🕯️ Two Souls, One Lantern: A Tale Across Worlds

Prologue: The Final Light

The night I died, I saw a lantern.

It wasn’t bright — more like a trembling ember clinging to existence.

As my heartbeat faded, the light pulsed once, twice, and then drew me in.

When I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by silver trees and a sky that hummed softly with magic.

I had been reborn.

In that new world, I carried no memories of who I was — only the faint image of that lantern, its glow etched into my mind like an afterimage of life itself.

They called me Rei, the apprentice of a wandering sorcerer.

And hanging from my belt was that same lantern, its glass cracked, its flame quiet but alive.

Whenever I stared too long into it, I saw flickers of another world — cold, gray, and full of rain.

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Chapter 1: The Lantern’s Echo

Back in that gray world — the one I’d left behind — another version of me still existed.

He was not aware that he was dead.

Every night, he walked the same streets, searching for something he could not name.

Sometimes he felt warmth on his chest, a faint pulse like light trapped beneath his skin.

He visited his own grave every week.

The inscription was simple:

Rei K., 1997–2023. A light that never dimmed.

He didn’t understand what it meant.

He only knew that when he stood there, he could see the faint shimmer of a lantern flame reflected in the stone.

Two worlds.

Two versions of me.

And between them — one flickering light, fighting to stay alive.

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Chapter 2: The Sorcerer’s Warning

In the new world, Master Kuro — a man with eyes like burnt paper — noticed my obsession with the lantern.

“Every soul burns twice,” he said. “Once in life, and once in longing. The lantern is your longing made visible.”

He warned me never to let it go out.

If it did, my two halves would collapse into one — and both would vanish.

But one evening, during the crimson eclipse, I felt a strange pull.

The lantern’s glow deepened, showing not reflections but memories.

Through the glass, I saw the other me — the one still wandering through rain — kneeling beside my grave, whispering something I couldn’t hear.

And then I heard his voice inside my head.

It said, “You shouldn’t be alive.”

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Chapter 3: The Worlds Overlap

From that night onward, reality began to blur.

Half of my room filled with fog.

The air shimmered between magic and the hum of city lights.

When I reached out, I touched another hand — colder, trembling.

It was him.

The me from the other world.

We stared at each other, speechless, the same eyes filled with different pain.

“I kept your memory alive,” he said. “That’s why you exist.”

“No,” I whispered. “You kept the lantern alive.”

The flame between us swayed violently.

One world began to bleed into the other.

The forest outside my window merged with skyscrapers.

Magic and electricity intertwined, indistinguishable.

We both felt it — the pull toward the lantern, the truth it guarded.

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Chapter 4: The Choice of Light

The sorcerer’s words echoed again: Every soul burns twice.

Maybe rebirth isn’t about starting over — maybe it’s about confronting what was left behind.

He wanted to live again.

I wanted to remember who I once was.

The lantern couldn’t sustain both desires.

Its flame split, two halves trembling like twin hearts beating in opposite directions.

“Which of us should exist?” he asked.

The answer came not from words, but from warmth.

I took his hand.

“We both will. You’ll be the memory, and I’ll be the dream.”

The lantern glowed one last time — neither bright nor dim, but infinite.

And then it shattered, scattering light across both worlds.

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Epilogue: The Dawn Beyond the Flame

When I awoke, the lantern was gone.

The sorcerer’s hut was silent.

But on my chest was a faint scar — shaped like a flame.

In the distance, dawn broke over the silver trees.

And in the glow of that morning light, I saw a reflection in the river: a city skyline under rain, a boy standing alone, smiling.

He mouthed the words I could not hear — but I understood.

“Don’t mourn me. I am the light you see when you close your eyes.”

Two worlds.

Two lives.

One lantern.

Still burning.