The golden light stretched before them like a bridge spun from starlight, fragile and unreal against the abyss's endless black. The companions stood at its edge, staring into the unknown, the silence between them taut as a drawn bowstring.
Carlos tightened his grip on the shard. Its pulse resonated through his palm, each beat steady and insistent, as if urging them forward. He took the first step, the bridge humming beneath his boots, and felt its warmth seep through the soles. It was not stone, not metal, not anything he could name. It felt alive, responsive, like walking on the vein of some great, slumbering creature.
The others followed, though unease flickered in their eyes.
Thalor's shield rested on his arm, battered but ready. His heavy steps pressed into the bridge with distrust. "This light is no natural thing. If the Maw birthed it, we should be cautious. It could collapse beneath us at any moment."
"Then we fall," Rina muttered, her voice brittle. "And we've fallen enough times already." Yet she walked with feline grace, her daggers at her hips, as though prepared for the abyss itself to sprout enemies.
Maren trailed her fingers along the light's edge, where golden radiance gave way to darkness. The shimmer wavered at her touch, rippling like water, before settling again. "It responds. It knows we're here." She drew her hand back, her brow furrowing. "But is it guiding us… or luring us?"
Lys, her bow slung across her back, cast her gaze into the abyss below. "It doesn't matter. The shard revealed this path. Whatever lies beyond, we were meant to see it. To stop here would be to turn away from truth itself."
Carlos nodded faintly, though her words stirred unease in his chest. The shard beat again, faster now, as though pleased by their choice.
The Endless Bridge
They walked in silence, their steps echoing faintly, though there was no surface beneath to catch the sound. The bridge seemed endless, stretching deeper and deeper into the abyss. Above them, the crystalline canopy of the Verdant Expanse was gone, swallowed by distance. Around them, only void remained.
It was impossible to mark time. Minutes blurred into hours, or perhaps it was the other way around. The abyss knew no day or night, only the shimmer of the path beneath their feet.
To keep their minds from unraveling, they spoke, voices hushed as though afraid of waking something that slept in the dark.
"Do you feel it?" Maren whispered once, her eyes darting. "The way the air… presses in. Like water at great depth."
"I feel it," Thalor rumbled. His grip tightened on his shield. "Like something is watching. Waiting."
Rina scoffed softly. "If it's waiting, let it keep waiting. I'm not in the mood to fight anything else today."
But Carlos could feel it too — not eyes, exactly, but a presence. The abyss was not empty. It was aware.
Fractures in the Path
Hours — or what felt like hours — later, the bridge began to change. Cracks spider-webbed along its surface, golden light leaking through them like blood from a wound.
Carlos slowed. "It's weakening."
Maren crouched, her hand hovering above a fracture. "No… it's not breaking. It's transforming."
As if in response, the crack widened, and through it Carlos glimpsed something beyond the abyss — a swirl of colors, vast and unrecognizable. Shapes moved within, twisting and reshaping themselves like smoke caught in a storm.
Lys drew in a sharp breath. "Another world."
The bridge pulsed once, hard enough to shake them. The cracks closed, sealing the vision away, and the path smoothed as if it had never broken.
They exchanged uneasy glances. None spoke, but the unspoken truth lingered: they had not been shown that glimpse by accident.
The Weight of Doubt
As they continued, doubts surfaced, heavier than armor.
"What if this leads nowhere?" Rina asked suddenly, breaking the silence. "What if we're walking until the bridge simply fades, and then we're swallowed whole?"
"Would that be so different from what we've already faced?" Thalor replied, his voice steady. "We've lived at the edge of death since entering the labyrinth. At least this path offers direction."
"But direction toward what?" she pressed, frustration in her tone. "The Maw is dead. We've done what we came to do. Why keep walking?"
Carlos stopped, turning to her. "Because the Maw wasn't the end. You saw what it did — it was connected to something greater. If we walk away now, it all starts again. Somewhere else, with someone else, and everything we fought for will be wasted."
Rina met his eyes, defiance faltering under his conviction. At last, she sighed, muttering, "Fine. But if this ends with me being eaten by a bridge, I'm haunting you."
The others chuckled weakly, the tension breaking for a heartbeat. Then the silence returned.
Signs of the Beyond
The air shifted as they descended deeper. It grew warmer, tinged with the faint scent of earth and rain. The oppressive weight eased, replaced by something almost inviting.
And then they began to see them: sparks of light drifting in the dark, floating like fireflies. At first they were distant, but soon they swirled closer, surrounding the bridge in a gentle dance.
Lys reached out, her fingers brushing one. It burst into a swirl of golden dust, vanishing with a soft hum. Her eyes widened. "They feel… alive. Like fragments of souls."
"No," Maren murmured, her gaze intent. "Not souls. Memories."
As they walked, the sparks grew thicker, and with them came voices — faint, fractured whispers that drifted through the air. They heard laughter, sobs, cries of battle, lullabies sung in forgotten tongues. The abyss itself was a chorus of echoes.
Thalor's jaw tightened. "This is no path. It's a graveyard."
Carlos gripped the shard tighter. Its glow flared, and the whispers retreated slightly, as though wary.
A Glimpse of the Next Realm
At last, after what felt like an eternity, the bridge widened into a platform suspended in the dark. At its center stood an archway, tall and slender, woven from the same golden light as the path. Beyond it shimmered a world unlike any they had seen — vast plains of silver grass swaying beneath skies painted in hues of violet and gold. Towering structures, like monuments or spires, jutted upward, their surfaces alive with flowing symbols.
It was beautiful. Terrifying. Impossible.
They stood at the threshold, awe and fear mingling in their chests.
Rina broke the silence. "Well. That answers the question of whether we were walking into nothing."
Maren's eyes shone with wonder. "A world beyond worlds. Perhaps the Maw was only guarding the way here. Perhaps it wasn't a prison at all, but a… border."
Lys swallowed hard. "If this is what lies beyond, then what waits for us in it?"
Thalor set his shield, resolve carved into his face. "We'll find out soon enough."
Carlos stepped closer to the arch. The shard pulsed in his hand, brighter than ever, its rhythm steady as a heartbeat.
He looked back at his companions, their faces illuminated by its glow. They were bruised, scarred, weary — but united.
"Together," he said simply.
And one by one, they stepped through the light.