The Battle at the Dragons

Great Diozé was angry.
Why was the Lord Diozé angry, good singer?
Diozé was angry because Sharvin had broken his vows.
Freed from their father’s belly,
Free of their grandmother’s scorn,
Sharvin had vowed obedience.

But Sharvin lied.

Diozé’s anger was everywhere.
The Lord’s fury was absolute.
The Tree shook.
The Egg quaked.
The Garden all but burned.
Diozé pursued his false brother for thousands of years.
They ran through the plains, making rivers.
They ran through the mountains, making caves.
They climbed all the way to the second branch before the Veil rejected them.

With nowhere else to run, Sharvin leapt towards the Undiscovered Country.
He leapt all the way to the Dragons, and his brother pursued him.
The two brothers clung to the scales with their free hands
even as the swung their weapons at each other,
Diozé his Sword, still stained with the blood of Ormalager and of Utnavisor,
but Sharvin had a Staff, a branch from the Tree of Life itself,
which was longer and allowed him to parry out of reach.

Diozé slid around Acarius’s belly
even as Sharvin climbed up Icaria’s back
hoisting himself up her wings to her shoulders.
Diozé leapt with his sword raised high to strike Sharvin low
and Acarius, seeing this and fearing his wife was in danger,
bent forward and snapped at Diozé.
Diozé twisted, then, careful not to strike the Time-God with his sword,
and caught himself on the Dragon’s lower lip to pull himself to safety.

Just then, the Dragon-God and his consort
crashed through a moment in time like a pane of glass
The memories and events of that moment tumbled all around,
shards raining down on the Lord and His terrible brother.
Much as they slapped and ducked and evaded,
Both still ended up covered in the scars of time.

“It’s over,” Sharvin screamed at his brother. “Why do you still pursue me?”
“You have been nothing but trouble to me,” said Diozé,
“since the moment I pulled you from death!”
“And you have been a cut on my heel, dear brother,” Sharvin replied,
“since before you were born!”

At the mention of his own birth, Diozé leapt from Acarius’s jowl,
swinging wide, slicing in circles,
but Sharvin clung to Icaria’s wing.
He swung his own staff back, pounding down on Diozé’s head
and let Him fall Behind, back down to the Garden and the Egg.

But time was too much for Sharvin.
Soon Icaria managed to scratch in just the right place
and caught Sharvin and swallowed him whole.

But Diozé never forgot the lessons,
his pride in leaping between Dragons
or his foolishness in trusting his false brother Sharvin.