Flinching, Harry woke up and was surprised to realize that it was quiet. All he
could hear was small creaking of the ropes and squeaks from the boards around
him. He remembered what he had been dreaming about. It had felt so real. It
had been a nightmare: The rain, that had lasted for the past few weeks, would
last forever. It was like the Great Flooding all over again. Harry shivered.
He wondered if the dream had something to do with the ill feeling he had had
for the past few days.

It was still dark outside despite the storm had ceased. Shadows danced on the
walls to the rhythm of the quiet, flickering flame inside the storm lantern
that hung by the door. Harry felt that he couldn’t fall back asleep right now,
so he stood up, wore his boots, grabbed the storm lantern from the hook and
decided to take a look outside.

Up on the deck it was quiet, really quiet. The storm was gone, the rain was
gone. But still it was unusually quiet and the air felt oppressive, as if it
was waiting for something to happen. However, everything seemed to be
absolutely normal as the sailor at the bow just nodded a greeting to him
quietly from his guard post. Harry noticed that the ship wasn’t swaying at all
and walked to the railing. Reflections of the bright white stars glimmered
below him on the surface of the dead calm sea. Far to the south he could
barely see the small fires on the walls of BatCity. The scene was absolutely
beautiful.

Harry should have felt excited. The experiment he had prepared in secrecy, the
new ship and its extraordinary crew had worked better than he could have ever
expected. All the tests they had done with the ship mages, with the ship
itself… it had been a total success. He had all the reasons to feel proud and
happy, but all the time he had had this bad gut feeling that had kept his mood
down, a feeling that something bad was bound to happen, a feeling that just
wouldn’t go away. Harry looked up to the starry night sky. The stars, too,
didn’t seem right, as if there were too many of them.

Harry just stood there a moment longer, shrugged, and decided it was time to
go to sleep again. “Remember, tomorrow will be a big day,” he said to himself.
Tomorrow would be the day when everything would change. Tomorrow would be the
day, when the new means of travel would bring the whole world to a new era.
Tomorrow the world would find out.

---

It was a beautiful new day with the red-hued morning sun shining from beyond
the mountains encircling the tundra in the east. The wind had risen and few
wisps of clouds were scattered in the sky. Harry stood at the stern looking at
the sailors and ship mages working. They were about to raise the anchor and
head to BatCity. To starboard side, just a few hundred yards from them, Harry
could see a beautiful frigate that had approached from northwest and was
seemingly sailing towards BatCity docks. Behind the frigate, another few
hundred yards to the west the majestic Lonely Mountain rose from the sea.

Suddenly, a RROARRing wave of sound washed over them and an impossibly fast
moving ball of fire streaked from the northern sky leaving a pitch black trail
of smoke behind, almost like a scar on the face of the blue sky. The next
instant the meteor smashed to the top side of the Lonely Mountain in a
thunderous explosion, sending huge house-sized chunks of the mountainside up
in the air in all directions. Everyone was stunned by what they had just seen.
Ears ringing, but realizing what was happening, Harry loudly yelled a command
to the defense mages, who luckily quickly recovered and cast a shield to
protect the ship from the debris that was falling from the sky.

But, in horror they watched a scene that seemed to happen in slow motion: They
could hear the men screaming in the frigate as a huge burning block of stone
reached the peak of its trajectory and begun to descend on a collision course
with the other ship. The panicked sailors on the other ship were running and
jumping overboard, but it was too late. The rock hit the frigate directly in
the middle, raising a 50-yard-high column of steam and water in the air,
ripping the ship apart and spreading the remains around.

As bits and pieces were still falling down to the sea and while trying to
fully comprehend what had just happened, Harry, years of experience in
leadership guiding his actions, managed to keep his calm. “Man the lifeboats
and look for survivors, healer to go with the rescue team!” He commanded. One
by one the crew regained self-control, absorbed the commands and started
acting. Quickly two life-boats were on their way to a rescue operation that
seemed hopeless. The operation didn’t last long, there wasn’t that much to
look for. Meanwhile Harry stared in shocked awe at the smoking hole on the
side of the Lonely Mountain.

“Only one sailor was all there was left alive, sir. He had suffered severe
injuries. I was able to heal most of them but he still suffers from internal
bleeding I could not fully cure. His wounds were just too severe. I cannot
help him anymore, he’s dying,” the healer of the ship reported, and continued:
“But still, he wishes to speak to the captain, he said it was most important.”

“What can a dying man have to say that is so important,” Harry thought. His
curiosity aroused and he told his men to bring the sailor on the deck and make
him feel as comfortable as it was possible under the circumstances. The sailors
lifted the wounded man from the lifeboat and helped him to lie down by the main
mast wrapped inside dry blankets. Harry walked over the deck to the sailor and
kneeled beside him. The man had no external injuries, but he was very pale and
shivering. “You will be all right,” he lied, trying to sound reassuring.

“I cannot be saved anymore, I know it. But I don’t care. I’ve seen it…
*cough*”, the sailor stopped and blood dribbled from the side of his mouth.
“Seen what?” Asked Harry anxiously, but gently. The sailor paused for a moment
and continued: “A wondrous new world far to the west. Lush, green land with
wonders of which we could have never even dreamt of. Almost worth dying for,
it was…,” the man closed his eyes in pain, “…so beautiful,” he whispered and
opened his eyes again, now smiling. Harry was amazed. A hundred questions and
thoughts of possibilities popped into his mind, but also doubts about the
sailor’s words, could he be just lying? But why? Harry got lost in these
thoughts for a moment, unable to decide what to ask or say to the man.

This time no warning sound was heard beforehand. A blast of intense heat along
with a deafening wall of sound, like a thousand dragons roaring, struck them at
the same instant. Same kind of fiery ball as before flew over the ship towards
BatCity, followed by a rain of flaming boulders two times bigger, even ten
times bigger! The defense mages quickly summoned another shield to protect the
ship and the crew, despite knowing it would be as effective against a direct
hit as an eggshell. Luckily for them, all of the meteors flew further south to
the mainland. Harry stood up. There could be no telling if BatCity had suffered
a hit or not. Series of flashing explosions could be seen in the horizon. The
distant coast to the south was getting covered with billowing black smoke and
mushroom clouds towering up to the sky. Distant, deep rumbling could be heard,
as if the earth itself was ripping apart from the pain it was suffering.

Minutes, feeling like decades of agony and despair, passed as the infernal
bombardment of meteors, feeling of nothing less than the Wrath of Gods
battered and scarred their homeland. The thundering explosions seemed to move
further south, and the rumbling of the grounds seemed to gradually cease, at
least for the moment. Everybody stayed quiet. Tears could be seen on the
miserable faces of men. Harry didn’t want to process the terrible event he had
just witnessed. Feeling empty, Harry kneeled back at the wounded man and asked:
“What did you…,” but he didn’t finish the sentence. The man in front of him was
still smiling. He had his eyes open, but Harry could tell the man no longer saw
him. He was dead, but calm.

Harry Darvenport gently closed the sailor’s eyes and made a decision.