It was a dream, I tell myself. It was just a pane of broken glass floating or sinking out there, somewhere. I felt myself swim to an edge of wood floating past and cling to it. The clouds were still heavy above me and rain still poured from them. Bodies were below me. I couldn't tell where I was, as it was all water. My body aches, my eyes burn, my skin is wrinkled and has numerous cuts and bruises. Has the influencer died? What about those men in the alleyway? The old man and woman... he was so kind to me. A question echoed in my mind...

"Would you like a name?..." Would I?

I thought about it for many days and nights. The water seemed to subside faintly, almost unnoticeably. But I felt it. It was like a flicker, a flame of hope. Something told me to keep going. I couldn't get the old man's question out of my head. I have seemed to forget my original name that my mother had given me. And when it was changed to "186247" I forgot even further...

-

I think I have lost count of the days, but I think the water is finally lowering.

-

I don't think my feet have felt land in so long... It seems to have changed so much since I've felt it last. It was nothing grand, an island perhaps, about the size of Basalis, if I remember how big it was.

-

A noise awoke me in the middle of the night. Footsteps, I swear. The crackling of twigs and leaves- it's unmistakable. Then, out came a man in tattered clothes. His face was sunken, much like the rest of the world, but he held a spear in his fist. It was pointed at me.

"Wait," I exclaimed, throwing my hands to the air. "I mean you no harm- please." The man looked at me warily and then lowered his weapon. He calmly sat down across from my fire, which I had made


He spoke.


"My name is Adam. Who are you?" From the depths of my soul, a name came to my throat, almost by instinct.

"I am Eve."