Answer:
My first is a creature whose breeding is unclear. My second, a price you must pay. My whole can be found in the river of Time and refers to events of today.
Look into my face and I'm everybody. Scratch my back and I'm nobody.
It floats over the land, It cuts the tallest mountain, Its voice is like a fountain, Its body like a snake, Will flow into a lake.
A horrid monster hides from the day, with many legs and many eyes. With silver chains it catches prey. And eats it all before it dies. Yet in every cottage does it stay. And every castle beneath the sky.
Although I'm not an insect, some people found me very difficult to exterminate. They called me something like 'insane priest.' The first half of my name means the same as 'scrape,' & my last three letters are a metal. Who am I?
What is always coming but never arrives?