[5/24 (Saturday) - Afternoon]
[Vale - Zone 8 (Commercial)]
Walking past the street, Clerval passed through crowds of people as his hand absentmindedly fidgeted with the Velvet Key in his possession. Back when he first visited Vale, he was sure that he noticed a blue door standing eerily in that one alleyway, almost deliberately out of place, and ever since then, he'd been curious about its origins.
He was fairly confident that said door led to the Velvet Room; the aesthetics certainly matched the velvet blue of the moving train, though he wondered why Igor had requested for him to meet them of his own accord, seeing as the mysterious man had the ability to draw him into the room whilst he was asleep.
Sidestepping a group of men blocking the main road, he offered a polite apology as he slipped past. Gradually, the bustling noise of the commercial district faded behind him, replaced by the quieter atmosphere.
Eventually, he turned the corner into the alleyway—
"Ah. Wanderer, we've been expecting you."
Standing beside the familiar blue door was the Velvet Room's attendant, Mary. Dressed in her velvet-blue stewardess uniform, she greeted him with a warm smile. Beneath the afternoon sun, she looked inhumanly beautiful, as though she had been sculpted with deliberate care by some higher being.
She extended a gloved hand toward the door. "Shall we?"
He blinked.
Had she been standing there this entire time, waiting for him to arrive? The thought sent a flush creeping up his neck. He offered a hurried apology for keeping them waiting.
Mary let out a chuckle.
"No need for such apologies; I certainly didn't mind waiting outside the Velvet Room." She assured as her gaze shifts around the alleyway, eyes filled with fascination and curiosity. "Human civilization—such an interesting subject."
After a brief pause, she realized that her thoughts had drifted off, coughing into her fist to reel her focus back to the present. "In any case, my master is awaiting your presence. If you would be so kind as to follow me."
Without waiting for an answer, Mary wrapped her gloved fingers around his wrist before pulling him forward. The door to the Velvet Room swung open with a soft creak, and together they stepped into the void.
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[Velvet Room]
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Igor clasped his fingers together, elbows resting against the armrests of his chair as he regarded Clerval with his usual crescent-moon grin.
"Welcome back to the Velvet Room, my dear guest. I am pleased to see that you have heeded my advice regarding the power of Social Links."
With a swipe of his hand across the table between them, four cards lay with their faces upright, revealing the Fool, the High Priestess, the Hierophant, the Moon, and the Judgement arcanas.
"Five new Social Links in just two weeks, very fast progress indeed. With these bonds newly forged, I trust you have sensed the presence of new inhabitants within the Sea of your Soul."
He nodded, feeling the presences within him cheer as Igor referred to them; even the newer additions to the 'team' gave some reaction towards their involvement in the conversation.
Igor gathered the tarot cards back into his gloved hands, sealing them away. "This brings up the main agenda that I wish to indulge for this meeting. While Social Links bolster your arsenal and strengthen Personas aligned with their respective Arcana, they are not the sole method by which one may acquire such power."
Igor turned his attention toward Mary.
"Mary, please escort our guest to the next carriage. The time has come for the Wild Card to descend further down his path."
"It shall be done, master." Mary bowed, her thick tome resting over her heart. She then stepped toward Clerval. "Please follow me; I shall guide you to our next destination."
Passing by the delighted man whose low, shadowed chuckle escaped his lips, he followed behind Mary as she led the way down the length of the carriage till they reached the very end, where a single door stood ominously, marked with an emblem of a maze carved into the wood.
Opening the door with a swing, what hid behind it was a mass of swirling, black mist that shrouded the contents of the next carriage.
"After you."
Clerval stepped forward into the swirling mist.
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[5/24 (Saturday) - ???]
[??? - ???]
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One moment, he had been in the moving, shaking carriage. The next, his feet were planted firmly on smooth, cool concrete. The sudden stillness beneath him made him stumble slightly, and he instinctively steadied himself.
His vision refocuses, taking in the surroundings.
The velvet-blue carriage was gone. In its place, he now stood within the ruins of an ancient temple similar to the images from their future history lectures that he scanned through beforehand.
The towering marble columns around him were cracked and worn with age. Fragments of stone and dirt lay haphazardly around on the floor. Light barely shone through gaps in the roof, scattering across the room.
At the far end of the temple, a massive stone door bore intricate carvings, with a stone lectern standing close by. He approached the door to take in the details.
These carvings... Thirteen distinct areas, each connected by a pathway that snaked across the stone? There were words next to each area, but they were in a language that he couldn't read.
Behind him, heels clattered on concrete as Mary appeared at his side. In her hands, she carried a stone tablet that felt out of place in the ruinous temple; its surface was smooth and dark, yet along its edges ran neon-blue veins that pulsed faintly. On its front, two rotary discs were present, both numbered one, while below them, a lever protruded.
"To begin the Dive, please pull the lever," Mary instructed.
"Where are we?"
Mary swept the temple. "We are currently in the Labyrinth," she replied calmly.
He waited for further explanation, but none came. The attendant simply stared at him as he briefly hesitated, his eyes on the lever. A moment passed before he raised a hand and rested his fingers around the lever's shaft.
He flicked his eyes to meet hers.
And pulled the lever down.
It took a split second when a groan echoed through the ruins, with the mechanism of the doors springing to life. Creaking with dust falling from the edges of the stone doors, they slowly shifted inwards, revealing nothing but a pit of darkness.
No words were needed to be said. He drew in a deep breath and braced his feet.
With a step forward, he allowed gravity to claim him as he fell into the abyss.
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NEXT UPDATE: 17 April, Friday
A/N: I thought today was Wednesday. SMH
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