The Great Core's Paradox

They had thought of a way to work off their newfound energy, but not everything was going to plan. There were…disagreements.

Anna narrowed her eyes. Ian stared back, eyes just as narrow. The other kids leaned back, shying away as if a Core were making monsters burst out of the ground between them. She narrowed them again, vision becoming little more than tiny slits.

“You always get to be the Little Guardian. What if somebody else wanted to play the Little Guardian this time?” Ian said.

Anna grumbled. She always tried to be the Little Guardian because the Little Guardian was the coolest. Everyone tried to be the Little Guardian when they played Rescue, even though it was the easiest - and, if she was being honest, technically least exciting - role in the game. It was just too strong. All the Little Guardian had to do was touch a Monster, and they’d be frozen for a whole fifteen seconds. That was, like, almost a minute. Strong.

Which was why playing the Little Guardian was so cool. Some of the others thought that being a Monster was fun, too, trying to chase down all of the Lost Children before the Little Guardian could save them and bring them Home, where they could be left alone and safe from the Monster.

Anna didn’t. Monsters were bad, and she didn’t like being bad.

But still, even being one of the Lost Children could be exciting. Both Monsters and Lost Children had to do a lot of running and/or hiding, though, and most of the bigger kids were faster than Anna. When she was the Little Guardian, she could go as slow as she pleased - as long as she went fast enough to touch any of the Monsters that tried to tag any Lost Children she was guiding Home.

“Fine. I’ll be one of the Lost Children, then,” Anna grumbled one last time. She had been the Little Guardian the last few times they played, so she couldn’t really argue. Even if she wanted to.

She perked up. Maybe being a Lost Child would be more fun this time; with so much cool forest around to explore, it would be an adventure and a game all wrapped up in one. Anna was sure that she could find a great place to hide, too. Because she would need to hide as one of the Lost Children. Whoever was chosen as the Monster would be able to freely chase the Lost Children while the Little Guardian closed their eyes and counted, and if Anna was caught…

Anna gulped.

She’d have to join the Monsters’ side and chase down the other Lost Children. Anna hated

being one of the Monsters. So her eyes raced back and forth, already looking for a path through the underbrush while the others clamored over who would play what role. Not that there were that many to choose from. In Rescue, there were only three - one Monster, one Little Guardian, and eight Lost Children. Sometimes there were more or less Lost Children, but there were never more than one Monster or Little Guardian.

This time, though, the numbers were just right.

“Alright, that’s it, then!” Ian finally proclaimed as the others finished bickering, their roles selected. Anna beamed, bouncing on her toes in an excess of post-fruit energy, excited even if she hadn’t been picked as the Little Guardian this time.

And maybe if she was lucky, she’d happen to find the real Little Guardian while they were playing the game. Wouldn’t that be great?

Anna wandered through the forest, a single bare foot padding on the moss-covered stone. Her shoe had been lost in the opening scuffle of the game, when the Monster - during the early period where the Little Guardian had to keep their eyes closed and count for a minute - had immediately tagged one of Anna’s fellow Lost Children. And since the rules said that when a Monster caught a Lost Child, they’d have to join the Monster’s side and try to tag the others, things instantly became twice as hard.

Taking a glance back to make sure that she was safe, Anna stopped to take off the other shoe, letting her now-bare toes wriggle in the soft moss. She could barely even feel the hardness of the stone underneath; it was like her toes were too busy getting colorful little hugs from the moss to feel anything else.

It was nice.

A growl forced Anna into a startled jump, pulling her toes free from their colorful hug until they kissed the air. She landed with a jarring thump, her landing thankfully cushioned by the moss. If it hadn’t been, things might have ended much worse.

Even so, Anna shrieked as a Monster came into view, growling with teeth bared. They were gross; red fluids dripped from their mouth like tiny rivers, and pulpy bits of flesh showed between their teeth with every growl. Sure, it was from the fruit they had all eaten earlier, but that didn’t make it any less frightening.

Jumpscares were the worst. Anna ran, darting away with speed that only the sheer terror of losing a children’s game could impart. Her discarded shoe was left behind, forgotten. Ahead of her, dangling vines and low-sitting brush were moved aside in her approach - some by her waving arms, others by themselves, shifting about as if touched by an invisible hand.

The world swirled about confusingly as she dashed every which way, the golds and blues of the vines pressing into her eyes like a picture that you stared at too hard and too long without blinking. It was enough that, by the time Anna couldn’t hear the growling of the Monster behind her anymore, she had no idea where she was anymore.

The forest was thinning out; the moss below her feet still gave her toes little hugs with every step, but they were weak and ragged compared to the ones before. Kinda sad. Anna reached down to give the moss a little pat.

“You’ll grow up to be nice and strong like all the other mosses, I’m sure,” she told the moss in between huffs and pants. “Don’t worry, little guy.”

Anna followed the thinning trail of plants; since she didn’t know how to get back anyway. Maybe she’d find the Little Guardian at the forest’s edge. He was the one growing the forest, right? So he’d probably be somewhere where the forest was less grown. Why would you need to be in the part of the forest that was already grown if you were trying to grow a forest? That would just be stupid.

Anna nodded, satisfied with her logic, and then continued onwards in her march. She might have pushed herself out of the game of Rescue for the moment by getting lost, but the Great Expedition was still on! Surely someone would find her eventually; even if she was lost, she wasn’t that lost.

The city was just right over…well, over somewhere. Anna shrugged, and kept going.

Anna padded along, even when the diminishing moss stopped trying to give her toes little hugs. Instead, stone and pebbles started to munch on her skin, leaving little nicks that faded away almost before Anna noticed them. Still, she did notice them.

They itched something awful. Anna hated when she got the itches. Still, she persev…she kept going. For all she knew, the Little Guardian was just around the corner!

Except he wasn’t. Soon enough, the forest had given way entirely; the cavern opened up into an expanse of blackness ahead of her, and Anna felt her shoulders shudder before she straightened them up again.

She was definitely lost.

For a moment, she thought about turning around again and looking for the others - except that Miss Triss always said that, when you get lost, it’s best to sit your butt down and stay put so that you can be found. Plus, wasn’t being lost the best way to find the Little Guardian? That’s what the stories said, and Anna had lived through some of the stories before, when the Little Guardian hissed her monsters away.

So Anna did just that, gathering a small section of the ragged bits of moss that remained nearby and forming a tiny little cushion. And then she sat.

And waited.

And waited.

And then, just when she was getting a little impatient, something appeared.

But it wasn’t the Little Guardian.