The High Priestess - Meredith Fong

It really was a bizarre land that she had been propelled her into. So much was happening, and so incredibly quickly at that. It was almost too much for a girl to keep up with. No time to become fully acquainted with the strange geopolitics of this alien world. No time to learn more about the benefactors/kidnappers/hosts who had called upon them for help. No time to even mourn.

The last thought was a sobering one. Meredith wasn't somebody who always dwelled on the negativeness in life, but that had been a kid who was simply ... gone. Just like that. It really hit home how unwelcoming this dream-like existence was. There shouldn't have been a reason for children to be here in the first place, right? They were supposed to be doing little bratty things safely and annoying their parents like she had done back when she was like, ten.

They weren't supposed to be stuck here with the monsters.

And that was what the P3 Syndrome had forced them into.

Meredith looked down at the strange contraption in her hands.

A simple, shiny thing that, if she'd understood those aliens correctly, would become a weapon with a squeeze.

She turned it over, its surface cool to her touch.

Just a squeeze, and she'd have ... powers, right? Like out of the movies.

Like a superhero.

She wanted to help some kids out. Maybe this would give her a chance.

"Here it goes."

Meredith squeezed, and the contraption transformed. It stretched itself out, elongating into a long, black shaft. At one end was a rounded, semi-rectangular shape, one that seemed to cut through the air with quiet ease, dividing the aether like it would the seas. Well-balanced and comfortably within her grip, its identity took a few more seconds to divine.

"Ah, it's an oar."

It was less patience, and more the lack of real impatience, that kept Gale from doing little more than idly regard the other boy as he yanked at his hair, tweaked at his ears. It was hard for him to be particularly bothered when no pain stemmed from the action, although he couldn’t help but note how terribly rude “Snow” seemed to be. Of course, that didn’t stop him from smiling benignly, and in a voice as sugary as the lollipop corked in his mouth, replying.

“I’m Gale Eden. It’s a pleasure, Snow.”

His interest was stolen from the boy by the suddenly feminine chirps of their benefactor, and for a moment, his eyes rose in genuine surprise. The moment faded as he began to ramble on and on about the situation Gale and the other Dreamers had found themselves in, and while he kept an ear open just in case, he wasn’t curious enough to start rattling off questions like some of the others. The rules of this reality hardly aligned with the logic of their own. The things that populated this world were most certainly not human, and there was a war raging that had brought both them, as well as the comatose children, into the thick of things.

Curious and curiouser. But Gale found it preferable to listen and observe instead of trying to vye for the Rabbit’s attention in things. Already, a few others had taken the lead in the little interrogation, and the Rabbit seemed far more invested in them than anyone else for the time being.

He was brought out of his thoughts by a scream of warning. Gale managed to turn just in time to see Snow suddenly enveloped in a mass of tightly coiled shadow. Taking a cue from the others, he took a few deliberate steps back away from the whole mess, although his eyes were still locked onto the whole process until the very end.

“How ghastly.”

His voice was thick with sympathy, although it didn’t touch his eyes in the slightest.

Two down already.

It likely wouldn’t be long for the next to fall.

Gale swung his arms a little, glancing over to see that the Rabbit had done a very abrupt shift in the time he hadn’t been watching him. No longer was he the dignified gentleman of earlier, but instead had become a high-strung mess of a girl. His brows rose again, and he listened with far more interest as she explained what had happened to Snow, what had happened to herself. There was a bit of rambling around it, but from what Gale gathered, it had been the emotion of the situation that had done him in.

Poor boy.

The apparent leader of the rebellion arrived, although Gale’s attention once again shifted as they were handed their gear. The “Chronovoker”, and a marble. He pocketed the former, and eyed the latter with interest. “Whatever weapon he felt he could handle best”...

It crumbled between his fingers as easily as a robin’s egg. Nothing took its place, however- instead, Gale’s hands suddenly became...noticeably heavier. Blinking, he looked down to see his hands coated in sleek, polished metal. Gauntlets. They were silver in color, adorned with careful swoops and little swirls here and there. The fingers of them both led into sharp, vicious tips. Like claws. Like knives. Fascinated, Gale rolled down one of his sleeves, and brought one of the fingers gently, ever so gently, against his bare skin.

He didn’t even have to press for the spot he picked to bead. A dewdrop of blood formed beneath his claw, and then leisurely began to roll down to his elbow after growing fat with enough mass.

Gale regarded this for a moment, then rolled his sleeve back up again.

They were perfect.

Flicking his hand clean, he padded forward, and leaped into the hungry maw of the rabbit hole.

Butter Daisy Forest

In Tyler's mind, he echoed a comment the girl recently made, how those beyond the P3 syndrome age limit getting caught in a comatose didn't make any sense. Indeed it was very strange. He's certain that he's right about this, but why were they caught up in this too? Could it be that P3 Syndrome was spreading beyond its age limitations, or could it be that there was something special about these people in particular? These, however, were questions to be answered another time.

Tyler listened to Arthur's comment about the human potentially being hostile before the meet-up with this new person. Indeed, he probably should have considered that as the man began speaking up his answer. But in a situation like this, whether or not the man in question was ready to attack them would be ultimately an irrelevant point. They were in a forest potentially surrounded by monsters, and while the possibility of a potentially psychotic human was there, it's not as if that gives an excuse to just leave him to die. Besides, while he would prefer not to fight...or kill, he would at least be able to incapacitate this guy if he decided to lash out. Personal army experience aside, it didn't seem likely that this person would be fast enough to hit him should he dodge.

This of course, was followed by Arthur then mocking him, asking if he'd made sure the area was clear, something that made him quite irritated, but something he ignored. There's no way of knowing to be sure if the area is secure, they know nothing about their environment or what kind of creatures inhabit it. He's only seen the monsters in the woods by chance for split-seconds; there's no way of knowing what they are or what they can do if they decided to attack. He needed to get as many people out of harm's way as he could, and that included this man.

The man then explained that the only one he saw was someone known as the Mad Hatter.

"Mad...Hatter?" Tyler echoed, pondering about this bit of information. "Mad Hatter", as in a character from the Lewis Carol novels...He'd think him nuts normally, but one of those two battling it out was some kind of humanoid with a hat on. He must have been that very same being, running past them after that battle they saw.

...But that means the other one is no longer preoccupied with him...Oh dear.

As soon as he thought about it, he heard something in the distances, as his soldier's instincts began to kick in. He didn't know from where, or how far away they were, but there was a distinct feeling that they weren't alone, that people in the forest beyond the path was watching them. It was just a gut feeling...but then again, those gut feelings are usually right.

"...We have to get to that rabbit hole, fast. We're definitely not alone in here." He said to the trio. He began looking towards the path that the other humans went, prompting the others to follow him as he walked further into it. There was no guarantee that the hole they entered will be safe; it may very well be a deathtrap, but there's at least a chance at surviving this situation by heading for it, as oppose to standing on the road like sitting ducks while god-knows-what lurks around them.

As the four headed towards the Rabbit Hole, with Tyler seeing it in the distance, he noticed some movement from the hole. Something seemed to be coming out, but it was hard to tell from the distance they were at. Tyler stopped the others using common military hand signs. Needing to do Reconnaissance while ensuring the others protection, he then pointed them towards the left side of the forest as he himself walked to the side, covering behind the trees while walking closer to whatever was coming out.

As soon as he and the others had a more visible view of what was going on, suddenly out popped a large group of humans, the same ones as before, only now with weapons and apparently some kind of pocket-watches. The White Rabbit also seemed to come out, only it didn't seem like it was the same one that brought them there. Just about everything about this new rabbit gave a different vibe from the one he saw leading them there. With another few hand signs, Tyler essentially ordered the other three to keep watch as they continued the observation.

---

Alice looked as the others are brought back up to the Forest, and once everyone was confirmed to have landed safely into the forest, she looked to Jill who proceeded to take the lead, heading deeper into the forest, with Tyler and his respective group not far behind, still hiding from sight.

"...Oh dear." The little rabbit said stopping mid-way through the trail as if something stopped her.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked.

"Umm...Well...They're here. The Black Rabbit must have summoned them after he left to deal with us." Jill nervously replied, looking around the forest as if trying to find something beyond the trees.

"Summoned who?" Adam asked. But before he could get an answer, a sudden sound of laughter echoed throughout the forest, heard by all humans within it. Tyler in particular looking around from his hiding spot behind the trees as if trying to track the source of it.

Then those same laughing voices, all of them appearing to be female began to speak...

"So, these are the cavalry humans those rebels decided to bring to this place?" This voice was in the middle of pitch and tone, definitely an adult female and without much peculiarities.

"Un-creative minds, confused and worried for life; a wasted effort in their disposal." This voice was without tone or expression of any kind, sounding soulless, like a machine that's trying to sound human.

"Hmmm, I don't knoooow~ Some of them seem pretty cute." This voice was high-pitched and juvinile, almost akin to Jill's own voice.

"Wait, that one over there...the chick...Isn't that?" This voice clearly was teenaged, with a hint of a gruff tone in it.

"SILENCE!" The last one yelled, its voice wild and monstrous as the scream of a banshee. So forceful was the scream, that a sudden gust of wind blew through the forest in the humans' direction, the trees shaking as it did.

"Humans, Children of Man who unwittingly stepped foot in the domain of dreams. You stand upon the threshold beyond which lies the Kingdom of Bliss...Though without choice of your own, you sully this holy land with the taint of your reality, brought forth by breakers of royal oath. You have our pity, but by order of the Titan, we shall not allow you a step further. You shall be an example of the consequences of Defiance, and you Rabbit, shall not find the same solace in death we shalt give to these humans. You brought them here, and so we shall feed you to our royal majesty as punishment for this blasphemy." A more sophisticated female voice, the tone and expression of a professional or a politician, stated. Needless to say, this made Jill shiver in dread as her ears perk up in shock. Adam and Alice grabbed hold of the new weapons they got from the Hatter as they could now see what appeared to be humanoid silhouettes moving around in the forest, slowly coming closer. Tyler also noticed this, but something else caught his attention just before he could signal the rest of his group to continue onward.

"Hmm...An example of defiance, you say? How typical of you girls to take a simple order from daddy dearest and blow its importance far out of proportion. Hunt down the humans and take them out, simple order, yet you're treating as if you're doing some grand scheme of weeding out treason just so you can...what, walk up to your pops and get a pat on the head?" A familiar voice said. Alice, Adam, and Jill looked over towards the direction they were heading, until they spotted a familiar mouse tailed girl with her signature bowler hat.

