“You’re joking, right?” Logan shouted back, immediately turning to Amelia. “She’s joking, right?”

“No, I don’t think she is. I just remembered the time we went to a theme park a few years ago. She refused to ride anything faster than those spinning teacups for kids.”

Logan took a deep breath. If Stephanie couldn’t muster the courage to cross the stone bridge, they may have to go back and find another way. Just getting across took them nearly an hour, making this event a pain. They could always try to go south and follow the wall around to the north from the other side, but that would likely have its own barriers.

Not to mention the time limit. They were already on the western side, only having to walk north to reach the tunnels back to the surface. Doubling back and going around the jungle would double or triple their travel time. Running into a powerful monster or dying from the terraforming would become much more likely.

A few minutes passed with nothing happening. This seemed to infuriate Tom, his eyebrows furrowing as he stepped forward. “Man up and walk over already!”

“I’m sorry!” Stephanie squeaked, her knees wobbling as she tried to step onto the bridge again.

She didn’t even have anything snappy to say, making Logan’s anger morph into pity. He tapped Tom on the shoulder and shook his head. That earned him a glare, but the guy needed to learn empathy at some point. Even if that only accounted for his closest friend, that would still be better than nothing.

“Sit tight, Steph!” Logan called out. “We’ll come up with a way to help you. Just sit down, relax, and try to eat some of the rations you have in your backpack, alright?”

She didn’t even say anything this time. Her knees wobbled and gave out, making her collapse onto her backside. She took a few deep breaths and suddenly remembered to eat some of the mixed nuts and dried fruits Logan had given her. Everyone had a backpack with some emergency supplies. He could carry everything they needed in his Spatial Ring, but if someone got separated from the group or lost, he obviously couldn’t give them food and water.

Logan turned around and discussed their options for getting Stephanie across the bridge. The best idea they came up with was for him to cross the bridge and make Stephanie go while he was still on the other side. She could then use the rope to steady herself like a handrail. That should give her enough confidence to cross without falling, and even if she did panic and stumble, they could pull her across manually.

With the plan nailed down, Logan walked across and retied the ropes so that he was at the end. Stephanie could untie her own without her hands shaking, so he had to do it for her. She was very grateful. There wasn’t a second where she stayed quiet, thanking him or apologising.

Logan comforted her as best he could, but they were on a time limit. Some pretty scary things liked to come out and hunt at night. If they didn’t leave soon and set up camp, someone may very well die.

After tying themselves together, everything was ready for her to cross. Stephanie gulped and took a deep breath, her hand slowly reaching for the rope. She managed to grab a hold of it, Logan feeling that things were looking good, but then he noticed her knuckles turning white. He began to worry that she wouldn’t be able to take the first step.

“Look at Amelia,” Logan said, standing behind Stephanie as she hesitated to put her foot on the bridge. “Don’t look down, alright? Just keep looking forward and don’t stop moving.”

Stephanie nodded and locked eyes with Amelia. She had been looking down into the hole and wobbling despite not having stepped on the bridge yet. The rope didn’t really help when she did that, which was worrying on its own. Thankfully, she regained her balance by staring at her friend, even stepping onto the bridge.

Everything went well at first. Stephanie gradually made her way across, only needing to find her balance with the rope once or twice. Of course, when disaster struck, it often came all at once. Stephanie was nearly halfway across when she misplaced her foot. She quickly planted it back onto the bridge, but the damage was done. Her body wobbled left and right as she struggled to find her balance.

Without the rope, she would’ve fallen less than a second after losing her footing. Unfortunately, she had to look away from Amelia to regain her balance, standing sideways and bending over enough that she could only look down and into the hole.

When Stephanie recovered, everyone shouted encouragement at her. She stood up straight and started to walk again, but with every step she took, her body tilted a little bit more. She began to shake until she lost all sense of balance. With trembling knees, she slowly lowered herself until he lay down on the bridge so as not to fall.

“Are you okay?” Amelia shouted.

“I-I’m fine,” Stephanie tried to shout back, her voice quivering.

“Do you think that you can get up?”

Stephanie didn’t reply, merely shaking her head rapidly to say no.

“Can you try crawling forward?” Logan added, to which she actually did attempt.

The positioning was awkward, so she was forced to put her shaking hands on either side of the wall and try to push herself up. If she wasn’t so nervous, it would’ve worked thanks to her borderline superhuman strength, but a person was only as powerful as their mind. She had no desire to leave the safety of the earth, leaving her arms to fail and go limp.

“Oh, for God’s sake, can you stop being such a baby?” Tom yelled, even picking up a handful of pebbles and tossing them at her one at a time. “Hurry up, or else we’ll leave you behind.”

That made the situation even worse. Stephanie began to silently weep, sniffling every few seconds. Everyone on the other side of the bridge scolded Tom in their own way. He looked surprised that people were admonishing him for his behaviour, and when he could’ve apologised and backed off, he doubled down to make himself look reasonable.

