Kira Dawnseeker & The Bridge of Ten Thousand Steps

The first thing Kira Dawnseeker heard was the bells.

Not the bells of the monastery.

Not the bronze bells of the city gates.

These were deeper.

Slower.

Wrong.

Dong.

The sound rolled through the mountains, shook loose pebbles from the cliffs, and vanished into the blackness behind her.

Kira ran.

Her boots struck stone. Her breath came in ragged bursts. The silver clasp at her throat had gone cold enough to burn her skin.

Behind her, somewhere beyond the veil of pine and mist, came the scrape of thousands of feet.

The Revenants were coming.

They did not run.

They never had to.

They simply walked.

And they always caught up.

Kira glanced over her shoulder.

For a heartbeat, she saw nothing.

Then the mist shifted.

A pale hand emerged between the trees.

Then another.

Then dozens.

Gray faces floated in the fog, their mouths open, their eyes glowing with a dull blue fire.

The dead were coming.

Kira turned forward again.

"Come on," she gasped.

The mountain road ended ahead.

Or rather, it began.

The Bridge of Ten Thousand Steps rose out of the darkness.

It was impossible to mistake.

No sane architect would have built it.

Ten thousand narrow stone steps climbed from one mountain peak, disappeared into clouds, descended through the other side, and crossed a chasm so deep that no one had ever reached the bottom.

The bridge was less a road than a staircase suspended between heaven and earth.

Ancient chains thicker than tree trunks held its sides.

Bronze lanterns stood every hundred steps.

Most had gone dark centuries ago.

Kira reached the first step.

She stopped.

For the first time that night, she allowed herself to breathe.

Across the chasm, beyond ten thousand steps and an eternity of mist, stood the fortress of Dawnwatch.

Safety.

The last safe place in the northern kingdoms.

If she could reach it.

Behind her, the Revenants emerged from the trees.

There were hundreds.

Perhaps thousands.

Kira stared at them.

Their leader stepped into the moonlight.

He had once been a man.

She knew that.

His name had been Lord Veyr.

He had commanded armies.

He had worn a golden crown.

He had once promised Kira that if she ever needed him, he would protect her.

Then the Black King had raised him from the grave.

Now his armor was fused to his corpse.

Blue fire burned in his empty eye sockets.

"Kira Dawnseeker," he called.

His voice traveled impossibly far.

"You cannot outrun death."

Kira smiled faintly.

"No."

She turned toward the bridge.

"But I can outrun you."

She stepped onto the first stone.

Then another.

Then another.

The Revenants followed.

The Bridge of Ten Thousand Steps had claimed more lives than any battlefield.

It was not cursed.

It did not need to be.

The first thousand steps were merely exhausting.

The next two thousand were steep.

The next three thousand were treacherous.

By the time travelers reached seven thousand, the air was thin enough to make breathing difficult.

At eight thousand, the bridge entered the clouds.

At nine thousand, the world disappeared.

At ten thousand, according to legend, the bridge reached heaven.

Kira had always thought that was nonsense.

She no longer did.

She climbed.

Her legs burned.

Her lungs screamed.

The silver clasp around her neck pulsed with cold.

Inside her coat was the reason the Revenants had come.

A small crystal.

No larger than her thumb.

The Dawnshard.

The last fragment of the Sun Crown.

The Black King had spent three hundred years searching for it.

He had raised armies.

He had destroyed kingdoms.

He had opened tombs and desecrated temples.

He had sent assassins into monasteries.

And now he had sent the dead.

All for a crystal.

Kira touched it through her coat.

"Almost there," she whispered.

Behind her came the sound of footsteps.

Not hurried.

Not frantic.

Patient.

Step.

Step.

Step.

The Revenants were climbing.

Kira looked down.

The first thousand steps had disappeared into mist.

She could barely see the forest below.

She climbed faster.

At three thousand steps, her left boot slipped.

Kira fell to one knee.

Pain shot through her leg.

She grabbed the chain railing.

For several seconds she simply hung there.

Below her, clouds moved like a white ocean.

She could see nothing beneath them.

Then a hand reached through the mist.

Kira kicked it away.

The dead thing fell.

It disappeared without a sound.

Another hand appeared.

Then another.

"They're climbing the underside," Kira whispered.

Of course they were.

Revenants did not obey the laws of the living.

Kira pulled herself up.

She drew her sword.

The first corpse hauled itself over the edge.

Kira cut it down.

Another came.

She struck it.

Another.

She kicked one back.

It took three others with it.

For a moment, the bridge became a killing ground.

Kira fought backward.

The Revenants kept coming.

She slashed.

They advanced.

She stabbed.

They advanced.

She broke one's skull against the stone.

It stood again.

"You people are exhausting," she muttered.

A Revenant lunged.

Kira ducked.

Its fingers closed around her cloak.

She tore free.

The creature stumbled past her and fell into the abyss.

