NOTE: This was written in December 2021.
Bohdana Pavlyuk ran through the corridor, doing her best to block out the humming and screams. It stretched out into the distance, and she wondered whether it was in fact getting closer.
Suddenly, she tripped. Her foot was stuck.
She turned to see what she had stepped in, and found it was a floor tile. Her foot had gone through it like it was a puddle. With more panic than she should have had, she grabbed her leg and pulled it out, half certain it would be a stump or stripped of flesh, or there'd be some claw and tentacle holding onto it.
As it happened, all there was was some sort of silver slime droplets covering it. She wondered what it was, whether she was infected with some horrible disease beyond imagination.
But she quickly put the thought out of her mind. If she didn't get going, there would be no need to worry about the long term effects.
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Bohdana, as always, felt mild nausea as the helicopter landed.
She had spent the past hour observing the snowy wilderness of northeast Ukraine. Although she had lived most of her life in the country, she had never been to this area, not for work or recreation. So the well toned brunette had spent her trip taking in the sights and ignoring the pilot's attempts to chat her up.
Now they were finally at her destination, a colossal facility officially called Station 617 but known to those who worked there as the Meat Locker.
There was a crowd awaiting her, most of them soldiers. When she got out, a stout but hearty blonde haired man with a smile that was a bit too wide muscled through the crowd to greet her.
"Hello, Miss Pavlyuk, I'm Dr. Samuel Lancaster. Welcome to the Meat Locker. This is my colleague, Kagura Okuyama, formerly of the Japan Psionics Center."
Miss Okuyama was of small sature, with dark hair and snowy skin. She smiled at her. Bohdana smiled back.
"Well, we can save the full introductions for later, let's get inside. You know I never quite believed what they said about global warming being reversed until I got here."
It was warmer inside, but, true to its name, only comparatively. After completing security inspection, she followed Lancaster as he gave a tour of the place. She divided her attention between his talk and memorizing the building's layout. To effectively do her job she needed to know the inns and outs of wherever she was operating.
She noted the amount of guards. She had been hired by Lancaster to provide security; what could she do that they couldn't?
Eventually, they came to an elevator. As it descended, Lancaster turned to her directly.
"Now, being in security you don't have to worry too much about any of the scientific work, though if you're curious feel free to ask, as you've probably noticed I love to talk."
Bohdana gave a polite smile.
"But, seeing as your security clearances have all cleared and you've signed all the non disclosure agreements, I figure you should see know exactly what we're doing here."
The elevator came to a stop, and the door opened.
It was complete darkness. In pairs, the lights in the facility turned on. The hangar was colossal, but Bohdonna wouldn't quite take that in until much later. Rather, she was focused on what lied splayed on the ground: a three headed dragon.
"Is that…is that Ghidorah?"
Dr. Lancaster smiled.
"Strictly speaking, it's Zmey Gorynych, a dragon from Slavic myth. According to the legends, in the 10th century the Tartars set it loose in an invasion of what was then Kievan Rus'. Fortunately, a hero by the name of Ilya Muromets slew the beast. Of course, every educated person figured this was bupkiss until 1964, when a meteor landed and hatched out a three headed dragon, and experts began to consider that these old tales might actually know what they were talking about. It took a bit but eventually they found it."
Indeed, looking at it more closely, Bohdana saw several differences between the specimen below and the Ghidorahs she was familiar with. It had only one tail, for starters, as well as front legs. And rather than golden scales, it's skin was lumpy and green. It was smaller than any Ghidorah she had known, only 15 meters long.
The heads were the most different, looking more like those of a turtle than any Ghidorah she had seen. Strictly speaking, it was at present a three necked monster. The right and middle heads were gone, while the remaining one had been opened at the top with wires sticking into it. Other parts of the body also had wires linked to machines.
"And to properly answer your question, DNA analysis indicates it is some kind of Ghidorah. Our analysis of the trachea seems to indicate that it breathed fire rather than gravity beams, like the Desghidorah that appeared in Hokkaido in 1996, so my current suspicion is it derived from that one, grew from a piece of it just like Desghidorah itself is thought to have grown from a piece of the 'Grand' Ghidorah in the Crustaceous Era-"
"Is it dead?"
