The path wound upward now.
Narrow.
Cracked.
Winds whipped like they were angry someone dared walk here.
They came to a bridge.
Thin.
Shaking.
Strung between two cliffs.
And made, not of rope or stone
But of feathers and fangs.
Each step made the feathers hum like wings.
Each fang gleamed like it had tasted truth.
Flick peered down.
"Why are the fangs smiling?"
"They're not," said Amaryn. "They're waiting."
A sign stood at the edge of the bridge:
"One may cross freely. Two must prove trust. More must carry it."
Elira looked at the others.
"What does that mean?"
Varn stepped forward.
"Means we go in pairs."
He glanced at Sera.
"I'll go with her."
"Fine," she said, cracking her knuckles.
"But if we fall, I'm blaming your balance."
They stepped on first.
The bridge held.
Barely.
With each step, feathers trembled, and the fangs whispered.
Elira caught pieces:
"He let his brother go."
"She doesn't trust her own strength."
Varn and Sera reached the middle.
Then the bridge stopped being a bridge.
It became a memory.
They stood back-to-back in an arena.
Shadows circled.
Familiar shadows.
Varn's brother.
Sera's little sister.
Both long gone.
But here, accusing.
"You left us."
"You forgot us."
Varn grabbed Sera's hand.
"I didn't mean to."
Sera squeezed back.
"I never forgot you."
And the shadows fell away like smoke.
The bridge reappeared.
Next came Amaryn and Solin.
They made it halfway before the feathers turned into mirrors.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Each reflection showing their worst thoughts.
"You're weak," one told Solin.
"You pretend to be kind," one spat at Amaryn.
Solin reached for her.
"I'm scared."
Amaryn nodded.
"Me too."
The mirrors cracked.
And the bridge held.
Only Elira and Flick were left.
They stood at the edge.
"You go," Elira said.
Flick shook his head.
"I don't know who I was. But I know who I want to be. And it's someone who walks with you."
They stepped on together.
And everything vanished.
They were children again.
Not together.
Just… alone.
Elira in the woods, running from her father's deal.
Flick in a cradle of flames, crying as voices debated his fate.
Both hurt.
Both small.
But then
A light.
Not a torch.
A feeling.
Someone, somewhere, wishing for them.
Hoping they'd make it.
Believing they could.
Elira felt it in her chest.
"Do you hear that?"
Flick nodded.
"It's… them."
The bridge shimmered back.
Under their feet, the fangs turned to light.
The feathers folded into wings.
And they stepped off the other side
Together.
The others waited.
Smiling.
"You made it," said Solin.
"We all did," Elira replied.
But inside, she knew…
The bridge had chosen them back.
Far behind, the feathers stirred.
And one fang grew longer.
A warning.
The bridge had accepted them.
But not forgiven.
Not yet.