The world beyond the golden walls of Luminar was exactly as bleak as they’d always warned.

Cassia wandered through territories shrouded in permanent mist, where the line between cultivation and corruption blurred. She helped where she could—villages plagued by curses, settlements terrorized by shadow-beasts, places the Council deemed unworthy of salvation. Her shadowcraft grew stronger with each use, but so did the whispers that followed her name.

Fallen prodigy. Corrupted Archmage. The girl who chose darkness.

Every smile now felt like a crack spreading through porcelain. Every laugh rang hollow against the loneliness that pressed in from all sides. She wore her confidence like a mask, but beneath it, she was drowning.

Three months into her exile, Cassia found herself walking across an actual narrow plank—a rope bridge suspended over a ravine filled with poisonous fog. It swayed with each step, and she found herself thinking it would be easier to just let go. To fall into the murky waters below and let the fog take her.

She looked back. The path she’d come from was gone, swallowed by mist. Ahead, she could see nothing but more fog, more uncertainty.

This is the path you chose, she reminded herself. This is what fate wanted you to be.

“Are you planning to stand there all day, or will you finish crossing?”

Cassia’s head snapped up. Through the fog, a figure emerged on the other side of the bridge—white robes pristine despite the weather, dark hair still bound in perfect order.

Elian.

“What are you—” Cassia’s voice cracked. “What are you doing here?”

Elian stepped onto the bridge, walking toward her with that same light, steady gait. “What do you think? I’m walking this path with you.”

“You can’t.” Panic seized Cassia’s chest. “Elian, you have everything. Your position, your family’s honor, your future—”

“Had,” Elian corrected quietly. “I had those things. I left them behind.”

“Why?” The word came out as a broken whisper.

Elian stopped before her, close enough that Cassia could see the determination in his gray eyes. “Because you’re walking this alone. And you shouldn’t have to.”

“The Council—your father—”

“Disowned me.” Elian’s voice remained steady, though something flickered in his expression. “I made my choice, Cassia. Just as you made yours.”

Rain began to fall, cold and piercing. The bridge swayed more violently.

“I don’t understand,” Cassia said, tears mixing with rain on her face. “I’m everything you were taught to stand against. I broke the rules. I chose forbidden magic over—”

“You chose to save people,” Elian interrupted. “You chose compassion over blind obedience. And you’ve been carrying it alone, pretending you’re fine, wearing that mask of confidence while crumbling inside.” He extended his hand. “I won’t let you face this alone anymore.”

Cassia stared at that outstretched hand, pristine and steady in the chaos of rain and fog. “If you take this path with me, there’s no going back. The wide road closes behind you. We’ll face darkness, danger, scorn from everyone—”

“I know.” Elian’s hand didn’t waver. “Wide road or narrow plank, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m by your side.”