Maybe Wilhelm's biggest mistake is in thinking that this time, things will be different. This time, the immutable will submit to change. This time, he's strong enough.

As the exiles survey the chasm with a hunger that he doesn't want to understand, he sets a steady hand on the post of the dilapidated, desperate prayer of a bridge that stretches across. A deep breath, and inch by inch the bridge is encrusted in smooth obsidian. Wilhelm's protective shell, extended to the passage the exiles must take.

He doesn't expect them to fall to their knees in gratitude or anything. He just wants them to make it across in one piece.