Hundreds of millions of years ago, before man, before even the dinosaurs, god-like monsters the size of mountains reigned over the planet Earth. Since the last ice age they lay hidden in slumber across the planet, but when World War II ended in a mushroom cloud they began to awaken. A secret coalition of scientists formed to study these creatures and prepare for the day they would return to take their planet back. This organization became known as Monarch. Their mission: discovery and defense in a time of monsters. These are their stories.

The Memoirs of Monarch

Book One

The Drowned City

Chapter 1: Harsh Light of Day

January 1st, 2000, Xishuangbanna Tropical Rainforest, Yunnan Provence, People's Republic of China

Asuka Saegusa awoke in a brand new millennium. So far she didn't enjoy it. Her first moments into the 21st century were filled entirely with skull-ringing headaches and indiscriminate nausea. Asuka curled in her sleeping bag and she discovered her hand was still gripping the now-empty bottle of champagne from the previous night. With a curse Asuka realized she hadn't even managed to stay conscious until midnight. This was not how she imagined she'd party in 1999. A long, agonized groan has her first greeting of the new century.

Memories began to painfully assert themselves in Asuka's consciousness. With them came the realization that her sleeping bag was roomier than it should have been. A few blind pats confirmed the missing party. "Eric?" she asked, meeting the daylight with a squint. Each beam of light that entered her eyes carried a dagger to bury in her skull. Every bit of food and drink from the night before made a bid to escape now that her mouth was moving, but Asuka put every bit of will she had into keeping her stomach contents down. They were a three week's journey from the nearest village and they could not afford to lose supplies on the account of a hangover.

"Well hello, sleepy head!" came a chipper male voice, "Happy New Year!" A thermos of black coffee was placed in her hands. Asuka did not brave enough light to look at Eric directly, but she was certain that at this moment he was the most handsome human alive, even with those weird ears of his and the way they stuck out. Once her stomach had been forcibly settled Asuka managed to bring the thermos to her lips. Her eyes were still shut though.

"Are you okay Asuka?" Eric asked before he realized, "Oh my god, do you have a hangover?"

"Shut up," said Asuka.

"After just half a bottle of champagne?" he laughed.

"That's not shutting up!" she scolded. "It's the altitude! The air's thinner. You can't drink as much this high up."

"Doesn't bother me," mentioned Eric glibly, "I drank as much as you last night."

This Asuka chose to counter by repeating his words in a mocking tone. After a couple pensive sips of the blackest coffee she had ever tasted Asuka attempted to change the subject. "Hand me the satellite phone, will you? I need to check in with HQ. Let them know our coordinates."

"Already took care of it," said Eric with a theatrical air, "I'm sorry, it looks like the Y2K bug was real. It wiped out all of Project Monarch. The rest of the world too I'm afraid. We're the only man and woman left. Like a new Adam and Eve."

Asuka threw the empty bottle at him.

Without comment or complaint Eric packed up most of the camp himself. Each sip of coffee nudged Asuka closer to human awareness. In the place of her headache came the realization that this really was one of the most enchanting places on this planet. The Xishuangbanna Tropical Rainforest was nothing like those in South America. There was a cool mist here that took away the sweaty edge and perpetual cloud of insects that the Amazon provided. The birdsong was gentle compared to the mad fury you heard in Brazil. This rainforest felt more settled, more ancient, and far more isolated from the intrusion of man. They had been searching along a cliff face for the last two weeks now and in the valley beneath them the mist had condensed into a cloud. It gave this entire journey an ethereal air. This felt right. They were, after all, searching for a goddess.

After a couple minutes all their supplies were strapped to their backs. With her right arm Asuka took the metal suitcase that contained their satellite phone. It was bulky and irritatingly hefty on the best of days, but today was not one of the better ones. Her hangover angrily reasserted itself when she lifted it. There was nothing for it though. This far from any modern human settlement it took a phone supported by a suitcase filled with metal and wire to contact Monarch HQ. As the senior Monarch officer, it was Asuka's duty to keep the phone with her at all times and report her progress whenever opportunity allowed. There shouldn't be much threatening them in this forest, but Monarch had lost so many field officers in the past that silence made them nervous. The couple were about to leave camp when Asuka noticed the empty champagne bottle. She still couldn't believe Eric smuggled it all the way up the mountain without her knowing, just so he could surprise her on New Year's Eve. "I suppose we should take that with us," Asuka said.

