is a captivating display of inorganic life, but a pillar of flame
several miles high is more than just an enlarged specimen, for it plays
host to a great horde of phantasmal apparitions that wrestle ferociously
with one another. As the flame shot upwards it cast a great light down
on everything that rivaled the illumination of midday. At first I feared
lest the light should show our silhouettes to the Zards, as we were
between them and it, but it did not, or at least they took no notice of
it if it did, for we were quite undetected in our hiding place.

Our worries were far from over though, for now came the crucial point in
our plans: in order for our small force to infiltrate the city and place
the atomic anionizers, the Zards must not only have been distracted and
preoccupied with the blaze, but they had also to leave the city almost
empty and go to the lake itself, for if a cry was raised, or any
substantial resistance attempted, the complex procedures to detonate the
anionizers properly, so as to level the city but not the surrounding
country, may have been hindered. There were several factors on our side
though, the element of surprise being the foremost, for in their
excitement the Zardovian resistance would likely mistake us for a
regular sized army and flee in fear at our supposed superiority,
especially since the presence of me, the kinsman redeemer, was known to
the Zards. Also, the Zards were known to be curious and careless and
ruled by the desire for excitement, meaning that if an entertaining
undertaking was possible, they would pursue it, no matter how dangerous
or ill-advised.

Within a moment after the flame was lit, all of the Zards outside, which
were many, were gazing with silent wonder at it, and in the second
moment, all the rest had joined them in their confused contemplation.
But the third moment witnessed a drastic change in their behavior, for