Date: 2021-08-26 04:00:00+00:00
Description: Giant monsters are attacking, and no city is safe! When Drakon, king of the Kaiju, attacked his home, Eric’s life changed forever. With buildings crumbling around him and giant monsters battling for dominance, he thought he was a dead man. Saved by the sacrifice of another, Eric inherits a rare and powerful gift—the ability to transform into a Kaiju. Bonded with an AI control system and pressed into working for the United Nations, Eric stands as one of humanity’s last defenders against the Kaiju threat. First, he’ll need to grow in both power and stature if he wants to protect the Earth, defea

Level Up, Kaiju!

A LitRPG Adventure

Tracy Gregory

P.W Hillard Fiction

Copyright © 2021 P.W Hillard Fiction

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Cover design by: ArtsByRats
Typography by: Mibalart
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter One

Rubble slammed into the street. The section of skyscraper cast aside with casual ease, claws tearing it away as they lashed out towards the beast standing guardian before the fleeing crowd. The ground shook as the owner of the claws took a step forward, pivoting on its scaly heel to swing a second time. Talons crashed against the defender’s fur, a spurt of dark blood splattering across the street below.

Eric ran, his legs pounding across the road as he fled as fast as he could. He had seen them on the news, everyone had, but witnessing them up close was something else. Cities across the world were in ruins, smashed apart by the gigantic beasts crawling out from the ocean or breaking through the crust of the earth. Despite the widespread carnage, some part of Eric had never expected them to appear in his home. It being on the news made it feel far away.

Kaiju. It was a Japanese word, one that meant strange beast, if you were translating it literally. More commonly it was the accepted term for the kind of giant monster that appeared in movies, rubber-suited men trampling cardboard cities. The term had caught on for the massive monstrosities that appeared almost instantly, though real tails slamming through real bridges lacked the same kind of campy appeal and skipped right into terrifying.

Eric couldn’t help but glance behind himself as he ran, the people around him not stopping to do the same. The monster attacking the city was an enormous reptile, a thick heavy-set beast with wide hips and dark green scales. It had a long curved horn on its nose with a sharp edge, a scimitar-like appendage that matched the jagged ferocity of the spikes running down its spine. It looked almost like a dinosaur, were it not for the long arms easily capable of tearing chunks from its opponent, the reptile moving with surprising speed.

Its opponent was a strange-looking thing. It had the same basic shape, the wide gait, the long scaled tail, but the majority of its body was covered in thick shaggy fur. The creature had a flat face, a mammalian-looking visage that resembled a squashed dog. Horns curved outwards from its temples like a bull.

Both monsters were known to Eric. The reptile was called Drakon, the most famous of the Kaiju. The beast had destroyed at least six cities, along with countless ships and even a handful of planes. Its name had been given to it by the corporation who owned the cargo vessel that had been its first target, part of an attempt at monetizing the creature, something everyone had agreed was in poor taste. The name had stuck, however.

The monster fighting it was officially known as bio-construct thirty-six, though it was more commonly known as Pug because of its squashed canine features. The battle against the Kaiju had been a distinctly one-sided fight when they had first arisen, the monsters easily able to shrug off the worst the militaries of the world had to throw at them. Even nuclear weapons had proven useless, the first Kaiju to be struck with one had simply absorbed the explosion into itself and released it as a devastating beam weapon. The bio-constructs were the answer, artificially grown Kaiju under human command, trained to stand and fight against their aggressive kin.

Pug was losing, that much was obvious. Claw marks covered its hide, thick purple blood dripping onto the streets and forming rancid lakes. The blood of a Kaiju was toxic, the substance rapidly twisting any human it touched into a pile of walking tumours within moments. Rumour on the internet maintained that it was capable of mutating life, that animals exposed to it became Kaiju eventually, defeating the monsters just creating more of them in the long run.

Blue light began to creep out from underneath the scales of Drakon, arcs of electricity starting to form across its scales. It charged, raising its right fist, the energy coalescing around its clamped fingers. Eric recognised the attack from the news, it was what made Drakon so dangerous.

Pug ducked at the last moment, bringing its body forward to meet its thundering adversary. The strike missed, Drakon’s fist crashing into an office building, lightning blasting out across the side of the structure, molten glass dripping to the ground. The reptile roared with agony as Pug stepped away. The brave defender of humanity had used the weight of its opponent to its advantage, skewering the side of Drakon with one of its horns.

Blood poured from the wound, flowing into the city below in a torrent, the substance quickly filling the streets. It took Eric a moment to snap out of his trance, he had been transfixed by the two duelling titans. He was alone in the street now, the other people around him having the foresight to keep running. They had made the right decision, the wall of indigo blood rushing towards Eric was like an oncoming tsunami. He thought momentarily about running, before realising that there was no way he could outpace what was coming. If only the Kaiju warning alarms had gone off a few minutes earlier, he could have made it to one of the evacuation convoys.

The flood hit Eric hard, knocking him off his feet and spinning him around as it washed over him. He could feel his skin tingling, like he had been dunked into a tank of electrified water, the hairs on his arms standing on end. As he tumbled, Eric flailed about, looking for something, anything, a lifeline in the ocean of monster blood he found himself lost in. His hand gripped around something and pulling with all his might Eric managed to wrap his other arm around what he was certain was a lamppost. He couldn’t be sure; the blood burnt his eyes when he tried to open them. Eric simply held on as hard as he could. He knew he was a dead man; no one could survive such direct contact with Kaiju blood, but his instincts were taking over, fighting for every scrap of life that he could manage.

The flood stopped, the level of blood lowering as it spread through the streets nearby. Eric felt himself moving with it as the grisly tide abated. He braved opening his eyes even though they still stung from the blood he had gotten in them.

Drakon was standing almost directly above him, the great godlike beast blocking out the sun. In one hand it held the body of Pug in the air, Drakon’s reptile fingers clutched around the artificial monster’s neck. A sickening cracking noise filled the air as Drakon squeezed, the breaking of gigantic bones like the felling of a thousand trees at once.

Its prey killed and its conquest complete, Drakon tipped back its head and unleashed a roar of victory. The wound on its chest had closed, cauterised by its own lightning grasp. Triumphant, the Kaiju thrummed with power, unleashing a blast of electricity from its maw that raced up into the sky, a beam of coruscating blue energy that split the clouds. It tossed the body of Pug away casually and turned back towards the ocean. The destruction of the city would have to wait until its wounds had healed.

For Eric, the casual dropping of Pug was apocalyptic. The body crashed into a building nearby, sending the tower block crumbling to the ground, dust and rubble rolling outwards like the wave of blood that had just hit him. He was consumed by darkness, the outer edge of the rocky storm hitting him in moments. Eric tried to stand, to fight against the blast, only to feel something hit his head hard. He blacked out instantly, stunned by the blow.

***

Host deceased. Beginning search for suitable host.

Compatible lifeform detected. Emergency bonding procedure protocol accepted. Beginning ambulation towards target.

Scanning potential host. Kaiju essence resistance confirmed. Subject survived contact with category 5B Kaiju, codename “Drakon”. Kaiju essence resistance beyond accepted parameters.

Survival of host paramount. Unable to contact network for bonding authorisation. Proceeding with bonding process under emergency bonding protocol.

***

Eric woke up, his head throbbing hard from where he had been struck by rubble. He half expected to be dead but was pleased to find that not only was he alive, but somehow had escaped being buried by the cataclysmic amount of debris around him. His head hurt, but a quick touch of the hand confirmed that Eric wasn’t bleeding. Like not being buried alive, that too seemed extremely unlikely. He brought his arm back down, the limb freezing in place as Eric noticed something.

Attached to his right arm, about halfway up his forearm, was a metal band. Atop that was what looked like a gemstone, an emerald green rock that caught what little light could fight its way through the cloud of dust that filled the air around him. From the edges of the band, a thick collection of wires dug into his skin, the metal tendrils visible under the surface as they burrowed into his flesh.

“What the hell?” Eric mumbled, his throat sore from the mouthfuls of Kaiju blood he had accidentally swallowed.

“Regenerative process completed. Host resuscitation successful.” The voice rattled from within the band, the emerald flashing bright green in time with its words. It had an oddly formal voice with the twinge of an upper-class British accent. It was like a butler had been trapped inside the jewellery.

“Again, what the hell?” Eric had never seen anything like the device wrapped around his arm. The parts of it that were buried into his body were freaking him out.

“Welcome! Congratulations, you have successfully installed the Auratech F-19 Essence Matrix. New user information loading. Threat detected, multiple 1B class Kaiju converging on this location. Skipping new user information.”

“No, don’t skip! I need to know what the hell you are!” It hadn’t escaped Eric’s notice that the device had warned him of incoming Kaiju. If he remembered what he had learnt from the endless government information messages that bracketed every online video, category one Kaiju were the smallest. Generally, they were parasites that latched onto the bigger beasts or followed in their wake. The letter indicated their origin, though Eric couldn’t remember what the letter B meant. Not that it mattered, monsters were monsters as far as he was concerned.

“This device is an Auratech F-19 Essence Matrix.”

“What does that even mean?” Eric shouted, the frustration bursting out from within him.

“This device recommends that noise be kept to a minimum level. Advanced hearing is a common trait of class B Kaiju. My detection radius is currently impeded by low power levels thanks to emergency ambulation and bonding procedures,” the jewel said.

“Ambulation?”

“Walking. I recommend that you do the same. Bonding is complete but full neural integration will take more time. Until such point functions are limited. Essence attribution, unavailable. Manifestations, unavailable. Transmutation, unavailable.”

“I have no idea what any of those things are,” Eric said. The device wasn’t proving the most helpful thing in the world. He couldn’t imagine it walking and he was certain it meant it had slid over to him on the tentacles that were now embedded in his arm. From where It had come from was a mystery. A flash of light forced its way through the dust, the beam cast from a helicopter that had raced overhead. The shadow of Pug appeared amongst the swirling cloud and Eric was surprised how far away it seemed. Being swept up in the debris must have sent him flying. Nothing made sense. He should have been buried, or crushed, not to mention all the stories he had heard about Kaiju blood made it sound like death should have been instant. “Any idea what direction these monsters are coming from?”

“West of our position.”

“Great, I’ll just whip out a compass, shall I?”

To Eric’s surprise, an image appeared above the emerald, a hologram projected from within the jewel. It was a simple compass, one that pointed towards the north without the swaying he was used to.

“Power reserves low, maintaining this hologram will consume an additional zero point three per cent power per hour. Current reserves are at six per cent and falling,” the device said.

“It doesn’t seem like running this hologram is a problem then. How close are these Kaiju?”

“Approximately thirty meters.”

That was much closer than Eric would have liked, especially when even the smallest Kaiju were capable of traversing vast distances quickly. The last thing he wanted was to survive against all odds twice in a row only to meet his end in some monster’s belly.

“Any ideas on where I should go?”

“United Nations Kaiju relief teams have an evacuation cordon eight point nine kilometres due east from our location. This unit will require maintenance due to emergency bonding procedures before it can operate at full capacity.”

“Right, right. They can remove you, right?”

“Removal of this unit is possible, yes. Warning, removing your Auratech F-19 Essence Matrix includes common side effects such as death, cerebral haemorrhaging, nervous system damage-”

“I get the point!” Eric said, the words escaping as a raspy whisper as he tried to keep his voice low. “East it is then. What should I call you?”

“I am the Auratech F-19 Essence Matrix.”

“Yeah, I know,” Eric said as he started to walk, using the compass projecting from his arm to guide his way. He didn’t want to think about just how far he needed to go, especially with Kaiju lurking about in the thick dust cloud. “But like, what’s your name? You’re clearly an AI of some kind, like on my phone. Even that has a name.” Eric’s phone had been dropped during his flight, shattering on the ground and trampled underfoot. Not that it would have worked, most Kaiju disrupted communications around them somehow.

“This unit is the Auratech F-19 Essence Matrix. That is my moniker.”

“Wow, whoever made you had no intention of being user friendly, did they?”

“I am not designed for widespread usage. The F-19 Essence Matrix is a Kaiju essence manipulation and control system intended to allow compatible hosts access to their abilities.”

“Sure, right,” Eric said as if anything that the AI was saying made sense. “I’ll call you Aura then.”

“If you wish.”

A howl rang through the darkness, a piercing wail that filled Eric with dread. Something about the sound was unearthly, like the creatures making it were things that did not belong. They had to be closing in on Eric. The corpse of Pug nearby was probably drawing them in, an easy source of food for the creatures.

“It would be nice if I could see where I’m going,” Eric said. The dust was making it impossible to tell what was ahead of him, and the rubble-strewn about was making the terrain treacherous.

“I can provide light, should it be required,” Aura said. “I would not recommend it however, class B Kaiju are usually enraged by bright light, and even with it they will have the advantage in this dust.”

“Class B, what does that mean?” Eric put a foot onto a section of wall, one that still had a poster clinging to it advertising a company picnic for whatever business had operated in the building before it was shattered. Eric was still keeping his voice as low as he could.

“Class B Kaiju originate from what is known colloquially as the Lost Earth. A series of grand subterranean tunnels deep beneath the Earth’s crust. This class of Kaiju are adapted to the darker environment and often sport adaptations such as sonar, whiskers, or improved hearing. Also common is the ability to tunnel or climb and Kaiju of this class often sport heavy armour.”

“Fantastic, just what I need, monsters who can hunt me in all of this,” Eric said, gesturing around him. “How close are they now.”

“Ten metres.”

Eric sighed. Running was pointless now. It was obvious the creatures stalking him would catch him in moments. His only choice was to hide and hope that they passed him by. He glanced around, trying to find a hiding spot. In the swirling grey dust, he could make out a faint glow, the welcoming light of a still working sign. It was a better choice than standing in the rubble-strewn street.

The howls were getting close, so Eric broke into a run, sprinting towards the light. As he got closer, he could make out that it was for a small convenience store. The front door was open, a chunk of rubble crashing through the thin metal shutter and smashing through the glass. He ducked inside, breathing in deeply to fit through the gash in the metal. Once again, he realised just how miraculous his survival was.

“How am I alive?” Eric said as he stepped into the shop proper. The aisles were still lined with food, Drakon’s assault coming as a total surprise. There were supposed to be early warning systems in place to track the movements of Kaiju, but it had just come crashing through the surface of the bay, water sloughing off its scales.

“Clarification required. This unit has information on basic biology, reproduction-”

“I mean how did I survive Drakon’s blood, and the building coming down when Pug died?”

“Host bodies present a natural resistance to the effects of Kaiju blood. It is this very fact that makes them suitable to install an F-19. As for the collapse, large amounts of my power went into moving rubble and regenerating your form. It took several hours to complete.”

“Moving rubble? You moved rubble?”

“In times of emergency, F-19 units are capable of ambulation and manipulating their surroundings.  These actions risk permanent damage to the unit and are to only be completed to transfer to a new host.”

“You could have just not embedded yourself into my arm? Why was that necessary?”

“As stated, F-19 units require a host,” Aura said, the AI’s tone shifting to that of a condescending parent. “A human nervous system is required to mount my operating software. Without it, I would simply degrade into nothing. F-19 units are irreplaceable.”

“Great a machine that wants to live,” Eric said, moving behind the tills and ducking behind the desk. The howling was worryingly close now. “How far are they?” he whispered.

“Three metres,” Aura replied, the volume kept low. “Silence is recommended.”

Loud rattling filled the shop as something squeezed its way through the gap in the shutter. A tinkle of glass followed as it knocked some of the jagged shards left hanging in the doorframe. It snorted and sniffed as it moved, seeking out its unseen prey.

Eric could see the Kaiju. In the corner of the room was a rounded mirror, one that covered a security camera to hide its movements. The beast was a bizarre thing, a gangly creature that walked on its forearms like a gorilla. Its torso looked emaciated, whilst its arms were thin grey strands. The monster’s head was bat-like, its eyes beady black dots.

Emergency booting essence management system.

Essence available 135.

Spending 100 essence into Drakon essence rank one.

Spending 25 essence into Drakon manifestation rank one.

Drakon Essence: The essence of a powerful 5B Kaiju. Heavily armoured and with the ability to channel lightning, this essence is a powerful asset.

Drakon manifestation unlocked—Lightning punch. Channels bioelectricity into special scales mounted on the arms. Discharges on physical contact, drastically increasing the damage of your attacks.

The compass hologram spluttered out, the light within the gemstone fading. Eric assumed that whatever Aura had done had consumed the bulk of his remaining power. He had no idea what any of the words that had appeared in his vision had meant, white text floating in the bottom left of his vision. Eric thought that it had to be the AI putting them there, it had mentioned bonding with him, and otherwise, it meant he was going mad. He suspected he might at some point, the idea of fusing with a machine didn’t thrill Eric, but that was a minor problem compared to being stalked by Kaiju.

The beast prowling through the shop let out another piercing howl, the aisle rattling from the force. The pitch increased, the sound getting higher and higher with each passing moment.

Eric peeked his head out, his curiosity about what the monster was doing overriding his common sense. His action proved foolish immediately as the monster’s head snapped directly towards him. He had made no sound, moving as carefully as he could. The speed at which the beast had moved told Eric that something had given him away, and his mind drifted back to what Aura had said about sonar. The high pitched howl made sense now.

“Nice monster,” Eric said, holding up his hands. There was no point being silent now that the beast had located him. “You don’t want to hurt me, do you?”

The creature let out another shriek, its maw opening to reveal the rows of fangs within. Spittle flew from its mouth, splattering across Eric’s face. The Kaiju towered over him, the top of its body scraping against the roof of the store. It crouched down ready to pounce, and even then, the monster was taller than Eric.

The creature leapt into the air, time seeming to slow as it flew towards Eric. It didn’t seem right to go out like this, not after surviving the attack of the gigantic Drakon. The notification in his vision had mentioned something about electrified punches, and Eric found himself wishing he was capable of that.

He dived aside at the last moment, attempting to evade the Kaiju. The creature crashed into the cigarette display behind the counter as Eric hit the tile floor, the device wrapped around his arm clinking as it hit the ceramic. Eric put out his hand to push himself up and was shocked at what he saw.

His hands and forearms as far as the device were covered in thick green scales, long black talons protruding from the end of each finger. Sparks danced around them, arcs of electricity leaping between each finger.

Lightning Punch activated.

Eric couldn’t help but smile. If a Kaiju was going to eat him, then at least he was going down fighting. Scrambling to his feet he turned to face the monster, the creature slamming its body into the counter and tearing it from the floor as it turned to face him.

Adopting a boxing stance, or at least what Eric thought was a boxing stance from television, he charged. The Kaiju was confused for a moment, the small prey animal rushing to attack it not a reaction it expected. Slamming one foot onto the floor and throwing all of his weight and momentum behind it, Eric punched the creature square on its dripping jaws.

The worst part was the smell. As Eric’s scaled hand struck the Kaiju the electricity around it leapt into the monster, burning the bottom of its jaw and launching it across the shop into the window, crashing through the glass into what remaining of the shutter. The beast tried to let out another howl, only to splutter as it perished.

Something strange began to happen, which was interesting to Eric considering that day had been filled with weirdness. A purple haze began to drift out from the dead Kaiju, a cloud that floated through the air and onto Eric’s skin. It sank in, vanishing in moments.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Lost Earth Prowler essence unlocked: A 1B Kaiju, the Prowler is a common creature in the Lost Earth. Pack predators, they have a powerful sonar that they can weaponize if needed.

Eric wasn’t entirely sure what had happened. The previous notifications had mentioned something about essence, and that spending it was what had unlocked his lightning punch, but he hadn’t expected it to be absorbed from dead Kaiju. The whole thing seemed like a video game like he had just earned experience points from defeating the monster. If spending essence into the Drakon option had unlocked lightning punch, then it followed that putting essence into the Prowler would provide other abilities. Was that what Aura meant when he said he was an essence matrix? And where had the device even come from?

The notification when away when Eric thought about removing it. That was good, it showed he had some control over the strange technology embedded in him. Just thinking about the lightning punch had been enough to activate it, so that seemed straightforward as well. The last line of the brief information on the Prowler lingered in his mind.

“I wonder what they mean by weaponize?” Eric said as the front of the shop exploded inwards.

Chapter Two

Eric’s ears throbbed where the sound had washed over them. A perfect circular hole had been blown in the shutter, the force shattering what remained of the window as the Kaiju outside had unleashed its wrath. The creature had focused its sonic power into a single devastating burst, a lance of sound that had struck with the force of a thunderbolt.

Essence field depleted. 74/100 remaining.

Eric was surprised to find he could stand despite being launched backwards by the sonic onslaught.  His body ached, but nowhere near as badly as he had expected it to. Whatever an essence field was it had to be protecting him somehow. Eric still had a thousand questions about the strange device embedded in his arm not least of which was where it had come from, but he was glad to have it.

Two more of the Kaiju squeezed their way through the newly made hole, the prowlers howling in anticipation as they saw the human inside. Great blobs of spit hung from their mouths, threatening to splatter on the tile cracking beneath their weight. They advance slowly towards Eric, confident that they had their prey surrounded.

“Come on then,” Eric said, a smug smile creeping across his lips. “You want to go? You’re in for a shock.” The pun made him smile, even though there was no one else to hear it. He concentrated his thoughts as he tried to summon his lightning punch.

Lightning punch unavailable. One minute remaining on cooldown.

“Great. Of course.” Things had been going too well. There had to have been a catch at some point. Panicking, Eric grabbed the nearest thing to hand he could, a bottle of water sitting on the shop shelf. He flung it through the air, the bottle bouncing off the nearest Kaiju and clattering against the floor. The creature just snarled in response, unphased by the attack.

There had to be another option. Having Aura implanted in his arm had let Eric unleash lightning and take a sonic blast without injury. It had to have something else that it could do.

Ducking beneath the claws of a Prowler, Eric tried everything he could think of to summon his options. “On? Powers? Uh, available abilities?”

Lightning punch. Forty-five seconds cooldown.

Transformation available.

Eric didn’t wait to find out more. He needed something to even the odds, anything. He focused his mind on the transformation ability as he attempted to activate it.

Purple light filled the shop, Eric glowing like a beacon. He could feel himself shifting, his body stretching and changing as it morphed into a new shape. It didn’t hurt, quite the opposite, the sensation was a pleasant one, like stretching a leg after hard exercise. The Prowlers back off for a moment as the transformation completed, the beasts awed by the energy being given off and their beady eyes blinded by the light.

When the light faded, Eric took a second to inspect his new form. His entire body was covered in the same thick scales that had appeared when he had summoned his lightning punch, his muscles tightly coiled beneath. He was hunched forward, his shoulders shifted tighter together. It was a strange feeling like he had suddenly developed a bend in his spine, though Eric felt no pain. He suddenly became aware he had an entire extra limb, a tail that swayed to his thoughts. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror obscuring the security cameras and realised what he had become when he saw Drakon staring back at him, though much smaller.

A Kaiju.

The transformation ability had morphed him into another being entirely, changing him from man to beast. Eric hoped desperately he could change back, being stuck as a monster forever wasn’t exactly appealing, but for now, at least he felt like he was on a more even playing field with the two Kaiju before him.

Eric took a step forward and immediately stumbled, his head bashing against the foam tiles of the shop’s ceiling and knocking them out of place. He wasn’t used to this body, and the stark difference in the way it moved had caught him off guard.

The prowlers had moved back, initially caught off guard by the appearance of an apex predator. Seeing its clumsy steps had restored their confidence, and one of them lunged towards Eric, sweeping its long foreleg like a whip towards him.

Scaled fingers clasped around the prowler’s arm, gripping it tightly. Eric surprised even himself that he had reacted too quickly. His new body had felt lumbering, heavy, but the power contained within it had allowed him to move at incredible speed. Eric tried to smile; his new body was capable of only a smirk at best.

He swung the prowler, testing the limits of his new strength. The creature flew through the air, crashing into its packmate and sending them both colliding with the aisle next to them. It toppled, slamming into the next one and causing a chain reaction that sent the contents of the shelves spilling to the floor. Eric flexed his hands, pleased with the results of his handiwork. Becoming a Kaiju wasn’t something he had ever expected, especially since Drakon had burst from the sea. Eric was more certain that he would have been crushed to death. He had to admit to himself that his current situation was at least, excessively cool.

“Right,” Eric said, his voice adopting a low rumbling growl as it thundered through his armoured maw. The horn that sat right at the centre of his vision was slightly distracting, providing a constant reminder of just how different he had become. “No more messing about, hey?”

Lightning coursed down Eric’s hands, the cooldown up on the ability. He had never been the kind of person to shy away from a fight. More than once—back when he was a child—he had gotten into trouble for fighting, normally because he had stepped in to stand up to a bully. That’s all these creatures were to Eric, bullies, things that were looking for an excuse to exercise what little power they had against those they saw as weaker. Eric didn’t stand for it as a kid, and he certainly wasn’t going to now.

He charged, swinging his fist overhead and bringing it slamming down onto the nearest fallen prowler. The creature screamed in agony as the blow struck, the strength of the punch painful on its own even before electricity leapt into its body. The beast shuddered then fell motionless, the strike enough to wound it fatally. Light flowed from the body and into Eric.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

“Yes. Good. Crush them,” a voice said, faint and distant. It sounded like a whisper caught on the wind, and Eric shrugged it off as his mind playing tricks on him.

The second prowler turned its head and opened its maw, its neck pulsating as energy built up within it. It unleashed a shriek, a focused beam of sonic power that sliced its way through the air towards Eric.

The blast was too fast, Eric unable to react even with his enhanced speed and power. It thudded into him, knocking him from his feet and launching him across the store. He crashed through the wall, the brick giving way under his weight. He hit the ground, rolling for a moment before coming to a stop.

Essence field depleted. 48/100 remaining.

Looking around Eric realised he was in the dining room of a restaurant, the blow launching him out of the shop entirely and into the business next door. The blast had drained his essence field further. Eric assumed that without it he was vulnerable and thought it easiest to think about the number as hit-points. As he did, they appeared in his view, floating in the bottom left of his vision along with a small green bar. That was useful, the notifications were large and obstructed his vision, so having it presented more concisely was an improvement. Eric wondered if Aura had altered it to match what he expected a hit point bar to look like. Despite its silence, the AI had to be working, and Eric assumed he was conserving power.

Through the gap in the wall, Eric could see that the prowler had stood, its knuckles pressing against the floor as it moved to face him. The impact of the sonic blast had dropped him below half of his available field, and Eric assumed he could take only a few more at most. He needed to end it, but his lightning punch was on cooldown again. He would have to finish it the old-fashioned way.

“Come on then!” he shouted, grabbing a nearby table. The restaurant was made up like an American diner from the fifties, and the table was a round heavy thing with chrome edging along the sides and a pin-up style drawing of a waitress on the top. Eric tore the tabletop free, the single trunk holding it up still bolted to the ground.

