Jessi: Mwhahaha, my cunning twist has made me seem much more intelligent. I can only hope that I do not screw up that image :)

A golden globe of magic exploded, demolishing another eyrie. Chel took off from the falling roof and soared onto another perch, not paying much attention to his surroundings. This new revelation had shaken him to his core. All of his clever tactics and battle plans had deserted him. All he could do now was to sit and watch.

Tiamet snarled as he saw his attack miss his sister and hit a building instead. She moved backwards, her feet floating above the ground, into the dust clouds that rose up.

The male deity began moving, his elven eyes scanning the surroundings for his opponent. There was no time to lament the loss of his wondrous draconic vision however.

The ground heaved beneath his feet. Already unsteady on two legs, the dragon lord fell onto his knees, immediately scrambling backwards as cracks opened up in the soil. The dark rifts were suddenly alive with vermin.

Despite himself, Tiamet shrieked as clouds of insects covered his flesh. Flies crawled across his face, his eyes and his lips, biting and stinging. Cockroaches and beetles made his skin crawl with every step of their many legs. His hands raked at his face, clearing his vision just long enough for him to see the banded snakes slither towards him, fangs all-too visible.

Fool. You are panicking over a simple sensation! the deity, still engaged in an undignified backwards crawl, felt his heart beat all the faster at the unfamiliar voice in his head.

As suddenly as they had come the insects and serpents vanished,

Come to your senses and fight her! Now move!

Having spent countless decades giving orders Tiamet was impressed by the speed at which his body obeyed the voice. A spear of ice embedded itself in the exact spot that he'd been sitting in, impacting hard enough to crack solid rock.

A scream of rage echoed across the summit and Tiamat briefly appeared in the sky above, held aloft by her magic. Her arms made a wide sweeping gesture and her next attack began.

Hundreds of sliver darts arced outwards from her body, instantly changing direction to head towards the male deity. He thrust out his arms, palms outwards, shielding himself in a transparent blue sphere.

The impact of the darts on his shield shuddered along his arms, shaking his fragile elven body. Tiamet fought to hold his concentration, to focus on keeping the shield up. At last the barrage stopped and he let down the shield...

A wave of force magic swept him off his feet and he was thrown through a wooden wall into a half-demolished building.

Tiamat landed and began stalking towards her prey, her body swaying erratically with each and every step. Abruptly her attention was captured by a new and softer target.

Vale staggered into the clearing. She could barely keep herself on her feet and sweat ran down her pale flesh. Her hands grabbed at a nearby wall as her vision and stomach lurched. The scene before her was grey and wavered back and forth between blurry and her normal sharp, elven sight.

The young cleric was abruptly shoved backwards, a heavy weight upon her chest. She looked up into a face so horribly disfigured that it could have been a mask. Saliva ran from its mouth and onto the elf's cheek.

"Hello, pretty one," the voice was horribly mangled and Vale realized with growing fear and nausea that the apparition had no lips. She shrieked.

Chel arrowed into the Dark Lady's body, his claws driving themselves into her flesh. The former deity and winged elf rolled across the ground each trying to bite or slash at the other. The pale elf closed a hand about her throat, squeezing with all his magical strength, trying to snap her neck.

A gesture caused lightning to surge from Tiamat's flesh and into Chel. He let go, the stink of burnt flesh rising from his arm. He also had a spell though.

Magic slammed into his opponent's body, flinging her away in the opposite direction to Tiamet.

The male elf flipped onto his hands and knees, quickly getting to his feet. He ran to the prone Vale, helping her stand,

"Vale? Vale-uke?"the affection pet name flowed from his lips naturally, even at this serious moment. He switch to telepathy, Vale, you have to go. It's much too dangerous, as he spoke, healing magic once more flowed into her body from his own, Please go. They are too powerful for you.

C-Chel-seme? a tiny cry escaped her, though whether from happiness or fear Chel did not know.

He bit his lip as he pushed Vale away from him, towards safety,

"Vale, if you truly love me then you'll run."

Chel turned away and flew towards the makeshift arena, where the two combatants were emerging.

Tiamet's arm was filled with fiery pain. The bone was visible, having torn through the soft, mammal skin with its broken edge. The limb dangled uselessly by his side.

His sister had a broken neck. Her head was kept upright only by one of her hands, tangled in her black hair.

"Looks like we can't die by each other's hands, my brother. Maybe we'll just keep fighting until Dendar swallows the sun," the bones in her neck fused with a crack. Tiamet's arm made a similar noise as it healed.

Chel landed elegantly, his fangs and claws gone. His long tresses and his large eyes made him seem like a lost, innocent angel on a battlefield. However, his expression was carved from stone.

Tiamat clapped her hands,

"I had so wondered where you got to. There will be no offers this time," she put her head on one side and in the same sweet voice continued, "You'll die like everyone else, no matter how pretty you are."

"I did not come to be your whore."

"Then why are you here?" she pointed at her brother, the fight forgotten for now, "Are you one of his?"

"I am. But that is not why I came," he looked at her, eyes full of fire, "I came for vengeance!"

Giggling, Tiamat put her hands to her ugly, bestial mouth,

"The little slut wants revenge. Did I take more than your pride, perhaps?" she made a crude gesture, "I wouldn't have taken you to be a temple virgin."

"Rape and abuse I have suffered before. I do not want revenge for that."

"Then what? I can't recall anything else," Tiamat looked genuinely puzzled.

"You can't recall?" Chel snarled, his hair suddenly writhing in the air and magic crackling along his body. Boulders cracked and rocks lifted into the air, "You bitch!"

He was screaming in rage now, his hands were clenched into tight fists,

"You took my family! You took my sanity, my life!" he raised his arms and briefly the marks of centuries of self-harm were visible, "You did this to me!"

He stepped forward,

"I want revenge for the centuries, the millennia of my life that you ruined! I will destroy you for it!"

For the first time in eons a cold stab of fear entered Tiamat's mind,

"I am a deity! The true Deity of Dragons! You're just a mammal! A pathetic mammal!"

Chel merely smiled, a truly terrible grin. He was still smiling when he felt the pain flare into being within him.

Jessi: Just another quick note. Uke and seme are Japanese (I'm not sure what they mean) but here I use them as terms of endearment.