Dorm Mouse! Adam said, surprised to see her up on the surface.

"Sorry I'm late. As soon as you guys left, Contrary to how he looked, Hatter took some considerable damage from that titanic bastard. Had to make sure he got healed up before the cavalry charge. ...Your bug's up ahead down that path, trust me when I say you can't miss it." She said as she walked forward, as if to challenge the oncoming foes that continued to close in.

"Dorm Mouse, admirably bold of you to stand alone whilst the insurgence continues to hide. How very brave..." The leading voice from before said.

"Yeah, and if praise from pretentious coattail clingers held any merit, that would actually mean something." The Mouse sarcastically said, not a hint of fear on her face contrary to the White Rabbit. Adam, for once, could somewhat relate to the White Rabbit in this regard, given how confident and menacing these particular shadows heading for them seemed, looking at his sword before looking back at the Dorm Mouse.

"Wait, are you sure you can handle this?" He asked her, before she then looked back at the group.

"Hey. I'm more than capable of keeping a few daddy's widdle pwincesses busy. Besides, I got this." Dorm Mouse gave them a grin and brought a butcher's knife. It was rusty, with nicks on the edge and speckles of dried blood on it. But over all else, it was huge. Like it was meant for a giant. (This particular part was made by Petulant.) Adam and Alice looked at it with awe at how something of that size could have appeared with the Dorm Mouse without noticing.

Now get going! The Trees will be your guide. She then told them. Alice and Adam looked at the group, then back at Dorm mouse before giving a silent nod.

"Let's get moving." Alice then said as she left with the White Rabbit down the path, prompting everyone to follow suit as the Dorm Mouse began to move towards the silhouettes in the forest.

As soon as he saw them heading down the path, watching what was happening before his own eyes as well, Tyler proceeded to follow the humans from the shadows, giving silent signals for the others to come along as well.

"Hey, they're getting away!"

"Leave 'em be. They've yet to awaken, the shadows of the forest'll deal with them. We got bigger fish to fry now." the voices said as they surround Dorm Mouse.

---

As they ran off down the path, Alice and the others stopped as something began to block the road ahead. Tyler's gang seeing it in the distance as they continued to hide behind the trees. It appeared to be some kind of moving black slime, the exact same color and texture as the slime that took Snow away from them, as well as the same stuff that half of the White Rabbit melted into.

"...Ah great...more of them." Tyler thought. The black slime seemed to immediately converge around the main group, encircling and surrounding them in a ring.

"What in the world? What is this stuff?" Adam asked.

"Th-They're shadows..."

"You mean like you guys?"

"Yes, but...these are different. The Shadows you've met up til now were awakened with egoes of their own...these shadows are more normal, more feral than us...it's hard to explain but, umm...these shadows can think and feel like us, but they're more limited, more instinctual than we are." Jill explained as the masks start to break out of black goop, the slime seemingly beginning to shape themselves around the masks in question.

"In other words, they're more like animals." Chase said. Jill nodded in agreement to that as the shadows started to finish taking shape.

The resulting creatures were bizarre to say the least, Some of them turned into giant mouth balls with mouths on their fronts and their masks on their rears, some of them turned into some kind of monkeys hanging on the trees of the forest with masks over their stomachs, some of them didn't seem to even back taking shape at all, just being a masked puddle of slime with tendrils coming out of them. As they began to take their shape, more of them began to crawl out of the woods to do the same taking even more shapes as they did. Adam tried to cut one of the floating mouth balls in half with the new sword he got, only for it to essentially go right through them.

"...That can't be good. Oi, Rabbit, the weapons aren't working!" He said.

"That's because you guys haven't awakened yet. You need to use the Chronovokers!" Jill responded.

"Ok, but you weren't very clear on how to use it. You wanna, you know, give us an example or something?"

Amidst everything, while Chase was extending his arms out to try and shield the party from the shadows on his side of the circle, Alice was looking around at these creatures, clearly getting scared, her mind flashing back to the younger days of the Dark Hour that these things were reminding her of. All of a sudden, however, everything around her became nearly silent, time slowing down, and amidst this bizarre phenomenon from out of the forest came a butterfly, glowing with a small but radiant light from its velvet blue wings, passing by her face. As it flew by, she could hear, no, feel something in her mind, words without a voice of their own silently rippling across her consciousness. She couldn't quite make out what was being said, but it felt as if whatever this butterfly was...it for some reason, somehow, is showing its support for them.

"Why do you hesitate child? A world beyond the norm awaits you, denizens of this dreamy domain and of your own have need of you and the others. Will you let fear of the unknown encroach upon you at this hour of desperation, even as it seeks to swallow those around you as it had before?" A different voice then echoed in her head, flashes of what happened to Snow and Guiren appearing before her eyes.

"No...I can't let that happen...Never again!"

"Then open your eyes, the door of time, and call forth what lies within." The voice said. Almost instinctively, she opened up the pocket watch the Rabbit gave her, the Chronovoker, and in seconds, the glass of the watch started to glow with a bright white light, the sound of the ticking getting louder as sparkles of colored light arose from the glass and started to mass and take shape of some kind of figure. As this is happening, the the ground just below her started to glow as well, a magic circle in the shape of a clock's face fading into existence beneath her feet.

Alice looked on at this with wide-eyed bewilderment, at first with shock, but , Adam watching this as well, remembering what the Rabbit, the male Rabbit, said about the instructions.

"Using it is simple enough: Open the lid by pushing a button on the side, focus your thoughts into a resolve of some kind, be it determination to survive or defeat your enemies, until those thoughts gains shape inside the Chronovoker, then close the lid back up. You only have to do it once, then the Chronovoker imprints your ego into its glass and you only have to call it out and close the lid again."

"...Per-" The hands on the clock of both the ground and in her hand began moving in opposite rotations until they both struck twelve simultaneously.

"...So..." A beam of light shot up from the glass of the watch, splitting off into tiny particles of light showering down on her, like stars or tiny diamonds falling like snow around her. Tyler watched this from a far, awestruck at the wonder of it all. Jill was also watching in awe...

"This power...She's doing it. This is amazing! She's really doing it!" She thought with a smile of joy. Adam and Chase had no words for what was going on, but while Adam's face was one of bewilderment, Chase

With a smile of her own now completely on her face, turned into a confident grin, Alice uttered one last syllable.

"...Na!" With that, she immediately pressed the cover of the pocket watch shut, the stream of light reflecting off the golden sheen of the cover and dividing the light stream into four streams shooting towards the sides, at least one hitting one of the shadows and making it cry out in agony as it crawled back into the forest. The 4 beams, straight at first, curved around as the slow ticking of the clock was heard, the minute hand on the ground moving clockwise as if time was starting up again. The beams and particles circled around the clock beneath her feet until they merged and split apart. The particles of light around gathered together again to form a shape, one of a girl in a dress, a basket in hand, and a black wolf-shaped tornado around her feet.

Alice gave a smile as the ethereal appeared behind her; she could feel power, courage, or something akin to it well up inside her. It was as if she knew somewhere in her heart that she would be safe, that these people would be safe...

That she had the power to protect now.

"Thou art I, and I am Thou. From the sea of thy Soul I cometh. I am Dorothy, Traveller of wonders." The girl said, her voice sounding more sophisticated and booming than her appearance would suggest. With a wave of her free hand, the tornado at her feat roared and span around at a fast pace as a gust of wind came to blow away the monkey-like shadow, the wind tearing it asunder until it was nothing but particle of black scattered like dust in the wind. One of the flying mouths instinctively reacted to this by charging towards Alice, who instinctively slashed her knife at it, cutting it in half and causing it to explode into black particles and fade away as well.

"...That's it, That's the power you need! Now you can fight the shadows!" Jill said. Hopping up and down as she did.

"What in the world is that...?" Tyler seemingly asked his trio, but mostly was asking himself.

"That's the power we're suppose to have!?" Adam asked.

"So, this is the awakening they were referring to. Was this kind of power always ours? ...Old man, ...did you know anything about this?" Chase thought as he looked at what transpired, then at his own Chronovoker.

The shadows that encircled them clearly showed an instinctual fear of the Persona-user now that she has awakened, but then in their agitation prepared to attack them anyways.

"Guys, Do what the Rabbit said before, it really does work how he said it would!" Alice explained.

"The giant mouths are Helberies, the masked slimes are Mayas, and the monkeys are Simies! They're all a bit varied from each other, so watch for their weaknesses...They all have something, and I can keep track of which one's which!" Jill explained to them.

Adam opened and closed his Chronovoker as one of the Helbeiries tried to attack him, and out came a lion-headed man in golden armor, with the roar of a lion, he raised his sword skyward, and from the sky came a bolt of lightning, down on the mouth, making it explode into black particles.

Meanwhile a Simy tried to attack Chase as he silently opens and closes his own Chronovoker, a giant hand of an even bulkier man than he and Luke grabbing it, dropping it and cleaving it in two with his golden ax.

Tyler continued to look on as these people began calling out their own powers on these guys, practically struck speechless at what he was seeing.

"I've got your backs guys. Let's go!" Jill said as she continued her hopping, as the shadows began their own counter offensive against them.

@AdmrlStalfos19 @Godlikeblade @Godzillafreak54@rebthewriter @CronicCrystalis @Crimmy @Petulant @Duoya @Etranger @Avant @Suku @Windstormugly @CriticalHit @EchoicChamber

Butter Daisy Forest

Crobalt kept silent during the exchange of words from the unknown shadows mocking them... And rose his arms to shield himself from the ensuing winds at the one who called for silence. Once the Dorm Mouse arrived and the rest began to move, he resumed moving after them, but not before he turned to look at the Dorm Mouse, and uttered a single sentence to them.

"Don't die." Crobalt said before turning tail and heading after the rest of the group, up until the shadowy goop blocked their path, and the weapons, courtesy of Adam's demonstration, failed to work, gritting his teeth in frustration that this would be over so soon, up until Alice, as if operating on instinct, summoned her Persona through the Chronovoker.

"This is the power they had in mind, is it? You're not all just going to stand and watch now, are you?" Cronic said to no-one in particular, setting his sword vertically into the ground beside him as he took out his own Chronovoker. Without saying another word, he clicked it open, and began to focus. Remembering the victims of P3. Remembering the one who didn't make it out of the inferno that scorched the forest. Remembering Snow, who had literally been consumed before his eyes... A resolve burned in his chest as the Chronovoker lit up, the clock manifesting on the ground... Before he spoke.

