Wandering Soul: Drawn to Ilias
The last thing Makoto Yuki could remember was rushing back to the Iwatodai Dorm after enduring the monsoon that was currently over Tatsumi Port Island. He had been caught out in the storm and had caught a particularly nasty cold that soon saw him bedridden. With the rain battering on the walls and being given everyone’s concern (especially Aigis’s), he was quickly claimed by sleep that night. He turned in early, having no energy to spare from his affliction. A deep slumber overtook him, one that he would unknowingly not wake from for multiple days.
At some point, Makoto found himself floating in an empty space with blue motes of light floating past him. He had never precisely been here, but he somehow recognized this as the Sea of Souls that make up the collective human unconsciousness. Each mote that passed by gave a short glimpse into what it held, a brief window into the very essence of a fragment of humanity before moving right on by. Or was it him that was moving? He was uncertain, only cognizant of the fact that these motes were only near him for a short time. They were small; little blue lanterns that paid no mind to him. It was strange: being a wild card meant he was made more privy to these various aspects of humanity due to the Velvet Room, but never in this manner. They were formless right now, no physical form to be made manifest. Not that he could do anything about it, being weightless and unable to move in his current state. He was content to drift for now, feeling at ease in this place.
The Sea of Souls could truly be endless for all he knew. Not knowing how long he had been floating along, he realized he had no way to discern anything here. He was, however, starting to notice that the motes were becoming fewer and fewer in number. Eventually, they were so sparse that the blackness of the void was all that laid before him. But then he felt a nagging at his mind, telling him to look elsewhere. Makoto turned his head to the right to see a mote far larger than the rest. It was a globe that easily dwarfed him, more than quadrupling his size. Upon looking, he felt his body begin to gravitate towards it. As he approached it, he could see a vision of three continents inside it, separate from each other and surrounded by water, but still aligned vertically with one another. The northernmost one had a barrier of cliffs surrounding it, denying sea access. It looked barren and desolate, save a lone castle as the only sign of life there. The middle continent was the largest and had the most diverse regions by far: large forests, a desert, even a volcano. There were large cities of differing styles and port towns scattered across it’s borders.
The southernmost continent was smaller, consisting mainly of forests, mountains on the western coast, green vegetation, and some towns spanning across it.
By this point, Makoto was right in front of this giant glowing orb. Despite it’s bright glow, his eyes were not strained in the slightest. With nowhere left to go, he reached out his hand to touch it, only to find that his hand went straight into the orb. He couldn’t back up, so all he could do was keep going forward. He pushed further into the orb until his whole body had phased through it. He was engulfed by the light as he felt his consciousness fade, unsure of what would become of him.
The sun shined down on an open grassy field, a picturesque scene save for the lone boy who was face down in the grass. Makoto came to and picked himself up off the ground. He looked around and saw only grass and some sloping hills around him. Well that’s not great, he had no idea where he was. The better idea to figure out here though was if he was even truly awake right now. Last thing he recalled, he had passed out in his room from a severe cold and his mind was floating in through what he guessed was the Sea of Souls. There was that vision of those three islands and now he was here. Strangely enough, his body felt normal. No sign of sickness to be felt right now. He could move his body just fine too, it didn’t feel like a dream at all. He even had his usual S.E.E.S uniform on with all of his accessories: his MP3 player, earphones, armband, sword, and evok-
Hold on, the holster for his evoker was empty. Well, technically that wasn’t a big issue. Mitsuru had mentioned that evokers serve as a catalyst for summoning a Persona and aren’t necessary for the process. He’d gotten used to using his though, it’s going to feel odd without holding it. Well he could just make a gun shape with his hand to simulate it for the time being. Strange that the evoker was the only thing that wasn’t on him (and his yen, but if it wasn’t accepted around here than it’d be worthless anyways). Only one last thing to test. Makoto put his hand to his heart, trying to sense if he could feel his Personas. He could sense the potential to manifest them, but it was different here. Distorted in a sense, not as easy to do. He got the feeling that he could only summon the ones that he had a particularly strong connection to. He figured he’d start with the most obvious choice:
“Come, Orpheus!”
