The Descent of the Gods

Leviathan

While the crowd was cringing back from the sight of the beast that had materialized before them, Azrael instead leaned forward, his eyes filling with recognition, his face a mix of horror and awe.

"Isn't that..?"

He turned to Semyaza, the question left unfinished. He didn't have to finish it.

Semyaza nodded. Azrael slumped back in his chair, staring blankly forward.

"What is it?" Naamah cried out.

"It is Leviathan - serpent of destruction. But this is only a young one, not even half it's eventual adult size."

"God created such monsters?" Naamah breathed, unable to tear her eyes from the sight of the sinuous reptile as the dust settled, and its full form was revealed.

Semyaza laughed loudly.

"This monster and others even more terrible come from paradise!"

Naamah's horror was felt by every heart present. They knew of dragons, but such fierce specimens were strictly legend. The people of Nod normally dismissed stories of such creatures as they scoffed at tales about the mystical Land of Eden that housed the headwaters of the Euphrates.

Enoch's blasphemy had caused the earth to spit forth a mythical force of destruction - not one heart doubted the Watchers any longer, or harbored thoughts of dissention. Such thoughts had been purged completely from their minds.

But Enoch alone was close enough to see the burning in its eyes as it wound its way in his direction. It's long, scaly body was snake-like and lined with protruding spikes down its back. It barely held its belly off the ground with four stubby but powerful legs. Its whip-like tail swung from side to side behind it. As focused as Enoch was on the gaping jaws moving slowly but deliberately in his direction, he knew that the tail was just as lethal.

It's head was the largest single object on the whole body. A bony crest ran down from its forehead to its nostrils. All the legends of the Leviathan had told that it breathed fire - but the only fire that Enoch could see emanating from this beast was from its eyes. 

There was something more than animal in the way it stared at him - a sentient burning. 

"You're no ordinary dragon, are you?" Enoch muttered. 

The reptile snapped its jaws once in reply. Enoch could have sworn it was smiling at him.

"Who are you?"

The only answer he received was a final snort as the the dragon sprang forward towards him, jaws opening wide, its body wriggling through the sand as its legs shot it forward. 

Enoch's sling was ready, with a heavy stone already inside. A slinger always has several available methods of sending a stone to its target. For precision and distance, the slinger need only let the weigh of the stone do its damage combined with his own skill in hitting the target. But in this situation, Enoch leaped upward, the sling circling him in such a way to collect an incredible amount of centrifugal force. He landed, taking one more step forward before launching the stone, his whole body projecting the stone forward to its utmost velocity. Before the dragon took more than three steps, Enoch had flung the rock at the charging beast like a missile.

It landed exactly where he intended, crushing into the dragon's right eye. The dragon stopped short, retreated and wagged its head in pain, roaring violently. Blood spurt forth from beneath the dragon's eyelid.

The crowd had expected the first charge to be the last. They let out a collective gasp.

Before the dragon could recover from the agony pounding its skull, Enoch sprang forward and rolled up behind the monster, keeping the thrashing tail in view. He knew that even though the tail could easily wound or even kill him, the dragon would probably prefer to finish him head on. If he could keep it turning, he could last a little longer.

The tail whipped close to him and he shot forward with his staff. The iron point just bounced off the thickly scales. He would have to find more vulnerable areas if his staff would be any use to him. He stooped and grabbed a stone he had previously tossed to this side of the arena.

The dragon turned to face him with its good eye. Its large body was unwieldy and too long to maneuver easily in the relatively small space. Enoch had placed the old stone altar in between them. It would have to go around it to get to him.

The dragon bellowed and charged again, it's bony crest smashing through the altar, leaving only half of it still standing. 

"So much for that," Enoch muttered as he swung the second stone around his head.   

This time the stone didn't quite have the impact that the first one had. The dragon flinched at the impact, but didn't stop its charge forward.

Enoch waited until the last moment and rolled again, almost underneath the beast. He lunged forward with his staff, and it sank in between the ribcage and the dragon's hind leg.

The monster's roar matched that of the crowd's.

"Maybe his battle training was too thorough?" Lamech laughed, taking another drink of the rich wine in the goblets in front of them.  

The Watchers didn't even acknowledge his joke. They were watching the battle unfold too intensely.