"Not. One. More. PERSONA!" Cronic shouted out as he closed his Chronovoker, flames surging around him in a spiral from the clock face, before splitting apart, condensing behind him, as he pocketed his Chronovoker and drew his sword from the ground, the flames changing into the form of a bird... A phoenix. Pointing his sword forward, the Phoenix promptly exhaled a fireball at one of the Monkey-like shadows.

Nicola Khumalo

Naturally, it didn't take them too long to stumble across some weird and wacky villains. It seemed each one of them had a shtick, but at this point, Nicky couldn't muster enough care to pay attention. All they were to her at this point were a representation of what was ever so deeply wrong with this place right now. She gripped her axe tightly, expecting to have to defend herself, but before any of them had to lift a finger, the one called the "Dorm Mouse" showed up to take them on herself. Nicky was A-okay to leave it all up to her. Even if she was psyched up for a fight, she was still dreading the advent of one deep down. She would have had more concern for her safety, but she had no idea how she could help at this point, so she just got out of there like the others.

Not long after getting out of there, they came across even more hostile creatures. There really was no escaping the hostility in this world, was there? The worst part was, as one of the others discovered, their weapons didn't even work! Apparently they had to do something with them first. Nicky started to worry that she was going to do that "losing control of her emotions" thing round about now. They were right in the heart of danger and they had no way of defending themselves.

"You have to push back." A voice echoed in the back of her mind. "They'll kill you if you don't. You can fret and worry later."

Nicky had no idea what she was hearing, but it just sounded right. She couldn't just lay down and die here. She had every intention of going on living. She brought out that watch thingy she had been given and flicked it open. Even as all the flashing lights and wacky patterns erupted around her, all Nicky could think of was a pure desire to keep going. "Persona!" She cried out, knowing not what she was even saying. In a flash of saffron, something came to her. They were bald, but definitely female. More than anything, she filled Nicky with nothing but confidence.

"Thou art I, and I am Thou. From the sea of thy Soul I cometh. I am Kundalakesi, the resolute monk. We shall not die here." Those were the words she spoke to Nicky. Filled with determination, Nicky instinctively focused, and between her and her "Persona" they called a mystical light forth that enveloped one of the slimy creatures, which perished within. Not missing a beat, Nicky readied her axe once again, knowing deep down that this time, every swing would have feeling behind it.

Hector rolled his eyes as they stumbled into the midst of a pack of caricatures. It just wouldn't do for them to just get on with the fighting. No, they had to sit here and listen to them grandstand for attention. Hector was tempted to encourage the others to start an attack before they finished speaking. It didn't seem like this lot had any intention of negotiating, so it only made sense to get this over with. The decision was made for him, as one of the creatures decided to take them on personally. Hector left nonchalantly when instructed, completely ambivalent as to whether the mouse fought them or they did. They did have a specific goal in mind after all, and it was more important to reach it than dither with random fights.

It appeared random fights were the watchword of the world, unfortunately, as they ended up encountering something else to waste their time on. As far as Hector was concerned, these bland opponents were a mercy compared to having to endure the tedious-sounding flippantry of those other enemies. While the others began to panic over the effectiveness of their weapons, Hector distinctly recalled the male version of the rabbit informing them that the "Chronovokers" were the keystone to their powers in this world. He couldn't blame anyone for forgetting, seeing as they had been so overloaded with information as of late it was a wonder he had managed to recall this himself. Calmly, Hector opened the watch and attempted to focus.

Wordlessly, Hector called forth his own spiritual manifestation. An almost demonic figure erupted from the depths of his consciousness, and with but a thought, one of the tongued beasts burst into flame. All this majesty and spectacle, and all Hector could care for was that he was finally getting results. "That's all that matters, ultimately." He heard like a whisper from behind him. He absolutely had to agree. All that was left was to see that everything barring their path met a similar fate.

As the others emerged from the rabbit hole, Rhys stood sentry scanning the forest for anything that may have tried to sneak up on them. He wasn't sure whether to be pleased or displeased when his preliminary searches came up with nothing. They were either truly alone, which the boy doubted. Or he'd not looked quite hard enough.

Nevertheless, he followed the group as Jill took the lead... and proceeded to lead them directly into the awaiting hands of the Black Rabbit's minions. The hellish and nigh demonic laughter surrounding him as each effeminate voice spoke. He grabbed onto a nearby tree branch as one of the voices wailed loud enough to nearly blow him away. Rhys's grip on his bow tightened as he noticed the humanoid shades making their way towards the group of humans. He was about to pull back on the string just as Dorm Mouse arrived to break the tension.

I can surely say that I've never been quite this relieved to see a mouse before.

He watched as the girl marched towards the silhouettes, comically oversized butcher knife in hand. For a moment he considered just how absurd it was that she'd had this weapon all along before Rhys remembered just where he was. In Wonderland sense and nonsense were the exact same thing.

Shaking himself from the momentary stupor, he offered a nod of appreciation to their saviour before taking off like the rest of the party.

Their relief however would be short lived as primal shadows promptly surrounded them. A myriad of strange and nearly alien looking creatures manifesting from the abyssal sludge that had blocked their path moments prior. Rhys wasted no time in drawing his bow and loosing an arrow in the direction of one of the shadowy primates... only for the arrow to have no effect whatsoever, harmlessly passing through the beasts form.

Why isn't it working!?

He internally exclaimed as he heard Adam voice a similar sentiment. Evidently they were all missing a piece of the puzzle, none of them had "awakened" yet as Jill had put it. How though, were they to awaken? He knew that Peter had instructed them how to use their Chronovokers, and yet it still seemed impossible! Was this it? Is this how he would die? Alone, and forgotten by all? Fallen into a coma to never wake again? Would he meet the same fates as the two boys before him?

No...No,no,no... The boy thought to himself, mind locked on that self-destructive train of thought. Panic threatening to take hold of his entire phyche. As he teeters on the edge of breaking Rhys watches Alice as she pulls out her own Chronovoker and unleashed a power he thought impossible. Light dancing all around her as she summoned what looked like a girl with a wolf coiled around her. Like nothing the apparition tore through their assailants and even Alice herself managed to slay a few of the beasts. Is that the potential they all held? The true reason they were brought to Wonderland? All around him the others began utilizing very similar powers, in mere moments a lion-headed man, a monk, and an almost demonic looking entity had joined their ranks. Could he truly hold such potential within?



"Hast thou made peace with oblivion?" a voice commanding inquired in his mind.

"Are ye content to hide and cower whilst others stand against darkness incarnate? Is thine burning resolve extinguished?"

M-My resolve? Rhys thought as he remembered the foul deeds of the Queen of Wonderland. The white hot flames of righteous fury stoked once more.

"Wilt thou stand by as the wicked subject the innocent to pain and suffering so that they may fulfill their nefarious ends? Even now I know what it is you desire most, proclaim it boy and let us forge our contract."

What he desired even now... his hatred for the tyrant fueling his anger,the pity he felt for the children brought to this nightmarish dreamscape. He could sum up what it is that he wanted with one word.

"Justice..." Rhys said, his fury permeating his normally reserved tone.

"It seems there is fight left in thine soul after all. So be it. Feed the flame of thine resolve, let it become a beacon of hope for the innocent, and the funeral pyre upon which the damned shall burn! Call upon mine strength and rise O avenger of the wronged!"

Wordlessly Rhys withdrew the Chronovoker from his pocket and opened the golden lid. Light coalesced in its center, and the clock face manifested itself on the ground, hands slowly spinning in opposing directions. Focusing on the Queen, the object of his hatred and the unjust fates of the two souls that had been lost on their way. He felt the flame grow and grow and grow and threaten to overwhelm him as the clocks hands spun faster and faster. The voice's words resonating within him, as the light and spinning came to its climax.

"PERSONA!" Rhys roared uncharacteristically as anger boiled over, and he shut the watches lid. The hands of the clock simultaneously stopped on 8 o'clock, as white hot flames began to burn all around him. The ivory inferno growing larger and stronger as it encompassed even him, completely obscuring Rhys from view. A pair of large heavenly wings extended outwards from the blaze and mightily beat once, casting the flaming form away from Rhys.

He turned and saw the being before him, a tall winged angelic figure roughly 9 feet tall, donning smoke grey metallic armor with ornate silver trim and hooded alabaster robes. Where one would expect a face the being had only darkness that was occupied by two sole motes of white flame, the same sort that currently raged around the angel. In his right hand lay a sword made of dark grey steel, in his left a spark of divine light.

"I am thou, Thou art I. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am Akrasiel, Arbiter of Heaven!" The angel proclaimed as he rose. In his presence Rhys felt, no he knew that he would be fine. The angel held his blade to heaven and announced once more. "This blade is thine will, thine resolve made manifest. By its edge shall the foul and wretched be slain, whilst the innocent shall find refuge under its steel. Now, shall we dispatch these demons?"

Rhys slowly rose to his feet, being knocked to the ground when the angel beat its colossal wings. For once, the usually stoic boy had a grin plastered across his face. In that instant, he'd forgotten his poised demeanor, for all that mattered was their survival."Very well... SMITE THEM, AKRASIEL!"

"SO SHALL IT BE DONE!" The angel bellowed as he brought his free hand over the blade and it began to glow with the same white energy that currently raged all around it. The sword glowing as if it were a beacon in the darkness. Without so much as another word,the angel swung the blade and a wave of light coursed off of it and rocketed towards one of the masked slimes. The pitiful creature had but moments before the intense light utterly eradicated its form. One of the primates sought to sneak in a strike on the seemingly vulnerable boy, but Rhys was quicker and sent an arrow straight through its skull as the corpse turned into naught but smoke. Rhys's face was alight with righteous fury, he refused to let these demons snuff out lives any longer.

"What are you all waiting for? Cast away your doubts and use the Chronovoker! He yelled towards those who had yet to awaken.

She had to do something standing here was going to get her nowhere she had the power to stand and fight in her hands. This pocket watch the chronovoker was the key that apparently but how does it work? "What are you all waiting for? Cast away your doubts and use the Chronovoker! She heard Rhys yell. It was easier said than done honestly Doubts was always something that troubles people no matter what there will be doubt. That was what she was lead to believe at least.

