” Maisie asked, grinning.

“This is… that other world?”

“No, it isn’t! Remember that city I mentioned yesterday? Kowloon Walled City?”

“Oh…”

A flash of realization crossed Josephine’s eyes as she remembered Maisie mentioning it on their way out of the other side.

“This book is all about the place. It’s got interviews with people, a history, everything! It’s pretty much a comprehensive guide to the Walled City. I just wonder why that place looks so much like it…”

“Yeah, that is kinda weird,” Josephine said.

“That world is born from the Collective Unconscious,” Aisha interjected. “It most likely resembles this ‘Walled City’ due to the current mentality of the public.”

Maisie was briefly startled before she looked at the doll dangling from Josephine’s hand.

“Aisha… So what you’re saying is that entire other world is a reflection of our world?”

“Correct. The cumulative experience of the public shapes the Collective Unconscious, and the world born from it by extension. In other words, it is a reflection of this world.”

“Dang…”

Maisie’s expression was one of contemplation and fascination. A smile crept on her face as she remembered more knowledge that she had.

“This is reminding me of what my mom’s been looking into,” Maisie said, placing the large book on her desk and picking up another book from her bookshelf. Maisie revealed a thin black manual stuck between its pages. “I had to steal this one from her,” she whispered, showing it to Josephine.

On its cover, bold text declared its title to be Cognitive Psience: A Brief Introduction.

“This is the only one about this cognitive psience stuff I could get my hands on. My mom caught me trying to look through a huge textbook on it and she freaked out on me…”

She frowned as she continued her story.

“She got really mad at me and told me to keep that stuff secret. This is the only bit of info I have on cognitive psience.”

Maisie opened the manual and skimmed through its pages. Josephine looked over her shoulder to read it. The pages were densely packed with words she couldn’t wrap her head around.

“There’s not a lot of info here, but it does mention this Collective Unconscious a bit. Nothing about Personas, either. But that brings me to something else I wanna tell you about.”

“Hm?”

“When I got home, I was taken to an interrogation room, I think.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah, after some officers came to make sure I was fine, some people in suits took me there. They asked me a lot of questions. Part of my memory’s kinda hazy, but I remember there was a gadget that they brought in. Then they gave me some water after they used it on me.”

Maisie winced in pain, bringing her hand to her head.

“Maisie? Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah, minor headache,” she said. “That happened to me after drinking the water they gave me, too. My Persona was shouting at me not to forget something, but I dunno what…”

“N-No way,” Josephine said. She felt her heart sink into her stomach after Maisie’s recount.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Maisie asked. “You’re kinda pale–”

“T-That’s what my Persona did after I took my medicine!”

“W-what?”

“Yeah… before I was able to fight with her, I was hearing… her voice…”

“And you were on medication?”

Josephine nodded. “Antipsychotics. My mom’s been getting it for me, but I mentioned getting a huge headache after taking it recently. So she told me to stop while she looks for a different prescription.”

“Wait, hold on…”

Maisie’s eyes went wide.

“You don’t think they drugged me with your medicine, do you?”

“W-What?” Josephine asked, flabbergasted. “What makes you think that?”

“I mean, I think… no, I remember! The water was sorta cloudy…” she paused for a moment.

“Circe please help me…” Maisie whispered.

“Circe?”

“That’s my Persona.”

“Oh. She talks to you too?”

Maisie nodded before furrowing her brows, deep in thought. A moment later, she let out an “Oh!” as she looked up at Josephine.

“Another thing I remember about that water was that it was crazy bitter. Like, ‘I want to gag or throw up’ kind of bitter.”

“T-That happened with my medicine too!” Josephine exclaimed. “It wasn’t bitter before I went in after you, though…”

“Holy crap… then that really settles it. And that means you’ve had your Persona for ages…”

“Not true! I mean, I don’t remember having Artemisia with me at all until yesterday! But that was her voice I heard before then…”

Josephine frowned, staring at the floor of Maisie’s room. She tried to remember anything about her Persona in the past, but like always, her memories of anything before the age of eight were gone. Erased.

“I don’t know what the heck is going on with me…” Josephine murmured.

Maisie chuckled. An impish smirk formed on her face. “Something tells me you want to find out.”

“Yeah. And if it means saving Vi too, then I’m in.”

“Hell yeah!” Maisie said, doing a fist pump. “If we’re going to that other world again, we should have a name for our team, right?”