"At the moment yes, but hopefully not for too much longer."
Bohdana took a moment she had heard correctly.
"That's what all this is about you see. We're trying to revive it."
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Bohdana finally saw the elevator up ahead.
Next thing to check was whether it was still working. It had its own power supply separate from anything else, but given the situation nothing could be counted on. To her relief, pressing the button was answered with a affirmative ding and the doors opening.
The doors shut after she got in, and she suddenly felt uneasy. Did she want to be in an elabator with everything going on? But time was of the essence so she figured it was worth the risk.
But her anxiety increased as the elevator didn't start going down. She was about to press again when when there was a large crunching noise from above.
Looking up brought no reassurance. It was coming down, not all at once but like something was jumping or hitting it on top. It was being crushed.
She knew there was no use pressing any buttons, and instead charged the door shoulder first, but fell as the it crunched as well and stretched out, lengthening in width while lowering in height.
Seeing no other option, she went through the extended door, dropping to her knees as it became necessary. As she got to the end, she noticed spike like objects protruding out and above. They looked like…teeth?
She did her best to remain calm. She grabbed the end of the door and tried to force it open. As she managed to make it crack, she heard a bellowing noise.
With all her might she held the opening open, and tumbled out. Once she was reasonably certain she was out of danger, she turned to see what it was she had just escaped.
She gasped. The elevator had become some terrifying, monstrous head. It looked like…
It seemed to snarl at her, the metal making a horrible screech. But that was all it did, all it could do, it seemed, now that she was out of it. So she set off to her destination. Looked like she was taking the long way.
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"So, you were with the EDF?" asked Miss Okuyama.
The two were in the cafeteria, sitting on cheap chairs and having breakfast. Bohdana had been eating a bowl of corn flakes alone, as she had these past few days, when Miss Okuyama asked if she could sit at her table.
She was a bit surprised at the request. In her short time here, Miss Okuyama had seemed a bit wary of her. But she supposed after a few days she had become familiar enough that that wariness had turned into curiosity. And because she figured chitchat would make the time pass faster (at least that's what she told herself), she said it was no problem.
"Yeah. I was detected as a mutant when I was a kid, started basic training soon after. When I turned 15 I started going on missions."
"Must have been exciting."
"Not as much as you might think. They like to start rookies off slow. Most of what I did was disaster relief, helping evacuations, rescuing survivors, etc. Don't get me wrong, it's important work, but not the things people want to be told when they hear you're in the EDF."
Though she tried to hide it, Bohdonna could tell Miss Okuyama was one of them.
"I did go on a few missions. Dealt with an infestation of giant killer shrews in the Louisiana bayou. There was this rap artist who somehow managed to get his hands on the Konga drug and gave it to his pet monkey. Got to go to the moon once, to repel a Zanon attack on the base there."
"Wow. How was it?"
"Didn't have much time to do sightseeing, but it was nice. Jumping around, it's like some colossal trampoline. Anyway, I wasn't bitter. I felt great. I was helping people."
"So why'd you leave? What happened?"
"The Xiliens."
Kagura's face dropped.
"Oh."
"Yeah. I aided an invading force against my planet."
"But it wasn't your fault. They took control of you, you were forced to obey them."
"That's what everyone tells me. Never could quite believe it. I tried to go on afterwards, but it wasn't the same. About a year later I quit, came back home started hiring myself out for mercenary work."
There was silence afterwards. Bohdana tried to diffuse it.
"How about you? What's your story?"
"Pretty similar. They found out about my psychic abilities when I was still in grade school. Went to the Psionic Center to train soon after. Learned a lot. When I left I got plenty of offers to use my abilities for military purposes, but I turned them down, I didn't want to do that."
She immediately had a look of panic.
"I - don't mean any offense, just - this ability was a gift. And I don't think I was given it to hurt people."
"Don't worry, I know what you mean."
"That's when I met Sam. He didn't offer me a lot of money, but the project was certainly more interesting than the rest of them. And he's fun to be around."
"He certainly seems found of you. He hasn't…has he…tried anything?"