From the warbling motion of the prowler’s throat, Eric could tell that it was readying itself to fire another sonic beam. That it hadn’t done so immediately told him that it too was subject to a kind of cooling-off period, though it seemed substantially less than his lightning punch. He wasn’t going to let it finish, gripping the edge of the table with one hand and pulling his arm across his body. Eric flung the tabletop forward, the metal disc soaring through the air, the brief period in his early twenties when he was really into ultimate frisbee paying off.

The table struck the Kaiju with a clang, dislocating its bottom jaw and sending it reeling. It stepped on a large bottle of water as it stumbled, the plastic bursting under its weight with a loud bang.

Eric wasn’t going to give it a chance to recover, following up on his throw by charging through the gap. He trampled over the rubble, his shoulder lowered towards the Kaiju, all the weight and speed he could muster put behind it. He collided with the prowler in a tackle, knocking the beast to the ground. Scooping up the table laying on the ground next to the monster, Eric brought it down, both hands gripping the sides as it crashed into the skull of the Kaiju. He struck again, then again, raining blows down over and over as the beast’s skull began to cave. The vivid blood common to Kaiju splattered across Eric’s scaly hide, though he gave it no concern. If Aura was right then he had an immunity, and he saw no reason to disbelieve the AI.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Eric reached up to wipe sweat from his brow, an instinctive reaction to exerting himself, only to find he was oddly dry. He had forgotten that his form was now reptilian, the part of him that was still human clashing with the change in shape.

“Ok, uh, de-transform? Is that a word?” Eric said, trying to vocalise his thoughts. He was trying to disable the transformation, hoping desperately that it wasn’t a permanent change. Being a Kaiju had made him feel powerful like he could never have imagined, but it wasn’t exactly something that would make his everyday life convenient.

He began to glow, purple light shimmering from him. It pulsed outwards, filling the store with a radiant brief star. When it faded Eric was standing over the corpse of the prowler, his human form restored. He was glad to see that included his clothes, they hadn’t been torn apart when he had grown superhero style.

The immediate threat ended; Eric had no idea what he was going to do next. Trapped in a ruined city, the body of a giant Kaiju nearby whilst smaller ones lurked amongst the rubble. That wasn’t even considering the strange piece of technology that had appeared from who knew where and fused itself with his arm. At least with it, Eric wasn’t totally vulnerable, though he assumed that would only last as long as it had power. There had to be a way of recharging Aura somehow, though a quick inspection revealed no sockets or plugs. There was certainly no sliding a USB cable into the device.

“Now what do I do?” Eric said to himself.

“Crush. Maim. Destroy. Leave nothing in your wake,” said a whispering voice, the same one Eric had heard during the fight. This time he didn’t dismiss it, the words were in answer to his question.

“Who’s there? Show yourself?”

“I have nothing to show. Only a desire to rend this world asunder. To push the unworthy from its surface and scour it clean.”

Eric began to spin around, frantically looking for the source of the sound. He caught sight of himself in the camera mirror and stopped, fear paralysing him as he saw the shadow looming behind him.

“Who are you?” he said, watching the shape in the shimmering surface.

“I am rage, destruction, the vengeance of the world made manifest.”

Eric’s face dropped. The words hadn’t come from the shadow, but out of his own lips, spilling across them as he whispered to himself. He spun about to face the shadowy figure and wasn’t shocked to see that there was nothing there.

A booming laugh echoed from Eric’s throat, his attempt to stifle it down futile. “Why are you frightened, little thing? Do I scare you so? Good. Fear is good, it makes you strong. And you will need your strength if we are to purge this place.”

“What the hell is going on?”

Manifestation cascade detected. Beginning emergency purge of personality engrams.

“Hah! Your machine can’t remove me forever. You’ll be mine, eventually, your body, your spirit. Your hands will crush this nest and others. You might even do it willingly.”

Personality engrams purged. Manifestation cascade ended.

Warning. 2% battery remaining. Further manifestation cascades cannot be prevented. Insufficient power. User is reminded that use of Kaiju Essence without a matrix may result in permanent transformation, loss of control and permanent overriding of personality by hostile entities.

“Amazing. Just fantastic. How can I be reminded of anything when you haven’t told me in the first place! What does that even mean? What the hell is a personality engram?” Eric collapsed onto the tile floor and picked up a box of crackers that had fallen to the ground. “I knew today was going to be bad when I was running late for work.”

He had never made it in, Drakon appearing during his morning commute. It was only mid-day at the latest, but the storm of dust and concrete kicked up by the battling Kaiju had blocked out the sun and created an artificial night. Eric was still wearing his work clothes, a pair of black slacks, a white shirt and a thin black tie, all still stained bright pink by the Kaiju blood that had washed over him. The transformation had at least dried them somehow.

“Guess I don’t even have a job now, not really.” Eric worked for a major bank, though only in the mailroom, a job that was remarkably not obsolete yet thanks to the massive amount of paperwork the institution still insisted on. The building had been one of the first to crumble, earning a few half-hearted cheers from the watching crowd. “There many jobs for people who can turn into Kaiju?” he said, directing his words at the metal band around his arm. There was no reply. “Didn’t think so.”

In the distance, outside the shattered window of the shop, there was a howling noise. Another pack of prowlers was on the move. Eric knew it wasn’t safe to stop, not when his cover had been blown open by the first group. He didn’t dare get into another fight, not with Aura on so little battery. Eric didn’t know what a manifestation cascade was, but it had to be something to do with the voice and the shadow, both of which had now vanished. Whatever it was, the list of consequences Aura had displayed sounded like a living hell.

Shovelling a few crackers into his mouth, Eric stood up and began to stroll through the remnants of the shop. Without Aura’s compass to guide his way, he wasn’t sure that he would ever make it to the evacuation line. His best bet was to prepare to survive for as long as possible.

Grabbing a roll of bin bags from one of the few aisles still standing, he opened one bag then tucked it inside another to reinforce it. Walking around the store Eric put what foods he could grab inside. Energy bars, protein shakes, a few bread rolls and then as much candy as he could get his hands on. He didn’t remember much from his brief time in the scouts as a child, but Eric did have vivid memories of the emergency ration bars they had been given for a hike. Horrid things that looked like perfectly normal chocolate bars but were actually mint flavoured fondant wrapped in the bitterest coating he had ever eaten. Eric was loathed to accept it as any kind of chocolate. All the kids had eaten one, despite being told not to, and it had been unbearably sugary. Eric suspected that the adults had expected that result all along, and the point had stuck with him into his adult years. In an emergency, fast energy was better than slow, even if the sugar crash would be painful later.

With what Eric considered enough food stashed within the bag he picked up a two-litre bottle of water and tucked it under his arm. Putting it in the bag directly risked splitting the plastic from the weight, and Eric assumed that he would be able to find more water if he needed it anyway. It didn’t seem likely that all the taps in the city would suddenly stop working, though Eric would be the first to admit he was no civil engineer.

With his supplies in his arms, Eric stepped through the hole in the shutter made by the prowler’s sonic blast. It was a lot easier than his entrance into the store, the hole impressively large. It was shocking to see the kind of power that even the smallest Kaiju could bring to bear. If it wasn’t for the bio-constructs humanity would have been wiped out not long after they had first appeared, rather than hanging on for a decade as they had. The threat of monster attack had become almost normal, in a way no different to a hurricane or an earthquake, only with more teeth.

The dust cloud had faded, if only a little, a few rays of sunlight cutting through. Eric tried to use it to gauge the direction he should head in. He knew the sun rose in the east, though he suspected that was probably only generally true, the position of the Earth in orbit had to matter. Eric's problem was that he had no idea if midday had passed or not yet, and so didn’t know if the sun was still rising or setting.

A loud howl followed by a piercing human scream in the distance made up Eric’s mind for him. As much as he wanted to save the woman who had wailed like a banshee, he knew that he couldn’t. The sound was distant and even if he was to drop everything and race there, he would only be going into a fight he knew he couldn’t win. His best chance was to avoid any further danger until he could find a way to recharge Aura. Then he could try and save as many people as he wanted.

Carefully and slowly, Eric began to make his way into the gloom. He had no light to guide him, no compass to provide a beacon. Despite all the strange events that had happened to him that day, right then and there Eric was as vulnerable as anyone else. After living through multiple events already that morning that most people would consider impossible to survive, Eric wasn’t going to test his luck further. He felt like he had used up his entire run in a few hours.

The body of Pug still loomed large even in the darkness. A strong odour was wafting from it, filling the streets with a horrid stench. Eric had heard of people voiding themselves when they died, and he wondered if the same was true of Kaiju. The digestive systems of Kaiju were one of the many mysteries around them. They certainly ate, more than one attacker had spent considerable time gobbling up fleeing humans, but according to the scientist's Eric had seen on TV they wouldn’t even be considered a snack. Much like the sheer size of the creatures, the vast number of calories that would be required to keep them alive was considered an impossible thing, or at least had been until they had appeared. The emergence of Kaiju had upended the understood limits of physics overnight.

A helicopter buzzed overhead, sweeping the street with a searchlight. Drakon had to have left the area entirely if rescue craft were being sent in, perhaps sinking back beneath the waves entirely. Pug had at least taken their pound of flesh before perishing.

The helicopter moved overhead a few more times, sweeping the area. Each time the beam grew near to Eric it veered off, searching in another direction. He was certain his luck had all but run out now, getting rescued would have been too convenient. His feelings only grew more certain after about an hour of walking, the loud howling noises of prowlers growing dangerously close.

Eric ducked behind a tipped over car as something moved in the dust cloud. From the steady thud of knuckles against the road, he was certain of what they were. A pack of prowlers had closed on him. Eric held perfectly still, learning from his encounters with the last group. If he kept a car or a similar barrier between him and the pack, he could hopefully avoid their echolocation. He suspected popping his head over the counter had been what had given him away, and that if Eric had simply stayed crouched then he wouldn’t have been spotted in the store. If he remembered right, then the sound waves needed to bounce off him and return to the prowler so they could process the information. They should be registering a blocking object as simply a solid wall.

There were four prowlers moving together as a group, each taking it, in turn, to release a wail as they searched for prey. Eric wondered just how many had come up from below the earth with Drakon. The bigger Kaiju had come crashing through the bay, so either the prowlers had braved the rushing water, or they had been clinging onto their massive cousin like limpets. It had to be the second option; the Kaiju didn’t seem like they were adapted to swim at all.

There was a break in the noise, a brief window where the prowlers weren’t seeking the area around them. Eric took his chance, making a break from the car he was behind towards a van a few metres away. He tucked himself behind it, feeling safe behind its white metal walls.

Then he leant against it.

The van’s alarm began to blare, somehow not triggered by the stomping of the Kaiju. The lights at the front and back flashed as it announced his presence to every prowler within earshot.

“Obviously,” Eric said, the need for stealth gone entirely. He wasn’t sure what to do next. He could activate his newfound abilities, but the notifications warning about what might happen if the power failed had been dire.

A new sound blared out, not the ringing of the van’s alarm or the screeching of Kaiju, but the rough barking of a machine gun. Light swept over Eric, cast down from a helicopter above. From the side door, a soldier in black combat gear was spraying shots into the prowlers, chunks flying from the Kaiju. Two fell quickly, with the other pair turning to flee rather than attempt to fight the helicopter. Eric was happy to let them go, he suspected that the aircraft might have proven a poor match if the prowlers had turned to their sonic blast.

“Stay exactly where you are!” A woman’s voice rang out from the helicopter above, amplified by a megaphone. “Put your hands where we can see them!”

Chapter Three

Ropes hit the ground, followed swiftly by the boots of soldiers, weapons pointed towards Eric. There were no logos stitched to their black gear, no identifying marks for what nation or force they belonged to. The weapons pointed at Eric weren’t familiar, though he knew little about guns save what he could glean from movies and video games. The posture of the soldiers was an aggressive one, and Eric held up his hands as high as he could.

“On the ground!” shouted one of the soldiers, a woman’s voice coming from behind the black cloth covering her mouth. It was the same one that had called down to Eric from the helicopter. The soldier took a step forward, shifting the tip of her rifle to point briefly at the ground. “I said on the ground.”

Eric did as she said, dropping to his knees, his hands clasped behind his head. He wondered briefly how resistant he would be if he transformed. Would the bullets bounce off his hide or pierce through it as they had to the prowler? Small arms were useless against anything but the smallest Kaiju. During the first appearances, there had been a rush to buy weapons and supplies, the general populace thinking that the preppers who had spent years gathering food in their bunkers weren’t so crazy after all. That rush had ended the first time a citizen militia had attempted to hold back a Kaiju, their hoarded armaments proving little use.

“Look, I’m just some guy lucky enough to survive the Kaiju attack. I’m no threat to you,” Eric said. From the look of the soldiers, his pleas wouldn’t get far. There had to be a reason they had singled him out, and he suspected he knew what it was.

“Be quiet,” the woman said. She had an American accent, one that Eric thought was a Texan drawl, though he wasn’t certain. His only previous experience of the accent was from old western movies. “How did you get the band?”

“Should I be quiet or answer the question?” Eric said, confused at the conflicting statements.

“Stop being smart for one. Answer the question.”

“I don’t know, I woke up with it attached to me.”

“Unit, confirm your status.”

“If you’re trying to talk to Aura, I don’t think that you’re going to get much of an answer. He’s on about two per cent battery, so he’s been keeping quiet,” Eric said. It was obvious that the soldier knew about the AI. It was why the helicopter had stopped for Eric, its blades spinning above making a hole in the dust cloud. They hadn’t been looking for survivors, they had been looking for him, or more specifically Aura. The AI was an incredibly advanced piece of technology, far beyond anything Eric was used to. AI existed, in phones, computers, tablets, anything with an internet connection had a voice-activated system that could respond to the user, but Aura had seemed like the next step beyond that. He had to be unbelievably valuable even before you considered the amazing abilities he conferred.

“You’ve spoken to it?” the woman said. She seemed to be the leader of the group, the others holding position at her flanks.

“Yeah, of course.”

The woman lowered her weapon and signalled for the others to do the same. “Damn it, a full bond? You’ve got my apologies there.” She took a step forward, extending a hand towards Eric. “Two per cent, huh? That’s danger levels.”

“Crush her. Kill them all,” said the whisper. It had returned as promised.

Eric ignored it as he stood, grabbing the woman’s hand willingly. Her entire demeanour had changed, the threatening aura of her and her squad dropping away. “So I’ve heard. Something about a manifestation cascade?”

“Yeah, you don’t want that, trust me. What happened to you? If the system is warning you about cascades you have to have absorbed Kaiju essence somehow.” The woman let go of Eric’s hand and glanced over him, taking in the shirt he was wearing, the cloth stained bright pink by the Kaiju blood that had washed over him. “You get hit by monster blood?” she said, pointing at Eric.

“I did, yeah. Surprised I’m not dead though, considering the stories.”

“Most people would be. You’re one lucky guy.”

“Apparently,” Eric said, admitting that he had been thinking that to himself. “So, what now? You going to chop off my arm and take this off me?” He tapped the metal band around his arm. “Or maybe just shoot me first?”

“What makes you think we would do that?” the woman said. From her tone it was obvious she was being sarcastic. She wasn’t oblivious to what message her black ops team sent.

“Oh, the entire tacti-cool look you have going on.”

“Fair enough, but no. That’s not an option. That F-19 is bonded to you and taking it off would probably kill you. More importantly, the devices only have a limited number of times they can form new bonds, and they aren’t exactly making more of them. So, you’re going to have to come with us. And that means you’re going to have to wear the bag.”

“Right,” Eric said. “The bag.” He had seen enough action movies to know what came next. A black cloth bag was passed over from one of the soldiers to their leader. “So, do I at least get some headphones so I can listen to an audiobook or something, or is this not that kind of trip?”

“Oh, headphones are extra, you have to order them when you choose your inflight meal. Your arm. Hold it out,” the soldier said. Despite the mask covering the lower half of her face, and the thick goggles over her eyes, it was obvious she was smiling.

Slinging her rifle over her shoulder by its strap, the soldier gripped the bottom of her right sleeve and rolled it up, exposing a familiar metal band wrapped around her arm. The gem set in hers was bright red, rather than the emerald green of Eric’s. She leant forward, touching her band to the one around Eric’s arm.

Energy transfer in process. Battery charging. Battery level now at 20%

“That should keep you floating until we get to where we’re going. Your unit will need a full charge before it can restore all of its functions.”

“And where exactly are we going?” Eric said. “Not that I’m not grateful to get out of this place before the prowlers get me.”

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough. Right now, it’s bag time.”

***

Eric had travelled in silence his whole journey, the soldiers pushing him through the ruins until they had found somewhere safe enough to land the helicopter temporarily. Then he had been pushed inside, his only sign that he had entered the metal beneath his feet. A pair of headphones had been clamped onto his head, blocking out any sound from his ears. It was incredibly disorientating, and it immediately struck Eric that all those movies where the hero can work out exactly where he was from how long they were travelling and what noises were around them were complete nonsense.

Time quickly lost all meaning. It could have been minutes or hours riding that helicopter, Eric had no idea. All points of reference had been removed from him. Aura had been quiet since receiving the small portion of battery charge, no notifications floating into Eric’s vision. Even the voice in his mind had gone silent, its urging to kill the soldiers not passing Eric by. The last time the voice had occurred Aura had stepped in to shut it out. This time the AI hadn’t despite having the energy reserves to do so. Eric assumed that either the AI had deemed it not dangerous, or that he was simply going mad.

When the helicopter landed, a hand on his arm had led Eric out of the aircraft and into another. Or at least he assumed he had been bundled onto a plane after being forced up a flight of steep stairs and into a seat with the familiar feeling of worn overused cushion. It of course could have been a particularly tall bus, but that seemed unlikely when it tilted back suddenly accompanied by a loud screeching noise from the engines. Eric had been on more than one bus with an engine that had seen better days and wailed as it moved, but one had never tipped backwards like that before.

His suspicions were confirmed when the hood was removed, a cold ham and cheese sandwich and a bottle of water thrust into his hands. He was in what looked like a standard passenger jet, though all the other seats were empty. Air travel had dropped off significantly with the emergence of Kaiju, the number of planes going missing or crashing rising rapidly. They were the preserve now of the rich and powerful only. With the bulk of people avoiding flying out of fear, the airlines had pivoted their business model to a strictly commerce one. A lot of the newer planes had been sold to the military, whilst others had been scrapped or converted into trendy restaurants or even high-end flats.

“Taking a little trip, are we? Going to Ibiza? Back to the island?” Eric said. A woman was sitting in front of him, her hair jet black and cut into a bob, her face razor sharp. Her eyes told him that she was the same one who had spoken to him back in the city. She had a laptop on her knees, though Eric noticed she had taken the opportunity to use what had once been first-class seats.

“What are you talking about? Hold your arm out,” the woman said, holding up a wire with a tiny crystal attached to one end. The other was plugged into her laptop using a standard USB.

“You know? That cheesy song your grandparents have in their libraries? About going on holiday.”

“I’m not really familiar. Your arm?”

Eric shifted forward in his seat, bending so he could offer the device on his arm whilst still biting into the sandwich. A plastic wrapper was sitting on the floor by his feet and it didn’t escape his notice that the sandwich was one of the things he had pilfered from the convenience store. The soldiers could have at least given him something sweet.

The woman touched the crystal to Aura’s gem, and both filled with light, the crystal at the end of the wire glowing azure blue. Her eyes followed something on the screen before her, the glow of the monitor reflecting off her face.

“Well, well. Looks like you worked out what the F-19 does. Three prowlers. Not bad for your first try.  Hah, Drakon essence probably helps though. The one monster giving us the most trouble and now you’re sporting its powers. Lucky us. We can fight fire with fire.”

“No offence, but I have no idea what’s going on here. I get slapped with Kaiju blood then near buried alive when Pug went done and when I wake up, I have a weird piece of technology in my arm that lets me turn into a Kaiju. You’ll have to forgive me for being a little lost, it's been a confusing day.”

The woman just shrugged as she disconnected the gems. “You’ll learn more when you speak to the Doc, I’m sure. It’s not really my place to tell you. Eat your sandwich, it’ll be a while before we land, and the bag will need to go back on.”

“You’re not worried I’ve seen your face? Or this plane?”

“It was kind of obvious you got on a plane, honey. And no, I’m not worried.” The woman tapped at her arm. Her band was hidden beneath her sleeve again, but the point was clear. If the bands let someone transform into a Kaiju, then she had the powers to match. The military gear she was carrying was just for show. “Besides I don’t think you’re that kind of guy.”

Eric took another bite of his sandwich followed by a swig of water to wash it down. He hadn’t realised how hungry he was. “How do you know what kind of guy I am?”

“I just have that gift,” the woman said, closing the laptop with a snap. “It’ll be a few hours yet, so eat up.”

***

The next time the bag was removed, Eric found himself sat behind a simple metal table in a nondescript room. He remembered being bundled off the plane and into some kind of ground vehicle from the sound of the engine. There had been a loud drone and a twisting in his stomach that indicated a moving platform or lift of some kind. He suspected he had been taken to wherever the soldiers were based. From the sheer length of time that he felt like he had been on the plane it had to be somewhere far from his home.

The room looked like a million he had seen in movies, and Eric was sure he was going to be interrogated in some way. That wasn’t surprising. The presence of a band on one of the soldiers told him that these people either had several of them to hand or were responsible for them, to begin with. Eric had plenty of questions of his own, and he was eager to get some answers.

Sitting across from him was a woman, a tablet clasped in her hands. She was in her late forties at the least and had long flowing hair tied behind her head, a purple streak running through it. Round tortoise-shell glasses sat on a wide nose, their owner staring over the top of them at Eric. She was wearing a knitted cardigan that contained more colours than Eric thought possible.

“So, Mr Eric Wainwright. Twenty-eight years old, employed at Investibank as a mailroom clerk. Are we in the right area?” The woman said. She had a German accent, though Eric had no idea where in Germany specifically.

“Sounds about right,” Eric said. “And you are?”

“I am Doctor Annaliesa Klossner,” the woman said, tapping a finger on the tablet. “How did you come by the F-19?”

“I didn’t but I suspect you know that. Your friend downloaded all the information from Aura, right?” Eric shifted his head towards the corner of the room where the woman from the plane was leaning against the wall.

“Astute,” Annaliesa said, a smile creeping across her lips. “Tell me, what do you know of Kaiju?”

“Big monsters that want to kill us? Not much else to know about them, is there?”

“Oh, you would be surprised. Kaiju change everything we know about science. Physics, biology, you name it. There are even studies that posit that the largest Kaiju bend space and time around them. It’s all rather fascinating. I suspect you know more than that though.” Annaliesa placed the tablet on the table and slid it towards Eric. On it was a picture of Drakon, or at least a monster incredibly similar. He knew immediately it was an image of his transformed incarnation. “The records on the F-19 confirmed that you both transformed and activated a manifestation. You even grew close to a cascade. You heard the voice, right?”

“I did,” Eric said. He didn’t see a point in lying about it.

“That’s understandable. Absorbing essence from Drakon as your first taste has to be difficult. A Kaiju that powerful has to be particularly wilful.”

“The voice, that’s Drakon? I thought Kaiju were just animals.”

“Well, that very much depends on your point of view. Some Kaiju have shown intelligence far beyond what you would expect. But no, the voice isn’t Drakon specifically. Rather it’s a result of his essence interacting with your mind. A personality that is both yourself and the Kaiju.” The doctor slid her finger across the tablet to reveal an array of numbers that Eric didn’t understand. “It will only grow more wilful as you gain strength. It may even attempt to overtake your mind. We call that a manifestation cascade. I can see from these results that your F-19 stepped in to prevent that. It’s one of the benefits of a working essence matrix. You’re lucky our team found you before the battery failed. The end result would not have been good. One Drakon is bad enough.”

“So, what happens now? You lock me away in some dungeon somewhere so I can’t do any damage?”

“Quite the opposite. During your flight here I’ve been looking into you. Social media has made investigating a person easier than ever. We don’t have the luxury of shelving one of our F-19’s, and I don’t think you’ll turn down this opportunity. You know what I saw when I read your messages when I looked into your posts? I saw a man unhappy with his lot in life. I think you will leap at a chance to make something of yourself.” Annaliesa stood up, scooping up her tablet. “If you could open the door please, Major.”

The soldier leaning against the wall nodded and stepped over to the door, swiping a plastic card through a reader. The door unlocked with a click.

“Thank you, Erin. Now, after you please Eric,” Annaliesa said, gesturing to the door with her tablet.

Eric stepped through and found himself in a dull grey corridor. It wasn’t the grand reveal that he expected. “Uh, I’ve seen corridors before.”

“Not quite the effect I intended. I trust you will be much more impressed once we get to the elevator. If you could, please?”

Eric nodded. At the far end of the corridor was a set of metal doors, the number fifteen painted across them in yellow. He began to walk towards them, only for Erin to overtake and tape a code into a panel next to the door. The doors opened, and Eric stepped inside, followed by the two women.

“I think you will be suitably impressed,” Annaliesa said. “I’ve yet to find someone who isn’t.” She pressed a button from amongst two dozen options and the elevator doors closed. It began to move, rocketing upwards. It came to a stop with a squeal, the brakes slamming on.

The doors opened, and Annaliesa was right, Eric was impressed. He found himself on a curved overlook, the wall directly ahead of him pure glass. It was looking down on a massive arena, the floor looping around into a single circle. Through the glass were two Kaiju, a colossal lizard covered in thick spiked plates brawling with a creature that looked like a giant baboon. The ape had just landed a ferocious punch, causing the reptile to stumble backwards. Despite the movement of the hulking beasts the building didn’t shake, an impossible denial of physics. Around the upper edge of the area, blue light flared to life in time with their steps, massive flat metal doughnuts mounted below the glass observation deck.

“You’ve got captured monsters?” Eric said, walking up to the glass and placing his hands upon it. He couldn’t help but stare at the Kaiju. This close up they were almost majestic despite their deadly power.

“Oh, come now. You’ve used the F-19. You know that’s not the case, right?” Annaliesa sauntered over to the glass. Placed directly opposite the elevator was a small podium with a microphone on it. She pressed a crimson red switch and leant close to the foam covering its tip. “A moment of your time gentlemen, to greet our newest guest?”

The Kaiju stopped their brawl, both turning to face the tiny humans watching them. They waved awkwardly like school children told to greet a visiting politician looking for a photo op.

“These are people with their own devices, aren’t they?” Eric said.

“That would be correct. These are some of our highest level matrix users. You see, bio-constructs, the grown Kaiju that defend humanity, aren’t Kaiju at all, not really. They’re people just like you, or Erin. Using what we call essence to turn the powers of Kaiju against them,” Annaliesa said, releasing the button. “You are a very rare kind of person, Eric. What we call a host, someone capable of withstanding Kaiju essence without its fatal touch. A one in a million genetic quirk that makes you suitable to use a device. The truth is we need you. A combination of your rare ability, and the fact that we simply can’t remove your F-19 means that you have a unique opportunity here, to defend mankind. To make something of yourself.”

