Once upon a time there was a little girl named Maladina. She was a clever and curious little girl. One day when she was exploring the forest like always  she had wandered off farther than usual. What started as a simple shortcut home from her grandmother’s cottage turned into a tangled mess of brambles, twisting trees, and fading light. Her water bottle was empty. Panic prickled at her skin like the thorns that had scratched her arms. She sat on a rock trying not to think about it while crying. That’s when she saw a soft, glowing light, bobbing between the trees. Maladina stood and shouted, “Hello?” There wasn’t an answer. When the light moved again, curiosity hit her, and she couldn’t help but follow it. After a few minutes, the trees opened into a clearing, and there stood a boy. He looked to be around thirteen years old, but . . . different. His weird hair shone under the moonlight. There was a floating and glowing lantern in his hand. “Hi,” he said, with a gentle smile. “You’re definitely  lost.” Maladina nodded sadly. "Well, I’m Carol. I help lost people find their way back.” 

His lantern pulsed with a soft blue glow, casting dancing lights across the leaves. “Are you like… a forest spirit or something?” “Maladina asked?” He laughed. “Sort of. I’m what the old folks used to call a ‘Wayfinder.’ There aren’t many of us left.” Carol’s lantern hummed softly in his hand,Carol’s lantern hummed softly in his hand, as if it understood what was needed before words were spoken. Its glow wasn’t warm like firelight, but cool and steady like moonbeams reflected on water.Maladina blinked, wiping her face with the back of her sleeve. “A… Wayfinder?”Carol nodded. “We guide those who wander too far. The forest’s always shifting—paths bend, time slows, and sometimes people forget the way out.”Maladina frowned. 

“That’s exactly what happened. I was just walking home from Grandma’s and then… everything changed.”Carol tilted his head, curious. “What were you thinking about when it happened?”She hesitated. “I don’t know. I was mad, I guess. My mom didn’t want me to take the shortcut. She never listens. And Grandma said some weird things, too. Something about old forest paths waking up.”Carol’s eyes shimmered, catching the lantern’s glow. “That’ll do it.”“What do you mean?”He held out a hand. “Walk with me. I’ll explain.”

As they moved through the woods, the trees seemed to lean away from Carol’s light, forming a gentle path.“There are places,” he said, “where the forest remembers things. Emotions. Echoes of thoughts. If you step into them with a strong enough feeling—anger, sadness, fear—you sort of… fall between.

“Between what?”“Between the world everyone sees… and the one that’s mostly forgotten.”Maladina looked around. The forest was quiet, but not empty. The leaves whispered too clearly. The shadows shifted too slowly.“So I’m in… a memory forest?”“Not quite. Think of it like this: the world has layers. Most people stay in the top ones. But you? You slipped down. And I help people climb back.”She considered this. “But you’re just a kid.”Carol grinned. “A very old kid.”They walked until they reached an ancient tree with bark like cracked stone. At its base was a pool of water, still as glass.“This is the Echoing Pool,” Carol        said.“Lookin.”Maladina peered over the edge. The reflection wasn’t of her face—but her walking through the forest that morning, storming off, muttering under her breath.“I didn’t mean to get lost,” 

she whispered.“You weren’t just lost in the forest,” Carol said gently. “You were lost inside yourself. That’s the tricky part.”She looked up at him. “Is that why you became a Wayfinder? You got lost too?”Carol didn’t answer at first. His smile faded.“A long time ago. I never found my way back. So I help others instead.”Maladina's heart tightened. “That’s kind of sad.”He shrugged. “Sometimes we stay where we're needed most.”He reached into his coat and pulled out a second, smaller lantern. It looked like a tiny bottle filled with mist and light.“Hold this,” he said.Maladina took it. The glow warmed in her hands, reacting to her touch.“It remembers your path. All you have to do is follow it.”“But what about you?”Carol stepped back. “There are others. Always.”The light in Maladina’s lantern flared. A soft hum surrounded her.The forest began to shift again—less tangled, more familiar. She could almost smell the trail behind her grandmother’s garden.“Wait!” she called. “Will I ever see you again?”