Harrison Port should have been silent in the dead of night, yet a raging fire suddenly erupted. The still darkness shrouding the harbor was abruptly lit up, followed by surging winds of flame that swallowed the buildings.
The blaze illuminated half of the eastern harbor, reflecting across the surrounding sea so clearly that even the fish brought in by the tide were exposed, their shadows scattering frantically across the seabed.
Quite a few people were jolted awake by the sudden light and scorched smell. Fathers woke their children, wives shoved their husbands awake. Still groggy and gripped by an instinctive terror of fire, they hurried out with the most precious valuables in their homes, utterly unaware that they had forgotten their trousers or put their clothes on backward.
"Is that cripple Osena's house?" Someone sharp-eyed quickly noticed that the fire had not spread very far. To be precise, only one house had been struck by disaster.
The fire looked fierce, but rain had fallen only yesterday afternoon. Only the wooden structures inside the house had truly caught fire; the main beams and roof had not yet collapsed, and the wind was not favorable for the blaze to spread.
That let the neighboring residents breathe easier. Harrison Port was, after all, a city surrounded by river and sea. Putting out flames of this scale was nothing much, and people immediately began preparing to fetch water.
"This is bad."
Only after confirming their own safety did those familiar with Osena remember the crucial matter. A burly fisherman slapped his thigh in frustration. "Forget that cripple—Ian and Elan, those two kids, are in there too!"
Osena's relationship with his neighbors had never been particularly good. He rarely socialized with others to begin with, and he was not exactly smooth in dealing with people.