Just as he had commanded, the Master of Strings appeared before him. It’s good that he could indeed summon his Persona, but it only furthered the question of where exactly he was. This definitely wasn’t The Dark Hour, after all. With further testing, he concluded that any of the Personas that he attained through his deep bonds with his friends could also be summoned, but not any of the other ones that he had within him before the monsoon. In total, he had 8 Personas available to him: Orpheus, Surt, Odin, Thor, Melchizedek, Norn, Siegfried, and Yurlungur. He’d spent the majority of his after-school time bonding with his friends and the majority of his nights training in Tartarus, the reason he was powerful enough to to summon these particular Personas. It was odd that they came to him in their base forms, showing no signs of Persona fusion. He did feel some amount of reassurance from all of this, but another thought crossed his mind: what of the Velvet Room? Try as he might, he couldn’t find the Velvet Room key anywhere on his person. He was initially irked by this, but resigned himself to the fact that if he needed it, it would probably appear again. The Velvet Room residents had their ways, after all. Well, there wasn’t anything to do here. Best to pick a direction and hope he runs into someone or some place soon.
It was a nice walk, all things considered. Sunny day, lush grass as far as the eye can see. It would be far nicer if not for his current situation. Even better yet, after about 10 minutes he guessed, he found himself at a shoreline. A vast ocean was before him, sparkling in the sunlight. And yet, still no signs of life to be seen. Makoto sighed and turned right back around. He’d have to wander aimlessly elsewhere to find anything. Given another 20 minutes of walking in the opposite direction, he came across a forest. It didn’t look overly dense, there might be somebody living out here who can help him. He began trekking into the woods, wary of whatever may also be here with him.
Tree after tree, Makoto treaded through the forest. He didn’t know what types of trees they were, not that it really mattered. What did matter though was the noise he heard from above him. He heard a rustle before something dropped down from the trees in front of him. What it was was a tanned woman with white hair that went down to her shoulders. She had brown eyes, pointed ears, a sword strapped to her left hip, and not a whole lot of clothing on her. She had a green bra, brown fingerless gloves with bandages wrapped around her wrist, a green sash around her waist (with black underwear peeking out from the side), a brown belt above the sash, one black thigh high sock on her right leg, and brown shoes. These were all notably old fashioned and highly exposing. It was fairly warm, so the second part could be excused to some extent. Was she some kind of elf? That was enough analysis though, she looked to be on edge.
“State your business, traveler. What brings you to this forest?”
She’s not immediately hostile, hopefully she can at least give him some directions. “I have no idea where I am, Miss. Do you have a map or anything I can use?”
She looked Makoto up and down, her face hardening further. “Your clothing is quite strange. I believe it best you leave this forest. Immediately.” She reached for her sword and started to unsheathe it.
Of course. “I’ll take that as a no then?” Makoto reached for his sword in turn. This was getting heated real quick. Not really what he had hoped for here.
“I have no idea who you are, but if you’re this lost, I don’t think anybody’s going to miss you. I wonder what you will look like when your face is contorting with pleasure!” The woman ran forward and swung her sword at Makoto. He jumped back and avoided her swing. He can’t say for sure how good of a fighter she is, but he felt confident that he could wipe the floor with her. He didn’t want to kill her though. Sure, he was used to killing Shadows, but he wasn’t ready to kill anything this similar to a human. He’d just subdue her.
She came at him again. Makoto parried her sword and gave her a slice to the abdomen, causing her to briefly fall back. Before she got the chance to attack again, he pursued the offensive. He put his hand to his head and simulated a gunshot to his head.
“Orpheus!”
Orpheus reared his harp above his head and swung it down towards the woman’s head. Without any resistance, Orpheus bashed her over the head and she was out cold. Makoto quickly checked her pulse, confirming she was indeed alive. She didn’t react at all to his Persona. She must not have the capability of seeing them. That could be a big edge against any foes he’ll have to face here. That would be vital information moving forward, but what was that last thing she said before attacking?
“How dare you!”
Makoto stood up and looked behind him to find another woman emerging from the trees. She looked fairly different from the other one, save the pointed ears: purple skin, crimson eyes, blonde hair styled into a ponytail with flower bands and bangs, a rather fancy looking black dress with accents of purple and gold, and black stiletto heels. She similarly looked not very pleased with his presence here.
“You hurt Lona?! You’ll have to pay dearly for that!”
“She’s still alive you know. Look, I’m sorry about your friend, but if I can just-“
“I don’t care about what you have to say to defend yourself. You won’t be getting away!” With that, the lady swung open the side of her dress to reveal a mass of tentacles that were being sent right at him. Makoto was caught off guard and grabbed by the tentacles. They pulled him back to the woman, letting her cusp his face with her hand. They’re sticky, viscous grasp threatened to never release him.
