When Those Who Stand Beyond split and set out on three different paths, the world held its breath. The currents of time froze, as if trying to comprehend the consequences of this choice.
Emiren could feel something shifting around him, though he could not yet say what it was. The Silver Tree no longer trembled, but its leaves had darkened, as if the light was beginning to leave it, and with it, the hope for stability.
— They will not return as they once were, — Ardalys murmured.
— If they return at all, — added the Keeper standing nearby. His eyes gleamed, reflecting countless possible futures that were now beginning to unravel like threads of an ancient tapestry.
— They must find their own way, — Emiren replied, though there was no certainty in his voice.
The Path of the Lost Fire
The first of Those Who Stand Beyond stepped onto a bridge woven from fire. His form began to shift, dissolving into sparks that merged with the flames, only to reassemble again.
This was a path that led into all that should have been but never came to pass.
With each step, new visions surrounded him—battles that never took place, worlds that were never created, voices of those who might have lived but were never born.
His shadow stretched and twisted, absorbing the echoes of these lost possibilities.
— You see what could have been, — a voice rose from the fire.
— Yes… and it is too much.
His form started to disintegrate, losing itself in the flames, but before he could vanish completely, something within him shifted.
He grasped onto one of the images—the one that felt like his own path—and held on to reality.
The flames died down, and the bridge collapsed into nothingness.
He survived. But now, he had form.
The Path of Reflected Watery
The second of Those Who Stand Beyond walked the road of water that flowed backward.
The water washed over him, reflecting all that had been lost in the past.
He saw the world as it was before his arrival, and as it might have been without him.
— If you exist, what has changed? — the river whispered.
He could not answer.
His blurred form rippled with the water, blending into it.
He had to fight to avoid losing himself, to not become just a reflection of what was.
He had to find the moment where he truly was.
And he did.
Droplets gathered around him, shaping his outline.
His new essence was no longer undefined.
The Path of the Void
The third stepped onto a road that did not exist.
There was no light, no shadow, no time here.
This was a path without history.
He walked, not knowing whether he was moving forward or simply standing still.
— Who are you? — asked the voice of the void.
— I…
But there was no answer.
For he had no name.
His essence began to fade, dissolving into nothingness.
But then, within this void, he found the only thing that could give him existence—choice.
He created himself.
The Return
When they returned, they were no longer Those Who Stand Beyond.
They had form. They had become real.
The Keepers looked at them, uncertain whether to fear them or acknowledge them.
— You are now part of this world, — Emiren said.
— We walked the path. We were nothing. Now we are.
Their voices were no longer mere echoes of emptiness.
But what did this mean for everything that had existed before?
The world had changed once more.
And balance was no longer what it once was.