The Lantern-Bearer’s Shadow

A wanderer carried a lantern whose light never reached the ground. Instead, the glow seeped backward, illuminating his shadow. Villagers whispered that the lantern was cursed, but he knew it revealed truths he refused to face. One night, when he lifted it higher, his shadow stepped forward, leading him down a path he feared. At the end stood a memory he had buried: the face of someone he once loved and failed. When he accepted it, the lantern finally lit the road ahead.