“You’re going to feel an unending hellish pleasure and you will give me your energy until you die! This is what happens to intruders.”
Like hell he was gonna let that happen! It was now or never, he couldn’t move his hands but he knew what he wanted.
“Thor!”
A lightning bolt fell above and struck the both of them! He knew he’d be safe because of Thor’s immunity to electricity, but his assailant had no such luck. She let out a pained scream, letting Makoto fall to the ground. Ziodyne did the trick wonderfully. The woman staggered to a tree and slumped against it. Her muscles were seizing up as she looked up at him with fear in her eyes. “W-w-who are y-you? Uh…” She fell unconscious, leaving him the victor. He really didn’t feel like he won though. It was understandable that they reacted poorly to him initially, but this was a pretty bad turn of events. What started as wanting directions turned into knocking out two people defending their home. It left a sour taste in his mouth, despite their peculiar death threats.
“Young man.”
Yet another woman approached him from the veil of trees. This time it seemed to be a mature human woman: blonde hair that fell down to her legs, sky blue eyes, an extravagant light green overcoat with gold embroideries, and a golden necklace that had rubies on it. She had an air of confidence about her, making her stand out from the other two. She didn’t look pleased, but she wasn’t angry either. Serious comes to mind.
“For what purpose have you come here?”
Time to make a good impression. “Please ma’am, I have no idea where I am. I woke up outside of this forest and came here looking for help. I had to fend off those two, but they’re alive. I can even heal them, I just want to know more about where I am. I won’t trouble you any further.” The woman stared at him, seemingly scrutinizing his very soul to discern the truthfulness of his words. He was concerned about having to fight yet another person. The silence was tense.
“Your clothing is quite strange, and you did hold back by not killing these two. Many other humans would not have have the well-being of their opponents in mind during a battle. Alright, I’ll believe you for now. If you can heal them, I’ll allow you to do so, otherwise we’d be carrying them back for healing.”
Finally, some progress. Makoto nodded his head and turned towards his prior attackers. He put his hand to his head and cast the healing magic.
“Mediarahan.”
Melchizedek appeared and healed both of the women. They slowly came to, both of them realizing that their injuries were gone. Makoto turned around to find the blonde-haired woman staring up above him. When he checked the same spot, he could only see leaves. Odd. The other two, having regained their senses, put up their guards once more.
The tanned girl yelled at the blonde-haired woman. “Micaela! This man, he-“
“Calm down, the both of you. He is under my supervision now. I believe he is telling the truth, so he will come with us back to the village.”
The woman with purple skin wasn’t quite satisfied. “Are you sure about him? He’s dangerous, we have no reason to trust him.”
“Power is only as dangerous as the person who wields it. This young man healed both of you, didn’t he? We shouldn’t let this misunderstanding go on any further. I will hold myself responsible if he proves to truly be a threat.”
With that, the two women reluctantly eased off their aggression and apologized to Makoto. Thankfully, things have worked themselves out for the better. Sticking close to Micaela, Makoto followed the three women as they lead him to their village. Maybe now he can learn, well, anything about where he’s at and how he can potentially return home.
Deeper into the forest, the trees opened up into a clearing that hid a small village. It was quaint and peaceful, a hideaway for all kinds of people. He saw some of its residents out and about. Some of them were similar to the women he’d fought earlier, others were entirely foreign to him. There were some human merchants around as well, carrying their goods in their horse-drawn carts. These definitely weren’t modern times. Eventually, the four of them came up to a house. Micaela turned around to face him and the others.
“Lona, Marion. You two are dismissed. Get back out there and secure the area. If you find anything else out of the ordinary, come let me know. Understood?”
“Yes, Micaela.” The two responded in unison and likewise left to go back into the forest. Micaela opened the door behind her and gestured for you to enter.
“Come inside. We have much to discuss.”
Makoto nodded his head and entered in before her. The inside had a rustic charm to them. He felt the place had an old fashioned (at least to him) appeal to it. It was homely. He took a seat at what he presumed to be the dining room table and waited for Micaela to do the same. Micaela sat down across from him and so began the game of Twenty Questions.
