This transportation was more forceful than either of us had ever experienced before, but after a moment, we found ourselves standing in the midst of what seemed a city shrouded in nocturnal darkness, lit only by a full moon and the stars hanging in the sky above us. The architecture was strange, all high carved columns, monumental sandstone buildings, and cobbled streets. Everything seemed laid out in orderly lines and angles.
We stood in a market square that would have likely been packed with people during the day. At night, however, it was empty, and its shuttered wooden stalls and shop fronts surrounded us. In the middle, stood a statue of a man in armor.
Over the tops of the buildings, I could see the side of a great structure, something huge, a curved wall like the side of a massive circular building, bigger than any building I’d ever seen. The streets were dark and deserted, but the curved building was shining with light from many windows, and there was a loud roar as if thousands of people were chanting and stamping in a great open space.
A figure sat on a stone bench by a fountain some way away. He stood and approached us, and the moonlight shone on his rugged face.
“Ironside!” I said in surprise. It was indeed the spirit of the warrior who had guided me through gaining my very first Persona. He was dressed in a rich garment made of a single long white cloth, wrapped around him in many folds.
“What is this place?” Cara looked around in wonder at the strange city.
Ironside smiled. “This is a famous city which I enjoy coming to sometimes. Perhaps one day you will come here of your own accord. The people have a great destiny, but there is corruption and evil here too. If the Festering comes here, it may thrive, so I spend time here and keep watch. If it comes, I will tell the Keeper, and you may be called to cleanse this place too.”
He opened his hands in an expansive gesture. He looked solemn, but also pleased.
“But that is for the future,” he said. “For now, you two have done well. I can see that you have gained more Personas and discovered the way to share them, like the Keeper said you would. And now you have attained a powerful gift. I must teach you how to use it.”
“The medallion?” asked Cara.
“Yes.”
“If the way it brought us here is anything to go by, it seems incredibly powerful,” I said.
“It is. The medallion contains the essence of a warrior spirit so ancient that all sentience and coherence has gone from it. All that is left is a sense of the joy of battle, and the essence of his power in combat, bound up and reduced to its core with elemental magic.”
I thought about the medallion and received a flurry of emotions that came from outside myself. It pulled, like iron filings to a lodestone, as though the ancient hero spirit desired unity with others of its kind. It was, somehow, incomplete, and only joining with another Persona would fulfil its true purpose.
“I feel that it is drawn to join itself with the Personas,” I said to Ironside.
“Yes,” he said. “That is how it works. The oldest of the Persona spirits have forgotten even their own names, and the only thing that is left for them to do is to merge with a Persona which still has a coherent identity. Only a Soul Binder such as yourself has the ability to do this.”
“What effect will it have?” Cara asked.
“Who can tell?” said Ironside. “That will change depending on the user and the Persona you choose to merge it with. But it is a spirit of raw power, bound up with elemental earth magic.”
I considered what Ironside had said. This ancient hero could be merged with another Persona. Which one would be appropriate? Earth elemental magic was likely to bolster strength, in both defense and offense. The Kitsune depended on speed and sleight of hand, whereas the Tree Persona seemed adept at both magical attacks and ranged combat. The Ironside Persona was very much melee-based, although it did possess the enchanted throwing axes. I then had two options. Provide either the Kitsune or the Tree Spirit Personas with a boost to their strength via Earth magic, or double-down on the already substantial powers of the Ironside Persona.
I faced Ironside, my decision made.
“The Ironside Persona is the most appropriate place for a spirit like that,” I declared. “The nameless spirit will merge and become one with the Persona of Ironside.”
I held up my hand, and the medallion shone out brightly between my fingers. The whole strange square where we stood was illuminated, then, with a strong rising sensation, I felt the power flow through me and merge with the Ironside Persona.
“Go well, Soul Binder,” Ironside said, then he and the strange city faded around us into blackness.
We found ourselves back in our woodland glade, the sun still shining brightly. No time had passed. Cara and I jolted back to awareness as the power flowed through both of us. I was wearing the shinobi aspect of the Kitsune Persona, but I reached now for the Ironside armor.
It responded immediately, and heat washed through me as the armor slid into place. On my back was my two-handed axe, my smaller pair of axes, and my familiar shield. But in my hand there was something new: an enormous iron mace.
The thing was as tall as me. Its spiked head was as big as my own head, and its shaft was as thick as my forearm. It seemed to have been forged from a single enormous piece of black iron. As I looked at it, I could feel that it thrummed with raw power.
“It’s so big!” exclaimed Cara.
I hefted it one-handed and heard Kai gasp.
“How can you lift it?” she asked.
“Troll strength,” I stated. “I’ll