“A team name? I never considered that…” Josephine replied.

“That would be prudent,” Aisha interjected. “Naming our group will boost internal collaboration.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Josephine said.

Maisie’s smile grew. “Okay, since we’re all in agreement, let’s brainstorm some ideas! Josephine, you first!”

“Oh, I–uh…”

She was completely caught off guard. Never before yesterday would she have expected to be dragged into the other world, but now, with that proven to exist, they were going to enter it again. She knew that it would happen.

“Um… If it helps, I had to pull my Persona out of my eyes,” Josephine said.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, it was about as painful as it sounds.”

Maisie thought for a moment before an idea crossed her mind.

“How about the Abyss Gazers?”

“Abyss Gazers?”

“Yeah, since you mentioned the whole eyes thing with your Persona. I mean, the other world could stand in for an abyss, right?”

Josephine nodded the more she repeated the name in her head.

“I like it,” she said. “How about you, Aisha?”

“That is an acceptable name,” Aisha commented with her sterile voice.

“Great! Let’s make a group chat for this!”

Josephine and Maisie then made a group chat bearing the name ‘Abyss Gazers’ on Discord. Maisie then decided that, for some reason, an image of Hello Kitty of all things would be the best icon for it.

“We’ll decide on a proper logo later,” she said, despite Josephine’s protest.

Josephine sighed. “Alright, but I’m drawing it.”

“Yesssssssssss,” Maisie said, drawing it out into a hiss and smiling. “Wanna go back into that world tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Josephine answered. “We gotta practice more with our Personas if we wanna save Vi.”

“I will teach you information about the Shadows that inhabit it, along with how to fight them,” Aisha added. “I will do my utmost effort to assist you.”

“Awesome!” Maisie said. “I’ll be counting on you two!”

“You too, Maisie. I’ll see you then.”

As Josephine left Maisie’s room, she felt something stir in her soul. Something warm and fuzzy yet firm at the same time connected with her. She felt a little more confident as she waved Maisie’s mom goodbye and left their house.

—

Josephine sat by her desk, sketching out ideas for logos for the Abyss Gazers in her sketchbook as Aisha sat next to it. To her dismay, Viola still refused to come out of her room, not even unlocking the door when Josephine knocked. To pass the time, she’d taken out the sketchbook and began doodling. Thankfully, no reminder of that accursed page was left within it. However, she was once again surprised when the doll spoke.

“Josephine,” Aisha began, “may I ask you about friendship?”

“Friendship? Why would— oh, right. You’re a machine that doesn’t remember anything other than that… world of the Collective Unconscious, did you call it?”

“Correct. Now, what is friendship?”

Josephine paused her drawing.

“That is a really hard question to answer,” Josephine answered.

“Isn’t it a connection between two people?” Aisha asked.

“I mean, yeah? But that’s kinda missing the bigger picture.”

“How so?”

Josephine twirled her pencil between her fingers as she thought about her response.

“It’s like, uh… It’s coming to understand each other. To really care about each other and to know each other deeply. Helping each other when you’re down and sharing experiences with each other. I’m not the biggest extrovert in the world, so I don’t have a lot of friends…”

Josephine chuckled.

“Are you friends with this ‘Viola’ person?” Aisha asked. “You care about her a lot.”

“That’s different. She’s my sister. We share a different kind of bond, since we’re family.”

“I see…”

Aisha’s eyes blinked as Josephine sketched yet another failed design on the page.

“That’s why I have to save her from whatever’s happening to her. If I lose her, then… then…”

Josephine resisted crying.

“Then I don’t know what I’ll do with myself,” she finished.

Aisha remained silent as more and more designs were crossed out.

“May I be your friend?” Aisha asked.

Josephine smiled at her. “Sure,” she said. “We’re already in this together, right?”

“That is correct,” Aisha responded with her usual monotone.

As she sketched, that same warm feeling pulsed through her body again. She was reminded about what that long-nosed man said about bonds that would enrich her power.

“Was this what he meant?” she wondered as she continued sketching.

—

The next day, Viola awoke in her dazed state. Josephine snapped her out of it, but not before relapsing while Claire was about to leave for work.

“Vi?” Claire said. “Are you…”

Her eyes widened as she saw her eldest daughter’s vacant smile and eyes.

“I’m beautiful, aren’t I?” Viola asked, letting her words drift in the air.