Kira watched it disappear.

Then she heard laughter.

Lord Veyr stood on the steps below.

"You cannot kill what is already dead."

Kira wiped blood from her cheek.

"Then I suppose I'll have to find something else."

She ran.

At five thousand steps, the bridge disappeared into the clouds.

The world turned white.

Kira could hear nothing except her own breathing.

She could no longer see the mountains.

No longer see the sky.

No longer see the Revenants.

That frightened her more than seeing them.

She slowed.

"Veyr?"

No answer.

"Kira."

She froze.

The voice had come from ahead.

A woman's voice.

Warm.

Familiar.

Kira closed her eyes.

"No."

"Kira."

She knew that voice.

Her mother's.

Her mother had been dead for seventeen years.

Kira opened her eyes.

A woman stood twenty feet ahead.

Gray hair.

Blue dress.

Gentle smile.

"Kira."

Her sword lowered.

For one terrible second, she was a little girl again.

She was six years old.

She was sitting beside a dying hearth.

Her mother was brushing her hair.

Everything was safe.

Everything was warm.

Everything was before.

Kira took one step forward.

Then stopped.

Her mother smiled.

"You've come so far."

Kira's eyes filled with tears.

"You're not real."

The woman tilted her head.

"Does that matter?"

Kira stared at her.

"No."

She swallowed.

"It doesn't."

She raised her sword.

"But you're still not my mother."

The thing's face twisted.

Its jaw stretched.

Its eyes turned blue.

Kira drove her sword through its chest.

The Revenant dissolved into ash.

"Nice try," Kira whispered.

Behind her, Lord Veyr applauded.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

"Very good."

Kira turned.

He stood in the fog.

"You're learning."

"Learning what?"

"That death knows exactly what you fear."

Kira tightened her grip on her sword.

"Then death should know I'm afraid of spiders too."

Veyr stared at her.

Kira shrugged.

"Just thought I'd mention it."

She ran.

At seven thousand steps, Kira began to wonder if she could make it.

Her body had become a collection of aches.

Her lungs burned.

Her hands were bleeding.

Her sword felt like an anvil.

She stopped beside one of the ancient bronze lanterns.

It flickered.

Kira stared at it.

"Please."

The flame steadied.

She smiled.

"Thank you."

The lantern suddenly went out.

Kira frowned.

Then she heard the bells.

Dong.

The sound echoed through the clouds.

Every lantern along the bridge went dark.

Kira's smile vanished.

The Revenants emerged.

They filled the bridge behind her.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

Their blue eyes glowed in the darkness.

Lord Veyr stood at their head.

"You have nowhere left to go."

Kira looked ahead.

The bridge continued.

She looked behind.

The dead filled the steps.

She looked down.

Clouds.

Then she saw it.

A tiny stone shrine built into the bridge railing.

An inscription had been carved into it.

Kira wiped away centuries of dust.

She read the words.

THE BRIDGE WAS BUILT TO BE CROSSED.

Below that, another sentence.

NOT TO BE SAVED.

Kira stared.

Then she laughed.

Lord Veyr frowned.

"What is amusing?"

Kira turned.

"Something I should have remembered."

"What?"

"My father."

Veyr's expression changed.

Kira remembered.

She had been twelve.

Her father had taken her to the bridge.

He had pointed toward the great chains.

"Every bridge," he had told her, "is a promise."

"A promise of what?"

"That there is somewhere else."

Kira had laughed.

"What if the bridge breaks?"

Her father had smiled.

"Then you build another."

Kira looked at the Revenants.

Then at the chains.

Then at the wooden support beams beneath the ancient stone.

Her father had been wrong.

Sometimes you didn't build another bridge.

Sometimes you burned the old one.

Kira dropped her sword.

Lord Veyr looked puzzled.

"What are you doing?"

She reached into her coat.

She pulled out the Dawnshard.

The crystal shone gold.

The Revenants recoiled.

Veyr's eyes widened.

"No."

Kira smiled.

"Yes."

She held the Dawnshard against the ancient bronze lantern.

The crystal ignited.

Golden fire spread across the metal.

Veyr stepped forward.

"Do not."

Kira touched the flame to the wooden support beneath the bridge.

It caught immediately.

Fire raced along the ancient beams.

Veyr screamed.

"DAWNSEEKER!"

Kira ran.

The bridge erupted behind her.

Fire climbed the chains.

Stone cracked.

The Revenants surged forward.

They didn't care about the flames.

They walked through fire.

Their corpses burned.

Still they came.

Kira ran faster.

She had seven thousand steps behind her.

Three thousand ahead.

And a burning bridge beneath her feet.

The smoke became thick.

The air became hotter.

The stones trembled.

She could hear the bridge groaning.

Lord Veyr was still coming.

"You will die!" he roared.

Kira looked over her shoulder.

His armor was burning.

His corpse was burning.

His eyes were two blue flames.