"Well, he's certainly made it known he's interested. Don't worry though, he respects boundaries, at least when it comes to women."
"So it's been a good experience, then?"
"Well…at the start it was great. We all had high hopes, we had fun. But as time went on, and the pressure grew and grew…"
The talk was interrupted by a muffled noise from the other room. It sounded like Lancaster yelling.
Kagura sighed.
"Another conference with Pachenko."
General Alexi Pachenko was the Armed Forces of Ukraine's representative to the operation, and as such, their boss. It was the military that was funding all this. They wanted to the monster that had threatened them back in the Middle Ages to be their guardian in the present day, figuring Putin would be more respectful of the border if there was a Ghidorah on the other side.
Miss Okayama had gotten up and headed back to the lab, and Bohdana decided to follow her.
There, they found Lancaster, his face red and angrier than she had ever seen him. On screen was a grim, stone faced man in military attire. Bohdana suspected if he were to smile his lips would crack and bleed.
"For a year, you have been promising results. Always there is a breakthrough just on the horizon, and yet you never get there!"
"I am sorry, General, that science can be a frustrating process. Believe me, I would love to have cracked this thing by now, but unfortunately that's not how it works. We're in uncharted territory here, this things take time."
"We do not have time! Russian troops could be marching into here any time now! We cannot be wasting resources on pipe dreams! There are already many people against this, using a Ghidorah-"
"Ghidorah's been under control more often than not in our encounters with him. It's humanity's destiny to master him. We know that we'll master Ghidorah DNA. In 200 years we'll have little pet Ghidorahs."
"If I recall that was also a timeline where Japan's economic bubble didn't burst. Perhaps we need a fresh pair of eyes for this project."
"You know what? Go ahead! Go find another scientist to do this. If you're lucky, they won't tell the EDF or MONARCH or G-Force or any other organization that would be interested to know you have a fucking Ghidorah and are trying to bring it back to life!
"I am the only one who can do this for you! Without me, you have an amazing scientific find but as a weapon it'll only be good for dropping onto the enemy!"
Pachenko was silent for a moment.
"Our government has spent a lot on this project, and I do not want to see it go to waste. I will recommend giving you what you need. But I warn you, our patience is nearing an end. Putin will not wait, and neither can we."
The screen went blank.
Lancaster exhaled as he collapsed into a chair. Kagura instantly went to get him a water bottle.
Bohdonna waited until it seemed he sufficiently calmed down to talk to him.
"So you really think you can revive it?"
"Oh of course not. I knew from day one it was impossible."
Bohdana didn't react for a moment.
"What?"
"The body has been decaying for 10 centuries, even if extremely slowly, and the remaining brain had atrophied to practically nothing. We've tried triggering tissue regeneration but nothing doing, this guy's deader than disco.
"Even if we somehow could revive it, our research indicates that it's frankly no Godzilla. According to the legends this was killed by knights and nothing I've seen causes me to doubt that. Put it up against the modern Russian army and I doubt it'd last 20 minutes."
"So you've been lying to them from the start…that's why you hired me. If the shit hits the fan you want someone you can trust to get you out of it."
"You have a brain to go with that brawn, I see."
"So why? The money?"
For a moment, just a moment, she saw a look of rage on Lancaster. She blinked and he was all smiles again.
"I saw him, you know."
"Saw who?"
"Ghidorah. It was 1972, I was 5 years old. My father was in Tokyo on business, my mother and I went along with him. Was a real fun trip - then some cockroaches chose to launch an invasion of Earth.
"My parents were out at the time. The hotel staff, well used to this sort of situation, came and got me, told me they were taking me to shelters. I figured I knew better and would just wait for my folks to get back. I managed to get away from them - i was pretty proud of myself, though they probably just had more important things to do than look for some brat - and get to my room. I looked out the window and there he was, the biggest damn thing I've ever seen.
"I was scared, but fascinated too. And I looked down and I saw my parents car, and I saw him blow it up. I later learned they would have gone to the shelters had they not heard I was unaccounted for.
"And, I looked at him and I swear - he looked back. Looked right at me. I wet myself. I thought I was going to die.
