Chapter Text
Most people, if they were asked the number of existent Yggdrasil trees, would say four. Etria, a town that rested on top of what was once known as Tokyo. High Lagaard, a settlement in the lower mountain ranges of what was once Russia. Tharsis, a land where the monsters left the Labyrinths for no reason that could be ascertained. And Aslarga, home of the beautiful Amber Yggdrasil, a place of great magic from no known source.
A number of older beings would recall that the long-gone town of Gotham was once home to an Yggdrasil, and those even older- and less weighed down by mortality- would remember stories of Arcania, a land on Mars that existed even before the trees came down to Earth. In the very oldest people and civilizations, those who knew the true meaning of the word ‘Persona’, there were whispers, suggestions of a place known simply as Lemuria, though nobody in living memory had ever seen it. That makes seven.
In truth, the number of Yggdrasil trees in the solar system was eight. Arcania, Lemuria, Etria, High Lagaard, Gotham, Tharsis, Aslarga… and Armoroad.
However, nobody who participated in modern civilization had ever even known of this eighth Labyrinth. For the Armoroad Archipelago was surrounded by a glowing golden dome, which nobody had ever entered… or left. And it had been this way for eight hundred years.
Cut off from the outside world or not, the Yggdrasil in Armoroad has its own story to tell, a tale that has been played time and time again, with eight centuries worth of variations. A story of younger siblings, inner demons, and rediscovery.
And it all began on a day early in Emperor, when a displaced young man with a Persona of that Arcana woke up in the town’s inn.
He’d hoped it had been a dream. That the apocalypse hadn’t occurred, forcing him to flee through an ominous black portal with a little kid, a middle schooler and a dog. Of course, he couldn’t be that lucky.
He remembered it clearly- the world ending, grabbing Ken and Nanako before running, his resolve crumbling into nothing in the loss of almost everything he had ever known. All he had left were two kids, Koromaru, and Polydeuces.
This world didn’t even look that similar to his old one. The sky was yellow, for one thing, what looked like numbers inlaid into the solid gold above. No sun, no clouds. Just gold and numbers, and Akihiko wondered for a bit if he might have still been dreaming, even as he walked the streets.
He wasn’t sure where the kids and Koromaru had gotten off to, but between Cerberus and Kala-Nemi, they were probably able to look after themselves.
Or so he’d hoped. Gone with the old world or not, Shinji would never forgive him if he let anything happen to Ken. And Hamuko would very much protest the potential loss of Koromaru, even if she didn’t have Orpheus Telos anymore. Actually, Messiah could be even scarier, due to how focused the magic was.
“Hie thee to the island tree… to the Yggdrasil Labyrinth. A journey to the blue depths… to conquer the Shadows of night. Though you know not what this means, welcome to Armoroad.” Akihiko turned to see a girl, about Ken’s age by the looks of her. Long dark purple hair, brilliantly glowing eyes of the same color… she stood with a purpose. “What awaits is time’s end, Death’s demise. A tempestuous dream… to push away the unfathomable dark and bring light to Armoroad…”
“Violet! Violet, where are you!?” A voice called from a nearby street. The girl started, the light fading from her eyes., and she walked away down the road.
“Don’t worry, Lycaster… I’m coming...”
...What was that all about?
“So, there’s supposed to be a ruin beneath the tree?” Nanako asked. Ken nodded.
“Well, that’s what the people say. But I’m more interested what they call it. They say it’s the Yggdrasil Labyrinth.”
“Yggdra- oh, like Zeus! And Labyrinths, like Zen-san and Rei-chan!”
“That’s what I was thinking. And they’re asking adventurers to explore it. I’m sure Akihiko-san would be up for it, but… what do you think, Koromaru?”
“Arf!” Ken’s albino shiba barked in agreement.
“That does sound like fun…” Nanako paused. “...But we don’t have Fuuka-chan or Rise-chan with us. I can’t watch everyone exploring.”
“That is a problem,” Ken admitted. He hadn’t thought on how they were going to include Nanako when she didn’t even have a Persona of her own.
“Why don’ ya go in yourself?” A girl’s voice suggested. Ken turned to Koromaru.
“You were supposed to tell us if anyone was coming this way.”
“Yeah, well, Twiggy over there,” The red-eyed pirate girl gestured to another girl sitting nearby, wearing… barely any clothes at all. “Grew up in the forest. Knows how to keep me from bein’ noticed by animals. Name’s Gabs. We’re from the Starlite Guild, go into the maze a lot. None of us can call our our souls or whatever ya’ve got, but we fight just fine without ‘em.”
“...You know what a Persona is?”
“Why wouldn’ we? There were probly a few here ‘fore the dome, even if we don’ remember. Can’t’ve been that long, I remember seein’ a blue sky once or twice before, an’ now it’s just gold. Couldn’ tell ya how long it’s been, though.”
Nanako tilted her head. “Dome?”
“Yeah, dome. Big, gold thing that blots out the sky? Some folks say it’s to keep us from fallin’ out’ve the world, shit like that. All we know is, we can’ leave these islands. They say there could be a way out in Yggdrasil, but… feels like someone should’ve found it by now.”
Ken supposed it could be worse. They could be trapped… well… anywhere that wasn’t a tropical island paradise.
“Not sure how ya dunno ‘bout the dome an’ all that. No real way in or out. But you don’ hafta rely on Personas to handle the maze. Don’ hafta go in, either, but that’s just my two ental. C’mon, Twiggy, Vi and ‘Lice wanna talk to us ‘bout somethin’ today.” The other girl nodded and followed Gabs silently.
“Ken-kun, is this normal for you?” Nanako asked. Ken shook his head.
“No, not at all…”
Violet Astraltes, descendant of the Martian Celestrians, with all that would imply, turned to her friends and Guildmates. “We need to halt our operations in Yggdrasil for the time being.”
“Why’s that?” Jenna asked, readjusting her goggles.
“Do you remember entering the forest since the dome went up?” Alice questioned the rest of them, who paused, Twiggy shaking her head.
Can’t , The part-Therian girl signed, Weird. Dome always there, right?
“As far as we can remember...” Derrick sighed, pushing up his glasses again as he wrote in his notebook. “And, well, given that Twiggy grew up in the forest… we’re missing something, aren’t we?”
“Does this hafta do with those kids ya sent me to meet, ‘Lice?” Gabs asked the pale farmer girl, who had appeared out of nowhere one day… last summer? Maybe? If it hadn’t been in the past few days, Violet wasn’t good at remembering when something had happened. It’d be strange, if the green-haired Lycaster hadn’t been the same way some time before. “One of ‘em had a Persona.”
Persona… another mystery. Just about everyone in Armoroad knew what a Persona was, but none of them had themselves Awakened. Most believed it had something to do with the mystery of the dome, though nobody really questioned it.
Violet wanted to question it.