The Holder of the Dark Lighthouse

The dark lighthouse does not exist by any sea, or by any body of water. Rather, you will find it in some random spot in the American Midwest or Southern Canada. It has no set location, and moves so frequently that out of all the Objects, the secret it holds may be the hardest to find.

If you find it, then it will either be standing in the middle of a wheat field, keeping watch over the swaying waves of grain, or among the stalks of corn in Iowa, waiting patiently for you, just before the year's last harvest. Most farmers in the region know about the dark lighthouse, but they choose not to mention it, out of fear of what lives deep inside.

The dark lighthouse is not like any other such structure you may have seen elsewhere in the world. It is much taller, and sticks out of the ground like a great tooth, made of the same material as deer antlers. Its light does not rotate; instead, it shines out of one window cut into the top of the towering pillar. The beam of light will oscillate between all of the colors of the low-end of the electromagnetic spectrum, going between blue, to purple, to an ultraviolent beam which can boil your skin off of your bones.

Do not drive up to the dark lighthouse, even if you are able to reach it. For one thing, it is far from the road, and you don't want to get stuck off of the highway in any of the fields over which it holds its vigil. For another, you may not wish to generate any more noise than you have to in the vicinity of the lighthouse. Many Seekers have done so, and it has retreated back into the earth from which it has grown.

Instead, creep slowly up to the colossal tower. If you hear any sounds other than your own footsteps, then hope that the creatures you can sense around you are harmless. You cannot see them, but they are everywhere near the lighthouse. Some of them are herbivores, content to graze on the crops here. Others will gladly consume you alive.

When you reach the hundred-foot-high double doors of the great lighthouse, they may or may not be open. They cannot be forced open, no matter how hard you try. If they are, then you can step inside if you so choose. I can't say I recommend it, though.

The inside of the lighthouse is an open space, close to one hundred stories high. It is dark here, but you should be able to make out a spiral staircase leading up to the top. Blue lights cast a glow over it, but they do nothing to illuminate the rest of the lighthouse's interior. Be thankful. In the shadows dwell a swarm of small, flying creatures which, if awakened by the light, will tear you to shreds and then go out across the countryside, slaughtering livestock and men across the country until they satiate their near-boundless appetite.

The staircase will be treacherous, littered with the skeletons of Seekers and the poor, unfortunate people stumbled upon this place unknowing. Do not stop to pay your respects to the dead, or you will join them. Along these stairs are horrific traps, evidenced by the state of some of the bones upon which you may have to walk.

At the top of the stairs, you will step into the light room. It is also filled with flying horrors, only these are larger, and always awake. They hang upside-down from the ceiling, wrapped up in their great, membranous wings. Don't be deceived, of course. They can see you easily. They guard the dark light and operate the lighthouse. They are its Holders.

After this, you need to be very fast. So long as you do not touch anything, the guardians of the dark light will not make a move to harm you, but as you go to pry the light from its container, they will swarm you. No matter what goes through your mind, you must jump from the window. Do it right, and you will miraculously survive the landing unharmed. Do it wrong, and... Well, you're falling close to a thousand feet. Do I really have to spell it out for you?

The lighthouse will retreat into the ground, and dawn will break over the plains. You are safe now, although, on the unlikely chance that you see the lighthouse again, you don't want to think about the horrendous fate which will befall you.

The light you hold now is Object 617 of 2538. It can bring light to darkness, or darkness to light, and if you bring it together with the Others, it will provide illumination for the endless hunt of the ravenous horrors which you will surely unleash.