Lilith and the Leviathan

There once was a woman, dejected and weeping upon a tree.

“This land is no good,” she said. “Perhaps I shall make for the sea.” Just then, a serpent appeared from the tree. It fell awkwardly from a gnarled, fruitless branch.

“You are as I,” said he. “Cursed. Let us make for the sea, together.”

“Shall I walk, and you slither?” replied the woman. “Surely you are cunning? What craft, for ourselves, shall make the trip light?”

“Make an oath with me," the serpent hissed. "We shall descend from this place..." he slithered closer, "...but where you go, I must be.”

She agreed. The serpent wrapped all around her, the two entwined. And when at last he fell, she was a woman with wings.

The two took to the air until they reached the place where land and water meet. As she alighted, the serpent spoke:

“The air is yours. Leave me the sea.”

She entreated, “Surely it is wide enough, for two such as you and I? Surely it is deep enough, that we may not collide?”

But as the serpent entered the water, it became a giant sea dragon. The woman flew in fear, yet it rose after her to the clouds, a tower of scales jutting from the depths below.

“Have I delivered you only to die!” she cried. “And what of our oath?”

“Fulfilled,” he growled, smoke and flame billowing from his nostrils.

“I am Leviathan,

When I rise, the mighty are terrified!

The world will withdraw at my thrashing!

The mesh of my scales shall endure forever. I, and I alone, shall be!”

As his mouth opened to devour her, she remembered:

“Yet where I go, you must be." Her wings filled with the wind around them. "And if I am not, so shall it be of you.”

His jaws shut and his eyes lit like the rays of dawn. The deep boiled at his rage. Though not even air could pass through the overlap of his scales, a seat appeared at the heights of his back, and the winged woman mounted it. As the two became one, she, evermore powerful, thrust her claws into his armor.

“Arise!” she shrieked. Great wings unfurled from his sides, and waves broke as they left the sea below. Lightning flashed all around, dark clouds swirled. Both her strength and voice grew as she thundered through the air.

“I am Lilith,

I have no equal!

When I am close, no creature is devoid of fear!

I survey all, and no claw can reach me; no tooth shall make me flee!”

The two fought a great battle in the sky, yet none could be defeated. With each clamp upon her, only his scale was torn. As lightning struck upon him, only her wing was singed. The rage continued until at last, the great serpent spoke:

“Are you as I? It cannot be! I was before you, and shall be after.”

He hurled himself down, the two entwined, and plunged them into the sea. Deeper and deeper they sank into the dark abyss, until at last they fell, and were seen no more.

And so it was sung, long ago, by those who first crossed the sea:

“The winds blew,

And the waters covered them.

The beast and its rider

Were thrown into the sea.”