“I’m not being mean!” Tom said, putting his hand on his chest. “I was just concerned that we’re in danger. The jungle protected us from flying monsters, but we’re totally exposed out here! How do we know that some giant eagle isn’t about to swoop down and carry one of us away?”

Stephanie liked that even less, her muffled sobs turning into uncontrollable weeping. Even the bridge was crumbling a bit from how much she was trembling. It wasn’t enough for her to fall. It was falling apart so slowly that she could probably lay there for another few hours, but it certainly wouldn’t feel like that to her.

“Can someone shut him up?” Logan shouted, genuinely growing angry for the first time. “Gag him or knock him out, I don’t care. Just get him to stop talking already.”

“Just because Stephanie is a baby-”

Ron and James came up behind Tom and grabbed him like some two-bit mobsters, James even putting his hand over Tom’s mouth.

Logan ignored the scuffle and walked onto the bridge. He had a fear of heights himself, but he wouldn’t call it irrational. It was more of a healthy respect. If something could kill him, he would be cautious around it. That was just common sense. Obviously, that fear greatly diminished when he became immortal. The safety rope would also guarantee that he wouldn’t fall, leaving him to walk across like it was nothing.

Amelia and the others tried to tell Logan to go back. He ignored them, steadily walking across the bridge until he was behind Stephanie. Pulling on the egg, his skin erupted with flames as his cultivation temporarily increased to the late stages. With it came a much more accurate sense of balance and finer control over his limbs.

Before, walking on the bridge had been a little dangerous, but now he felt comfortable enough to start doing flips on the thing. If a giant bird swooped him now, he could fight it on the bridge and survive. It wouldn’t be easy or fun, but he could do it if push came to shove.

Logan’s very being was now at a higher level of life than before, which was why he could reach down and pick Stephanie up by the scruff of her robe. She yelped in surprise and gripped the rope even harder, but it wasn’t taut enough to balance on now that Logan was behind her.

He raised Stephanie up and put his other arm beneath her knees. Then, he let go of her collar and let her fall. She cried out at the top of her lungs, but not before Logan caught her in a princess carry. It took her a moment to realise that she wasn’t falling, her arms and legs kicking out in fear.

Logan frowned and leaned back, allowing the rope connecting them to the rest of the group to grow taut. That made it much easier to remain stable, but moving forward would become very dangerous.

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“Stephanie,” Logan said, his voice smooth and calm.

She didn’t listen, still kicking her legs despite no longer crying.

“Stephanie,” Logan said again, his voice harder. “You need to calm down, or else we’re going to fall.”

His words scared her so much that she went completely stiff.

“Look at me. Hey, look up at my face. Focus on my breathing, okay?”

Stephanie blinked at him and let go of the loose rope, instead wrapping her arms around him like her life depended on it. Once she calmed down, he noticed her staring up at him, her breathing pattern even slowing to copy his own.

“That’s good,” Logan said, his voice as gentle as he could make it. “I’m going to start walking now, so keep looking up at my face and focus on matching my breathing, okay?”

She gave a short and sharp nod.

Now that she was completely calm, Logan cut off the egg’s golden power and ensured his balance was unaffected. He calmly walked across the bridge when he confirmed that his balance was unaffected. Stephanie held onto him for dear life. She eventually stopped looking up at him and pressed her head against his chest with her eyes closed. He could feel she was trying her hardest to not move, so he didn’t mind.

Once they were on solid ground, however, she was reluctant to go down.

“Stephanie,” Logan whispered, getting no response. “You can open your eyes, okay? I’m going to put you down now.”

She trembled and held on even tighter, her eyes clenched shut. She whispered something under her breath. Logan tilted his head down to hear what she was muttering.

“P-Please, no,” She whispered, “Please don’t drop me.”

Logan bent down and gently placed her feet on the ground. Stephanie trembled and wrapped her arms around him, but he had already let go of her entirely. She yelped, her eyes flying open as she looked around, her arms clutching onto the hem of Logan’s robes.

Blushing furiously, Stephanie wobbled as she stood up on her own. She then sat down and recovered her nerves, eating some more food while Tom kept her company. She mostly ignored him, her face impassive at his attempts at conversation.

The asshole didn’t even apologise to her.

Logan walked over to Amelia and took the rope from her, putting it away in his ring. She had rolled it up nicely for him and handed it over with a smile.

“Thank you for helping her.”

“It’s the least I can do,” Logan said, shrugging as he pulled out some of his rations. “She needed help, and no one else would give it to her.”

Amelia smiled. “So, you would do the same for any of us?”

“No,” Logan snorted. “I would’ve dragged some individuals by the scruff of their neck and then thrown them to the ground.”

“What about me?” She laughed, stealing some of his trail mix. “Do I get the scruff or the princess carry?”

“Depends how rough you like it,” He winked.

They had spent hundreds of hours together by this point, so they often joked like that. But for some reason, Amelia’s entire demeanour shifted and became colder. She stood up straighter, and her smile faded into an unimpressed stare.

Logan didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, Stephanie got up and approached them, obviously ready to continue moving.

