Over the years, Dargain Fyrd Lewis had gotten used to a rather comfortable life. Every morning he would wake up, get dressed and slowly stroll out of his little lakeside cottage to stare at the beautiful shimmering blue lake. The final step of his early morning routine was to board his tiny boat and row over to the town; however, today there was a small hiccup in his default dawn.

By the time he had arrived at the town, the festival had already begun. Dargain did not like people, but they had to be tolerated if he wished to survive. He did not have any skill set that would allow him to live without other humans.  Besides, he didn't know how to build a pipe organ. He pushed and shoved through what felt like the whole town, and finally arrived at a stout stone building designed to withstand anything: the town hall. It doubled as holding cells, for which it was never used, and the housing mechanism for the huge pipe organ. 

As soon as he walked through the door, he was met with a small exclamation from Deirdre, asking if everything was okay.  Dargain responded quietly, as he always did, but now everything beyond the beautiful pipe organ in front of him was a blur. 

Deirdre whipped him back to reality by telling him "It's not time yet Mr. Lewis, here, have a seat, I've got work to do."

The view from the skinny window was beautiful.  There wasn't a single person on this side of the building, so it was a clear image of the lake and his little cottage on the opposite shore. His fingers itched to touch the organ, to stroke its keys in order to caress that most wonderful of sounds out of it. He was actually starting to cry.  

Deirdre stepped back inside, talking to someone just out of view, then she turned to Dargain: "A few traveling musicians are going to play first, and then you're up. Don't play until I say, now."

He moved to the organ and listened to the travelers play. Then he noticed something strange. The organ was vibrating. It was a tiny feeling but now that he had noticed it, it was obvious. Everything was quietly vibrating and humming. He glanced out the window towards the lake.  Was it his imagination, or were its ripples just a little bit more violent than they had been before?  He forgot about it, because Deirde said: "Now!"

Dargain Fyrd Lewis lost himself in the music. He felt good inside. He felt powerful, as if he could do anything if he just kept playing. Unbeknownst to him, the ripples in the lake turned to waves. There was a loud grinding sound that Dargain noted as an annoyance, and then immediately forgot about. The lake started to glow orange from some deep underwater light source.

He heard some screaming outside, but assumed that people were just really enjoying his music. Deirdre ran inside shouting something to him as she closed shutters on all of the windows. She was about to close the heavy doors when she heard a child screaming. Dargain felt water below his feet just as he finished playing. He stood up, stretched, and turned around. Outside of the doors was a wall of water. 

Beyond the obvious, the problem was this: Dargain Lewis could not swim at all. It wasn't that he didn't like the water, it was that the idea of not having his feet firmly fastened to the ground was utterly terrifying to him. 

His brain somewhat belatedly delivered Deirde's last statement: "Close the doors if I'm not back." 

He slammed the doors shut just as the wave crashed into the building, then Dargain slid the wooden plank down to protect himself.  He felt tired now. Everyone else was outside, probably dying, what reason did he have to have survived?  Overcome, he lost consciousness. 

Time passed. Outside, the churning water began to recede from the building, the highest one in town. 

As Dargain's eyelids slowly blinked open, he remembered what happened, and immediately sat bolt upright so as to check the irreplaceable organ for any sign of damage. Once he was sure that the damage was minimal, he sighed in relief. 

Dargain Fyrd Lewis sat down and played a dirge for the town that lost itself in the music.