Arrival

The Serenity was a ghost ship, limping through the dawn, a testament to sheer human will and Elias's desperate light. Its hull was scorched and pitted, not by fire, but by something far more insidious – as if sections of it had simply ceased to exist, dissolving into nothingness. Smoke, not from combustion but from failing systems, plumed from various vents. Yet, it was undeniably a human vessel, a fragile beacon of survival against impossible odds.

Elias, utterly depleted, watched its approach from the lantern room, the orb in his hand a dim, exhausted glow. The Light Cage around the lighthouse remained, a faint, almost translucent shimmer, its protective power running on fumes. He felt a wave of dizziness, the adrenaline that had sustained him for hours finally draining away, leaving him trembling.

The ship, a long, sleek research vessel built for deep-sea exploration, not cosmic travel, slowly pivoted, aiming its battered bow towards the lighthouse's small, rocky jetty. Its lights, once bright, flickered weakly, casting pallid glows onto the churning water. Elias could make out figures on its deck, huddled together, looking up at the lighthouse with a mixture of terror and profound relief.

He needed to get down. He needed to meet them. He stumbled away from the Fresnel lens, leaning heavily on the railing as he made his way to the spiral stairs. Each step down was an agony, his muscles screaming in protest, his mind battling the urge to simply collapse.

The descent felt endless. The joyous hum of the Lighthouse's Heart had dimmed considerably, mirroring his own exhaustion. The purity he had achieved in the Root was still there, but the raw power had been expended in pulling the Serenity through the void. He felt a resurgence of the oppressive silence, a quiet weight settling back into the air around him. The Collectors were still out there, biding their time.

When he finally reached the ground floor, his legs nearly gave out. He leaned against the cold stone of the heavy iron door, gasping for breath. The door itself, still bolted, seemed to hum with a subtle tension. He fumbled with the ancient bolts, their rusted mechanisms resisting his weakened grip. He remembered how easily he had reinforced them with the Spark earlier, how effortlessly he had felt the lighthouse's structure. Now, he was just a tired man, wrestling with physical limitations.

A faint clanking sound came from outside, followed by the deep groan of a gangplank lowering onto the jetty. They were landing. He had to open the door.

With a final, desperate surge of will, he pushed against the bolts. They scraped, shrieked, and then, with a thunderous thud, sprang open. Elias pulled the heavy door inward, revealing the grey light of dawn, the crashing waves, and the scarred vessel docked at the jetty.

Figures emerged from the Serenity, stumbling onto the solid ground. There were only four of them. A woman, her face streaked with dirt and exhaustion, her eyes wide with a desperate relief that bordered on hysteria. She had dark, practical clothing, a utility belt, and a streak of grey in her otherwise brown hair. This had to be the voice. Behind her, two burly men, one with a head injury bleeding freely, supported a fourth figure, clearly injured, wrapped in a blanket.

The woman spotted Elias, standing framed in the lighthouse doorway, the orb now a faint glow in his hand. Her eyes, filled with recent terror, fixed on him.

"You!" she choked out, her voice ragged. "You're the… the light. You saved us."

Elias could only nod, leaning heavily against the doorframe. "Are you… are you all right?"

She shook her head, tears finally overflowing. "No. Not really. We lost so many. The darkness… it swallowed them. Our Captain… he stayed behind to give us time." Her gaze swept past Elias, into the shadowy interior of the lighthouse, then out to the still, clear horizon. "What was that? What was that?"

Elias looked out at the tranquil ocean, then back at her haunted eyes. "They're called the Collectors," he said, his voice a raw whisper. "And they're coming back."