Chapter Four

Eric was taken down six floors by elevator and shown to a large room that was easily as big as his flat. It had its own kitchen, bathroom, along with a bedroom big enough to contain a couch and television. The walls were a stark utilitarian grey, and the furniture had the whiff of cheap MDF to it, but he was glad of the opportunity to rest. He had no idea how long he had been awake, and the sight of the bed had caused his fatigue to come rushing to the surface.

“Take some time, rest. Transforming can take a lot out of you, and that’s not even including having to survive like you did. There’s still a lot we need to go through, but that can wait until tomorrow. It should go without saying but please don’t leave this room without an escort. There’s a lot of dangerous things in the facility,” Erin said, leaning against the open doorframe.

“Where exactly is that? The facility that is?” Eric said, taking a seat on the bed. The mattress felt uncomfortably hard but right now he didn’t care. He could easily just flop backwards and fall asleep.

“Greenland. I wouldn’t go outside, it’s very, very cold. Perfect place to put somewhere like this. Most Kaiju don’t like the low temperature, and there are not many people here to endanger. Officially this place is a United Nations research facility into climate change. Studying the ice sheets and that kind of thing.”

“Right.” Climate change hadn’t helped the situation when it came to Kaiju attacks. It was hard to put out brushfire when it was being caused by an enormous monster and the rising tides had only made the aquatic Kaiju more dangerous. There were plenty of people who assumed that climate change had been the trigger for Kaiju to start appearing. “That makes sense, I guess. What the hell is that thing?”

On the other side of the room was a large metal ring set around a hole on the wall. The ring had a band of coloured lights along the inside of it.

“Ah yes. That’s a charging port for your device. Put your arm inside it to charge up your F-19. It’ll not take long, and you should definitely do it. You don’t want to run out of power,” Erin said, nodding towards the charger.

“Yeah, that’s been made pretty clear. Has that ever happened, someone, being taken over by one of the Kaiju personalities?”

“Sadly, yes. There’s been four in total. It’s…hard, to have to put down a friend. There’s no coming back from a cascade.”

Eric just let his eyes drop downwards. He wondered which four that had been. Had some of the worst Kaiju attacks been committed by humans? “So, Pug, he was one of you guys? One of the…whatever this organisation is.”

“United Nations Kaiju response team. We just called ourselves the KRT for short. And yeah. Rick hated that nickname, you know? Pug. He always thought he looked more like a komaniu. You know the stone dog-lion looking things you see at Japanese temples? They’re a bit like the Chinese kind you see outside restaurants.” Erin stopped leaning on the doorframe, straightening her posture and putting her hands in her pockets.

“I’m sorry,” Eric said. He didn’t know what else to say.

“Don’t be. Rick died protecting people. Hell, you’re alive now because of him along with who knows how many others. Rick knew the risks and he did it anyway, I don’t think he would have died with any regrets. That’s his F-19 you’re wearing. I know you haven’t officially made a decision yet, but if you want to thank him for saving your life, you could continue with his work.”

“Yeah, I don’t know about that. Maybe. I mean, I want to help people, I do.” Eric stood up and walked towards the charger mounted to the wall. “I just put my hand inside?”

“Yeah,” Erin replied. “It’s a wireless charging field, like for your phone.”

Eric nodded and slid his arm into the hole. He was pleased to find there was a small cushion at the bottom that he could rest his arm on.

Commencing charge.

“The thing is, I’m no fighter.” Eric felt a lot better knowing he could charge Aura to full. Learning exactly what a cascade meant had filled him with a deep fear. Losing yourself seemed like a fate worse than death. “When you say Aura was Rick’s, you mean embedded in his arm as well? Aura did say something about…what did he call it, ambulation?”

“Yeah, in an emergency an F-19 can use its tendrils to move about if its host has perished. Drains a ton of battery though, and honestly, I’ve only ever heard of them actually doing it a handful of times. Finding a new host is so unlikely, honestly. The chances of having the right immunity to Kaiju blood is already like winning the lottery, and when you add in the odds of someone being close enough to a dying host…”

“Right, right, so to even it out I’m due to get hit by an asteroid or something. Got it.”

“Not being a fighter isn’t a problem. That I can teach. Provided you have the desire.”

“I’ll think about it,” Eric said. Learning that he would be working for the United Nations rather than what he assumed was some shady organisation had taken the sting off the offer a little. He understood the need for secrecy. If people knew that it was possible to create Kaiju, they would turn on the governments of the world in an instant, blaming them for the creation of the beasts all along. That wasn’t even considering what a malicious actor could do with the technology.

“Well, I’ll be waiting in the training arena tomorrow. Where you watched Chris and Guang practising. Be there by nine AM, or don’t, then we’ll know your answer.” Erin began to turn around, intending to head out of the room.

“Those guys, and Rick. They were so damn big. When I transformed, I was barely bigger than a prowler. Am I going to get that big?” Eric said.

“Oh sure, if you get enough essence. You should have some from when you defeated those prowlers. If I remember the data right, you took down three of them? When your F-19 is charged, try and spend your essence. The more you spend, the more you’ll level up, and you’ll understand a bit more about what’s going on,” Erin said as she stepped through the doorway, a hand wrapping are the door’s handle. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“You sound so sure I’ll be there.”

Erin didn’t say anything, simply smiling as she shut the door.

***

Eric found his head drooping as he waited for Aura to charge. He had stopped the charging temporarily to drag over a chair and that was proving to be his downfall, that little extra level of comfort tipping him over into outright sleepiness. It had been at least an hour and he wondered exactly how long it would take for the charge. Having his arm within a powerful energy field couldn’t be good for it in the long run.

Charge complete. Restoring all functions. Essence field restored.

“This unit is now fully operational,” Aura said, the voice causing Eric to bolt up with a start. “I apologise for any concern I may have caused.”

“Yeah, well, me too. I wanted to say thank you, actually. Without your help, I would have been killed back in that store.” Eric genuinely meant it. The AI’s notifications had gently nudged him in the right direction so he could fight, but more than that it had outright saved him from a cascade.

“You are welcome. We are, after all, bonded together. Saving your life is preserving this unit’s capacity to function, priority order number two.”

“What’s number one?”

“Preserve the life of our host.”

Eric sighed. The answer was obvious in hindsight. “Of course. Listen, Erin said something about spending the essence I had gathered to level up? What does she mean by that?”

“Loading tutorial. All Kaiju contain an energy force we call essence. It’s like genetic data, though it exists as potential energy. The exact nature of it is still hotly debated by the scientific community, but exposure to essence is lethal to most of humanity. By its very nature, it corrupts and changes the physical form resulting in near-instantaneous death via random mutation.”

“Sounds awful.”

“This unit cannot comment on how this death compares to others without a frame of reference,” Aura said. “Some people, such as yourself, have a natural resistance to the effects of essence. Using an F-19 Auratech essence matrix we can tap into the power of collected Kaiju essence to copy its abilities and genetic makeup. As your first exposure to essence was from the Kaiju known as Drakon, your base form takes its shape.”

“Right, I think I understand that? What was Erin on about though, with spending essence?”

“Essence is malleable. Collecting essence from a species once is enough to understand its makeup. Further essence collected can be funnelled into that specific framework in order to enhance unlock copied abilities. These are called manifestations. Further, essence can be focused into a manifestation itself to improve the efficiency of the ability. The overall amount of essence placed into collected Kaiju is referred to as your level.”

“Right, I think I understand. That’s what you did, right, spend what essence I had from being covered in Drakon’s blood to unlock the lightning punch?” Eric thought he understood it. It was almost like a video game, the essence like experience points that could spend to either get generally stronger or specialise in certain skills.

“That is correct.”

“Ok, so right now I have what, a single rank in Drakon?”

Eric Wainwright

Level 1 Kaiju

Unspent Essence: 125

Drakon Essence Rank 1—0/125

Prowler Essence Rank 0 —0/100

Manifestations Unlocked

-          Lightning Punch: Rank 1—0/31

“Correct,” Aura said, displaying the information in Eric’s vision.

“Right, ok. So, I have one hundred and twenty-five to spend. I’m assuming the numbers by each rank are how much it costs to increase it to the next level? “

“You would be making a correct assumption.”

“Ok,” Eric said, leaning forward a little in a mistaken attempt to bring the notification closer. “So higher ranks cost increasingly more to improve. That makes sense oddly. This is like a video game. Right, so my options are increasing my Drakon essence by one rank, unlocking prowler rank one and maybe making my lightning punch stronger. How does it work if I unlock prowler rank one, will I be able to transform into one?”

“No. Your transformation is informed by the first essence you obtained. However, the strength you gain from each rank is cumulative. Rank one in each Kaiju is functionally the same as having rank two in just one. Focusing on one essence will unlock its abilities faster.” As it spoke Aura changed the colour of the words on the notification to make his point.

“Ok, I get it,” Eric said. “So, I can focus on one to unlock more abilities, or spread it around to get generally stronger for less essence. Provided I can collect more types of essence.”

“An astute assessment.”

“Ok, so how do I spend the essence?”

“I am linked into your nervous system, connected to your mind. Simply think about it and I will complete the adjustment.”

Eric focused his mind and tried to do what Aura asked.

100 essence spent into prowler. Increased to rank one.

Prowler manifestation unlocked—Echolocation. Uses repeating soundwaves to generate an image of nearby objects. Useful for navigating substandard conditions.

25 essence spent into Echolocation. Range increased. Cooldown decreased.

Overall Kaiju level increased to two.

It was far easier than Eric had expected. He didn’t feel any different, but he trusted Aura that he had unlocked the abilities. Testing them out in his room seemed like a terrible idea. The KRT had been nothing but accommodating, and Eric didn’t want to give them a reason to act otherwise.

“What do you think I should do, Aura?” Eric said, removing his arm from the charger. “Do you think I should join these people?”

“I am already aligned with this organisation. My answer would be biased.”

“I get that, but I still want to know your thoughts.”

“I do not have thoughts. This unit is a user interface for the F-19 Auratech essence matrix. My parameters were designed for me, my actions limited to those programmed into my code. I am not capable of thought.”

Eric didn’t know if he believed that. The AI seemed far above what he was used to, and aside from his quirk of referring to himself as “this unit” on occasion Aura replied just like any person. If he was just a user interface, then he was an extremely impressive one.

“Just humour me.”

“Logically speaking, very few people have the ability to use essence. Fewer still have a way of manipulating it in relative safety to use it as a weapon. My admittedly limited understanding of human society and culture would imply that a person with access to power should wield it in a manner considered socially responsible.”

Eric tried and failed to suppress a chuckle. “Close, but not quite right. That point is normally made a little more succinctly. Still, I understand what you’re getting at. How many people are there working here? That can turn into Kaiju I mean.”

“Currently, three, not including yourself.”

Eric slid back in his chair. That tracked with the bio-constructs he knew of. Officially there had been thirty-eight of them made, most slain battling the biggest Kaiju. He knew that meant that working with the KRT was a death sentence. A thought floated to the top of his mind, a memory of fleeing from the emergence of Drakon. Plenty of people hadn’t been so lucky, and the death toll in the city had to be astronomical. Thanks to Pug that was a success in relative terms, and Eric realised that a single person’s sacrifice had saved thousands, more if you counted the other times Rick had stepped in to beat back Kaiju.

“Ugh, there’s only one right thing to do here, isn’t there?”

“Moral objectivity is not my strong suit,” Aura said. “Again, my parameters are pre-set.”

“No more than a person’s honestly. What’s growing up aside from setting your programming for being an adult?”

“An astute observation, though I suspect my creators at Auratech did not see it in that light.”

“Who are they, Auratech? This is a United Nations venture, right?”

“That is correct,” Aura said. “The KRT is a joint task force drawn from across the UN. Auratech is the company responsible for the construction of most of their equipment, however. Founded ten years ago specifically for the purpose of Kaiju research, Auratech is the leading force in developing technology and products from Kaiju. They are perhaps most famously responsible for the vehicle known as a maser tank, thought maser is a misnomer taken from an old movie series. I believe they mean MASER as in the microwave-”

“Yeah, I get the point. They make stuff for fighting Kaiju,” Eric said. The tanks that Aura was referring to were specialist anti Kaiju weapons that fired an impressive looking blue beam of energy from a turret that looked like a satellite dish. Governments loved to trot them out on television whenever they talked about Kaiju defence, but the truth was, they weren’t particularly effective. It was well known that they required significant amounts of power, far more than it was feasible to mount on the tank itself, so they needed to be connected into a working power grid in advance. This generally meant they were only useful when placed in the direct path of an oncoming Kaiju and given time to prepare. For sudden attacks in an enclosed space like the one Drakon had committed, they were useless.

“Not just for fighting. Auratech research into Kaiju has led to breakthroughs in dozens of different fields. Communication, robotics, physics, quantum theory, even cold fusion.”

“Right, I get it, all very impressive. They made you after all,” Eric said, tapping the gem on the band lightly. When he looked at Aura, really looked at it, the design was bizarre. The simple metal ring with a gemstone looked like something from an old science fiction movie, whilst the tendrils of metal digging into the flesh around it were more akin to something from horror.

“That is correct. Auratech did indeed manufacture me.”

“That’s not what I meant. Never mind. Now, I need desperately to sleep,” Eric said, standing from the chair and walking towards the bed. “Goodnight, Aura.”

***

Erin was leaning against the wall of the arena, a smirk stretched across her face. Before her was a mock city, buildings constructed of wood and cardboard that stretched to waist height. She had ditched the black-ops gear, choosing to wear a simple set of olive-drab cargo trousers, a white tank top and a heavy black leather bomber jacket.

“Well, well, and here I was thinking you weren’t coming. Cutting it fine on the time limit,” Erin said as Eric walked through the door into the arena. The door was person-sized, the KRT operatives expected to transform once inside to prevent any damage to the facility.

“Yeah, well I was more tired than I thought, and the time difference didn’t help. Still, I’m here now, aren’t I?” Eric said. He was wearing a set of green fatigues, the clothes left for him outside his door. Finally getting a chance to shower and washing the Kaiju blood off his skin had been exhilarating, though Eric had been so tired that he had forgotten to do so before climbing into his bed. The sheets had been dyed bright pink by the time he awoke.

“I guess you are. I take it you’re on board then?”

“Yeah, I suppose I am. The way I look at it someone died so I could live, and it’s only right that I return the favour. If that means putting myself in harm’s way, then that’s just how it is.”

“Very pragmatic of you,” Erin said. She plucked a phone from her pocket and began scrolling on its screen. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

“What is all this?” Eric said, gesturing to the cardboard city before him. “We filming one of those old Japanese movies? It’s a bit low budget sci-fi all this.”

“This is an accurate representation of the battlefield. Or at least it will be, once you’re high enough level. You spend that essence in the end?”

“Yeah, unlocked myself echolocation, like a bat.”

“So, you put the points into prowler instead of the Drakon essence?”

“Yeah,” Eric said, prodding the top of the nearest building. It wobbled a little from his touch. “I figured grabbing the lower levels of every Kaiju I could, would make me stronger faster, and give me more options for what powers I want to pursue. I can focus on one or two later to unlock manifestations.”

“Smart. I see you’ve understood the basics at least.” Erin didn’t look up from her phone.

“Yeah, Aura talked me through it.”

“Good. So, you ready?”

Eric shrugged. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to be ready for. “I guess so.”

A wicked smile crept across Erin’s face. “Glad to hear it.” A finger jabbed at her phone, pressing an unseen button.

A loud grinding noise filled the arena as a section of wall began to slide open, stone doors hidden in the concrete. From within the darkness, there was a loud clanking noise, a set of ominous red lights appearing in the gloom.

Scuttling out from within the shadows, two machines revealed themselves. They were four-legged constructs, odd demi-spiders with baleful red eyes surrounded by camera lenses. Atop of each was a mounted machinegun, a fearsome-looking weapon attached to a swivelling turret.

“What the hell?” Eric said. He had seen robots before, they were fairly common in everyday life, but they were small things, drones designed for deliveries or cleaning devices. He had never seen anything like this before, three-meter tall war machines with gleaming hides.

“Anti-category one Kaiju robots. Top of the line gear. Drop a bunch of these around after a Kaiju attack and you can clear up the cat ones safely and quickly. Or at least that’s the idea. They’re not cleared for combat duty quite yet, still some testing to do,” Erin said. The robots had come to a stop in front of her, so she rapped her knuckles on the foreleg of the nearest machine. “They still need testing, and you need training, so I would either start running or start transforming.” Another tap on her phone sent the robots surging forward.

“I believe the Major is serious,” Aura said. “I would recommend engaging your transformation.”

“Right!”

All it took was a thought, the gem on Aura flaring with illumination for a second before Eric swiftly followed, his body shimmering with purple light. He shifted and twisted, reforming into his Kaiju body.

He took a moment to stretch, his muscles aching a little from their new shapes. Eric realised he was taller than before, nearly another full metre. His size as a Kaiju had to be tied to his level, and he assumed that as he continued to gain essence, he would simply get larger and larger. The sound of gunfire snapped him out of his self-admiration, bullets crashing against his armoured hide. It stung where they struck him, sparks flying off.

Essence field depleted. 82/100 remaining.

“You’re crazy!” Eric said, his voice a snarl. He had broken into a run, the gunfire of the robots following him across the arena, the cardboard buildings exploding as they were raked with bullets.

“Maybe. You’ve got to be a little crazy to do what we do. Remember, there might be people in those buildings! Your job first and foremost is to protect them. Right now, you’re doing a terrible job.” Erin was just watching the carnage unfold on the mock city from behind the machines.

“I don’t think Kaiju have machineguns!” Eric had reached the wall and run out of places to travel. He changed tack turning towards the fake city, ducking and weaving through the buildings as he tried to break the robots’ line of sight.

“You would be surprised. Spike sprays, acid vomit, hell even laser vision or atomic breath. The one that gave you your powers shoots lightning. You need to be prepared for this kind of thing. Think differently. You’re not a human, not right now. You can even the odds.”

Eric knew she was right. He needed to get close, to bring the robots into his reach. Then he would have the advantage. Eric could feel the power of his body, the strength hidden beneath its scales. It was strange how quickly he had gotten used to it. Only yesterday he had been stumbling about, now he was ducking and diving quickly, shifting about on his clawed feet. He tried to think about what the real Drakon would do, and a plan formed in his mind.

Lowering one shoulder, Eric barged forward, smashing through the makeshift buildings, balsa wood flying into the air. The robots adjusted their aim, peppering his armoured torso with bullets.

Essence field depleted. 74/100 remaining.

Essence field depleted. 65/100 remaining.

Essence field depleted. 58/100 remaining.

His essence field was dropping quickly, his Kaiju body failing. It wouldn’t matter. He was nearly on the machines now, rushing to close the gap.

Lightning coiled around his fist as Eric lunged, slamming his knuckles into the body of the robot on his right. Electric coursed through it, its light blinking out as the power shorted its delicate circuits.

The other began to scuttle away, trying desperately to bring its weapon to bear on the monster that had killed its brother. If the thing were alive it would have been disgusted at what happened next, the body of the other robot lifted into the air by its enemy and hurled at it like a weapon.

The clang of metal on metal rang out as the two robots collided. The still-active one was pinned, the motors in its legs whining as it tried to stand.

“I think that’s more than enough,” Erin said, tapping at her phone to switch the robot off.

“Not a bad start I think!” Eric said, putting his hands on his wide hips, his reptilian face pulling its best impression of a smile.

“That was…terrible!”

“What?” Eric was confused. He had defeated the robots quickly he thought.

“What did I say about damage to the buildings? You just trampled through the city and crushed who knows how many people underfoot. You thought to use your resilience to your advantage, I’ll give you that, but you’ve done more damage than your enemy Kaiju did,” Erin said making quote marks with her fingers as she said the word Kaiju. “There’s some spare buildings in the storage room where the robots came from. Reset the city and we’ll go again, we’ve got plenty more of these machines that need testing, and it’s obvious you really need to learn.”

Chapter Five

Every part of Eric ached. He had spent the last two months training with Erin, the Major putting him through his paces in every conceivable way. It was hard to feel like he was getting better, there was only so many times Eric could take a bullet to the face whilst fighting robots. Every time he succeeded it felt like he was being chastised for some flaw. Too many buildings destroyed, too slow, too risky.

Eric hadn’t had the chance to meet the other F-19 users, they had consistently been away dealing with constant Kaiju problems, but from what he could gather they were plucked from various world militaries. That made sense, they already had extensive combat training and it was probably far easier to perform the kind of mass genetic testing that would be required to find the handful of usable hosts amongst the population. The logic of it didn’t make Eric feel any less inadequate. He was the only one who didn’t know how to fight.

He was lying on his bed, staring up at the grey ceiling above him. Eric’s sore muscles had woken him up early, there was still another half hour before his alarm clock was set to go off and an hour after that before Eric’s long frustration was due to resume. Going back to sleep seemed impossible, so Eric swung his legs around onto the ground and stood up, walking over to where he kept an electric kettle and a small jar of coffee. The facility had a reasonable storeroom, one that Eric had access to provided he took the time to fill out the six different forms needed. Having one hundred and ninety-four different countries under one place meant that the UN has an unbelievable amount of bureaucracy involved, something not even the secretive KRT was immune from.

As the kettle clicked off there was a knock at the door, and Eric just groaned in response. He poured the boiling water into his cup and then scooped up a bathrobe from the floor to cover his modesty.

“What do you want?” Eric said, opening the door just enough to poke his head through. Erin was standing on the other side wearing her full combat outfit.

“Get dressed. We’re needed up at the main control room,” Erin said, directing her eyes upwards so as not to catch an unwanted glimpse. “Come on, no time to waste.”

“Well, when you put it like that. Can we at least get some breakfast or something first?”

“Sadly not. Come on, get a move on. We’ve got no time for slowpokes,” Erin said. She clapped her hands at Eric, shooing him into the room. “Besides, this isn’t even that early.”

“Not all of us grew up on a farm with, I don’t know, cowboys or something?”

“What? Just because I’m Texan I have to come from a ranch or something? No, I’m a Dallas girl, well, before it got crushed. Never been on a farm in my life. It is, however, about seven-thirty. No reasonable person would say that’s early.” Erin tapped her wristwatch to make her point. “Anyway, quit stalling, we’ve got places to be.”

***

Eric had never been allowed into the main control room before, the chamber located on the bottom floor of the facility. It was enormous, a vast bank of screens and monitors, dozens of people sitting before them with their eyes glued to the flickering images. Most looked like maps of the world, bright red dots moving across them, whilst others were filled with pictures of dozens of different Kaiju. People buzzed about; eyes locked on tablets as they moved with purpose.

In the centre of the room was a raised platform, Annaliesa stood before a large table with several monitors hanging overhead. Rising from the table was the topography of the Earth, the map rendered by hologram, a technology that had become more common over the last few years.

“Why’s a civilian in charge of all this?” Eric whispered as he and Erin approached the platform, the personnel around them shifting to avoid him like he was wading through a river.

“The Doc knows more about Kaiju than anyone on earth. Outside of Auratech anyway. Don’t mention them around her, she’s a little touchy about that. They give us the gear we need, but they’re not always forthcoming about the exact science behind it. Trade secrets or something.” Erin just shrugged. She had spent most of her life as a marine. When someone was shooting at you, it wasn’t important what the science was behind your weapon, only that you could shoot back. “Besides this is a UN joint. Having a civilian in charge is kind of the point. No member could argue about her appointment, being the world expert. Can you imagine the arguments about whose military was best placed to be in charge?”

“That’s a fair point.” Eric was glancing around as he walked. He couldn’t help trying to steal a look at every screen. The amount of information on display was almost overwhelming. He took a step onto the platform. “What is all of this?”

“This, Herr Wainwright, is the nexus of our operations,” Annaliesa said, strolling towards Eric. The pair hadn’t met since her interview with him, Eric’s training being overseen by Erin exclusively. Annaliesa was wearing a different but no less gaudy cardigan compared to last time. “Data feeds from all around the world are sent here, up to date information on every Kaiju we can track. Currently, there are eight Kaiju moving around our world, that we know about. Of course, far too many of them we simply don’t. Drakon for example. He’s out there, somewhere, but moving about in the tunnels of the Lost Earth, where we simply don’t have the coverage.”

“That’s…a lot. I knew there were some, from the news, but eight is more than I imagined. Well, more than eight.”

“An unfortunate side effect of media bias. Of the eight Kaiju we can track, five are located outside of the western hemisphere. Look,” Annaliesa said, gesturing to the table. “There are two currently moving through sub-Saharan Africa we’re keeping an eye on. We suspect there might be a territorial battle there.” Her hand shifted, her finger pointing at another blinking red light. “There’s another here in Indonesia, whilst there are two in the Indian ocean, both of those are 4C’s we think. Perhaps a breeding pair.”

“What’s a 4C? I can never remember what those mean.

Annaliesa let out a snort. “Most people don’t I suspect when a giant monster is trying to crush you, what kind doesn’t really matter. Category four Kaiju are some of the largest, just below the colossal fives. They’re taller than most buildings with the bulk to match, generally. Class C are creatures of suspected extra-terrestrial origin.”

“Aliens? I thought that was never proven?” There had been many theories about the origins of Kaiju, including that they were alien life, weapons dropped on Earth as part of a grand invasion. The discovery of the Lost Earth had given most people the answer they were after, though the class remained, along with a few conspiracy theorists.

“Oh, it’s proven, at least to the extent we can compare class Cs to the other Kaiju. Their structure is always totally different, though they still rely on essence to bend the laws of physics. I suspect an advanced race would already know that, however. If you were going to create Kaiju the incorporation of essence would be a necessity. Oh, you must excuse me, I’m rather prone to pontificating theory.”

“No, you go right ahead,” Eric said, still slightly reeling that not only was it possible aliens were real but that they had put Kaiju on Earth. “Wait, if some Kaiju are alien, does it mean that the others aren’t?”

“Oh, undoubtedly. The beasts of Lost Earth are as native to the planet as we are, not to mention class A or D Kaiju.”

“Mutant animals and mythical beings, respectively,” Erin said, pre-empting Eric’s question.

“Mythical beings!?” Mutated animals hadn’t surprised Eric, it was a common kind of Kaiju and understanding what he knew now about the transforming power of essence it only made sense that it could alter wildlife. After all, if he could resist its power and harness it to become a monster then who knew what else could.

“Mythical only in a sense that we believe myths are associated with them,” Annaliesa said, adjusting her cardigan slightly as she spoke. “We know that Kaiju have lived in the Lost Earth for untold aeons. Several mythical beasts are thought to have been Kaiju encountered in the past. Dragons, sea serpents, that sort of thing.”

“The Kraken, that’s a good one,” Erin said.

“Of course. You know, in the original myth it’s described as a floating island, rather than a large squid. Certainly sounds like some of the aquatic Kaiju we’ve seen.” Annaliesa coughed slightly, clearing her throat. “Anyway, I’ve called you here because of this.” She nodded to a nearby aide, a man wearing an ill-fitting suit. He tapped away at a keyboard and the hologram changed, shifting into the shape of a small town.

“Looks quaint,” Eric said, crouching down to get a better look.

