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Description
To the princess of Selgina, the room she and her questioner were in, as plain and gray as indifference itself with exactly one large lamp hanging from the ceiling as the only light source, was almost like a dungeon chamber. Confining, uncomfortably stiff, unfeeling.

To Dr. Serizawa, however, it was just that, a room. One among the many he visited while making his rounds.

Nineteen years young and still very new to Monarch, he was but an intern in the day and age of 1965, but his future in the field of kaiju study looked bright. He had been through enough experiences, seen enough things that should not be witnessed by human eyes, that being assimilated into the staff of Monarch was his only option to prevent them from hunting him down and forcing him to reveal his secrets. It was lucky that he was naturally adept in the field of studying the biology and behavior of monsters such as Gojira, the demon beast that had prowled his dreams since he was ten. Scientists like him were sorely needed. It was why Monarch had been funded by the UN in the first place.

Perhaps it was the fact that Salno saw a bit of herself in him that led her to conclude that for all of this formality, she would not come to any serious harm. Her gift of prophecy, inherited from a family of mysteirous pedigree, had allowed the Nepali princess to speak of the visions that had saved the lives of millions when the Golden Calamity had descended. Visions that men of all stripes would have dismissed as pure hysteria just a year ago. But it was largely thanks to the Japanese government recognizing the truth of her warnings that evacuations had been swift and effective. But that changed nothing. She could only see the future, not change it. And not everyone was willing to listen to her.

So it was that Serizawa had arranged this meeting with Salno, here in this secret, undisclosed location occupied by Monarch personell. Whatever information he was about to glean from her, neither of them could afford to let it fall into the wrong hands. One slip-up, and the world, already hanging by a thread, could collapse into global catastrophe.

"Before we begin," the doctor spoke, calmly and carefully, "I need to extract a promise from you. There is no room for dishonesty here - every bit of information is crucial, and one falsehood can mean the difference between the preservation of this world and its obliteration."

"So, your wish is for me to be truthful?" asked Salno.

"Correct."

"I was going to assure you that what I tell you going forward is nothing but the truth, but I believe you already understand that."

"Fair. I can't be too careful, though. Any other man would dismiss what you speak of as pure madness. But I have been through similar enough events that I can understand you, and what you have seen."

She nodded. "So, what is it you ask?"

The Japanese intern steeled himself. He had only heard of what had transpired this past winter from news reports and printed articles, and those had been unreliable and outright dishonest. The public wasn't ready. But here now was a personal witness, and there would no minced words on her part.

"The sun and the sea, guided by a light from the heavens." He looked her in the eye, taking care not to come off as intimidating. "Those are the words you used to describe what would do battle with the three-headed monster from beyond the stars. What did you see?"

Salno could not help but shudder slightly. She knew she would have to answer for her prophecy eventually, but the sheer scope of the calamity made her feel both insignificant and almost ill. What she had seen could not be dissociated with the losses sustained by those who could not escape in time, of which there were many even with the evacuation efforts... mostly the poor, the homeless, those whom the governments of the world looked down upon as it was.

"The words I used should not be taken literally, of course," she began, her voice slightly shaky. "But I said them because the truth of what I saw was... well..."

Serizawa gave her a look of encouragement, but said nothing.

"The meteor," she whispered. "The mountain that fell from the sky. There was something inside it... something that should not be spoken of. It had three heads, two tails, and a voice like a bell. When I saw it, I thought about when I was visited by a people who lived in a snowy land far north of my kingdom, bringing with them a tale of a ferocious three-headed creature. They called it Zmey Gorynych, the dragon of the mountain, but most others called it a 'hydra', a dragon with many heads. Hidorah. Ghidorah..." Salno turned the word over in her head, remembering how it had been spoken in abject terror by the people whose land she had visited, the land ravaged by Ghidorah's rage.

"So, the fallen star. That is this 'Ghidorah', yes?" Serizawa looked sullen, but not surprised.

Salno nodded grimly.

"But where do the sun, sea, and heavenly light come in?" the agent continued. "Those must be euphemisms for the kaiju that did battle with Ghidorah shortly after his emergence."

"The beast from the sea I could understand," said Salno. "I vaguely remember such a creature from several visions before. The creature you call 'Gojira', is it not?"

