The Arendellians exchanged several looks, ranging from bewildered to apprehensive. The name meant nothing to them, they had never heard of it before, so it was completely alien to them.
"C-Cthulhu?" Elsa repeated.
With a nod, the creature spoke again softly, even friendly: "Correct, my dear." He then looked at Moll and Lora. "My children," he said, his tone perking up, extending his arms. "It is good to see you,"
All eyes fell on the two young Asian women, who bowed their heads slightly, resting their hands on one another's, and walked over to the being, embracing him around his midsection and quickly withdrew.
"And us you, Father," they replied in unison, raising their heads again; the three Arendellians taking note of the uneasy ways they replied, the apprehension palpable.
Cthulhu's eyes lingered on them a moment, then to the others. "Come, please," he told them, waving his hand in his direction as if trying to subtly manipulate them before turning and heading down one of the paths that led to the rock platform above the pit of lava.
Belvera followed with Moll and Lora quickly rushing over to join her. The others lingered for a moment, exchanging uncertain glances, unsure of what and where they were, of who this … being was, and what he wanted from them. Kristoff was concerned and his expression made it clear: Should we leave? I don't like this.
Sentiments the girls could not deny they were thinking of too.
But if they left, would they ever get any kind of answer to all this? They would have come all this way for nothing, so many questions would be unanswered, so much left in the dark. Elsa would have no closure to all of this, and if they left and went home, Arendelle would still be in its current predicament as well as the queen and her family feeling unfulfilled in their journey to this island. Plus, without proof of anything she would have to fill them in on, her people would no doubt reject her, and possibly Anna too, and it would lead to all sorts of trouble.
And Godzilla? He would still be out here alone, saddened, left to fade away out of humanity's consciousness, left to die in one way or another.
That, Elsa could not live with.
The Arendelle Queen walked towards the pathway after the others. Anna and Kristoff, with one more uncertain glance, followed, clasping each other's hands for reassurance.
As they reached the others, Belvera, stopping Moll and overtaking her, led the group after Cthulhu, who's large form took up the majority of the space on the pathway. As they went, their eyes fell on the lava bubbling away far below, the heat running across their skin as if they were directly outside an open oven, making the feel uneasy. Whilst they were not in any way experts about anything volcanic, they knew that they could be dangerous – courtesy of Akiro when he had told them about such natural calamities from his travels across Japan and several other areas of the world.
"Do not fear," Cthulhu's voice rang out from ahead. They looked up to see him glancing over his shoulder back at them. "The volcano will not erupt. Only immense destructive power will cause it to do so." He added matter-of-factly, confident in his words.
The Arendellians begged to differ.
Kristoff leaned near Elsa and Anna and whispered: "Elsa, do you feel like something is off?" he asked her.
She gave a light nod. "Definitely," she replied. "I think there's more to him than meets the eye."
"You think we can trust him?" Anna piped in worryingly.
The Arendelle Queen did not reply, though her sister's question made her mind race, putting their situation into perspective and making her wonder once again if being here really was a good idea. She wanted to say yes, he definitely was not someone they could just blindly trust and accept. After all, his appearance partly reminded her of the Kraken what with the many tentacles around his face, though they looked more relaxed and were not writhing around as if wielding a mind of their own. The fact that he towered over them at probably ten feet only made her more uncomfortable. Whilst such strange and enormous creatures were not a new thing for her or the others, it had been normally been clear if they were in any danger or not. Godzilla and the Kraken, or Mothra and Megaguirus were all testament to that.
Yet, with Cthulhu they felt off, as if some impending doom was to befall them. Some hidden vice that would spring up and deal them a deadly blow, though what it would be the queen did not know, and she had a feeling even the Mu sisters were just as lost as her. Even Cthulhu's manner, while calm, collected, even friendly, did little to remove the anxiety with her.
A loud, deep noise akin to a human clearing their throat snapped the queen out of her trance. She, Anna and Kristoff looked up and saw Cthulhu looking back at them, having come to a halt and turned to face the group, though his eyes were fixed directly on the girls and the ice harvester.
"Come, Elsa," he said, motioning towards himself with his hand.
Elsa and Anna and Kristoff looked at each other, her sibling and her partner silently telling her: I don't like this! I don't like this! The Arendelle queen could not disagree with them.