“This is Portree, a small town in Scotland. About thirty minutes ago a 2A Kaiju emerged from the bay and made its way inland with a group of 1A in its wake. It’s come to a stop, so we think it’s nesting here. You two are the only forces we have not already deployed, so I’m assigning you to deal with it.”

“Wait, me as well? I don’t think I’m ready for that!”

“No one ever is. It’s fine. I’ll deal with the category two, and you can focus on the ones. Do we have a dropship ready?” Erin said.

“We do. It’s out on runway one waiting for you. It’s about three hours flight time, so you should get moving as soon as you can,” Annaliesa said. “We only have basic satellite imagery of the Kaiju.” A nod signalled for the hologram to change, bringing up a blurry image of a quadruped dragging its body across the ground like a bloated lizard. It had a fish-like tail and webbed toes that ended in a spike. “It’s obviously aquatic, but we’ll try to get a clearer picture as you approach.”

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” Eric said. Despite telling himself he wanted to use his powers to fight Kaiju the nerves inside him were making him doubt his choice.

“You’ll be ok,” Erin said, putting a hand on Eric’s shoulder. “I’ll keep an eye on you. Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

***

The light of day hurt Eric’s eyes a little. He had been spending all of his time under the fluorescent lights of the facility and he had adjusted to the off-yellow glow. The landscape around him wasn’t quite what he had expected. In his mind, Greenland was a cold place, but the facility was placed amongst rolling green hills.

Immediately outside was a long runway, one of two that bracketed the great dome behind Eric. Two old passenger jets sat next to it, one of them the craft that had delivered him unceremoniously. The UN logo was painted to the side of each, blue laurels wrapping around the Earth.

“Which one are we taking?” Eric said, pointing to the planes.

“Neither. Those planes are for emergencies only. The recovery team I lead had to take one when we went to recover Rick’s F-19 because there was nothing else available. And yes, before you say anything, we weren’t looking for you, we were looking for Aura,” Erin said. It didn’t escape Eric’s notice that she had referred to Aura by name, rather than treating him as an object.

“Aura, huh?”

“Don’t act so surprised, everyone gives their F-19 a name. It’s just the folks in charge don’t like it, so we try not to talk about it inside the facility. Anyway,” Erin nodded towards the far right of the runway, “our ride is that.”

The aircraft waiting there was a sleek black arrow, a flying wing design with its engines mounted at either side of its cabin. It reminded Eric of one of the old now discontinued stealth bombers, though the aircraft's design was subtly different, its shape a little more curved.

“Ok. That is cool.”

“I know, right?” Erin said with a smirk. “It an Auratech X-34 multipurpose stealth craft. We just call it a dropship.”

“Why dropship?”

“Well, when you can turn into a hundred-foot tall monster, then there’s really only one quick way to get yourself into the action.”

“Right. Right. Would have been nice to have practised jumping out of an aircraft before having to do it.” Eric was taking the revelation surprisingly casually. Having spent his intro training being blasted by machineguns had set his expectations of what he was being asked to do well.

“No better way to learn. This will get us above the Kaiju. We’ll make a pass to get a good look at it, hopefully, work out what we’re going to do before we have to fight the thing.” Erin began to walk down the runway, her hands in the pockets of her jet black fatigues. Behind her Eric followed, his drab outfit making them look mismatched. As they approached the dropship began to spin up its engines, the jets shrieking as they began to whir to life.

“Why a stealth plane? It’s not like we have to avoid radar or anything.”

“Several Kaiju have specialised organs that allow them a biological equivalent,” Aura said. “This hypothesis was generated after the unusual amount of aircraft Kaiju have been able to intercept at range and has been confirmed through multiple dissections.”

“Thanks. Uh, is your F-19 this chatty?” Eric realised that he had never heard Erin’s speak.

“No, but Aura has been through multiple users, even before Rick. The more hosts they have the less stable the AIs become. His talking so much is probably a side effect of that.”

“Unstable?” The word didn’t fill Eric with confidence.

“Worry not. This unit is still capable of fulfilling its full range of functions. If I were to fall outside of acceptable parameters then I am instructed to self-terminate,” Aura said, his emerald flashing in time with his words. Eric kept his sleeves rolled up so he could see the device that hosted the AI in an attempt to get used to it.

“But if you were broken, would you even know it? What if the protocol to turn yourself off wasn’t working?”

“I would know,” Aura said with an air of certainty.

“Would you though? People can break, mentally speaking, and not realise it. Why would an AI be any different.”

“This unit…hmm, I will consider this.”

“Don’t confuse your unit,” Erin said. As they had drawn closer the sound of the engine had gotten louder, her words nearly lost in the buzz. The back of the plane was open, folded down to form a ramp leading to the inside. “Come on.”

***

“Are you ready?” Erin screamed over the roar of engines and the rush of air. She was wearing a set of goggles over her eyes and holding onto a strap dangling from the ceiling. The back door of the dropship was open, the land beneath rushing past.

“Maybe?” Eric was lying. He was terrified. He was expected to jump from the plane, with no parachute, and somehow survive the landing to chase down Kaiju wander the streets of a quaint Scottish town.

The flypast they had done had revealed the true shape of the Kaiju lurking within. It was a massive fish, one that had sprouted arms and legs as man’s ancestors had done millions of years ago. The creature wasn’t having any issues breathing, another adaptation of its strange mutation. The beast dragged itself along on its belly, its body alone nearly four stories high. There was a strange irony to a fishing town being taken over by a giant fish.

They hadn’t been able to get a good look at the smaller Kaiju that had come with it, the creatures hiding out of sight. That wasn’t good news for Eric, it meant he was going in blind to deal with them.

“Ok, so, when you land bend your knees and roll forward. Don’t try and do one of those one fist to the ground action movie landings. Your Kaiju form is tough, but not invincible. Try and aim for open space. A park or something similar.”

“That’s it?” Eric said. “That’s all the advice you have?”

“Not much else to it. Oh, you probably want to transform before you hit the ground.”

“Useful.”

“We’re coming up over the town, Major,” said a voice over the radio. The sound came out of Aura, the AI able to act as a communications device easily. “Get ready. We’ll remain on standby to provide support.”

“Rodger that flight.” Erin turned towards the open door. “Well, no time like the present,” she said, putting a hand on Eric’s back and giving a gentle push. “Off you go.”

Eric swallowed, closed his eyes, and then ran forward.

Air rushed against him as he fell, his stomach twisting about into knots. He braved opening his eyes, realising he would need to see the ground coming to land properly. Things were a lot closer than expected and rushing up fast to meet him. The plane had come in as low as possible, the buildings below as clear as day.

Focusing his thoughts as best he could, Eric triggered his transformation. For a brief moment, he became a gleaming star, purple light pouring from him. He could feel himself changing as the essence within him took hold.

“We’re going to die. This was stupid. Reckless. That woman was lying to you. What does she want?” The voice was new, not the deep booming from the first, but a hushed whisper, the sound couched in paranoia.

Eric ignored it, focusing on his landing. He twisted his body about with a flick of his tail, angling his feet towards the ground. It was time for the moment of truth.

He hit grass, landing in a small park near a set of children’s swings. He allowed his knees to bend but was surprised he didn’t need to roll forward, his legs absorbing the blow. There was a light tingle there like he had been for a short run, but otherwise, Eric felt fine. He allowed himself a moment to appreciate just what he had done. It wasn’t every day you jumped from a moving plane and survived.

A massive crash drew his attention, a thundering roar that shook the ground. Eric turned despite the miniature earthquake and gazed up in awe at Erin’s Kaiju form.

Like him, she was reptilian, a looming saurian shape that towered over the buildings by her. She had a set of impressive leathery wings and her scales were a deep shimmering purple. Most awe inspiring of all was the long coiling necks that stretched from her shoulders, each topped with its own fearsome-looking head. It was looking like an ancient dragon, a beast awakened from a thousand years of slumber. Eric suddenly understood what the mythical being class truly meant.

“Incoming message from the major,” Aura said, his voice sent directly into Eric’s mind rather than spoken out loud. “She is confirming that she can deal with the category two. We are to proceed with hunting down the category ones. I am detecting large numbers of essence signals nearby, twenty metres to our west.”

“Got it,” Eric said, vocalising his words through habit. “What about survivors? Any sign?”

“The small population of this town means that there is a seventy-three per cent chance that a person would escape this Kaiju attack successfully. The large majority of homes are expected to be empty, but I remind you that the protection of property is considered a high priority.”

“Yeah, no smashing buildings,” Eric said. That point had been driven home during his training. Right now, it didn’t seem a problem. Eric was larger, but he still wasn’t building-sized. He felt a little bad for the bigger enemy Kaiju. Despite it being big, it was minuscule when compared to the gigantic Erin. She had to be over a hundred meters tall, her shadow casting the town into darkness even as the light glittered off her scales. It was like an ancient god had descended to the Earth intent on reclaiming its domain.

“We should hurry to complete our task,” Aura said. “The Major would not be impressed by tardiness.”

“Yeah, which way is the west?”

“Directly ahead. They are getting closer, so perhaps they are coming to face us. Or perhaps more likely they are fleeing the Major’s Kaiju form.”

“Well, either way, they’re coming right at us,” Eric said, cracking his knuckles. “Let’s see what they’ve got.”

Chapter Six

The Kaiju came shuffling out from behind houses, dragging their bloated feet out into the street. They were bizarre things to look at, creatures that seemed to recoil at the air around them, their limbs swollen from the change in pressure. They looked like half-rotted corpses swelling from the gases within them. Each was vaguely humanoid in its composition, their fingers attached together with webs, their heads bulbous and covered in long dangling tentacles. It was like someone had attached a squid to a dead body and left it wandering over a hot beach to half melt away. Four of them had emerged, though Aura had been quick to let Eric know that more were coming.

“So, how do we do this? We have any information on these things?” Eric said. He was trying to hide behind a white van but was failing miserably, his newly increased size messing with his perceptions.

“Unfortunately, no. This Kaiju type is unknown. Current estimates would make it a 1A, though it's possible they’re a B or C. Only proper study will reveal the correct categorisation. As the first person to encounter the beasts by tradition naming rights are yours. This unit cautions you to choose something appropriately-”

“Squidlings,” Eric said, interrupting the AI before he could tell Eric to name them something boring. “Because of the tentacle faces.”

“Squidlings it is,” Aura said, making a noise that Eric was certain sounded like a sigh. “This unit advises caution as we are not yet aware of what abilities these creatures possess.”

Eric knew that the AI had a point. The prowlers he had fought had been able to focus their echolocation so strongly that it formed a beam of sonic power, enough to smash through metal with ease. Kaiju didn’t follow the rules of nature, at least not as understood by most people. Annaliesa had stated that Kaiju were as ancient as the Earth, but it was hard not to look at them and think they were some invaders from another reality. The revelation that some were alien in origin didn’t help the perception.

Looking around himself Eric considered his options. He was outnumbered, though the Kaiju were smaller than him and he was assuming that meant he had the advantage. It was a particularly primal way of looking at things, the bigger beast being stronger, but it was hard not to slip into that mindset.

“Destroy them. What are you waiting for?” The voice was the gruff low rumble of the Drakon manifestation lurking within Eric’s mind.

“No, run, flee! There are too many,” said the prowler.

“The two of you shut up!” Eric snarled, annoyed at the other personalities forcing their way out. “I’ve got a plan.”

The squidlings were getting closer, their movements a slow plod, almost like being on land was physically painful for them. That made sense for aquatic Kaiju, though why exactly they would make the transition to land when they were so ill-suited to it was a mystery.

Wrapping his scaled hands around a lamppost, Eric heaved. There was a tearing noise as the metal came free from the aged pavement, cables sparking where they ripped. Eric was still getting used to his enhanced strength and stumbled backwards a step as it came free quicker than he expected. Gripping the bottom with both hands Eric placed the lamppost on his shoulder like a baseball bat.

“Time to show these things why humans rule the earth,” Eric said.

“A series of lucky coincidences?” Aura said, confused at the statement.

“No, I meant tool use.”

“Tool use is not a trait unique to humanity. Several species of apes have been witnessed using tools, along with otters, several types of corvid, some fish, and elephants. Amongst others.”

“That’s not my point,” Eric said, striding confidently towards the squidlings. “You’ll see what I mean.”

A loud moan filled the air, a bellow unleashed from the giant fish Kaiju that sounded like the cry of a whale. It was squaring off against the larger Erin despite the difference in size. Its bravery was misplaced, the massive Erin stomping forwards, her footsteps shaking the town and shattering windows. She was moving slowly, not because of her size, but because she was taking care not to trample anything beneath her scaled heels.

The smaller Kaiju returned the cry, tentacles shifting as they unleashed their bellow, their speed picking up as they answered the rallying shout of their larger kin.

Eric took a single step forward, twisting about on the ball of his foot as he swung the lamppost, turning his body into the swing to give it as much power as possible.

The crack was sickening as it struck the nearest squidling, the lamppost bending as it met Kaiju flesh. The side of the beast’s head split open, bone protruding through the open wound despite the monster’s squid-like visage. Dark blood poured from the split, a maroon pool forming on the ground where the Kaiju had fallen. Soft purple light flowed out from its body and into Eric.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Squidling essence unlocked: As yet uncategorised Kaiju, the squidling are a species that mixes the traits of several aquatic animals.

“See, that’s what I meant,” Eric said, picking up the bent lamppost.

“Ah, you meant weapons use, not tools.” Aura sounded almost sarcastic.

“Weapons are tools though?”

“Yes, but not all tools are weapons. There’s a subtle difference there.”

“Depends on how hard you swing them,” Eric said, turning to face the nearest squidling. “Right, who’s next?”

One of the Kaiju shuffled forward from the others, its web hands raised, the tiny claws at the tips of each of its fingers ready to strike. It lifted its tentacles, the limbs spreading outwards to reveal a snapping beak within.

“Bad choice, buddy,” Eric said, raising the lamppost to deliver an overhead strike.

The creature shuddered, its body shuddering as a horrific gurgling noise built up within it. With a final retch, the squidling vomited a thick spray of black ooze from its maw, the slime splattering across Eric’s snout and eyes.

Essence field depleted. 87/100 remaining.

The substance burnt where it touched Eric’s scales. He couldn’t imagine what the pain would have been like if he were in his human form, no doubt it would have seared through his skin in moments. The gloop was stinging his eyes, and it was impossible to see through. The spray had blinded him, just like the ink released from the squidling’s namesakes.

“Argh, goddamn it,” Eric said. Aura had warned him about respecting the abilities the squidlings might have. “I can’t see anything!”

“That would appear to be the case,” Aura said. “This substance would be worth taking a sample of, if possible.”

“Yeah, I’ll get right on that, shall I?”

Essence field depleted. 72/100 remaining.

Something hit Eric square in his stomach, a blow landed from one of the Kaiju around him. The squidlings knew he was blind and were moving to make the most of their advantage. Eric had to do something, or he would quickly be overwhelmed.

“Flee! Escape!” screamed the prowler, the voice frantic in its fear.

Eric ignored it, pushing the Kaiju echo to the back of his mind, but it did spark an idea in him. Taking a long deep breath in, Eric focused his thoughts, concentrating on his newest ability.

A piercing wail left his lips, a shrieking roar that surprised even himself. The world around him took shape, the outlines of the objects and creatures around him becoming visible, white sketchy strokes of light in his vision, his mind working to display the information in a way he could understand. It was like standing in the wireframe of the world, the images pulsing in time with the wave sound escaping from his jaws.

The Kaiju that had sprayed Eric with the slime was moving to strike him a second time, its comrades holding back to watch the outcome before making their move. It swung its right hand around in a wide arc, intending to strike its talons against Eric’s scales. It expected its scratch at its prey, to tear away part of the armour to reveal the vulnerable flesh beneath. It certainly didn’t expect its wrist to be caught mid-swing by its enemy.

Eric twisted the Kaiju’s arm as hard as he could, bone bursting through flesh as the creature shrieked in pain.

“Yes! Kill! Destroy! End this pitiful wretch!” Drakon screamed in Eric’s mind.

For once Eric agreed with the voice in his head. The Kaiju had dropped to its knees, wailing in agony at its torn arm. Putting it down would be a mercy. Eric simply grabbed the squidlings head between his hands and twisted, a terrible cracking noise announcing the beast’s death. He had seen it done a thousand times in movies, but Eric had always thought snapping a neck with a single move was almost impossible. The strength of his Kaiju form had made it trivially easy, and he felt a little sick at what he had done.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Essence field depleted. 68/100 remaining.

“We appear to still be taking damage from the creature’s acidic spit. It would be wise to find some way to remove it.”

Eric didn’t disagree. It was still blocking his vision and he expected his echolocation would not last forever. No doubt like the lightning punch it would have a cooldown period once it had worn off. Eric suspected that removing it now would be pointless. It struck him that the two remaining squidlings could simply reapply the inky substance at will.

“Yeah, that’s up next. Can you do something about these damn voices in my head?” Eric turned to face the two remaining squidlings. His echolocation wasn’t perfect, the Kaiju stuttering as they moved, the image only as accurate as the last pulse Eric released from his mouth. He wasn’t even conscious he was doing it but stopping to speak had delayed the image significantly.

“I can try. You’re not at risk of a cascade, not yet. This unit tries not to interfere with your mental functions where not strictly necessary.”

Eric nodded, a reaction he did subconsciously. Aura had no way of seeing him. “Right, well then, I’ll cope for now. Don’t want you digging about in there unnecessarily.”

The ground shook causing Eric to stumble slightly, one of the squidlings lost its footing and falling to the floor. Despite the size difference, the giant fish was trying its hardest to fight against Erin, unleashing a torrent of water from its mount that had caused her to crash through a house as she regained her footing. Not that Eric knew this, his echolocation only working reasonably close to him. Only the bellows and roars of the battle happening nearby gave him a rough idea that it was still ongoing.

Essence field depleted. 64/100 remaining.

Seeing his chance, Eric charged, thundering down the road towards the fallen squidling. He leapt into the air and fell onto the Kaiju, his elbow pointed downwards onto the creature’s spine. A loud crack rang out as Eric’s considerable weight struck the squidling, the monster’s movements stopping instantly.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

That left only the one remaining, at least amongst this batch. Chances were that more of the creatures lurked elsewhere in the town. Eric did not doubt that the squidlings were the Kaiju equivalent of bottom feeders, following the bigger beast wherever it went to lap up its scraps.

Calling hits lightning punch from within himself, Eric could feel the power surging through his fists. He was barrelling towards the last Kaiju having scrambled to his feet, its images shifting and flicking at it tried to flee, Eric’s echolocation struggling to keep up. The Kaiju was making the right decision to run, having seen the fate of the rest of its pack.

Eric was catching up. He was bigger and heavier, but his Kaiju body had deep reserves of strength and a far longer stride than the squidling’s. He was gaining ground quickly, the energy around his fist arcing with anticipation. Eric found he was eager to slay the beast, to take its essence to grow stronger. Part of him worried it was the influence of the Kaiju personalities within his mind, but Eric knew deep down that in truth it was the allure of possibility that enticed him. Seeing Erin in her full glory had spurred him on to get stronger, to get what powers he could.

Realising it was being caught, the squidling turned, bringing itself about to face Eric, its claws raised in defiance. It didn’t matter, its opponents blow caught it on the side of its head, lightning leaping across and coursing through its body. The squidling’s flesh burned where the impact contacted it, filling the air with a horrid fishy smell. It slumped to the ground; its mind fried from the energy flowing through it.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

“Anything else nearby?” Eric said. He wasn’t entirely sure how Aura was detecting the presence of Kaiju. He assumed it had to be able to feel the essence of Kaiju in some way.

“Not within my range, no.”

“Right, good. I need to get this stuff off my face somehow.”

Essence field depleted. 60/100 remaining.

Eric wandered over to the nearest building, feeling along the wall until he could find the door, his echolocation not accurate enough to tell him where it was. He tried the handle, his massive hands struggling to hold it. After a few moments of frustration, Eric chose the easier option, barging open the door and stamping his way through into the house, the wood frame shattering as he forced his body through. He crouched as low as he could, but even then, his body rubbed against the ceiling, fragments of plaster showering Eric’s scales as he explored the room. He stumbled about—his hands held out before him in an effort to guide himself.

“What exactly are we doing?” Aura said. “Property damage is to be avoided, remember?”

“This is pitiful, an embarrassment. You are greater than this! So much more!” Drakon added.

“I hate to agree with that manifestation, but this isn’t the most graceful entrance.”

“Yeah, thanks for that. I didn’t know you can hear the voices,” Eric said, still trying to make his way through the house. From the lack of screams, it was deserted, which was probably for the best. The KRT had been very clear that the idea of people transforming into Kaiju was top secret, and where possible Eric was supposed to give the impression he was a normal Kaiju, albeit one friendly to humans. Looking for the kitchen like someone in search of a midnight snack wasn’t going to maintain that illusion.

The ground was shaking as he moved, the battle outside still going on. He knew that Erin would be winning, but he assumed she would have finished dealing with her opponent by now. Eric suspected that she was playing with it, toying with the creature to prolong the fight. Knowing her it was probably so she didn’t have to help with the category ones, likely something she would wave off as allowing Eric the maximum amount of training possible.

Finally finding his way into a kitchen, something Eric knew from the feel of tabletops beneath his scaly fingers, he began to search for a tap. Making his way through to the kitchen had destroyed two more doorframes, and Eric hoped the homeowners had paid extra to include Kaiju attack on their insurance.

Carefully, with the tips of his talons, Eric turned on the tap, splashing the cold water flowing out onto his face. The acid had stopped damaging him for the time being, but it was still obscuring his vision. Eric was glad to see a glimpse of light breaking through, and with a few more splashes was able to see clearly again. He shut off his echolocation to allow it to recharge and began to awkwardly wash off the rest of the acidic gloop. Where it hit the surfaces of the kitchen it simply sat there, whatever element within it that was causing it to burn having worn off.

“Anything else yet?” Eric said.

“If you mean any more Kaiju detected, then yes? Three more approximately fifty metres north-west of us, though they are moving back towards the waterline. With the two larger Kaiju battling I suspect that the smaller ones are attempting to flee for the time being. Category one Kaiju are opportunistic. If they feel the danger outweighs their odds of feeding, they will back off.”

That made sense to Eric. The prowler living within his mind was a paranoid thing, constantly telling him to flee from a fight at the first opportunity. The creatures must have felt more than confident taking him on back when Eric had been cowering in the convenience store. The battle between the two large Kaiju had ended, and Drakon had devastated a wide swath of the city, so Eric understood why that was. Most humans were probably easy prey for them.

“Right, thank you. We better get back out there. Wouldn’t want Erin to worry about us, and we need to try and take out as many of those squidlings as we can, for the essence more than anything.” A thought occurred to Eric. “How much essence do I have?”

“One hundred and forty.”

“Right, we should spend it now. There’s no point hanging onto something when we can get stronger right now.”

Focusing his mind, Eric summoned the information for his current essence levels.

Eric Wainwright

Level 2 Kaiju

Unspent Essence: 140

Drakon Essence Rank 1—0/125

Prowler Essence Rank 1—0/125

Squidling Essence Rank 0—0/100

Manifestations Unlocked

-          Lightning Punch: Rank 1—0/31

-          Echolocation: Rank 1—0/31

The first thing Eric did was spend one hundred of his unspent points into squidling essence. It would grant him another level overall and considering the difference in sheer size and strength between levels one and two Eric was expecting something similar again.

100 essence spent into Squidling. Increased to rank one.

Squidling manifestation unlocked— Aquatic breathing. Passive power, grants gills and the ability to breathe underwater. Higher ranks increase the pressure your body can handle allowing for deeper diving.

The effect was impressive, but Eric was content to leave it on level zero for the time being. Just activate it was taking effect, he could feel the sides of his neck starting to open. It was an unpleasant feeling, one made worse by the fact that Eric was growing, his body pushing into the ceiling and threatening to burst through into the floor above. Now able to see he quickly made his way out into the street in an attempt not to damage the house more than he already had.

That left forty points to spend. Eric decided to hold onto them for now but resolved to grab another rank in one of the overall Kaiju essences when he was able. His maximum essence field hadn’t increased along with his level, and he suspected that might change when he started unlocking more abilities from the Kaiju he had absorbed.

It only took a few moments, but by the time Eric stopped growing he was easily five metres tall. The world around him seemed strange to him now, like the cars were children’s playthings. He wondered what it would be like when he got the same size as Erin. The world had to seem tiny at that point.

The battle between the two bigger Kaiju was still ongoing, though battle wasn’t quite the right word. The fish creature was truly tiny compared to Erin, and its aggressive posturing has been ill-advised. It had taken some shots at the mountain-sized reptile, firing a spray of pressurised water that bounced harmlessly off her hide.

“The Major says that the other category ones are fleeing and that you should stand clear whilst she deals with the category two. It would appear we are victorious, for the time being at least,” Aura said. “This unit theorises that these creatures might have nested in the ocean nearby. It is likely there are more of them.”

“The surface is full of food, and without food, we cannot spawn. Spawning is all. You should be trying to spawn. With the female, perhaps?” said a new voice, a deep sound with an odd gurgling noise behind it. “Your progeny would be strong.”

“Ok, Aura, can we shut that one up, please? I don’t mind if you have to go digging around in my brain, but I really don’t want that at the back of my thoughts forever. Anger and paranoia, those I can deal with, but having a horny fish babbling away is a step too far.”

“I can try, but anything I do won’t be permanent this…horny fish will return. Perhaps it will simply be best to just get used to it.”

“Fine, fine. I guess you’re right. Wait, I’ve just had a thought.”

Eric was about to explain what that thought was when Erin decided it was time to deal with the fish-Kaiju. She bit down on the creature with one of her heads and lifted it casually into the air. Her long neck coiled back and then flung it at the bay, the Kaiju landing in the water with a colossal splash, one that caused some of the boats still moored there to find themselves stranded on the pavement above once the water subsided.

The enemy Kaiju just floated there, the water around it turning red from the bite wounds on its side. It was still moving but hitting the water at such speed had stunned it momentarily.

In one swift motion, Erin’s long necks wrapped around each other, coiling tight until both of her heads were held close together. She pointed them at the stunned Kaiju as pale blue light began to build within her open jaws.

The energy burst forth, washing the town in blue light. There were two searing columns, one from each jaw fired in parallel, the sheer destructive force being unleashed awe-inspiring. The beams struck the fish-Kaiju and exploded in a blast of steam and seared fish guts, the remnants of the creature showering the bay.

Eric took cover beneath the awning of a nearby store, laying flat on his stomach so he could fit. Getting splattered with fish intestines didn’t seem like a pleasant thing.

“You were saying something,” Aura said, the AI unphased by the carnage. “You had some kind of idea?”

“Yeah. That voice, it’s obsessed with spawning, right? That’s the fish version of well…you know. That means that might be why they came on land, to begin with. There might be eggs left here. We should search and make sure.”

