The apple didn't taste any different than all the other apples he had tasted. Adam had been expecting its flavor to be almost divine, but it turned out to just be a regular apple.
However, as soon as he swallowed, something within him awakened. He stared at Eve and realized she was naked. They were both naked.
Eve was eyeing him as well, a sensual smile spreading across her face. He didn't need to ask her if she was thinking what he was thinking. It was obvious what was on both their minds.
Feeling like a brand new man, Adam pressed Eve back against the willow tree and started kissing her. She moaned, opening her mouth to allow him further access inside. Her nails dug into his skin and if it hadn't been for the intense pleasure, it would've been almost painful.
He had made love with her before, but this time, it was different. It was like a fire burning inside him that could only be satiated with her body. She was his for the taking, and he wasn't going to be satisfied until he explored every inch of her.
But almost as soon as he finished, the euphoria he had been caught up in came crashing down. The passion in him had been extinguished and left him feeling cold and empty.
Even Eve looked like she had come off the high she had been experiencing just a few seconds earlier. They both untangled themselves from the other and averted their eyes.
"Fuck!" Adam cried out and buried his face in his hands.
"What did we do?" Eve started pacing around the field. "Oh, fuck. What did we do?"
"You mean what did you do, right?" Adam glared at her. "Because the last time I checked, I didn't listen to a talking serpent!"
Eve came to a halt and whipped back around. "You're blaming me for this?!"
"Yes, I am! Because I only ate it because I didn't want you to be banished like Lilith had or die!"
She scoffed. "Wow, how noble of you. You didn't have anything to worry about though. I'm sure the angels would've just created wife number three for you!"
A fire even hotter than the last one erupted within him, making his blood boil. "I was better off alone! But fuck me for caring about you, right?"
Eve marched up to him, her hands balled into fists. "If you think you're better off alone, then you go ahead and jerk your own dick!"
Before Adam could even think of a response, several voices were heard in the distance, calling out for them.
"Oh no. It's the angels." Eve started tugging at the ends of her hair. "What do we do?"
"Hide." He led her deeper into the garden where they found a clump of bushes tall enough to cover them. But the angels' voices only grew closer. Adam knew there would be no way to escape them.
"They're going to find us," Eve whispered.
"I know. But we can't let them see us like this." He left the safety of the shrubs and started to gather the leaves from a fig tree. Eve did the same, and they both used vines and stems to hastily sew together some garments. Adam covered the lower half of his body while Eve had to cover both her top and lower half.
"Adam, Eve." Sera appeared in front of them no sooner than they had wrapped the leaves around their bodies. "Where have you two been?"
"We've been calling for you," Gabriel said. "Did you not hear us?"
Both Adam and Eve could not make eye contact with the angels. They stood still, their stares locked on the ground in front of them.
Knowing the angels were expecting an answer, Adam cleared his throat. "We heard you, but we were afraid of our nakedness, so we hid."
"Who told you that you were naked?" Michael demanded. "Did you eat from the tree we told you not to eat from?"
Adam's insides felt like they were doing somersaults. He feared that if he opened his mouth to speak again, the contents of his stomach would come spilling out.
But maybe there was still a way to salvage this mess. Maybe there was a way this didn't end with both of them being destroyed.
"This woman, who you all created to be perfect and my helper, I had no reason not to trust her when she gave me the apple. So I ate it."
Michael turned his attention to Eve, who cowered under his unwavering glare. "Is it true what he says?"
Eve lowered her head. "The serpent deceived me, and I ate it."
"What serpent are you referring to?" Sera asked.
Amongst all the turmoil, Adam realized he still didn't know what Eve had meant by the serpent either.
But as if on cue, Uriel and Raphael manifested in front of them, each one holding the last two people Adam ever expected to see.
"We caught this one trying to sneak out of the garden." Raphael gestured to a struggling Luci in his arms. "We had been thinking he'd try to enter the garden as his usual self. But we didn't anticipate he'd disguise himself as a serpent."
Adam's hearing became muffled, almost missing how Uriel explained Lilith had been waiting at the edge of the garden for Luci to return. His brain couldn't comprehend why they were here in front of him. They were supposed to be banished, never to be seen or heard from again.
