The Duel of Serpent and Dragon

I knew from the faded and distorted voices above deck that land was within sight, but what time it was I remained ignorant. When I woke once more from my sea sickness, all was quiet on the vessel. I struggled to regain my balance and made my way to the cool dark sky. I was the only soul aboard, and all the lifeboats were missing. I gazed forth at an island that glowed in the night sky and speculated that is where my escorts ventured forth. I possessed no method of making it to shore, so I remained onboard.

I made my way to the forecastle deck and laid on the solid oak, staring up at the stars. One of the sailors recommended this method to alleviate the symptoms of sea sickness. Before long, the ambiance of gentle water chopping and creaking masts lulled me once more to sleep. 

I heard a gentle voice calling me, and I arose to search the Siren out. I gazed down at the water to see a great servant break forth from the dark sea. It rose and met my eyes, before unsheathing its scales and disguise. What levitated before me was a specimen of great beauty. She was nude and natural and did not stir any arousement. She did not tempt me to lust, rather to loyalty. Her eyes glowed of the finest emerald. Her hair was composed of an overflowing river of feathers that matched every hue found in the rainbow. She bore lime-colored streaks that striped her earth-toned body across horizontally. She spoke as one would imagine God and called me forth once more! 

"Óscar Exposito, thou doth call forth thine services!"

"Oh, great deity, be warned! Thine soul be fixed to thine Lord, the one true God!"

"See true and behold: Thou God hath betrayed thee great God-Spear! He hath cast you out and allowed you to drift from His side. Thou art alone in thy realm, let me enter thy temple and come to know thee. In return, I calleth on thy services, Exposito!"

"I declare before thee, great sorceress; Thou shalt not dare cast thine soul towards damnation! If thou ask thine to renounce thy vow to thine Lord, compliance thy does henceforth refuse! Privy yet forth, what doth thou ask of thee?"

"There cometh a ritual and it cometh every new moon. Thine brethren; thee who live in realm of inferno deep, thy lust the light of day! Yet if thine brethren ascended to thy realm, he shall breathe fire upon thine most sacred people! So, I ask of thee, become thine avatar and wage war against the spirits thy brethren possessed!"

"Thy shalt protest, merely a seasick wanderer adrift far from home be I! Have mercy, I beg of thee! Call upon the crew that masters this sea!"  

"Nay, for their souls my brethren have taken! Thou defend thy soul Lord Yahweh, let his eminence guide your blade true!"

I failed to find cause for protest before I awoke to a thunderous crash! I felt my body skid across the deck and become exposed before the rocky shore. I scrambled for any form of security, but as the vessel was pushed by the sea, I was thrown with an unnatural force. I felt my head crash upon the earth and awoke to the morning light.

I was marooned on the island I witnessed from a distance, and the vessel was wrecked beyond repair. I knew that I was not alone, so I rejected the memory of the feathered serpent from my mind and headed into the lush jungle. I was rendered deaf amongst the singing canopies as all the Lord's fowl sang their broken tunes. Blindly I stomped and trailblazed until I beheld a great ancient city of stone!

The temples and buildings were caked with moss and consumed by the forest, which rendered what might have been a great wide road a dark emerald maze. I navigated to my best of skill when an enchanting drum echoed off the brick towers. I felt the ground shift and move, and I lost my footing. I fell, but never met the ground. My fall was long and terrifying as skeletons and corpses became animated, attempting to reach out to me! Below was a fiery inferno, but I met a floor invisible to the eye. The undead that taunted me began to thrash and crawl over one another to reach me, only to discover a barrier matching the texture of the flooring below. I was trapped in an unnerving arena, and I soon lost my loneliness. 

Fiona, the Cabin Girl, and former stowaway joined me dressed in Olmec garb. Her chest was guarded by a smooth gray pectoral plate that boasted the carved face of a great dragon and towards me she elevated an emerald votive towards me. 

"Tis that hath cast thy before this inferno! Long did I dream of freedom at sea, but instead found myself chained to a God's eternal duel!"

"This duel is not the final destination of our voyage, my dear Fiona! I know not the supernatural forces that cast us here, but defy thy temptations, I beg of thee!"

"Thou better resist the urge to breathe than tamper with the chains that hold me here! So now, witness what thine shall do! For the glory of the monster of Earth; the dragon Cipactli, I will slay thee! 

She ran forward and swung the deadly artifact at me, but I dodged her high effort attack. She ran and jumped from the barrier, teasing the dead’s lust, and plotted to land a blow upon my temple. Once more, she telegraphed her attack and I dodged it. As she landed upon the floor, I jumped above the child and disarmed her. Her blade slid across the floor and pierced through the barrier. Below me, I saw the blade crash onto a duel right below our arena.

Fiona bit my hand, causing me to fall back and caress my injured hand. She jumped over me and began gnawing towards my throat like a rapid animal! 

"I have slain seven, with your death only one duel separates me from my freedom!"

I wept in my soul as I realized what I must do. I lunged forward and began to squeeze the life from her throat. I felt the life leave her body, and I gently turned her over to rest. I rose above the freshly deceased, and witnessed her corpse faded away. In her place, an emerald cutlass remained. The face of the feathered serpent was carved into the hilt and the Lord's prayer etched onto the blade. Perhaps this blade was the chains Fiona spoke of. 

If Fiona did speak truth through her madness, then I need only duel one more opponent before this lethal ritual comes to an end. As soon as I picked up the cutlass, the flooring beneath me ascended to meet a gate made of human bones. From the catacomb’s entry, Captain Badillo joined me on the arena floor.

"My Exposito! Thy trusted thou hath been saved from this madness aboard thy galleon Lobelia, but thy doth see thou were not spared!"

"I dueled Fiona, and she did regal salvation lies upon this duel's conclusion!"

"Nay, Fiona misspoke. For if I were to claim victory, our world would be destroyed, and if you were to win you would be trapped here dueling every new moon until defeat. This is the ritual of the serpent and dragon; we are merely the pawns."

"Then let us spar!"

"Best of luck to you, Captain!"