Shin Megami Tensei: Demonic Whispers From Your True Self

The setting sun's rays were hidden behind the walls and buildings that stood around the graveyard of old train cars. The shadows of the surroundings cast a sinister, foreboding darkness on the place, while the sky was split in half; the orange rays of the sunset teetering on the edge of the purple darkness of the oncoming night. The clear, dim bulbs that were hanging above barely staved off the darkness and hung from strings of cord from one wall to another, just a few feet above the train cars. There is one traincar in particular, that looked incredibly different from the rest. It did not seem old, ruses, or broken down. The glass in the windows weren't cracked or smashed, and the metal it was made from wasn't dented. The silvery car with tinted windows sat smack dab between two other rusty cars on the same old train track, and looked severely out of place--in fact, it seemed to have this attractive yet mystifying aura surrounding it.

Jeanne stood there, under the dim light of a string of bulbs, looking at what seemed to be a brand new traincar sitting right in the middle of all the old ones. Her cane dug into the gravel as she pressed her weight on it. She pulled her eyes off the car and looked up at the dim lights. The light glow gave off a feeling of warmth against the cool breeze and the encroaching night.

"This is the place," the woman said softly, under her breath. She tugged at the sleeve of her thick sweater. It was white, and fluffy, with some colourful patterns dancing only across her chest, in red, blue and yellow. "Now what?"

"Well we could look around." Lilim had her trademark flirty tone that never left, even when they'd first met just a little while earlier. Jeanne didn't know what the hell was going on and Lilim was just as calm and flirty as ever. When Lilim explained a bit that she was Jeanne's demon, it made things even more confusing. So they were both here to find answers.

Cadassi stood there in the dim, wavering light, and observed the train station he'd been told to go to. Just me luck, he thought darkly, getting pulled back into this demon ♥♥♥♥ again. Great.

"You know you rrreally want to be here; stop thinking that way, mreow." Cadassi jumped at the sound of Nekomata's cat-like voice. The furry demon licked her paws and wiggled her tail in the air for a bit, then looked up at him. "There's, mreow, someone else here..." She turned back to licking her paws, purring contentedly. Someone else here... Could it be like that time in Tokyo, with the train crash that killed nearly 100 people?

"No. Not enough people here for that. Where are the others?" The cat-demon shrugged her shoulders, and he sighed. He should have known better than to trust her to give him more information; not only was she a demon... but she was a cat. That was a bad combination.

He thought back to the package he'd received in the mail some time ago; a note and some demon tubes. He knew, as soon as he saw the tubes, that something bad was going to happen. When he found out that he'd gotten a Nekomata of all things he'd wanted to kill himself; that definitely meant bad news. The demon had tried to explain things to him, but he'd stopped her and forced her back inside the tube. Ever since then, she's refused to even see the thing. Just like Katt, that one...

Suddenly, Cadassi heard the sound of two females talking. He stood still, resting his hand on the case of Sheeron and feeling the cold metal on his hand. He strained his ears, trying to listen, but only managed to hear what direction it was coming from. Curious, he motioned the demon to follow and started to walk. The soft pads of Nekomata's paws hitting the cement alerted him to her presence, and as he walked he could gradually here the voices getting louder. He stopped.

"...is the place. Now what?"

"Well, we could look around." The flirtatious voice made him a little less cautious, and he stepped around the corner of one of the rusting trains. He caught sight of two females; one with wings - which he guessed to be a Lilim, though he couldn't be sure - and one plain human. He sighed with relief and called out to them.

"Hey, you got the package, too?" The he saw what they were looking at. A silver train, complete with glass windows and everything, stood among the crumbling station as if everything were normal. It looked as if it were ready to pick up passengers in this place, and something about it just made him want to get closer.

What's a brand new train doing in a place like this, anyways? I knew I shouldn't have bothered to come here...

Akari up until a couple of hours ago was just a normal student. That was until she actually got mail for once from some mysterious sender. It was a small square package wrapped in brown paper with her name and address written in flowing black ink at the top of the package. Akari really didn't care who sent it-she was more interested in seeing what was inside.

When she ripped the paper off and opened the box, there was three silver tubes; two of them were empty, one was full with something. She was shocked when an angel out of all things burst out of one of the tubes just as her e-mail dinged.

