Chapter 1: Mana

It all began with the splitting of the atom. This was mankind's greatest crowning achievement... an achievement that would later be used to create the most horrific weapon imaginable. However, in their bloodthirsty ambitions, mankind had brought something far worse upon them. In their desire to destroy one another, they gave birth to their worst nightmare... Godzilla; the unwanted child of the unwanted child. A god of destruction. Even worse, Godzilla was only the first of many. In the years that followed, more and more appeared; monsters rising from beneath the earth, from the depths of the seas, and even from the stars above. Kaiju.

The Kaiju wasted no time in tearing our civilization asunder. Humanity, in our infinite stubbornness, shot fire back at them but to little avail. Five of these beasts would actually fight along side us... but that wasn't enough in the end. Ultimately, as the years passed, our cities crumbled into dust, our dead littered the soil with their ashes and blood, even our world began to suffer. The ground was scarred from the constant battles and entire species wiped out only to be replaced by new species altogether. New cities were built to replace the ones in ruin while others chose to remain in what used to be sprawling metropolises, all sharing the same fear of becoming casualties in a war with no end in sight. Even with the aide of two races that existed long before humanity, our predicament has not changed one bit as it is only a matter of time until we share the fate of the dinosaurs before us.
This world doesn't belong to us anymore...

"It never did." Old Jo finished his story, his bearded, scarred face illuminated by the still burning embers as the sun began to fade among the ruined buildings of Nara Village. Before him sat intrigued youngsters, teenagers who had heard this story multiple times, and mothers and fathers keeping their young ones in check. He closed his eyes and sighed, "Well, that's enough for tonight. It's getting late anyway." Upon speaking those words, his audience stood up and walked away, parents of human, Liyari, and Devonian origin rounding up their toddlers while the older children just sighed and wondered why they even came in the first place.

"Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all how our ancestors used shed Kaiju parts for medicinal purposes!" Jo called out to the departing figures. He was just about to throw a flask full of water on the fire when he saw somebody approaching him. She was a young woman, just barely in her early twenties. She had long, square-cut, black hair tied into a ponytail that hung above her neck. She wore a faded, yellow tank-top for a shirt and brown capri-pants. Her feet were bare but she never needed shoes due to her soles being as thick and sturdy as boots. She had green eyes which seemed to be looking for something.

"Kimiko," Jo greeted the young woman, "what brings you here?"

"Do you know where Mana is?" she asked.

"Here I am!"

Jo and Kimiko turned to see another young woman wearing a brown tunic, a vertically cut, blue sarong to enable her free movement in the legs, stockings which exposed her heels and toes, brownish black hair that came down to her neck, tanned skin, and lively, maple eyes leap off from a rafter above the fire pit and land gracefully as a cherry blossom petal.

"Mana, time to head home," Kimiko told her sister, "Mom's finished cooking the stew and she's just now starting on the rice."

Mana groaned, "Can I just stay a little longer? Like thirty seconds?"
Kimiko gave her sister a deadpan gaze which was met with a puppy pout from the latter. She sighed, "Alright, but that's it. No more, no less. Okay?"
Mana smiled to herself. Even after all those years of growing up, her puppy dog pout still worked. "Though, I'm sure Tril'Qua wants to head back home." She turned her head to the female Devonian in question. Tril'Qua was a rather young Devonian female with a floppy head fin resembling hair, a body build somewhat resembling a cross between a Nurse Shark and a human woman, and big, curious, orange eyes eyes. The fish-like humanoid perked up at the mention of her name.

"Actually, Mana," the Devonian spoke up, her soft voice belying her otherwise monstrous appearance, "I was thinking about staying around as much as you were."

Kimiko sighed, "Just come back home when you're done. Okay?"

"Will do."

Kimiko walked off, leaving her sister and the Devonian girl behind with Old Jo.

"Hey, Old Jo?" Mana asked.

"Yes, child?" Jo replied.

"What do you think the world was like?"

"Well, you know," Mana continued before gesturing to their surroundings, "before now."

Jo sighed as he pulled out the flask of water to kill off what little fire remained. "Probably the same."

"Did we ever have a chance?" Mana asked curiously.

Jo stood silent for a while before uncorking the flask. "We never had a chance to begin with. Even with the aide of the Devonians and the Liyari, as I said, this world doesn't belong to us. It never did. It belongs to them."

Mana frowned, "Why does it have to be this way? We share this planet, why can't we just live in peace?"

