stake: sebol7
Title: The Extinguished Lantern ππ
Every Halloween, the villagers lit lanterns to keep away the one who came for the darkness β the Keeper of Lights. They said he collected the souls of those whose flames died before dawn.
That year, a boy named Mark laughed at the old stories. He went out into the night with a single lantern, mocking the superstition. But the wind grew colder. The fog thickened. The forest began to whisper.
Then β pffft β his lantern went out.
Silence.
Behind him, footsteps crunched on the dead leaves. A voice, like fire scraping glass, hissed:
βOne more light... gone.β
The next morning, the villagers found Markβs lantern burning again at the forestβs edge β its glass blackened from the inside.
No one ever touched it. And no one ever lets their light go out anymore.