Godzilla X Kong from Shimo's POV
I am alone in the pit. My world is tiny, three walls of rock and one of lava. The heat pains me. I was born to wander the fields of ice and bask in the freezing air and instead I am trapped here in the heat and stone. I cannot leave. The lava would wound, maybe kill me, but I cannot even reach it. The harness around my neck, crafted from the spinal cords of titans I have forgotten, binds me, giving me only enough room to lie down. I do not know how long I have been here. I have slept for many millennia. It is better that way. When I am awake the boredom and continent claws at my mind. Sometimes I claw at my own scales in despair. Other times I pull at my harness, even though I cannot escape it. So I sleep and do not know how long I have been here. But I know why.
The tyrant ape stole my prime crystal. Plucked it from my head while I was asleep. While he holds it, I cannot resist him. He forced me to slaughter many titans and tiny ones. I do not like violence. All titans must fight to live, but that was no battle for survival. It was senseless murder. And when the tyrant and his apes were imprisoned by the lord of titans, he locked me in the pit, where I have been ever since.
The lava is blocked and I can see beyond my pit. The tyrant does this sometimes. Uses me to scare his subjects, or kill them. I see another ape, a challenger to the tyrant. The tyrant orders me to kill this challenger. I do not want to. Could the challenger win? Would he free me?
The tyrant uses the crystal and my world turns to pain. Resisting the crystal is wrong. Every nerve fiber in my body screams at me to obey and when I do not, they burn. I cannot take the pain, so I obey. I open my mouth and winter itself flows from my jaws. I was born of the cold and the cold is within me. I can command it to come forth and turn the world to winter. Now I use it on the challenger. He is hurt and tries to flee. Another ape helps him escape. The tyrant’s prince. The tyrant is angry but I do not see what happens next. The lava flows again and my world becomes tiny again.
The lava parts again and the tyrant’s subjects remove the harness from my neck. I want to run away and be free again. I want to attack the tyrant, freeze him from the inside out. But while he holds the crystal I will never be free. He says we are going to war. The same war he fought before I was confined to the pit. Maybe he will die this time. Maybe I will.
The tyrant rides on my back as we march to a vortex. His touch is repulsive. My scales feel like they wish to rot away. I hardly notice. I am out of the pit and back in the below world. I can feel the wind on my scales, smell the pollen of countless plants, gaze upon the ground above. I could barely remember what it was like to be out of the pit, but now the memories come rushing back. They are cruel memories. They remind me that I am not free.
We are at the vortex. It is next to a city of tiny ones. I can tell they are afraid of us. The tiny ones revered titans when I was free. We have enemies here. The lord of the titans, the queen, and the challenger and prince. I have to fight, even though I do not want to. The pain of disobeying is worse than the wounds of battle.
The tiny ones did something with their pyramids. We can all fly now. I have never flown before and don’t know what to make of it. I have no time to think about it. The lord of titans wants my head and I have no choice but to fight him. We fall and the tyrant orders me to enter the vortex.
The tyrant and I are on the surface now. I came here once and brought winter to the world. The tyrant does not let me look at the sky. He tells me to freeze it, to bring winter again. The pain makes me obey. We are next to another tiny one city. Bigger than the one below. The tyrant orders me to freeze it. I kill so many tiny ones.
The lord of titans and the challenger are here now. I am charged with facing the lord. Our kinds are similar, but mine were of the ice and snow and his were of the sea. We crash through the tiny ones’ building. I freeze him, but he breaks my ice with atomic fire. This fight will be a hard one and I do not know if I can win. I do not know if I want to.
The tyrant’s whip is broken and the crystal lies on the ground! If only I could reach it, reclaim myself. But the tyrant’s last orders still echo in my nerves and the lord of titans will not relent in his attack. Do I dare to hope? It has been so long I fear I have forgotten how. And if I hope and the tyrant reclaims the crystal what will I do? Is it worth hoping if it turns to despair later?
The prince has come to the surface, carrying the challenger's weapon. He brings it down on the prime crystal and it is destroyed. I am free! I can think for myself again, act on my own again! Beneath my joy, there is anger. The tyrant must pay for what he did to me. The challenger lifts the tyrant up and I unleash winter onto him. He freezes, veins bursting and bones breaking, and the challenger crushes him to dust and gore. I should roar in triumph, but all I feel is relief. It is over, my tormenter is dead and I am free.
I now feel gratitude. It is thanks to the challenger that I am free. He declares that he will free the other apes just as he and the prince freed me. I have been watching the challenger. He is wise and kind. I am honored to give him my allegiance. I bow to my new king, to King Kong. Together we will lead the apes out of their prison and into a new future. Someday soon I will once again wander the ice fields and bask in the freezing air. My world is no longer tiny.
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