Jo gave the girl a solemn look, "Because any chance of peace died the moment Godzilla awoke and raized Tokyo those thousands of years ago. I don't say this to crush your hopes, child, but sometimes dreams of peace are just that; dreams." With that, he poured the water onto the dying embers, snuffing them out with a hiss.

Mana sighed and stood up, followed by Tril'Qua. "Right, see you next time, Old Jo." she told him as she and her friend walked off. Jo sighed before grabbing his cane and using it to shamble off to his home.

"Hey, Tril?" Mana asked as the two walked off along with Kimiko, Mana balancing herself on piece of fallen building like a tight-rope. The Devonian turned her attention to her and hummed in response. "Do you think Old Jo's right? That we're destined to die at the hands of the Kaiju?"

Tril'Qua put up her three-fingered hands in a shrug, "I really can't say for certain, Mana. Though I wouldn't say I doubt it considering just how well things are going now."

Kimiko scoffed, "I wouldn't let him get to you, Mana. Old-timers like Jo tend to get pessimistic in their age."

"Tell that to Grandma." Mana retorted with a smirk.

Kimiko rolled her eyes, "Okay, aside from Grandma, but you get my point. If anything, you shouldn't dwell on it too much. Besides, you and I need a good meal and a good night's rest if we're going to hunt in the Throne Room tomorrow."

Oh right, Mana remembered, I almost forgot.

The Throne Room was the name of a giant forest three kilometers away from Old Tokyo that had sprung up in the final days of the 29th Century as a result of shed G-Cells from Godzilla and his "queen" Rin. For Mana, Kimiko, their family, and the rest of those living in Nara and Old Tokyo, it was a place not to be taken lightly. There was a reason why it was called the "Throne Room"; in addition to it being a favored, if not feared, hunting ground for the residents of what used to be Japan's capital city, it was also the home turf of the King and Queen of the Monsters and they did not take kindly to intruders, especially humans.

Mana herself had a sense of fascination and fear of the Throne Room since it was supposedly where her father died before she was even born. Due to it being a touchy subject with her mother, the only one who ever told her about her father was Kimiko who mentioned something about a hunting party consisting of him, a pair of Devonians, and a Liyari venturing into the Throne Room with only one of the Devonians making it back. Kimiko was only five at the time.

"I'll see you two tomorrow," Tril'Qua told them, splitting off from the trio, "my house isn't too far from here. Tell your mother and grandmother I said hi!" With that, she ran off, the setting sun glinting off her glass-green, armor-like scales, waving at the sisters.

"Will do, Tril!" Mana returned the wave, jumping down from her perch to do so. Kimiko shook her head with a small smile as their piscine friend faded from their sights.

"C'mon," Kimiko told her, "we've kept Mom waiting long enough." Mana nodded and followed her sister back home. Upon arriving in their neighborhood so to speak, the sisters were greeted by villagers just wrapping up their evening routines such as selling off pieces of scrap collected from the destroyed vehicles and weapons left over from Old Tokyo's final stand against Godzilla whilst their children played cheerfully in the streets. They finally arrived at their home; a small shack sitting next to the remains of what used to be a tower that loomed over the city like an unmoving sentinel before being blasted in half by Godzilla, its tip impaled in the chest of a machine designed to look just like the God of Destruction appropriately named MechaGodzilla. Sure enough, sleeping in front of the building was Kagura, Mana's pet G-Wolf. Like all G-Wolves, Kagura was massive, almost the size of a polar bear, covered in ash-gray fur, while jagged back spikes similar in appearance to Godzilla's dorsal plates protruded from her vertebrae. She had a faded, white scar in her chest which she received when she was a pup thus causing her Cherenkov's Organ to develop at a very uneven manner and preventing her from using her own Atomic Breath for a sustained amount of time anytime she wanted. The moment Mana whistled out to her, she opened her orange-red eyes and instantly shot up before barreling toward her master.

Mana braced herself for the impact which came as she was pushed to the ground by her Godzilla/wolf hybrid who began rapidly licking her face, glazing it in drool. Mana laughed at the tickling strokes of her pet's tongue before pushing her off of her.