"And instead, he got up and flew away. Maybe the Nebulans wanted him somewhere else. Maybe it was just a whim. I didn't know - maybe that's why I devoted my life to studying him."
"So, this is about revenge?"
"It's about science! Along with Godzilla and Mothra, Ghidorah is the most researched kaiju yet we barely know more than we did back in 1964. MONARCH and the rest of them, they've had a Ghidorah carcass for two decades now and they haven't learned a 1/4th of what I have from Zmey Gorynych in a year! If I weren't lying to them it wouldn't be getting studied at all!"
"Not studied at all, or just not by you?"
Lancaster began to reply, then stopped as if he thought.
"I am on the verge of a breakthrough, I'm not lying about that. It won't be any help if the Russians invade, but it will have significantly more effect for humanity, and the universe as a whole."
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Bohdana had come to where she knew a bridge lay. She had to go on her prior knowledge, as the lights had gone off.
She had felt her way into it and was some ways onto it when there was a rumbling, making her tighten her grip.
The lights went back on. Bohdana looked below and wished they hadn't. It was a long way down, with the bottom not even visible.
She was about halfway past the bridge, and she quickened her pace. But then the rumbling resumed, harder.
The bridge swung more and more violently. Finally, one end tore off the wall. Bohdana almost fell off but grabbed a handlebar at the last moment. To little effect, as the other end tore off as well.
She screamed as she fell into darkness.
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Bohdana couldn't sleep, so he sat in bed reading the autobiography of Miki Saegusa that Kagura had loaned her. Her eyes were finally starting to feel heavy, and she thought of finally turning in when she heard a blood curdling scream.
Kagura's.
She headed for the lab immediately. There was a guard by the door who raised his gun at her.
"No entrance wi-"
Bohdana delivered a swift kick to his stomach, and dropped like a bag of hammers.
She opened the door, and was almost as shocked by the sight as Lancaster was by her.
Kagura was in some horrifying metallic contraption, looking almost like a beast that was eating her. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be in pain.
"What the are you doing here!?" demanded Lancaster.
Bohdana ignored him, going straight to Kagura.
"Hey, whatever you're thinking of doing don't!" yelled Lancaster as he grabbed her. She shoved him away and he crashed into a table.
She reached out and was about to detach her from the thing.
"No! You'll kill her!"
She stopped.
Lancaster dragged himself up and walked over to the machine. He pressed buttons and switches, and it died down.
"What the hell is this-"
"It's called the Panopticon, and I'm sorry I built it with utility rather than aesthetic value in mind."
"It's hurting her!"
"Yes, and if I could do it myself I would but I can't! It requires someone with psychic abilities, and she has selflessly agreed to make this sacrifice."
"You're saying she's okay with this?"
"I'm not some mad doctor sending out gorillas to kidnap test subjects! Kagu-Miss Okuyama can leave anytime she wants, I will not stop her. If one of those goons tries to stop her I'll show them I wasn't blowing smoke out of my ass about being captain of the college wrestling team!"
"Bohdana" said a hoarse voice. Kagura had regained consciousness, and was looking at her with pleading eyes.
"He's telling the truth. I agreed to this, I want this project to succeed no matter what."
"What project!? I'm tired of lies and evasions, I want to know what you're trying to do or I'll tell Pachenko about you bullshiting him right now!"
Lanchester looked thoughtful for a moment, and walked over to a computer. He turned the screen to her. It showed a DNA helix, but different from any she had seen.
"Look at this. There's something here not present in any Earth born organism. A triple helix. We've known Ghidorah has had it since the beginning but no one knows what it means, not for sure."
"But I'm guessing you think you do."
Lanchester paused, as if thinking on how to answer.
"Are you familiar with the Prime Ghidorah theory?"
"Can't say I am."
"Okay. Earth has been visited by numerous Ghidorahs. Seven, officially, although I wouldn't be surprised if Zmey Gorynych wasn't the only unknown one lying about. What the theory posits is that they aren't a species or family, not individual creatures, but are…manifestations of a single entity. The 'original' first encountered in '64, the one created by the Futurians, the one that captured all those children in '98, Monster X, the one Godzilla killed in Boston... They may vary in size, abilities, even personality but they are essentially the same being. 'The One who is Many.'