Confusion, relief, excitement, grief, and shock all whirled within him, each feeling more intense than the last. But it didn't look as if they felt the same way to see him. They were as beautiful as he last remembered them, but now there was bitterness and suffering clouding their eyes. The tender warmth they used to radiate was long gone.
"I don't understand." Adam approached the pair. "You two were responsible for this? But why?"
"You were supposed to gain knowledge and yet you still ask that question?" Lilith's voice was laced with biting sarcasm. "Why do you think? I'm forced to live out in the wilderness! Forced to watch any children I have die! But you get to live your perfect life with your new, perfect wife! How is that fair?"
"But... you chose that!" Adam pointed out.
"I chose to be with someone I fell in love with." Lilith narrowed her eyes at her former husband. "I know you were never one to empathize, so I shouldn't expect you to begin to understand what it'll feel like to bury your own children."
Adam's jaw went slack. In some twisted way, he could see Lilith's reasoning to hurt him. But Eve? She was innocent in all this.
Just like how Adam couldn't even begin to fathom why his once-treasured friend was involved.
"And you, Luci?"
Luci held his head upright as if to try to match the man's height. "Haven't I done you a favor, Adam? You always wanted to be like me, and now you are."
His words pierced straight into Adam's soul. It took everything within him to not tumble back and fall to the ground. Thankfully, Eve came to his side and used her body to support him before he could further humiliate himself.
"Because of this, Lucifer, you shall no longer be considered an angel." The glare on Michael's face had shifted into a mournful grimace. "You shall be stripped of your title and heavenly powers. Heaven will never welcome you–"
"NO!" Luci snarled, breaking free of Raphael's grip. "You will not treat me like this again! I refuse it!"
What happened next Adam could hardly begin to describe. Luci lunged at Michael, shedding his usual form for something barely even humanoid. Dozens of eyes appeared all over his body as he fought with the archangel. In defense, Michael had drawn his sword, and the usual chest plate he wore had turned into a full-fledged suit of armor.
The once blue sky was now stained a dark red, and grumbles of thunder echoed throughout the clouds. Angels Adam had never seen before had suddenly appeared, each one with a different sort of weapon in hand. They were attacking one another, each strike that landed flashing like a bolt of lightning through the atmosphere.
Even the angels Adam knew were unrecognizable in their new forms. Sera, Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel closely resembled Luci with the many eyes covering their bodies. Fire burned from their mouths and wings as they battled against the former angel.
"What is happening?!" Eve shielded her face from the war above them.
"I don't know!" Adam glanced around for Lilith, but she had run off. "Just don't look up and this will be over soon!"
They both huddled close together, their hands pressed over their ears and their eyes squeezed shut. But Adam could still see the glow of the flames through his closed eyelids, and he could still hear the roars reverberating in his eardrums. The Earth was shaking so hard that Adam imagined it was going to swallow him whole.
There was a loud crack followed by another and another. Just when he thought he wouldn't be able to take it anymore, an uncanny silence fell over them. Adam dared to look up and saw Michael, Sera, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael–now back to their normal selves–hovering above Luci and Lilith. The pair were on their knees with their hands out in front of them, chains shackled around their wrists and ankles.
"If it wasn't clear before, it is now," Michael seethed. "Your failed rebellion has shown all of Heaven you are not worthy to be one of us. You and Lilith shall be cast down to the lowest pit of existence known as Hell. You shall reside there, along with all the others you led in your war, forever."
Luci continued to squirm in his chains, the desperation on his face only growing more and more evident with each word out of the archangel's mouth.
"Because of your arrogance and pride, you are more cursed than any other being. You shall be the enemy of humanity and shall only see it at its worst. Death and chaos shall be forged by your hand, and their victims shall be your companions."
"Please! Michael!" Adam had never seen Luci cry before, not even when he had been exiled from the garden. But liquid was dripping out from both his eyes and mouth.
"You used to be Heaven's pride and joy. But now, you are Heaven's greatest disappointment." Michael shut his eyes and took a deep breath. "Goodbye, Lucifer. May you know nothing but the bitter taste of regret and failure."