So, now she was at a train graveyard because the angel (who introduced herself as a Power much to Akari's delight) had insisted that she followed the directions of the e-mail she received (also from this mysterious sender) looking for where they were supposed to be meeting up with this mysterious person.

In the meantime while they were looking for the exact spot, Akari was annoying Power with questions.

"So, why were you sent to me in that tube?" Akari asked as she used her flashlight to cast a dim light across the decrypted train cars. What the hell was she even supposed to be looking for? Some creepy person standing around in a cloak with their face being covered?

"I don't know." Power's words well pronounced, although she had a slight accent that Akari couldn't quite place. Considering she was a being from Abraham lore, it was probably Hebrew. "I wasn't given information on who was chosen nor why."

There was a brief moment of silence as Akari tried to think of more questions to ask. Well, to decide on which question to ask next; Akari had a lot of questions. However, it was shortly broken by Power.

"There are others here." It was four simple words, but it did an effective job on perking Akari's curiosity.

"Really? Who?"

"I do not know whom they are, but they are up ahead," Power informed her, looking a bit towards the left, her blonde hair blowing in the wind. Akari looked in the direction where Power was looking, casting her blue-tinted light as she looked. She didn't see anybody, but if Power said there was someone there, she figure someone was there. She didn't think for one moment that Power was lying to her-in Hebrew folklore they were the keepers of conscious (and history) after all.

"Well, let's go check it out," she said with a grin, as she began to walk towards the direction Power indicated, gravel crunching under her sneakers. As she approached, she could see four figures softly illuminated by the dim bulbs which were hanging a few feet above the train cars. Their voices carried in the stillness of the night, and she managed to catch the last few snippets of the conversation.

"Well, we could look around."

"Hey, you got the package too?"

As Akari approached, she noticed two of them was a man and a woman; both of whom were obviously older then her. In addition there was two other creatures straight out of mythology; a devil womean (Akari could tell by the bat wings and devil tail) and a nekomata. Power snorted a bit as she saw the other two beings. Akari ignored her and approached the two adults.

"Hello," she said with a smile. "It seems that I'm not the only one with a companion straight out of mythology."

"I am not a mythological creature," Power said shortly, her voice tight. "I am very real, and you will do to remember that." Akari turned and gave the angel an easy smile.

"Sorry," she said in an attempt to placate the angel.

"Package delivery."

Those words were two that had a profound impact on Mel's life. After signing for the package, he took it to his hotel room and opened it up. Inside he found three silver tubes and a small letter telling him to be at the trainyard by dusk.

Mel blinked, wondering what this was about before glancing out the window to check the time. The sun was just cresting the distant mountains, its golden rays spreading across the lands. The sun was setting as he sat there, so Mel grabbed his pack and left the hotel for the trainyard.

Entering the trainyard at a brisk pace, Mel glanced around wondering where to go from here. A light gleamed from somewhere within the area, so Mel made his way there hoping it was the right place. It turned out to be the last sunrays reflecting off a traincar that looked to be brand new.

There were other people there too, he noticed. An older woman with - at this Mel had to blink, this couldn't be right - a younger woman with wings and a tail. Maybe it was some cosplay thing he had heard student talk about. He glanced briefly at the other four people, seeing a man fingering a handgun with a companion with two tails and a girl around his age with a large figure with angel wings and a spear of all things.

Mel walked forward to join them when one of his silver tubes heated up and from within it burst a being much larger than him with black crow wings and a priest's staff. It floated in front of him, a black mask set on its face that seemed to be... judging him? Finally it nodded, with what seemed to be approval and spoke.

"Name's Karasu-Tengu." It extended its hand to Mel, "Put 'ere there."

Stunned at what was happening, Mel took its hand and shook it firmly.

"I'm Mel Ryan, nice ta meet ya." Mel glanced at Karasu-Tengu, then back over at the others. If this wasn't some weird cosplay with special effects, which he was beginning to doubt now, then things just took a turn for the unknown.

Mel walked forward, Karasu-Tengu floating along behind and slightly to the right of him, and asked, "So, I'm guessin all ya got a package too?"

Immediately as the other people approached, Lilim hissed at Karasu Tengu and Power from over Jeanne's shoulder, but paid little to no attention to Nekomata as she retreated to float behind the stalwart Jeanne, who paid no mind to Lilim's antics.