"Nonsense!" Eric rebutted. He picked the bottle and tossed it further into the brush. "We're archaeologists, aren't we? When archaeologists leave a mess it isn't littering, it's giving future generations work!" He kissed her, a meeting of their lips that was both gentle and deep. Then Eric took the heavy satellite phone to carry himself, adding some of Asuka's burden to his own without so much as a comment. There was a sudden swell of affection for Eric that Asuka didn't know quite what to do with.

Asuka and Eric were partners. They worked well together, depended on one another, and met each other's needs both in and out of the sack. You couldn't really call their relationship romantic. That word just felt all wrong, or at least it used to. Lately though Asuka was having the occasional burst of stronger emotion that was driving her a bit mad. Eric was sweet, very kind, and tremendously good with his hands. Was it at all possible that maybe Eric too was feeling something stronger between them than adventuring buddies? Or at least more than adventuring buddies that only needed one sleeping bag between them? If Asuka asked him what they really meant to each other, how would he react? The rational side of Asuka envisioned Eric bewildered by the question, maybe even repelled. There was also a painful shard of hope that reflected a vision of Eric confessing an undying love. It made Asuka feel childish and dim, but she couldn't force away the feeling.

As she pondered Asuka fell a little behind. Eric looked back at her, sandy-haired and dimple cheeked, and smiled while she caught up. To her annoyance it made Asuka melt a little. Even the weird way his ears stuck out was adorable to her now. They could be happy together, Asuka knew. If Asuka was going to make a case for a real relationship though, she would have to make it soon. Altitude or not Asuka knew she wasn't able to drink like she used to. She wasn't getting any younger and she didn't have many years left climbing mountains searching for ancient temples. Eric was a dozen years younger than her. He was only recruited two years ago, and it was the thrill of search and discovery that motivated his every move. If Asuka quit field work she assumed that Eric would just leave her behind. Still that treacherous hope persisted, that if she asked Eric might just give up the chase and settle down with her.

Eric came to Monarch in 1998 when he stumbled into one of their outposts in Peru while he was searching for rare butterflies. He was still trying to get his head around the idea that these slumbering god-monsters were real. In contrast Asuka was a third generation Monarch brat. Asuka's grandparents had stood witness to the foundational pact that formed Project Monarch. Mason Weaver herself showed Asuka the photos she took from Skull Island. Asuka was one of the few who had seen some of these monsters in person. The English-speakers in Monarch called them Titans, the Japanese referred to them as Kaiju, and the more military-minded insisted calling them M.U.T.O.S for Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms. Whatever they were called, finding them, studying them, preparing for the day when they would awaken, this was the Saegusa family business. If Asuka couldn't do field work she would find another way to make herself useful. Eric never seemed to have the same sense of awe and urgency. There was hope that if Eric did finally behold a Kaiju in the flesh his priorities might change.

Today at least, Eric might have the chance. A loud beep came from a device at Asuka's side followed by a needle-like crackle.

"Shit," Eric swore, "Is that your Geiger counter?"

"Yeah," said Asuka, pulling the device from her hip, "No worries though. It's not enough radiation to do any damage. Way above the background level though." Her Geiger counter had a wand connected by a wire; Asuka unhitched it and began to point the wand around, looking for the radiation's source. "There," she said, pointing to a wall of stone smothered in vegetation. After taking his machete in hand, Eric poked the stone a couple of times. Finding no unusual resistance Eric then chopped at the surrounding vines and roots. When they fell away they revealed an image carved into the rock. It was of a giant moth, with miniature twin priestesses worshiping from either side. Asuka was almost laughing with joy. "There she is!" she announced, "The queen of the monsters!"

"If you're happy I'm happy," said Eric.

Below the engraving was a man-sized stone leaning onto the rock. With frantic energy Asuka shoved her finger around the stone's rim, searching out any irregularities. "We have to move this stone," she insisted, "This is an entryway, I'd bet my left ovary."

In kind Eric tried to get his own hold on the stone, pushing and pulling at it in the hopes of finding some weak spot. To the surprise of them both it began to give a little when pulled and they both heaved all their strength upon the tiny gap between wall and stone. Then, like a door, it just swung open. There was the sound of some small animal scuttling away in a hurry at their feet, but neither caught a glimpse of it. They did see a stone hinge holding this rock to the wall. This was an entryway, and one meant to avoid detection. Without the Geiger counter Asuka would have walked right past.

