I locked eyes with the great behemoth, now looming as if over even the darkness itself. Great orange eyes full of contempt for my puny form . The flame of a thousand iron engines lashing at my cheeks, I allowed a smirk to cross my lips.
"I know how you win, every time. You won't get me like them."
"Oh? And how is that."
"Reverse medusa. You scare them so bad they look away... and then you've got them right where you want them, haven't you?"
"Well, look at Mr. Theoretical over here." I sensed some shift in the shadows, winding back, back into the infinite gloom.
"I'm not scared of you."
And I stared at the monster, unmoving, unflinching. And he stared at me, offering no relief from the eyes of fire. "Don't bother looking for your friends. You have none here. They work for me, here."
My head grew light, soft now in the mounting heat, my stance melting. "That's... not... true... Nobody's... on... your... side... you monster!"
"No? Then why are they stoking these flames...?"
And I looked at the pile of coal upon which the serpent sat, and saw billions with shovels, in two lines, back and forth, piling load after load of coal into the gaping mouth of the monster.
"Don't look now, buddy, but what's that in your hands...?"
I tried... I promise, I tried to keep the stare... I couldn't, that heat, those eyes, accusing and knowing my impotency. I looked down and saw my own sooty hands, wielding a shovel. I held it over my head threateningly, and two thousand hands pulled it back down to the ground.
"Now get back in line, bitch."
I frowned defiantly, my gaze at the ground. "You haven't won, you monster! I'll be back!"
A sly and condescending smile crept into those enormous, pointed teeth. "Now thaaaat's what I like to see!"
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