"I thought I was the only one..." It seemed they'd all had received the package and were told the come here. But just them alone? Four of them, not counting the demons? "Hm, what an even, odd bunch." She said under her breath as she turned towards the new-looking traincar and began walking towards it. "It seems that," she pointed with her cane in between steps, "is our goal." When she approached, she rapped the door of the car with her cane. The metal made a low, hollow but ringing sound that gradually and seemingly rhythmically got higher.

As the ringing sound stopped, the door slowly and silently slid open. Inside was a large room--somehow larger than the car itself, as if they'd stepped into another dimension. There were deep blue, thick curtains hanging on the walls, and under their feet was an incredibly plush, thick carpet that extended from all to wall. The colour was a hue of blue that was closer to purple.

At the exact center of the room was a round, wooden coffee table. On both sides of the table were couches. One on the left and one on the right. And a pair of twin women sat upon them. If they weren't positioned differently, one would believe it was a mirror that was placed in the center of the room. One of the twins sat with a thick blue-covered book on her lap, supporting a laptop that she was working on. The other hat sat cross-legged and leaned forward, at least until their guests arrived.

The one without the laptop stood up and bowed. "Welcome," she said as if she were programmed to do it. "I am Lili."

"And I am Lulu." The one with the laptop spoke, not taking her eyes away from the screen in front of her.

"We have requested your help."

"The rumors are going out of control."

They spoke like computers; well programmed to complete each others' sentences, and complement each other without fail. Like two halves of one whole with two voices. Lili, however, was addressing them directly, with a smile, while Lulu sat behind her laptop, forever typing away.

"If nothing is done to contain them."

"The Great Will, Kagutsuchi will return and it will be..."

"... The end of us all."

And in unison, they completed their speech. "We do not want this to happen. And we have chosen you to help us."

"Find the rumor mill; unravel the mystery." Lili sat back down and faced away, as if expecting the guests to leave. "Return when you have two or more demons. Return if you wish."

If Akari wasn't confused before, she sure was now. She usually kept to herself and as a result wasn't up to date on the latest gossip, or in the case, rumors. But what did rumors have to destroying them all? Sure, they could ruin a person's reputation, she had seen that happen plenty of times in the news or in a book.

Also, how were they supposed to stop a rumor mill? No one person starts all the rumors. And why did they need these extra terrestrial beings? And what they asking to get more demons? Power was an angel, not a demon.

"Why us?" It was similar to the question she had asked Power earlier, but perhaps these two would know the answer to her inquiry.

Cadassi spent a few seconds processing the information he'd been given; it was all too much like the Tokyo Incident. He shuddered, looked about the room, and closed his eyes. He wanted to hit something, to break something; he hated this. He didn't like demons, he didn't like their tamers, and he definitely didn't like these women.

"Why us?" Why us? They knew we'd answer the call, that's why. He looked at the walls of the train - if it could even be called that - and noted that it was very... not train-like. It had a mystical quality to it, as if this entire thing wasn't exactly real. I can relate, though. Something like this already happened to me, but I wasn't able to stick around long enough to find out what it was. I'm glad I didn't.

Cadassi decided to cut in on their conversation, too anxious to wait any longer. "So, you just expect us to jump in - four ordinary people - and somehow save the world? Sure, we have demons, but what if they die? What if we die?!"

OoC: This particular post is going to be in Lili's perspective, since I think it's best that I don't move things along from my own character's view.

BiC: "Why us?" The sound of the woman's voice reverberated around the room as the monotonous typing continued on with a steady click, click. Lili turned around and looked up, her hair swinging about as she did so, and looked at the woman with piercing eyes that seemed to look into her soul. She spoke.

"We chose you because we knew you were right for the job."

"What job?" It was another voice from the group of four, though Lili could not have said which one it came from. She looked to her sister, and Lulu nodded. Lili turned back to their guests. They spoke once more.

"That has yet to be decided. Will you swerve left or right?"

"Up or down?"

"The job depends on your decisions,"

"and the decisions depend on your job."

"Will you come to save? To control? To destroy?"

"The choice is yours." The room appeared to spin, as if their time was coming to a close, and Lili noted that she'd need to talk to each of them individually at some point. The spinning gradually grew faster as time wore on, and she continued to answer questions from those in the group. Time was running out.

