Victor Frankenstein continues recounting the influences that lead to his great experiment.

An accident again changed the current of my ideas. When I was about fifteen years old we had retired to our house near Betrive, when we witnessed a most violent
and terrible thunderstorm. It advanced from behind the mountains of Jura, and the thunder burst at once with frightful loudness from various quarters of the heavens
I remained, while the storm lasted, watching its progress with curiosity and delight As I stood at the door, on a sudden i beheld a stream of fire issue from an old and
beautiful oak which stood about twenty yards from our house, and so soon as the dazzling light vanished, the oak had disappeared, and nothing remained but a
blasted stump When we visited it the next moming, we found the tree shattered in a singular manner. It was not splintered by the shock, but entirely reduced to thin
ribbons of wood l never beheld anything so utterly destroyed

What has the author done to prepare the reader in this passage?
A. She has described something wonderful, preparing the reader for a happy story
B. She has described something beautiful, preparing the reader for a flowery tale
C. She has described something romantic, preparing the reader for a loving exchange
D. She has described something temble, preparing the reader for a tragic event