Here's another **very long**, dark tale—in its own block, just like the previous ones.--# **27. "The Last Guardian of Reculver"—The Story of the Ghost Who Watches Over the Sea**

Reculver, a small town on the Kent coast, is famous for its ruined church perched on a cliff slowly being eaten away by the sea. The towers, known as the **Twin Sisters**, have served as beacons for centuries, and the sea beneath them continues to rip away more and more land. No one can say how many stories have been lost to the waves, but one is remembered by everyone who lives in the area—the story of the **Last Guardian**.

### **I**

In 1803, when the waves crashed so hard they seemed to swallow the cliffs, a man named Thomas Corley lived in Reculver. He was the keeper of the towers that lit the way for ships. Some said he was a loner, others that he had given his heart entirely to the sea.

Every evening, Thomas climbed one of the towers and lit a signal to warn sailors of the treacherous rocks. From a distance, the flame looked like the eye of a watchful giant.

One day, the storm had been raging for three weeks, and the sea refused to calm. The waves were as high as houses, the wind howled like a pack of wild animals, and the water rose daily. People began to say that this was no ordinary storm—that the sea was claiming something long ago granted to it.

### **II**

Thomas wasn't afraid of the elements. He believed his duty was stronger than fear. He went up to the tower even when the rain was tearing at his skin and the wind was hurling him against the rocks. One night, when the storm was at its fiercest, he noticed the lights of a ship in the distance. They flickered irregularly, as if someone was calling for help.

Without a moment's hesitation, he descended, grabbed a lantern, and headed for shore. The waves crashed against the rocks so brutally they almost knocked him over, but Thomas pressed on. When he reached the bottom, he saw something beyond explanation.

The ship he'd seen from the tower wasn't one of his own time. It was centuries old, with black sails and a hull covered in sea rust. It seemed both real and unreal—like a shadow that had taken on the shape of matter.

A shout came from the deck.

Thomas lurched forward.

### **III**

He tried to climb the rocks to reach the spot where the waves were washing the wreck ashore, but every step was like a struggle against the elements. Suddenly, a hand emerged from the waves—thin, white, inhuman—and grabbed his ankle.

Thomas fell to one knee, but he didn't try to pull away.

"Who are you?" " he shouted above the wind.

A face emerged from the water. It wasn't alive. Its eyes were the color of the sea in a storm, and its skin was so pale it was almost transparent.

"We return for what... what was taken from us..." the apparition said, its voice sounding like the roar of waves in a cave.

At that moment, a wave struck Thomas with such force that it swept him from the shore. The men found only his lantern—it lay on the wet sand, still glowing.

Thomas's body was never found.

### **IV**

Since that night, Reculver had changed. The storm abruptly stopped, as if it had never existed. The sea had receded slightly, but the cliffs bore the scars of its fury. The towers still stood, but many residents claimed to see a **man with a lantern** on one of them at night.

No one could enter the towers after dark—the doors were bolted from the inside, even though no one lived there. Yet the light still burned, just as it had when Thomas was alive.

People began to say he had returned to continue his service. But the light he gave off was different: not warm and golden, but cold, like the moon hovering above the deep.

### **V**

The phenomenon intensified as the sea began to eat away at the cliffs again. At night, footsteps could be heard on the stones, and sometimes—if one dared approach—a figure stood on one of the towers, holding a lantern. The lantern gave not light, but shadow.

Sailors passing Reculver spoke of a figure who warned them of an invisible obstacle. Those who ignored the light vanished without a trace. Weeks later, the waves washed up wreckage of ships, but never bodies.

The oldest resident once said:

"Thomas did not perish. He became part of the sea." It is his voice… his guardian… his vengeance.

### **VI**

One year, a researcher named Frederick Doyle decided to investigate the legend. He was a skeptic, a man of science who didn't believe in ghosts or fishermen's tales. He came to Reculver and settled near the towers to conduct his observations.

The first night, he heard something that took his breath away: heavy footsteps at the top of the tower, and immediately afterward—the crashing of waves that seemed to speak words.

The second night, he saw a light, cold and silver, hovering above one of the towers.

But on the third night, something happened that broke him completely.

Frederick awoke to someone standing by his bed. Someone with a lantern.

The light was so intense that it illuminated the entire room, though it gave off no warmth.

The figure spoke in a whisper:

"The waves always take what is theirs…"

Frederick escaped from Reculver the next day.

He returned changed, with gray hair and trembling hands.

He never told anyone exactly what he saw—except for one thing:

"Thomas no longer lights the light to warn.

Now he lights it to call out."

### **VII**

Today, the people of Reculver avoid the ruins after dark.

Those who live closest to the cliff claim that sometimes at night they see a light hovering above the towers, and the sea responds with an eerie growl.

Some say they saw a man standing on the shore, looking out to sea as if waiting for a ship that would never arrive.

And others say that as the sea swallows another section of the cliff, a voice can be heard:

> "I'm not finished yet..."

Few dare to listen further.

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