Inside was pure darkness. After a short scramble with her equipment Asuka cut through it with a flashlight. There wasn't much to see but a rough staircase of wet stone that led up a narrow path. "Hooooly crap," opined Eric, "After you, babe. You're the expert here. I've got your back."

The going was slow. The steps were uneven and slippery. Every couple steps Asuka checked the walls and ceiling but found no other markings. "Do we know who built this place?" wondered Eric.

"The Dian kingdom probably," said Asuka, "They didn't have a written language but we found some Dian artifacts in the other moth temples so there was speculation we'd find another somewhere in the Yunnan Provence. And here we are."

"How much am I allowed to know about these moth temples?" ventured Eric.

Asuka paused. As a recent recruit Eric wasn't cleared to know a good deal of sensitive information. After mentally thumbing through her internal filing system Asuka came up with a safe basic outline. "We know of one Titan that had extensive contact with a number of ancient cultures. She's been awake and active longer than any other identified super-species. Her scientific name is Titanus mosura, but in Monarch she's generally known as Mothra. We've found temples dedicated to her in Peru, Japan, and Ethiopia. The Iwi of Skull Island were also seen wearing some of her religious symbols."

"She sounds very… interactive."

"Uniquely so," Asuka responded, "Mothra is the only Kaiju known to recognize humans as sentient beings and in her interactions with humans she has shown remarkable sympathy. In some cave paintings she was even shown cooperating with the Big Guy. Dr. Serizawa believes humanity's best course for surviving a mass Kaiju awakening is to form alliances with the better natured among them. Mothra's our best bet."

"Any idea of where she is now?" asked Eric.

"No," Asuka sighed, "The last confirmed sighting was in 1944. We can only hope what we find in this temple gives us some clue as to where… she… went." Asuka's words trailed off into silence as the stairs ended in the temple's central chamber. The sight of it left Asuka utterly awestruck. This one room was larger than the Notre Dame cathedral, with giant openings on all three sides, each large enough for a jumbo jet's passage and each leading to a sheer cliff-drop. A glance upward showed a ceiling so high it could not be seen. The view merely faded into darkness. It was only thanks to the mist of the valley and the canopy above that this place remained hidden. Trembling with shear excitement, Asuka's gaze turned to what stood at the chamber's center. It was a stair-wrapped platform surrounded by gray rock. And attached to that platform by some hardened biological sealant was one brain-breakingly huge sphere. It was colored in a swirl of chocolate brown and creamy white. It reminded Asuka a bit of the planet Jupiter.

"That… that looks like a Kaiju egg," Eric quivered.

"Yeah," was the only response Asuka could muster.

"So… son of Mothra maybe?"

"It… might be more than that," Asuka breathed, "Mothra has a continuing cycle of death and rebirth. She lays an egg when she reaches adulthood and when she dies the egg develops and hatches into a new Mothra- one that retains the wisdom and memory of her previous life."

"That sounds like reincarnation. Are you saying she's like, the Dalai Lama?" asked an incredulous Eric.

"She might be where the ancient Tibetans got the idea," said Asuka. Part of her knew she should just call Monarch and sit tight for a containment crew, but the rest of Asuka knew she had to walk up those stairs and touch the egg before anything else could happen. With some jittery nerves, and while deliberately controlling her own breathing, Asuka ascended the stairway where the ovum lay. "Don't get too close to any of that gray rock," Asuka called back to Eric, "I'm pretty sure that's uranium. The Titans feed off radiation; it's just here to nourish the young one. It won't kill you. Just don't sit on it if you want to have kids someday."

Behind her Asuka could hear Eric was already setting up the satellite phone, so thoughtful of him. A few more steps and Asuka's face was inches away. To her wonder the shell was actually transparent as glass and about a foot deep. The swirl of color Asuka had seen earlier was all from inside the egg. With her heart dancing in her chest Asuka pressed her palm against the shell. It was warm to the touch.

"It's alive, Eric!" Asuka exclaimed. She was trying to keep a lid on her tears, but they were overflowing. Asuka lifted her hand from the shell and was surprised to see a palm print glowing green that then faded and disappeared into the ovum's depths.

"I was afraid of that," said Eric. And then Asuka heard the unmistakable click of a gun's safety being turned off.