Serizawa bowed his head in sullen silence, but his affirmative was clear.

"And the heavenly light, that was the Infant Island goddess, Mothra - even when young, her radiance was like an ancient, divine creature. But the sun... I don't know what that had to do with this, unless somehow it could emerge from the ground..."

"We believe that Titanus Firebird II, known to locals as Rodan, was associated with multiple monstrous birds from ancient legend, many of which were connected to the sun." Serizawa paused, thinking a little. "The Chinese have a myth where there were nine birds of fire that provided the world with the light of the sun, only one of them flying out at a time. But catastrophe struck when all nine of them emerged at the same time, and only a great hero with a sacred bow could save the world, by killing all but one of them."

"So, Rodan is the sun bird?"

"Arguably. The fire trailing from her wings as she flies is not unlike a flare from the sun itself. And her brother was even fiercer, burning almost white-hot in his aggression. I wouldn't be surprised if their power was immortalized in ancient legend."

Serizawa and Salno looked into each others' eyes for several long moments. Then the doctor broke the silence with a deep breath.

"So... After Ghidorah emerged, what did you see?"

Salno stared off into space for a brief moment, her stare almost vacant. Her mouth worked a little as she struggled to process the terrible memories.

"The pieces of the space rock were thrown in all directions. They flew like missiles, flattening everything they hit. As the screams started, we could hear Ghidorah's cries, a series of cackling howls like madness itself. He spread wings as vast as the sky itself, and then slammed them into the ground. The blast front as he launched himself upward would have leveled the forest all around him if it had not been destroyed already... it was as though I was watching the end times themselves come to life before me. And then I heard the cries of the young deities-"

"Mothra and her brother."

"Yes, them. They barreled straight towards the beast at incredible speed. They could do little to stop him, but they tried. They managed to bind the jaws of one of his heads with their silken spray before he descended..."

A pall settled over the room. Silence for several more seconds.

"One of them did not survive," Serizawa concluded.

"What Ghidorah did to him... Words can't describe how ghastly it was. If Mothra hadn't managed to distract Ghidorah by seizing one of his tails, there would not have been enough of her brother left to bury. The beast had not been merely angry when he had did... that... to the child god... He had been almost gleeful. Like he was almost excited to wipe him off the face of the earth."

Both of them turned slightly paler. This was no mere aggressive animal - this was a creature with a perverse, sadistic sense of cruelty. One that strove to make its prey suffer, rather than killing quickly and efficiently as any other creature would.

"Where were you, when it happened?" asked Serizawa. "Did you see it directly, or was one of your visions responsible?"

"Well, both of them. I had escaped an assassination attempt, but I was well within range of the creature, having fled into the mountains with my escorts at my back. Just when I thought I was safe, however..."

Her expression turned tearful once again. This time, there was no stopping the waterworks, and Serizawa took a tissue from his pocket to pass to her without saying a word.

"There it was, one of Ghidorah's heads. Right there, in front of me. A cavernous maw full of hundreds of fangs, fangs taller than me. Six eyes, red as blood, staring right into my soul..." She shuddered, blinking back tears. "Had it not been for the arrival of the sea beast, I can scarcely contemplate what might have happened."

Serizawa looked wan as milk. He wasn't entirely sure what she was thinking of, but given how close she had been to the space dragon's slavering jaws, he could easily make a very good guess.

"The blue flame struck just in time. It hit the evil creature with enough force to stagger it, but definitely got its attention. The twin firebirds swooped in a second later, attempting to rake the dragon with their talons, but missed and swooped around for another run. My eyes followed them, and then I laid eyes upon... upon him."

"Gojira," Serizawa replied. "The beast of the sea."

Salno wiped her eyes, smiling a little. "Most people would be rightly terrified to see this... this Gojira. Why wouldn't they? His father destroyed Tokyo, after all. But this was different. This time, he was our only hope.

"What followed was beyond all description. Fire and lightning and scorching wind, screams and roars and above it all, the howling storm wind and the sounds of thunder. It was like watching gods fighting. And perhaps it was gods who were fighting that day."

Serizawa pondered this for a moment. "What motivated Gojira and the Rodans to fight Ghidorah, though? Why did they not join him?"

