My oar burst into flames and clattered to the smouldering deck of the raft. A great tidal wave of boiling water loomed towards me from the false sun’s root at the horizon. Yet I could not bring myself to care. All that mattered was the great ball of fire. I understood on an intellectual level that it was a terrifying force of destruction. Yet the sight of it calmed me, as if I were looking upon the smiling face of a familiar friend for the first time in years.