When Adam and Eve first stepped out of paradise, they were met by a world unlike anything they had ever known. There was no eternal light, no joyful birdsong, no sweetness in the air. This world was harsh and cold, ruled by silence, broken only by the whisper of the wind.
Eve walked ahead, her gaze fixed forward. Conflict raged within her. She yearned for the Divine with all her soul, yet she was tormented by a quiet sorrow. She sensed that she had lost something essential, though she could not name what it was. The God she had loved now felt far away, and the emptiness within her grew with every step.
Adam followed in silence, fists clenched at his sides. He could not understand how it had come to this. Why had he not stopped Eve? Why hadn’t he held on to paradise? But more than anything, one question echoed in his mind: why did he still love her? Even now, in exile, his heart was still hers.
“Why didn’t you stop me?” Eve asked suddenly, her voice low but edged with pain. She didn’t turn to look at him.
Adam froze. He had no answer. “I…” he began, but the words caught in his throat. He could not admit the truth—that he hadn’t stopped her because he could not imagine a world without her in it.
Eve halted and turned to face him. Her eyes were filled with tears, yet in them burned the same fire that had led them here. “You were meant to protect me, Adam. You were meant to fight for me. Why did you just follow?”
Adam looked at her, feeling his heart break apart.
“I couldn’t leave you, Eve. I couldn’t… You are a part of me. If you walk away, I will follow—even if it leads me to death.”
Eve turned away, but his words stirred something deep within her. She couldn’t explain why, but his love was both a comfort and a weight. She loved him, and yet, her love for God was greater.
And now, cast out from paradise, that love had become thirst.
A thirst to become what He was.
Chapter Two
The Voice of Darkness
Night had fallen, and with it came the cold.
Adam and Eve, sheltering beneath the trees, tried to sleep. But sleep would not come. For the first time, they felt fear. In paradise, there had been no night, no darkness, no unknown. Now, they were alone in a world that felt foreign and wide.
Eve lay on the ground, staring into the darkened sky. She thought of God—of how He had looked at her, of how He had loved her. But now, that gaze felt like a dream slowly fading. She closed her eyes—and heard a voice.
“Do you feel it, Eve?” the voice whispered—low and deep, like an echo rising from a void.
Eve’s eyes snapped open. She looked around. There was no one. Adam lay beside her, his breath slow and even. But the voice continued:
“That emptiness within you?
That is your strength.
That is your freedom.”
Eve sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees.
“Who are you?” she whispered.
“I am part of you.
I am the darkness you brought into this world.
I am what you could become.”
A chill moved across her skin. She didn’t know where the voice came from, but it had a strange, quiet calmness—almost comforting.
“I don’t want to be darkness,” she said.
The voice laughed, soft and hollow.
“You already are. Don’t you see?
You fractured God’s soul.
You cast yourself out of paradise.
You are the source of your sorrow.
But that is not weakness, Eve.
That is power.
You could be more than human.
You could be God.”
