Beachhead
I gazed down on the destruction below me as my followers tumbled from the portal that I had emerged from. The island was a rough diamond shape with us at the south corner. There was a rugged mountain in the middle of the landmass; like a boil on a foot. It has a small cluster of houses and a village totem set into the top, and two narrow paths winding round it on either side. Behind the hideous lump of a mountain was the top corner with a raised part of land like a smaller version of the mountain. There were two clusters of spiked; uninhabited mountains that curled like arms around this raised 'dais' and on the top of that was a massive village. Most normal villages in the realm were small affairs with fewer than thirty houses apiece. I counted at least fourty-five, along with a totem, two storehouses and several scaffold-makers'. To the left of the central mountain was a medium (fifteen house) town that was surrounded by swaying golden cornfields. I guessed this was my nemesis' food provider. On the eastern corner of the island was a cluster of mountains that formed a narrow valley in between them. This was uninhabited but I thought I could probably build a village there later, when I had gathered my resources and power; speaking of which…
My small cadre of thirty villagers was clustered on the patch of burned grass where the portal had been about ten minutes ago. I swooped down and took on my humanoid form. I say humanoid because although it looks human, I stand at least eight foot tall and have a pale white complexion with electric blue eyes. My followers have begun to refer to them as the eyes of judgement, which makes me feel proud that they are starting to respect me.
"My flock" I announced; landing next to them. "There will be a great war between another god and I. You must help me by building up a village and worshipping me to give me power!"
There was a murmur of voices and I realised that they were staring up at the large imposing mountain that stared down at us. It looked like it could judge the humans in a way my eyes could not. Upon the peak of the mountain was a figure, looking at me with a pair of glowing white eyes.
"Knylus!" I hissed. My foe was watching me already. I leapt to my feet which were suddenly clad in boots with spiked toecaps and a suit of blue-green armour appeared on my body. As a final adornment; a pair of shoulder plates with foot-long spikes sprang from my shoulders and a helmet with bull's horns appeared on my head. I soared to the summit of the mountain with a single bound and aimed a fireball at the other god. He rolled to one side and the flames scorched a hole in the rock. I landed in a catlike fighting stance before him; on the lip of the cliff.
"Greetings my enemy!" he chuckled "still jumpy?"
Our last encounter had resulted much of a settlement I had spent a year building being wiped out. Since then; I had perused Knylus doggedly; destroying or converting his villages and eradicating belief in him. I'd thought I had beaten him when he took shelter in his temple and I destroyed it with him inside. After it had burned to the ground; I had discovered an underground vault inside; leading to this island.
"Cheating sod" I snarled "I thought I'd won back then!"
"I cannot express how much pity I feel for you…" He drawled sarcastically. He was a tall god, almost nine feet, with a shaggy mane of black hair that stopped halfway down his back and had on a suit of golden armour; decorated with curved spikes like mine. His head was uncovered and I watched his face twist into a sneer.
"I would be foolish to allow my enemy to get a beachhead in my territory. That means you can kiss goodbye to your town." He said. Raising his arms; Knylus hurled three man-sized balls of magma down towards the little cluster of scaffolds and tents that were being built. I quickly leaped backward; performing a mid-air twist worthy of a gymnast and overtook the fireball miracle. I then hurriedly made the gestures of miracle protection and projection: creating a dome of light that surrounded my village and caused the fireballs to skim the top and fall off the edge of the cliff where my village was situated; into the ocean. Enraged, I span and created a series of fireballs which I hurled at the still-smirking god and his mountaintop town. He blocked the first four with deft punches aimed at the cores of the flames. I created the last one to be a real humdinger, and hurled it with a snarl of frustration. He began to turn his back on my attack and caught it as he did so. He then spun and threw it right back! I tried to move but he'd put a lot of power into the fireball, and it smacked me in the chest and winded me.
Actually: Winded is a bit of an understatement as it tore a fist-sized hole in my armour and knocked me to the ground. I staggered to my feet and pushed off so that I was floating. I soared so that I was level with my foe and stayed about fifty metres away.
"Had enough yet?" He laughed. I just snorted;
"I'm just getting warmed up…"
He pushed off from the ground and flew straight at me, but I dodged and delivered a punch to his back as he went past. He fell a few feet but regained control and came at me from underneath. I tried to dodge again, but this time I was too slow. His uppercut tore the helmet from my face, and then added to the pain I was already suffering by punching me in the stomach and chest. I blocked a fourth punch and kicked him in the head, causing him to fall further. However, he hurtled up and slammed into me again. I crumpled and fell to the earth. Ouch…
As I began to struggle to my feet, I saw him readying a miracle, so I threw up a small shield around myself. He pointed and bright blue lighting bolts seared from his fingers and scorched my shield. The shield held (barely) and I threw it off and countered with my own lightning. Instead of a flurry of small strikes; I threw a powerful, concentrated bolt that forced him to move fast. He swooped low and dropped a fireball down on me. I dismissed it with a wave of my hand and replied with yet another lightning strike that knocked him spinning into the ground before me.
"That was quite a hit…" He gasped, standing shakily. "…but not nearly enough to stop me!"
"Save it, Knylus. I've got plenty of strength and mana left; I will destroy you this time." was my reply.
"Unfortunately" rasped my nemesis "I have other matters to attend to. We will finish this later. Enjoy your little village while you can!"
He raised his hands above his head and there was a flicker of light; like a candle being blown in the wind. He disappeared like he had been snuffed out.
"Damnit…" I growled.