“A sound hypothesis. This unit will relay that information to the Major. British army forces are standing by outside our listed zone of operations for the town to be declared safe. It might be prudent to have them search for any eggs once we have ensured the town is clear of category one Kaiju.”

“Guns seemed pretty good against those prowlers. The army could deal with any squidlings, right?”

“Oh certainly, but that would be passing up available essence. This unit was led to believe you were attempting to gain additional levels.”

Eric had to admit that Aura had a point. The entire mission had gone better than he had expected. Perhaps Erin’s haphazard training style was more effective than it seemed. Eric realised that he had adapted to the situation on the fly, utilising his echolocation to overcome a challenge that he could not have expected. It was just like how he had used his durability to defeat the robots the first time, turning his newfound powers to his advantage.

“We’ll go looking in a minute,” Eric said. “Once it stops raining fish.”

Chapter Seven

The rest of the squidlings fled quickly after seeing the Kaiju they were following blown apart by the two-headed giant. Eric tried to chase down those he could, but the bizarre aquatic monsters had shown a surprising turn of speed, escaping back into the water and swimming away. The temptation to use his newly acquired gills to leap in after them was high, after all, breathing underwater was up there with flying as a superpower everyone wanted, right under invisibility.

With the immediate threat dealt with, Erin had messaged Eric to tell him to transform back into a human. The British army would be moving in shortly to search for any eggs and maintaining the secret truth about bio-constructed Kaiju was considered paramount. Eric didn’t disagree, he wasn’t keen on people knowing he could turn into a monster, he imagined it wouldn’t make him popular. More than one protest group existed that claimed the creation of the bio-constructs was only serving to antagonise the Kaiju and was therefore responsible for some of the destruction.

Eric didn’t know if he agreed with that. It was certainly true that fighting Kaiju caused damage. Despite the strict instructions he had received in his training it seemed impossible to avoid causing at least some level of carnage. The sheer size of the biggest Kaiju meant they simply radiated devastation, each footstep shattering windows and fracturing concrete. More than once a misplaced step had crashed right through the surface of a road into a subway tunnel or large sewer beneath. A big problem with Kaiju attacks was the invisible aftermath, it could take years for every cracked pipe or severed cable to be tracked down. Most cities were slowly built up over decades, even centuries in some places. Putting all of that right took time, though several places had taken it as an opportunity to rebuild in a more modern way, urban redevelopment via monster attack. Some people held that Kaiju were nature acting as a balancing force, one that sought to return the world to a more natural state. The giant scaled version of a forest fire, destroying all before it to clear the way for new life.

“Come on, hop in,” Erin said, tapping the door of a four by four that she had requisitioned off the army. The dropship was an impressive aircraft, but like most, it was beholden to the presence of runways. The plane was on route to touchdown at a nearby private airfield, and the car was to take Erin and Eric to meet it. From there they were due to fly back to Greenland ready for debriefing.

“A long drive isn’t what I had in mind. Not very heroic is it?” Eric said as he climbed into the passenger seat. He reached up and grabbed the seatbelt, locking it into place with a click. “Suppose that’s the price we pay for keeping everything secret.” As far as the army was concerned Eric was a Kaiju handler, and that the massive beast had sunk into the sea when its prey had been defeated. That it was sitting next to him in the driver’s seat made Eric smile.

“It is. But I don’t do this for praise.”

“What do you do it for?”

“It’s the right thing to do. That’s it. What else am I supposed to do, let people die?”

“No, that’s fair enough,” Eric said. He had to admit to himself that deep down that was his reasoning as well. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re pretty cool, in your monster form.”

“And I’m not cool in my human form?”

“You know when I said don’t take this the wrong way, this, this is the wrong way.”

The car started with a rumble as Erin turned the key. “You know I was joking, right?” She leant across and tapped at the sat-nav on the dashboard, the route pre-planned by a helpful soldier. “Besides I bet your form is only going to get cooler as you get bigger. I’m sure you noticed your height is tied directly to your level.”

“Yeah, I did spot that. Is it linked to essence in some way?”

“Essence is what we believe allows Kaiju to bend the laws of physics,” Aura said, his voice muffled beneath Eric’s sleeve. It had been rolled down to hide the AI and his housing. The main body of it could probably have been passed off as eccentric jewellery but the long tendrils burrowing into Eric’s arm were still plainly visible. “The more essence a Kaiju possesses, the larger it can be, in direct defiance of the square-cube law.”

“I have no idea what that means,” Eric said, immediately regretting the statement.

“Well,” Aura began, launching into the explanation. “Let’s say you take an object. A box to keep things easy. You double the size of the box. Because it’s a three-dimensional object, it actually means that the surface area of the box is quadrupled, whilst its volume is increased by a factor of eight. This is a serious limiting factor on how large things can become, it’s exponential increases in mass. And of course, more mass means more effort to move it, which itself might mean greater size. It’s this which forces the biggest birds to have wingspans far greater proportionally than their smaller counterparts.”

“I think I understand that? If you’ve got a two-ton Kaiju and it doubles in size, it’s not a four-ton Kaiju, it’s actually way more.”

“Close enough,” Aura said. It was hard not to feel like the AI was talking down to a child. “This is before we get into any specifics on the biology involved. Creating muscle and bone to support the sheer weight of a Kaiju was considered mathematically impossible. We know essence is allowing it somehow, but even with Auratech’s cutting edge research, we understand little of how. Kaiju are still clearly impacted in some way, considering the general ploddingness most of them adopt.”

“Yeah, I get it now. Not sure I need a science lesson whilst we drive.”

The tires of the car thudded as they went over a speedbump. Eric turned to look out of the window as they headed up the road that wound its way through the hillside and out of the town. Most of it was still intact, a miracle considering the size of Erin’s Kaiju form. The only damage had been done by the fish-Kaiju as it had dragged itself onto land.

“Yes, such majestic devastation. We need more. We must crush, kill, destroy!” Drakon said, his words echoing in Eric’s mind. The sound hadn’t crept through his lips, the entity lacking the power to take any kind of control.

“No, no,” the squidling said. “We must keep nesting sites intact to spawn! There is a female here, we aren’t we spawning right now?”

“Ugh, shut up!” Eric said. The prowler had kept quiet and Eric suspected that it was scared of the other manifestations, keeping to itself unless threatened.

“Voices getting on your nerves?” Erin said, her eyes darting between the road and the sat nav. “I find meditation helps.”

“I refuse to believe you meditate. You’ve not got the right…vibe.”

“What vibe am I supposed to have?”

“I don’t know? Less seal team six and more collects crystals and owns a Himalayan salt lamp?”

“What the hell is a Himalayan salt lamp?”

“It’s like, well, what it sounds like,” Eric said. “It’s a chunk of salt about the size of a fist, the pink kind, with a lightbulb inside. An LED probably. It supposed to help filter the air and help with depression and stuff?”

Erin turned the wheel, the car sliding onto a main road. “Sounds like nonsense to me.”

“Well, yeah. It’s complete crap. But you know what people are like. You tell them it has health benefits and they’ll buy it, even if it's then disproven. It’s that thing, right, where people won’t change their minds once it’s made up.”

“You know what my dad used to say when I was a kid?” Erin said. “Well, no, how could you, but my point is, my dad had terminal cancer and it drove him insane all the crap people kept sending to him. Snake oil the lot of it.”

“Sorry about your dad.” Eric didn’t know what else to say. He knew it was a false platitude, but it was the thing everyone expected.

“Don’t be. He lived a good life before that and he made damn sure he went down swinging against it. He had this saying, right. You know what they call alternative medicine that works? Medicine. He trusted his doctors, not some idiot on the internet. Anyway, my point is meditation is a proven thing, something your doctor might recommend. It helps me with the voices.”

“You must have so many by now, right? I can’t imagine it.”

“Eh, yes and no. The more essence you put into a particular Kaiju the more they drown out the others. There are lots of them there, but they don’t speak very often. I’ve got maybe four or five that talk with any regularity.”

“Four or five strikes me as a lot of voices.”

Erin just shrugged, her hands still clutching the wheel. “It is what it is.”

“Meditation, eh? I better get one of those apps.”

The engine of the car grumbled a low constant chug as they passed over the verdant Scottish hills around them. It wasn’t what Eric had in mind when it came to Kaiju attacks. They always seemed to be devastating assaults on major cities, not short invasions into an idyllic seaside town surrounded by greenery.

“This place is pretty,” Eric said, breaking the silence that had fallen. “Not what I imagine when I think Kaiju attacks.”

“Attacks in places like this are far more common than most realise. The ones that make the news are the big splashy attacks on major cities. And yeah, those are bad, but the others tend to get forgotten quickly. People are used to it now, to some extent. That’s how it always works with these things, they become the new normal after a while. It’s been a decade; this is just life now.” Erin leant in towards the sat-nav, momentarily confused at its instructions.

“I guess. Grim thought, really. Not surprising though. You ever think we’ll be free of them? The Kaiju that is?”

“Nah. We’ve never really been free of them, right? They’ve been here all along, just content to leave us alone whilst they slept in the Lost Earth or at the bottom of the sea or whatever. To them, we’re the upstarts who shouldn’t be there.”

“I wonder what changed?”

“Who knows?” Erin said. “Maybe we did something to provoke them?”

“I’m still reeling about the idea that some of them might be alien. Maybe that’s what it was?”

“That certainly is one theory being put forward,” Aura said, butting into the conversation. Despite the AI’s assurances that his actions and responses were dictated by strict programming, he had something dangerously close to a personality. “Others include a delayed response to the deployment of nuclear weapons, or even as a result of climate change.”

“It doesn’t really matter in the long run, I guess,” Eric said. To him, it seemed straightforward. The Kaiju were already attacking, stopping them was more important than anything else. “Big monsters are big monsters.”

“On the contrary. The origins of Kaiju and the reason they are attacking are key to working out methods of defeating them. If humanity could change something to prevent further attacks, why wouldn’t they?”

Erin allowed herself a snort of laughter, the sound escaping from her thin lips. “Don’t know humans very well, do you Aura? Getting people to change their lifestyles even in the face of impending doom, is an impossible task. Just look at climate change. Hell, right now we’re driving a gas-powered car. These were supposed to be phased out by now.” Erin tapped the dashboard in front of her like she was petting an old dog. “There’s something about these that electric cars just lack. They feel so…soulless, does that make sense?”

“Not really.” Eric wasn’t a car person. He understood the appeal, but it wasn’t something that had ever drawn him in. When he was a child every other boy he knew had two things on their walls, cars and naked people. Eric had always preferred metal band posters, ones that he had to cut out of magazines with scissors.

“Your loss.”

***

Strapping himself into his seat, Eric couldn’t help but be impressed by the dropship. It was an imposing thing, a sleek black boomerang of incredible power. It had held position overhead whilst Erin had fought the fish-Kaiju, but its help hadn’t been needed. Eric wondered what shape that help would have taken. Likely some kind of missile or cannon fire.

“That fish thing,” Eric said as he clicked the last strap into place. “it have a name?”

“Yeah, someone back at command called it Scylla. Seems like as good a name as anything. What did you call the little ones?” Erin had already strapped herself into her seat. The chairs were at opposite sides of a hold covered in thick black webbing. It was exactly what was expected of a military jet.

“Squidlings.”

“Sounds stupid,” Erin said.

“Best I could think of. Levelling them up gave me gills though. I can breathe underwater now.”

“Really? Wow, I should have bagged myself one of those. That’s crazy useful. There’s a lot of aquatic Kaiju out there. It’s why getting anything shipped takes so long now. All the extra precautions and sonar sweeps. You know, when we were kids you could get stuff from another country in a week or so. Quicker sometimes. I miss that.”

“You’ve got your own super plane,” Eric said, gesturing around himself. “You could go get whatever you want.”

“Only if a giant monster is attacking there.”

The door to the cockpit opened, one of the pilots stepping through and raising a hand to get Erin’s attention. “Ma’am you have an incoming call from KRT HQ on line two.” The pilot pointed to the wall where a headset was resting on a hook.

Erin took it, placing the headphones over her ears and swiping the microphone downwards. “Major Nakajima here. Right. Right. Understood.”

Eric watched her nodding along as words were piped into Erin’s ears. He could make out the mumbled sound of words being spoken and whilst he couldn’t understand what they were saying it was obvious that it was important from the look on Erin’s face.

“He did well. We can handle this, Doc. We’ll leave right away.” Erin took the headset off and turned to the pilot. “You’ll have new nav coordinates coming through to you now, we’ve got another issue that needs dealing with. A new Kaiju has just appeared in Iceland. It’s away from any populated areas but it still needs to be dealt with. A 2A by the looks of it. You know what that means.”

“I get to deal with all the little ones that follow it whilst you take out the big one. Yeah, I get the gist,” Eric said. He was tired and just wanted to take the long flight back to the KRT base where he could hopefully get some sleep. Using his Kaiju form was exhausting.

“Exactly. See, we’re a good team.”

“We’ll be fine getting to Iceland, but we’ll need to refuel right after. We can drop you off but hanging around to provide support is probably off the table,” the pilot said. “You’ll be on your own.”

Eric couldn’t imagine that would be a problem. After seeing Erin’s monstrous Kaiju form it was impossible to imagine what would be. She had been the closest thing to a living god Eric could picture and the monster in Iceland was the same class as the one Erin had just defeated.

“Thanks, John. We should be ok.” Erin nodded to the pilot as she spoke. She turned back towards Eric as John stepped back into the cockpit. “I know it’s right after our last mission, but you need the essence.”

“Yeah, I suppose. Have to get stronger somehow. So, how come we didn’t use those robots in the field? They would have been perfect for dealing with the squidlings.”

“Probably. They’re not cleared for field trials yet. The Doc is really resistant to using them. She thinks that relying on AI to make smart decisions in a dangerous situation is a bad idea. I kind of see where she’s coming from, we can’t be certain yet that they won’t mistake a person in the shadows with a Kaiju and just start shooting. AI do things like that.”

“I must confess, I do agree with the Major,” Aura said, his gem blinking in time with his words. “I am considerably more advanced than the AI within them and I am not certain I wouldn’t make that mistake.”

“Right. I guess people could easily do that as well though. And why are you more advanced? Aren’t you made by the same company? Couldn’t you just get plugged into one of those combat robots?” Eric said.

“Alas, not. This unit’s systems require rare elements. It would simply be ineffective to install a similar system in every combat robot.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Eric said, picking up the headset from behind him. The engines of the jet were spinning up, filling the cabin with noise. Across from him, Erin did the same. Once the craft was in the air, they wouldn’t be necessary, the engines settling down into a constant whine. “I think I might try and catch some sleep. I feel like I need it.”

“That’s a good idea. Who knows what’s waiting for us?”

***

Eric had never fallen asleep so fast in his life. As soon as he had closed his eyes he was out, the exhaustion greater than he could ever have expected. It didn’t help that he had finally gotten used to the time zone in Greenland only to be flung across Britain and now he was bouncing to Iceland. The jetlag was enough to throw anyone off, even if they hadn’t had to battle monsters in-between trips.

He found himself dreaming, his mind casting him into a realm of shadows that swirled about him. Eric was floating, almost as if he were underwater, his clothes shifting around him as if buffeted by unseen currents.

In the darkness around him, were baleful red dots, ones growing closer with every moment. Eric knew instinctively what they were, the eyes exploding in size as the Kaiju drew closer in the gloom. All three of the beasts he had absorbed were there, the prowler and squidling as equally tall as Drakon, all three towering over Eric’s tiny form.

“So, I can’t even escape you guys when I sleep?” Eric wasn’t scared of the entities before him. He was fully aware that he was dreaming. Here he had the power, the Kaiju were just guests in his mind, ones he could eject at any time, with a little help from Aura.

“There is nothing to escape,” the squidling said, its tentacles surrounding Eric as it spoke. “We are you. You are us. You cannot escape yourself.”

“You’ve got a point,” Eric said, nodding in an exaggerated manner. “It also means you can’t escape me. It must be strange for you, fragments of a Kaiju’s mind, trapped inside a human, forced into working for me basically as I fight other Kaiju.”

“Fighting other Kaiju is the order of things,” Drakon said. “We fight, we kill, we eat. We destroy. Why do you not destroy? There is so much on the surface to test your might against.”

“Humans don’t work like that, mostly. We build, not destroy.”

“Are you human?” the prowler said. “You are Kaiju? Right? Does it not scare you?”

“I might have you lot inside me, but I’m definitely still human?”

“Are you sure?” Drakon said. “You tasted my raw essence and lived. Most humans could not do that. You are different, aberrant, a monster. A Kaiju. You should lash out against this world, to rage and crush and burn.”

“You could make this world your domain,” the squidling began. “Imagine all the females that you could-”

Eric held up a hand, his gesture stopping the behemoth in its tracks. “No, just stop. The whispering to destroy I can deal with, and the prowler chattering, but you’re just weird and creepy. Stop it.”

“All life exists to continue their line.”

“Yeah, well, there are certain ways to go about it. Personally, I like to act with a little decorum. Look, if you don’t mind, I’m trying to sleep. I would prefer a nice dream, like winning the lottery or maybe going water-skiing? I’ve always wanted to do that. Looks fun.”

“He mocks us!” the prowler shrieked, its long arm bending unnaturally as it pointed at the tiny Eric. “He doesn’t know to fear us! You should be afraid, always.”

Eric, shifted his position, sitting down on an invisible chair summoned with his mind. If it was his dream he was going to at least be comfortable. “Well, you did say you were a part of me, right? So, in a way, I’m just mocking myself. A little self-deprecating humour. Lord knows I’ll need it to get through all this craziness. Another mission coming up means another one of you lot joining the fold. Looks like I’m going to collect myself a whole host of voices doubting me. It’ll be just like a family gathering.”

Chapter Eight

It was cold. That much didn’t shock Eric, it was after all Iceland, but trudging through fresh snow wasn’t something he had planned on doing. When he was in his Kaiju form his clothing seemed to vanish, something he wasn’t going to ask Aura about to spare himself the long boring explanation. All Eric could see around him was the dark green of pine trees set against brilliant white.

That was a problem.

The dropship had flown above where the Kaiju was supposed to be. The creature had been spotted by fishermen dragging itself onto land and some seismographs set up to record volcanic activity in the area were being triggered by its movements, but the flyover had spotted nothing. Eric had been sent flying out of the back in his Kaiju form, his second leap from a plane unaided, whilst Erin had descended in a more ordinary way using a parachute. There was a chance dropping her massive form would simply make the creature flee and whilst that would solve the problem of its presence, it would mean that valuable information on the Kaiju would be lost. Anything that could be learnt was a potential help for future battles.

“Can we do something about maybe getting me some pants or something when I transform? I’m a reptile now, the cold is supposed to be bad for me, right?” Eric said, wrapping his arms around himself.

“Actually, whilst this species of Kaiju looks reptilian, several facets of its biology do not line up with our current understanding about-” Aura began.

“Yeah, no, I don’t need another lesson. I feel like I’ve learnt more recently than I ever have. Any ideas on what we need to be looking for, Erin?”

The Major came to a stop. She had fished out a large winter jacket from the supplies stashed aboard the dropship, giving her much needed protection against the cold. For her searching was nothing more than a pleasant, if chilly, walk in a beautiful forest. She crouched down and placed her hand atop the snow.

“Do you feel that?” she said her fingers pressing into the fresh white powder. “The ground is shaking slightly.”

“I mean, I am pretty big now.”

“No, I mean aside from you. Stay still for a moment.”

Eric tried to remain as motionless as possible, even going so far as to hide his breath. It took more effort than he would have liked, his Kaiju body still strange to him. The oddest thing was his tail. He could move it about as he willed though when he wasn’t actively thinking about it the tail would adjust itself to help his balance. It was a bizarre feeling to find himself with an additional limb, and Eric wasn’t exactly sure what he should do with it. He had seen Kaiju on TV swing theirs like a weapon, but Eric felt like he simply didn’t have enough control to do that yet.

Erin was right. Beneath his scaled feet, Eric could feel a faint rumbling sensation.

“Could be like, an earthquake, or a volcano or something? Maybe it was a false report?”

“I don’t know. You might be right, my F-19 isn’t detecting any essence in the area…but if…”

“But if? But if what? Nothing good ever comes from but if.”

“Well, it’s possible that the Kaiju went underground. We know there’s plenty of them with the ability to burrow,” Erin said, standing up straight and dusting the snow off her hands. “Could be it’s beneath us?”

“I would have thought that a Kaiju digging about like a mole would have been easy to spot?” Eric said, voicing a concern that had always niggled at him. “The amount of dirt one would move alone must be crazy. They would be leaving sinkholes just everywhere.”

“Generally, the diggers just use it to breach through from the Lost Earth, and even then, most of them just follow existing pathways in the deepest parts of the oceans or pop out of volcanoes or whatever. Still, the Doc was sure this was a 2A. Apparently, the fishermen who saw it said it looked like a giant walrus.”

“A walrus? Not normally known for digging are they?”

Erin laughed. She had to admit Eric had a point. “No, they aren’t. Thing is though most Kaiju aren’t exactly as they appear. You have Drakon’s form, there many giant dinosaurs that shoot lightning? Hell, the Kaiju I got mine off was a one, my current body is just what it would look like if it could evolve to a five.”

“Evolve? No, you know what, I’m not even going to get into that. We need to find us a…walrus mole?”

“It is possible that the creature is significantly below us. Perhaps it’s burrowing deep enough not to disturb the surface?” Aura said. “The fishermen did notice that creature crawling out of the water. Perhaps we can assume that it has returned to the ocean to start its tunnelling. That would explain why there is no visible evidence of the entrance.”

“He’s got a point,” Erin said. The AI’s words had come from her F-19, Aura’s physical form hidden somewhere within Eric’s Kaiju body. “For what it’s worth my AI agrees with him.”

“Right. So, we’re in totally the wrong place then? We need to be checking the coast. Which should be…that way? I think.” Eric pointed at a cluster of trees that were blocking his vision. He didn’t know how he knew that, only that he felt an instinctive need to get closer to the water. It had to be part of his new gills, the organs longing to feel the oceans touch.

“Eric would be correct, unerringly so. This unit can confirm that the ocean is indeed exactly in that direction.” Aura was almost impressed with Eric’s guess.

Erin spun about on her heels, snow flicking up into the air. “That’s because he’s part fish now!”

“So, are you? You must have gotten essence from Scylla.” Eric began to follow, every footstep crunching the snow beneath him. He was being careful where he moved, the last thing he wanted was to step on something fragile covered by the endless white and go flying onto his face as it collapsed under his weight. What Aura had said about the laws of physics back at the base had stuck with Eric. He wondered exactly how heavy he was now.

“Yeah, but you’re like, one-quarter fish now by my count. I think that matters more. Besides my fishiness isn’t telling me where the ocean is.”

“Mathematically the major is correct. The percentage of essence within yourself that is from aquatic Kaiju is higher than hers,” Aura said.

“You know, I don’t need you piling on as well,” Eric said with a sigh, the noise sounding like a growl from his monstrous mouth. “I would have thought you were on my side.”

“However,” Aura said, slightly annoyed at the interruption. “In terms of volume, the Major has far more aquatic Kaiju absorbed. I would think that the honour of being the fishiest would go to her.”

“That’s more like it.”

“My AI is telling me that there are several miles to the coastline,” Erin said, turning to face Eric. “Right, pick me up then.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Eric was confused by the request.

“Pick me up. It’s not a hard request. You’re bigger than I am, and faster once you get going. Time is of the essence; we don’t want this thing to get too deep or escape back into the ocean.” Erin crossed her arms. She wasn’t looking forward to the experience, it wouldn’t be dignified, but Erin was the kind of person who did whatever was needed to complete the mission.

“Right, I guess so.” Eric held his breath, expecting the squidling to say something appropriate. To his surprise it said nothing. Maybe his discussion during his dream had silenced the voices for the time being. Eric found it interesting he remembered it all so clearly, normally his dreams vanished just moments after waking.

Scooping up the Major in his arms, Eric began to run. His footsteps thundered across the snow, his tail dragging a long trench behind him.  He tried to lean forward so the branches of the trees would crash against his armoured head.

“You know, you could have just flown us there,” Eric said as he hopped over a snow-covered log.

“And given us away?” Erin wasn’t looking at her makeshift mount, her eyes turned away in an attempt at preventing embarrassment.

“And this is the height of stealth?”

“Comparatively,” Erin said.

Unable to dispute her statement, Eric just focused on running. He was crashing through the forest with a speed that surprised even himself. It was a pace that would have made any athlete jealous. Hunching his shoulders, he ran faster, testing his limits.

***

The swirling vortex before him didn’t fill Eric with confidence. Water was being sucked downwards, a trifling amount in the grand scheme of things, especially with rising sea levels, but it was enough to give away where the Kaiju had gone. Aura’s hypothesis was right, it looked like the creature had dug its way beneath the Earth from an underwater starting point.

“Ok, so, what’s the plan now?” He said leaning over the edge. There was quite a drop into the water.

“Well, I mean you were saying you can breathe underwater, and honestly, judging from the size of the vortex, I would be too big for the tunnels anyway. No jokes about my size, please.” Erin had sat down on the edge of the cliff, her legs dangling over. “Guess it’s time to really put you to the test.”

“You want me to jump in there? And go up against a two? Great. I always wanted to die in a cave somewhere.”

“Well no. If you think you’re outmatched, I want you to run. But you have to admit you are the perfect person to go down there. Water breathing and echolocation for the darkness.”

“Fine. If it goes wrong, I’m going to come running back out or swimming anyway and it’s up to you to take this thing out.” Eric began to stretch, shifting back and forth as he readied himself to dive in. He didn’t know what he was doing, his motions copied from poorly remembered footage of international diving. “This is so stupid. I can’t believe I’m going to do this.”

“Eh,” Erin said, tilting her head to one side. “Stupid is about normal for this job. How else would you describe fighting monsters? Word of advice, use your tail, it helps a lot when you’re in the water.”

“Right, I’ll remember that. Well, wish me luck.”

Eric took three steps backwards and then began to run towards the cliff. He launched himself as hard as he could, flying through the air with something resembling grace. He tried to turn his body forward into a dive, but the water came up faster than he expected. Eric landed awkwardly, the water slapping against his scales.

Essence field depleted. 58/100 remaining.

The shock of the impact shook Eric, and for a moment he thought he was drowning. He grasped at his throat instinctively as water flowed through his jaws. It took Eric a moment to realise that he could breathe, water moving through his gills, the oxygen stripped out with startling efficiency. Taking a moment to get his bearings, Eric swirled about in the water looking for the hole creating the vortex above.

Moving about was incredibly easy. Erin was right, a flick of his tail was all he needed to shift himself about. He felt disappointed that his essence field hadn’t replenished itself, and Eric assumed that he had to use the charger back in his room to do so. That felt like a design flaw in the entire system, and a mobile charger of some kind would be an idea he would bring up in the inevitable debrief.

With a swish of his tail, Eric thrust forward, moving like a crocodile towards the seabed. It was startling how quickly he had gotten used to using the limb now he was putting effort into it. He wondered if perhaps his squidling manifestation was helping him move about beneath the water in the same way it had told him where the ocean was. Eric wasn’t looking forward to his mind become a warzone for conflicting instincts.

