The Runner Between Worlds Chapter Three: The Bridge of Turning Shadows

River’s feet struck the path with steady rhythm, but the light was changing. The golden glow that had carried him from the island dimmed into a twilight haze. Ahead, the Path of Wonder narrowed into a bridge — long, thin, suspended over an abyss that seemed to stretch forever.

The bridge was strange. Its surface wasn’t stone or wood, but glass, clear as still water. Beneath it swirled shapes — shadows that twisted, reaching upward as though to grab hold of his steps.

River hesitated. The compass in his pocket hummed faintly, as if warning him: this crossing was different.

He placed a foot on the glass. Instantly, the shadows shifted. They took shape.

One rose tall, mirroring his stance — shoulders hunched, face tight with fear. Another coiled low, whispering in a voice he almost recognized:
"You’ll never be enough."

River’s chest tightened. Each step forward brought another shadow, each one a reflection of doubt, of choices he wished he could unmake, of words he had once believed about himself.

The bridge swayed. His instinct screamed to run back, to avoid their grasp. But then River remembered the voices on the island — dreams left unfinished, asking him to carry them forward. If he turned back now, he’d leave his own unfinished, too.

He closed his eyes and pressed the compass to his chest. Its heartbeat pulsed with his own.

When he looked again, he spoke aloud, voice clear:
"You are not my end. You are only my shadow."

The figures trembled. One by one, they dissolved into fragments of light, drifting down into the abyss. The glass beneath him grew steady, glowing faintly under his steps.

River walked forward, no longer chased by his own reflection. At the far end, the bridge widened, opening into a field of stars that stretched like a living sky beneath his feet.

The Path of Wonder had led him through the doubts he carried — and left him lighter.

✨ The Bridge of Turning Shadows reminds us that the voices of doubt are only echoes — they are not who we are. When we face them, they lose their power, and the path steadies beneath us.

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