ii

Adam writes his god’s name on a dusty mirror. He’s lost count of how many days it’s been since he last left this room, this warm cradle that will be his deathbed. Here it is safe, it is calm, it is still. He reads from the tomes he’s gathered, gingerly, with respect. He is not happy, but he is content.

i

Eve climbs the tallest of the steel carcasses. Its bones glint under the ruddy sky, where they’re visible neath the vines. When she’s high enough to see the dead streets laid out below her, she stops. She stands, bare toes curled over the edge, and surveys her kingdom.

It’s no less beautiful, she thinks, for being empty. Nor for crumbling as it is. She feels wistful, yes, but wistfulness is only a remembrance of beauty that once was. She’s at peace with her fate. She knows all flowers wither with time; the real tragedy is when they’re burnt before they blossom.

Eve sleeps, and wakes before the sun rises, when the clouds are still wan and tinged only faintly with carmine.