The battlefield stretched like a gaping wound on the Earth's surface, a smoking scar where ash and blood mingled. Seen from the heights, the spectacle was of apocalyptic beauty: geysers of scarlet flames shot toward a leaden sky, tinting the clouds with an infernal glow that transformed day into permanent twilight. The titanic silhouettes of dragons traced deadly arabesques between columns of black smoke, their membranous wings beating the superheated air with terrible grace, while on the ground, human formations resembled ants facing antediluvian giants.