The laboratory was dark and musty.  Raistlin moved quietly about and a moment later, a candle was sputtering, trying to keep away the darkness pressing close in upon the two rivals.  Shadows cast by the flickering light flitted across the walls as though fleeing from the battle about to come.  Inanna watched the shadows warily, looking over her shoulder in the dark corners of the room.  She felt as though she was being watched, but she didn't know who from.

Raistlin took his place in front of the large stone table, caressing it gently, merely to give his hands something to do.  "Why do you want this Inanna?  What compelled you to challenge me?"

"I cannot allow you to become a god.  It will be the end of life as we know it…it will be the end of you," she added as an afterthought.

Raistlin turned slightly, but did not face her head on.  Something had changed in her voice.  Did she care for him?  No.  It was just his imagination.  Still, he could not rid his mind of that brief, pleasant thought of someone caring.  "Where is the necklace?" he asked abruptly.

"I don't know what you mean," she replied stiffly.  Inanna paled and her heart pound fiercely in her chest.  A bead of sweat slid down her temple.  He knew!

Raistlin's voice grew deadly calm.  "With that necklace," he told her softly.  "I could have been the most powerful being on Krynn, second only to the gods.  But you stole that from me.  You kept my destiny chained to you, kept it just out of reach.  I swore to kill you for that."  He whirled around violently and grabbed Inanna roughly by the arms.  "Where is the necklace?!" he demanded angrily.

Inanna spat in his face.  "I would never tell you that!" she shouted back.  Her shout ended in a cry of agony as Raistlin's fingers burned her arms. 

When he released her, his fingers were wet with her blood, and a trickle of blood ran down Inanna's burnt arms.  "The first blood has been spilled," he mumbled, more to himself than her.  Inanna, gasping for air, merely shook her head, clasping her arms in pain.

"You knew it was meant to be this way," she whispered between breaths.  "Ever since that first day I saw you.  After you escaped the Blood Sea of Istar.  Don't you remember?  You cut me with your dagger, thinking me to be an enemy.  Blood was spilt that day by you also."

Raistlin folded his hands inside his black robes and lowered his head, closing his eyes.  "We are each fulfilling our destiny."

"Call it what you will," Inanna snarled, bringing her hand away from the burns on her right arm.  She fingered the sticky blood for a moment, looking at it thoughtfully.  "Destiny has nothing to do with it.  Fate brought us together, and this is our choice.  This is our will to dominate, our ambition.  Not destiny."

The mage barely opened his eyes as he looked at her.  His golden eyes gleamed maliciously like a cat's in the semi-darkness.  "So be it."

A bright flash of light lit the laboratory.  She threw up her injured arms to try and shield her eyes, but the light seared them anyways.  Then, with an almighty bang, she was hurled against the cold, stone wall.  Dizzy and blind, she struggled to move.  Her whole body ached as she stood shakily up.

"That wasn't fair," she spat.

Raistlin moved close to her and whispered in her ear, "Who ever said evil must fight fair?  My dream is on the line, Inanna.  And you are in my way.  You are a thorn in my side; a mere pest that must be eliminated.  You are a tiny speck that is just big enough to be a nuisance."

Inanna smiled.  "Even the smallest can do big things."

He scowled and brought another spell to his lips.  But this time, the elf maid was ready.  Lightening blasted from her fingertips as she finished the last of the spell.  Raistlin shielded it, but barely.

"You are a fly, buzzing constantly," he breathed, circling her menacingly.  "You are a disobedient child who should be punished."

"I was never obedient," she replied, watching him walk around her.  "I learned long ago not to listen to my so-called betters.  I never would have learned magic otherwise.  I would have lived forevermore with the power I could feel, but not use."

"Touching story, but you are still in my way.  Do you see that curtain over there?  That is the entrance to the Abyss.  I only need to find a cleric of Paladine to open it, and then all my ambition will have served me.  But you are forever haunting me.  I want you out of my life, so I may become a god without you forever tearing my soul and heart in two!"

Inanna paused, thinking about what he had said.  She knew he was tiring fast, and she wondered vaguely if what he said was true.  Did he love her?  Unfortunately for her, this was the pause Raistlin had been waiting for.

Quick as lightning, he twitched the leather thong that held his dagger concealed.  The elvish weapon fell into his hand, and he rushed at her.  Inanna, lost in her thoughts, couldn't move fast enough.  The dagger plunged deep into her abdomen.  She gasped, staring into Raistlin's strange eyes; eyes that were glowing with a concentrated, almost manic glint.

Raistlin yanked the dagger from her and watched as she fell to her knees, doubled over in pain.  Blood blossomed over her hands and stained her black robes.  She fell forward and closed her eyes against the pain.  Raistlin watched, slightly pleased.  Now she would no longer be in his way.  He could become a god now.