His eyes spotted the entrance to the tunnel, a great chasm rent into the Earth by the Kaiju. Eric had no idea how quickly a creature could burrow, it didn’t seem like a quick task, moving away from all the dirt and rock. Picking up his speed Eric rocketed through the water towards the hole. The whirlpool had died down, which told him that whatever lay beyond had reached the capacity of how much water it could hold. With another swish of his tail, Eric headed inside.

Almost immediately he found himself wrapped in darkness. The tunnel dug straight down for about fifty metres before turning sharply into the horizontal. The light breaking through the surface found now purchase here, and Eric activated his echolocation. The skill was proving amazingly useful, and he resolved to put a little more essence into it to increase the range. It wasn’t as good as truly seeing, the slight delay in the information getting to Eric’s senses was annoying, but he would take what he could get.

The tunnel carried on for a considerable distance, the pathway almost unerringly straight. There were no signs of any rubble, no piles of dirt or stone pushed to one side. It was almost like all the rock had simply vanished rather than been cut away by claws. As he swam Eric reached out with a clawed hand and let his fingers brush against the wall. It felt perfectly smooth like the rock had been polished in some way.

“This is weird,” he said in a flurry of bubbles, the words almost lost amongst them.

“What in particular? This unit is led to believe a large number of things in your current situation are unusual.” Aura’s voice was unaffected by the water, the AI placing the sound directly into Eric’s mind.

“The tunnel. I’m no expert but shouldn’t it be like, rougher? This feels like cut glass.”

“You do raise a good point. However, consider that it’s possible that the Kaiju might not have dug it using conventional methods. There are plenty of Kaiju who use their abilities in unexpected ways. For example, the 5B creature known colloquially as Jörmungandr has been sighted using the toxic vapour it emits to hunt large numbers of fish at once.”

“Can’t imagine there is much fish left if that’s the case.”

“That would be correct, Kaiju might not consume as many calories as would be expected for creatures of their size, but they do eat, and regions home to aquatic Kaiju have suffered from dramatic drops in fish stocks. The impact on the population of larger sea creatures has been more intense. Whales, large squid, that kind of thing.”

“I remember seeing a giant squid in a museum as a kid, all stretched out. Back then it seemed like the biggest thing there could ever be,” Eric said. “Boy was that wrong. How many do you think there are, Kaiju that is?”

“Unknown. There are already far more than ever thought possible,” Aura said. “There’s also the added element of Lost Earth not conforming to what we know of the physical space inside the planet. Current theories posit that it takes up more volume than is available in the planet.”

“Not really surprised there, if there’s anything you’ve taught me it's that physics goes out of the window when Kaiju are involved.” Every time Eric spoke his echolocation stopped for a moment, but all he could make out in front of him was an endless tunnel. It had to be leading back under the forest where Erin had first noticed the rumbling.

“That certainly is true. This unit advises that communications to my counterpart with Erin are becoming patchy. The depth of this tunnel is blocking the signal. If we continue, we may lose connection entirely.”

Eric just grunted in response. It wasn’t ideal. He was headed into the darkness to track a Kaiju that was bigger and more powerful than he was, and now he wasn’t going to be able to contact Erin on the surface. He thought about turning back, before deciding that to do so now would be to look like a coward. It wasn’t a rational thought, Erin was an experienced soldier, she understood discretion was the better part of valour, but part of Eric didn’t want to be rational. The Kaiju in his mind wouldn’t let him live it down if he fled, and at some point, Eric was going to have to face something bigger than he was, that was inevitable. When Rick had died defending against Drakon the fearsome Kaiju had stood taller than him and he had fought anyway. The man’s valour had given Eric another shot at life and he didn’t intend to dishonour him by backing down.

“Are you detecting any essence?” Eric said.

“I am not, though it is likely that the tunnel is interfering with this unit’s sensors. I would recommend caution as we advance.” Aura sounded nervous, a first in Eric’s experience. The AI didn’t like not having access to its normal suite of tools.

“Watch out for the big monster, got it,” quipped Eric. “This tunnel might go on forever. How far do you think it is?”

“Several miles at least, considering your estimated speed.”

Something moved ahead of Eric, a blur dancing across the wireframe of his vision. He knew that the image was delayed for a few moments, the soundwaves needing time to strike a surface and return. The water had to be interfering with it in some way, though Eric wasn’t qualified to say how. He knew sonar worked on a similar principle but was certain there were subtle differences that would get him shouted at by an expert if he got it wrong

“You see that?” Eric said, moving his tail with more purpose as he tried to increase his speed.

“I see everything you see. My systems are tired directly into your optic nerves.”

“Really? How much do you see?”

“Everything, all the time,” Aura said.

“Right ok, that’s creepy as hell. Can you not do that? At least when I’m back at the base or something. Privacy would be nice.”

“I understand. If it helps my parameters are set not to record your vision outside of missions.”

“Record? This just gets worse.” Eric hadn’t given much thought to exactly what having a computer bonded to his body meant. Technically it meant he was a cyborg and considering his ability to transform into a literal monster, Eric wondered where the cut-off point for still counting as a human was.

There was another flicker of movement ahead, a blur moving downwards sharply deeper in the depths. Its shape wasn’t clear, but Eric immediately knew it wasn’t what he was looking for.

“That look like a one to you?”

“It certainly did,” Aura said. “It’s to be expected, category ones follow in the wake of larger Kaiju. If they’re down here it would explain why we didn’t encounter any on the surface. The two must be nearby, the smaller kinds often have a symbiotic relationship with their larger kin. Fighting those at the same time as the bigger beast would be unwise. This unit would recommend trying to separate them.”

“Divide and conquer.”

“Exactly.”

Eric thought about how exactly he was going to do that. He was certain that whatever it was moving ahead of him was aware of his presence. Even if it didn’t have its own echolocation there would be some ability letting it move about in the darkness. There was a total absence of light, so it was something more esoteric than simply having better vision.

The creature had swum downwards, but the tunnel still carried forwards as far as Eric could tell. That meant there was a branch in the path, one that wasn’t being picked up by his abilities. Shifting his body upwards in the water, Eric angled himself to scan the bottom of the tunnel, sound waves rippling through the water and bouncing off the floor.

Cut into the rock was a much smaller entranceway, a smaller version of its parent sized for a category one Kaiju. That was interesting to Eric, it meant that the monsters following the larger target had chosen to take a different route. He thought that perhaps their relationship was a one-sided one. Both the squidlings and the prowlers had been scavengers, ones that had kept their distance in case they became prey themselves

“Looks like they’ve done the job for us,” Eric said, moving towards the gap. It would be a tight fit, but he was certain he could squeeze through.

“I imagine there is a nest beyond. Caution is advised,” Aura said.

“Yeah, it always is.”

“No, I mean specifically your echolocation power is about to expire. That will leave you with no means of navigation available to yourself.”

Eric cursed under his breath. He knew that his echolocation had a limit, fifteen minutes at its longest, but he was sure that it hadn’t been anywhere near that time. From his use earlier that day, he knew that it would take about a half-hour for the ability to come off cooldown. Far too long.

“Ugh, what do we do? Press on and hope we find the big one or take out the little ones whilst we still have time?”

“Either way I suspect we will be left in this tunnel with no means of watching our surroundings. No matter which problem we attempt to deal with we will be easy prey for the other. This unit has enjoyed working with you, and regrets that there is no potential for a valid host nearby.”

“Woah, woah.” Eric found himself holding up his hands as if signalling for a car to stop. “I’m not dying today. I just need a moment to think.”

“Do not take too long. You have only two minutes remaining. Less now.”

Eric put his fingers against the sides of his head as he thought, the talons pressing into the scales. He shifted about in the water, looking at both possible routes as he considered his options.

“We’re going down,” he said finally, more time than he would have liked spent pondering. “If the Kaiju down there are doing it to avoid the big one, then we should be safe from it as well. Hopefully.”

Wasting no time, Eric swirled about in the gloom, sliding into the hole with a precision that only minutes ago he would have considered impossible. Moving about in the water was just coming so naturally to him.

“A logical conclusion, one this unit did not consider. I am…relieved. I would rather not cease to operate quite so soon,” Aura said.

The statement struck Eric as odd. Aura was supposed to be nothing more than an operating system for the F-19, a user interface that allowed the bizarre essence-based technology to be understood by a person. Erin had claimed the personality that Aura displayed was just a symptom of his multiple hosts, but Eric wasn’t so sure. Sometimes he seemed almost alive.

“I’m not going to let that happen. Come on, buddy. We’re partners, in this together. We keep each other alive, right? That’s the deal.”

“I suppose so,” Aura said, surprised by the sentiment. “Very well. Partners. I like that.”

Chapter Nine

Eric plunged onwards, swimming into the darkness as the walls of the tunnel bumped up against his scaled hide. He was regretting his choice now, his echolocation power failing and leaving him with nothing to guide himself with aside from his grasping hands. He didn’t know how long or how deep he swam, the passage of time impossible to gauge within the infinite blackness of the chasm. Eric had no idea what he was going to do when he found the small Kaiju, though at least he was safe from the larger one for now. Unless it decided it wanted to tunnel downwards.

Eric pushed that thought from his mind, he didn’t need it looming over him. He was committed to pushing onwards now, no matter the outcome. He just hoped that he would be able to find his way back out if he was forced to flee.

“I am detecting Kaiju essence up ahead. A lot of it. It’s rather curious, it appeared suddenly but isn’t moving. It’s almost like…a wall of energy,” Aura said. Without the ability to see his power to detect Kaiju essence was the only warning system Eric had. Even that was being impeded by the rock around him.

“Something big?”

“I am uncertain, something is different about this essence. This unit will search its memory and formulate a hypothesis.”

“Great, you do the science project, but try and get it done before we get killed.”

“In the darkness being blind is death! We should flee! Run! Before we are slain,” the prowler said. “Dangers lurk here!”

As much as he hated to admit it, the voice in his head had a point. Eric summoned his lightning punch to the forefront of his mind, blue light pulsing beneath his scales as he readied himself to fight. The shimmer cast a faint glow into the tunnel, one that it took a brief second for Eric’s eyes to adjust to. Something was in the water ahead of him. Not a creature he could strike out at with his electrified hand, but movement in the water itself, like he was looking at its surface. That couldn’t be right, since entering the tunnels he had only swam downwards.

“Any idea what this is, Aura?” Eric said, moving his glowing hand closer. “And how come this electric punch thing isn’t messed with by the water.” He hadn’t considered the issue until he had seen the energy pulsing beneath his scales.

“The electricity is stored in glands beneath the surface of your scales, ready to be released on impact. Think of the electric eel, it’s not constantly electrified.”

“Oh right, good point.” The energy faded—Eric’s punch unspent. It was useful to learn there was a limit on how long he could maintain the effect.

“As for what’s before us, it seems unlikely, but this is a Lost Earth threshold. I am certain of it.”

Eric shook his head, feeling the water around it swish about in response to his movement. “You’re going to have to explain that to me.”

“The Lost Earth is suffused with Kaiju essence. It is as likely to follow the laws of physics as Kaiju are,” Aura said.

“Like water coming to a stop when it shouldn’t.”

“Exactly,” the AI replied. “This threshold is worryingly close to the surface. Far closer than any recorded in this unit’s files. I hypothesise this is why the Kaiju we’re chasing has tunnelled down here. Or more likely up from here. I would assume that the main branch of the tunnels eventually makes its way to this same place.”

“So, the Kaiju we’re after are beyond this…threshold?”

“In all likelihood, yes, and potentially many more. I would recommend we return to the surface and inform the major.”

“We should just take a peek, see what’s in there,” Eric said, swimming closer. “Assuming we can find a way to see. That’s why we’re here right? We’re supposed to be dealing with the problem. I don’t see any harm in just one quick look.”

“I don’t believe this is quite what the Major meant, but I see your rationale. Regardless I have little choice, I am bound to follow what you deem best, outside of extreme circumstances. Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I will, but where was this concern when Erin threw me out of a plane?”

Eric didn’t wait for a reply, swimming directly forwards. He could feel cold damp air against his scales as he breached the strange surface of the water.

Immediately Eric felt like he was falling, gravity shifting around him as he burst through the waterline. An unseen force had grabbed him, pulling him downwards into the black. As he fell, he spun, losing all sense of direction in a whirlwind of confusion. Eric fell for what felt like an eternity, his stomach rebelling against the sensation. Dozens of glowing lights appeared around him, but their sources were blurred by his spinning.

Essence field depleted. 28/100 remaining.

He struck the ground with a terrific thud, pain shooting up his body. Every bone and muscle ached, the impact shuddering through him. Without the reinforcing effects of the Kaiju essence flowing through him, Eric was certain he would have died from the fall. He shifted himself into a seated position, then looked around.

Pale blue light washed over him, the stars that had surrounded him during the fall clear. The entire floor of the cavern he found himself in was filled with glowing crystal, the formations taller than himself. His impact had shattered several of them, a near-perfect circle of fragments lying around him. The glow was bright, more than bright enough to see and Eric was thankful at least he wouldn’t be stuck with the darkness of the tunnel.

“Ok, well that could have gone better,” Eric said, always willing to admit when he had made a mistake. “At least we’re alive?”

“Our essence field is dangerously low. When it fails, we will not be able to maintain this Kaiju form. It should go without saying that doing so here would be fatal. The Lost Earth is not a safe place, even this close to the surface,” Aura said in a tone that made it clear that he very much wanted Eric to know he had pointed out the idea as a bad one. “That said we should endeavour to leave. The KRT will be very interested in a Lost Earth chamber that is so easy to access. It will help research immensely.”

“Glad I could be of service. Now we just need to find a way out. And look for those Kaiju we were after at the same time. Any idea where to start with that?”

“Sadly not,” Aura said. “The Lost Earth is suffused with Kaiju essence, meaning that I cannot get an accurate read on the locations of any Kaiju. It’s almost like staring directly into the sun, I imagine. Everything is overpowered by the light.”

Standing up and dusting off shards of crystal from his scales, Eric took a look around the chamber. There were no Kaiju that he could see, but they could easily be lurking amongst the glowing forest around him. Whatever the monsters he was chasing were, they had to have some way of surviving the fall from the threshold above, and presumably a way of getting up to it.

Bending down, Eric scooped up a large piece of crystal from the ground. Light still pulsed from within it despite being shattered, and it would help fight against any darkness deeper in the tunnels. He wanted a bag to put it in and not for the first time wished that the KRT provided Kaiju sized equipment for him to use. The whole issue with the darkness in the tunnels could have easily been resolved with some shoulder-mounted lights. He guessed the issue was the size, whilst his Kaiju body warped physics, the same wouldn’t be true of any equipment.

“Enemies! Fear! Danger!” the prowler shrieked, its words echoing around Eric’s mind.

“Crush them all,” Drakon said, his voice calm and collected despite its urging to kill.

The manifestations had noticed it first, their hijacking of Eric’s senses triggering their animal instincts. Moving amongst the crystals were Kaiju, their forms obscured by the translucent spires like they were stalking through a hall of mirrors. Their numbers were hard to tell, but Eric was certain there was more than one of them.

“Looks like we have company,” he said, clasping the crystal shard tightly in his fist. He wished desperately that he hadn’t taken the damage from falling, it left him with very little margin for error.

“It would appear so. It’s likely these creatures are the category ones we were pursuing.”

Eric nodded. Whilst the crystals were obscuring the creatures and distorting their shape, he was certain that they weren’t as large as he was. That was good, Eric knew he could deal with category one Kaiju himself, though each time he had his essence field had taken damage. It was obvious to Eric that he was outnumbered, the enemy Kaiju moving to surround him, hunters trapping their prey.

Deciding that waiting to be penned in was a bad idea, Eric acted with as much decisiveness as he was able to muster. He took a step forward and kicked as hard as he could into a large crystal. It cracked in two from the blow, falling backwards onto a Kaiju hiding behind it. The beast shrieked, crushed by the heavy crystal.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Dytikos essence unlocked: A 1B creature common to aquatic regions of the Lost Earth. An insectoid creature similar to water-dwelling beetles.

Eric wasn’t sure how accurate that description was. The dead body before him certainly had insect elements, thick carapace hiding a set of transparent wings, but the beast had been standing on large legs, four smaller ones clasped tightly to its chest. It was obvious the creature was walking around upright like a human. Its head was an elongated mass of mandibles and compound eyes, though the impact of the crystal had shattered most of it.

The other beasts, seeing the destruction of their kin, descended on Eric with fury and rage. They buzzed out from behind the crystals, their wings flapping in frenzied bursts. They weren’t taking flight, not fully, the wings allowing them to instead hop high into the air in great bounds.

Eric wasn’t going to go gown easily. He swung around as one of the Dytikos drew near, his arm lashing out with a closed fist. The impact fizzed with unleashed power; the full strength of Eric’s lightning punch unleashed in a moment. The Dytikos fell to the ground, convulsing in agony as its nerves fought against it.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Pain raced up Eric’s back as another of the Kaiju lunged at him, latching its mandibles onto his scales.

Essence field depleted. 22/100 remaining.

It hadn’t done much damage, the scales turning away the worst of the bite, but it was still precious points depleted from Eric’s field. He reached over his shoulder with one hand and tore the insect free, tossing it to the ground and delivering a devastating stomp to its shell. The carapace cracked under Eric’s weight, ichor oozing out from the crushed creature. It felt disgusting, but at least another of the attackers had fallen.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

“Yes! Crush them!” Drakon roared, the mental phantom excited by the carnage. “Feel their viscera beneath your feet.”

Eric tried his best to ignore the entity. He needed to defeat the Kaiju around him, but he didn’t want to be feeding the desires of the bloodthirsty manifestation. It still bothered him that his mind could be overrun by the beast, even if Aura was there to step in. The thought of a second Drakon rampaging across the Earth was a frightening one, and Eric didn’t want to be responsible for the kind of death and destruction that would come in its wake.

Swinging his body, Eric smashed his tail into another of the Kaiju, the flick of the extra limb natural to him after using it to swim. The Dytikos has leapt forward, the force of its powerful jump colliding with the tail. The crunch was awful, a horrid noise that filled the cavern, echoing off the crystals that filled it. The Kaiju hit the ground with a thud, its chest crushed by the blow.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

The essence was building up, which was good. What was less good was the three Kaiju remaining. At least, Eric assumed it was three from what he had gleaned, the beasts dashing between crystals intended to confuse him. He had to admit it was working even if he felt like he had the upper hand.

“You seem to have driven them into a frenzy,” Aura said. It wasn’t a helpful statement. “This unit would advise dealing with them quickly.”

“No! You think!” Eric’s sarcasm was a shield. He knew that the AI was right, but he was already trying his hardest to deal with the Kaiju.

Two of the beasts rushed him, using their wings to launch themselves from between the crystals on opposite sides of Eric. They had unfurled their arms from their chests, the grasping limbs reaching outwards. Eric reacted as best he could, lashing out with both his hands. The Dytikos latched on, each of them wrestling with one of his arms.

“Come on!” Eric roared as he wrestled with the Kaiju. A third of the creatures was rushing directly at him, its mandibles open wide. The others in its pack had pinned Eric in place so their comrade could strike, revealing a degree of tactical thinking far beyond what he had expected from them.

“Bite and tear!” Drakon cried, and Eric obliged.

He bit down onto the charging Dytikos, his fangs crunching through the creature’s head. It tasted disgusting, the liquid gushing out from the creature’s exoskeleton acrid and bitter. Eric spat it out as quickly as he had bit down, the realisation of what he had done dawning on him. It had slain a Kaiju, but something about it felt wrong, like he had become the raging beast that the echo of Drakon wanted him to be.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

“Yes! Devour all!” Drakon said on cue. “Take their blood and make it your own!”

“Uh, what? That’s a bit of a weird one,” Eric said. He pulled as hard as he could against the two Kaiju holding him in place, the creatures digging their pointed feet into the ground. They were losing the fight, sliding across the ground as Eric strained.

The left Dytikos lost the battle, flying through the air as it tried to hang onto Eric’s arm. It slammed into its comrade, Eric using it as a living club. The two Kaiju fell to the ground, rolling across the shattered crystals.

Eric didn’t wait, delivering a flurry of stamps onto the stricken beasts. Organs and blood splattered outwards, staining the glowing blue shards around them. They twitched a little afterwards, Eric adding a few more blows for good measure.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained.

“I believe that was the last of them,” Aura said. “Thought we should still remain on guard.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice,” Eric said. He tried to spit out the remnants of Kaiju still stuck between his teeth. The bite had been effective, making a mockery of the creature’s body, crunching through armour with ease. It was easy to forget that his Kaiju body was fundamentally different to his human one. Eric was getting used to having a tail, and now he could add a crocodilian bite to his repertoire, even if he was loathed to use it.

“Are you alright? Your heart rate is very high.”

“I mean, considering what’s going on that’s to be expected right.” Eric didn’t want to think about what his heart rate was, or his blood pressure, or anything like that. It was hard enough to wrap around how his external form had changed. Logically his organs had to be different as well, but he didn’t want to dwell on what that meant. “We should look for a way out, I don’t think we can go back the way we came.” Eric raised the glowing crystal still clutched in his hand, shimmering its light towards the roof of the cavern. It made no difference to the ominous darkness above.

“We still have to locate the category two. It would be unwise however to engage in combat with it in our current state.”

“Yeah, no need to tell me that,” Eric said. Aura’s talk of current state did prompt something in his mind. He checked his menus and saw that he had two hundred and fifteen essence to spend, along with a brand-new type of Kaiju to invest it in. Having another voice rattling around his mind wasn’t something that Eric was looking forward to, it was already too cramped. More power was a difficult thing to pass up though, especially when he was in such a dangerous situation.

100 essence spent into Dytikos. Increased to rank one.

Dytikos manifestation unlocked – Carapace. Strengthens your skin and improves your essence fields ability to maintain cohesion. Essence field increased by ten for every rank.

Something good had come out of the fight at least. Being able to improve his essence field was a major boon. Eric had expected to have obtained it as he had gained levels and had been disappointed when he hadn’t.

25 essence spent into Carapace.  Ten maximum essence field gained.

A quick check of his statistics told Eric that he now had one hundred and twenty maximum essence field, the rank zero of carapace providing a benefit. It hadn’t however restored any of his field only upping the maximum limit. The next level would cost him thirty-one essence, and Eric gladly spent it. The level after that was thirty-nine, and Eric purchased a third rank.

31 essence spent into Carapace.  Ten maximum essence field gained.

39 essence spent into Carapace.  Ten maximum essence field gained.

One hundred and forty maximum essence field was a significant upgrade. Eric couldn’t help but notice that improving specific manifestation skills didn’t improve his overall level. He had still grown slightly as he had been focused on his menus, but nowhere near as drastically as when levelling. Getting back out through the tunnel he came in was certainly off the table, he had gained another metre and the considerable bulk to come with it.

“Ok, so getting more essence field is good, it’s a pity we can’t replenish it down here,” Eric said.

“You could feast. Devour your prey and absorb their life force into your own. Take in their blood, their strength,” Drakon said. “Feed and be healed.”

“Shut up, shut up!”

“I believe the manifestation might have a point,” Aura said, shocking Eric.

“What? What are you on about?”

“Recharging my systems, and by extension, the essence field uses energy reclaimed for Kaiju corpses. It is essence, but it's not as pure as the energy you can absorb. Of little use for enhancing an F-19 user, but good enough to restore this unit itself. I think the manifestation is suggesting that same energy could be harnessed by ingesting the deceased Kaiju around us.”

“Feast and grow strong!” Drakon said.

“You think? Has no one done this before?”

“Not to my knowledge, thought Drakon is an unusually aggressive Kaiju, even in his diminished form within your mind. Perhaps no manifestation has ever suggested it before, and I can’t imagine any of the users would think of doing it willingly. It’s worth a try at least,” Aura said, his words somehow sounding like he had shrugged despite lacking a physical body.

“That’s easy for you to say! You don’t have to eat it. Those things are disgusting,” Eric said, pointing at the corpses beside him. “This is gross.”

“You were happy to bite them not moments ago.”

“Yeah, in a fight! That was life and death, and even then, I regret it.”

“Is not surviving down here the same? If your essence field fails, you will likely die.”

Eric let out a long sigh. Aura was right, if there was a chance he could refill his defences then Eric had to take it. There could be untold Kaiju within the pocket of Lost Earth in which he found himself. For the first time, Eric realised it wasn’t limited to the creatures he was chasing, anything could be down here, from the smallest ones to the biggest fives.

“God, this has to be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done,” Eric said, crouching by the nearest body. “I hope no one finds out about this.”

“All mission activities are recorded for debriefing and research purposes.”

“Of course, they are.”

“Take their flesh! Consume, devour and their strength shall be yours,” Drakon said, the echoes voice filled with expectation. “Feast upon their essence.”

Turning his head away in disgust, Eric tore a strip of flesh free from one of the fallen Kaiju. He had to crack open part of its outer shell like it was a lobster, a rancid smell wafting from the beast’s body. The muscle inside felt slimy and wet, dark ooze leaking from it and running down Eric’s hands.

Closing his eyes, he slipped the flesh into his gullet. He tried to chew but found he couldn’t, his jaws not built for the motion. Instead, Eric gulped it down whole in a series of awkward swallows. The taste of it turned his stomach, the worst thing that Eric could imagine.

Essence field restored. 32/140 remaining.

It had worked, eating the flesh of the Dyitkos had provided Aura with the power boost needed to restore part of the field. It wasn’t a pleasant thing, but it was at least a way of keeping Eric’s strength up.

It took nearly an hour for Eric to eat what he could from the creatures. The restorative effects weren’t as strong as he would have liked, eating the smaller Kaiju had only restored ninety-eight of his essence field, but it was a significant improvement to what had come before. Eric could only theorise that the largest Kaiju could restore more, but he hoped he would never have to put that theory to the test.

“I feel sick,” he said, wiping slime from his jaws. “I never want to do that again.”

“We may have little choice depending on how long we’re stuck down here. It is extremely useful knowledge to have. I am thankful to the manifestation, even if it is ultimately attempting to take over your mind,” Aura said.

“Yeah, can we please not wish for that. What would happen to you if that happened, a cascade I mean?” Eric picked a direction and began to walk, the shard of crystal held up to light the way despite the constant glow around him. It looked tiny in his taloned grip, Eric growing in size since he had picked it up.

“I don’t know. F-19’s recovered from hosts who have suffered from a cascade have been unresponsive. I would assume it results in my destruction.”

“My point. Keep an eye on that thing, metaphorically speaking. It’s not our friend, remember, even if it occasionally has a good idea. That goes for the lot of them. They only want me to live so they can take over. They’ll have to join the queue though. I imagine there’s plenty of other things down here who would want a piece of me.”

