by Dante King
I looked down at myself. I was dressed in green and brown armor of light leather. It was similar to the samurai armor I’d seen elsewhere in this land, with interlocking plates woven together and hung over a coat of light mail. In my hand, there was a long wooden staff.
The instinctive knowledge of the Persona was in me, and I knew that this staff was called a bokken. Wood it may be, but in the hands of a skilled practitioner, it could be as deadly as a sword. Looking closer, I saw that it had a string of intricate characters carved into the top.
Cara gazed at me admiringly. “It looks good,” she said. “But what does it do?”
“Let’s find out.”
I lifted the bokken and whirled it experimentally around my head. The wood seemed to have a life of its own. I felt deep knowledge of a form transmitted to me through the staff. The bokken danced around me as I guided it through the martial forms. It made a satisfying whoosh as I swung it around my head.
“There’s something more…” I could feel some promise of greater power from the staff. It tingled in my hands, pushing me to take the potential of this new weapon further.
Again, listening to my instincts, I took one step forward and slammed the base of the staff into the ground. Power surged from my heart, out through my shoulders, down my arms, into my hands, then into the staff. There was a crackling sound, and green light flashed and flickered around my hands, coalescing into leaping forks of emerald lightning, which danced around my fingers.
I concentrated on it and directed its flow down into the earth.
There was a thunderous boom and the green lightning spread across the ground in an expanding circle away from the base of the staff. It ran around Cara’s feet like water around a stone, but when it hit my feet, it ran back up my body, creating a loop of power which blasted between me and the staff. The circle continued to expand away from me, and I could see the tall grass waving and swaying as the emerald lightning danced up and down it.
I pushed further, forcing more power into the spell. The lightning increased in intensity until the whole clearing was full of it. I knew that if I willed it, this raw power would cause incredible damage to any enemies within the circle. With a twist of my will, I manipulated the spell once more. An explosion of green light blasted up within the range of the circle and into the sky, and the spell dispersed.
Cara let out a low whistle. She was standing a little away from me, looking impressed. “That will be good against large swathes of weak enemies!” she said.
I nodded my agreement, feeling well pleased with this new attack. “I wish I’d had this when we were fighting the Gaki. Imagine the slaughter I would have inflicted upon those demonic hosts if I’d been equipped with this. The thought makes my heart burn for battle.”
“Well, you didn't do too badly even without it,” Cara said with an admiring smile. “You might not be able to go back to that battle, but I’m sure you’ll have plenty of future opportunities for battle. I wonder. . . how would the Tree Persona manifest with me?”
I laughed. The excitement in her eyes was very attractive. “There’s only one way to know. Let’s see if we can manage the swap as smoothly as we did earlier.”
“All right.”
Cara reached toward me with her awareness of the Personas. As she did so, I focused my awareness and reached back toward her. There was a snap in the air, like a whip cracking, and I found myself wearing again my version of the Kitsune Persona’s shinobi aspect. I was not wearing the headgear, but the rest of the costume felt pleasantly familiar as it slipped into place around me. As before, there was a sensation of coolness that washed through my body as I took on the Persona. I raised my eyes to look at Cara and smiled in admiration at what I saw.
“You said it looked good on me,” I said, “but I think it looks even better on you!”
The forest green garment which now clad her looked as if it had been perfectly tailored for her figure. In a way, it was similar to the way that the shinobi aspect of the Kitsune Persona manifested on her, a figure-hugging costume of rich, flexible fabric, with a deep hood. The supple leather boots were the dark brown color of wet tree bark. A band of green cloth covered her mouth and nose. The neat green top covered her breasts and left her belly bare, but the skin of her midriff was painted with lines of green stripes. They were like those of a tiger and ran away from her navel.
Across her shoulders was a bow, different from the small recurve bow which she usually had. It was very tall and long, similar to those that the hunter tribes of Saxe sometimes used. I knew from experience that a bow of that size would have incredible range.
At her hip, her potion belt was in place, but now it was made of green leather. A neat pack rested on her back, and at her belt hung a twinned pair of long, white-bladed knives. In her hand, instead of the bokken, she gripped a staff that looked at first glance like a humble walking stick. As she held it up, however, I saw the same carved inscription on the top, and I knew that it would deliver a lightning blast just as effectively as the bokken.
“Try the bow,” I encouraged her, since my version of this particular Persona had not included a bow.
The staff leaped out of her hand and affixed itself to the pack, out of the way. At the same time, the bow flipped through the air and appeared in her hands. I stepped to the side and watched as she retrieved an arrow from the quiver and readied it to fire.
“It’s telling me something,” she said wonderingly. “The Persona itself is telling me about the power of the bow... Ah!”
Cara laughed out loud as she fired the arrow. In a similar way as with the shuriken stars, the single arrow became two, then three, then four. The four arrows thudded into a tree within an inch of each other.
“I can do a spread as well...” she said as she pulled another arrow out. This time, when she fired it, the four arrows spread out to hit four separate trees. Cara’s eyes sparkled as she turned to me, placing the bow back on her back.
