Shoutarou

The Twilight Guide of Armaria, they called them. Before, the title was just a job. Shoutarou’s task was simple: to light the twisting paths for scholars and wizards returning to the fortress after dusk. The floating lanterns they carried were tools, nothing more, casting practical circles of light on the crystalline ground. Then a new trainee arrived, a quiet rock wizard who cared more for the way the sunset refracted through the monoliths than for getting home quickly. They began to linger on the path, pointing out how Shoutarou's lantern light made the amethysts glow from within. For the first time, Shoutarou looked up from the ground. In The Crystal Highlands of Armaria, even a guide can get lost, and found. These days, one of the lanterns always swings a little higher, aimed not at the path, but at a smiling face in the deepening twilight.