“Vi? W-what’s gotten into you?”

Josephine entered the room and noticed what was happening. She shook Viola which thankfully still snapped her back to reality.

“H-huh?” She said, looking around. “Was I–”

“Viola.”

Claire’s voice became serious.

“Are you okay?”

“I… yeah, I’m okay,” she lied.

Claire’s severe eyes pierced straight through her façade. Her eyes turned to Josephine.

“Josephine,” Claire said. “Keep an eye on her and let me know if her condition gets worse, okay?”

Josephine nodded.

“I’ll be going to work now,” Claire stated, leaving Viola to dread her condition. She walked upstairs and locked herself in her room. Despite Josephine’s incessant knocking, the most Viola said back to her was to leave her alone.

Josephine and Maisie stood by the alleyway. The crude graffiti of the double doors loomed above them, draped in shadow. Maisie stared at it with curiosity.

“So this is where you entered that other world?”

“Mhm,” Josephine murmured. “That graffiti is the gateway to it.”

Maisie stepped forward, tentatively reaching out towards the graffiti. She touched it, gasping in awe as the brickwork rippled due to her touch. She laughed, her tone communicating her fascination.

“Holy crap!” she said. “This is so weiiiird! It feels like water!”

She waved her hand through the wall, causing more waves to appear on the wall. Maisie watched as the undulations on the wall defied gravity.

“I could do this all day!”

“Maisie, we still need to practice using our Personas,” Josephine said.

“I concur,” Aisha added. “While the behavior of this wall may be fascinating to you, looking at it for extended periods of time could colloquially be called ‘dilly-dallying.’”

Both girls burst into laughter.

“A-Aisha, haha! W-Where did you learn that?” Josephine said.

“It is part of my vocabulary database,” Aisha stated matter-of-factly. “Is something wrong with me saying this?”

“No!” Maisie said, trying to control her giggling. “We just didn’t expect you of all people to say that!”

“W-We should get–” Josephine let out a chuckle, “going!”

“Alright, alright!” Maisie said.

Josephine followed Maisie into the wall, vanishing from the real world without a trace.

—

The unforgiving stench was the first thing that the two girls perceived. The concoction of the odors of brimstone, smoke and garbage caught them off guard, causing them to gag. Aisha, now in her full robot form, did not flinch.

“Augh! This place stinks!” Maisie exclaimed. “I didn’t smell any of this last time!”

“M-Me neither!” Josephine responded. “What the hell is this?”

“It is quite common for compounds like hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other volatile substances to occasionally rise in concentration in select parts of this world,” Aisha stated.

“So it’s supposed to smell like fish and garbage and fire?” Josephine asked, leaning on a pipe that water dripped from.

“That is most likely to be the case,” Aisha answered. “The concentrations of these compounds vary over time. You will get used to it the longer you stay here.”

“Are you sure? Because I am sure as heck not used to this!” Maisie said.

A loud clanging noise echoed through the corridor they stood in. Aisha pinpointed the direction of the noise, standing alert as the girls frantically looked around the dimly-lit environment.

“That is the sound of a Shadow,” Aisha said. “This one may be aggravated.”

“Oh…” Maisie said. “Josephine, how many shadows have you fought?”

“Two: yours and another that was the receptionist to your hotel thing,” she responded. “I’ve got no idea what that Shadow might be.”

“Would you like to look around?” Aisha asked.

“Yesssss!” Maisie exclaimed. “Josephine, come on! Even if this place smells like a landfill, I need to see more of this for myself!”

Josephine nodded, cautiously following her as she manifested her rapier in her grasp. Maisie, on the other hand, was captivated by the architecture of the city. She felt the cold metal of the pipes, the rough concrete walls, and examined every nook and cranny she could.

They entered a narrow and surprisingly well-lit corridor with an entanglement of cables hanging from the ceiling. One of the walls contained a large array of breakers and switches, which were covered in dust and rust. The rust had stained the light grey walls surrounding the girls long ago.

The air felt uncomfortably damp. Josephine touched a wooden door, causing some of it to flake off and fall to the floor as it creaked and opened slightly. Josephine withdrew her hand and cringed.

“This place is creepy…” she murmured.

Maisie, on the other hand, continued to sightsee. “It’s incredible…” she said. “It’s like the real thing.”

