"We cannot stop you," Kaelen said, thinking furiously. "And we cannot let you overwhelm us. We need a way for you to flow into our world safely."
He looked at the ship, at the crystals, at the way the light interacted with his engines. An idea began to form—a crazy, brilliant idea.
"Lyra," he said quickly. "The Aetheri said this place is made of resonance. What if we don't build a dam? What if we build a musical instrument? Something that takes this raw power and turns it into a melody the world can hear and accept."
"A Harmonic Conduit," Lyra whispered, her eyes lighting up.
"Like the anchors in the desert but designed for the sky. It would translate the wild magic into frequencies the beacon network can handle."
"Yes!" Kaelen grabbed his tools and started sketching madly.
"We can use the ship itself as the core. We can reconfigure the engines to act as a stabilizer and use the sails to spread the energy out gently."
"But it will be dangerous," Captain Reeve said, though he was already moving to help. "If we miscalculate, we could be the ones who get dispersed into the wind."
"Then we do it together," Kaelen said. "Everyone link hands. Everyone add their own magic, their own frequency."
They worked with a speed born of desperation and inspiration. Kaelen rewired the controls. Lyra carved new runes into the hull using light itself. Reeve steered them into the exact center of the light sphere.
Above them, far below in the lower atmosphere, they could feel the build-up of power. Commander Ironclad was charging his cannons. He was ready to fire.
"He's going to do it!" Lyra warned. "He doesn't understand! If he fires now, he'll shatter the balance forever!"
"We have to finish this first!" Kaelen yelled. "Now! Everyone, connect!"