She looked at the Mu sisters, all of whom held mixed expressions. Moll and Lora's expressions were a mixture of worry, uncertainty, even fear. Belvera wore an expression of expecting her to obey the wish of the 'father', though Elsa saw she too was a little wary.
"Only you, Elsa," Cthulhu spoke. "Do not worry, your family will be fine."
With a glance at her family, a vain attempt at reassuring Anna, she headed towards the larger being, passing the two sisters and making eye contact with them, though they did not say anything, only continued to emit the same worried expressions as before, something which only made Elsa feel more on edge. When she reached Belvera, she paused and looked at the purple-haired woman, her hand furthest from the eldest Mu sibling partially clenching, icy mist swirling around her fingertips. She held her gaze, silently, but consciously saying: This better not be a trick, or you will pay.
Belvera, aware of the queen's manner, replied simply, tonelessly. "You'll be fine."
Elsa took in her words, then looked up at Cthulhu once again, who was looking back at her, waiting patiently. She wanted to ignore him, to turn around and leave, but something inside her told her not to. That and the fact that the Mu sisters had all been, at various levels, rather anxious about all this. She could imagine him mentally daring her to refuse, and the consequences if she would do just that.
No. Not to put her sister, Kristoff, or the others in danger. Now was not the time for that. Besides, she could fight him off should he try something.
She stepped over to Cthulhu and, putting one arm on her back, he gently led them to the centre of the platform. The others also came onto the platform, Kristoff stepping close to Anna and putting his arm around hers just in case. The younger sibling watched her elder sister and the creature warily, fearing that something was going to happen, ready to run out and stop them should anything happen, though she doubted she would be able to do much.
"Are you two okay?" Moll asked, stepping over to them.
"Not really," Anna replied, not taking her eyes off the two in the centre of the platform. "We're worried, Moll. You're his daughter, right? Do you know what he will do?"
Moll went to reply, but Belvera spoke up from nearby. "Actually, we're not his biological children, Princess Anna. If we were, we'd likely have tentacles coming out of every orifice." She turned away. That'll be inspiration from them one day she thought comically to herself
Anna looked at Belvera, surprised that she had addressed her with her name and without a condescending tone or a hint of a threat. She and Kristoff looked at Belvera's sister, who was also a little surprised.
In the centre of the platform, Cthulhu and Elsa came to a halt and stood opposite each other, the former looking down at the human woman who only just came up to muscled abdomen whilst the queen had to crane her neck a bit to look up at him.
"What are we going to do?" she asked him.
A pause, then the behemoth spoke. "Tell me, Elsa. You came here for Godzilla, didn't you?" he asked rhetorically.
That caught her by surprise. She tried to answer, but the words got lost in her mouth. H-how did he know? How could he know?
He spoke up again. "Don't worry. You shall understand why." His gaze drifted upward to the pitch blackness above them. Elsa followed it up there, feeling her heart race in her chest at the prospect of what was probably going to come next. But before she could protest, she found herself drifting upwards towards the blackness at the top of the chamber as if a pair of invisible hands had grabbed her. She heard Anna and Kristoff call out in alarm from below, but she was quickly enveloped within the pitch blackness before she even had the chance to look down. Across from her, exactly level, was Cthulhu, his golden eyes glowing dimly within the dark new world they found themselves in. Elsa's heart raced even more and she tried to fight against the force holding her, to free herself. But her arms seemed to be ignoring her and no ice came from her palms like usual.
In short, she was trapped and at his mercy.
"W-what are you doing?!" she exclaimed.
"Remain calm," Cthulhu's voice spoke to her from the pair of gold eyes, his form barely distinguishable in the black world that had now consumed them, a ubiquitous, unsettling world at that.
"Where is this?!" Elsa cried out, her voice desperate, fearful, terrified.
No answer came this time, only silence. She looked down and saw the blackness had replaced the chamber, cutting her off from Kristoff, the Mu sisters, and Anna, and that terrified her. Was something going to, or even currently happening to them? Were they being restrained and threatened, or worse? She had to break out of this! She had to get back to the others!
A loud rumbling sound approached her. Elsa's eyes frantically scanned the blackness around her, trying to discern the source, but to no avail. It was coming from all directions. She tried to find Cthulhu, but it was like he had disappeared, vanished into nothingness, leaving her to fend for herself in this alien world.
