I woke up in my bed with a jolt, sitting up and breathing heavily while wiping sweat from my forehead.
What was that dream? It wasn't like a dream at all, but a huge rush of events playing out in my head at light speed. My childhood flashed before my eyes, I felt the warmth that came from my mother's touch and the sting from the back of my father's hand. I felt my fingers digging into his neck when I was finally old enough to defend myself, and the light faded from his eyes. I was overflowing with sadness when I left my mother whom I loved to run away to this icy town to escape what I had done... Then my mother was frozen under the lake, a new victim of this town's ice murders, and my attempt at sinking Frankie into the lake. Then there were my friends, the investigation group. They saw my shadow, they learned of the horrible things I had done, and they still accepted me. We fought my shadow at the school, then we fought Claire's shadow using our mysterious persona at the frozen dojo, and then...
Then I remember holding Valerie in my arms in the dead of night. The frozen dojo that had swept us away to another world had returned us just as quickly after the fight. I held Valerie close as I tried to wake her up. She came to, and shortly after we found Crystal. Saito was the last of the bunch to turn up, and then we split and returned to our homes, promising to meet back up in the morning.
My dream last night, it was like how people say their lives flash right before their very eyes right before they die. But why did this happen to me?
"Agghh!!!" I let out a wail as my head filled with an intense pulsing sensation. My eyes rolled into the back of my head, and certain flashes started playing out in reverse. My fight with Frankie played out backwards, my mother in the lake, the grip on my father's neck loosened as everything moved backwards. Then new memories formed, memories that didn't feel real. I didn't fight back against my father, there was news of him getting a new job, he and mother and I all moved to this island together to get a fresh start...
My mother burst in the room and placed her hands on my face. "Max, Max are you okay sweetie?!" She stroked my face and I slowly felt my eyes roll back into place. The pressure on my head let up a bit, and I looked into her worried eyes.
"M- Mom?" I asked in confusion. But she was under the lake, dead. What was going on? Was this a dream now, what was happening?
"Max, your nose is bleeding," she said as she wiped the blood away with her finger. "I should get your father."
"Dad's here?" I asked in shock.
"Well where else would he be?" she asked.
"I don't- no, don't bother him, please. I think I hit myself in the face in my sleep, like really hard."
"Max? Are you sure?" she asked again as she ran her hand through my hair.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to try and go back to sleep, I'll let you know if anything else happens," I said.
She bought it, and after telling me goodnight she left the room. This room looked foreign to me. I stood up and looked out the window. I recognized the town, but this house was different, and my parents were here? I grabbed a tissue and wiped the rest of the blood from my nose, and I crawled back in bed and closed my eyes.
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"Well, I bet you're just brimming with questions," Igor said to me with a smile.
I sat on the sofa in the plane across from him yet again.
"I see that since our last meeting, you have taken on the Arcana of Death and have accepted Pale Rider as your Persona. You also seem to have regained all counts of what has happened to you and your friends in the previous timeline."
"The previous timeline?" I asked softly.
"Yes, through a chain of events, your timeline has entered a Shift, and while many things will remain the same, there are several things that have changed with the Shift. Unfortunately, not all of your friends may have made it through this Shift," Igor said without changing tone. "You experienced two flashes of memories recently, your old memories, and your new. The new memories have happened just as much as the old, only they happened without you."
"What?"
"Oh you'll see in time young one. But don't ponder about too long, after all, time waits for no one."
"I saw my mom, and she mentioned my dad being here... And my friends, you said they might not all have made the Shift, are they all okay?!"
"I'm afraid this is where we shall part ways. Until next time."
I felt myself slipping away. Igor started to disappear from my vision, until everything else had faded into nothing.
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I woke up again in what I supposed was my "new" room. I did a quick walk around the house to find that no one was home, but pictures of my family hung on the walls and I found what was definitely my parents bedroom. I washed my face in the bathroom and took a couple of Tylenol for my headache.
I remembered everything that had happened before, but those flashes in my head of where I am now, they didn't seem completely wrong either. My last solid memory was of holding Valerie, and meeting up with Crystal and Saito after the ice dojo debacle. Those were the only three of my friends that I had found. When we parted ways... I guess I came here. I would imagine I'd have went to my apartment, but I was so out of it that I must have come here to this house wthout even realizing how different it was. The thing Igor talked about, the Shift... It must have happened when the dojo spit us out. I wonder what else was different? Does everyone else have different lives like I have now? And what about our other friends, were they just chalked up to more disappearances on top of these ice murders?
I ran upstairs and grabbed my phone. I scrolled down to Crystal's number and gave her a call.
"Crystal..." I still felt confused about the whole purple-eyed Crystal and golden-eyed Crystal thing, but either way I knew that I was talking to 'her' somehow, "Hey, get a hold of Val and Saito. We need to figure this shit out."
