In the vast expanse of black, she floated peacefully, absorbing scant photons from the billions of stars arrayed around her. She listened to the aching silence, the gentle passage of time, soaking in infinity.

In the darkness something approached. She had no inkling of it except for the dimming, stars steadily winking out as if sucked away into nothingness. She felt cold. Slowly, she could feel it turning its gaze toward her, its immensity beyond comprehension. The billion stars were gone, lost in the gaping mouth, the eyes a slitted green twelve thousand times taller than the largest star. She was as a grain of sand against the galaxy.

She felt more than heard the voice, vibrating through every molecule of her.

"Delicious."

...

Suddenly she was elsewhere, thousands of stars once again scattered in front of her, twinkling softly. Just ahead was a little blue and white planet holding three modest moons, along with a shimmering dust cloud that may have been debris from some other minor body. A single strand of black hair fell across the planet's surface, landing lightly in the northern half of one of the southern continents. Slowly it began to worm its way down, burrowing into the bog.

...

She awakened, finding herself once more on a wind-swept peak, the line of white mountains ahead of her straining to cut at the pale sky. She stood, brushing off the gathering of snow from her limbs and head, and turned to the north.

"Finally," she breathed. "A worthy foe."