The orchestra outside the dance floor drew their bows and blew their trumpets, the crisp echoes and melodious tunes intertwining, announcing the formal start of the banquet.
Laughter flowed among the men and women, glasses clinking, and dazzling figures glided continuously across the red carpet.
Outside the porthole was the turbulent sea, thunder and rain roaring incessantly, as if heralding an impending apocalypse. Yet under the steel construction, all of nature's fury was kept at bay outside the ship, like two overlapping worlds of contradiction.
"This place is really big."
Palmer held his glass, looking up. The banquet hall stretched across layers of stands, with a massive crystal chandelier at the top emitting sunlight-like soft light.
Such a vast banquet hall was only a small part of the Paradise, with more areas sealed off by the Tidal Citizens, where guests like them had no access.