What was that dream? It wasn't like a dream at all, but a huge rush of events playing out in my head at light speed. My childhood flashed before my eyes, I felt the warmth that came from my mother's touch and the sting from the back of my father's hand. I felt my fingers digging into his neck when I was finally old enough to defend myself, and the light faded from his eyes. I was overflowing with sadness when I left my mother whom I loved to run away to this icy town to escape what I had done... Then my mother was frozen under the lake, a new victim of this town's ice murders, and my attempt at sinking Frankie into the lake. Then there were my friends, the investigation group. They saw my shadow, they learned of the horrible things I had done, and they still accepted me. We fought my shadow at the school, then we fought Claire's shadow using our mysterious persona at the frozen dojo, and then...
Then I remember holding Valerie in my arms in the dead of night. The frozen dojo that had swept us away to another world had returned us just as quickly after the fight. I held Valerie close as I tried to wake her up. She came to, and shortly after we found Crystal. Saito was the last of the bunch to turn up, and then we split and returned to our homes, promising to meet back up in the morning.
My dream last night, it was like how people say their lives flash right before their very eyes right before they die. But why did this happen to me?
"Agghh!!!" I let out a wail as my head filled with an intense pulsing sensation. My eyes rolled into the back of my head, and certain flashes started playing out in reverse. My fight with Frankie played out backwards, my mother in the lake, the grip on my father's neck loosened as everything moved backwards. Then new memories formed, memories that didn't feel real. I didn't fight back against my father, there was news of him getting a new job, he and mother and I all moved to this island together to get a fresh start...
My mother burst in the room and placed her hands on my face. "Max, Max are you okay sweetie?!" She stroked my face and I slowly felt my eyes roll back into place. The pressure on my head let up a bit, and I looked into her worried eyes.
"M- Mom?" I asked in confusion. But she was under the lake, dead. What was going on? Was this a dream now, what was happening?
"Max, your nose is bleeding," she said as she wiped the blood away with her finger. "I should get your father."
"Dad's here?" I asked in shock.
"Well where else would he be?" she asked.
"I don't- no, don't bother him, please. I think I hit myself in the face in my sleep, like really hard."
"Max? Are you sure?" she asked again as she ran her hand through my hair.
"Yeah, I think I'm going to try and go back to sleep, I'll let you know if anything else happens," I said.
She bought it, and after telling me goodnight she left the room. This room looked foreign to me. I stood up and looked out the window. I recognized the town, but this house was different, and my parents were here? I grabbed a tissue and wiped the rest of the blood from my nose, and I crawled back in bed and closed my eyes.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Well, I bet you're just brimming with questions," Igor said to me with a smile.
I sat on the sofa in the plane across from him yet again.
"I see that since our last meeting, you have taken on the Arcana of Death and have accepted Pale Rider as your Persona. You also seem to have regained all counts of what has happened to you and your friends in the previous timeline."
"The previous timeline?" I asked softly.
"Yes, through a chain of events, your timeline has entered a Shift, and while many things will remain the same, there are several things that have changed with the Shift. Unfortunately, not all of your friends may have made it through this Shift," Igor said without changing tone. "You experienced two flashes of memories recently, your old memories, and your new. The new memories have happened just as much as the old, only they happened without you."
"What?"
"Oh you'll see in time young one. But don't ponder about too long, after all, time waits for no one."
"I saw my mom, and she mentioned my dad being here... And my friends, you said they might not all have made the Shift, are they all okay?!"
"I'm afraid this is where we shall part ways. Until next time."
I felt myself slipping away. Igor started to disappear from my vision, until everything else had faded into nothing.
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I woke up again in what I supposed was my "new" room. I did a quick walk around the house to find that no one was home, but pictures of my family hung on the walls and I found what was definitely my parents bedroom. I washed my face in the bathroom and took a couple of Tylenol for my headache.
I remembered everything that had happened before, but those flashes in my head of where I am now, they didn't seem completely wrong either. My last solid memory was of holding Valerie, and meeting up with Crystal and Saito after the ice dojo debacle. Those were the only three of my friends that I had found. When we parted ways... I guess I came here. I would imagine I'd have went to my apartment, but I was so out of it that I must have come here to this house wthout even realizing how different it was. The thing Igor talked about, the Shift... It must have happened when the dojo spit us out. I wonder what else was different? Does everyone else have different lives like I have now? And what about our other friends, were they just chalked up to more disappearances on top of these ice murders?
I ran upstairs and grabbed my phone. I scrolled down to Crystal's number and gave her a call.
"Crystal..." I still felt confused about the whole purple-eyed Crystal and golden-eyed Crystal thing, but either way I knew that I was talking to 'her' somehow, "Hey, get a hold of Val and Saito. We need to figure this shit out."
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