Memory Lane

16. Minions of darkness

16. Minions of darkness

After a couple of hours away from the House of Balance, Ego returned to the Memory Palace and the waiting embrace of his master.

"nothing once more, Ego. What a pity. Why should you still live then?!!" Superego looked down from the double doors at his defeated subordinate, then grabbed him up by the scruff and held him up against the second door of the palace.

"Persona's still out there through!" Ego said.

"I see. Your stamina fails you. It has come to my attention that I may not be able to continue my campaign short of hands" Superego put Ego back down and had an idea. From his hands, he molded five balls of dark energy, before commanding them to rise up. Each one morphed into a formidable armed minion around the same height as Ego.

"maybe these can help you. if all else fails, I'll deal with Fred and his freaks myself" Superego introduced the minions to Ego.

"go!!. Find the human, find the girl, find the shadow!!. Kill all who stand in your way!!" Superego ordered the minions, who dispersed off the front steps of the palace and ran off into the mindscape.

Further down the mindscape, night fell outside on the hills outside the House of Balance, with Fred and the others lounging by a campfire.

"this is nice" Anima looked up at the stars.

"I agree" Fred said softly.

"what's wrong?" Anima sat up.

"I don't know. There's just so much going on right now, I'm not sure if I can keep up" Fred explained and stared into the fire.

"well, you have us now. That counts for something" Silhouette added.

"probably something" Fred reckoned

"I have an idea" Silhouette continued. He then reached into the center of his shadowy chest and pulled out a large box.

"what's that?" Fred looked at the box.

"a little something from the land of Id" Silhouette's shadowy hand reached over to the handle and opened up the box, releasing a large flutter of colorful butterfly's around the fire.

"they're beautiful" Anima looked up at the spectacle.

"speak your mind into their wings. Your fears, bad thoughts, everything tying you down" Silhouette instructed Fred. He held onto one butterfly and held it close to his mouth, speaking into the wings as told. For some strange reason, Fred could feel the negativity flow right out of him into the wings of the butterfly which flew off into the flurry above.

"that actually feels a little better" Fred admitted to the shadow.

"like magic!" Silhouette gestured his hands on the grass beside the fire as he took the shadows of several butterflies onto his arms and chuckled.

"you too seem to be having fun" Anima looked over from the other side of the fire.

"want to join in?" Fred offered.

"maybe" Anima moved around and started playing with the butterflies, leading to a night of laughter and country fun.