Persona! Gosei High

[InTheMachine]

Awaken, a voice commands her. It was low and velvety, but held a core of steel. It would not be ignored any longer.

Akiko opens her eyes to find herself standing in a rolling field of tall grass and red flowers that seemed to be slightly see through, like they weren’t completely there. The sky above is a great black abyss, not even punctuated by the light of stars or the moon. It was eerily quiet. There were no birds, or cicadas, or noises from the city. Just the wind as it disturbed the thin blades of grass and the spectral flowers.

She looks to her left and sees the monster from her dreams. He was a tall man, dressed in a gray-purple suit and coat, with tapered leathery wings. Gloved hands with golden claws rest on a black cane in front of him. The being had no face, only curling horns, but she could tell that he was observing her with interest.

“Who are you?” she asks. He’d plagued her dreams ever since Yukine died, though the most he’d spoken to her was today, in the maze.

The man— demon, her gut insists— bends at the waist in a flourished bow. There are those that call me the Ruin Collector, he replies. Though he has no mouth, Akiko hears the words perfectly. You will learn my true name in time, young one. For now, return to your… friends. You do not belong here.

—

Akiko takes a great gasping breath as Yoshiro shakes her shoulder and bolts up into a seated position. Her heart races in her chest as she looks at her childhood friend and the exchange student.

“What… just happened?” she asks the two of them.

She felt tingly, on edge, but otherwise fine for having been presumably electrocuted. Unknown to her, Akiko’s right hand curls around the haft of a cruel axe.