"I think the Triple Helix has the genetic info that connects them to this Prime Ghidorah. And if it looks at us then there must be a way to look back. Using the body we have and Miss Okuyama's abilities, I think we can locate it, study it, and eventually think find a way to destroy it, and rid the threat of Ghidorah forever."
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She couldn't go on.
Her mutant durability had allowed her to avoid being killed instantly in the fall, but it couldn't stop every bone in her body being broke by it. She couldn't wiggle her toes, much less continue on.
That was it, then. Nothing left for her to do but wait for the end.
There was a light. She instinctively to turn her head to the source and groaned at the pain it caused.
"Do not loose heart, my child" said a deep, commanding voice.
"Who…" she managed to spit out.
The figure moved into her line of sight.
He was a well built figure, with a red beard. His face was stern, and yet Bohdana detected no anger in his eyes. She recognized what he was wearing… she saw them in picture books when she was a child...the bogatyrs of old…
"Who...who are you?"
"In my life I was a warrior against the forces of darkness. Now I see they have risen again. The details are different, but the situation is the same. Your love and the people are in danger, and there are dragons to slay."
"I… I can't move…"
"Once I was lame. Then, I was blessed by those who believed I would use the gift to help others. Now I will do likewise."
He reached down and grabbed her. She expected to feel waves of pain from it, but instead she felt soothing relief.
Then he let go. She braced to fall to the floor but her legs stood firm, not the slightest ache. She looked down and saw her body had been completely healed; not a scratch was left.
"It is no longer my place to intervene in the affairs of the living. Not directly, at least. But I can give you items to aid in your quest."
Suddenly, Bohdana felt heavier. On her head was a helmet, in her hands, a sword and shield.
"I - thank -"
"There is no need; the dead do not need to be told of gratitude of the living. You may honor me by succeeding in vanquishing the danger. But remember, my greatest weapon was my love for my son, my wife, my friends, and my people."
With that, the figure faded until he could no longer be seen.
Bohdana noticed the sword was glowing. She moved it, and it glow increased. As she moved it past, it's glow dimmed.
Well, seemed as good as anything to go on.
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Bohdana awoke suddenly and promptly vomited. Though nothing was visibly amiss, she could tell things had gone very wrong.
This was confirmed when she tried to get out of her room and found it locked. She had to put her strength in to tear the handle off the door.
She stepped outside and immediately saw a corpse. A soldier who had been torn by some…thing.
In the distance she could hear gunfire. The lights flicked on and off. The temperature was at least 10 degrees warmer than normal.
She walked slowly through the corridor, her unease overriding her need to know what had happened.
Then she saw something that gave her an idea.
It was a golden chain of some sort, the end of which she could not see. One side from going into the computer room.
She looked through the broken window to see that the screens were all black, and golden chain was going through all of them.
She followed the chain with her eyes, and ended up seeing something looking back at her.
She instantly knew it was Ghidorah, but not any she was familiar with. It had multiple, red beady eyes. But that was the least of it. It's was blockier, and didn't seem physical, but like some sort of projection of light.
Like a python, it lunged at her. Her reflexes allowed her to dodge it just in time.
It snarled at this, and hovered over her, about to try again, when shots rang out. She looked to see a desperate looking soldier with holding his gun out.
The Ghidorah was none the worse for wear but had lost its attention for Bohdana and went for the soldier, who screamed as it tore through him.
Determining that was nothing she could do for her savior, she took the opportunity to go into the lab, shutting the door close behind, though she had doubts whether that would stop it.
It looked like a tornado had whipped through the lab. It was a complete mess, machines overturned, papers rustled about. There was a great gaping hole in the wall. The Panopticon - and Kagura - were missing. The only one there was Lancaster, standing as if in a daze, not reacting to anything going on.
"…and despair" he muttered under his breath.
"Lancaster?"
"Oh, Bohdana. I'm just remembering my Shelley. Percy, although I suppose Mary applies here as well."
"What's going on? Where's Kagura?"
"I don't know, I think - I hope she got out."
"What - what happened here?"
"That Prime Ghidorah? We made contact. I thought I could just take a peek, but… well, it peeked back."
