The Devil's Broken Doll
This time, she followed because stopping in the forge-heart of Hell was its own form of danger, not because she had chosen to surrender the path to him.
The first chain bridge rose before them from smoke and heat, a test set by something older than reason. Iron posts had been driven deep into opposing shelves of black rock, and from them hung thick chains strung with narrow metal plates, just wide enough for two careful feet, and no more. Below, magma moved in a broad, slow river through the fissure, its surface shifting in dark orange folds beneath a crust that broke open, revealing brighter veins below.
The bridge swayed in the heat draft.