"What ails your mind?" Maria heard a voice call out but couldn't place where. "Why do you hesitate?" It continued. "I.. I don't know there is so much that is not explained," she said to herself quietly. "Strike away your doubts stand and fight if you wish to survive that is the terms of our contract." She needed to help that was for certain that if this was how it was going to then so be it. "Fine, I accept your contract! Let be known then I shall fight and move forward that was your terms right?! Then grant me your power the power to fight and protect both myself and my allies!" Maria yelled out as a bell-like laugh echoed in her head.

"I am thou, Thou art I. From the sea of thy soul I Charge forth. I Grimgerde shall guide you to victory!"
"Let those in your protection know guidance may our spear charge and forge them their path!"
"Faith shall lead the day forward and with this spear go and make your path!"

"Very well than charge forth GRIMGERDE!" Maria shouted as the horse back valkyrie charged forth its spear at the ready easily stabbing through numerous of the odd enemies that was in her way. "So this is my power? A power to carve forth my own path..." Maria trailed off as she watched her protector attack the creatures.

Butter Daisy Forest

(The following was done with @Godzillafreak54's permission.)

Tyler couldn't believe what he was seeing here...

One after another, these people, mostly kids, were summoning up monsters of their own to fight these other monsters. They were nowhere near as deformed as the ones they were facing, but just as supernatural, as they spout off the word "persona" and in some cases seem to produce monsters named after the gods and beasts of mythology...or fiction in the case of Dorothy. For Tyler, Tylissa and Arthur, however, this wasn't something they never saw before...

"This is just like that battle a few minutes ago. But, they don't seem like those two from before, everything about them suggests they're just as human as us. Did they somehow harness their power?" Tyler thought, trying to process and analyze what he's seeing at this moment.

However, it probably wasn't best to keep their focus on this one point in the midst of a monster infested forest, as one of the Helberies floated behind them, whacking Jacob to the ground with his tongue. As soon as Tyler noticed, he looked over and immediately went in front of the other two, as if trying to shield the three from it.

Jill was quick to hear Jacob's fall to the ground and looked to where the four were as they were about to be attacked. Hopping away from the others as they fought their own battles of the shadows surrounding them, she grabbed what appeared to be a small dagger from her pocket, holding it by the tip of the blade, then made a jump and threw it towards the Helberie, Tyler being quick to notice it and ducking out of the way of the knife's thrown path. The Knife stabbed right into the Helberie's mouth, piercing through the other side as the Helberie then burst into black dust and disappeared.

"Are you all right?" She asked them before heading for Jacob. Immediately, she grabbed her own Chronovoker, particularly larger than the others.

"Hare-sona!" She said as she flipped it open, closing it with both hands, and from out of it came what appeared to be another rabbit, this one evidently made of multi-colored patchwork, and somehow seemed to be riding on two sharks while floating in the air. Jill extended her hands towards Jacob's back, the rabbit above her jumping off sharks now swimming in mid-air in a circle, and extended its own hand towards the wounded man. In nearly an instant, Jacob would no longer feel any pain, as the wound was miraculously healed, and the other rabbit, her persona, disappeared.

"How, did you...?"

"No time to explain right now, we have to get you four to safety quickly. It's dangerous in these woods! But first..." The White rabbit said. It grabbed about three pieces of black goop from her own body once again, shaping the black goop with quick hands until it became the golden chronovokers the others have. Normally, Tyler would question why he was being given pocketwatches. However, after witnessing what the group over there was doing, and noticing that they too have the same pocketwatches, it was pretty clear what these watches were for.

"Here, You can defend yourselves against the shadows here with these, but...umm...I only have enough material for three of them. I'm sorry..." Jill said. Tyler looked at the three he was with, including the now healed Jacob, than towards the White Rabbit once again.

"...Then give it to these three."

"But what about you?"

"There's no need to worry, I'll be fine without one, but they need a means to defend themselves." Tyler said, smiling towards the talking rabbit as he did. Still somewhat worried about the well-being of the soldier in question, but sensing a type of resolve through his words - a worrisome concept for someone who doesn't have the means for combat in a world such as this - she nodded and gave a Chronovoker to Tylissa, Jacob, and Arthur.

"I'm sorry in advance, we don't have a lot of time to properly explain how this all works...Umm... So, Long story short: Open up the watch, put focus on the glass cover, umm, focus your desires and goals on the glass, and when something appears, close the glass." The White Rabbit told them.

@AdmrlStalfos19 @Godlikeblade

The High Priestess - Meredith Fong

If she were to compare herself and everybody else to superheroes, then it was obvious that there would be supervillains for them to fight, right? Or in other words, every hero needed to oppose a monster, an omen of the unnatural that needed to be defeated in order for the peaceful status quo to continue. Keeping something with bad juju around was just going to portent the downfall of everything that was "good", so that was why they had stepped up. Then that meant it was the reverse, didn't it? The aliens that called this strange, ethereal dreamworld home had chosen to infringe upon human lands by taking away those kids, so it was necessary for them to act.

A superhero didn't need a supervillain to fight. It was the supervillain that needed a superhero to defeat.

Grendel appeared before Beowulf, didn't he?

There wasn't any chance for the ragtag group of human folks she was with to fight those nasty-looking fellows though, thanks to the Dorm Mouse's intervention. Meredith didn't say it out loud, but she was definitely relieved about that. Her arms had tensed at their arrival, beads of sweat having run down her back at the sudden pressure they exuded. They frightened her. They were scary. She had wanted to run away, to go find somewhere to hide when thrown into a fight with these weird creatures.

Even though she wanted to do something to help save the kids.

That was why, when all she needed to do was deal with, like, the grunts of the lot, she was more confident.

Strangely confident.

They were monsters. Disgusting-looking creatures that should've - would've inspired some sort of fear and loathing inside of her.

But they didn't.

Meredith breathed in, casually spinning the oar around in a hand.

Why was that?

Ah, because she knew exactly what she was going to do.

Exactly how things would pan out.

"Persona, right?"

That feeling seemed unnatural, yet natural, at the same. It filled her like helium expanded out to give a balloon shape. It was reassuring, awe-inspiring, something that she could totally describe as power incarnate. And it was her. Or maybe not her. The entity that hissed deep beneath her skin was a familiar presence, but there was still something different to it.

Ah, that was right.

It wanted to be free.

——— It wanted to destroy.

And at that moment, she and it were of the same mind.

Of one goal.

"Ennill, Rhiannon."

With the sound of flapping feathers, the inhuman being ripped detached itself from her body, emerging from Meredith in a single thunderclap of noise, like the hooves of a racehorse. Its crimson, eerily womanlike eyes glared down at the monsters that sought to destroy them.

<She> would return the favour first.

Black mist coalesced around <her>. Meredith swung her oar, striking an unfortunate beast. And the mist followed, rushing down the oar to envelop the Shadow in its cold, bitter embrace. It had no time to scream. The darkness crushed it in an instant, and soon, Meredith's eyes were sweeping across the battlefield, looking for the next foe.

"Let's get along, Rhiannon."

Tyler noticed another group running into the woods from out of the rabbit hole and decided to follow after them. He prompted the others to follow him, and since he didn't want to get involved in what was going on with the bowl-hatted woman chasing after those silhouettes deeper in the forest, Jacob reluctantly decided to do so.

As they followed the other group, Tyler stopped them once again. As the other, larger group of humans observed the wood area, they noticed that they being watched and eventually surrounded by what appeared to be yellowed eyed globs of black slime. "What the fuck are those freaks!?" Jacob yelled in surprised as he jumped back a little, instinctively checking his pants to find his weapon, but he couldn't find the damn thing anywhere. "Where the fuck is my Apache!?" He then yelled in panic. Fortunately as luck would have it, the surrounding monsters seemed to ignore Jacob screaming as there eyes seemed dead set on the other larger group of humans. Jacob paid no attention to Tyler as was saying, as he watched from behind the tree trunks at the other group summoning what they called "Personas". "How the hell is all this happening!? This is not reality, this is not reality, this is a fucking nightmare!" he thought.

Suddenly he felt something large and wet, giving him goosebumps, and then there was sudden burst of pain as he fell to the ground, as if hit in the back by a blunt object of some kind; someone or something must've pushed him. He turned around to see a floating ball with a mouth covered in zebra like stripes. But before this mouth ball could continue licking him and the others, a small dagger was thrown right into its mouth making it explode into black dust.

The white rabbit who threw the knife, left the other group and hopped to his group. Within seconds the pain that Jacob felt went numb and faded away completely. As Jacob got back up, the White Rabbit pulled some dark shadow like goop from her own body, and shaped it into a three golden pocket watches, which she gave to Jacob, Tylissa, and Arthur after Tyler refused to have one. She then gave a set of nondescript instructions on how it works, none of them making much sense. Though annoyed by the lack of detail, Jacob opened up the pocket watch anyways and attempted to do as she instructed. The clocks hands turned until they both reached "XII", it begins to glow. Within a moment, as he noticed, time slows down so much, it looked as if hardly anyone appeared to be moving. Before he could question what in the fuck was going on now, he suddenly heard a voice echoed in his head.

"So we meet once more, stuck upon the impasse of right and wrong, the selfish and selfless desires that come into conflict, giving rise to indecision, and through indecision, the perpetual cycle of self-loathing carries on. This cannot do; time will not wait ad eternum while you stand idle. Now is the time, fear not the emotions of others, for you and no other are the decider of your own path. Regardless of what it may be, of what it may entail, know that I, Hagen, shall stand at your side. For I am thou, and thou art I..."

Jacob looked at the chronovoker as it showed the form of his persona. Time moved normally once more for him, and in that very moment, he yelled.

"COME AND GIVE ME YOUR STRENGTH!" He closed the Chronovoker and as he did, Hagen appeared behind him. As another Helberie flew towards Jacob's group, Hagen unsheathed his sword and cleaved the shadow in half like it was nothing as the shadow burst into dust. Jacob made a sigh of relief, which immediately went to a look of excitement. "Now were cooking with gas." He said with a grin.

---

Eventually, Tylissa and the others encountered all the other humans that had been brought to this netherworld. Normally, Tylissa would be excited to see a whole crowd of people, but in this specific instance, she didn't know how she should feel. Her head sank low and her smile began to fade again.

