Adain pulled the twig forth from the fire, using the tip’s small flame to light his candle. He had been grieven by the news that Augustine of Hippo had perished. Augustine’s soul had departed several months time ago, but due to the slowness of information across borders it had only reached Adain’s ears today.

To commemorate the event, Adain sat with his priceless possession – an illuminated edition of De catechizandis rudibus – and pondered the portents. In a mere 70 years of our Lord’s time, the world would end; the shift between the Sixth Age and the Seventh would occur, the process becoming eternal rest.

And Adain’s chymical compound certainly was to play a significant part in the end times. What other destiny could the combination of saltpetre, sulphur and redwood charcoal he’d concocted indicate? Their defiance to Physickal Law when put flame, the way they flew and danced with violent intent, was surely a sign that the end was nigh. And the device he was fashioning for his chymical would expedite it.