"Lancaster, I know you must be going through a lot right now, but I need you to clearly state what's happening."
There was no judgment in her voice; antagonizing him was not going to make him forthcoming about the information she needed.
"It's coming into our dimension. Once it's fully entrenched itself, that's it. Godzilla, Mothra, none of them will be able to stop it."
"Well then we have to stop that from happening. There has to be some way, right?"
Lancaster pondered this for a moment.
"The Zmey Gorynych, it's body is the doorway, if we could destroy it completely I think that could stop it."
"All right, any way we can do that?"
"In the hangar, there's a thermonuclear device, put there in case of - well something like this."
"All right, now do we set it off?"
"Well, that's the thing, by all rights they already should have. It's activated by radio, but the weird effects we're observing, they could be interfering with the signal."
"Is there any other way to set it off?"
"Well you would have to go down there and set it off manually."
He explained where it was located and how to detonate it.
"All right, let's go then."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"You made a mistake, we all do. You don't need to sacrifice yourself for it."
Lancaster smiled.
"You know, I think hiring you was the smartest thing I've ever done. But no. I know it's a petulant, childish thing to do, but frankly you don't have the luxury or arguing or dragging me around. Go. Save the universe from my fuck up."
Bohdana was about to retort, when she heard the most terrifying bell like noise she ever heard.
It was a Ghidorah head. It encircled Lancaster, who didn't look worried. Rather, he seemed like someone who had finally found what he had spent his entire life looking for and couldn't believe it.
"Well, hello there. I suppose it'd be pretty arrogant of myself to ask if you recognize me?"
Bohdana made sure not to look back as she heard it go through him.
Funny enough, now that she knew what was at stake she felt better. She had a goal now, a mission. As long as she focused on that, she could stand it.
Bohdana Pavlyuk ran through the corridor, doing her best to block out the humming and screams.
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Using the sword, Bohdana managed to break through a steel gate and enter the hangar.
The first thing she noticed was Kagura. She was unconscious (she hoped), bleeding from her nose and eyes, strapped to the Panopticon. She had been dragged down here, to maximize the psychic connection pulling the evil into their world.
The Zmey Gorynych was flapping in the air erratically. At first she thought Lancaster was wrong, that it did live again. But then, she realized it wasn't true life, no more than a dead bird with bugs crawling through it was alive. It was a puppet, animated by this Prime Ghidorah.
Streams of energy coursed through it, giving it an unearthly golden glow, and the chopped off heads had been replaced by those Ghidorahs'.
But what was truly disturbing lay above it.
It was larger than the actual space of the hangar somehow. Pure black, with stark white cobwebs. And within it…
It was colossal. Emerging from three black holes were three necks. But this Ghidorah was bigger than those she had seen elsewhere. It was bigger then any Ghidorah, any kaiju she had ever seen, at least 20 kilometers. She knew instantly it was the Prime Ghidorah. She doubted even a thousand Godzillas could defeat it.
And then it looked down at her.
Bohdana remembered hearing the true terror of kaiju was that they were so immense that humanity was nothing but ants to them, that they were unaware of our existence. But having such a thing like this look directly at her...
Her training soon overtook her terror. She ran towards Kagura.
The Zmey Gorynych swooped down and let loose a fireball.
Instinctively, she held up the shield, and was astonished to see it actually repelled it.
She intended to continue, but her training stopped her. She couldn't let her emotions decide what she did here. She had to get to that bomb first.
As she head for it, the Zmey Gorynych swooped down at her, and it's claws only just missed her, which still left bloody claw marks.
It took another dive for her, and she took out the sword and sliced through its belly as it went above her. But it didn't show any sign of pain.
Of course she realized; a puppet can't feel pain. No matter what she did to it, it would fight on as long as it was able to.
She had to get it out of the way long enough to get the bomb. She noticed it was coming for her again, and she ran to the wall.
She leaped at the last moment, and sure enough it crashed into it. As it struggled to get up, it fired fireballs in all directions. None came close to her, but one hit the exit, covering it in debris.
She took the opportunity to head to where the bomb was kept. She ripped through the floor, and took out a suitcase, opening it to see what she hoped was salvation.