Suddenly, the blackness changed, though no bright lights or stars were visible. What she was confronted with was something unbelievable.
She looked down and saw she was standing on some kind of flat, shiny surface that looked like a street, only there were no cobblestones or other material she was used to seeing back in her homeland. It looked somewhat glass-like, was that right? Probably not, but it was the best she could describe. Looking around, she saw various buildings, each of different shapes and sizes, but all of them completely alien to her, not just from the fact that it was foreign but also somewhat inhuman. Some buildings were – as best as she could describe – a combination of a circle and a block on its side, each organised in a sort of block way akin to the Southern Isles capital city. Other buildings, arranged somewhat more erratically between the various sections of the settlement, were akin to a Roman shrine, only the 'roofs' held a tall pole-like object which led to a large bowl-like thing. No fire or lights were coming out of it as one would expect. Far off in the distance, a huge pyramid-like structure stood tall and proud, though the middle had a more curved shape as if it were a bulging part of a stomach before reverting back to its pyramid shape and ending on the point. A few groves of vegetation stuck out over the building tops, making Elsa think that several parks were scattered about. A few people moved about between the buildings, some walking alone, others in pairs of groups, each dressed in clothing similar to what Moll and Lora wore, albeit with a whiter colour that glowed in the sunlight from above.
What is this place? Elsa mentally asked herself, gazing in awe at her new surroundings, hoping in vain to find Cthulhu.
Almost as if answering her question, the world changed, a sudden snap and all became dark, hellish, fiery. In short, a hell on earth.
The city, wherever it was, was a wasteland. Rubble was strewn across the street, the sky was largely black, but punctured by the orangey-yellow glows of huge fires that dotted the city. One of the large buildings near her had collapsed. Another, the cube/circle structure, was smashed in two like something had placed its foot on, or through it. The pyramid was invisible in the thick layer of smoke, though it did not make Elsa cough or struggle to breathe – something she was grateful for.
Cries of anguish and pain filled the air, coming from all directions, all sounding like the wails of the damned. Elsa tried to see through the smoke and dust, wanting to rush out and help whoever was in need, but it was too thick. She tried to move, to run, to find them. The scene around her though, did not change as if rooted to the spot.
What?!
A loud screech filled the air. Something huge swept by with a WHOOSH, scattering the dust and thick layers of smoke. The ground shook a second later as something big landed nearby, causing a half-destroyed building somewhere behind her to collapse. With her surroundings now visible, Elsa saw something familiar, and horrifying.
A huge black, knobbly insect-like creature rose from the remains of a nearby building, its demonic face and red eyes glaring fiercely at something in the sky, another spine-chilling screech accentuating the creature's fury. Elsa gasped.
Battra!
A pair of black wings with red patterning opened and flapped as the beast from her past screeched again up at the sky, throwing dust and debris in all directions, some of it rushing past Elsa, who conjured up an ice wall to protect herself. High above, another, more-higher pitched screech came and, from a break in the clouds, another huge insect-like creature dove towards him. Upon seeing the brighter, bluer patterns across the body, Elsa immediately recognised it as Mothra.
Battra leapt into the air, claws at the ready, determined to defeat his opponent. The two insects collided in mid-air, the shockwave making the ground rumble. Elsa watched as Battra bit down on Mothra's neck and struck her across the head. She retaliated with a flap of her wings that sent him back, then dove into him and threw him into the pyramid with a thunderous CRASH that demolished the burning structure.
"Girls, run!"
That voice! She knew it.
Three figures appeared out of the smoke and dust in front of her. As they neared, Elsa saw that one of them, taller than the other two, had their arms draped over the shoulders of the other two figures, comforting her, reassuring her she would be alright. When they came close enough for their faces to be seen, Elsa could not believe her eyes.
Belvera was in the middle and had Moll and Lora, all of whom looked the same age, and the twins were no different, aside from donning clothes that looked like a white dress/robe mixed together. Their older sibling, however, had more black hair and her clothing was similar to her sisters'. A bloodied wound was visible across her side and she cried out as they moved down the street, Moll looking back over their shoulders to see Mothra be knocked aside by Battra again.