"So, you just expect us to jump in - four ordinary people - and somehow save the world? Sure, we have demons, but what if they die? What if we die?!" The voice was loud, cutting into Lili's own, and she turned to him with a slightly annoyed look in her eye. She put her feelings aside, however, and composed herself; it wouldn't do to let her emotions take precedent. Her job was more important than that.

"You will do what needs to be done. Whether your thrive or die is up to your own actions."

"You keep saying 'our own actions', but what does that even mean?"

"It means you have no set goal, no set path; what you do from here on is decided by you and you alone."

"B-"

"Now, I think our time here is done. We will meet again." Her words began to fade into the distance as the room began to spin faster, faster, faster. The group of four began to grow smaller and smaller, until they were barely visible. Then everything stopped, and they appeared in the train yard again - but the silver train was gone.

Lulu looked to her sister, stopping the motions of typing, and spoke. "I wonder what they'll do from here?"

Lili looked off in the distance, contemplating what would become of the four. Anything could happen, really. Anything. "Who knows? They may not even survive." Lulu resumed her typing, Lili turned around again, sighing.

"You better get back to work, Lili."

"Indeed."

Akari found herself outside in the train graveyard along with Power and her other rather mysterious comrades and their demons. The dim lights above the rail cars swayed gently in the slight breeze, causing the group to alternate between being in the shadows and in the light.

"Well," Akari said, breaking the silence. "Wasn't that helpful?"

Belle thought back to when this had all started. She was in her home, painting a picture like usual. However, "usual" was not the correct term to use once she received a package with three silver tubes and a letter telling her to be at the trainyard by dusk. She didn't understand what this package was about, but everything got even more confusing once a flaming bird unleashed from one of the tubes. It introduced itself as Phoenix, her new companion.

"You are going to be late!" Phoenix exclaimed. Belle did her best to keep up with her demon, but it was impossible, as he could fly and she couldn't. Even her excellent speed couldn't do anything to keep up with the mythological creature.

"I don't even know what's going on!" Belle yelled back at Phoenix.

"Please, quickly!"

"I'M COMING!"

Eventually, however, Belle made it to the graveyard of old train cars. She was exhausted, as she was sprinting to her fullest for several, several minutes. However, once she finished panting to regain her strength, she noticed a group of eight - four humans and four...demons.

"Oh, uh, hi...Did you guys receive the packages, too? Oh, what am I saying? I'm an idiot, and I'm very sorry! Of course you received the packages! You're all here, with your demons, hehe...," Belle said nervously. She glanced back at Phoenix, who looked very ashamed. He was very sophisticated and respectable, so her humiliating behavior probably made him look bad.

"Sorry, Phoenix...," Belle said, allowing her voice to slowly die along the way of her speech.

Cadassi looked around in wonderment, but then shook his head in spite and suddenly felt the urge to vomit. This was all too familiar: Demons arise and then some stupid fools have to risk their lives to stop them. That's what the JPs were for, though... And I'm the last JP, to my knowledge. Does that mean it falls upon me to stop it, or can I run away from my fate once more? He thought back to the time he barely escaped... when... Stop thinking about that, you fool. It's bad enough you had to live through it - now's not the time to start reminiscing.

"Well, wasn't that helpful?" He looked to one of the people in this group - realizing he still didn't know their names - and sighed. It was a bit more helpful than she knew. They basically said they could run away if they wanted to. Suddenly, several beeps occurred all at once as each of their phones rang. It wasn't a call, though, it was a text.

Go to the hIgH sCHoOl
You wiilll find yoor
ansers th. . .
- A friend

The message cut off abruptly at the letters t and h, and Cadassi found it... odd. He'd seen this somewhere, before; the strange messages. "I wonder what it means?" He looked around the train yard, expecting something to jump out at him before he continued to speak. "And which high school do they want us to go to?"

"Maybe they want you to go to all of them? Mreow." Nekomata appeared suddenly beside him and took his phone from him, reading over the message several times before handing it back to Cadassi and turning to look at... something. He sighed and pocketed the device, looking to the others for answer.

"Oh, uh, hi...Did you guys receive the packages, too? Oh, what am I saying? I'm an idiot, and I'm very sorry! Of course you received the packages! You're all here, with your demons, hehe...," He jumped, the voice appearing suddenly behind him and turned. Oh great, another one...

Mel shook his head, trying to get his vision straight. Weird things were happening all around him. Demons? Out of control rumors? He'd heard whispers about malignant spirits traveling this earth, but he'd dismissed them as urban legends. To find out it was true and he was being asked, not alone thankfully, to deal with it? It was almost too much to bear.