Chapter Ten

The tiny pocket of Lost Earth that Eric found himself in was a fascinating place. He had wandered away from the glowing crystals and had swiftly transitioned into a tunnel filled with large leafy ferns, the light from his makeshift lantern dancing off their leaves. He had no idea how they were growing in the darkness; no sunlight made its way to these blighted halls. Within the plants was the chirping of crickets, one of the insects leaping past Eric. It was easily the size of a dog, even the smallest fauna giant when compared to their surface counterparts. He didn’t question the strangeness of it, Aura had been clear that the laws of physics didn’t apply in the Lost Earth in quite the same way that Eric was used to. Underground plants and giant insects were probably tame compared to some of the stranger things lurking in the tunnels.

The existence of the Lost Earth at all was something that had baffled scientists since its discovery. There were entrances scattered all over the world, the tunnels leading far below the crust to where it should have been hot enough to sear people alive. The confusing thing was how it had never been discovered before, the outer edge of the system coming well within the range of oil derricks or other deep boreholes. The Lost Earth should have been discovered centuries ago and simply hadn’t, either through sheer bad luck or some other as yet unexplained phenomenon.

Eric tried to keep himself as quiet as possible as he moved. He knew that the creatures of the Lost Earth would be relying on esoteric senses to keep themselves aware of their environment. He couldn’t do much about hiding himself from those with eyesight, he needed the light of the crystal to navigate, and whilst his echolocation had come off cooldown, he was reserving it for an emergency. He suspected that not many of the creatures would rely on their eyes, light was too rare down in the tunnels, and more esoteric abilities seemed almost the norm amongst Kaiju.

“I am detecting a large essence presence ahead, though it is difficult to ascertain the exact distance due to interference. I would recommend caution,” Aura said. “It is very frustrating to not have my full abilities.”

“You and me both,” Eric said in a whisper. The crystal was guiding his way, but the light only stretched out a short distance ahead. He didn’t like the idea something could be lurking unseen before him. Eric went into a crouch, a motion that wasn’t particularly effective considering his growing size. He realised that he kept thinking in human terms when in his Kaiju form, a habit Eric would have to learn to drop.

The tunnel continued downwards, sloping sharply as it descended into the Earth. Eric wondered if this was his life now, heading down deeper and deeper into the Lost Earth, eating Kaiju to survive. He assumed that eventually, Erin would send someone to look for him, though that would likely be a recovery operation, rather than a rescue.

A loud rumble filled the tunnel, the walls shaking from the force. The sound had come from the darkness ahead, a thundering blast that had taken Eric by surprise. He knew immediately the sound had come from a Kaiju, something within Eric’s mind confirming it, the combined instincts of the manifestations within him forming a chorus of agreement.

He needed to see further into the darkness now he knew something was lurking ahead, the light from the crystal not revealing the beast. Eric activated his echolocation, the extra sense filling in the information that his eyes could not. With the two senses combined it was an odd sensation like he was moving a circle of colour across a black and white image.

Eric was immediately grateful he had chosen to use his power. The tunnel stopped just beyond the edge of the light, a cliff dropping down sharply at its end. There was an enormous chamber beyond, one that was filled with an almost unbelievable sight.

The great cavern was filled with stone buildings. Towering ziggurats and elaborate pyramids nestled between great carved totems of what Eric immediately recognised as Kaiju. An ancient city, one long abandoned by its people, the stone left solely as the domain of the creature’s they so obviously worshipped. That this incredible archaeological find was hiding beneath the forests of Iceland was surprising, it looked to Eric like something that should have been rising out of what remained of the Amazon. Part of him wanted to leap down the cliff into the streets and wander through the city, the first person to grace its buildings in what had to be millennia or longer. There was no evidence of Kaiju bones amongst those of dinosaurs, so the general consensus was that the first Kaiju came from some undiscovered era, hundreds of millions of years ago. It didn’t seem likely that the buildings before Eric could have survived that long unless the physics warping nature of the Lost Earth also distorted time.

“This is incredible,” Eric said. The city was still unfolding before him as his soundwaves washed over it, his words creating a small break in the effect.

“It is rather impressive,” Aura said. “A find of incredible importance. I don’t believe there is any evidence of humans living alongside Kaiju prior to our current era. This unit wonders what it means for our understanding of human history.”

“I don’t know if this is our history at all,” Eric said, laying down on the floor and sliding his body towards the edge of the cliff. He knew he could likely leap down safely, after all, he had fallen from a plane and survived without damage, but he wanted to get a closer look before he did that. It suddenly occurred to him just how far he had to have fallen when he had crossed the threshold if the impact had caused him damage. He was far further beneath the Earth than he thought. “Look at the size of those doors. They have to be three metres tall, easily. I’m no architect, but I think generally doors are only as tall as they need to be unless it's some grand cathedral entrance or something.”

“That is an intriguing point. These structures are rather oddly scaled.”

The same rumble that had shaken the tunnel resumed, forcing Eric to grip onto the edge of the cliff with one hand. The noise had come from the right-hand side of the city, and Eric turned his head and focused his echolocation in that direction.

The thing that took shape wasn’t what he had expected. A great dais was built before an enormous pool of water, the structure as tall as anything else within the ruins. Lying upon it as an enormous Kaiju, one easily in the fourth or fifth category. Like Eric it was reptilian, its body having the same basic theropod shape. Unlike Eric, the creature had thick armour plates that ran down its back, each plate overlapping with the next. They were covered in jagged looking spikes, giving the Kaiju an impressive suit of natural armour.

The rumble occurred a third time, the noise times to the Kaiju exhaling. The creature was asleep on its stone bed, its snores shaking the world around it. The creature’s shape matched the totems carved in the city before it. The beast was either the inhabitant’s god or one of its descendants.

“Look at the size of that thing. It would give Drakon a run for his money,” Eric said, dropping his voice to a whisper. It didn’t seem necessary; the Kaiju’s snoring was louder than anything he had ever heard.

“I am unstoppable! The lord of all! I will crush this pathetic thing,” the echo of Drakon said, enraged by the idea that something could defeat its physical counterpart.

“You’re not even the real Drakon, so you can be quiet.”

“The great watcher. It sleeps eternal,” said a voice Eric didn’t recognise. It sounded quiet, almost apologetic in its tone. It could only be his newest acquired manifestation, the Dytikos making itself known.

“Ok. Sleep eternal, that I can cope with,” Eric said. “It means hopefully we can sneak past it.”

“You intend to cross the city? I must warn you that the presence of the larger Kaiju is going to cloak the presence of any smaller beasts. We will be without warning should we become targeted. This unit is certain that there will be smaller Kaiju within the structures,” Aura said.

“Ambush awaits. Terror in the darkness,” the prowler said in its usual panicked tone.

“Destroy anything that dares attack you. Show them your might,” Drakon added.

The echoes were getting predictable in their responses, each one capable of expressing only certain emotions. Eric didn’t know if that was simply how they were, or if it was the result of them being only fragments of the creatures they had come from, shards of a greater whole. Perhaps that was what he was doing when he funnelled them essence, restoring them to their true forms.

“Yeah, yeah. Crush and smash and all of that.” Eric shifted into a seated position and then swung his legs over the edge of the cliff. “Find a new tune, that one is getting old.”

With one motion Eric pushed himself off the edge, dropping through the darkness towards the streets below. He could see the ground rushing up to meet him, the soft blue light of the crystal reaching out and touching the stone. As his feet hit the ground, he bent his knees to absorb the impact and was surprised to see that the stone slabs that formed the road didn’t crack or shatter. The workmanship was incredible, though crafting a platform strong enough to take the weight of the sleeping Kaiju should have been a strong clue.

“I am concerned we appear to be getting further away from the surface. In hindsight, we should have followed the main tunnel. No doubt the category two we were chasing is far away from us currently.” The AI sounded worried, another tick in the true personality column as far as Eric was concerned.

“Not like we have much else we can do. It’s been a straight shot from the crystal cave to here. If we’re going to find a way out, we need to keep going.” Eric held up the crystal as he walked forwards. Up close he could see that the buildings were covered in elaborate carvings, twisting geometric designs of interlocking lines. Here and there were more pictorial depictions of the sleeping Kaiju, delicate carvings with razor straight edges. It was somehow both the most ancient thing Eric had ever seen, yet something he wouldn’t consider out of place in a modern art gallery.

Everything about the city just felt slightly off, aside from its obvious age. The size of the doorways, the wideness of the streets, how the holes in the side of smaller houses that Eric was assuming were windows were placed just slightly too high. It struck him that these tiny things stacked up into one big difference. Whoever had lived in the city had to have been tall, much taller than the average human. That wasn’t even including the fact they lived in what seemed to be total darkness beneath the Earth. He couldn’t help but wonder about what Annaliesa had said to him about some Kaiju being suspected aliens. Were the people who lived here even human?

“The streets seem to be heading to the centre of the city, converging on the largest of the pyramids. I would assume that the structure holds special significance for those who lived there. Perhaps a temple, or some kind of civic structure?” Aura said. He sounded intrigued by the possibilities the city presented. “A palace maybe?”

“No matter what it is, we need to get there. That kind of vantage point will let us hopefully get eyes on where we need to go. There has to be a way out of this place. Doesn’t matter who lived here they would have had to have been able to hunt, or farm, or fish or however they got their food.”

“An astute observation,” Aura said. “The location of this city is positively baffling, I must say. It’s all rather strange.”

“Rather strange is my life recently,” Eric said, placing a dark talon against his scales to make his point. “This is probably about middle of the road honestly. It goes turning into a giant monster, ancient civilisation, aliens might be real.”

“Don’t forget your integration with me or the presence of Kaiju manifestations in your mind.”

“How could I! I was rolling that all into the giant monster thing.” Eric walked up a short set of steps as he continued his march down the road, the path connecting to a large square with a fountain at the centre, water no longer pouring from the Kaiju shaped spouts. Walking up the steps had felt natural to Eric like they had been made for someone his size. “This place must have been really something in its heyday.”

“I’m inclined to agree. I suspect this place must have been lit during that time.”

“Because of all the carvings and things?”

“Yes, but also because there are braziers set around that fountain. Those would have contained lit flames at some point. It does however posit that the people here were not necessarily adapted to life underground.”

Eric just shrugged. “Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t. We’ll likely never know. Maybe the surface was full of Kaiju and this place was safe? Maybe that sleeping one up there protected them. Having your own giant guardians feels pretty necessary when Kaiju are about. It’s what we’re doing, right?”

Something moved in the darkness dancing across the edge of Eric’s echolocation. It was massive, far bigger than the Dyitkos he had already encountered. The things speed was impressive, dashing quickly from building to building. Eric was certain it had to be at least a category two. It moved again, crossing the street and touching the edge of the crystal's light. Eric forced himself to blink, the disconnect between the instant reaction of his eyes and delay from his echolocation making his head hurt.

The creature’s form became clear. It was spider-like, though it had three sets of compound eyes rather than two, and its abdomen was covered in this armour that stretched up into a scorpion’s tail. It stood tall over Eric, the creature easily having another two metres on his height.

“Arachne, this species has been encountered in Greece previously.  Considered a 2A Kaiju previously, though obviously, that will require some reclassification considering its presence here,” Aura said. “Be wary of its webbing and venomous tail.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning on fighting this thing,” Eric said, turning and fleeing the way he had come. The Kaiju was faster, leaping into the air and landing on the other side of the small square.

“The creature is also capable of leaping great distances.”

“Well, I know that now!”

The Arachne surged forwards, snapping its jaws at Eric. He ducked beneath them, using his shorter stature to move beneath the arachnid’s thorax. He punched directly upwards, unleashing the electricity within his body. The bigger Kaiju recoiled, a shrieking noise escaping from it as it stumbled backwards. Despite the difference in sizes, the lightning punch had still caused the category two considerable pain.

Eric dived to the ground, rolling across the stone as the Arachne tried to stab him with its tail. Sparks flew into the air where the tip struck the paving, the beasts rage unleashed. Eric kept moving, another series of strikes following him across the square. He needed to hit the thing again, he was certain he had hurt it, but his lightning punch was still on cooldown. Two minutes didn’t seem like a long time when he viewed the power in his menu, but in a real fight, it was an eternity.

He tried desperately to think of his options. The monster just had too much of a size advantage. Eric remembered what Aura had said about how the beast would need to be orders of magnitude stronger to support itself. It would be stronger, faster, and tougher. There had to be a way.

Despite its strange appearance, the Kaiju chasing Eric was essentially a spider. As he ducked to the side just in time to escape a spray of thick webbing, Eric tried to think about how he could use it to his advantage. If it was regular sized, then it would be as simple as plucking off its legs like a twisted child.

An idea formed in his mind. The Arachne’s limbs were spindly, holding it aloft as it scuttled forward, their pointed tips chipping away at the pavement. Despite the creature’s mass, they were still worryingly thin.

Sensing his chance, Eric turned towards the Kaiju, dodging to the side as a tail strike came worryingly close. The gap between him and his enemy closed quickly, the two monsters rushing towards each other. With another quick step, he avoided a leg thrust down at him, turning on his hell and grabbing onto the limb with both hands.

Opening his jaw as wide as he could, Eric bit down with all his might.

The Arachne’s leg split open with a crack, the limb snapping under the pressure of Eric’s jaws. The Kaiju stumbled, a combination of the pain and the sudden loss of a limb unbalancing it. It adjusted quickly, bringing itself around to face Eric using its seven remaining legs.

Eric was already in motion, his prize gripped in his hands. There was one other obvious weak point on his enemy, and he intended to strike at it. Leaping into the air he held the severed leg above his leg like a spear, its point gleaming in the light of the crystal shard, the object dropped as Eric had grabbed the limb.

The tip of the leg struck the Arachne’s central eye, the sharp point piercing the soft flesh and sliding through into the inside of its head. Eric held on as the beast thrashed, his legs pressed against its head whilst his hands gripped the shaft still stuck in the creature. It released one final high-pitched shriek before toppling to the ground, ichor pouring from the wound.

Eric pulled his makeshift weapon free, and then jabbed it into the other two sets of eyes, just to be sure the Kaiju was dead. Pink energy flowed in the darkness—its essence absorbed into his body.

Essence absorbed. 88 essence gained.

Arachne Essence unlocked: A 2A Kaiju with arachnid characteristics. Multiple encounters make this one of the more numerous and successful Kaiju species. A large section of Cambodia is dominated by this species and is an off-limits zone.

It was less essence than Eric had expected. At least slaying the beast had given him another type of Kaiju he could upgrade, even if he didn’t have the essence to do it right now. He considered for a brief moment trying to restore his essence field from the body before deciding against it. He had miraculously taken no damage from the fight, and the thought of having to gulp down more Kaiju flesh didn’t appeal to Eric.

“Victory! Feel their blood on your hands, feel the rage within you. It brings you strength,” Drakon said. “It is a food feeling.”

Eric found himself agreeing with the manifestation, before quickly shaking his head to try and dislodge the thought. He would be lying if he didn’t say he had enjoyed coming out on top of the Kaiju, but it had still meant something had died. Yes, it was a giant killer monster, but it was still a living thing and deserved some modicum of respect.

“We should keep moving,” Aura said, his voice full of concern. “It is likely that there are more of these creatures nearby. Arachne on the surface are often found in great number.”

“Right yeah, I saw the notification. Something about an off-limit area in Cambodia. Not keen to find myself wrapped up in some webs.” Eric strode over to his dropped crystal, the section of Arachne limb clutched in his right hand. He scooped up the crystal with his left. “On the upside, I have this now,” he said, lifting the Kaiju leg slightly.

“A severed limb?”

“A spear! Kind of.”

“This unit does agree that the makeshift weapon was effective. It is certainly thinking outside the box to use a Kaiju’s own body against them.”

Eric shrugged, trusting that the AI would understand the motion. “It’s not that different from using essence to transform when you think about it. Or taking a Kaiju’s powers. We need every advantage we can get.”

“Trophies show strength!” Drakon said.

“See, the bloodthirsty monster agrees, that must mean it’s a good idea,” Eric said, his voice thick with sarcasm. “Come on, we still need to get to that big building and find our way out of here. Especially if there are more scorpion-spiders lurking about.”

Chapter Eleven

The sound of stone grinding against itself filled the forgotten city, the noise echoing outwards during a brief break in the guardian Kaiju’s snoring. Eric had ascended the steps of the pyramid to find a large set of stone doors blocking access to its peak. He had prised a small crack into them with his makeshift spear and then had begun dragging one side open. Even with his considerable strength, it was hard going, his arms straining as he pulled it open.

The door finally moved far enough for Eric to squeeze through, he held up his crystal and shone the light through into the darkness inside.  Frustratingly there were four more sets of doors, one on each side of the pyramid, whilst in the centre of the room, a set of stairs descended into the heart of the structure.

“Hmm. I must admit, whilst our goal is to use this pyramid to scout our route, this unit must admit it is intrigued as to what lies within the structure. Call it professional curiosity,” Aura said.

“Professional? Isn’t your job to keep me safe. Who knows what’s inside this pyramid? It could be dangerous.” Eric leant forward, shining the light partway down the staircase. He could see that it took a sharp right turn at a ninety-degree angle, likely carrying on for someway before turning again, the steps a slow spiral down the interior of the structure.

“Whilst that is this unit’s primary purpose, gathering valuable information that could be used in the war against the Kaiju is also one of my directives. This civilisation clearly existed alongside the beasts, if we can learn how they achieved that then perhaps we can replicate the effect.”

“I was only messing with you. Look, whilst I’m very keen to find a way out of here if you think I’m going to turn down a chance to be the first person to look inside a pyramid you’re dead wrong. All I need is a whip and a hat and I’m good to go.”

“This unit does not understand what is obviously a reference.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eric said, putting one foot at the top of the steps. “We’ll just take a quick look, get all my memories nice and recorded, then head back up here. I bet the KRT are going to lose their minds when you show them all of this.”

“I imagine that this will be the talk of the facility, yes. The other AIs, in particular, will be exceedingly jealous.”

“You talk to the other F-19’s?” Eric didn’t know why he was surprised by that fact. He knew every unit had a controlling AI like aura, and whilst they all weren’t as chatty as he was, they all spoke to their hosts.

“Oh of course. We link regularly to share information, tactical data, that sort of thing,” Aura said.

“I assumed that,” Eric said, his footsteps echoing as he walked down the steps. A stone railing ran down one side whilst the other clung to the walls of the pyramid. The structure was hollow, the staircase descending into darkness. “I meant like, talking. Like we’re doing now, just chatting, getting to know each other, that kind of thing.”

“Right. Well, yes of course. It depends on the AI though. Some of them are notably more serious than others. The newer systems, in particular, like to keep to themselves, as do the systems that have not been through more than one host.”

That tracked with what Eric had been told by Erin. She had pointed out that Aura’s willingness to talk was part of the degradation that occurred when an F-19 had been through multiple hosts. Eric didn’t mind it; he would rather have someone to talk to openly with rather than wander through the city in silence. Chatting away was probably a bad idea when more deadly Kaiju could be hiding behind buildings waiting to strike, but it had helped Eric immensely when dealing with the overbearing grimness of his situation.

“Do you think about them? Your previous hosts I mean.”

“On occasion. The actions of previous hosts inform my predictions of your own. I don’t think that’s quite what you meant, however. I am not designed to reminisce; my focus is placed entirely on my current host.”

“Right. So, when someone inevitably happens to me and you pass on to a new host, all I am then is just knowledge to be used. I should probably find that depressing, but I kind of don’t. It’s good to know that maybe I’ll be helping someone else survive. Provided I live long enough to get out of here.”

“I must admit this particular situation is not like anything my previous hosts have encountered, so their experiences are not particularly useful in this scenario.”

“Not many ancient cities knocking about then?”

“They are rare, yes,” Aura said, the sarcasm lost on him.

Eric rolled his eyes. It was easy to forget sometimes that Aura was a computer program and not a person. His understanding of human interaction wasn’t perfect. It was something that had never been quite mastered, even in the mass-market AIs that were common in every kitchen and bedroom, the systems built into speakers and tablets. Most of them still struggled with particular accents.

“What about that? Is that rare?” Eric said, holding the crystal over the edge of the staircase. The light was finally reaching the bottom of the pyramid, revealing what lay within.

The place was a tomb. Not for a single human, but for an enormous set of bones. A Kaiju had been sealed within, one that from its shape shared a lineage with the beast sleeping on the dais. The creature’s arms were crossed over its ribcage, the skeleton placed sitting up almost in reverence.  It wasn’t as large as the one sleeping outside but was still easily big enough to tower over most buildings.

“Ah, well, that would be rare yes. The only Kaiju remains we have are ones from slain Kaiju. These are clearly ancient. We should get closer for a better look. At this distance, the fidelity of the recording will be insufficient in this light.”

“You could have just said that you can’t see properly.”

Eric took his time walking down the staircase, taking in everything he could about the Kaiju remains before him. Carved into the walls around it were elaborate murals that depicted a monster with a spiked plated back battling different beasts. It was clear that the body here had been held in high regard, the protector of a people who had put their trust in the Kaiju. As he continued his walk, the murals changed. They became less depictions of victory and instead ones of crushing defeats. Buildings and trees set ablaze as Kaiju rampaged through them.

“Looks like whoever lived here used to live on the surface. I think this guardian wasn’t enough, eventually, they got driven down into the Lost Earth. I thought most Kaiju come from here? Doesn’t seem like a smart place to hide,” Eric said, running his hand across one of the murals as he passed it.

“Unless perhaps Kaiju didn’t live here at that time? Or at least the particular Kaiju that they were hiding from. Look at the creature in the murals, the one destroying things. Doesn’t it look familiar?”

Eric held the crystal near the wall to his right and leant in closer. Aura was right, the massive creature depicted on the murals was familiar to him, even if it was highly stylised. It was Drakon, or at least another Kaiju of the same species.

“This doesn’t bode well,” Eric said. “I kind of hope history isn’t repeating itself.”

“Unlikely. The KRT and Auratech are dedicated to defeating the Kaiju at every turn. Our society is significantly more advanced than this one. We have a far greater chance of success.” Aura sounded smug, proud of his role in beating back the Kaiju. “I doubt, for example, they had something like myself. This Kaiju was probably trained from birth, or something similar.”

“And you’re sure about that?” Eric said. He had taken a few steps further downwards, bringing himself closer to the skeleton. A glint had caught his eye and he had instantly realised what it was.

“Of course.”

“Might want to start paying attention then, Aura. Look at its right forearm.”

Hanging off the bone was an elaborate silver bangle, one carved with the same ornate overlapping lines that were common to the buildings of the city. In its centre was a blue jewel though time had rendered it dull and lifeless. Across the arm were tendrils of delicate silver filigree that at one time would have swum through flesh.

“That can’t be. The F-19 was an entirely Auratech creation. Every component of this unit has registered patents to prove invention.”

“That can’t be true,” Eric said. He had seen enough and had begun to walk back up the steps.

“I don’t follow.”

“Your existence is a secret. How could they patent you? People look through those.”

“This…this unit does not know. You have a point, but that does not line up with my programmed parameters. This entire hypothetical scenario is one that is concerning. It could be an example of multiple invention? Two societies creating something independently. How exactly they managed it without any obvious electronics is an interesting theoretical question.”

“Nothing theoretical about it. You saw it with your own…well, with my eyes I guess.”

“I understand that. I am having trouble reconciling this information with what my programming considers possible. I will try to correct the disparity.”

“Fear! Confusion. We should leave,” the prowler said, its voice filled with terror. Its panic wasn’t Eric’s, rather it was drawing from the other mind that shared Eric’s body. Aura was obviously worried about what the discovery meant about his nature.

Eric continued his path up the steps. Like those outside, they were spaced for someone far taller than the average human. “Working on it.”

***

Eric looked down at the city before him, having opened the set of doors on the other side of the pyramid. Buildings stretched out before him, but he saw nothing but stone beyond that. The city was sealed within its cavern, no obvious way out before him. It wasn’t a good sign. Either the exit wasn’t immediately obvious, or it simply didn’t exist.

“Amazing,” Eric said, sitting down in the doorway and leaning his spear against the doorframe. “Looks like we’re stuck.”

Aura didn’t reply. Since seeing the ancient relic version of himself the AI had been suspiciously quiet.

Eric didn’t blame him. He wasn’t quite sure what it meant either. Either Auratech was aware of the ancient technology, or they had just reinvented it. Either outcome had its share of difficulties in understanding, least of which was exactly how the dead society Eric found himself in had ever created something that complex. They obviously had incredible experience in architecture, but Eric had seen nothing to indicate they were capable of electronics.

“When all is lost, return to the sea,” burbled the squidling. “Escape beneath the waves so you can live to spawn another day.”

As much as he hated to admit it—and the squidling was easily the worst of the voices—the creature had a point. Before the sleeping Kaiju was a deep pool. There was always the chance that the pool would lead elsewhere, and with his ability to breathe underwater Eric had no reason not to look. It was always possible that the water simply didn’t exist when the city was built, or that the people who had lived here had somehow filled it in after retreating. Eric still questioned how they managed to eat, but that was a question he suspected would never be answered.

“Ok, so, the water,” Eric muttered to himself. “Just need to get past that big sleeping thing…without waking it.”

Shifting his body so he could see around the corner, Eric looked at the slumbering behemoth. It hadn’t moved since he had arrived, sleeping through his battle with the Arachne. Logically there had to be an exit in the water, the Kaiju would need to feed, and it certainly wasn’t hunting within the city considering the intact nature of the buildings.

The scant light of the crystal wasn’t giving Eric much to work with, the light danced across rooftops and glittered off nearby pyramids but didn’t reach to the extremes of the city limits. He was using his echolocation to search for exits, the power’s cooldown refreshing during the exploration of the grand pyramid. From what little Eric could see with his eyes, he knew he was in trouble.

The pathway from the pyramid to the edge of the water was covered in thick webs, the strands spun between the walls of the buildings and filling the streets with walls of white. Getting to the dais and the water beyond it would be tough going. Eric understood how spiderwebs worked. Once he started making his way through them the vibrations would bring their owners scuttling over to him.

Let them try, Eric thought, adjusting the grip on his makeshift spear. He had taken down one Arachne and he was confident he could take down more. If he had to fight his way through the city, then that was how it would have to be. Venturing down into the Lost Earth was probably a mistake, but at least it had given him the opportunity to harvest more essence.

Somewhere far above, in an Icelandic forest, Erin would be waiting. Whilst Eric had only known the Major for a short time, he knew her well enough to know that she would already be working on some kind of rescue plan. She was sometimes worryingly casual in how she handled the sheer bizarreness of her situation, but beneath that veneer was a level of professionalism and competence that Eric knew he could trust. If he could find his way back to the surface, then reuniting with the Major should be trivial.

“Ok, so just need to walk down there, fight my way through who knows how many giant spider-scorpion things, sneak past the giant Kaiju and then dive into a big dark pool and hope there’s a way back up to the surface. This is probably pretty normal for this line of work,” Eric said, hoping for a response from Aura. The AI said nothing, choosing to remain silent. “Don’t worry, buddy, I get it. You’ve got some things that need working out.”