And with that, Michael plunged his sword, now aflame, into the side of Lucifer's abdomen. There was a screech followed by a flash of light and then nothing.
It was as if Luci and Lilith had never even been there.
"Now that that's done." Sera smoothed down her hair. "We shall continue with the humans."
Adam blinked, wondering how the sky had turned back to blue so quickly. Even the angels who had fought so fiercely were now gone.
"Because of what you've done," Michael addressed Eve. "You and every woman that follows will be forced to birth children in pain, and you all will submit to your husbands."
Adam didn't even have the chance to glance at his wife before Michael turned his focus on him.
"Because you have listened to your wife instead of listening to us and ate from the tree, you will be forced to harvest and hunt on cursed ground for the rest of your life. You were taken from the ground, and made from its dust. So to dust you will return."
Adam remained silent as his punishment was laid out. The air inside his lungs had been stolen, and his jaw began to hurt from how tight he had been clenching it. How he could still be standing upright he did not know.
But their punishment was not over yet. The angels had descended closer to them, pushing them backward with their wings.
"Because you are now impure, you can no longer live in a pure place," Gabriel said. "We are going to escort you out of Eden where you will live the rest of your days."
"So that's it then?" Adam's voice cracked. "We're going outside to die? We'll never see or speak to you again?"
"You will live many years. And you will still get to speak to us wherever you go," Michael explained. "All of the Earth has been given to you. Not just Eden."
It was a small comfort to hear. But not enough to stop Adam from falling to his knees and releasing all the grief he had been holding in.
"Why was I even created? Wouldn't it be better just to end me now? Please, whatever death is, it would be better than this! " His body shook with every sob, too tired to care he must've looked pitiful crying like this. "How can I go on living feeling like this?"
A tender arm wrapped around Adam and pulled him into a hug. Sniveling, Adam saw his wife sitting beside him. She had tears in her own eyes, but she wiped his instead.
"Remember what I told you when we first met? I promised I would remain faithful and by your side for all time. We might have lost paradise, but I know our love can redeem us still. As long as we stay together, humanity can still live on."
"Get the fuck away from me." Adam shrugged her off and grumbled. She was the last person he wanted to speak to right now. And if he opened his mouth again, he knew he would insult her and her gullible nature that got them into this. So far, every woman he had been with had caused him more misery than they were worth.
"Please, Adam. Don't leave me." She cupped his face and forced him to look at her. "The serpent tricked me, and I had no reason to think it would have been Lucifer in disguise. I know it's my fault this happened."
When he didn't answer, Eve released him and withdrew into herself. "Maybe you're right. Death would be better than going on like this. I said I would remain by your side and if it's death you choose, then I will follow."
Adam could no longer ignore her as she started to weep. Yes, he said he wanted to die, but he didn't want her to either. Her cries tugged at the part of his heart that still loved her, and her words had calmed his raging soul. She had supported him at his lowest hour, and now it was time he did the same. As a man, he needed to be the strong one for both of them.
"Eve, what happened was Luci–Lucifer and Lilith's fault." He brushed her curls away from her face. "But we can still live long, happy lives. I don't know what will happen next, but maybe one day, we will see paradise again."
Eve gazed at him and wiped the last of her tears away. "Then I will try my best to live a virtuous and obedient life."
Helping her off of the ground, Adam turned back to the waiting angels to signal he was ready. Sera handed them a pair of garments similar to the robes she wore.
The angels continued following behind them until they reached the gate of Eden. Michael brandished his flaming sword again, preparing to place it at the entrance to the garden where it would remain.
Adam had stood at this spot many times, but he never thought there would be a time he would pass through the gate, never to return.
He didn't know what would be on the other side, but he hoped that if he were to be the father of humanity, then his children would one day take their revenge on the people who would cause their destruction.
It was that hope that gave him the strength to walk out of Eden.
With one final look at the garden, Adam and Eve wandered into the new world that awaited them hand-in-hand.
Tears once again filled his eyes, but the inklings of hate began to seep into the cracks within his heart.