Salno beamed for the first time since she'd entered the room. "Because Mothra had spoken to them before."

Serizawa blinked in surprise. Kaiju talking to each other? Was that even possible? Could they understand one another? "What exactly happened? Did you hear words, or...?"

"No no. The twin fairies that presage Mothra's arrival were there with us at the time. They were translating because they had some kind of connection to her. But I know what you are thinking - could the kaiju understand others of their kind? I believe so. How else could they work together?"

"So why did they choose to fight Ghidorah? Why did they choose to protect this world, even though they were hurt by it?"

Salno's face fell. She knew what he was talking about - the atom bomb had mutated Gojira, and the Rodans had lost their parents due to human resistance.

"Most likely," she said after a moment, "they chose to fight Ghidorah after seeing what he had done to Mothra's brother. If Ghidorah was willing to kill a god, even a young one... What he would do to our Earth was surely a problem they could not ignore."

Serizawa stared up at the ceiling, pondering this for a few moments. "So, they chose to set aside their hard feelings towards civilization, because if Ghidorah destroyed this world, then they would fall, too."

"More than likely," replied Salno. "Maybe they were only acting out of their own self-interest. But if Mothra could make the choice to actively help humans, without any benefit to herself, then surely Gojira and the Rodan siblings could learn to do the same."

Serizawa closed his eyes. "I can only hope that day will come. But given that they chose to fight back against Ghidorah, it's a start."

"I feel the same. Perhaps it would do them good to understand that humans, despite what most of them think, are not truly masters of their world. We are, after all, just a part of the world around us, a fact that most of us have sadly forgotten."

Silence for a few more moments.

"I see..." Serizawa replied. "So we should let nature run its course, then. Let the kaiju, the titans, decide the fate of the world, for better or for worse."

"As if we had much of a choice in the matter," said Salno. "The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control, and not the other way around."

There was no way he could know of it here, now, in 1965. But decades later, Dr. Serizawa would think back to the words the princess of Selgina had just spoken, and wonder...

All kaiju depicted (c) Toho

Description
To the princess of Selgina, the room she and her questioner were in, as plain and gray as indifference itself with exactly one large lamp hanging from the ceiling as the only light source, was almost like a dungeon chamber. Confining, uncomfortably stiff, unfeeling.

To Dr. Serizawa, however, it was just that, a room. One among the many he visited while making his rounds.

Nineteen years young and still very new to Monarch, he was but an intern in the day and age of 1965, but his future in the field of kaiju study looked bright. He had been through enough experiences, seen enough things that should not be witnessed by human eyes, that being assimilated into the staff of Monarch was his only option to prevent them from hunting him down and forcing him to reveal his secrets. It was lucky that he was naturally adept in the field of studying the biology and behavior of monsters such as Gojira, the demon beast that had prowled his dreams since he was ten. Scientists like him were sorely needed. It was why Monarch had been funded by the UN in the first place.

Perhaps it was the fact that Salno saw a bit of herself in him that led her to conclude that for all of this formality, she would not come to any serious harm. Her gift of prophecy, inherited from a family of mysteirous pedigree, had allowed the Nepali princess to speak of the visions that had saved the lives of millions when the Golden Calamity had descended. Visions that men of all stripes would have dismissed as pure hysteria just a year ago. But it was largely thanks to the Japanese government recognizing the truth of her warnings that evacuations had been swift and effective. But that changed nothing. She could only see the future, not change it. And not everyone was willing to listen to her.

So it was that Serizawa had arranged this meeting with Salno, here in this secret, undisclosed location occupied by Monarch personell. Whatever information he was about to glean from her, neither of them could afford to let it fall into the wrong hands. One slip-up, and the world, already hanging by a thread, could collapse into global catastrophe.

"Before we begin," the doctor spoke, calmly and carefully, "I need to extract a promise from you. There is no room for dishonesty here - every bit of information is crucial, and one falsehood can mean the difference between the preservation of this world and its obliteration."

"So, your wish is for me to be truthful?" asked Salno.

"Correct."

"I was going to assure you that what I tell you going forward is nothing but the truth, but I believe you already understand that."