'Tyler was right. There are other people here,' mere seconds after this though came to mind, Tylissa found herself gripping the side of her head again, That still doesn't stop this from not making any sense, though!'

However, there was something different about the mass of people there. They looked they've been here before, and they looked like they were prepared to battle... which was a good thing because a battle was exactly what they all got. Monsters were coming in from all different directions and attacking the large group, only to be blown away by all sorts of spells that were being flung wildly through the air. Naturally, witnessing all this had enthralled Tylissa, as she inched closer and closer to the fray so she could get a better visual.

"Wooow. This is so cool!" Tylissa exclaimed in her excitement.

However, before she could separate herself too greatly from the others, the sound of someone being slammed to the ground caught her attention, and as she turned back around to see what had happened, she saw that a stray Shadow had managed to trip Jacob over.

"JACOB!!" Calling out his name, Tylissa rushed back towards him, but someone more capable of rescuing him had got there first.

It was the White Rabbit; the very same being that Tyler was trying to find for everyone, all in the flesh. Not only did she effortlessly kill the Shadow that had attacked Jacob from behind, but her Persona was able heal him back up to full strength.

"That was amazing. How did you...?" Tylissa was about to ask the White Rabbit how she could do all that, but the answer to that question had came before she could complete it; in the form of a Chronovoker being tossed her way. She had to drop the stuffed toucan she'd been carrying so she could have her hands free, and she'd fumbled so badly with her attempted catch that it looked more like she was playing hot potato hot potato with the Chronovoker instead of actually grasping it, but it eventually it rested in Tylissa's hand.

The White Rabbit had said that she didn't have time to properly explain how the Chronovokers would work. But for all the good that sorry excuse of a summary did, she might as well have expended that time anyway. How she expected a child of all people to successfully comprehend something anywhere near that vague, no-one would ever know. But Tylissa... well, she tried. She opened the Chronovoker, waited for a few seconds for something to try and set in her mind, and closed it again. When that failed, she repeated those same steps. And repeated them. And repeated them. And repeated them. And repeated them once again. The pauses between each open and each close were growing shorter and shorter as desperation began to sink in on Tylissa's end, until they ultimately proved non-existent, and all the girl looked to be doing was rapidly opening and closing the Chronovoker endlessly.

"This isn't WOOOOORRRRKIIIIIIIIING!!" Tylissa screamed as she neared her breaking point.

Unfortunately, that only caught the attention of another, different looking Shadow; one of the ones that resembled monkeys. It looked over towards Tylissa and, deciding that she'd be its new target, charged in her direction and lunged at her. With her failed attempt at getting her Chronovoker to function properly, Tylissa could only shriek and raise her arm in an effort to protect her head.

...

However, before it could touch her, a pitch blackness had seemingly erupted from the Shadow, and enveloped the whole forest, the ground beneath her feet and even the whole sky. Tylissa blinked in confusion, having absolutely no idea what had just transpired.

"Hey, did any of you guys see that?" Tylissa turned to face the others, only to find they weren't there, "Tyler? Arthur? Jacob? Anyone?!"

No-one was able to answer her. Now starting to be concerned, Tylissa looked down at her Chronovoker in hopes that something it had done might explain what was going on around her. Sure enough, its hour hand had been moving backwards at a size-ably quick pace, and the rotations that the minute hand was performing were barely registering as anything more than a blur.

"The hell is this thing doing?" Tylissa mused, "Take me back to my friends, you stupid thing!"

As if to defy her command, the Chronovoker continued with its rotations. It passed the 12 o'clock mark once. Twice. Thrice. Four times. It was only passed the 3 o'clock mark on its way to complete its final rotation that the Chronovoker showed any signs of slowing down, and even then, it still had enough momentum to effortlessly pass the 2 o'clock and 1 o'clock mark. By the time it stopped, both of its hands were on the 12 o'clock mark. Then suddenly, the sound of thunder struck, and that was enough for Tylissa to finally see something.

...

Everything beyond 200 meters of Tylissa's vision was all hazy, but she could at least identify that she was in a cemetery of sorts. Just ahead of her was what looked to be an array of human adults dressed in black, all of which were facing her left, and standing in front of a priest. And to the priest's left, Tylissa saw another group of humans carrying a coffin, and preparing to set it down. Right at the very front of the first group, Tylissa noted an elderly couple trying their best to comfort a heavily grieving girl, who had the top part of her face buried in her hands as tears leaked through her fingers. Tylissa gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth with her eyes wide open.

"I know that girl. That was... th-that was me!" Tylissa renounced to herself, "But the only time I remember crying that much was..."

As the ceremony that the priest appeared to be conducting came to its close, the two front-most pallbearers had reunited with the elderly couple, with the girl rushing towards the open arms of the female pallbearer. In an instant, every image that ever represented a human vanished, and in their place were cascading drops of rain that had pelted on Tylissa and the ground on which she stood. The coffin was no longer visible either; all that was there to mark its location was the main headstone. Another thunderclap could be heard in the distance, and with that, Tylissa sprinted towards where the headstone could be found, only to fall onto her hands and knees. She knew it. This was the funeral for the P3 Syndrome victim that was Kazie Cannon, and as her big sister, Tylissa knew the pain of losing her all too well.

"She was one of your own... was she not?"

"Huh?" Tylissa's eyes lit up for a second, having caught the sound of an unfamiliar voice, "You mean my sister Kazie?"

"The very same," replied the strangely soothing voice, "Tell me. How painful is it to lose one that you love?"

"It hurts... it hurts way too much..." tears streamed down Tylissa's cheeks as she said this. Taking the time to wipe them away, she stood up, and turned to face the owner of the voice; a lone womanly figure in a grass skirt and bare feet. The figure looked completely out of place in a graveyard setting, but then again, Tylissa wasn't one to complain.

"I was only 9 years old when Kazie died; and Kazie herself wasn't even 7 yet. When I found out that the P3 got to her, I... I..." before she could finish what she was trying to say, Tylissa found herself wailing in agony once more. Noting this, the figure's face had significantly saddened as well, realizing that the pain Tylissa must've felt was too much to describe.

"I understand your anguish," she stated solemnly, "However, if I may correct you on something... this "P3" that you speak of does not exist. In truth, the one you loved had been targeted by a malevolent will, as have multitudes of those younger than yourself."

"WHAT??!!" Tylissa exclaimed, her eyes being shot wide open, "You mean that she didn't just simply die?! But that someone killed her?!"

"Yes; that is in essence what I am conveying," the figure acknowledged, "Even as we speak, more and more lives are rendered forfeit by those from your own world, and this number will only escalate so long as this malevolent will remains unopposed. Will you allow this to continue? Or will you stand against the malevolent will and fight?"

Tylissa was still shocked from the possibility that her little sister could've been killed off this entire time but, after taking a few seconds to steel her resolve, she gave her answer. There was only one suitable answer, and there'd only been one from the start.

"Are you kidding?" Tylissa asked defiantly, "I'd walk right up to that bastard and kick his ass if I could!"

"Very well; then let us forge a contract, and together, we shall enact retribution in the name of those that had fallen."

"Yeah! Now we're talking!" with her mood improved, Tylissa suddenly remembered that she forgot to ask the figure something important, "Wait, hold on. Who are you, exactly? Are you... my Persona?"

In this respect, the figure simply smiled... and then her entire body began to emit a blinding light that enveloped the entire area.

"I am thou. Thou art I. From this day forth, know that I, Hi'iaka, will always be by your side..."

...

Suddenly, Tylissa found herself back in reality. The Shadow that had lunged at her wasn't right in front of her anymore, but she found it again after turning around a full 180 degrees. It looked as though the Chronovoker was able to throw off its aim when it activated, causing it to overshoot completely. It growled, and was rearing to go for round two. But this time Tylissa was ready for it.

"Let's do this. Persona!" a familiar dark-skinned woman stood in front of Tylissa, staring down at the monkey Shadow with a distasteful look in her eyes. Some more monkey Shadow ran over to reinforce the first one, but that wouldn't save it from Hi'iaka's divine judgement.

"Alright then; which one of you bastards was the one that killed my little sister, huh?" Tylissa asked the Shadows angrily, "Was it you? Or was it you?!"

As Tylissa pointed to each of the Shadows, Hi'iaka casted a pillar of light underneath their feet, which effortlessly disintegrated them into black mush that would later be absorbed by the ground. Fearing for their own lives, the other Shadows quickly scurried away, leaving Tylissa to try and find more Shadows that weren't already in battle with all the others.

The group exited into the humorously-named forest, they awaited the rest of the small group, before following the rabbit once more. Luke quickly began to notice a theme of this dream - if it was a dream at this point, he honestly didn't think he could dream up something this crazy on his own. The group continued on the trail, before being stopped once more by the rabbit.

Luke nearly groaned, until the cause of the stop was revealed. The sound of mostly female laughter filled the air, high-pitched and somewhat annoying. Several voices resonated through the surrounding trees, and as each hurled another insult or rude comment, Luke's incredible fear slowly diminished, replaced by a slowly growing anger. Heh, it seemed that being pissed off was a theme for him in a place like this. The blast of wind from the final yell managed to chill the flames of anger, but underneath the rediscovered fear was clear annoyance.

Another woman began to speak, and her cool and polite tone of voice briefly reminded Luke of his mother - she always adopted a similar tone whenever they had company, especially someone from Luke's school or a member of the board of directors for the company. As Luke noticed the others reach for their weapons, he just remembered the weight of the axe in his hand, quickly moving to hold it in both hands. He trusted the weight and sharpness a hell of a lot more than some dumb watch.

The familiar voice of the Dorm Mouse was luckily heard cutting through the cacophony of voices, and Luke was simply glad that someone he knew and didn't dislike very much was there. Her relaxed and defiant nature towards the opposing voices was very intriguing, and the fact that she was willing to risk her skin for people she didn't know was something that Luke wish he could do - he wanted to be able to be a big damn hero like that, stay behind and save everyone.

The thoughts of the man who was burned to a crisp from earlier immediately shut down this inspiration, reminding Luke of his position. He just had to wake up and escape this dreamland as fast as possible. Luke followed the white rabbit and Alice, who apparently elected herself the de facto leader. Luke didn't really mind this, especially considering he only wanted to leave the voices that were previously discussing the groups deaths as quickly as possible.

