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A shroud of darkness hung over the earth; there was neither sun nor moon in the heavens, nor the faint glow of the fire-breathing stars - it was as if the world had returned to its primal, elemental state before creation unfolded. The only light to be seen were the fires that burned upon the Sicilian valley in the wake of the two great figures as they waged war without end. Zeus lifted his weary head, blood and sweat and grime from battle covering his dark brow, and he spoke with a booming voice like thunder that set the foundations of the earth to shaking, "Though all the Gods have abandoned me and you have wounded me most grievously, still I will not submit! I shall fight you until my final breath departs, and still I will keep going." And with that, he hurled a bolt of lightning like a javelin of fire, and it smote the tremendous serpent across his side, knocking him to the ground. With a howl and hiss that threatened to unravel the fabric of creation, the great beast fell back, and Typhon slammed into a mountain, leveling it to the ground in a huge cloud of dust and molten rock. For a time there was silence, eerie and death-like, and the mighty Lord of the Gods stood upon his feet, breathing heavily, observing the carnage that he had wrought. The valley was desolate, the earth scorched and blighted from their battle, mountains burning and the streams black with the blood of the God and his foe. Zeus took another lightning bolt in hand, its flame licking up his arm and causing his long black hair to whip about wildly, as if caught in the ragged winds of a storm, though there was no breeze in the valley. He crept upon the motionless serpent, dragging his feet from the terrible wound that Typhon had inflicted upon him. Then, of a sudden, there was movement within the blighted crater of the mountain, and before heroic Zeus could move, slithering coils from Typhon's serpent body snared Zeus and began wrapping themselves round him. The grip of Typhon was strong as the adamant bones of his mother, and he squeazed, trying to strangle the life from the God. The lightning-bolt fell from Zeus' suddenly powerless hands, and the God was lifted up from the ground and held aloft by Typhon, struggling to break the unbreakable grip. He felt the serpent body constrict against his own, crushing the breath from his lungs and threatening to shatter his bones like those of a chicken's carcass after a feast. "What vain speech," Typhon hissed, his breath as foul as the vapors which issue from the bowels of the earth, "Do you truly think that you will prevail against me, O Gatherer of the Clouds?" Typhon rose up upon his haunches, holding Zeus dangling in mid-air with his serpentine hind-quarters. From the waist up he resembled the beautiful, immortal Gods, man-like, though immense leathery wings sprouted from his shoulders and where he should have had legs, there grew an hundred serpents, slithering about madly. "I am greater than the Gigantes, mightier than the Titanes, more powerful than all of impudent Gods, who fled before me like little children as I approached your home on Mount Olympos. I am the vengeance of the great mother Gaia, who is sick of your endless squabbling, and weary of the race of men who toil upon her back. I have come to put an end to it forever, and with your death I shall be proclaimed the master of all, and shall rule over desolation forever." Zeus' eyes shut, and he felt the darkness close in upon him. Visions began to fill his head and he beheld the world under the dominion of Typhon. There was eternal darkness and rivers of fire upon the earth; law was banished, and death, madness, and chaos flew about on black wings unfettered. The oceans were clogged with the corpses of fish, and all the creatures of land had been hunted to extinction. Men payed no heed to the customs of their fathers: they did only as they willed, killing, stealing, raping, and heaping scornful abuse upon all that they encountered. Bodies piled up, black and bloated with disease, for there was none to bury them or give them the customary honors, and so piteous spirits roamed the earth, unable to depart to their home beneath the soil. Had any man in that accursed age thought to call upon the blessed Gods, his voice would have risen to heaven in vain, for all the Gods had been slain by the fiendish Typhon, who consumed their flesh and grew fat upon their power. A fiery force awakened within the breast of Zeus at this vision, and he grew strong from its anger. His eyes opened, and the son of Kronos raised up his mighty fists. Clouds overhead grew thick and black, pregnant with a wild, elemental energy, and they began pelting Typhon with their rain. Winds from all corners converged upon the valley, lashing the pair with mighty gusts, booming and howling like the Erinyes. The tempestuous winds pounded the dragon, clawing at his flesh and whipping about his serpentine limbs. Typhon struggled to regain his footing, but the winds bombarded him, pushing him around like a little child. Thunder rumbled along the horizon, sounding as brazen shields struck by the spears of warriors, and the sky lit up with sheets of lightning. "Ha! Do you think that your noisome display will frighten me, Lord of the storm-cloud? I was sprung from the womb of -" A blast of lightning struck the dragon in his face, and he screamed in unimaginable pain. His flesh burned and he clawed at it with all of his hundred serpent arms to extinguish it, but the fierce flames only spread. Another bolt struck him, and yet another, and the writhing, pain-maddened creature dropped Zeus to the ground. The son of Kronos gained his feet and raised his arms to the sky, calling down more and more lightning, until Typhon was consumed in a raging inferno. He thrashed about, pounding the earth in his agony, maddened, violent, striking blindly at his attacker, who called ever more lightning, wind, and rain down upon his foe. But Zeus knew in his heart that he could not defeat his
enemy in this manner, so he strode across the land until he
came to Mount Aetna, and he reached down and slid his
fingers beneath the base of the mountain. Straining with all
of his might, the Lord of Heaven lifted Aetna up until it
had torn free of its foundations, and he carried the
mountain back to his weakened foe, and thrust it down upon
him, crushing the wilful enemy of the Gods beneath its bulk.
And there Typhon has remained ever since, impotent and in
pain, but not dead, trapped beneath the mountain until the
end of time. Whenever he tries to escape, the mountain
trembles and spews forth fiery lava, but it remains in its
place, where the mighty son of Kronos has placed it. |