In that one click all of Asuka's joy turned to ice. She turned and saw Eric pointing a pistol straight at her while he played with the frequency knobs of the satellite phone. It was the same pistol Eric insisted on bringing because he claimed to be worried about tigers. Eric had said he needed that gun so he could keep her safe.

"Stay where you are," Eric commanded. He would not make eye contract. Asuka lied to herself that this was just a joke, though she knew Eric wasn't stupid enough to point a gun at someone in jest. A dozen other scenarios passed through Asuka's head, all in a dire effort to demonstrate that this was not what it appeared. In her shame Asuka even looked around to find the venomous snake that Eric must have been pointing at instead of her. "Sorry babe," said Eric, still avoiding eye contact, "if it helps I was a double agent long before we ever met."

The static on the phone cleared, and an oily-voiced man on the other side of the line was speaking Russian. And Eric responded in kind, just as quick, just as clear, just as fluent in Russian. Monarch did not have a pleasant history with the Russians. He's with Red Bamboo, Asuka realized, He's a goddamn terrorist. "Please Eric," begged Asuka, "You don't have to do this. We can just go back together. You'll be a hero, to Monarch, to everyone."

The oily-voiced man on the other line paused, then in a heavy accent said, "Is she still alive? Come on now. Don't get sentimental. Regret is a luxury only the dead can afford."

Eric sighed, and finally met Asuka's eyes with his. "I am sorry," he said, "I wish it didn't have to go down like this. We had a good time, and you were an amazing lay. But this is bigger than both of us." And then he shot her. He shot her three times.

Instinctively Asuka clutched her abdomen after staggering from the impact. Shock had set in, there really wasn't pain, but her hands were already overflowing with blood. It grew colder as it ran through her fingers. Asuka was feeling the warmth of her life ebb out of her. Her life, her memories, her future, it was all going to end here, on these cold stone steps. The faces off all those Asuka loved flashed through her mind. They would find her here dead, a silly girl who couldn't see the traitor that slept beside her. Asuka fell to her knees and screamed.

A sigh came from Eric. "I really didn't want to have to gore up your pretty face," he said, "But I suppose a headshot would be a mercy. I owe you that at least." The bastard sauntered up to Asuka's crumpled form and pointed his weapon at her skull. Asuka made sure to stare directly at him with unblinking hate and fury but the man who called himself Eric would not meet her eye again. There was one last gunshot, Asuka collapsed to the hard ground, and everything went dark.

There was a moment where nothing happened, but a moment was still time and time was not something Asuka should be experiencing. I'm dead, right? thought Asuka. There was no answer. It was a mad force of will, but Asuka opened her eyes. She had to see through spots of blood, but Asuka could make out an image of her killer lightly stepping back to her satellite phone. Asuka's head rang so hard it felt like it was pulsating. That last shot must have just grazed her skull, but Eric didn't notice. Asuka reached up to touch where the bullet struck and she felt bone under her newest slick of blood. Asuka could feel her whole body growing cold. She couldn't have more than a couple minutes left. That was fine. A couple minutes were all she needed.

The static of the satellite phone hid Asuka's movements. Her eyes were locked on the traitorous bastard while she dropped her back pack from her shoulder and tugged at the zipper. Eric was fiddling with the dials of his GPS unit, trying to get their exact coordinates to give his Russian overlords. When Asuka's fingers closed on the hard frame of the flare gun a smile returned to her lips. She couldn't make the shot from this angle though, Asuka had to stand. With Asuka's last bit of strength she forced her knees to push her back upwards. To keep herself upright Asuka had to lean one hand on Mothra's egg and was vaguely upset at getting her blood on it. In what was to be her last act of defiance Asuka took aim and made her shot.

The flare sparkled in the air before landing directly in the satellite phone's steel suitcase. Eric stumbled backward as phosphorous sizzled on the phone's delicate electronics before sudden pop made the case perform a triple backflip with accompanying fireworks. It landed dead on the temple floor, just a steaming husk. Laughter brought unspeakable pain, but Asuka did it anyway. Eric had no way of communicating with the Russians. He would have to spend weeks getting back to civilization. With any luck by then Monarch would have launched a search-and-rescue team. Maybe they wouldn't be able to rediscover the temple, but their presence here would at least keep the Russians from getting ahold of the egg themselves. This was enough. Asuka could die in peace now, she had done her best.

