Hanging Softly Upon the Cheek of Night

[Breaker]

Hromagh struck like an onager, like the tail of a whale, like the boom of a great ship whipped ‘round by the sail. A growl rumbled from deep within his chest as he swung a clawed paw in a continent-shattering haymaker.

He struck only air, for in moving like a moonshadow, Breaker was not there. The demigod side-stepped and swayed, dodging and ducking as the Thayne swatted again. Hromagh moved with great speed, and yet the length and breadth of his limbs made them slower and predictable to the immortal prizefighter. Each blow could have easily killed the demigod, and yet as the onslaught continued and Breaker fell into a rhythm, Hromagh began to miss by more and more. The momentum of the Thayne’s punches off-balanced him and he stumbled, green sand spraying from beneath his clawed feet.

Breaker swooped in like an eagle and clasped his arms around the Thayne’s massive middle. He lifted, tipped, and turned, and suplexed the deity down on the soft ground. The slam shook the entire beach.

“You were a fool to face me hand to hand,” Breaker growled in the Beast God’s ear.
“Thayne or not, none beat me in close quarters,
Even in your home of Phantaria.”

Hromagh roared and lashed out with his great pate, sending the demigod flying backwards, over the green sand, past the orange grass, to smash against the yellowy trunk of a broad tree. He bounced off and slumped to the ground in a heap, winded and stunned. His spine ached from the impact, and his legs felt strangely distant. The pain instinctively receded to the back of his mind, and he stood as swiftly as he’d fallen.

“You are a fool for having traveled here.” The Thayne roared as he came to his feet and charged. They crashed together like two mountains colliding, Breaker smaller and slighter but no less determined. He stuffed the deity’s attempt to bull him over backwards and rolled between those long legs, popping up behind Hromagh and jumping on his back.

“You will not leave this sacred place alive,” Hromagh roared.
“Am’aleh will bring back your broken bones!”

He tore Breaker off of his back and hurled him into the purple shallows. The lurid, warm water clutched at him like a thousand hungry hands. The demigod rose, dripping mauve and spreading his arms wide in a gesture of defiance.

“Use your godly might! Strike me down, Hromagh!
You will never defeat me fighting fair.
I have practiced too long and hard to lose.
Am’aleh says Thaynes see truth in all things,
So you must see the truth of this in me.”

They circled on the sand for a long while, steam gushing from Hromagh’s furry nose and ears, blue light pooling in the dimples beneath Breaker’s Y-shaped scars. The lilac waves lapped and waned at the verdant shore.

The Beast God’s fury subsided slowly. His great lion’s frown swept up into a smile, and a laugh that nearly uprooted the trees boomed forth from his chest.

“Did you believe I tried to defeat you?” He chortled. And then with a snap of reality and a hiss of scalded sand, he vanished.