Short story "Don't go to the basement" #15

He took a step towards the stranger.
They were walking along a stone bridge leading to a light source. There were boats of various sizes, yachts and speedboats on both sides. They were overturned or partially drowned. Their metal masts, propelled by the wind, collided with each other, creating a ghostly sound. Kapok, crates, ropes and other equipment floated in the water. It seemed to him that he was walking through a graveyard of ships.
"Now listen.
He was startled by the sound of a voice from behind his suit. He realized what scared him the most. He could not determine the age or appearance of the caller. He wasn't talking to a person, but to a voice. He looked at the stranger walking next to him.
- You have released something that has been locked in this box for centuries. Only there is he harmless, and you see what he can do in the wild - they walked in silence for a while, waves crashing on both sides of the pier, flooding them with a hail of salty drops - you have to catch him before he eats any more.
"Is he eating?" He shuddered at the very sound of the word.
- Yes, - said the interlocutor, - he feeds on what he destroys. And thanks to this, he grows stronger. That's why you need to lock it back in this box.
- What... what? He suffocated - the box was left in this wreckage!
The man in the suit laughed.
"You're wrong," he said, and opened the leather case attached to the weight belt.
He tossed him a golden box.
He caught a black object. He seemed to weigh a lot more than he thought.
"How do I lock him in there?" He asked the stranger.
They were approaching the end of the pier. An almost thirty-meter-high lantern towered over them like a magical fairy-tale tower for children. A ray of light emerged from its peak and wrapped around, illuminating the Black Sea and the surrounding area.
A large wave crashed onto the stone shore and covered the stairs leading to the door at the foot of the lamppost.
"There's nothing easier," he replied, "he has to get into it himself."
Rafal suddenly stopped.
- what?
"You can do it, I believe in you," he said and patted him on the metal glove behind his back and, by the way, pushed him almost two meters forward.
- Wait, aren't you coming with me?
- no
, the diver felt his legs bend under him. The pain in his chest was becoming unbearable.
- why?
"It's just that I won't fit into that costume on the lantern ladder."
- Why don't you download it?
"I can't download it," he began, and after a moment added, "and you don't want to see me without a helmet."
Rafal realized that further questions made no sense. He held the box against his diving vest as if he were holding a small child.
He looked up at the top of the lighthouse. He seemed awfully tall.
"Remember, you only have one chance. If you don't catch him, he'll kill you," a metallic voice muttered from under the helmet.
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