Tiamat begged Apsu to reconsider and not to destroy their children. Somehow, the children learned of their father's plans and struck first. They attacked him, bound him and then murdered him. Tiamat was distraught by the treachery of her children and could not be consoled. Her offspring were as defiant as ever, so to avenge her husband, she gave birth to a second brood of children. Since, Apsu was dead, I can only assume the pregnancy was divine intervention.

Anyway, in time she gave birth to a ferocious assortment of devils: giant serpents, roaring dragons, lion-demons, scorpion-men and the centaur!

Her original children decided that a fight to the death with their mother and her new brood would not benefit them. After seeing them, the original children realized that their new siblings were a virtually undefeatable army and that any confrontation with them would be disastrous.

Another plan had to be implemented. They had to convince one of their own to fight their mother in single combat! One of the children stepped forward and accepted the challenge of combat with his mother. His name was Marduk and he only had one condition. If he was victorious in combat he was to be recognized and acknowledged by his brethren as king of the universe! His immediate family accepted.

The combat began and as all good storytellers describe…it was an epic struggle! Marduk was victorious and slew his mother. He had a magic net, in which he captured all of Tiamat's new brood, and he killed them without hesitation. He also was rewarded with the Tablets of Destiny, which were found hidden in one of the offspring's bodies.

As the new God of the universe, Marduk created both the heavens and earth. As you may remember, Marduk has been mentioned earlier in this book. He was the king of Babylon. In this retelling of the creation myth, Marduk's name replaces that of AN, supreme God of the Anunnaki.