---

Normally, the short distance that the group had run would not tire Luke in the slightest, but he was far too tired from earlier. At the rate he was going, he'd end up with a cramp or something. This thought was dismissed as black goo dominated the area around the group, their faces being obscured by masks and being in a variety of strange and... not very menacing forms. Luke was only fearful from how bizarre the situation was, and was quick to slash at the nearest puddle's mask.

... However, just like the boy who attacked a few seconds before Luke, the blade of the axe cleanly moved through the puddle, not dealing the slightest bit of damage.

The leader, Alice, was the first to "Awaken" - she quickly displayed a very high aptitude with her pocket watch - A sentence that Luke never thought he would think in his life. However, cynical and dickish remarks were hard to make when something so amazing was underway. Luke only managed to see her slightly, before a beam of light erupted from the watch in her hand and he had to shield his eyes. As he looked away from the light's brilliance, he felt intense winds roar past him, slamming into one of the monkey-like shadows nearby, and a mouth shadow flew towards the person who caused this.

"Jesus Christ, I thought the watch thing was a joke! That's bad ass!"

As the others in the group quickly repeated and awakened on their own, Luke realized he probably needed to hurry as well. He only noticed a large monster of a man appear next to one of the other kids, someone even more ripped looking than Luke, and far taller to boot. If Luke was lucky, his per-whatever would be someone that looked bad ass as the big guys everyone else was summoning. Gripping the watch in his hand, Luke did as the white rat said earlier - focusing on a single thought, a single ideal. Luke only had one thought - the creed he lived his life by since he got out of that damn hospital bed he lost his childhood in. He'd make up for lost time, he'd do anything it took to be better than others in living his life. He'd never give up and go back to being a person who lived their lives completely motionless - he'd never give up on something he tried as long as he could still stand.

"FAILURE! How dare you hesitate!? Doth thou wish to remain a simple rusted spearhead?! Doth thou wish to allow all thou has worked for and trained for to be a waste of effort?!"

The voice was internal, all in his head - but at the same time, it was the most real thing he had ever heard in his life.

"No... I ain't going to die in a place named Butter Daisy Forest, no way in hell."

"HA! A warrior never dies, even when he is shredded to pieces! You are far from a real warrior, but even a rusty spearhead can shine with hard work and effort - so to can a weakling like you grow! Call me forth and grasp thine destiny!"

The lid of the watch closed with ease, and the word that Luke had hardly heard earlier were quietly leaving his lips as if it was the most natural thing on earth.

"P... Persona..."

The burst of light was nowhere near as long as Alice's, more of a brief spark - a lighter flame in the wind, or the flicking of a light switch. Standing before Luke was a man of nearly 9 feet in height, with a far above average muscular build. He lacked a head, and the Axe he held was almost as large as Luke's entire body.

"Thou art I, and I am Thou! From the sea of thy Soul I cometh! Thou has permission to use my skills in battle - allow me to turn the rusted spear into a weapon fit for a Chariot!"

As his companions tore through shadows all around him, Luke couldn't help but allow his mind to fill with a single word, the name of the spirit standing before him. Xingtian

Almost as if driven by an external will, Luke immediately looked for another shadow, one that wasn't being killed by the surrounding humans. To his joy, there was clearly two of the Slimes near the outer part of the conflict, seemingly dazed by the repeated flashes of bright lights and colors. Rushing forwards, Luke slammed his axe into the mask of the first one, before attempting to cleave the second in two.

The pain in his legs, once a throbbing and overwhelming sensation, was now nearly nonexistent. If this was that "True Self" crap the Rat was talking about, Luke could get used to it.

They weren’t alone.

The voices of six purred from the woods, each with their own little quirk- one more bubbly, another stiff, inexpressive. Gale found himself immensely curious with them, although his attention was hooked on one of their lines in particular. Such a small, insignificant little comment, so utterly lacking in detail, but so utterly interesting.

“That one over there...the chick...isn’t that…?”

Apparently, one of their number was familiar.

Gale’s eyes were kept wide in an expression, a look of alarm and childish fear, although internally he was spending more time mulling over what he had heard than anything else. The Politician’s little speech served as nothing but background noise, filed away for later inspection, but treated as background noise otherwise. Before the situation could escalate much further than thrown barbs and commentary, the Dorm Mouse had swept in, and they were running once more.

Evidently, they weren’t out of the woods yet, however- both metaphorically and quite literally. The same ichor that made up the Rabbit surrounded them, building into odd sorts of creatures. Creatures that were immune to what weapons had been given to them.

Except one, of course.

As their dear, self-appointed leader demonstrated.

Or perhaps not so self-appointed.

Dear, dear Alice.

Others began to call forth their own “Personas”, although as they burst with color and light and declarations of strength, Gale found himself...disconnected. As he were sitting as an audience of his own life, watching from a window deep within himself as he avoided the rage of the creatures. There was someone with him, and the someone was a gentleman with a soft face and the smell of smoke on his breath. They watched together, sitting in comfortable silence for a second that seemed to last hours, before the gentleman spoke.

“It’s quite the passion, isn’t it? In all of them.” His voice was a purr. Like warm honey, fresh from the hive. “Vengeance. Protection. The lust for life. Each of them, drawing from their desire for a common goal.”

“It’s certainly fascinating to watch,” Gale said without speaking.

“And yet, you feel nothing.”

“Do you, sir?”

The gentleman chuckled. “I’m a bit peckish, admittedly.” They both were. They both knew it. It wasn’t the hunger of the gut, but a more primal one, an emptiness inside their very being that begged and whispered and craved. They were husks in motion. The thought of death brought no fear. The thought of the children brought no sorrow.

There was only the hunger of the soul. The hunger to feel something, anything, but that gnawing that ran so deep that they would tear the flesh from their bones if it meant filling the void, the gnawing that lessened ever so slightly and mercifully only a few times in their life, when Gale was twisting the leg of a sparrow, hearing the bone snap like a twig and hearing its tortured scream and feeling the pulse quicken and still and the warmth run through his fingers-

“Yes.” His voice, their voice, was a sigh now as Gale’s thumb ran over the opened and closed Chronovoker. “I am thou. Thou art I. Let us fill our hunger until we burst, for I am a Geryon, and together, we are the monster of Deceit.”

Gale didn’t have to look to feel the creature manifest behind him. Instead, he only smiled, watched as the manifestation of his very soul sank its tail through the head of one of the monkeys, as the Shadow twitched and turned to ooze around it.

He brought his claws through a slime as it approached, although it was admittedly less cathartic to watch fall apart than the monkey was.

The monkeys would be his primary target.

Gale quite liked the monkeys.

Arthur still couldn't wrap his head around the idea that is might all be caused by P3 or maybe he went into a coma and this was all just a figment of his imagination. Arthur wasn't worried about himself he knew that he could fight off whatever came at him or die trying he was more worried about Tylissa. She's way too young to be in this kind of danger she still has so much of her life to experience, unlike Arthur. He believes that he's already ruined his life and that there was no way in hell that he could fix it.

As Tyler, Arthur, Jacob, and Tylissa Approached the so-called 'Rabbit Hole' Tyler pointed to the left side of the forest like he was telling them to move there as he went a little closer. When will this army boy learn that getting closer to the danger isn't always the best idea, Yet again I'm no better. Arthur listened to Tylers orders and went to the left and hide behind a bush as Tyler went to go investigate what was coming out the rabbit hole. Arthur peeked over the bush and saw a group of what seemed to be fellow humans coming out the rabbit hole. Most of them seemed pretty young and not like young adults more like teens. Oh god, more teens and almost no adults this is going to be chaos. Arthur was so fixated on their age that he didn't pay much attention to the weapons that they were welding. The rabbit came out of the rabbit hole as well. Thats one odd looking rabbit.

Arthur and the others continued to watch them from the forest. One of the teenaged boys were seemed to be looking deep into the forest that surrounded him and the others its almost like he was looking for something. Everything seemed pretty normal at first since they were just standing there talking until the sound of maniacal laughter sent a shiver up Arthurs' spine. The laughter was soon followed by four voices.

"So, these are the cavalry humans those rebels decided to bring to this place?"

"Un-creative minds, confused and worried for life; a wasted effort in their disposal."

"Hmmm, I don't knoooow~ Some of them seem pretty cute."

"Wait, that one over there...the chick...Isn't that?"

At first, the voices didn't sound threating but sinister. "SILENCE!" A woman yelled from the depths of the forest creating a shock wave of sound. Arthur wasn't expecting such a powerful burst of wind. The wind made him lose his balance and fall into the bush. Arthur laid in the bush struggling to break free of its hold while being stabbed by its sharp thorns. "This hurts so fucking much" Arthur weakly grumbled. While Arthur was trying to escape the bush he missed a lot of the conversations between the group and the voices in the forest. By the time Arthur was able to get out of the bush, the group was already moving on without him. Hopefully no one saw that.

Arthur eventually caught up with Tylissa, Tyler, and Jacob and the main group. "...Ah great...more of them." Arthur was confused about what he meant at first until he looked at what was happening with the main group. There was this massive black entity that completely surrounded them. I feel terrible just watching these poor people fight for their and life and there's nothing I can do to help. As all hope seemed lost a sudden blast of light fought back the black entity.

"What in the world is that...?" Tyler asked all three of us

"I don't Know... But let's hope its good." Arthur replied to Tyler. "Wooow. This is so cool!" Tylissa said as she started to get closer and closer to the battle. "Tylissa were are you going?!" Arthur said to Tylissa. Then from the corner of my eye, Arthur sees this shadow fly right past him and hitting Jacob. "JACOB!!" Tylissa yelled as she went to go help him. Arthur did the same and went to go help him up. but what happens next will change Arthurs opinion of Tyler forever. Tyler blocked the shadow from getting to us and possibly killing us that's when Arthur realized that not all soldiers and people that work for the government are assholes.

Tyler could have been killed by that thing but luckily jill came to the rescue and killed the shadow but almost killed Tyler in the process. "Are you all right?" Jill asked us. "Yea I'm fine, but I cant say the same for Jacob" Arthur said with a worried voice. Jill pulled at this big pocket watch and opened and closed it and summoned her persona which was another rabbit ridding two flying sharks. The other rabbit got down off the sharks and helped Jacob by magically healing him in mere seconds. "Where can I get one of those." Arthur, Tyler, and Tylissa were very curious about how she was able to do that.

"No time to explain right now, we have to get you four to safety quickly. It's dangerous in these woods! But first..."

