Mapping Eterna
Day 6 – Mapping the Unknown
The decision was made.
They could no longer afford to be wanderers, reacting to Eterna's chaos. They had to claim control, no matter how fleeting.
With sharpened determination, Eris and Ash set out—not to escape—but to understand.
Step One: The First Map
Eris took the lead in recording their movements. Using a scavenged notebook and scraps of parchment from ruined buildings, she began to map the streets they had crossed, marking landmarks and keeping track of the shelters they had found.
By midday, they had identified three safe shelters:
1. A collapsed library – The books were nothing but husks, but the structure was stable.
2. A hollowed-out bell tower – Though its chimes were long gone, the height gave them a vantage point.
3. An abandoned storehouse – It reeked of something almost alive, but the creatures didn't step inside.
Eterna was revealing itself in fragments.
Step Two: Understanding the City's Rules
Through trial and error, they noticed a pattern—some areas felt more real than others. The air was thicker, the ground firmer beneath their feet. They could breathe easier. Time flowed normally. These were their safe zones.
Conversely, there were streets where the laws of existence frayed. Shadows moved when they shouldn't. Structures flickered in and out of solidity. These unstable zones weren't just dangerous; they were weapons waiting to be used.
It was Ash who first tested the theory.
A distortion—a twisted mockery of a person—stalked them through the alleyways. Instead of running, he led it into an unstable street.
The moment the creature stepped in, the street trembled. The distortion let out a guttural shriek before its body collapsed into the ground, sinking as though reality itself rejected it.
"We can use this," Ash said.
From then on, they shifted their approach. Instead of running from distortions, they lured them into Eterna's instability, letting the city itself swallow them whole. By nightfall, they had slain seven distortions, not through brute force, but through calculated tactics.
Step Three: Experimenting with Power
While Eris marked the streets and Ash tested Eterna's fractures, they refined their abilities.
Eris layered her sigils in new ways, reinforcing their effects.
Ash, on the other hand, changed his approach to time magic. Rather than trying to freeze himself, he experimented on objects—a thrown stone, a broken chair, even the movements of a flickering candle.
The results were promising.
By the time the sixth day ended, Eterna was no longer just a prison. It was a puzzle waiting to be solved.
---
Saria's Notes:
Finally, they are learning to adapt instead of react.
Day 7 – The Hidden Truth
The momentum from the previous day carried them forward.
They expanded their map, filling in gaps and marking new safe shelters. Four more were discovered: 4. A ruined bridge's underside – The air was damp, but nothing crossed it. 5. An abandoned bathhouse – The pools had long since dried, but the tiles were solid. 6. A derelict theatre – The stage was broken, yet the seats remained untouched, as if waiting. 7. The cathedral – Their starting point, now claimed as a beacon of familiarity.
With each shelter mapped, they used them as waypoints, ensuring no street was left uncharted.
The Discovery
It was Eris who first noticed it. As they reviewed their notes, comparing the ever-shifting streets of Eterna with the stable shelters, a pattern emerged.
No street held more than one shelter.
No matter how many times the streets changed, looped, or distorted, as long as a connected shelter remained in that street, it meant they had explored there before.
"It's like... anchors," Ash murmured.
Eterna was shifting, twisting, but the shelters were fixed points. If they could map every shelter, they could map Eterna itself.
It was a breakthrough.
The Battle for Control
By evening, they had encountered more distortions than ever before. Some crawled, some floated, their limbs twisting in ways that defied the mind's ability to comprehend. But this time, they were ready.
They led the creatures into unstable spaces. They trapped them between buildings that weren't fully there. Eris used sigils to reinforce collapsing structures, ensuring no distortions escaped.
When the dust settled, twenty distortions were gone.
For the first time, it felt like victory.
---
Nightfall – No Rest, No Relief
The triumph was short-lived.
As they settled into the cathedral for the night, exhaustion took hold. Their bodies ached, their minds frayed.
Then came the nightmares.
Eterna would not let them rest.
Ash's Nightmare – The Isolation of Power
He stood in an endless void, where time did not exist.
His own magic had betrayed him—a moment stretched too long, a second frozen too tightly. He had tried to control it, to keep himself from slipping, but he had lost.
His body was frozen in place. His mind was awake.
Years passed. Decades. Centuries.
No one could reach him. No one could save him.
"You did this to yourself," a voice whispered.
He screamed, but no sound came.
Eris's Nightmare – Becoming Celeste
She stood over Celeste's body, her hands slick with blood.
She had done it.
She had taken what was hers—her sister's name, power, life. And yet, no one noticed. No one questioned it.
Because they never saw Eris. They only ever saw Celeste.
She played her part well.
She smiled. She shined. She was perfect.
But when she looked into a mirror, the reflection did not belong to her.
"This is what you wanted, isn't it?"
The glass cracked.
The Breaking Point
The illusions clawed at their minds, relentless and suffocating. Every breath felt like a battle, every shadow whispered doubts they couldn't silence.
But this time, they didn't fight to escape.
Ash clenched his fists, forcing himself to remember the truth—who he was, who he had sworn never to become. Eris gritted her teeth, grounding herself in the present, reminding herself that she was more than the fears trying to consume her.
The nightmares faltered, cracks splintering through their perfect cruelty. One by one, they unraveled, unable to hold power over those who refused to believe them.
By the time dawn crept through the broken cathedral windows, neither of them had slept. Their bodies ached, their minds felt raw. But they were still here.
And for now, that was enough.
Saria's Notes:
Emotional exhaustion is peaking. They must learn to push past it.