“I’m going to try the lightning spell,” she breathed, gripping the staff. She whirled it in mid air and slammed it to the ground. There was a thunderclap as an explosion of emerald lightning spread from her hands, through the staff, and out across the ground like ripples in a pool, then dispersed.
We stood, breathless, facing each other.
“Thank you, Leo,” she said quietly. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d never have been able to access this power.”
I smiled at her. It felt great to see how happy she was with our partnership.
“I think the Tree Spirit Persona works well for you, Cara. I am content with using the Ironside and Kitsune Personas. Perhaps you can keep this one? I may ask you to borrow it sometimes, though.”
She nodded. “It feels like it was made for me.”
“Let’s see if there are any upgrades we can get,” I suggested.
She came over and stood by me, and together we reached out and brought up the diagram for upgrading the Personas. This was the first time we had looked at this since Cara had joined me in her ability to access the Personas.
“The view has changed!” she exclaimed in surprise.
She was right. On the left, there was my Renown counter, looking like a tall tube of glass, filled with buttery yellow light. On the right, there was a new one, this one filled with green light. We both knew instinctively that this was Cara’s Renown. Between the two, we now saw three Personas: Ironside, Kitsune, and the Tree Spirit. These looked like scale models of each outfit, about three feet tall, hanging in mid-air.
“Do you notice,” I said to Cara, “that for Ironside and Kitsune, the diagram shows the combat aspect in the form that they manifest on me, but for the Tree Spirit Persona, it shows the manifestation that comes when you wear it?”
“I hadn’t noticed,” she said, “but I see it now. What do you think it means?”
“I think it’s showing us that the Tree Spirit Persona is meant for you. The spirit must have chosen you to bear it.”
“I. . . I
don’t know what to say.”
I put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. “Reach for it. Let’s see what kind of upgrades are available for your new Persona.”
Cara reached out and touched the image of the Tree Spirit armor. It faded, showing the now-familiar diagram of three options.
The three options presented to us for the Tree Spirit were the bow, the staff, and a clear green crystal which shone with a clean light. Cara reached immediately toward the green crystal which sat on the right of the row. She held her hand over it, and it shone out for a moment.
“Can you feel what it does?” I asked her gently.
“Only just. It’s a strange sensation.”
She waited for a moment, and I stayed quiet, wanting to give her time to learn the way of perceiving the available upgrades for herself.
After a moment, I heard her catch a breath.
“I see it now,” she said. “It’s similar to the Ironside upgrade which you picked after our last battle. This green crystal will give me the ability to collect more Renown from kills when I’m wearing this Persona. That way, I’ll be able to get more upgrades each time I earn Renown.”
“A useful skill,” I said. “Give up a little now for more in the future.”
She moved her hand to the left, hovering over the staff and then the bow in turn. “These are harder. It’s difficult to see exactly what these upgrades do.”
“Don’t worry. It will come to you in time. Just relax and let yourself discover what you can feel about them in your own way.”
I was proud of her as I saw her do as I suggested. She let out a long, slow breath, and I saw her shoulders drop as she let the tension go out of them. A moment later, she cried out, sounding pleased.
“It’s the spell! The lightning spell. This one is giving me the option of upgrading the lightning spell to a more powerful version.”
“What about the other one?” I asked.
She moved her hand over to the image of the bow. “Interesting,” she said after a moment. “One of these is a range bonus, but there are other options. I can fire arrows more accurately over a greater distance, and another adds elemental damage to the arrows. It’s difficult to decide.” She glanced up with me with doubt in her eyes. “What do you think I should do, Leo?“
“I think you should decide for yourself. Ultimately, it’s up to you. Any upgrade will be good. Which one would you like the most?“
“The one that allows me to collect more Renown when I’m wearing this Persona,“ she said with a firm nod. “As you say, all upgrades are good, and that one will allow me to get more upgrades quicker in the long term.”
“That sounds like a sensible choice to me,” I said encouragingly.
She smiled at me, took a breath, and reached for the green gem.
It swirled and blazed with green light as Cara laid her hand upon it. I heard her gasp, and her face was a picture of pleasure and satisfaction as she felt the upgrade take effect. The Renown in her pool glowed as some of it drained away into the Tree Spirit Persona.
“Does it always feel so good when you add the upgrades?” she asked, smiling.
I nodded. “Every time I’ve done it, it’s given me a really pleasurable sensation.”
She grinned wickedly at me, showing her perfect white teeth. “Reminds me of something else I felt recently,” she said with a laugh.
I smiled back, enjoying her pleasure in the new power she had discovered.
“You still have some Renown left to use,” I pointed out.
“I do, don’t I?” Her excitement grew. “I thought the crystal upgrade would have consumed it all. I’ll have a look in more detail at what’s available for the bow.”
She reached toward the image of the longbow. When she held her hand in place over it, the image faded to review three new options. On the left was a symbol representing fire. In the middle, was a symbol representing ice. On the right was an arrow. She held her hands over these symbols one by one.
She pointed to the arrow symbol. “This is the range bonus.” Then she gestured at the fire and ice symbols. “These represent the elemental damage types which can be added to the bow.”