“I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Micaela. I serve as the guardian of this hidden village, Enrika. The two who you met before are Lona and Marion. There aren’t too many capable fighters living here, so they do what they can to fend off intruders. We are selective about who is allowed entry. Mainly merchants are allowed to come and go more freely, so long as they are shown to be understanding of Enrika’s unique situation. You, however, are an entirely different scenario. I would like to know more about you, if possible. Who you are and what you know of your current situation would be a good starting point.”
“I’m Yuuki Makoto. Just call me Makoto. I don’t really know where I am or how exactly I got here. I woke up outside of the forest by myself.”
“Well, it’s nice to formally meet you, Makoto. Judging by your appearance and your… abilities, you certainly come off as strange.”
Hmm… maybe she could see them after all. “You saw it, didn’t you? When I healed those two women.”
“I can’t claim to know what I was looking at, but yes, I saw that entity you summoned.”
“Lona and Marion couldn’t see them, but you could. Even stranger is that I can even summon them here.”
“What are they, if I may ask?”
“Hmm… What you saw was a Persona. In simple terms, it is the resolve of one’s heart made manifest. Only those with the “Potential” can summon or see them, or at least that’s what I’ve been told. Any person with a Persona has one that is unique to them, and that is usually the only one that person can use. I’m different in that I can use multiple Personas. They tend to take the forms of well-known figures from throughout human history, religions, and mythologies. For example, the one you saw earlier is called Melchizedek, but my original Persona is Orpheus.”
“How curious… Might it be too much to ask to see it again?”
“Sure. Doesn’t really hurt me any.” Makoto put his hand to his head and summoned Melchizedek once more. Micaela got up from her seat and inspected it further. She tried to touch it once but her hand went right through it. After a minute of looking it over she mentioned, “The more I look at it, the more I find myself thinking it’s familiar somehow. Tell me, are you familiar with angels?”
“To an extent, yeah. Residents of heaven, servants of God, Christianity, Judaism, so on, so forth. Does that mean you have similar religions here?”
“Mmm… Alright, I think it’s in your best interest if I tell you most of what I know. You already have some familiarity with the topic, surprisingly, and you seem more than capable of defending yourself. That and I believe you are worth trusting at this point. There’s going to be a lot, but it’s important to your well-being .” Micaela sat back down in her seat and looked at Makoto. Her expression had become more serious. She also pulled out a map detailing three islands, ones that he recognized from his brief time traveling here.
“There is one religion that reigns dominant across two of these three continents: Sentora, the middle and largest one, and Ilias, the southernmost continent and the one we are currently on. If you’re curious, we are here.” She pointed to a forest on the southwest portion of the continent. “This religion is centered around and named after the goddess who created humanity: Ilias. I’ll spare you the finer details as that would more than likely confuse you, but before I go further, you should know this: light and dark were the only forces to exist millennia ago, and they are still very much present today. Angels embody the light and monster girls embody the darkness. Monster girls take many forms, having evolved into different species. Lona and Marion are one such species: elves. They are specifically dark elves, elves who have fallen to corruption. Despite their physical differences, most monster girls share one thing in common: they prey off of humanity. Whether it be consuming humans as energy, be it their flesh or semen, or taking men for reproductive purposes, they have had a long-standing parasitic relationship with humans. Mind you not all of them do. Some have in the past and currently do live in some form of harmony with humans, but this is unfortunately the minority. This is by in large due to the religion the Goddess Ilias herself started. It dissuades having relations of any kind with monster girls and propagates itself as the only true religion, the be all end all. There are also extremists who take these tenants further and to a violent degree. Enrika is quite the opposite: we accept outcasts and those who wish for harmony here, under my protection. It is to my hope that we won’t need to be in hiding forever.”
“The third and northernmost continent is Hellgondo, the seat of the Monster Lord’s power. Just as human’s have their leaders, so too do the monster girls. I’m not sure how or why you would end up there, but it is by far the most dangerous continent currently. Based off of the state of each continent, it would be generally correct in assuming that the further south you go, the stronger the faith in Ilias is. Now, I imagine you will be wanting to leave here to potentially find your way home. You will hopefully learn more by experiencing how people live throughout each continent. But you should always be cautious. Monster girls are crafty and one mistake can lead to your downfall. You already seem quite capable, but I fear you will constantly be in grave danger. I could not sense your presence in this world until you used your powers, but others may already be aware of you. If they can sense magic, they will be able to locate you. I suspect that might play a part in why your Persona is visible to me, but that is just my conjecture. The distance from which they can detect you varies on the talent of the tracker. Unfortunately for you, humans may not hold the answer you seek for returning home, so you may be forced to deal with the other two sides. Certain monster girls and angels alike will learn of you and your strength and will try to inflict their wills upon you. It is up to you how you deal with these encounters, but personally, I advise you show great caution if you are ever confronted by angels. Many of them are loyal to a fault and the Goddess herself is not to be trusted. They’re the reason this village must remain hidden after all.”
