The Honour of The Duel

[KakeiTheWolf]

I stood erect, mirrored to a demon of nacre ruin of the flesh, spines lined by the rod, contacting in full
We stand in the ebon mire, of a Void in the Abyss, lost in the haze of Naufragare
I turneth not my head, and spake forth unto the shadow beyond these words
"I disgrace not my eye nor ear, I see nor speak violence. Turn death to the rose, and glass to a torch.".
He spake to me, "Yet thou hast bath'd in a broken world. Roses hold thorns, and torches can burn.".

I turned, and so had he, and to each step, we addressed a second, though I knew not his measure.
Voice and lips unbound by the honour of duel, I spake to him, "Mine hands are open. Speak thy name.".
He spake unto my direction, froward in the cast of his vile tongue, the exposition of the confrontation
"I am Anathema. I am he who stands by the river, and retches in malice to thy kin, so thou art to perish by the current.".
"I whisper in the wind, and I murder in the dark. Behind the lips of my cold asylum of stone lies a needle of lead.".
"I cast lots as I dance to the Liar's Gavotte, I sing a merry tune at the gallows of my victims. With my twine, I choke thee.".
"Present thy case, bitter wyrm, for I am not clandestine as a foe, and I shall not reveal gyrons.".

Held firm to thought and logic did I, by which mine Anima is bound to the mortal plane, shaded from the dust and the raze of the wind.
As unto him I prepared the retort, "To my name bears no merit, I am simple and finite. Cast in the shadow of God's Kingdom, I am small.".
"Hold to voice of peace, do I, hold tightly do I with my claws to the white curtain, whose lofty dressing lies in the Æther, beyond any mortal spire.".
"To the breath of the Lord I hold, that I walk without being struck dumb, and so I may see the light of the stars above Terra.".
"E'er doth mine augur drive beyond the ward of Hell, for by blood, I am bound to the Man. But by the blood of an innocent, I am bound to God.".

Anathema chortled, casting out his miasmic foam from his unloving gape, and he bent his limbs and perched on his fours, saying forth
"Foolish and frail, be thine heart and skin. Act not like thou art of a perfect shadow, thee, who is as a wicked and iniquitous beast! Feral animal of the fields!".
"Thou speakst of love when thou doth imbibe from the river. Stand upon in its bank, doth thee, after thy gullet is sate. Thou art as wicked as me, thy soul as black.".
"Manipulated creature, Mephistophilean manuscript of parroted lies and confusion, a damsel gaily traipsing in a garden of blackthorn! All vice be as another!".
"Do not dare to speak from high towers, claim no throne of marble. Thou art but flotsam, esssse in the zephyrs of the West, thy blood is as venemous as mine.".

I refrained from the coarse winds of my throat, I bore forth no hoarfrost upon the flesh, but merely stated as just the truth
"I hath not an ounce of thine way. The wind has torn me and the world has razed me wholly, but ne'er do I start the spark of corruption in the beating heart I hold.".
Anathema stated, "Yet thou dost hold a tome, chronicled in the wind of strife; Thine art was once mine, exercised viciously upon thy flesh.".
I retorted, "Yet even the Nephilim are not their father. The beasts of hell shall slough through fire, but ne'er shalt they drench my legs.".
"And hear, driven in earthern hell to a binding fugue, I am shattered, but the cruel irony for thee is that I remain steadfast by the hold of the ferrum joug aboust.".

Anathema bellowed, "Scream of a phantom life of piety and miserecordia, but let not be begat into an aeroran blade upon my temple thy sick words of denial.".
He crawl'd upon his waltzing limbs, bound in chains of poisonous and vile metals uponst his ankles, approaching me as a flailing and foaming wolf of blood, saying
"Cruel and insane monstrosity, ghastly beast of lunacy! Thy flesh is held close to the crux of my pestilent chain. Thou doth feel venom in thy veins, hold it dear!".
Anathema rattled the chain of his left wrist beside my face, and pulled acrost mine bottom lip with his razor finger of emaciated and wizened bone, saying
"How can thee speak of God, pariah? How can thee spew vile muds to the heavens in good faith? Thou dost feel the ruination and damnation of the flesh, unfought!".

Anathema whispered coldly to my ear, his breath the vein of tundra, his tongue crost upon me in the voice of taiga, and so he spake still further
"Thy face is thrus't in the river, animal! Come to terms with thine hatred, thine malice, thine rot of bark and onyx flesh, for thou are a wisp in the wind!".
"Thine bones shriek in terror in lacriment robes uponst their form. Icy necrotic form take thee in thine solemn passacaille upon the Shore of Lethe.".
I spoke, "Uponst the talon, borne not is flesh. Uponst the tail, borne not is flesh. But borne of us is that we grasp: The gate of Elysium or the loam of Acheron.".
"If a single bone shatters upon the world, let it be but flesh and faith that were too ill, for one cannot blame the guardians of the world.".

Anathema ground my face upon the caked ashen earth below, and dug his fangs into my scalp, as he bled mine breast with his horrid claws, and said forth
"Weakling, thou art a roaring siren, as the funereal bells howl in fury for thy blood. The vile pestilence spreads in sanguine glory, and thou doth not raise a hand.".
"I hold my death to thine throat, what merit doth thine hand hold? Thy life shall be forfeit, as thy ebon vine that coils't about thee is the chain of the Dragon!".
I responded, "And yet, thou dost not see. The flesh is not bound to the hatred of a violence upon oneself. I reject thy vile poison, thy manipulation is in vain!".
And lo, the duel with those words bore witness its end, and I passed from Anathema's sight, beyond the reaches of the corruption of Maelbolgae.