"Fair. I can't be too careful, though. Any other man would dismiss what you speak of as pure madness. But I have been through similar enough events that I can understand you, and what you have seen."

She nodded. "So, what is it you ask?"

The Japanese intern steeled himself. He had only heard of what had transpired this past winter from news reports and printed articles, and those had been unreliable and outright dishonest. The public wasn't ready. But here now was a personal witness, and there would no minced words on her part.

"The sun and the sea, guided by a light from the heavens." He looked her in the eye, taking care not to come off as intimidating. "Those are the words you used to describe what would do battle with the three-headed monster from beyond the stars. What did you see?"

Salno could not help but shudder slightly. She knew she would have to answer for her prophecy eventually, but the sheer scope of the calamity made her feel both insignificant and almost ill. What she had seen could not be dissociated with the losses sustained by those who could not escape in time, of which there were many even with the evacuation efforts... mostly the poor, the homeless, those whom the governments of the world looked down upon as it was.

"The words I used should not be taken literally, of course," she began, her voice slightly shaky. "But I said them because the truth of what I saw was... well..."

Serizawa gave her a look of encouragement, but said nothing.

"The meteor," she whispered. "The mountain that fell from the sky. There was something inside it... something that should not be spoken of. It had three heads, two tails, and a voice like a bell. When I saw it, I thought about when I was visited by a people who lived in a snowy land far north of my kingdom, bringing with them a tale of a ferocious three-headed creature. They called it Zmey Gorynych, the dragon of the mountain, but most others called it a 'hydra', a dragon with many heads. Hidorah. Ghidorah..." Salno turned the word over in her head, remembering how it had been spoken in abject terror by the people whose land she had visited, the land ravaged by Ghidorah's rage.

"So, the fallen star. That is this 'Ghidorah', yes?" Serizawa looked sullen, but not surprised.

Salno nodded grimly.

"But where do the sun, sea, and heavenly light come in?" the agent continued. "Those must be euphemisms for the kaiju that did battle with Ghidorah shortly after his emergence."

"The beast from the sea I could understand," said Salno. "I vaguely remember such a creature from several visions before. The creature you call 'Gojira', is it not?"

Serizawa bowed his head in sullen silence, but his affirmative was clear.

"And the heavenly light, that was the Infant Island goddess, Mothra - even when young, her radiance was like an ancient, divine creature. But the sun... I don't know what that had to do with this, unless somehow it could emerge from the ground..."

"We believe that Titanus Firebird II, known to locals as Rodan, was associated with multiple monstrous birds from ancient legend, many of which were connected to the sun." Serizawa paused, thinking a little. "The Chinese have a myth where there were nine birds of fire that provided the world with the light of the sun, only one of them flying out at a time. But catastrophe struck when all nine of them emerged at the same time, and only a great hero with a sacred bow could save the world, by killing all but one of them."

"So, Rodan is the sun bird?"

"Arguably. The fire trailing from her wings as she flies is not unlike a flare from the sun itself. And her brother was even fiercer, burning almost white-hot in his aggression. I wouldn't be surprised if their power was immortalized in ancient legend."

Serizawa and Salno looked into each others' eyes for several long moments. Then the doctor broke the silence with a deep breath.

"So... After Ghidorah emerged, what did you see?"

Salno stared off into space for a brief moment, her stare almost vacant. Her mouth worked a little as she struggled to process the terrible memories.

"The pieces of the space rock were thrown in all directions. They flew like missiles, flattening everything they hit. As the screams started, we could hear Ghidorah's cries, a series of cackling howls like madness itself. He spread wings as vast as the sky itself, and then slammed them into the ground. The blast front as he launched himself upward would have leveled the forest all around him if it had not been destroyed already... it was as though I was watching the end times themselves come to life before me. And then I heard the cries of the young deities-"

"Mothra and her brother."

"Yes, them. They barreled straight towards the beast at incredible speed. They could do little to stop him, but they tried. They managed to bind the jaws of one of his heads with their silken spray before he descended..."

A pall settled over the room. Silence for several more seconds.

"One of them did not survive," Serizawa concluded.

