Memory Seals

If there's one thing Eternum Online doesn't mess around with, it's dramatic quest names.

"Memory Seals." Sounds cool, right?

What it actually meant was a race across three twisted biomes, each one weirder than the last — all to uncover fragments of a forgotten timeline. No pressure.

Luckily, we had a lead. The first seal was located in a place I'd only ever heard of in rumor threads: The Mirrorwoods.

"Let me guess," Brutus said as we loaded into the airship, "the trees try to kill you?"

"No," I said, checking our inventory. "They try to become you."

He blinked. "...That's somehow worse."

The Mirrorwoods weren't on any official map. To reach them, we had to ride a skystream — a vertical current only accessible with special glider gear. Naturally, we didn't have any.

Aiko solved that with a little light thievery.

"Don't ask how I got these," she said, tossing us each a Glider Pack with a wink.

"Do I want to know?" I asked.

"Nope!"

We launched from the Crescent Cliffs at dawn. The sky turned lavender as we dove into the airstream, gliders humming with mana. It was both beautiful and terrifying.

At the bottom was the Mirrorwoods.

Imagine a forest where everything looked just a little too real. Trees reflected our avatars back at us — not like mirrors, but like twisted, uncanny versions. My reflection blinked half a second too late. Aiko's grinned wider than her real face did. Brutus' had… more abs. Which he noticed.

"Huh. I look good glitched."

The moment we entered, the system chimed:

Memory Seal I: Mirror of Truth

Objective: Locate the Seal without losing yourself.

Warning: Reflection Decay Active

"What's Reflection Decay?" Sera asked.

Aiko checked her status. "It means if we stay too long, the woods start rewriting us. Like… replacing our memories, maybe even our avatars."

"That's insane," Brutus muttered.

"That's the Hidden Timeline for you," I said. "We've got ten minutes. Move fast, don't look back."

We split up slightly — enough to cover ground but stay within voice range. I took the central path, where the trees bent overhead like a tunnel. My reflection followed along the bark beside me, grinning.

It whispered.

"You know they'll leave you again."

I kept walking.

"You're trying to save a future that already rejected you."

Ignore it.

"You could've been a god."

I stopped.

Because that voice didn't sound like me. Not really.

It sounded like someone else.

Someone… older.

A flicker of static shimmered over my reflection, and for a split second, it wasn't me I saw — but Aethel, the frozen Dawnwatch founder from the ruins.

Then it was gone.

I ran.

Meanwhile, Aiko found the seal.

Of course she did.

"Guys!" her voice crackled through the party link. "Found something — looks like a mirror made of glass shards. It's humming. A lot."

We regrouped around the seal. It stood eight feet tall, shaped like a splintered obsidian oval, pulsing with blue-white light. Runes circled the edges like ants crawling backward.

A prompt appeared:

Memory Seal I:

Offer an anchor. Show who you are.

"Anchor?" Brutus asked. "I left my emotional baggage at home."

"It wants a memory," I said. "Something to prove we're still ourselves."

Aiko stepped forward.

Without hesitation, she held out her dagger — the same one she used back when we first met in this timeline. "First thing I stole in-game," she said. "From some jerk who kept spawn camping."

The mirror shimmered.

Her reflection stepped forward, identical… except the eyes were blank.

Then it attacked.

We fought. Not a boss battle — a duel. Each of us faced a copy of ourselves, equipped with our current stats, gear, and attack patterns.

It was like PvP with your own brain.

Sera parried herself with surgical focus. Brutus nearly suplexed his copy into a tree. I had to bait my double into spamming my own best spell rotation just to open a weak spot.

Finally, the mirror cracked.

System Message: Memory Seal I Broken.

+1 Dawnwatch Token Acquired.

Seal Imprint Added to Quest Progress: 1/3

The woods immediately lost their shimmer. The reflections faded. The trees stopped whispering.

We slumped to the ground.

"Well," Aiko huffed, "that was horrifying."

Brutus nodded. "I punched myself in the face. I feel weirdly proud."

Sera checked the party menu. "Status effects gone. We're stable."

I stared at the Dawnwatch Token in my inventory — a gold triangle etched with that familiar symbol. The moment I touched it, I felt… connected.

Like it remembered me too.

Back at camp, we reviewed the remaining clues. The next seal would be harder. No coordinates, just one cryptic note:

"Where memories are fed to the fire and truths are forged from ash — the Second Seal waits."

Sera raised an eyebrow. "That's not a clue. That's a poem."

"It's both," I said. "And I think I know where we're headed next."

"Where?"

"The Furnace Wastes."

Brutus groaned. "Of course it's a lava level. I hate lava levels."

"Then bring fire resistance gear," Aiko said, cracking her knuckles.

"Already packed."

We prepped our gear and made camp, but that night I couldn't sleep.

Not because of nerves.

But because of what my reflection whispered.

"You could've been a god."

I stared at the stars in the game's night sky.

And whispered back, "I'd rather be someone they can count on."