She examined a piece of graffiti. “Carcosa…” she mumbled. “Huh. Interesting…”

As she pondered on what it could mean, a sharp pinging sound reverberated through the corridor. Aisha immediately stood on guard.

“That is a shadow,” she stated. “It will approach us soon. Combat is best done in a more open area.”

She looked through the door that Josephine had touched and saw a large room through it. She gestured towards it and said, “This room will serve as an adequate training ground.”

Aisha led them inside, revealing a large pantry with shelves full of canned goods. Although the air here was dry, it was stagnant. The stench of mildew hung in the air.

Two more pinging noises echoed around them.

“There are two Shadows approaching us,” Aisha said. “They are close.”

Josephine held up her rapier while Maisie manifested her spear. They stood with their backs against the wall as two floating Shadows emerged through the door. They were floating yellow eyeballs that resembled that of a cat’s. Protruding from them were two antennae with blinking red lights and three tentacles with large suction cups on the tips. Their slits narrowed as they looked at them.

“These ones are weak,” Aisha said. “Let me scan for their weakness while you fight them off.”

Josephine knocked one back with her sword while Maisie did the same to the other eye with her spear. One of the eyes glowed, shooting a bolt of lightning at Josephine which hit her in the chest.

“Jeez, that hurt!” Josephine said as she steadied herself. “...but, not as much as I expected? Huh?”

“That is an effect of your Persona,” Aisha responded. “These Shadows do not have potent attacks, either.”

One of the eyes flew at Maisie, slapping her with one of its tentacles. This took Maisie off guard, but not enough that she was unable to thrust her spear at it, which she did.

“Artemisia! Aqua!”

Josephine’s Persona produced a torrent of water which battered one of the eyes, but this did not stun it. It shot another bolt of lightning at her, but Josephine managed to dodge it at the last second.

“Dang, that’s so cool!” Maisie exclaimed in response. Josephine smiled at her. “That’s my Persona for you,” she said.

Aisha then interrupted. “I have found their weaknesses. They are susceptible to ice. Maisie, use your Persona.”

“Uh, okay!”

Maisie took a deep breath.

“Circe, Bufu!”

Maisie’s Persona unfurled its cloak of peacock feathers. A large icicle formed in front of it which then struck the eye with enough force to pummel it to the ground.

“Again! Persona!”

An icicle struck the other eye, sending it to the floor as well. Both of the Shadows were now vulnerable.

Josephine and Maisie glanced at each other before charging at them, swinging their weapons at the shadow multiple times. The damage they endured was too much to bear. Once Josephine and Maisie’s assault concluded, the Shadows dissolved into a black mist.

Maisie panted. “Whew… that was awesome! I felt so alive when I channeled my Persona,” she said.

“Haha, me too,” Josephine replied.

“Excellent work,” Aisha interjected. “You demonstrated your capability as fighters against these Shadows.”

“You bet!” Maisie said, giving her a thumbs-up.

The pantry was surprisingly undamaged, save for the many cans of food that had fallen over during the fight.

Maisie saw another door and looked outside. Puddles of water reflected the many glowing signs lining the street, which was made from cobblestones. Moss grew in between the cracks.

“We should not stay here too long,” Aisha said. “Otherwise a powerful Shadow may appear.”

“Powerful? Like, how powerful?” Maisie asked.

“It is a manifestation of Death itself,” she stated.

“Like, grim reaper levels of powerful?”

“Yes.”

“Oh…”

Maisie pondered for a moment.

“I’m torn between looking around some more and going home… what do you say?”

“Maybe we can find a few more ‘weak ones’ to get some practice in before going home?” Josephine replied.

“Yeah! That sounds good!” Maisie said.

They walked into the street, glancing at several abandoned buildings, including a bar, a clinic, and several houses.

“This literally is the Walled City…” Maisie whispered. “It’s incredible.”

She turned to Josephine. “How about we call this world the City of Darkness? It’s a lot more awesome than ‘the other world.’”

Josephine nodded as she pulled a garage door up, revealing a workshop with a large misshapen blob. The Shadow’s singular eye immediately locked eyes with the trio as the two girls were caught off guard. Wires that wrapped around it pulsed like arteries.

“I will scan this Shadow now,” Aisha said as she retreated behind them.

The Shadow’s eye’s pupil dilated as it glowed with an eerie green light. Before any of them could react, a gale erupted from its body, battering the two girls with razor-sharp winds. Josephine protected her eyes with her arm as the gusts of wind emanating from the deformed Shadow scattered small pieces of debris everywhere.