"Good to see you too, girl." Mana smiled, giving Kagura a fluffing of the fur around her mane and kissing her forehead. Kagura let out a bark before licking her on the cheek and bounding off, following the two sisters. Mana pushed aside the gossamer curtain she used as a door and was greeted with the sight of home's interior. It was relatively simple; a few knick-knacks from destroyed military vehicles sitting on a shelf to the left, wood carvings of Kaiju such as Godzilla, Rin, Mothra, Rodan, and more over on a shelf to the right, and in the center was a room which served as the kitchen and living room to which the girls' mother, Sakura was currently working on a stew and rice with their grandmother, Ayumi resting in her bed. Upon noticing her girls, Megumi smiled.

"Glad to see you two made it home. Dinner's just about done so be sure to wash up." she told them. The sisters nodded and went off to the faucet. Kimiko went first and turned the sink on. The faucet dribbled out a small stream of water before it sputtered and made a metallic groaning sound, prompting her to smack it in order for it to work properly. Once they were done washing up, the sisters sat side-by-side at the table, assuming seiza positions, while their mother handed them their dinner; canned beef stew and rice. It was a relatively simple dish, very little vegetables such as a few carrots, daikon, and cucumbers with chunks of processed meat from provisions the people from New Tokyo would air-drop onto the village from time to time as means of making sure they would survive without taking risky trips to the Throne Room (not that it stopped them from doing so anyway).

Sakura was a woman whose beauty was slowly edging away from her. She bore the crow's feet and bunned, black, graying hair any parent in his or her mid-age would acquire from the stress of raising children without the aide of a spouse as well as the fear of losing one or both to the same place they lost their beloved. Despite this, she was stronger than most widows and, even with the loss of the man she loved, she still took the time to raise her two daughters. Her mother-in-law, however, was a different story.

In her prime, Megumi was regarded as the beauty of Nara, as sought after as the world's largest pearl. Sadly, those days were long gone. Her once flowing, chocolate-brown hair was now dull gray and disheveled Her skin was wrinkled like leather after it had been soaked and left to dry in the sun. She had a ragged cough, an indication her already dwindling time on Earth would probably get cut short quicker than she or her family wanted. The only remainders of her youthful past were her bright, blue eyes, and her spirit.

"Kimiko," Sakura told her eldest, "help your grandmother with her food."

Megumi cast her daughter-in-law a peeved glare, "Just because I'm old, does not mean I don't have the energy to feed mysel-" She couldn't finish her sentence as she broke out into a hacking cough, eliciting the raising of an eyebrow from Sakura.

"Ah, fine." the elder of the Haramashis groaned as soon as her coughing came to an end. Kimiko rose from her seat and sat next to her grandmother, feeding her the stew/rice glop her mother prepared. While this was going on, Mana took her bowls and headed outside. This was not unnoticed by her mother.

"Where are you off to, Mana?" she asked.

"I've gotta go get some fresh air," Mana replied as she put her stew and rice inside a canister and shook it up, "I'll be back once the sun comes down."

"Okay, just make sure you do so." Sakura told her moments before her youngest exited their home. Once outside, Mana breathed a lungful of evening air as she headed to what was more or less her "happy place": the remains of MechaGodzilla. She expertly climbed up the mechanical ex-marvel originally designed as a last ditch effort to hold back Godzilla and his queen only to be left behind for its chasis to be eventually stripped away by metal scavengers. She climbed up all the way to its head and sat down on the rim of whatever passed as an eye and let her feet dangle precariously. She pulled out her canister as well as her ceramic spoon, uncorked the metal cylinder, and began to non-chalantly scoop spoonful after spoonful of her stew that had now been thickened into a meaty, vegetable-laden gruel. The saltiness of the meat and the broth at least gave the otherwise bland rice a rustic flavor. She stared onto the horizon and saw the very edge of the Throne Room, illuminated by the rapidly descending sun.

Even from such a far distance of three hundred miles, she could make out the curled, gnarled, almost alien trees and plant-life of the forest ruled by Godzilla and Rin. As she absent-mindedly ate her dinner, the words of Old Jo echoed in her mind.

"We never had a chance to begin with. Even with the aide of the Devonians and the Liyari, as I said, this world doesn't belong to us. It never did. It belongs to them."

What if Jo is right? Mana thought, What if we are destined to die at the hands of Godzilla?

Realizing she had just finished her meal, Mana sighed and stood up, yawning as she did so. It was right on time too for the sun had now completely disappeared beneath the horizon. She allowed herself to slide down the metal body of MechaGodzilla, landing gracefully on the ground where Kagura was waiting for her. Mana sighed and gave her pet a gentle stroke on the head.

"Come on, Kagura," Mana told her, "let's get some shut eye." She looked out to the horizon; to the Throne Room.

"We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."