"It's okay, Belvera, we'll make it!" Lora spoke as they passed Elsa, disregarding her existence whilst the queen stared in surprise, wondering how they could be helping their older sibling, and also how they could not see her. What's going on here? I'm a ghost to them!
The three girls cried out in terror as the silhouette of something huge landed nearby, its legs crushing the buildings on either side of the street, its burning red eyes akin to the flames of hell glaring out across the devastated landscape of the city. It purred admirably, satisfied with the destruction being wrought upon the civilisation. It would be the start of a new dawn, a new age, once the pesky moth had been dealt with, and as for the 'father', well …
Looking down, the eyes caught sight of the figures in the street, a nasty smile crossing the face. Found you!
Moll and Lora dragged Belvera away, terrified, petrified almost to the point of passing out at the sight of the behemoth. It leaned in towards them, its face becoming clear in the glow of the fires and what little light there was from above. Elsa swallowed and tried to back away too, her hand instinctively brushing against her abdomen, feeling the wound it had brought upon her long ago.
Megaguirus!
The 'Dark Goddess', the one whom she remembered the girls telling her had brought the downfall of their island, the end of their civilisation and the corruption of their sister. And the one who had almost killed her.
Megaguirus growled, running a black tongue over her jagged, demonic teeth, grinning evilly at the sight of the terrified sisters below her, revelling in their fear of her. She had them now, especially the middle one.
She rose up, bringing her tail with the poisonous stinger towards them. Moll and Lora screamed. Elsa cried out in alarm, wanting to rush forward and help them, but she could not. She tried to fire ice at the gigantic demon, but nothing came.
Oh no!
Megaguirus gently flapped her wings, knocking back Moll and Lora from their elder sibling. Belvera fell to the ground, crying out when her side hit the ground. She looked up at Megaguirus, pleading with her to stop, to let her go, to end the madness.
The Dark Goddess merely smile a nasty smile and lunged at her, and the moment they made contact the world turned once more. Elsa frantically checked her surroundings, but there was nothing. The entire city, the people, the images of Moll, Lora and Belvera, the fighting behemoth insects; all of it was gone. Now it was empty, save for her, and silent like purgatory.
I-I have to get out of here! Elsa thought to herself frantically. B-but how?
As she tried to find a way out of … wherever this was, a pungent, smoky smell hit her nostrils. More fire? She looked around but saw nothing, no buildings, no people, no flames. How could there be a fire if she could not see it, there was not even a glow from a fire anywhere. What was going on? Where was she? Where was Cthulhu?
The world shifted once again, and Elsa suddenly found herself in the middle of a town square, only, like where she had been moments before, it too had become a burning wasteland. The buildings, visible in the glow of the fires, revealing a more oriental architectural style, were all either partially or completely destroyed. Some had their top halves missing, others Elsa could only see the smouldering foundations of what had probably been either a house or shop. A few other buildings on the paths that led out of the square had not been spared either, with one large structure having the front and most of the left side torn off. Rubble lay strewn across the place and mixed in with it, Elsa could see an occasional body, the smell of death and decay hanging in the air, the glow of fires close and distant made her feel like she was in hell all over again. Yet, this time, there were no cries. No panicked wails, no figures running to and fro from place to place, no screams or terror. She was all alone here.
"Mama!"
She spun round and saw a small figure crouched over something on the ground about twenty feet away in the corner of the square, sobbing like a young child. Elsa rushed over, finally being able to move, wanting to see if she could help. When she came closer and the figure and the object became more visible from the darkness, she stopped dead, a horrified expression, a cry in her throat.
A young child, a boy no more than six, sat wailing on the floor next to the body of a corpse, one that was charred and bloodied beyond recognition. She could only tell it had been a living, breathing woman because of the torn red dress that the young child was clutching in his hand, pulling at it as he tried to wake her up, not understanding her real fate. Seeing this made bile rise in Elsa's throat, and she had to turn and gagged a few times before coughing up vomit on the ground. Hot tears stung at her eyes as she chocked out a sob.
What had happened here? Why had it happened? What could have come and laid waste to a village and left the entire place burning and destroyed and leaving an innocent child alone with its dead mother?! Why was all this happening? Was this hell coming to earth for real? Was it the apocalypse?
