 As they ascend, the child tells the narrator that he must always look upward and never down at the earth below.As he rises further listening to the youths singing, the narrator is disturbed by the return of the sound of the waves, and, forgetting what the child said, looks downward and observes a sight of global destruction, with the waves consuming the cities until there is nothing left.This is followed by the waters draining into the Earth's core via an opening gulf, which causes the Earth to explode.