The White Ship

Page 1:

Panel 1: The lighthouse at night seen from a distance with waves crashing onto the rocks below the lighthouse.

“I am Basil Elton, Keeper of the North Point light that my father and grandfather kept before me”

Panel 2: Ships sailing towards the lighthouse

“Past that beacon for a century have swept the majestic barques of the seven seas. In the days of my grandfather there were many; in the days of my father not so many;...”

Panel 3: Basil sitting in the lighthouse alone with a calendar behind him.

“...and now there are so few that I sometimes feel strangely alone, as though I were the last man on our planet.”

Panel 4: More ships sailing viewed from above.

“From far shores came those white-sailed argosies of old; from far Eastern shores where warm suns shine and sweet odors linger about strange gardens and gay temples.”

Panel 5: A ship's captain and Basil's grandfather are standing outside the lighthouse and talking

“The old captains of the sea came often to my grandfather and told him of these things which in turn he told to my father,...”

Panel 6: Basil's father telling Basil as a young boy in bed a story.

“...and my father told to me in the long autumn evenings when the wind howled eerily from the East.”

Panel 7: Basil in his teens reading at a desk by candlelight.

“And I have read more of these things, and of many things besides, in the books men gave me when I was young and filled with wonder.”

Page 2:

Panel 1: A white ship sailing in from the south with the full moon behind it. The ship is sailing so smoothly it almost appears to be floating.

“Out of the South it was that the White Ship used to come when the moon was full and high in the heavens.”

Panel 2: There is a bearded man on the deck of the white ship beckoning to Basil.

“One night I espied upon the deck a man, bearded and robed, and he seemed to beckon me to embark for far unknown shores.”

Panel 3: Basil is walking out of the lighthouse towards the sea, It is night and the moon is full and bright.

“Very brightly did the moon shine on the night I answered the call,...”

Panel 4: Basil walking out to the white ship on a moonbeam bridge.

“...and I walked out over the waters to the White Ship on a bridge of moonbeams.”

Panel 5: The white ship is sailing back southward. The moon in front of them is very big and bright.

Page 3:

Panel 1: Basil and the bearded man on the deck of the ship facing out. Past him are green shores with white roofs and collonades of temples.

Panel 2: As the get closer to the shore the bearded man speaks to Basil.

Bearded Man: “That is Zar where dwell all the dreams and thoughts of beauty that come to men once and then are forgotten.”

Panel 3: They are sailing away from Zar now and it is smaller in the distance.

Bearded Man: “He who treads upon Zar may nevermore return to his native shore.”

Panel 4: Another city can be seen on the horizon with high spires and a large wall surrounding it.

Bearded Man: “This is Thalarion, the City of a Thousand Wonders,...”

Panel 5: A close-up of the city from the outside.

Bearded Man: “wherein reside all those mysteries that man has striven in vain to fathom.”

Panel 6: Basil gestures towards a pier outside the gate into Thalarion

Bearded Man: “Into Thalarion, the City of a Thousand Wonders, many have passed but none returned.”

Panel 7: Inside the city, the streets are covered in bones and demons are walking around.

Bearded Man: “Therein walk only daemons and mad things that are no longer men,...”

Panel 8: Lathi sitting on top of a throne made of bones and skulls.

Bearded Man: “...and the streets are white with the unburied bones of those who have looked upon the eidolon Lathi, that reigns over the city.”

Page 4:

Panel 1: Thalarion is in the distance behind them now and the White Ship is following a blue bird.

Panel 2: The White Ship is still sailing and following the bird and a few days have passed.

Panel 3: They are sailing past Xura now Basil and the bearded man are standing together on the ship.

Bearded Man: “This is Xura, the Land of Pleasures unattained.”

Panel 4: More days have passed and they are still sailing following the bird.

Panel 5: It is a full moon as the ship finally reaches Sona-Nyl and the ship docks in the harbor there.

Panel 6: They walk to the shore on a bridge of moonbeams.

Page 5:

Panel 1: It is daylight and Basil is peacefully wandering through a beautiful garden.

“In the Land of Sona-Nyl there is neither time nor space, neither suffering nor death; and there I dwelt for many aeons.”

Panel 2: It is nighttime and a full moon when Basil sees the silhouette of the celestial bird against the moon.

Panel 3: The next day Basil speaks to the bearded man under a pagoda.

Basil: “I yearn to depart for Carthuria”

Panel 4: The bearded man speaks to Basil.

Bearded Man: “Beware of those perilous seas wherein men say Cathuria lies.”

Panel 5: The bearded man still talking to Basil

Bearded Man: “In Sona-Nyl there is no pain or death, but who can tell what lies beyond the basalt pillars of the West?”

Panel 6: Basil and the bearded man board the white ship at a full moon crossing over a moonbeam bridge

Panel 7: The white ship is sailing out of the Sona-Nyl harbor.

Page 6:

Panel 1: The white ship is sailing along again following the blue celestial bird.

Panel 2: The ship approaches the basalt pillars which are extremely tall and shrouded in mist.

Panel 3: The ship is sailing between the pillars and Basil and the bearded man are standing together on the deck of the ship.

Bearded Man: “I implore you to turn back.”

Panel 4: the ship has emmerged from the mist and is approaching the edge of the ocean where all of the water just falls off into nothing. The bird is flying over the edge.

Panel 5: The bearded man has tears streaming down his cheeks as they near the edge.

Bearded Man: “We have rejected the beautiful Land of Sona-Nyl, which we may never behold again.”

Panel 6: The White Ship is going over the edge about to plunge into nothingness.

Bearded man: “The gods are greater than men, and they have conquered.”

Page 7:

Panel 1: Blackness.

Panel 2: Basil's eyes opening.

Panel 3: Basil is soaking wet and finds himself back at the lighthouse on the platform.

Panel 4: Basil looks down and can barely make out a wreckage on the rocks below.

Panel 5: Basil looks up at the lighthouse and sees that the light has gone out.

Page 8:

Panel 1: Basil is sitting inside the lighthouse with the calendar behind him.

Panel 2: Basil looks over and sees that the calendar has not changed since he left.

Panel 3: At dawn Basil is opening the front door of the lighthouse and going outside.

Panel 4: He looks down onto the rocks and all the wreckage that was there the night before is gone but he sees something is down there.

Panel 5: The blue bird is dead on the rocks near a white spar.

Panel 6: It is nighttime and a full moon, Basil is older and outside looking out to the ocean.

“thereafter the ocean told me its secrets no more; and though many times since has the moon shone full and high in the heavens, the White Ship from the South came never again.”