"What Ghidorah did to him... Words can't describe how ghastly it was. If Mothra hadn't managed to distract Ghidorah by seizing one of his tails, there would not have been enough of her brother left to bury. The beast had not been merely angry when he had did... that... to the child god... He had been almost gleeful. Like he was almost excited to wipe him off the face of the earth."

Both of them turned slightly paler. This was no mere aggressive animal - this was a creature with a perverse, sadistic sense of cruelty. One that strove to make its prey suffer, rather than killing quickly and efficiently as any other creature would.

"Where were you, when it happened?" asked Serizawa. "Did you see it directly, or was one of your visions responsible?"

"Well, both of them. I had escaped an assassination attempt, but I was well within range of the creature, having fled into the mountains with my escorts at my back. Just when I thought I was safe, however..."

Her expression turned tearful once again. This time, there was no stopping the waterworks, and Serizawa took a tissue from his pocket to pass to her without saying a word.

"There it was, one of Ghidorah's heads. Right there, in front of me. A cavernous maw full of hundreds of fangs, fangs taller than me. Six eyes, red as blood, staring right into my soul..." She shuddered, blinking back tears. "Had it not been for the arrival of the sea beast, I can scarcely contemplate what might have happened."

Serizawa looked wan as milk. He wasn't entirely sure what she was thinking of, but given how close she had been to the space dragon's slavering jaws, he could easily make a very good guess.

"The blue flame struck just in time. It hit the evil creature with enough force to stagger it, but definitely got its attention. The twin firebirds swooped in a second later, attempting to rake the dragon with their talons, but missed and swooped around for another run. My eyes followed them, and then I laid eyes upon... upon him."

"Gojira," Serizawa replied. "The beast of the sea."

Salno wiped her eyes, smiling a little. "Most people would be rightly terrified to see this... this Gojira. Why wouldn't they? His father destroyed Tokyo, after all. But this was different. This time, he was our only hope.

"What followed was beyond all description. Fire and lightning and scorching wind, screams and roars and above it all, the howling storm wind and the sounds of thunder. It was like watching gods fighting. And perhaps it was gods who were fighting that day."

Serizawa pondered this for a moment. "What motivated Gojira and the Rodans to fight Ghidorah, though? Why did they not join him?"

Salno beamed for the first time since she'd entered the room. "Because Mothra had spoken to them before."

Serizawa blinked in surprise. Kaiju talking to each other? Was that even possible? Could they understand one another? "What exactly happened? Did you hear words, or...?"

"No no. The twin fairies that presage Mothra's arrival were there with us at the time. They were translating because they had some kind of connection to her. But I know what you are thinking - could the kaiju understand others of their kind? I believe so. How else could they work together?"

"So why did they choose to fight Ghidorah? Why did they choose to protect this world, even though they were hurt by it?"

Salno's face fell. She knew what he was talking about - the atom bomb had mutated Gojira, and the Rodans had lost their parents due to human resistance.

"Most likely," she said after a moment, "they chose to fight Ghidorah after seeing what he had done to Mothra's brother. If Ghidorah was willing to kill a god, even a young one... What he would do to our Earth was surely a problem they could not ignore."

Serizawa stared up at the ceiling, pondering this for a few moments. "So, they chose to set aside their hard feelings towards civilization, because if Ghidorah destroyed this world, then they would fall, too."

"More than likely," replied Salno. "Maybe they were only acting out of their own self-interest. But if Mothra could make the choice to actively help humans, without any benefit to herself, then surely Gojira and the Rodan siblings could learn to do the same."

Serizawa closed his eyes. "I can only hope that day will come. But given that they chose to fight back against Ghidorah, it's a start."

"I feel the same. Perhaps it would do them good to understand that humans, despite what most of them think, are not truly masters of their world. We are, after all, just a part of the world around us, a fact that most of us have sadly forgotten."

Silence for a few more moments.

"I see..." Serizawa replied. "So we should let nature run its course, then. Let the kaiju, the titans, decide the fate of the world, for better or for worse."

"As if we had much of a choice in the matter," said Salno. "The arrogance of man is thinking nature is in our control, and not the other way around."

There was no way he could know of it here, now, in 1965. But decades later, Dr. Serizawa would think back to the words the princess of Selgina had just spoken, and wonder...

All kaiju depicted (c) Toho