Maisie and Josephine called upon their Personas to attack the Shadow, with Artemisia skewering it with a paintbrush and Circe producing two stiletto blades to stab it with. The Shadow, however, was unaffected. Its eyeball withdrew into its body as it fired a barrage of debris at the two girls, causing them to fall to the ground.

“Yeowww!” Maisie shouted. “What the hell’s with this thing?!”

“This one seems to be more powerful than the ones we fought,” Aisha explained. “None of your Personas can exploit its weaknesses either.”

“Are you kidding me?! Circe, help me!”

Circe manifested above Maisie, opening her hands and revealing a sphere of green light. It flew into Maisie, reinvigorating her mind and body. She looked at herself, her eyes widening in surprise.

“I can… heal myself?” Maisie whispered. She smiled. “Awesome!”

Josephine, on the other hand, struggled to get up. Maisie noticed and commanded Circe to use Dia on her as well.

“H-holy crap,” she said as she felt the invigorating energy flow through her. “That feels weird.”

After the giant eyeball emitted yet another gust of wind, Maisie and Josephine summoned their Personas again. Simultaneously, they ordered them to use their magic against the blob in front of them. It was then that something strange began to stir within their souls as Circe and Artemisia circled around the Shadow. When they both motioned to use their magic, Artemisia’s water and Circe’s ice intertwined with each other, causing a freezing whirlpool to batter the shadow. Its body ripped apart as the water dissipated, with black bile spouting out of each scar coating the garage it laid in as it finally dissolved into nothingness. Maisie and Josephine covered their noses as they coughed and stepped away from the scene.

“J-Jeez! It reeks in here!” Maisie shouted. She coughed a few more times.

“The concentrations of certain odorous compounds have spiked,” Aisha stated, unfazed.

“We can feel that!” Josephine replied. “But what was that with our Personas just now?”

“That was a fusion spell,” Aisha explained. “If the conditions are right, two or more Persona-users may let their Personas channel their power together to unleash a powerful attack.”

“Huh. So that’s what I felt,” Maisie whispered to herself.

As the black bile evaporated around them, Maisie and Josephine looked at each other, and then to Aisha.

“You are exhibiting signs of tiredness. It is best to retire for now,” Aisha stated.

“Sure,” Maisie said. “C’mon, Jo. Use your magic key thingy!”

Josephine nodded, taking it from her pocket as she led the group to the real world.

—

Josephine knocked on Viola’s room’s door. She sighed as her sister refused to answer yet again.

“Vi, let me in!” she said.

Viola murmured something back, but the door muffled the noise. Josephine turned the doorknob again. Locked.

Just as she turned away from the door, it opened. Viola stood within the doorframe, displaying a vacant smile. Josephine immediately shook her to her senses.

“A-Ah! Fuck! Not again!” Viola said.

“Are you okay?” Josephine asked. She looked behind her sister and saw a mess of clothes scattered across her room. “What happened?”

“I–uh…”

Viola faced her room, then turned back to Josephine. She groaned in frustration.

“I might’ve messed up my entire closet,” she admitted. “Wanna help me clean up?”

Josephine nodded, and the two of them began to reorganize Viola’s clothes.

“Ughhh, this is so weird,” Viola said as she hung one of her sweaters. “I have a feeling—no, I know when I did all this.”

“Was it when you were daydreaming?”

Viola nodded. “Yeah. I keep dreaming about this stupid beauty contest and–”

She rested after hanging yet another shirt.

“It’s Julie, dammit! I’m so jealous of how she looks,” she confessed. “I don’t know what it is with her, but she always knows how to put herself together.”

Viola sighed.

“I know I shouldn’t be like this, but I can’t help myself. Especially after I saw that thing you drew…”

Josephine’s heart sank.

“Vi, I’m–”

“No, it was my fault I saw it. I should’ve listened to you, but I felt… compelled to put those pieces of paper together. I-I don’t know why.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. Everything about it just clicked the moment I laid eyes on it. It felt so weird and–”

Viola hesitated.

“Ughhhh, this is so weird and I hate it!”

She sighed.

“Please… just please help me get through this,” she requested.

“Yeah. Me and Maisie will help you out.”

Viola made a weak smile as they resumed cleaning up the room together.

Chapter 6 - WIP