Persona - Fracture

A World in Shambles

April, 8 BP – Before Peace

"Darn it!" Yasaka slammed his hand on the wooden table, frightening the rodents in the corner of his room. He glared at the map nailed across his room as if the map would just burn to ash, but a moment later he sighed and slumped in his chair.

"What's going on, boss?" One of mercenaries he had hired opened the door slowly. Streaks of deep, dark purple hair followed by a young face with two purple orbs, along with the clinking sounds of his combat boots told Yasaka which one had entered.

It was a young, approximately seventeen-years old boy and his secretary. He wore a blue shirt with light purple trimming over a grey shirt, dark blue pants, and blue shoes. He also had a short, red cape held in place by a yellow medallion.

"We still haven't recovered any territories from the Emperor's grasp. Just imagine how many people must be suffering right now." The man sighed further. Despite being twenty-two in age, with all of his headaches and war jargon he felt like a sixty-year old grandpa.

Yasaka Narukami wasn't that tall for normal middle-aged men. His rich, red hair framed his face wildly, somehow fitting for his personality.

Yasaka wore a simple grey polo under a black long-sleeved shirt with purple lines and trimming. Over that he had on a red coat held in place by his army's emblem. Other than that, he had grey pants and purple shoes. His sword was tucked in a corner safely, inside a purple sheath.

...and he didn't know who hell his parents were. Seriously, Yasaka was fine, but what family that uses the surname "Screaming God"?

Amethyst eyes peered out from under his bangs as his subordinate spoke up.

"Um, boss, I don't think you've heard the rumors yet..." The mercenary gulped a little. His eyes tried to look anywhere but his employer. To Yasaka, he seemed very nervous.

"What rumors, Higokaru?" Yasaka had a kind voice, sure, but it sounded strained. Probably because he was tired.

"Shun said there's been sightings of a black-haired murderer lately around the border. I really worry for our strike force positioned there." The now-named Higokaru replied.

"What? Are you absolutely sure?" The red-haired man was alarmed. The strike force on the border was poorly-informed to deal with the incoming threat.

"I don't know. Shun told me." Higokaru shrugged.

Yasaka gritted his teeth. The situation had gone from bad to worse if what Higokaru said was true. He pulled out a crystal, sky blue in color, and slammed some sort of paper on the surface. The crystal glowed, then projected an image.

"Hiya, boss! What's up?" The voice of Shun Huang, Higokaru's second in command, appeared on the screen. His parted black hair showed a headband emblazoned with the symbol of Yasaka's army. He had on a black hoodie with yellow trimmings, matching black pants, and red shoes. Yasaka noted the gauntlet-like mechanism strapped on Shun's right arm.

"Shun! Tell Finn, if that is even his real name, and the strike force to pull back! Forget about your mission; place all of your safety above all else! If what you're telling is true, there is a threat around your area, and I'm not taking any chances!" Yasaka said in a rushed voice full of worry.

"Got it, boss!" On the screen, Yasaka and Higokaru saw Shun glancing at the side, barking orders for the strike force to pack up and get ready to return to base.

After a while, Shun's gaze returned to the screen. Unlike any other emo people Yasaka knew, Shun's pitch-black irises held mischievousness within them, not apathy or hate or some kind of negative emotion.

"Alright, mission aborted. Open the gate for us, ya hear me, boss?" Shun grinned. He was surprisingly carefree for someone who had just been forced to abandon his mission.

"Sure, I'll do that. And..." He was hesitant to ask, because when analyzing the rumors, his train of thought led to one person he couldn't believe would do it.

"What... Oh, about that rumor, eh? Don'tcha worry boss! Higokaru-taichou may have or have not told you this, but that murderer has a sword, not a crossbow like mine!" Shun answered, laying the fears in Yasaka's mind to rest. At least, the minor one.

"Thank heavens it's not you. Now just get back here and don't die. Yasaka out." Yasaka saw Shun salute before the projection disappeared. Yasaka peeled the paper and tucked it inside one of the drawers on his table.

"Now Higokaru, why didn't you tell me that mysterious murderer had a sword?" The red-haired man directed his gaze at Higokaru. The latter's sweat doubled as he felt chills going down his spine. Higokaru smiled forcefully.

"Uh, um, I just remembered that I got an appointment with one of the recruits. Bye boss!" With that, he scurried out of the room in a hurry. Yasaka stared at his retreating back, then laughed a bit.

He stood up and walked into the balcony. His room was on the third floor of his base, easily accessed by an elevator. His troops complained about climbing long sets of stairs just to deliver a single page of document to him, so an elevator was made. It even had classical elevator music!

"Damn, this world sucks." Was Yasaka's only comment as he gazed upon the land he governed over. There were villages, towns, cities or varying size and populace, there were farms, forests. Just above average for a land.

But that's not the main topic. It was the sky. The sun had almost disappeared, blanketed by the severely thick black and gray clouds, with only silvers of sunlight bursting through the darkness. Despite the rain that fell periodically every week or so, the sky is still dark. It's the kind of sky you'll usually see in a post-apocalyptic world. You know the crapsack worlds.

The Emperor's castle, a gigantic evil-looking obelisk sitting atop a normal castle was visible in the distance. Yasaka's ultimate goal was to see it burn to ashes on the ground, but so far he hasn't made any progress. Yet.

As Yasaka's eyes roamed around the land, trying to refresh his eyes from the sight of mountains of paperwork containing food distribution, weapons trade, mercenary offerings for recruitments, alliances with local cities, and so on, his eyes saw something very unusual.

In a split second, in the nearest city to his base, he saw a shadow blurting through the city alley. He wasn't close enough to get a glimpse of the shadow, the only thing he saw was a large, brown sheath or scabbard, and a flowing silver cape-like thing.

Yasaka blinked once. Twice. Thrice even.

"...What the hell?" He tried to focus his senses, but the shadow was no longer there. It must have been his imagination.

"I'm tripping out..." He sighed and returned to his office, heading for the elevator. Time to grab some food from the restaurant. As he descended the base, he couldn't shake the feeling that he had seen that shadow before...

To be continued in the next chapter.

Next Time – The Blue Rose

After getting some food, Yasaka went to his office to plan some strategies to hopefully save the people from the Emperor's grasp. Shun and the strike force returns, we get to meet the rest of the major people in the army, and the Emperor makes his move...