Jill grabbed some kind of black goop and transformed it into three golden pocket watches that were called chronovokers and handed one to Arthur, Tylissa, and Jacob and she gave us a brief explanation on how to use it

"I'm sorry in advance, we don't have a lot of time to properly explain how this all works...Umm... So, Long story short: Open up the watch, put focus on the glass cover, umm, focus your desires and goals on the glass, and when something appears, close the glass."



Arthur opened his watch and looked deeply into the glass cover and tried to image in his head what his goals were in life but all he could think about was his dad always holding him back and the only thing that he desired so much was to be free. The glass cover of the chronovoker glowed a hellish red with the image of chains. "Realise me from thy chains and we shall bring the demise of thy foes." A dark demonic voice said to Arthur. "Who are you, and how do I know I can trust you?" Arthur said in a nervous voice. The demonic voice dodged the question and began to talk again. "Look at your friends, they are in chaos. They need a leader like you and me". "WHO ARE YOU?!" Arthur yelled "Break the chains and you shall find out." The voice went silent. Arthur looked down at the chains on his chronovoker and imaged them breaking but nothing happened.

God damn it. why won't these chains break. Arthur thought to himself in a panicked tone. Arthur went to his knees and starting to think about the things he regretted in life. Such as how he left his home without saying goodbye to his mom or his brothers. but then he remembered his father and how he always so demanding and wouldn't let Arthur make his own choices Arthur was glad that he was able to break free of his fathers hold. The sound of chains breaking caught Arthurs attention. "Now Close it." The voice was very demanding. Arthur did as he was told and closed the Chorovoker as fast as he could. The ground broke open in front of Arthur revealing a firey pit. In the pit, you could hear the sounds of screams and Chains. It was a pit to hell. Out of the pit emerged a massive bone scythe that hoked into the ground. Most people would have craped their pants by now but Arthur wasn't afraid for some reason.

Then a second scythe came up and pierced the ground. As the scythes began to pull up whatever demon was in that pit you could hear a demonic voice from inside the pit. "I am thou, Thou art I, The destroyer of the righteous and the executioner of the innocent, I am King Beleth commander of legions." King Beleth said with a demonic tone as he pulled himself out of the pit covered in flames and let out a roar that shook the trees. "T-T-Thats my persona?" Arthur studdered. The roar attracted more shadows to come rushing at Arthur and King Beleth "What is thy wish." King Beleth said while looking down at Arthur. "SEND THESE SHADOWS BACK TO HELL!" Arthur yelled out with pure fury. "As you wish." King Beleth looked over that the shadows that were fast approaching and let out another roar before attacking.

King Beleth charged at the shadow monkeys that were approaching us and sliced four of them in half with just one swing. This is the craziest day of my life.

Jeremy Hart

The whole thing kept shoving his mind in the fact that it was so much more real than he had wanted to believe. Nevertheless, after having that embarrassment safely buried in his mind, Jeremy simply followed the group as it were.
The dormouse surprised him, not because it went out to fight things they were obviously not yet ready to, but because he felt something stir in him as he watched her walk to meet the shadows, something he couldn't remember feeling for a long time. If ever. The want to do what was right, simply because one should...
It was quickly turned into a feeling of needing to prove himself just as capable. Which the others beat him to. Some of them tearing into the things surrounding them with an abandon he could never see himself performing.

Persona the word was spoken quietly, As if he subconsciously mistrusted himself to manage it, his fundamental need to justify his own self-regard, his need of his actions to be impact and meaningful.

I am thou and thou art I, I am he who built the labyrinth, I am he who made wings to fly, Daedalus! a weathered man with wings risen from Jeremy's shadow. And the gist of wind propelled the teacher forward, a shining rapier cutting through the monster in front of him, the Maya fell with a deflating sound.

She was shocked and terrified. All these monsters were coming at them all. Her breath, caught in her throat as she watched her new friends fight against these monsters. She wonders if she could possibly turn back time and end up in her bed again, like none of this ever happened.

She's shaking, trembling at the thought of fighting all of these monsters. She never really was confrontational, even in an argument, but she knew one thing...

She couldn't just stand around and let these new friends die, not let herself die. She wanted to be a psychologist one day, a pillar of support to those in the world that need her. She wanted to watch her clients grow, and eventually be able to stand on their own two feet. She wanted to be a symbol of the world. In her own way.

She couldn't let herself weigh herself down now. Not now, and not ever. These creatures needed to be vanquished and vanquished, they would be.

A long cry came onto her lips, "PERSONA!" She cried as she watched the Persona, being summoned as an ice triangle thawed out rapidly, showing a woman with pale skin. Caucasian-skinned woman wearing a victorian-styled white dress and slippers of sapphire on her feet, her wings are akin to those of a dove and wearing a crown of white diamonds on top her long golden locks. ...She, however, only looks like this at a glance, a closer look would find that the skin is of porcelain, all of his joints unnaturally being spheres of silver and having no facial features whatsoever, save for a seemingly painted on the smile of gentleness and serenity. A wand had a sphere at its top, but glowing with enough of an intense light to look like she had grabbed the tail of a shooting star, a sparkling glitter of tiny diamond shards flying off the wand's top with every movement. When doing an action, be it healing or attacking with her, her mouth opens up as if about to giggle at the enemy.

A whip came into Hitomi's hands, swinging it around. It was coated with ice and struck her opponents around her. While her Persona, Glinda, the good witch, fired a powerful ice spell at the approaching enemies in the distance. They were both careful not to strike their enemies.

She would not lose this battle. She still had so much to do.

Butter Daisy Forest

As the kids all began summoning their personas, the amount of Shadows that were in the area brgan to greatly diminish. These children who were, a mere minute ago, like prey to them, were now the predators, and so the ones that weren't being destroyed by their persona-given might began to run and cower for their lives.

The hunters were now the hunted.

Alice made a sigh as thing started to die down, looking at her chronovoker in contemplation.

"So...This is the power we were brought here to use?" Alice simply asked.

"Looks that way...I guess the little 'Lassholemorph' was speaking the truth about all of this after all." Adam said.

"Of course we were, silly! Peter's always been a little meanie killjoy, but he wouldn't lie to you about how things work around here." Jill said, hopping back towards the main group with the others in tow. Chase immediately noticing said others.

"I'm gonna assume you three were thrown in here as well?"

"Hatter did mention other humans in this forest, and they're definitely not shadows...Wait, three...But there were..." Jill said, pausing herself when she noticed the inconsistency in what Chase said, looking towards the group of Jacob, Arthur and Tylissa, and noticing one of them was missing...Tyler.

"HUH!? Where'd the other one go? He was with the others around the trees a few moments ago....around the...Oh Carrots, He must have fell into one!" She said in a panic.

"Fell...into one?" Alice asked in confusion.

"Really? None of these trees seem to have any holes to fall into..." Adam mentioned, looking at one of the trees before touching one for himself.

His hand, much to his shock, phased through the trunk of the tree, as if passing through the surface of water, just like with the Mirror from before. However, with nothing pushing him in this time, he was quick to take his hand out of the tree.

"What are these suppose to be? Some kind of traps?" Adam asked.

"They're not traps, they're world trees!"

"World...trees?"

"Mmhm, mmhm...The trees of Wonderlands are friends, both with us and each other, they're all linked together and bond through their roots, and they allow us rebels to enter their trunks and travel across their connected roots at super-fast speeds. Since you guys are with us, they see you as friends too." Jill explained.

"Once again, your nonsense explanations never cease to amaze me. ...So basically, you're saying that we can travel all around this world...by jumping into trees?" Adam asked.

Yep-yep! Oh, but... that man must have touched one on accident and dropped into the World Tree network. Every tree is often connected to a different one, and we Rebels can tell which one goes where...But, I didn't see which tree he touched so...he could be anywhere in Wonderland by now." Jill said sadly. Adam said nothing in frustration, did they just lose yet another human again?

"Hmm...It can't be helped. We need to get going." Chase added, turning towards where everyone was suppose to be headed.

"Wait, are you simply going to leave it at that and move on?" Adam asked.

"Ummm...We don't know for certain if that man is dead, right? We only know that he was spirited away somewhere else in the world. We can at least hope that he's still alive." Alice interjected.

"That's true...He seemed like someone who can manage on his own, plus if we don't hurry, we might get attacked again, shadows are everywhere in this forest!" Jill commented, before looking towards the trees, as if looking for something among them.

"Hmmm.......Ah, Here it is!" The White Rabbit said, as she looked at one of the trees, before hopping up and down as if for attention and looking at the others.

"Remember what Dorm Mouse said, 'Let the trees be your guide'? This is what she meant by that. This tree here should take us to the Caterpillar." The White Rabbit then said. Alice and the others walked on over to it, and touched it...

"...Are you sure this is safe?"

"Yep-Yep! It works in the same manner as the Rabbit Hole, so it should be fine." Jill answered. Alice was, needless to say, a tad on the nervous side of things. This is far from the strangest thing she's seen today, but it was still getting so off of the rails of reality that she's so used to, that it's a bit hard to swallow for her, even after she put her fingers through the trunk. Even so, she took a deep breath and entered the trunk, followed by Adam, Chase, and hopefully the others, the White Rabbit entering last after everyone else.

As Jill stated, the moment everyone entered the tree, they would feel the same sensation of falling that they did when they entered the Rabbit Hole. Only, instead of the feeling eventually becoming inverse, the wacky nonsensical twists and turns across the circular brown corridor that were apparently 'roots' made it feel less like they were falling, and more like they were flying through a tunnel at fast speeds, much akin to the feeling of a roller coaster ride, until they eventually all see a literal light at the end of the tunnel.

-----------

Caterpillar Grotto



Once they come out the other side of the connected tree-root-tunnel...thing, they would come out in apparently another part of the forest if the familiar sight of a bunch of other trees are an indication. But something felt...different here.

For one, the place was much darker in terms of natural light than the area they were originally in, yet there was a very minimalist form of light coming from above the trees, like the light of stars and the moon trying in the night sky trying to pierce through the roof of tree branches and leaves and reach the ground, giving everything in this area a radiant early morning shade of blue. The area was quiet, not a sound of another living thing, until they showed up, not a shadow in sight, the only thing to see and hear, was the sounds of water flowing as pleasantly and peacefully as the sounds of the ocean waves hitting the beach side. If they looked over, they would see a giant pond of crystal clear waters, a river flowing...out of it...despite the river being elevated, a waterfall going in reverse as water magically flew upwards towards it, yet the pond is never drained or disturbed in the slightest. The waters reflect the blue light of the darkened night sky, making it glow a radiant blue. It seems it was the light from the sky, but from this pond, that served as the source of light for this area.

