Fire in the sky

2

It was a windy day. Alice watched as Bali presented her with an advanced musket. It was called a 'back-loaded' musket and much to her surprise instead of firing small rocks or balls of steel it fired bullets. A bullet was a small piece of steel with a container of gunpowder behind it. The way the back-loaded musket worked is that instead of creating a small fire inside the gun itself, the trigger was attached to a hammer. When the hammer hit the bullet a small spark was created detonating the gunpowder inside the hollow round and the explosion would push the pointy piece of steel out from the barrel.

"It's really light." Alice commented as she held the gun Bali gave her. Bali nodded with a slight smile. He was aiming his own copy of the gun at a target. Two weeks before, Bali's brothers left for Port Monisk to command the fleet. Bali stayed back making advanced weaponry and improving existing ones. Having the knowledge of humanity up to 1940 helped him improve both military and civilian technologies.

Within the week, the first railways from Monisk to Ladon and from Ladon to Keminsk would open. Both were transporting ores to Monisk. Factories popped up like mushrooms in Monisk and old shipyards were creating massive ships made mostly from steel. Back-loaders became the standard weapon of the Egnerland. The age of industrialization has come.

"You ever wonder if the third prince is nuts?" Victor Azure, a worker at one of the new factories asked his friend, Manuel Brewn. The two were working on a piece of hull for the ELS Thunder. "Sometimes, but I say these new improvements make everything easier. We work six hours a day, and the job is simple. From what I see, the prince is a genius." Manuel replied. He enjoyed working in the factories. Sure the buildings were not finished yet but the factories were functionally ready. The two friends were part of a small group of people working on the ELS Thunder. There was another team working on the ELS Typhoon, which was exactly the same as the ELS Thunder. Victor finished welding his designated section of the hull to another piece of hull. Two 120 mm triple gun turrets were bolted to the deck. In three days ELS Thunder and ELS Typhoon would set sail and see the first combat.

"All hands on deck!" Thomas Gundel yelled. He was the captain of the ELS Saw-toothed. The Egnerland fleet was fast and advanced but it lacked heavy hitting weaponry. Something which the Parsian fleet had. Thomas just spotted the Parsian fleet. 50 ships against 15. Egnerland was at a disadvantage. Again. "Something is behind us!" A sailor yelled. Thomas grabbed his telescope and scoured the waters behind the Saw-toothed. Sure enough two shapes came visible. They looked more like floating fortresses to Thomas, and his heart sank. The two ships were catching them, but they were still too far to be identified. If they were Parsian, Thomas would be captured or killed. "They are ours!" The sailor who pointed them out yelled. Thomas breathed in relief but was also confused. Egnerland didn't have anything like those two ships as far as he knew. Then again, for the last two weeks he didn't interact with the country other then getting news from the castle. Bali was barely home, and according to Robert, he was improving nearly anything. Suddenly the sound of thunder was heard and two seconds later a group of Parsian ships were turned into splinters. A short silence and the thunder came again. Another group of Parsian ships vanished. Thomas looked back and saw the metal ships flashing right before the thunder. The iron beasts have awoken.