Border Base

That magnificent fog wall, seemingly connecting sky and sea, appeared in Duncan's sight once more—but unlike last time, he had reached the border under cover of night.

The dark, chaotic sky hung low overhead. The pale, chilly World's Creation illuminated the clouds along the curtain's edge, while the entire Wall of Fog resembled a black barrier that swelled, contracted, and writhed endlessly in the night—distant, towering, its details impossible to discern. Yet with every careless glance, faintly bizarre shapes would reveal themselves upon its shifting surface, casting fleeting shadows of terror into the hearts of all who beheld it and stirring countless thoughts that pointed straight toward fear.

And the edge at the top of that Wall of Fog, lit by World's Creation, instead resembled countless eyes high in the heavens, gazing coldly and maliciously down upon this world—upon those overconfident mortals who sought to challenge the end of the world.

The mortals' fleet had gathered beneath the curtain.

After spotting the distant lighthouse, Duncan guided the Lost Homeland to alter course. They sailed for a while toward the curtain's southeastern side, where they saw the lights gathered at the border—a massive mobile harbor floated upon the mist-shrouded sea. Its great steam cores spewed white clouds into the sky, while the lights atop the Difference Engine tower rotated, occasionally illuminating the silhouettes of ships large and small on the surrounding waters.

More than a dozen vessels of varying models and sizes were docked around that floating harbor, while small patrol ships cruised the nearby waters. Their beams glimmered in the night like fireflies wandering across the boundless dark sea.

At the end of the world, there was no need for a blackout. Thus, these lights representing human civilization had become an incredible sight before the Eternal Veil—yet compared with the