Yet he walked.

Kira grinned.

"I know."

She turned forward.

"That's why I'm running."

Eight thousand steps.

The bridge shook violently.

A support beam collapsed behind her.

The Revenants screamed as an entire section of stairs dropped into the abyss.

Kira kept running.

Nine thousand.

The flames were everywhere now.

She could see Dawnwatch.

The fortress stood beyond the final thousand steps.

Its gates were opening.

People were shouting.

Torches appeared along the walls.

"KIRA!"

Someone was calling her name.

She couldn't tell who.

She ran.

Nine thousand two hundred.

The bridge collapsed behind her.

Nine thousand four hundred.

The Revenants were still coming.

Nine thousand six hundred.

Lord Veyr leapt across a widening gap.

He landed twenty steps behind her.

Kira stumbled.

He reached for her.

His fingers closed around her wrist.

"Got you."

Kira looked at him.

Then at the burning bridge.

Then at Dawnwatch.

"You really should have stayed dead."

Veyr's grip tightened.

"You cannot escape me."

Kira pulled the Dawnshard from her coat.

Its golden light illuminated both their faces.

Veyr stared at it.

Kira smiled.

"You misunderstand."

She thrust the crystal against his chest.

Light exploded.

Veyr screamed.

The Dawnshard burned through his armor.

For the first time, the Revenant looked afraid.

"No."

His body began to crack.

Golden light poured from him.

Kira tore her wrist free.

"Goodbye, Lord Veyr."

He shattered.

The explosion threw Kira forward.

She hit the final steps.

Then rolled.

Then stopped.

Silence.

Kira opened her eyes.

She was on the other side.

Dawnwatch.

She laughed.

Then she realized something.

The bridge was gone.

The last section collapsed.

Stone fell into the clouds.

The chains snapped.

The entire Bridge of Ten Thousand Steps folded inward and vanished into the abyss.

Kira watched the final stones disappear.

No bridge.

No path.

No way back.

Behind her, soldiers ran toward her.

"Kira!"

She tried to stand.

Her legs failed.

Two soldiers caught her.

"Are you hurt?"

She looked at the empty sky.

"No."

She paused.

"Well."

She looked down at her torn clothes.

"Mostly."

The commander approached.

He stared at the burning remains.

"You destroyed the Bridge of Ten Thousand Steps."

Kira nodded.

"Yes."

"Do you understand what you've done?"

"Perfectly."

"That bridge was four thousand years old."

"I know."

"It connected the northern kingdoms."

"I know."

"It was the only crossing for three hundred miles."

Kira looked at him.

"Then we'd better start building another one."

The commander stared.

Kira smiled.

Her father had been right after all.

Every bridge was a promise.

But sometimes the promise wasn't that the bridge would remain.

Sometimes the promise was that people would keep going.

That night, the people of Dawnwatch watched the mountain burn.

The flames glowed beneath the clouds.

For three days, the smoke remained.

For three weeks, no one crossed the mountains.

For three months, the northern kingdoms mourned the destruction of the ancient bridge.

Songs were written about it.

Some called Kira a hero.

Others called her a fool.

One king called her a criminal.

Another offered her a medal.

She refused both.

When historians asked her why she had destroyed such an important monument, she always gave the same answer.

"The Revenants were behind me."

"And you had no other choice?"

Kira would smile.

"There is always another choice."

The historians would lean forward.

"Then why did you burn it?"

Kira would look toward the mountains.

"Because sometimes the choice that saves everyone else is the one that leaves you with nothing."

Years later, a new bridge was built.

It had only six hundred steps.

It was ugly.

Practical.

Sturdy.

No legends surrounded it.

No ancient kings had crossed it.

No poets sang about it.

Kira loved it.

On the day it opened, she stood beside the first stone.

A young girl approached her.

"Are you Kira Dawnseeker?"

"I am."

"Did you really burn the old bridge?"

Kira nodded.

"Why?"

Kira considered the question.

Then she pointed toward the new bridge.

"Because that one had to go."

The girl frowned.

"But weren't you afraid?"

Kira smiled.

"Terrified."

"Then why did you do it?"

Kira looked toward the mountains.

For a moment, she remembered the bells.

The dead.

The fire.

The impossible staircase disappearing beneath her feet.

She remembered Lord Veyr's hand around her wrist.

She remembered the moment she had chosen.

Then she looked at the new bridge.

"I burned it," she said, "because I finally understood something."

"What?"

Kira stepped onto the first stone.

"A bridge isn't sacred because it's old."

She took another step.

"It's sacred because it gets you somewhere."

Another step.

"And if it becomes the road the dead use to reach the living..."

She glanced back at the girl.

"You burn the damn bridge."

The girl grinned.

Kira laughed.

Together, they crossed.

Behind them, the mountains stood silent.

The Bridge of Ten Thousand Steps was gone.

And the dead had never crossed again.