They met by moonlight, ten thousand feet above the ground. The moon shone bright; it reflected off the few clouds below them. It was cold. A moderate wind whipped around them, the only sound other than the beating of their wings.
Nahash whispered to Zan, Ready?
Zan opened his mouth wide in assent.
Good, said Nahash. You go first. Show me what you got.
Zan’s eyes sparkled. Nahash found himself on fire. He felt the agony and smelled the burned flesh. He instinctively focused his will on the molecules around him, removing energy from the system to extinguish the flames. Nothing happened.
Wait. Nahash focused his will again, this time in a lateral direction. The flames disappeared.
Nice try, said Nahash. We train for this, you know. You can’t do that, can you?
Zan’s eyes glittered. It’s true, he whispered into Nahash’s mind. I never had a tutor for magery, and math was never my thing anyway. I can’t make flames or lightning. But it doesn’t matter.
Why is that? asked Nahash.
Because I’m the best at sorcery! said Zan.
Let’s see you deal with the real world of physics, said Nahash.
The air shimmered between them. Zan banked and dove out of the way of a searing column of heat. He soared in a circle, coming back to face Nahash, and opened his mouth in a draconic grin. You liked my illusion so much that you wanted to set me on fire for real?
Your turn, said Nahash.
Nahash felt a blast of mental energy invade his mind. Blackness accelerated from the edge of his vision, becoming first tunnel-vision, and then nothing. He could neither see, nor hear, nor even feel his own wings flapping.
He didn’t panic. He’d trained for this. He took his time, summoned his will, and cast off the illusion.
He could see again. He had fallen some two hundred feet. He spun around, flapped his wings, and righted himself. He glared up at Zan.
Going for the quick finish? he asked.
I often let gravity do the work for me, said Zan.
I’m surprised you know the term, said Nahash. Anyway, two can play at that game.
A burst of blinding light and deafening sound hit Zan square. He could see only spots and hear nothing but a high-pitched whine. He turned and dove in the general direction of a cloud he’d seen a moment before. He felt another wave of heat miss him by a yard right before he felt the comforting embrace of water vapor around him.
He glided in circles until his hearing returned. He could see nothing through the fog. He exited the cloud via the bottom and spun around. No sign of the enemy. He must be above.
Nahash hovered above the cloud, waiting for Zan to appear. Without warning, he felt a legion of bugs crawling beneath his skin. He looked down at himself. He clearly saw various worms and beetles moving beneath his scales.
Ugh. Nahash focused his will. The bugs continued. Zan had gotten him good.
Nahash tried to ignore the itching and squirming. He scanned the edge of the cloud for his opponent. He spotted him on the western fringe, some hundred yards away, hovering and trying to remain unseen.
Zan’s muscles twitched in agony as lightning arced from Nahash’s claws into his body. He smelled burning. He dove back into the cloud.
Nahash rose and circled at a higher altitude, scanning the edge of the cloud.
Zan burst out from the center of the top and hit Nahash with a burst of mental energy. No delusions or sensory deprivation this time, just the blinding pain of telepathy turned all the way up. Nahash felt Zan screaming in his skull.
Nahash spotted Zan and dove in his direction. Zan retreated back into the cloud. Nahash used his best guess at Zan’s location and focused his will to suck all the ambient energy out of the area. The cloud became cold.
Sudden, arctic temperatures surrounded Zan. The water in the cloud sucked the heat right out of him, causing him to fall. He struggled to regain equilibrium as Nahash dove after him.
Zan saw a shimmer between them and felt the chains he wore seize up around him, pulling taught and pinning his wings. He dropped like a stone. Nahash dove after him to confirm the kill. Zan caught his eye.
Almost a minute later, Nahash saw Zan crash into the Earth. His bones and organs shattered. Nahash landed and slithered over to the body. It vanished.
Nahash stared at the ground. It held no sign of a three-thousand pound reptile crashing into it from ten thousand feet. He looked up. Clever.
Nahash focused his will. A hole in space appeared above him. He flew through it and arrived back at ten thousand feet.
He waited, circling and scanning in all directions. Nothing. Zan was gone.