“Thank you for saving me, Logan,” She said, embracing him for longer than he found comfortable. “You really are my hero, you know that?”

“That’s just what friends do,” He said, glancing at Amelia.

She seemed even more upset.

When Stephanie finally let go of him, Amelia and Tom’s eyes almost burning a hole in the back of his head, Logan hesitantly approached Amelia as the group packed up and got ready.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking,” She said, staring off into the forest before suddenly turning to him. “You really are a good friend, Logan. How about we keep it that way?”

He swallowed, but the lump in his throat didn’t go away. “Of course.”

She smiled and walked away, leaving him to go over what had just happened. No matter how he went over everything, it almost felt like he’d been broken up with. Or better yet, as if she’d turned him down without having even asked to date in the first place.

Logan hadn’t the mental bandwidth to think about dating anyone right now, but he still found himself going pale at being rejected like that. Had he done something wrong, or had Amelia picked up the wrong signals? Their conversations had been getting more flirty, not that he ever intended to act on the insinuations.

They had always been friends in his mind, but maybe things had started to change without him even realising?

A few minutes later, everyone was ready to search for a new campsite. They continued exploring until night began to fall, a decent camping spot coming into sight just before it was too late.

That night, the atmosphere was awkward once again. James, Ron, and Deon went to a separate corner to drink and talk about their experience with losing their partners. James’ fiance, Mel, had burned to death like Deon’s wife. Her name was Debra, and she worked at a local kindergarten. She had been a beacon of light and hope for the short time they were in the cells together.

She was also the person who typically handled Janet.

Everyone else was stuck around the campfire, sitting in silence. Stephanie and Tom weren’t talking after what happened on the stone bridge. She hadn’t cried again after Logan had saved her, but the damage was done. Tom didn’t seem interested in apologising for what he said, either. That left them to sit around in silence while Stephanie hugged her knees.

Tom even tried to chat with her, but all he got back were single-word answers.

Logan and Amelia eventually used the excuse of wanting to spar to get away, putting them in an empty patch of land about twenty metres away from the campsite. On the one side was a curving rock wall, and on the other, a jungle with a few tents around the perimeter. They pulled out their weapons but didn’t fight just yet, standing next to each other and whispering in case their voices carried.

There was still some tension between them, but Amelia broke it by speaking first, their conversation flowing like nothing had happened between them.

“God, that was so awkward,” Amelia said, giving an exaggerated shudder.

“Tell me about it,” Logan whispered, glancing back to check that no one was within earshot. “Have you had a chance to speak with Stephanie yet? She seems really upset.”

“No, not yet.”

“Well, she might need someone to lean on after today. Why don’t you invite her to stay with you tonight?”

“Yeah, that’s not a bad idea. While I talk to Steph, you can sort Tom out.”

“Excuse me?” Logan said, giving her a bit of side-eye.

Amelia poked him in the side. “Don’t look at me like that, mister. I’ll sort Steph, and you deal with Tom. If not, the next month will be incredibly awkward for all of us.”

“No way. It will be awkward no matter what, so why would I involve myself in someone else’s relationship drama?”

“So you admit they are in a relationship, huh?”

Logan poked Amelia this time, earning a yelp. “You know what I mean. Stephanie is into Tom, but he thinks of her as a sister. Now, she finally understands her place in his heart. I think she also figured out he’s an asshole.”

“Do you want to help them get together or not?”

Logan shook his head.

“Why not?”

“Stephanie deserves better,” Logan sighed. “She’s a sweet girl, and she should stop wasting her time on someone like Tom.”

Amelia glared at him. “Alright. If you’re happy to spend the next month in awkward silence, then so am I.”

“You still need to talk to Stephanie, though.”

“I know, I know. No need to nag me, okay? She’s my friend, and I want what’s best for her. If she still loves Tom, then I’ll try to help her navigate past this.”

“Well, that might change after today. She seems pretty upset-.”

Logan paused, a strange phenomenon occurring in his Spatial Ring. Like a window connected to his mind, he could peer through it whenever he wanted, allowing him to pull out any item within the ring. Now, as he chatted with Amelia, he could sense that some kind of change was occurring within the dimensional space.

Logan found the culprit and pulled it out, an empty canvas appearing in his hands.

“That’s…” Amelia said, her eyes brightening.

Her voice trailed off as clouds of multi-coloured mist gathered around Logan. As they were pulled closer to the painting, the clouds sank into the canvas, slowly filling the blank page with colour.

When the last puff of multi-coloured smoke disappeared into the canvas, Logan felt the painting become more real. Instead of just a mesh of lines on a canvas, it was a singular entity merged into the world. He hadn’t felt such a phenomenon when first encountering the Long Night. Back in the cells, he had merely thought it to be a beautiful picture.

Logan’s perception was constantly improving thanks to his visualisation technique, but as he always used his eyes and ears, he didn’t notice that much of a change. Now that he could see the physical painting of the Long Night, however, he realised that his senses had improved much more than he thought possible.

Perhaps that was also why no one else sensed the pulse moment before Betty was killed?