Elara slammed the metal grate shut behind them and twisted the lock, her hands shaking. Rowan collapsed against the wall, gasping for breath as the echo of the creature's shriek vibrated down the shaft.
The service room was pitch-black.
No windows.No lamps.Only the faint orange glow of the dying lantern fire dripping from the stairwell above.
Rowan's voice wavered."Elara… we're running out of places to hide."
Elara raised a finger to her lips.
Because the room wasn't silent.
The walls… were breathing.
In.Out.A slow expansion, like ancient lungs inhaling the damp coastal air.
Rowan whispered, "Please tell me that's the wind."
"This room is underground," Elara whispered back. "There is no wind."
A loud impact shook the grate above them.
THUMP.
The creature had reached the landing.
THUMP… THUMP…
Its footsteps were slow—testing, listening, hunting.
Rowan swallowed."What do we do when it finds the grate?"
Elara took a shaky breath."We don't let it trap us down here."
She scanned the darkness, feeling along the walls until her hand touched a switch.
A single bulb flickered to life overhead—
—and immediately dimmed, pulsing like a heartbeat.
The room came into view.
Pipes. Old tools. Coils of rope.And the giant mechanism that powered the lighthouse's rotation.
But something else too.
Something that shouldn't be there.
Rowan stepped back the moment he saw it.
"Elara… the floor…"
The concrete was wet.
Not from rain.Not from leaks.
From seawater pooling upward through the cracks—as if the ocean were seeping into the room to claim the ground.
The water rippled.
Then something touched Elara's boot.
A finger.
Pale. Boneless. Sliding from beneath the floorboards.
Rowan grabbed her arm and yanked her back.
"Elara, the thing—there's another one—"
"No," she whispered, eyes widening.
"It's the same one."
The water rose faster, bubbling, gurgling like something crawling up the pipes.
The creature was coming from both directions now—above and below.
Trying to corner them.
Trying to split them apart.
The grate overhead rattled violently, metal bending.
Rowan's panic spiked."It's breaking through!"
Elara scanned the room desperately.
There—in the far corner—the rusted service hatch leading outside to the cliffs.
A narrow exit.Barely big enough for a person.
She grabbed Rowan's wrist."We're going through the hatch. Now."
But the floorboards beneath them bulged—and cracked.
A bloated, waterlogged hand burst upward, fingers stretching toward Rowan's ankle.
"Elara—!!"
She kicked the hand aside, dragging Rowan toward the hatch.
The grate above finally tore open with a scream of metal.
The creature's voice dripped into the room like poison:
"Don't run. You'll drown either way."
Rowan shoved the hatch with all his strength.It jammed. Rusted shut.
From the floor, another arm emerged.
From above, the creature dropped onto the staircase with a wet thud.
"Elara—OPEN IT!" Rowan cried.
Elara slammed her shoulder against the hatch.
Once.
Twice.
The metal groaned.
The creature was almost on them now—sliding down the wall like a slick mass of limbs.
It whispered:
"Rowan… give me your hand…"
Rowan screamed, "ELARA—NOW!"
Elara gave one last, desperate shove—
—and the hatch ripped open, cold night air flooding in.
The ocean roared just beyond the threshold.
Rowan crawled out first.
Elara followed—
Just as the creature's arms lunged for her legs.
She kicked free, grabbing the hatch handle—
And slammed it shut.
The creature shrieked on the other side, pounding the metal so hard the bolts shook.
Rowan grabbed her hand, breathless.
"Elara… what now?"
Elara looked at the dark cliffs ahead—the storm still raging—and the vast, endless sea.
"We run," she said.
"Because it's not trapped."
She looked back at the lighthouse.
"It's angry."
A deep, distant boom echoed through the tower.
Rowan trembled."Elara… what was that?"
She stared at the lighthouse light—which flickered once more—and then went completely dark.
"That," she whispered, "was the lighthouse… dying."