I have to help the child she mentally told herself, trying to calm herself down. She had to get him to safety. Hopefully there were others out there, others who could take him in, and who could fill her in on what was going on.
As she walked over to the child, trying not to look at the body of his mother, she wondered if she would be able to interact with him, given that at the place before, she had not been able to interact with the Mu sisters. Still, when she reached the toddler, she knelt down and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Amazingly, she felt it connect and the boy turned to her, showing his dirty, worn, tear-soaked face to the queen that made her heart break in two.
"Hey, it's okay," she said to him soothingly as she knelt down and cradled him in her arms, holding him close as she tried not to look down at his mother's unmoving form.
The child babbled something in his native language, but Elsa could not understand him. She just tried to soothe him with comforting words, praying that someone else out there would still be alive.
As she looked down at the body of his mother, she almost jumped backwards and screamed when she saw it moan and lift its head. Gingerly, tentatively, Elsa leaned in, her hand shaking, almost withdrawing in its motion to the body.
The woman's hand, blackened, bloodied, even flaking and crumbling in some parts, shot out and grabbed Elsa's hand, gripping it tightly, her fingers digging into the queen's (the child had gone silent).
Elsa's breath caught in her throat, eyes almost popping out of their sockets, face a look of absolute horror as if she had witnessed her worst nightmare, the biggest fear, the devil himself. The woman's black hair covered most of her face (Elsa was internally grateful for that) but one of her bloodshot and almost abnormally wide eyes stared back at her.
"Y-yo-you!" the woman gasped, her voice raspy and almost coming out as a whisper. "G-Gojira!"
Elsa stared at the woman, dumbfounded as well as scared shitless. Go-what?! What did she mean?
The woman's hand fell limp from hers and thudded to the ground, startling the queen. Movement below made her look and she cried out and leapt backwards as the young child fell to the ground, his body also now blackened and unmoving like his mother's. Elsa's chest heaved with terror, petrified at the sudden revelation, tears falling from her eyes again. She wanted to burst into tears, to cry out, to scream, shout. This was horrific. Too much! Too much!
BOOM! The ground shook. BOOM! Again! BOOM! This time more, enough for a half-destroyed building somewhere behind her to collapse. Once more the earth quaked as if an earthquake was coming. Elsa's terrified blue eyes searched the surrounding landscape, trying to form ice in her hands, feeling something surge through her again like before.
Something's coming! She searched the black/orange sky, looking for something big. Nothing!
Where is it?
Another BOOM shook the ground more, almost knocking Elsa off her feet. A huge silhouette appeared outside the glow of the fires, probably near the edge of this village, or what was left of it. She stared up at it, taking in the huge form that seemed to touch the sky, dominating her peripheral vision as it turned to look to its side at something. She could make out its curved head, a snout, the huge spires sticking out of the back, the huge torso -
She stopped. Spires?
She shook her head, lip quivering, trying to speak, but no words came out. No! No!
Lightning forked its way across the sky silently, but the urge came back, coursing through her veins, her hands tingling. Flashes of Arendelle raced through her mind, the terror and horror of that dream, that nightmare coming back like a wave of bad memories. She felt her power growing, something inside raging to escape, a storm preparing to be unleashed.
The huge form stopped and turned to face her, a pair of crystal, luminescent blue eyes glaring down at her. A deafening growl came from the beast and she saw the spires across its back turn blue as it raced from the tail to the back of the head, the all-too familiar charging sound filling the air.
"No!" she cried out, her emotions turning from fear to shock. No! Not again! "No! NO!" she screamed.
How could he do this?! How?! How could he do this to a village, to its people?! There were just kids here, entire families! What did they do to deserve this?! Nothing!
I'll … I'll … I'll …
She did not want to say it – mentally, or verbally. But she knew it was in there. And with what she had seen him do before, and here, she knew it was going to be done.
The charging sound raised in volume. Instinctively, Elsa thrust her arms out at the huge beast towering over the village, who fired back at her with his atomic breath.
What happened next was a blur as the world seemed to explode in light like a supernova igniting in the vast blackness of space. She was falling, the world seemingly collapsing beneath her, time becoming irrelevant. A voice spoke to her, its sound barely akin to a whisper.
"Now you know, Elsa,"