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Iwi Territory.
Two Monarch off-road vehicles finally reached their destination.
Beyond the torn bio-membrane, Titan Apes lay scattered across the landscape, every one of them bearing fresh marks of battle. The largest had been bound with Hollow Earth vines and positioned beside a mountain stream, kept under the watch of several Iwi warriors.
"There are this many Titan Apes here."
"They're all Kong's kind." Dr. Ilene Andrews pushed open the door and stepped out, staring up at the colossal creatures at close range, her voice carrying genuine shock.
She had spent five years studying Kong on Skull Island. She knew this species better than almost anyone.
The surface world's Titan Apes had been wiped out entirely, hunted to extinction through relentless Skullcrawler attacks, leaving Kong the last of his kind. She had thought coming to the Hollow Earth would finally give him that back , a family to return to. Looking at this now... the Titan Apes down here were clearly not the gentle sort.
"Jia's over there. She's waiting for us." Natsuki had been in the middle of roughing up the Wise One when the Monarch convoy rolled in. He walked over, fished two hamburgers out of one of the vehicles, and ate while nodding toward the Iwi stone temple.
Jia was only seven or eight years old. Even if she recognized these Titan Apes as her own people, she still wanted to move with the group.
"These Titan Apes — they attacked this place?" Dr. Ishiro Serizawa came to stand beside Natsuki, studying the giant ape whose head was a collection of fresh lumps.
No question who was responsible for that. And anyone Natsuki had beaten that thoroughly was never a decent creature to begin with.
The fact that these apes had launched an attack on the Iwi made him think of Kong, somewhere on the other side of all this. That big creature had come down here to find family. If every Titan Ape in the Hollow Earth was this aggressive, Kong would end up walking straight into conflict.
"That's right. They were trying to seize the Hollow Earth passage here." Natsuki nodded.
This had been coordinated. Premeditated. Not a random Titan attack.
"Good thing we split up when we did." Dr. Serizawa recalled that Jared and Old De had gone ahead with Kong's group, and some of the tension in his shoulders eased.
Those two handled emergencies well. Even if Kong came under attack, it wouldn't turn into a slaughter, and they could get word back quickly if things went wrong.
The group moved through the forest and arrived at the Iwi stone temple. The priestess was already waiting outside to receive them, her scale armor catching the faint light.
Under ordinary circumstances, the Iwi would not have opened their doors to surface-dwellers. But they had just watched a giant tear through the attackers with their own eyes and felt the goodwill behind every blow. These outsiders were welcomed accordingly.
'Welcome, visitors from above.' The priestess dipped her head toward the group, speaking through her mind.
The Iwi's telepathy only reached within their own tribe, and to certain Titan Apes. Surface humans had no capacity for it , no ability to receive the signal, no way to convert it into language inside their minds. Not one of them noticed she was speaking to them at all.
Then again, not everyone's telepathy was going to match the old man from the Space Garrison. Even Jia — after only a few days of training from him — already had a much stronger mental reach than any of the Monarch personnel standing here.
"She says they welcome us." Natsuki translated for Dr. Serizawa and the two soldiers beside him.
"The honor is ours." Dr. Serizawa gave a small nod in return, his tone unhurried and courteous.
'Please, this way.' The priestess raised a hand and led them toward the temple's interior.
Everyone followed.
The ancient structure was built into the mountainside. Inside opened a vast space. The inner chamber had been fashioned from a quartz-like crystal that came in every color, and at the far end stood two enormous conical formations , one rising from the floor, one descending from the ceiling, their tips aimed directly at each other with just a narrow gap between them. They looked like they answered to two opposing gravities at once.
'You transform into a giant through light, yes?' the priestess asked, her gaze settling on Natsuki as they walked.
She had watched the entire fight from beginning to end. The light radiating from that giant matched the description carved into their ancient walls.
The girl of the prophecy had already come. Now she needed to confirm whether the light was this man standing before her.
'That's not quite right.'
'I don't use light to become a giant. I am that giant. And I am also that light.' Natsuki corrected her.
He was currently his true self moving through the world in a human form , no host, no human counterpart.
'Then... you must be the light the prophecy speaks of.' The certainty settled inside the priestess, and something that felt like relief followed close behind it.
The light had come. They would not face the darkness alone.
'Prophecy?'
'What prophecy?' Natsuki blinked.
How did he end up in an Iwi prophecy?
Though, thinking back across his travels, it wasn't unheard of. There were races on certain planets that could read the future through forces even he didn't pretend to understand. And from what he'd exchanged with other Ultra Warriors, humans on Earth had turned up with prophetic abilities too. Honestly, it wasn't surprising when humans developed any ability whatsoever , reportedly there were even humans capable of sealing monsters and vengeful spirits dozens of meters tall with nothing but their own bodies.
And that wasn't even the strangest thing he'd heard. Taro had mentioned crossing paths with several humans during a mission on Earth who'd gone head-to-head with monsters and walked away without a scratch.
'It's inside this chamber.' The priestess brought them to the door of the mural room, pushed it open, and stepped through.
It was pitch black inside.
Then the priestess tilted a container of glowing liquid into the depression carved into the central stone floor. A faint blue luminescence spread through the chamber, and the murals surrounding them emerged from the dark.
'According to what our ancestors recorded, the Scar King will return and march alongside the Frost Vark, launching an assault on both the Hollow Earth and the surface at once. The world will be frozen again.'
'And Jia can lead us through this catastrophe.' The priestess stepped up to the mural, pointing to the scene of the girl awakening Mothra, her thoughts directed at both Natsuki and Jia.
Natsuki studied the image of Mothra breaking from her cocoon and tilted his head.
"Mothra isn't dead. She's alive and well right now. Why does the prophecy have her being reborn?"
The priestess went still.
What?
Could a prophecy be... wrong?
➤ Next: The Temple
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