Within the Eagle Nations.
A warlord and his followers stood within their territory, gazing at the enormous black shadow steadily moving toward them in the distance.
A shaman draped in all manner of Psychic Power amplifiers stood beside the warlord, muttering madly as he warned the warlord and his followers of approaching destruction.
"Earthquake! Earthquake!"
"The earth is roaring without end! It is warning us that destruction is coming!"
"We will perish in this destruction! We will all die!"
The shaman's mutterings were unbearable to the warlord, because every word shook the people's resolve—even his own.
Yet the warlord had to admit that the shaman was right. The earth had been rumbling nonstop.
The earthquakes had begun half a month ago.
In Terra's current geological environment, earthquakes were neither strange nor rare. But an earthquake that continued without pause for half a month was difficult not to find strange.
Even though the territory remained stable beneath the half-functional protection of the geological restraints left behind by their ancestors, the earthquake itself was not frightening. What was truly frightening was what it meant.
Now, the warlord and his followers knew what it meant.
The enormous, mountain-like shadow on the horizon was approaching their territory.
Whenever the shadow drew closer, the earthquake grew more violent. Only after he had been shaken from his bed today had the warlord run outside and seen the massive black shadow that should not have existed so far in front of his territory.
"My lord." A servant called softly and offered him a flashlight with both hands.
The warlord casually took the flashlight, tapped it a few times, fiddled with it for several seconds, then found the switch and turned it on.
Light instantly turned the night as bright as day. The only difference between the land