They both knew the day would come when the student surpassed the teacher. He was no longer the trusty sidekick, the apprentice to a mentor.

In a supreme test of power to decide who was the master, they prepared for a final battle.

No mere quarrel, this was a fight to the death. Each drawing on their command of necromancy to challenge the other.

Shapeshifting into creatures of mythological savagery, they clawed and tore at each other, rending limb and flesh, and shattering bone. Their clash was terrifying, yet majestic in its unrelenting devastation.

Parting to separate sanctuaries, they conjured spells of healing, their broken bodies renewed, their strength intensifying.

Facing each other for a second trial, the two mages stood atop competing mountain tops. Bolts of merciless lightning flashed across the gorge, the air crackled with noxious flames. Waves of fire roared down into the valley, scorching the earth black with rage.

Ash and embers were all that remained amidst the carnage of their magic, a wasteland of death spread out between them.

Still they spew curses, neither giving quarter, neither affected by the destruction their duel causes. All their concentration is focused on destroying a rival, and proving eminence. There will never be a winner, only ruin.