Burnt World Death, and the life it leaves behind.
"When heaven and earth were in confusion hurl'd
For the debated empire of the world,
Which awed with dreadful expectation lay,
Soon to be slaves, uncertain who should sway..."
- Lucretius iii, "Against the Fear of Death", translated by John Dryden, 1668
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In the face of time, all else is vanity. Edifices crumble, empires topple, and entire languages and peoples fade away. But what remains when they are gone?
This is the record of a world that's already ended. A great civilization had its go, and it failed in fire. The burnt remnants, nevertheless, still teem with life. It's a time defined by the legacy of death, but also by the fluorescence of new life, each defined by the presence of the other.
One day the wheel will turn, and the cycle of destruction will begin anew, but for now, we dwell in a time of legends...