The final touch of beauty to solidify the peaceful atmosphere of this area were the butterflies, flocks of them, flying all around and above the Persona users or sitting upon the many branches of the many trees.

It would be when they looked towards the River that they would notice it, sitting upon a leaf the size of a king-sized bed, was an even bigger creature, a giant green caterpillar, marks on its body in the shape of different inked masks, and, just like in the works Lewis Carol, it held a large Victorian style smoking pipe in its upper-most left hand, a yellow butterfly sitting on its end.

"Ahhh...Children of man from the waking world, you came here much faster than I expected. ...I see you've also each awakened to the power within you as well. ...Good, very, very good. We bid you welcome you to our spring, my family and I. ...Do not be alarmed, we are aware of what has happened, and we mean you no harm. You are safe here...Now, speak your purpose." The caterpillar said with a deep booming voice, one that would normally be loud enough to make any birds or insects like the butterflies scatter, yet not these ones. Despite having a voice befitting its sheer size, there was a gentleness to his voice as he gave a big kindly smile towards them.

"...Umm...We came because we were told you could help us, that you had information." Alice said.

"I hold much information from across this world, very rarely does anything of this world escape my ears and eyes. The great Titan of the Queen, the Black Rabbit, has made known your appearance in this world. Her forces are now scattered across all of Wonderland, aiming to find you all. ...It seems that some of you have already sparked a peculiar interest in them. This information, plus the current whereabouts and status of the missing ones, I assumed you were already informed of. What else, in particular, do you wish to ask of me?" He asked.

"We...We need to go to her, we need to rescue those kids!"

"...As you all are now, were I to tell you how to enter the Royal Domain, You shall not live to see past the gates. Awakened though you may be to your persona, it in itself is weak compared to her and they who guard her. What's more, within those walls lies a great evil, the Black Rabbit, and a great burden shall thrust itself upon you. ...Are you willing to face against them, to bear those odds? ...But very well, even if you are not ready, I shall at least show you the way." The Caterpillar said.

"That was...oddly easy." Adam added.

"...My friends have been watching your movements ever since the White Rabbit summoned you here. They have deduced, and agreed, that you may stand a chance at returning this world's freedom, provided the proper training is established. Now then..." The Caterpillar pointed towards the pond with his other hand, and as the ripples form in the center only to stagnate once more, from out of the clear waters came what appeared to be a giant map, a castle right in its epicenter.

"The queen resides in the royal castle at the center of Wonderland. This I am certain you were already told. ...What was not told to you was the impossibility of getting there as it stands." The Caterpillar said, using his pipe to draw a black circle around the castle, that circle being completely filled out with black except for the castle in its center.

"The queen has been made very well aware about the Rebellion led by the Mad Hatter. The members of Mad Hatter's rebellion, including the Mad Hatter himself, are a group of exceptionally powerful shadows, and so to protect herself and her plans, the queen had placed her castle, as well as the whole of her royal domain around it, into a state of unconsciousness and non-existence. While it appears to be where it has always been, in truth it is now rest at the center of the sea of souls, the collective unconsciousness through which all shadows and personas are born from, The black circle around the castle, is a wall between dimensions...under normal circumstances, Shadows cannot enter that realm on their own, lest they be consumed back into the sea from whence they came, but humans cannot properly comprehend the nature or vastness of that realm either, and so it is just as impossible for you to enter as it is for the children to escape." The Caterpillar explained.

"But, if that's true, then what about the Black Rabbit, and those others?" Alice asked.

"You speak of the Royal House? ...Yes, they are the exception for good reason, as they shall be the key to bring you to the Queen and her castle."

"Royal...House?" Adam asked, but the Caterpillar said nothing, instead once again drawing on the map.

"This map represents the whole of Wonderland. ...Well, it may be more accurate to say, that it represents the whole of the Queen's dominion over Wonderland. The whole of this world is greatly vast yet greatly unknown to us. It is unknown if one could even call it land, if there's any land beyond the edge of this world, or how vastly different and chaotic it is regardless. None would dare venture into it, and I heard an interesting rumor that the queen is somehow involved, although that cannot be confirmed...and is irrelevant to the task at hand. Now then, The whole of Wonderland is divided into four large quadrants of land. To the north lies the Wonderland of Hearts, this forest being a part of this land, alongside what used to be the houses of the rebellion's leaders, and the former castle of the queen, now occupied as the core of that dominion. This land is one of distortion and chaos, where time and space holds little meaning. To the south lies the Wonderland of Spades, It is a land of brutal force, the strength of which altered and redefined the land itself and all things within it. To the west lies the Wonderland of Diamonds, a land run by the temptations and machinations of desire. It is a place designed to lead astray and lure in and entrap the unsuspecting. Finally to the east, lies the Wonderland of Clubs, The weakest suit, but also the most sapient, the most intelligent one of them all. Theirs is a land of illusion, trickery and mischief, a land in which nothing can be trusted for what it is. Deep within these four lands, guarded by the Kings of the Royal House, are keys to the castle, methods in which to open a path into the abyss of the sea of souls, where the castle and queen truly resides. All four keys are needed to open the way." The Caterpillar explained, dividing the map into four quadrants and drawing a Heart to the north, a spade to the south, a club to the east and a diamond to the west as he spoke.

"So what you're saying is, we need to essentially waste time going on a stereotypical fantasy adventure while the clock is ticking?"

"Unfortunately, yes. The Queen is stubborn and dedicated to her cause, she does not trust anyone in these lands that have not swore its allegiance to her in kind. ...Now, as you have already seen, The trees of this world shall be your way through these lands. Our small lagomorphic friend knows the paths to follow. I shall also provide you a way back to the Hatter's sanctuary. But first...I am a broker of information in this world, I know, all there is to know. If you have any questions to ask of me, you may do so now, or you may come back to ask me anytime." He said. The butterfly on his pipe touched the surface of the water like a water staider. As tiny ripples spread across the pond, the center glows blue as the butterfly flies back to the pipe.

"The Rabbit Hole is not the only means by which to travel to the sanctuary. A mirror, akin to a looking glass but different, shall also guide you there." The caterpillar explained.

@Godzillafreak54 @AdmrlStalfos19 @Godlikeblade @rebthewriter @CronicCrystalis @Crimmy @Petulant @Duoya @Etranger @Avant @Suku @Windstormugly @CriticalHit @EchoicChamber

Butter Daisy Forest

Once the shadows before them had been either vanquished, or fled, Crobalt gazed at his Chronovoker one last time after he'd sheathed his sword and stowed his shield on his back. Listening to the ensuing exchange, Crobalt kept his silence for a time while the others spoke, just running through key fact the facts in his head.

"First, the laws of this world are radically different to ours, both in terms of combat and travel. Second, the Queen's ambition would eventually spell doom for the entire human race. Third, P3 might be within the vicinity of London for now, but who's to say it wouldn't spread to the entire world if the queen's "collection" was left unchecked?" Crobalt thought to himself, before following the others through to the domain of the Caterpillar.

Caterpillar Grotto

Landing upon his feet this time once he'd passed through the tree, Cronic began to examine his new surroundings while the Caterpillar spoke, about the Queen's forces, the defenses surrounding her palace, and how to access said palace, but also that they'd essentially be slaughtered in an instant if they were to go there as they were now. This last point prompted Cronic to pitch a question to the Caterpillar.

"If we are to grow stronger with our powers... We'd need to figure out how to bolster it, and defend ourselves doing so. The obvious answer would be to fight more of those lesser Shadows and spar with one another to figure out our strengths and weaknesses... But that alone would only do so much. So what I want to know is how do we really push this power to it's next level?" Crobalt said to the caterpillar, but before anyone else could answer, a loud "OOF!" made itself known behind everyone else after they'd arrived. Turning to look, they'd see a brown haired male in a white lab coat lying face down on the floor, cursing under his breath.

The ensuing commotion of the battle between the Lesser shadows and the newly awakened Persona users naturally caught the attention of Mark, who came to investigate... And for lack of better ideas opted to follow the group into the tree... Only to be caught off guard by the sudden transition and ended up faceplanting the floor.

"I hope that didn't crack my glasses..."

Their battle was made mercifully short by the fact that there were just so many of their own. Hector had the worst feeling that there were hordes of these creatures just waiting to get in their way. It would be just his luck to find himself having to wade through miles of nettlesome shadow creatures just to get where he needed to go. As the conflict died down, it became apparent that one of their number was missing. Hector had no idea who it was they were concerned about. They had so many people, it was hard to keep track of which ones were still around, and there seemed to be a whole new bunch of them on hand for some reason. He was briefly concerned that they were so quick to write off whoever it was that had gone missing, but he did have to agree that there was little point in chasing him to parts unknown, especially when they were supposed to be doing something important.

Soon enough the rabbit found the magic macguffin they were supposed to use. Hector really couldn't care what it was as long as it got them where they needed to go. Following the others, he was distinctly unmoved by the new locale they found themselves in. Wonder and whimsy had never held his attention much, and this world had irked him enough he couldn't care less how breathtaking the environment might have been. They were here to talk to a caterpillar, or more likely a horrifying creature masquerading as a caterpillar for some unfathomable reason, and that was what Hector chose to focus on. They found their quarry eventually, and he launched into a long winded explanation. They were informed he was here to explain things to them, so Hector supposed this was to be expected. As far as he understood it, it all seemed to boil down to them needing to kill a bunch of things before they could proceed. No doubt said things were all hidden behind wave after wave of trivial, tedious underlings before providing them a long and aggravating showdown personally. Sometimes Hector hated to be proven right.

When prompted to ask questions, Hector seized the opportunity to ask one of his own. "Are you aware that this world of yours is similar to one described in a popular novel in our world? If so, do you have any idea why?" It was the painfully large elephant in the room, so Hector felt they may as well address it with the one person that would appear to have all the information in this world. Hector wasn't truly expecting a satisfactory answer, whether the caterpillar had one to give or not, but it needed to be said. He wasn't even sure if it would be better to hear that the similarities were coincidental, or that there was some weird special reason for everything, considering the implications that might have for them all. All he could do was await an answer.

@The Jest