That was a whole lot to swallow. He can’t really deny any of it though. He clearly remembers how that one dark elf, Marion, shot tentacles out at him. Shadows were one thing, but this was different. From how he saw it, monster girls seemed quite similar to humans in terms of sentience. He still wasn’t willing to kill them after hearing all of that. *sigh* There was going to be a lot of trouble ahead for him, wasn’t there?
“Then what do you suggest I do, Micaela? It seems like I’ll have to fight no matter what, but that’ll only draw attention to me.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have a good answer for you. You’ll have to figure that out yourself, who’s worth siding with and who to avoid. I can’t give you all the answers, simply my advice. I do recommend you try to help others as you travel though. Whether they be human or monster girl, money and cooperation are good things to have. There are many towns where you’ll find both. Solving their problems may prove beneficial in some way.”
“Hmm… That’s understandable, but I don’t have any money right now. And I’m not a hundred percent on how things work here.”
“I can help you acclimate to your new surroundings, and as for the money, I tend to keep a bit on hand for emergencies. I would be fine with giving you enough to sustain yourself for about a week.”
“That’s quite generous of you. Why put so much trust in a stranger?”
“My intuition says that you aren’t a bad person. That you’re capable of many things, and that you’d make the best out of a bad situation. Call me naive if you wish, but I’ll take the chance that you’ll be more inclined to help rather than harm others. The world needs more of that right now.”
She spoke with such confidence that it almost made him feel sheepish. He might never truly learn who this woman is (there is definitely more than meets the eye with her), but she certainly meant what she said. She’s been rather helpful regardless. The least he can do is take what she says to heart.
“Well when you say it like that, I can’t help but feel like I don’t want to disappoint you. I’m already used to saving people occasionally anyways.”
Micaela smiled at him. “Then I’ll continue to place my faith in you.”
“There’s one question I have though: I’m fine with being a Good Samaritan, but I’m not looking to kill anybody. Is there any way to subdue monster girls and angels more easily without running the risk of death while holding myself back?”
Micaela took pause at that, stopping briefly to think. “Hmmm… Magic would be your best answer. All beings have magical energy in them, be it dark, holy or otherwise, such as fire, water, earth, wind, etc. This reigns more so true for those that aren’t human, as many humans cannot wield magic. If one can seal away the magic that helps maintain one’s form, they will be reduced to a smaller form or dissipated into their base energies. Effectively sealed away, they won’t be able to do much of anything until they collect enough energy over a long time, depending on how strong they were, to reconstitute or if someone else gives them their own magic. Some monster girls and all angels cannot be harmed through physical means, too. I know you have the means of using magic, but I can’t say if it works the same as I know it to. Maybe you can figure out a means to achieve that result through your own means. As for humans, you’ll just have to exercise self restraint if force becomes necessary.”
Now that was interesting. So what it boiled down to was nullifying the magic in their bodies to seal off their physical form. Neutralizes the hostile party without taking any lives. He just had to figure out how. It wouldn’t hurt him to hold back until then, he was confident in his strength. He even had an inkling as to where to start on this train of thought, but that’d come later.
“It is also worth noting that the four elements are governed by their respective spirits: Sylph for wind, Gnome for Earth, Undine for water, and Salamander for fire. They can all be found on Sentora in their own regions. As you might expect, tampering with them can have ill effects on the world around us.”
What an interesting world this is. Humans, monsters, angels, spirits and probably more, all living in some shaky form of coexistence with one another. Far from perfect and far different from what he was used to, but at least it’s interesting. It does beg a few questions though.
“Is there anything else you’d wish to know, Makoto?”
“Yeah. Based off of what you’ve said so far, I feel like humans have the short end of the stick in the pecking order here. How can there be relative peace and multiple major cities if they’re always being targeted by hostile monster girls?”
