— Rogue Entity Alert
Classification: Rogue Entity
Threat Level: Benevolent
Known Habitat: Long roads, dark rooms, bad nights, and the hands of people who have walked the way before you.
FIELD REPORT
Nobody remembers who lit the first one.
That’s the strange thing about lanterns.
They are almost always inherited.
Someone carries one through the dark.
Someone else sees the light.
Then, eventually, the first person hands it over.
ENCOUNTER LOG
The boy was lost.
He had been walking for hours.
The woods had looked different in the dark.
Every tree looked like every other tree.
Every direction felt wrong.
He was beginning to panic when he saw the light.
An old man stood on the trail holding a lantern.
“You lost?”
The boy nodded.
The old man smiled.
“Thought so.”
He didn’t ask how the boy got lost.
He didn’t ask why he hadn’t brought a map.
He simply turned around.
“Come on.”
They walked together.
After a while, the boy noticed something.
The old man wasn’t walking in front of him.
He was walking beside him.
FIELD NOTE
A good guide doesn’t always know exactly where you’re going.
Sometimes they simply know enough about the terrain to keep you from walking off a cliff.
They point out the roots.
The loose stones.
The places where the trail disappears.
Then they let you keep your feet.
ENCOUNTER WARNING
The Lantern is easily misunderstood.
People sometimes think the person carrying it is supposed to lead everyone.
That isn’t the job.
The job is to make the next few feet visible.
That’s enough.
You don’t need to illuminate the entire mountain.
You don’t need to know what happens after the bend.
You don’t need to carry someone all the way home.
Sometimes you just hold the light.
Sometimes they take the lantern from you.
Sometimes they carry it for someone else.
That’s how the light travels.
ENTITY STATUS
THE LANTERN — PASSED ON.
You were not meant to keep it.
You were meant to use it.
Then, when someone else can’t see the road—
hold it out.
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