“You wouldn’t need the fire upgrade,” I said, “because you can already do that with your potions. How about taking the ice upgrade?“
She shook her head. “We already have the ability to use ice with the shuriken stars, and we can combine those with my fire arrows to create explosions. I don’t think we need to double down on any of those just now. I’ll pick the range and accuracy bonus instead.”
As had happened when she picked the crystal upgrade, the image of the bow glowed green and spun when she touched it. Again, she let out a groan of pleasure and shuddered as the sweet feeling of upgrading power flowed over her body and through the Persona which she was wearing. The longbow on her back glowed as well, a bright pattern of light flickering over the dark wood of its long shaft. Cara’s Renown counter drained down to empty as the light flowed into the image of the bow.
“Are you going to try it out?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Not until we’ve finished upgrading. I want to see what you’re going to get as well. Let’s see what’s available for the shinobi aspect of the Kitsune Persona.“
I nodded, pleased that she was still keen to see me get upgrades despite being able to get them for herself. This kind of power might corrupt some individuals and turn them inward to themselves, but not so with Cara. She was all about the team.
With one hand, I reached for the image of the black costume which I was currently wearing. I tapped it, and it faded to reveal the three options. One was the familiar green crystal, and I knew straight away that upgrade would allow me to gather more Renown when making kills with the Kitsune Persona. But it was the other two options that immediately caught my interest.
In the middle floated the image of a strange weapon. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was about the size of a one-handed war axe, with a short wooden handle like a truncheon, but instead of an axe’s wide, flat blade, it had a long hooked curving blade like a scythe, tapering to a vicious point. Attached to the top of the truncheon was a long chain with a spiked mace head on the end. I reached for it and felt the knowledge of what it was flow from the Kitsune Persona to my mind.
“Kusarigama,” I muttered under my breath.
“What was that?” Cara asked.
I indicated the sickle-like weapon with the ball and chain on top. “That is what it’s called. Kusarigama. It’s a cunning weapon that can be used at a distance. The fighter can hit an enemy at range with the mace head, or the chain can be used to wrap around an enemy’s legs, hands, arms, or weapon.”
“That would be an exciting upgrade!” Cara said.
I had to agree.
“I think I’m going to choose it,” I said. “I know previously that I’ve chosen the upgrade which gets me more Renown, but this time, I think I’m going to treat myself to some new weapons to use with the shinobi aspect of the Kitsune Persona.”
I reached out and touched the Kusarigama image. The familiar sensation, somewhere between heat and cold, pleasurably flooded through my body and my outfit. The new weapons shimmered into existence, fitting neatly into a holder at the back of the belt that came with the Kitsune Persona.
Putting my hands down, I could feel the cold blades of the new weapons ready for me to use, the long chains and deadly mace heads wrapped up in a tight coil next to the blades.
“What’s that other option here?” Cara looked curiously at the upgrades diagram. I followed her gaze.
“This is very interesting,” I said as I held my hands over the image. It was a picture of a man’s face, but there was a black-gloved hand held over the eyes. At first, I wasn’t entirely certain what this was supposed to represent. As I thought about it, the realization slowly dawned. “It’s something to do with hiding from the enemy—I want to say invisibility, but that’s not quite right. It’s more lik
e misdirection, a way of making the enemy look the other way.”
“That would make sense as an upgrade to such a stealth-focused Persona,” Cara said thoughtfully. “But how could it work? As you say, becoming completely invisible would be too much power even for a Persona, surely?”
“Yes, that’s right. It’s not invisibility. It’s more like the ability to make an enemy look elsewhere and not notice you. I think I’ll take this upgrade. After our next battle, I might choose to apply the increased Renown collection trait to this Persona.”
“I’m excited to see how the misdirection power works,” Cara said.
“Me too,” I said. “We haven’t had much need for anything like that just yet, but I can imagine many situations where something like that could prove useful or even critical. I’ll apply the upgrade now.”
I tapped the image to gain the skill. It glowed and then faded, coming back to the previous diagram. Once the pleasurable wave that came with the upgrading had passed, I turned my attention to the Persona of Ironside.
I was reaching forward to touch the Ironside image when a voice interrupted us from the edge of the clearing.
“Very impressive,” it said.
Cara and I both turned quickly to see who the newcomer was. To our surprise, it was Lady Kai, the leader of the cavalry team who had showed up at the end of the battle. She was standing at the edge of the tree line looking down into the clearing at us, as we stood with the row of faintly glowing Persona images hanging magically suspended in the air in front of us.
She walked carefully down into the clearing. The dappled sunlight played across the expanses of bronzed skin left uncovered by her armor. She moved with all the grace of a skilled warrior, combined with the sensuousness of a strong, confident woman.
“Very impressive indeed,” she said again. Her voice was warm and smooth as honey, and genuine interest shone in her face.
I would have expected my instinct to have been wary of the newcomer, protective of the intricacies of my soul binding ability and the Persona upgrades which were on display in the clearing. Instead, I felt nothing but warmth and trust toward this woman, and a glance at the open smile on Cara’s face showed me that she felt the same.