“You’ll find that the answer to that question changes based on where you look. Some humans live in deference to monster girls, worshipping and paying tribute to them. Some, with the aid of strong rulers and adventurers in the past, have been able to see eye to eye with each other and make some form of peace. Others flip this relationship, subjugating monster girls to their will, avoid most contact with them, or actively harm monster girls and harass those who don’t agree with their views. I recommend not throwing your lot in with them. No matter how much they will it so, monster girls and humans both live in this world and it will remain that way. It’d be better to coexist peacefully, as many from both sides have already striven to do. The Church of Ilias has sent multiple heroes in the past on a pilgrimage starting from Ilias Temple just southeast of here to receive the blessing of the Goddess Ilias herself, which makes the bearer of the blessing taste horrible to monster girls, and defeat the current Monster Lord of that time. Many also receive the aid of The Four Spirits, that being Sylph and the others, to accomplish this goal. I imagine you could attempt the same if you so desire.”
“That’s… a lot of history. So towns and cities essentially provide some protection, everywhere in between is fair game, and heroes and adventurers are the ones solving people’s problems a lot of the time? And… the Goddess can make people taste bad?”
“That’s generally correct. If caught out on the road by yourself, you are likely to be attacked by wild monster girls. Unfortunately, under the decree of the Monster Lord, it is hunt or be hunted for most people right now. And it is not so much the Goddess making people taste bad and more so suffusing them with some holy energy which monster girls find detestable. If you wish to know more specifics, I will tell what I know whenever you like. Now, is there anything else you’d like to discuss right now?”
“…Nah. Too many questions and too many answers to remember. This’ll do for now. Thanks, Micaela.”
“That is understandable, and you’re welcome. If you’d like, you can stay here for the next few days to get your bearings. You’ll be safe here until you can set off fully prepared.”
“I’ll have to take you up on that offer. Seems there’ll be a fair bit of adjusting I’ll have to do.”
“I’ll provide what I can until then.”
For the next few days, Makoto stayed at the village of Enrika. There were many who were confused by his appearance, but with Micaela vouching for him, they were quick to accept him. He was just a human to them, after all. The monster girls took particular interest in him. Micaela noted afterwards that typically the stronger a human is, the more desirable they are to a monster girl as a partner. They didn’t do anything wrong. They were all just as nice, albeit in a manner that suggested that he should stay. Permanently. He respectfully declined, and that was that. Having Micaela with him sure helped, but he knew he’d have to get used to this sort of treatment. Still though, at least things weren’t all that different from what he was used to. Could be a lot worse.
By the time he decided to leave, he felt he had a more solid grasp on how this world worked. He decided his long term goal would be to make it to Hellgondo to meet the current Monster Lord, Alice XVI, granted he couldn’t find a way back before then. It was the furthest away, and he’ll probably visit every major city on the way there. Honestly, this map he’d been given was a lifesaver, and he’d still be clueless if not for Micaela. Now he found himself standing at the exit to the village with Micaela.
“Thank you for everything, Micaela. I’d probably still be lost if not for you.”
“You’re welcome, Makoto. If you’re ever in need of a safe haven, our arms are always open to you. Stay safe, and good luck.”
“Until then.” Makoto looked onwards into the forest and set off. Micaela made sure that he wouldn’t have any trouble until he was out of the forest. He had acquired basic living supplies and a traveler’s guide in Enrika and had a plan as to where he was going: he’d go west out of the forest and follow the road until reaching Iliasburg. Micaela recommended he not go to Ilias Village. Not a whole lot there and he probably wouldn’t be getting any blessings from the temple given he isn’t a believer in Ilias. He also couldn’t go telling people of Enrika’s true nature. It was mainly known as a trading village to others. Most didn’t know it served as a sanctuary for pacifist monsters. Past Iliasburg, he’d make his way to Happiness Village and then Iliasport to make for Sentora. Hopefully he’d get more money along the way and meet people who could help him.
By the end of the next thirty minutes, Makoto was at the edge of the forest. Sprawling green plains and hills all around filled his vision. The sun was bright and the air was warm. For the first time since he got here, he felt truly confident. He had high hopes. Whatever the true extent of his situation was, this was all new and admittedly exciting. He figured he was still out cold in the real world, so this was all in his head. Probably. So why not make the most of things? It was strange that all of this felt very real, but he wasn’t going to find out much of anything by worrying. With his newfound confidence, Makoto strode out into the open sunlight and began a new journey to find the answer he seeks.
