How did the world die?
It certainly did not survive. It has been many years since things perished. But how?
The young boys want to know. They ask the Grayling, the old man who was there during the time of the death of the world.
He tells the tale. The tale of how the world died. It might have to do with over affectionate rodents. It might have to do with alien invasions or zombies or addictive grinders at a food truck.
There are so many ways that the world might have died. The old man knows them all. The old man doesn't know a damned thing.
The boys listen because the story is large and entertaining. And you will read it to the end, because that's what happens with stories about the death of the world, you can't stop yourself from reading to the end. The end of everything.