Eric was now a transformed animal. His face turned red, the veins in his neck bulged, and his eyes turned wild. "YOU BITCH!" he raged, "YOU FILTHY WHORE. WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He stormed up to Asuka, pointed the gun to her temple. And least now he'd look her in the eye. Asuka smirked and braced herself for oblivion.

It didn't come. Eric froze. Every muscle in his body went rigid. Asuka couldn't even see him breathe. The only part of Eric he still exhibited any control over was his eyes. He looked terrified, and he wasn't looking at her. Every movement Asuka made came at a terrible price, but with care she managed to look behind her shoulder.

The egg was now emitting a soft glow and within it a single black oval shape had appeared. It was at least as tall as a human and it was centered right where Asuka's bloody hand was touching its surface. Her knees finally buckled and Asuka collapsed into a pool of her own blood. All the muted alarms her body was sending to Asuka now blasted her brain, but she gave the rest of her waning attention to the curious oval. It rose in the egg and disappeared in an eclipse, only to be replaced by a second oval. That was when Asuka realized these black circles were eyes. Whatever was gestating inside the ovum was looking directly at her. "Sorry… about the mess," Asuka said weakly.

A scream made Asuka turn her gaze. Now the veins in Eric's eyes looked like vines. He didn't blink but his body was trembling. Then whatever was holding him let go. Screeching in apparent madness Eric stormed across the temple. He made a bee-line to one of the giant openings that led directly to the cliff face. Without a millisecond of hesitation Eric ran until there was no more stone. Gravity then would carry him the rest of the way. Eric's time in this universe came to a close with a barely audible thump.

If Asuka had a thought to spare, she still wouldn't have offered one to Eric's demise. The egg was her only focus. Its glow had been turned up into a blinding light. At last Asuka let go. Her body fell backwards and the darkness came to consume her. There was no pain at least, it had all fled her. There was no cold either, in fact Asuka's body felt unusually and pleasantly warm. The last thing Asuka saw was the temple's ceiling. In the shine of the egg Asuka could now see the images of dozens of monsters that were painted far above. Some she recognized, most she didn't. Her friends were going to freak when they found this place was her last conscious thought.

Asuka Saegusa awoke again, which was out-of-character for a dead woman. The first thing she did was scratch at a strange tingling feeling on her scalp. As she rubbed it Asuka then remembered that where she was rubbing was supposed to have an open wound complete with a chunk of exposed skull. After some padding around her head Asuka was forced to conclude that her noggin was entirely intact once more, though her hair was now matted with dried blood.

Asuka had to peel herself off the temple floor. The puddle of blood she was sleeping in had mostly turned to paste. The first thing Asuka did when she was on her feet was pull off her shirt and examine her abdomen. There was nothing but unblemished skin where she had been shot three times. A greater shock was that Asuka's scar from when her appendix was removed had also disappeared. That operation happened in high school, almost twenty years ago. Asuka checked her arm. About a decade ago a poacher had sliced her wrist to her elbow but now that scar too was gone.

It was the daytime, sometime in the afternoon. Whether it was the same day Asuka had found the temple or if a week had past she had no way of knowing. The egg was dormant once more. Asuka felt like it was sleeping, though she couldn't pinpoint why. Still she bowed to it in reverence, offered her gratitude, and hoped it understood how thankful Asuka was for- doing whatever it did. The next order of business was pulling out some binoculars from Asuka's bloody backpack and scanning the rocks below the temple. It didn't take long for Asuka to find what she was looking for; it offered the only splash of color upon the bare stone. Satisfied that the man who called himself Eric was well and truly dead Asuka began to pace the temple, kicking the charred remains of the satellite phone as she did so.

So here she was, almost a month's journey from the nearest human settlement, alone and with most of her supplies either stained with blood or smashed on the rocks below. No doubt entered Asuka's mind; she would make it back alive. You don't get magically healed by a pre-born moth goddess just to die in the jungle a day later. Asuka dragged her backpack from the blood pool to see what was salvageable. She had to stop for a few minutes to deal with another wave of nausea. It was funny; Mothra could apparently heal Asuka's childhood scars and the headache from her hangover but not the nausea. And that was when Asuka realized her nausea probably wasn't related to any alcohol.

"Oh," Asuka realized when the penny finally dropped.