A deep bell tolled from the clock tower atop Castel Cathedral's roof, the first time it had rung since its completion.
Workers in the island's factories all looked up in unison, staring toward the cathedral in shock. The Faithguard Army had already begun rushing toward the machine-gun positions atop the church.
The enormous vessel that had suddenly appeared near the harbor triggered Castel's alert system, putting it into a state of emergency according to protocol.
Castel had always been heavily fortified; even its important factories had been built within the walls of the cathedral fortress complex.
Once the cathedral bell began tolling, the surrounding clock towers rang out in succession, their deep chimes echoing across the entire island.
People all over the island immediately rushed toward the nearest entrance to the underground network. The deep-sea war had ended only a few years ago, and most islanders had lived through it. They reacted almost instinctively.
Alarms blared throughout the cathedral as people hurried through the corridors, efficiently carrying out the emergency procedures without descending into chaos.
Before long, squads of fully armed Faithguard Army troops flooded toward firing slits throughout the cathedral. The machine-gun arrays began loading ammunition, and Castel bared its fangs.
At the tallest cathedral, as Faithguard Army soldiers pulled down the levers, the steam engine let out a shrill roar. After a burst of clattering machinery, a gap split open in the newly installed steel roof over the courtyard, which slowly retracted to either side.
Then, amid a rumble, a massive opening appeared in the courtyard floor. Beneath it lay a mechanical structure tangled with countless gears, as well as...
An airship.
The airship slowly rose, ascending through the gap in the retracted steel roof.
This was a new installation at Castel Cathedral. The airship port had originally