Monster Wars II
This tale that you will soon read is but one of many. And there are, indeed, many. These tales are written to chronicle an age that began in 1954, an age that began with the death of the previous. For it was in 1954 that a man named Steven Martin wrote a book called This is Tokyo. In its prologue, he wrote "And thus the Age of Men has ended, for the Age of Monsters… has begun."
GODZILLA: THE MONSTER WARS
Book Two: …AND LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR
A tale of the Age of Monsters
By
Juan Garcia.
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Revelations. Chapter Six. Verses 12-17
1 O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? 2 Remember thy congregation, which thou hast purchased of old; the rod of thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed; this mount Zion, wherein thou hast dwelt... 4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations; they set up their ensigns for signs… 10 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? …12 For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. 13 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. 14 Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. 15 Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers. 16 The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. 17 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.18 Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O LORD, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name… 22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. 23 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually.
Book of Psalms. Psalm 74. Verses 1, 2, 4, 10, 12-18, 23, 24.
Prologue
The days and months and years that followed to make up the "Monster Wars" were to be the very darkest and cruelest that mankind ever knew. Yes, it was a war but it was different from all others because this battle was not about one nation's freedom but humanity's very survival and beyond because King Ghidorah sought not only to destroy the human race but all life as well. Like a juggernaut from hell, the Prince of Skyllans inexorably surged forward to bring forth destruction and suffering and death everywhere he went and that included many places. Finland, Indonesia, Madagascar, Australia, Kazahkstan, Greece, Thailand, Brazil, Chile; their cities were wiped off the map. By the time the carnage was done the demon's slaughter had brought ruin to every nation on earth. Many countries wouldn't recover for generations, if ever, and in too many cases the living envied the dead.
How many dead? By the end of the Monster Wars, well over 180,000,000 lives, some said as many 240,000,000, were lost. Hundreds of millions more were left homeless. Refugee camps sprouted up everywhere and those in them would die slow and torturous deaths of hunger and disease. King Ghidorah himself was responsible for this misery for his Taint caused much famine and pestilence through the land.
The same, however, could not be said of war. At a time when the world should have been coming together, it was falling apart. It would have been easy to blame the global riots, civil unrest, and looting on the madness wrought by Star of Doom's Fear but near all of it was man's own inhumanity to man. Yet as horrible as it all was, most of it was left unchecked. The world's armed forces had trouble enough dealing with King Ghidorah's wrath.
Not since the Mysterian and Muvian attacks had the all the nations of the world joined forces against a common foe. All the armed forces of Earth came together for this battle. First and foremost was the DFE, or Defense Force of the Earth. Originally the UN's peacekeeping force, it had evolved, with the assimilation of NATO, into the equivalent of Earth's army, navy, and air force after the global military alliance against the Mysterians at the command of the Security Council and then Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold. The DFE's mission was to stand against those forces that would threaten the safety/security of Earth or a significant portion thereof, thus, the war against the Bane of Life was a perfect test for it.
However it was a test that some believed it would fail. The might of the DFE was pushed to the very breaking point and, as nation after nation was destroyed, some people believed that the DFE was, in fact, doomed to fail. Battle after battle was waged against King Ghidorah, by both men and monsters, and ever more blood was shed, all in vain.
The cover of Times showed European capitals in flames. CNN said that at the casualty rate the earth was suffering, the human race could face extinction in a matter of years. National Geographic was quoted as stating "the world's leaders aren't sure what to do." How could they?
War, famine, pestilence, and death marched across the land and it seemed as if the earth itself was poisoned with madness. Earthquakes, typhoons, hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, and all manner of natural disasters began increasing in number and in strength. Violence, starvation, disease, ran roughshod and it seemed that no matter what weak and mortal men tried to do, that nothing could be done. Around the world chaos reigned and hope began to die.
It was then that United World News dared to ask what nobody else would: IS THIS THE END?
Madmen said yes. Blasphemers and heretics cried for there to fall hail and fire mingled with blood. They cried for the third part of the trees to be burnt up and for all the green grass to be burnt up. They cried for the sun and the air to be darkened and for there to be opened the bottomless pit. They cried for the moon to be covered with sackcloth and there be made an angel cry woe, woe, WOE, to the inhabitants of the earth. And they believed King Ghidorah the one to do it. The mad leader of an Odo Island spawned doomsday cult claimed that it really was the end of the world and that King Ghidorah was the devil, the dragon of the apocalypse.