Mel glanced over at the gun toting man who spoke up about some kind of text message he'd recieved. He began to search himself for his own phone when another person showed up in the trainyard. It was a blonde student with what appeared to be a bird on fire on her shoulder.

He blinked, momentarily at a loss for words. Were there still more people involved he had yet to meet?

The group of people standing before Belle simply stood there, staring straight at her. This caused her to blush, unsure of what to do or say. She attempted to produce words and speak, but nothing came out of her mouth. She continued to breathe heavily, this time out of both exhaustion and embarrassment, looking like an idiot. Her cheeks continued to slowly increase in brightness, getting redder every second.

"So...what did I miss?" she asked, now able to finally speak. She was trying to ease the tension in the atmosphere, but she wasn't exactly sure if it was successful.

Akari studied the new comer thoughtfully. She was a blonde girl about her age and in the dim light she sort of a hipster without the glasses. She had a phoenix flying around her (it wasn't that hard to figure out what it was; between it being on fire and Akari's knowledge in ancient mythology, it was rather easy to figure out) looking as if it was annoyed.

Well, it could join Power in the club.

"So, what did I miss?" the girl asked. Akari shrugged as she flipped out her cell phone to check the text she had just received.

Go to the hIgH sCHoOl
You wiilll find yoor
ansers th. . .
- A friend

Hello answers. Akari smiled a bit at the text as she shut the light blue phone closed with a snap, the small Patamon phone charm swaying a bit.

"Not much," she answered the girl.

"Not much," a girl answered to Belle. She seemed to be similar to Belle age-wise, and also seemed to be the same height as her. She then looked at the girl's outfit, which was very casual, which made Belle rethink considering her current outfit casual. Beside her was a pink-skinned angelic figure that looked annoyed, just like Phoenix.

"Oh, well, that's great! Yeah, that's...," Belle said, slowly letting her words die off. It felt awkward for Belle, as she didn't know these people and the whole situation was very..."out of this world".

Belle, while thinking, heard cellphone noises beeping all around. She then looked toward everyone, noticing that they were all getting a message, most likely the same message. Belle then responded to this by reaching into her pocket and taking out her white iPhone 4S, only to see no new message.

"I think we should move on." Cadassi stepped back as the others continued to speak, and he thought to the twins and the text they'd received. It was all... a little too convenient. And what are we supposed to make of this newcomer? Will she even be safe, now that she's gotten involved? Could we just leave her here and hope that she doesn't get tied up with all this? He shook his head in defeat; getting that package meant that she was already a part of this. There was no way out for any of them.

"Should we head to the school like the text said? It isn't like we have anything better to do, I mean." Yeah, but then we'll be playing right into their hands.

"Well I still have no idea what is going on, so I am definetly going," Akari informed the group. Between Power and the twins, nobody seemed interested in giving her a straight answer. It wasn't so much to ask to want to know what you were signing up for.

"Uh, sure!" Belle exclaimed. She didn't know what school they were talking about, as she had not received this message, but what she did know was that this school had the possibility of being the only way for her to answer these unanswered questions in her mind. She then glanced toward Phoenix, who nodded to her, which she took as a sign of approval. If the mythological fire bird said yes, then Belle thought that she should too.

Cadassi, looked at the other two of the group, and they just kinda shrugged their shoulders. They didn't seem to care at all about this, and he figured they'd probably be leaving this up to him and the other two who said yeah. Great.

"So I take it you two are going to be parting with us now, correct?" They nodded, and he sighed in defeat. That was two people that he wouldn't have to watch out for, sure, but that was also two less who could watch his back. Kinda depressing. "Be seein' ya, then," he said as they walked off. They threw up a hand in farewell, each going in an opposite direction. Symbolic, given the fact the three remaining could choose any path they wished at this point. Everything was up to them.

"So, I guess I'm going to be driving us there?" He took a step in the direction he'd originally come from, since he'd parked his vehicle right outside the abandoned station.

Akari gave a sheepish smile. She didn't own a car, like many Japanese. She usually biked or took the subway. It got her around no problem, so she didn't see why fix what wasn't broken.

"Sorry for the inconvenience," she apologized with a slight bow.

"I will be able to follow from the skies," Power said tersely. "Do not worry about me."