Slate-black curtains tumbled over Eden. Thunder growled among the hills. The animals, freshly named, cowered from the storm. Far away, in the dripping woods, something bright and fiery flickered among the trees. It was going to be a dark and stormy night.

Clouds massing east of Eden: a rapidly darkening sky blasted by thundercrack of ozone, blast of cold, black rain, punctuated by a thin flicker of amber.