And He taught Adam all the names, then presented them to the angels; then He said: Tell me the names of those if you are right. They said: Glory be to Thee! we have no knowledge but that which Thou hast taught us; surely Thou art the Knowing, the Wise. He said: O Adam! inform them of their names. Then when he had informed them of their names, He said: Did I not say to you that I surely know what is ghaib in the heavens and the earth and (that) I know what you manifest and what you hide? And when We said to the angels: Make obeisance to Adam they did obeisance, but Iblis (did it not). He refused and he was proud, and he was one of the unbelievers.

Ardjanna was a small island compared to Eden but it was still hundreds of leagues across and we needed to go to Lilith’s seat of power. She resided on the northern plains of Ardjanna past the mountains that split the land. We traveled many days trying our best not to be seen. We hoped to be able to catch Her and her minions by surprise and practiced our abilities along the way.

As we were crossing the mountains Lamya stopped and pointed out a stone to me. I thought it was iron but I was no metallurgist. “I want to show you something,” Lamya said and I could feel the sensation of her building and electric charge. Lightning arced from her hand to the stone and scorched the rock around the black metal. After a few minutes to let it cool she told me to pick it up. As I did, flakes of metal clung to each end of it like spikes.

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Remember when I told you that energy and mass were connected? Well, I just connected them.”

“What does it do,” I asked, excited at the sight of something new. I imagined shooting lightning from the stone to vanquish our enemies.

“It attracts other metal,” she said.

I felt a little deflated. “I can see that,” I answered. “Did you just make a lodestone?”

She nodded.

“What else?” I was really hoping to shoot some lightning.

She led me to where a small brook puddled in the rocks. “Find some wood we can float it on,” she said. I didn’t understand what she was doing but did as she asked. After a couple of tries I saw that as it floated it always faced directly north and south.

“This would make navigating so much easier,” I muttered.

“You can also put electricity into other metals with it,” Lamya said. “But only as long as it is moving.”

I didn’t know how we could use it, but it was interesting. I kept the stone with me occasionally experimenting with it until we came to the plains on the north. There were fewer places to hide but the plains were also not as closely watched, being so close to Lilith’s stronghold. We were only days away when I found that I could dispel whatever Lamya had done to the stone by making it vibrate just right, as if I was shaking the power Lamya had put into it loose. That gave me an idea. It was time I put some of Lamya’s theories on mass, energy, and music to the test.

It was cold and rainy as Lamya led me to the palace. There were dozens of owls perched on the buildings around us as well as a few larger things circling in the sky above. This city, like those on the other side of the island, was empty. Only the massive stone structure at its center had any use anymore. I shivered as I marched through the giant arch of carven stone. My feet sqeaked on the polished floor as I dripped puddles onto the cold stone. Burning braziers lined the entry hall but they did nothing to heat the cavernous space. My hands were cold and starting to lose feeling from how tightly they were bound. Lamya led me by a rope deeper into Lilith’s lair.

As we  entered the throne room I tried to comment but all I could get around the gag in my mouth was an indistinct grunt. It was immaculate with high glass windows, tapestries, sculptures, and enough hearths to warm the room almost to discomfort. Along with about seventy owls a dozen men and women lounged on cushions with trays of food beside them.

I wondered where they got their food and cloth and fuel for the fires if everyone was dead. The three from Lamya’s secret meeting were among the others Uburtu, my father, sat at the right hand of the throne. I noticed the similar traits in us now and though I had never met him I felt I knew enough that my hatred was justified. My mother had at least cared and tried to escape. She had given her life to save me while my father had joined with Lilith and killed who knows how many of his kindred.

I looked at the woman in the throne thinking that she would resemble Adam and maybe she did as Adam had been centuries ago. I shouldn’t call her a woman because she was not made from man. They had been formed from the same earth at the same time, but Lilith was not old. She was not a frail shell like Adam had been nor an ancient stubborn tree like Eve. She appeared to be in her early indiscriminate centuries wearing a robe off one shoulder that revealed much more than I wanted to see of my seventh great grandmother.

“Ah, so this is the boy from Eden,” Lilith announced. Her voice was rich as if the very sound of it were art or possibly a dessert.

“My lady,” Lamya said, dropping to one knee. “He spied on my meeting with the elders and refuses to cooperate.”

I grunted and thrashed in my bonds, eliciting an entertained smile from Lilith.

“Let him speak,” she purred. “He can do no harm here.”

Lamya pulled the gag away from my mouth and I snapped my teeth at her fingers. “You traitor!” I said.

“Keeping my allegiance where it began does not make me a traitor. It makes me the opposite,” Lamya replied, then pulled my knife from her belt and cut the ropes on my wrists. Before my hand got halfway to her face the air around me solidified and I could hear no less than four voices restraining me. I knew I had to be careful facing foes with the same powers that I possessed, and all of them more skilled. 

Lamya put her hand on my cheek. “Poor Namir.” She smiled and sent a shock through me that would have dropped me flat had I not been restrained. I was released the next moment and nearly fell on my face anyway.

“I have heard much about you Ziusudhros,” Lilith said. “What brought you here all the way from Eden?”

“My name is Namir,” I said defiantly.

“Ahmanya never did call him by his proper name,” Uburtu commented.

“Your father is so excited to see you,” Lilith chuckled. “Did you come all this way to meet him?”

“No,” I answered and couldn’t help but shoot a glare at the greasy man lounging to the side of the throne. “I came here to meet you actually.” I could see the pleasure in her eyes as she anticipated praise. How long had it been since she had heard anything else?

“So, Red spoke of me, did he?” She used his familiar name that I had only ever heard come from Eve’s lips. It sounded profane coming from her.

“Yes,” I said. “They were his last words to me.”

“I saw the darkness at his passing,” Lilith leaned forward on her cushioned throne. “Tell me, did his new wife weep over his lifeless body?”

It would be a lie to say that I harbored no resentment toward Eve but I felt loyalty to her as well and hated seeing anyone slander her. “She did not leave him,” I said. “I think she is with him still.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes at me and I had to still my shaking hands. I needed to guard my tongue a bit better. “He didn’t want the world to be what it had to be. He deserved to die. He who left me to die died by his own judgement!”

It occurred to me then that though Lilith was the first to make the choice to face death it was really Eve who understood it. “He did deserve to die,” I said. “We all do.”

“Life and death are mine,” Lilith said. “I made the choice. I brought life into the world. The Gods would have let all of it go to ruin.”

“It will all go to ruin anyway,” I conceded.