She followed Lancaster's instructions, and a 30 second countdown started.
She saw the Zmey Gorynych getting up and preparing to attack again. She saw the exit, which she would need hours at a minimum to clear.
She looked at Kagura, entrapped to a being of pure evil.
She could think of only one thing to do. She hurled the bomb right at the fucker.
She felt a strange calm, watching the bomb in the air, as it started to go off, as if in slow motion. She would die, and so would Kagura. But the world would be saved. Not a bad way to go out, all things considered.
The calm left her as she realized the slow motion wasn't in her head. The bomb was exploding, but slowly, as if time itself was slowing. Another weird effect, it seemed. Well, that was fine. Was only delaying the inevitable.
And then it started to reverse.
"No..."
The explosion went into itself, faster and faster, until all smoke vanished and there was just a small object that dropped to the ground.
She rushed to it. She would try again, this time it would work…
Her heart dropped as she saw the device was now stone.
She reached out and picked at it, thinking it might be only the outer layer, but no, the entire thing was just a cinder block now.
Above, the Prime Ghidorah cried out in what seemed to her mocking laughter.
For a moment, Bohdana considered just lying down. She was tired. The last hope had been dashed. The world, no, the universe was doomed. No one could say she hadn't done all she could.
She felt the wind from the wings of the Zmey Gorynych. She felt the heat as it summoned up a fireball.
The dragon fired a fireball at the tiny being who was causing it grief. At the last moment it moved out of the way.
No time to wallow in despair. She needed to get Kagura and get the hell out of here. There had to be another way to stop it. Even if there wasn't, what did it even mean? Would life be extinguished? Civilization collapse? Did the end of civilization mean the end of living, of love? Maybe they would all die, maybe they wouldn't. But it wasn't her place to just give up now.
The Zmey Gorynych launched another fireball at her. She raised her shield as she raced to Kagura.
Next it swooped down on her again. She grew her sword and sliced its belly. The sword glowed, brighter than ever before.
As she charged, the light shot up into the air.
It spread out, forcing a wedge through the webbed darkness. It grew until - she saw it! The actual roof. And then she promptly saw it smashed through.
"CHEEERNT!"
Bohdana dodged the falling debris, and braced herself against sudden strong winds.
When she managed to look up, she saw a gigantic, beautiful moth.
Zmey Gorynych stared at her with a familiar, loathing hatred. The left head let loose a string of fireballs.
Yellow particles filled the air, and Zmey Gorynych snarled as the fireballs were deflected back to their source.
Mothra's attenae glowed, and two brand of light erupted from them.
They struck the dragon, creating two holes that rapidly grew, the flesh simply burned away, until there was nothing left, not even ashes.
The Prime Ghidorah gave a loud cry, but it quickly died. Bohdonna shielded her eyes. The Prime Ghidorah and its webbed night were gone, replaced by the dawn of day.
In less than a minute it was all over, just like that. Earth was going to be okay, for the night at least.
After making sure Kagura was okay, Bohdonna had a strange sensation and looked up at Mothra.
She was looking at her.
She didn't feel the terror she felt being eyed by Ghidorah. Instead, it reminded her of how she felt on her birthday as a kid, uncomfortable at all the others singing at her.
Pondering what to say, she decided to keep it simple.
"…Thanks."
"CHEEERNT!"
Somehow, she got the impression she was saying the same to her in return. She would later learn she had arrived at the Meat Locker hours ago, but just hovered over it, as if unable to penetrate it.
With that the moth goddess floated up and flew off into the distance.
She then noticed feeling lighter. The sword, the shield, the helmet, they were gone.
She went over to the Panopticon, which had ceased to work with the disappearance of the Prime Ghidorah. She slowly took Kagura out, and laid her down.
After a few moments, she stirred.
"Bohdana…what happened?"
"I'll tell you later. But things are all right now."
Kagura had a look of relief, but it didn't last long.
"Sam…is he…?"
Bohdana didn't reply.
Kagura looked down.
"I'll miss him."
Bohdana thought about what to say.
"So will I."
Bohdana thought she should start removing the debris covering the exit. Instead, she lay with Kagura as they watched the sky.