David_Mukoya

In the beginning, there was perfection—until there wasn’t. A single act shattered the design, and from that break, two lineages emerged: one, untouched and exalted, shaped in the image of divine intention; the other, flawed, burdened with the weight of its first mistake. Adam, preserved. Eve, discarded. One built a world of dominion, the other watched her children drown in ruin.

Cain was neither and both, a relic of the rupture. He walked through the ages, a witness to folly and a hand of reckoning. Empires rose, gods were declared, mortals warred over fleeting claims to eternity. He struck down the proud, unwrote the names of the unworthy, and yet—the cycle never ended. The same sins, the same arrogance, repeating like breath, like hunger, like need.

And above it all, the Architect watched, unmoved. Not cruel. Not kind. Simply present, as creation spun on, swallowing itself, an ouroboros of divine amusement.

Alternate Insight: Fractured lineage

Location: A quiet shelter tucked beyond the scorched ruins of the fallen king's city. The girl sleeps fitfully on a bed of straw and cloth, her body still marked by bruises and burns. The firelight flickers across the stone walls as rain patters softly on the roof above.

Cain sits nearby, sharpening a blackened blade he used to kill the king. Mary is kneeling beside the girl, pressing cool herbs into a paste and whispering prayers under her breath.

MARY(Speaking softly, brushing a damp lock of hair from the girl's forehead)She fights even in sleep. Her soul remembers every hand that meant harm.

CAIN(Low, distant)She won't forget. Some wounds only close when the body dies. Even then… they echo.

MARYBut she's still alive. That means something. You gave her that.

CAIN(Sharpening stops)I didn't save her. I obeyed the last wish of a woman I spent most of my life cursing. Eve asked. That was enough.

MARY(Glancing at him)And if she hadn't?

CAIN(Shrugs, hollow)Then the fire would've burned hotter. Nothing would've been left to remember her. Or him. Or the chains.

MARYBut you did save her. You cut through a palace like it was paper, spared her when you've spared so few. Why her?

CAINBecause she looked at me like she'd already seen hell. And still… she begged me to leave her behind. As if she was the burden.

MARYEve told me once that sorrow, when carried too long, rots the soul. You've held yours for so many lifetimes, Cain.

CAINShe thought naming me "Sorrow" would soften the blow of her abandonment. But names don't redeem blood. I was born to kill. I inherited wrath… not hope.

MARY(Looking down at the girl)Hope doesn't need inheritance. It only needs a breath… and someone to believe it's still possible.

CAIN(Quiet)She doesn't know who she is anymore.

MARYNeither did I, once. Until I watched my son die screaming. Until I learned that pain is not a punishment, and mercy is not weakness.

(She pauses, touches Cain's hand lightly)

She needs both now. Pain and mercy. But she needs your steadiness more.

CAIN(Looking at the fire)I am not steady. I am a storm tethered to flesh.

MARYAnd yet you've stayed. That means you're trying to remember what it was like to protect, not destroy.

CAIN(Softer)I remember Abel's hands. Gentle. Always healing what I broke.

MARYThen heal this. Teach her to stand. Not as your penance, but because you can.

(Pause. The girl stirs, her brow furrowed.)

GIRL(Whispering in sleep)Don't… don't send me back…

CAIN(Stands, placing his hand lightly over her heart)No one's sending you anywhere. Not again.

MARY(Smiling gently)She won't trust us yet. But someday, she'll look at you and not see the killer.

CAIN(Looking down at the girl)Let her see whatever she wants… as long as she lives.

A SLAVES SALVATION part 2