midnight
Surely from that moment there was no longer aught mortal in the combat that ensued . For now , while amazement and horror palsied all present , the Genie Karaz , uttering a howl of fury , shot down the length of the Hall like a black storm-bolt , and caught up Shagpat , and whirled off with him into the air ; and they beheld him dive and dodge the lightnings that beset him from upper heaven , catching Shagpat from them , now by the heels , now by the hair remaining one side his head . This lasted a full hour , when the Genie paused a second , and made a sheer descent into the earth . Then saw they the wings of Koorookh , each a league in length , overshadow the entire land , and on the neck of the bird sat Shibli Bagarag cleaving through the earth with his blade , and he sat on Koorookh as the moon sits on the midnight . There was no light save the light shed abroad by the flashes of the blade , and in these they beheld the air suffocated with Afrites and Genii in a red and brown and white heat , followers of Karaz . Strokes of the blade clove them , and their blood was fire that flowed over the feathers of Koorookh , lighting him in a conflagration ; but the bird flew constantly to a fountain of earth below and extinguished it . Then the battle recommenced , and the solid earth yawned at the gashes made by the mighty blade , and its depths revealed how Karaz was flying with Shagpat from circle to circle of the under-regions , hurrying with him downward to the lowest circle , that was flaming to points , like the hair of vast heads .