It began with a falling feather — made of light.
Drifting lazily down from a cloudless sky, it landed on Dee's shoulder and spoke.
"The mirror city calls. Come. Remember."
Dee blinked. "Well. That's not ominous at all."
"Feathered omens?" Hiro said. "We've had worse."
"You drank a sentient soup once," Vampher reminded him.
"It dared me. You all just watched."
1. The Shimmering Gate
Three days and one cursed bridge (that told jokes every time you stepped wrong) later, they found it: a lone archway of silver glass rising out of a still lake. No city in sight.
"This the right place?" Hiro asked.
Dee nodded. "The City of Glass Memories hides until called. The arch is its key."
"Do we knock?"
"No," Vampher said, stepping through. "You remember."
And as he passed beneath the arch, the lake rippled — and the world flipped.
2. The Reflected Realm
They stood in a city built of glass and shadow.
Every building mirrored a dream, a nightmare, or a memory. Streets curved like thoughts. Windows showed people from the past — laughing, crying, dancing, dying — over and over.
A woman wept in a window, repeating the same goodbye.
A boy ran, tripped, vanished in rewind.
A warrior died mid-scream, paused, then started over.
"The city doesn't show reality," Dee said. "It shows what was. Or what was feared."
"And it never lies," Vampher murmured, eyes on a tower that shimmered with his past — blood, fire, and a younger him saying:
"It's not a curse. It's me."
3. The Guide
They weren't alone.
A cloaked figure waited in the center plaza, where light bent strangely. A glint of copper eyes under a veil.
"Welcome, Weavers," she said. "You seek the next Seal."
"You're the gatekeeper?" Dee asked.
"Merely a guide. My name was Elshar, once. Here, I am Echo."
She stepped back, revealing a spiraled obelisk of cracked glass. It pulsed faintly.
"The city remembers all who have sought the Seals. Most left broken. A few left changed."
"And what do we have to do?" Hiro asked.
"Pass the three trials."
Vampher sighed. "Of course there are trials."
4. Trial of Memory
Each of them was drawn into a reflection of their past.
Dee stood in an old, dusty lab. A younger version of himself stood at a desk, obsessed with weaving mana. Alone. Always alone.
"I did this to understand the world," young-Dee said. "But I forgot the world had people."
Dee touched the glass and said, "That's why I don't work alone anymore."
The lab shattered into dust.
Hiro saw a farmhouse. His parents — laughing. Then screaming. The day the Nightmare Devil came. His younger self ran to fight it. No magic. Just a rusty scythe and fire in his eyes.
"You should've run," the memory said.
"I didn't. And I won."
The flames faded.
Vampher saw a child's face — his first companion, a girl he buried centuries ago. She smiled sadly. "You never let go."
"I can't," Vampher whispered. "But I won't let the pain stop me either."
The girl nodded. "Then go."
5. Trial of Thread
Back in the plaza, the ground opened.
A thread-beast rose — vast, multi-eyed, with mouths that whispered in a dozen languages. The creature was not angry. It was sad.
Echo spoke: "This thread was born from forgotten dreams. It must be calmed, not killed."
"Ah," Hiro said. "So not my usual smash-and-yell strategy."
"Talk to it," Dee said. "Find the right thread."
They circled the beast.
Each whisper was a story: a lost name, an unloved child, a hero who died unremembered.
Vampher reached into the threads and plucked one.
"You wanted to be known.
So let us remember you."
He pressed it to the creature's chest. Its eyes closed. Its whispers ceased. It melted back into the ground, leaving only silence.
Echo nodded. "You honor the forgotten. You pass."
6. Trial of Reflection
Final trial.
The trio was led to the central spire — tallest in the city. Inside was a mirror, polished silver, untouched by time.
Each had to look.
Dee saw himself sitting with the gods — a throne offered. Power without purpose. He turned from it. Again.
Hiro saw the day his curse was forged. The Nightmare Devil's sword melting into his chest. And the moment he screamed, but no one heard.
Vampher saw a world burning — and himself walking away.
But then, the mirror changed.
It showed Vampher turning back.
He shouted in the mirror, "I can fix this. Give me a chance!"
He staggered back.
"That... hasn't happened yet," he muttered.
Echo touched the mirror.
"The future is a memory that hasn't chosen yet. The Second Seal lies in the place where timelines split."
She handed Dee a shard of mirror-glass.
"It points to the next location. Follow where it shines."
7. Goodbye, City of Echoes
The city didn't fade — it folded. A thousand mirrored panels shifted, reshaping until the trio stood once more outside the arch.
Lake still. Sky calm. But the shard glowed faintly in Dee's palm.
"We know where to go next," Dee said.
"Where?" Hiro asked.
Vampher answered. "To the place that could have been."
8. Elsewhere...
A figure in a tattered coat traced a map into smoke.
"Two Seals now. They're moving fast."
Another, older voice replied:
"They should. The Third is already cracking."
They smiled — and whispered into the threads.
"Let the ghosts remember.
Let the world forget."