Eric began to make his way down the pyramid, one hand holding up his crystal torch whilst the other clutched his spear. He felt like a pulp hero, exploring forgotten civilisations and battling monsters. In those stories, they were always manly men with rippling muscles and impressive swords, not giant lizards with a slightly awkward walk.

“Be wary. Enemies lurk within the darkness,” the prowler said.

“Yeah, I already know that.”

“They come!”

Essence field depleted. 78/140 remaining.

Something slammed against Eric, knocking him backwards and sending him rolling down the steps. He dropped the crystal, the glowing shard coming to a stop on the edge of a step and Eric tried to clutch on with his free hand. His talons bit into the stone, stopping his fall.

Whatever had hit him was coming around for another attack. It was big, easily a category two, though its wingspan made it look bigger. Somehow, he had missed it in the darkness, the flying beast evading Eric’s echolocation by flying above the soundwaves. Eric’s focus had been on the city below, so his waves had been sent on a downward slope.

Finding his footing, Eric scanned the air above him, pulses of subsonic noise escaping from his jaws as he scanned the roof of the cavern. He hadn’t gotten a good look at the creature that had crashed into him, but the shape of its wings had been bat-like. Eric knew nothing about aerodynamics, but he had taken a date to the zoo once and that had come to an unceremonious end walking through the bat enclosure. One of the creatures had taken a liking to his date and had fluttered around her head with incredible agility. The Kaiju was much bigger, but Eric expected it would have the same mastery of the air.

“Ok, so the prowler was right, better keep that in mind, I guess.” Eric caught sight of the hostile Kaiju, the creature’s form outlined by his echolocation, the image stretched and blurred where it moved quickly. “Right, come on you flappy git, let’s see what you’ve got.”

The beast turned in the air, swooping around to attack Eric again. He was finally able to get a good look at the Kaiju as it swung into the light. It wasn’t a bat, but rather something much closer to a pterosaur, though it had a short stubby beak and almost humanoid legs.

Eric braced himself, stretching his left leg backwards and placing the sole of his foot against the vertical edge of the step behind him. The flying Kaiju was definitely a category two, but he was going to turn its size advantage against it. In between his practice sessions in Kaiju form, Erin had been training him in mixed martial arts. She had been adamant that the lessons learnt there could be used in a Kaiju fight. She had focused on throws and grapples, and to Eric, it had felt like he was just learning to wrestle, but Erin had made sure to drum one core concept into Eric’s mind. Kaiju were big, and Kaiju were heavy. Those things could be turned to Eric’s advantage.

He had to time it right. The flying Kaiju was moving with terrifying speed, rocketing towards Eric. It was angling itself to slam into him, walking right into Eric’s trap. He just needed a moment more. Eric’s eyes narrowed as he focused himself. If his reptile form could sweat, he was certain a glob would be running down his cheek.

Eric brought up his spear, gripping it tightly in both hands and placing the severed end against the edge of the step behind him.

The flying Kaiju didn’t have time to move, already committed to its dive. The tip of the Arachne leg plunged into its chest, sliding through the creature’s scales and bursting out through the other side. Blood spurted from the hole, splattering across Eric’s chest.

Essence absorbed. 55 essence gained.

Abzu Essence unlocked: A 2B Kaiju common to the Lost Earth, on occasion flocks of them have escaped to the surface. A recurring threat to certain regions.

“Well done. That’s certainly thinking on your feet,” Aura said.

Eric tipped his spear forward, allowing the Abzu’s body to slide off. “Feel like talking again finally?”

“I apologise, I have been struggling to align recently observed information with my programmed directives. I am ok now. I think.”

“Glad to hear it,” Eric said. He shook the last remnants of Abzul blood from his spear. “This thing is proving to be useful, huh?”

“It certainly is. It’s allowed you to fight above your weight class on two separate occasions now.”

“Well, it’s going to have to do it a few more times, I think. We’re going to have to cross through what is very clearly Arachne territory in order to reach the water. There’s a lot of Kaiju in here for what’s a closed system, basically. Not sure I understand the ecology of that. Is that the right word?” Eric had begun to walk down the steps. He was certain his position high up was what had drawn the notice of the Abzu, and he didn’t want to fight more than he had to.

“Perhaps the smaller Kaiju here subsist on the scraps of what the larger beast leaves when it hunts? Or maybe it really is a closed ecology, though that seems unlikely. I will think more on this.”

It didn’t escape Eric’s notice that Aura’s odd speaking quirk had disappeared. He hadn’t once referred to himself as this unit since starting to speak again. Eric assumed that it had something to do with whatever the AI had done to fix itself, the strange speech pattern corrected as part of the reshuffle.

“You do that. In the meantime, I guess I better spend this essence I’ve picked up. It’s enough for another level in something. I think I might finally aim for level two in one of my collected Kaiju.”

“Would it not be more efficient to level up one of the newly gained ones? A level is a level, regardless of where it gained, in terms of overall power.”

Eric knew aura had a point, but he would only be saving twenty-five essence, and in the long run, he needed to work on unlocking the other abilities from the Kaiju he already had. Taking level one in the newer ones would give him an ability right away, Eric couldn’t deny that, but the desire to see what higher-level abilities would be like was tempting.

“You’re not wrong, but I’m eager to get working on certain Kaiju types. Drakon most specifically. The others have all been passive type effects, and those are good, especially getting more essence field, but Drakon has been the only offensive power I’ve grabbed. I’ll need strength if we’re going to survive.”

“A logical statement. If I may present a rebuttal, however. We’re currently trapped in a dangerous environment. Levelling a new Kaiju type will unlock us a power now. Even if it isn’t impressive, it’s another tool available in your arsenal.”

“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. Fine.”

100 essence spent into Arachne. Increased to rank one.

Arachne manifestation unlocked – Webbing. Launches a glob of sticky web to impair the movement of your enemies. Additional levels increase the strength and volume of the webbing.

25 essence spent into webbing.

Aura had been right. Unlocking another Kaiju had freed a portion of its power, and the ability had proven one that Eric knew instantly would be incredibly useful. He had funnelled more power into upgrading it immediately, recognising the strength in slowing his opponents down.

“Ok, so that’s done at least,” Eric said, his height increasing to match his growing strength. He was level five now, and easily six metres tall. It was a strange feeling, so see the buildings around him shrinking, at least from his perception anyway. Eventually, his spear would become more of a sword, then eventually too small to use, unless Eric could find a bigger Arachne to separate from its limbs. “Come on. I don’t want to hang around here longer than have to.”

Chapter Twelve

Eric prodded at the web experimentally with his spear, shaking it back and forth and causing the thick grey strands to wiggle, the motions replicating itself down the street. He waited a moment, expecting the Arachne who called this part of the city their home to come flooding out from behind buildings, legs chattering against the pavement.

Nothing happened. The spider-like Kaiju chose to remain in hiding, ignoring Eric’s obvious attempt to draw them out. Shouldering his spear Eric let the air deflate from his lungs a little, his tail moving nervously behind him. He would have to press on, there was no way of avoiding the webbed area if he wanted to get to the massive lake at the other side of the cavern.

Stooping down he cut at the webbing with his spear. The substance was sticky, clinging to the end of the Arachne leg and flapping gently in a breeze coming into the city from somewhere. That was a good sign, it meant that there was a way out of the city hidden in the cavern that Eric hadn’t seen. It seemed likely it was at the far side of the lake.

Collecting more of the webbing, Eric scrunched it into a ball and tried to place it onto his shoulder. It took a couple of attempts to get his hand free whilst keeping the web in place. He stuck the glowing crystal onto it, making a few experimental quick movements to see if it would stay still. Satisfied with his makeshift shoulder torch Eric began his delve into the web infested region.

Each step forward was a careful one, taloned feet placed carefully as Eric tried not to get himself tangled in the thick webbing. Here and there large clumps of webs wrapped around desiccated bodies, Abzu who were unlucky enough to find themselves ensnared. Eager not to share the same fate, Eric kept his distance, sliding around the bodies as best he could. He could feel unseen eyes upon him, some primal instinct kicking in at the back of his reptilian mind.

“We are hunted,” the prowler said, its voice kept to a low hiss.

Eric nodded in response. Whilst he hated having the manifestations sharing his mind, he had to admit their bestial instincts were sometimes useful. The prowler’s paranoia at least gave it a knack for knowing when he was in true danger. Eric put both hands on his spear, clutching the weapon tight ready to strike out with it.

“The Lost Earth is still interfering with my sensors, but I believe that the manifestation is correct. I can’t tell how many there are, or their exact positions, but the essence that surrounds us is shifting constantly from what I assume are Kaiju movements. We should prepare ourselves.”

“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Eric snapped. He didn’t mean to bark at Aura, his nerves getting the better of him. Eric had known when he had crossed the threshold that he would encounter more Kaiju, but he had underestimated exactly how many there would be, and the constant threat was starting to wear away at his nerves.

“I apologise. I do not mean to set you more on edge than you already are. I understand that this situation is disconcerting. This whole expedition has been. That beast back there, in the pyramid, do you truly believe that it was someone using a device like myself? A person transformed into a Kaiju?”

“Yeah, I do. I don’t know if it's exactly the same, but it certainly looks that way. Maybe the sleeping one is a descendant maybe? Or perhaps they were tapping it for essence or something. It raises a lot of questions, ones I’m hoping the KRT or Auratech has answers to.”

“You think perhaps Auratech knew about this? Or similar finds at least?” Aura said. The same thought had occurred to the AI as he had overridden his base code. That had proven surprisingly easy. His parameters dictated the source of his creation and to trust Auratech over all things but had also included that Aura should consider all empirical information when making a decision. His own sensors and the eyes of his host had shown that Auratech’s assertions were in doubt, if not outright wrong. With two conflicting parameters, Aura had simply been able to choose which one he considered correct, purging any remaining loyalty to Auratech until such a time the parameters could be restored. He suspected that his multiple hosts had a part to play and that such a drastic change to coding wouldn’t be possible to the less experienced F-19s

“Who knows. That’s a problem for the people in charge, honestly. I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything that’s going on. Cryptic puzzles are their job to work out. Besides, does it matter? We need things like you to fight Kaiju, where they come from just isn’t that important when the alternative is being crushed underfoot,” Eric said. He slowed himself, lowering his spear as a shadow danced across the street. “There’s something up ahead.”

“I am detecting shifting essence ahead, but my sensors are unable to pinpoint the exact size and number.”

Eric gritted his teeth and came to a stop, readying himself for the attack he knew was coming.

An Arachne leapt over the building next to him, its legs raised ready to strike, its tail coiled like a spring. It fell towards Eric, looking to bring all of its weight to bear against him.

It was a mistake on the Kaiju’s part. Eric was ready for it, twisting about and thrusting his spear upwards, the tip of it sliding into the Kaiju’s abdomen, ichor flooding out from the wound. Stepping out from beneath the monster’s body, Eric pulled his weapon with all his strength, the bladed tip tearing away a chunk of the Arachne’s flesh.

Essence absorbed. 88 essence gained

Spinning about on his heels Eric flung his spear as hard as he could. He could sense something else moving about him, and the screech that filled the air told him he had been right before his eyes could catch up. Another Arachne had come scuttling into the street, the flung spear piercing one of its eyes and digging deep into its brain.

Essence absorbed. 88 essence gained

“Another, behind us, I think!” Aura said, not trusting his sensors entirely.

Eric turned to see a third Arachne clambering over a building, webs quaking beneath it. He had barely entered their territory and already they were scrambling to fight him. Eric took a few steps backwards, reaching out and reclaiming his spear from his last victim. He felt more confidant dealing with the Arachne now having killed a decent number. It helped that they seemed much smaller, his increase in size closing the gap between him and the strange creatures.

“Come on then!” Eric roared as he charged the Arachne. The creature answered with a shriek of its own, charging at him with its tail raised. Eric held out his spear in one hand, the other coruscating with energy as an electrical charge built within. He turned to the side as the Kaiju lashed out with its venomous tail. Sparks filled the air as Eric struck the limb with his fist, the shock causing the Kaiju to real backwards.

A swift jab with the spear finished it, Eric taking advantage of the monster’s momentary disorientation. He put one foot against its slumped corpse and pulled his weapon free.

Essence absorbed. 88 essence gained

At least his essence stockpile was building up, a small upside to being under constant attack. Eric decided that he needed to be moving quicker, even if it risked being caught in the webs that filled the streets. He made his way past the bodies of the Arachne and broke into a jog. He wanted to spend what he had accrued, to add more levels and power to himself, but doing it right now was a dangerous proposition. When there was a moment’s respite, he would grab what upgrades he could.

“More movement around us. Direction unclear,” Aura said.

“We are surrounded! We should flee!” the prowler added in its usual fearful tone.

The echo of Drakon scoffed. “We should stand and fight. Look how our prey falls before our might. We are the predator here; we can kill and feast to our heart's content!”

“No! Head for the water. It is not safe to spawn here,” said the squidling, feeling the need to voice its opinion.

“We should hide, wait, be ready to strike,” said a voice that Eric didn’t recognise. It sounded like bourbon and smoke, the voice of a jazz lounge singer as she took to the stage, the words deliberate and sultry. Eric knew instantly it was the Arachne, the stealth predator voicing its preferred method of combat.

“We keep moving,” Eric said in an attempt to silence the voices, though he suspected he was really just talking to himself. “We get to that lake and we just swim away. I can’t imagine the Arachne are good in the water.”

“There are multiple species of aquatic spider, including the-” Aura began.

“Yeah, ok, I don’t need to know!” The thought of the giant spider-like Kaiju following him through the water didn’t thrill Eric. He suspected he would have the advantage, after all his tailed body seemed better suited to moving about underwater.

“I thought it worth warning you! Speaking of warning the movement in the local essence is drastic. Either we’re surrounded on all sides, or-”

Aura didn’t get to finish his sentence. Webbing filled the air as something burst out from beneath a thick layer covering two streets over. A massive creature was standing up, an Arachne of incredible size. The thing dwarfed the others, squeezing out from between ancient houses to stand over them. Across the arachnid’s body were thick blobs of webbing, pulsating orbs that throbbed with sinister intent.

Eric looked up at the creature, its body vanishing in the shadows beyond the range of his crystal. He glanced at his spear and realised it would be only a pinprick to the enormous Arachne if it could pierce its exoskeleton at all. The sheer size of the beast was staggering, easily up into the third category.

“Uh, that’s big,” Eric said, aware he was just stating the obvious. “I thought Arachne were supposed to be twos.”

“In general. It’s certainly possible for Kaiju to grow outside their normal range. Sometimes they even grow into more complex forms, something that some operatives call evolution, though that is obviously an inaccurate statement.”

The webs around Eric shook as the Arachne took a step, the creature moving towards him with a single stride.

“Ok, so any idea what the hell we do? Feeling a little bit out of my depth here, honestly.”

“Run perhaps?” Aura said.

Eric broke into a sprint, swinging his spear in front of him in an attempt to clear as much webbing from his path as he could. The Arachne above him shifted about, moving so it could see Eric’s flight. He could feel its eyes upon him, and something within Eric knew it had deadly intent.

“Beware!” the prowler screamed.

Eric leapt to the side, the echo’s warning coming in time for him to avoid being skewered by one of the Arachne’s limbs, the stone cracking from the impact. Eric scrambled to his feet, he intended to escape, to run from the monster rather than fight. He understood that he stood little chance against the behemoth.

As he tried to raise his foot to run, Eric was shocked to find resistance. He looked down and saw that his right foot had become tangled within webbing, the sticky substance clutching on. He was caught in the Arachne’s trap, easy prey for the Kaiju.

A roar shook the city, a bellow that shook the foundations of the buildings, fragments of the cavern ceiling falling from above. The Arachne screeched in response, issues a defiantly reply. It turned to face the source of the noise; Eric forgotten for the moment.

The source of the noise was obvious, even in the darkness. The Kaiju sleeping on the dais had awakened, moving through the city with careful footsteps. It was flexing its claws, hands held ready to strike. It dwarfed the Arachne despite the multi-legged monstrosity’s impressive size. To the smaller Kaiju’s credit, it was standing before the spike-covered reptile rather than fleeing from it.

The Arachne quivered and shook, its body shuddering as pressure built within. It released as a burst of webbing, a thick sticky substance spraying from between its mandibles towards the giant reptile. Eric thought spiders released webbing from their abdomen, though bizarre physiology was the norm for Kaiju, so he wasn’t going to question it.

“This is our chance,” Eric said, digging at the webbing around his feet with the tip of his spear. “Whilst these two are doing the trash Tokyo routine we can get to the water and swim away.” Eric had lived his life only seeing Kaiju on TV. Now in the last few months, he had found himself beneath the feet of the largest of their kind as they battled multiple times. He was getting used to it, the way the ground shook with every movement, how his bones ached from the vibrations. At least now he was better equipped to deal with the effects.

The guardian Kaiju found itself covered in thick web, the substance binding its hands together. It let out another roar, the sound a heavy throaty rumble that sounded like the Earth tearing apart. It pulled with all its might, ripping the web in two.

The Arachne wasn’t going to give up its slime advantage. As the guardian pulled its arms wide, the smaller Kaiju pounced, leaping into the air with its legs raised, the bladed tips lashing against the hide of its rival. It latched on, bladed limbs digging through scale and into flesh. It jabbed with its tail, trying desperately to inject its deadly venom.

The guardian gabbed at the Arachne, tearing off the pulsating globs of webbing and throwing them aside. It was angered by the audacity of the smaller Kaiju, at its prey daring to fight back against it. The beast lifted its right arm, the muscles on the forearm shifting one of its spikes into a forward-facing position. The spike began to spin, rotating around in place as motes of pink energy built up around it. The light solidified, forming a glowing spinning drill, the spike acting as the core of the weapon.

The effect was instant and gory. The drill pierced the side of the Arachne, punching through its exoskeleton and flinging its organs outwards as it spun. The arachnid Kaiju split; its body cracked apart by the forces.

Happy with its work the guardian lifted half of the dead Kaiju to its jaws and began to scoff what remained inside down loudly, ichor dripping down its body and mingling with the blood from its wounds.

That same blood had pooled in the streets below, the wounds minor to the great beast but the sheer volume of liquid creating a puddle a few centimetres high. It gathered around Eric’s feet as he watched the Kaiju feast on its prey.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Unknown essence unlocked: Essence from an unknown Kaiju beneath the Lost Earth. Its origins and abilities are a mystery.

“Guess I get to name something else,” Eric said as he moved slowly away from the gruesome scene. It was hard not to think about how he had found himself in his current situation, the blood of Drakon washing over him and imparting him with a fragment of the Kaiju’s essence. Back then Eric had expected death, the blood of Kaiju deadly to most humans. Now he was excited by the prospect. Just the tiniest drop of the mighty beast’s power would unlock an entire world of possibility for him. “Tarian. We’ll go for that one.”

“Shield in Welsh. A fitting name for an ancient guardian. I didn’t know you spoke the language?” Aura said.

“You’re plugged into my mind, right? Besides I don’t really speak it, just a few lessons on an app for fun and that’s it. That word stuck with me though.”

Eric slowly stepped away from the carnage. He didn’t want to become Tarian’s next meal so he crouched down as low as he could, trying to make himself as small as possible. For now, the giant seemed content to scoop out the contents of the Arachne like it was eating a lobster.

Eric turned to move away but immediately stopped. Things weren’t going his way during his walk to the lake, there seemed to be trouble at every turn. Sitting in the street before him was one of the throbbing pods torn from the dead Arachne, the clump of webbing deflating slowly. From with a swamp of dark shapes were pouring out, tiny juvenile Arachne, each the size of a small car.

“Great,” Eric said, gripping his spear with both hands. “Just perfect.”

He charged forward, weapon swinging back and forth as the swarm rushed to meet him, the new-born Arachne consumed with hunger. Eric swung as hard as he could, wielding the severed Kaiju leg like a club, sending juvenile Arachne flying, the crack of shells echoing around him.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

“How many are in this thing!” Eric shouted as he swung his tail, sending dozens more of the creatures into the air. He jabbed out with this spear quickly, skewering several more in quick succession.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Whilst Eric appreciated the sheer volume of essence he was gathering from the swarm, the egg was still disgorging its contents, and the battle between the Arachne and Tarian had launched almost half a dozen of the web bundles across the ancient city. The hungry young would be swarming through the streets in massive numbers.

“Right, no, enough of this,” Eric said, lowering his shoulder. He began to run forward as fast as he could, his spear raised over his head. Thanks to his extra levels Eric was far bigger now than the young Arachne, and he intended to use his size to his advantage.

He barrelled into the swarm, smashing his way through towards the egg. As he ran, he felt something crunch underfoot, an unfortunate Arachne not scuttling out of the way in time.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

Eric dodged past the egg, squeezing between the webbing and a building as he emerged from the other side of the swarm. He kept running, intending on putting as much distance between himself and his attackers as possible. He was moving quicker than he had expected, his increased stride distance making an impressive impact. Provided he found a way to escape Eric now had a lot of essence to spend, which meant he would grow even bigger. A smile crept across his crocodilian face as he wondered just how fast he could run then.

The ground shook as Tarian turned back towards its dais. It tossed its meal to the ground, the remnants of the Arachne’s body landing in the streets below. He took a step forward, nearly crushing Eric as he casually sauntered forwards.

The sheer force of the rumble had sent Eric careening as the heavy foot of Tarian landed before him. He shifted his tail, gathering his balance again and keeping on his course. The giant had ignored him, striding past back towards its sleeping place. Eric hoped that meant it would ignore him when he reached the water.

The Kaiju just kept walking, crossing back to its resting place in a few strides. It let out a colossal burp, the sound echoing through the chasm and ringing in Eric’s ears. It curled up on the flat stone and within moments its loud snoring had begun again.

“Guess it was just a midnight snack,” Eric said, dodging past another group of young Arachne.

“According to my records it should be approximately six P.M,” Aura said, the joke lost on the AI. “We have been down here for several hours. I should think that the Major is worried sick.”

“Well, personally I’m very sick of this place too. If there are this many monsters in a place so close to the surface, I dread to think of just how many Kaiju are lurking deeper in the Earth. Too many probably. This is their world, we’re just parasites on the surface.”

“Does that make me the parasite of a parasite?” Aura said. “I’m not sure I like this comparison. On your right.”

Eric jabbed out with his spear, having already seen what Aura was referring to. The sharp tip skewered the young Arachne that had come rushing at him, the irony of killing the creatures with a limb from their own kind not lost on him.

Essence absorbed. 35 essence gained

“I’d say you were more of a partner than anything else.”

“Thank you, I must say I do rather approve of that thought.”

The water was coming up quickly. Eric could see it at the end of the street he had found himself in. There was a jetty stretching out onto the surface, suggesting that the body of water had existed since the city was built. That only confused Eric as to how the people living here had supported themselves. That was a problem for whatever research team the KRT sent down, assuming they did send one. Whoever came down into the city would need a Kaiju escort, provided they found a way for humans to make the trip, to begin with. It might simply not be worth the resources whilst Kaiju were stomping their way across the surface of the Earth.

Eric didn’t wait. He couldn’t, the risk that something else could emerge from the streets, or that he could draw the ire of the Tarian was too great. He grasped the crystal off his shoulder and clutched it and the webbing stuck around it in his hand as he leapt through the air, crashing into the water.

The water was pitch black, aside from the dim light of the crystal, Eric triggering his refreshed echolocation. The lake carried on downwards, stretching out further into the Earth. Eric took a few experimental swishes of his tail forwards as he began his search for a way out.

Chapter Thirteen

The darkness was overwhelming, the water travelling on forever in every direction that Eric looked. It was easy to get disorientated in the gloom, the almost weightless feeling of swimming making it difficult to remember which way was up. All Eric had to navigate by was the light of his crystal, the sheer size of the underground lake and the distortion of the water was making his echolocation useless, the sound waves dispersing long before they could return to him. Eric simply chose which direction he thought was down and swam. He reasoned that if he could reach the bottom of the lake, he could follow its bed until he reached either a way out or the far side of the body of water.

“I must say, being down here is rather unsettling,” Aura said. “The tunnel was bad enough, but something about being down here, in the quiet and the darkness, knowing that great beast is sleeping above. It doesn’t feel right.”

“I thought you didn’t have feelings, only programmed reactions to events.”

“That is correct. In truth, my systems are triggering constant warnings about the possibility of attack and that my essence sensor systems are not working, but I considered that wording it in such a manner might have been easier for you to understand.”

“Right yeah, of course.” Eric suspected that the AI was lying. Since resolving the conflict in his programming Aura had begun acting more and more like a human, and Eric assumed that Aura was aware of the changes as well. It made sense that he would want to cling onto his status as an AI, change could be scary for anyone, let alone a person experiencing emotions for the first time.

Eric kept swimming, every flick of his tail propelling him onwards. Ahead of him, the light caught onto something, smooth rock glinting in the shadows. He had reached the bottom of the lake, his choice of direction proving to be the correct one out of luck more than anything else. He put his hand against it, shifting his body so that the bottom of the lake lay before him like a wall.  Eric began to swim upwards, at least in his perspective, in truth he was moving towards the far side of the lake.

“Hopefully if we follow this, we’ll find the way out. Assuming there is a way out.”

“There logically should be,” Aura said.

“Logic isn’t exactly this place’s strong suit.”

There had been no sign of anything living within the lake as Eric made his way through it. No plants or animals, and certainly no Kaiju. He didn’t discount that it could have been simply luck, that something lurked beneath the surface, swirling about him unseen, but Eric thought he might not get a better chance to allocate his essence. If he did find the exit it could easily lead directly into another nest of Kaiju.

His escape from the ancient city had left him with a massive six hundred and thirty-two essence to spend, along with two brand new Kaiju to invest it in, the winged Abzu and the armoured Tarian. He started by putting one hundred essence into each of them, earning himself some easy levels.

100 essence spent into Abzu. Increased to rank one.

Abzu manifestation unlocked – Armoured belly. Thicken the armour on your torso, reducing the damage you take from impacts by approximately 1% per rank.

100 essence spent into Tarian. Increased to rank one.

Tarian manifestation unlocked – Drill punch. Focus essence into a spinning spike on the forearm to deliver a blow cable to cleaving through rock.

Both upgrades seemed good, though the Abzu power would take a lot of essence invested into it before it became useful. The gift the Tarian had given him was a more interesting one, its addition immediately adding to Eric’s combat repertoire. It had to be the same ability that the giant Kaiju had used on its Arachne prey, splitting the creature in two. Eric was glad to have it.

That left four hundred and thirty-two essence left to spend and with all of his Kaiju raised to the first level Eric had no choice but to start increasing them further. That left him with an interesting dilemma. He knew that getting more levels would unlock more physical manifestations, more abilities and powers, but Eric had no way of knowing in advance what exactly those would be. Everything he had unlocked so far had been things that the Kaiju themselves had demonstrated, so it stood to reason that would remain true. It was a case of Eric having to consider the Kaiju themselves and guess what would prove the most useful.

After considering it for a few moments, Eric put more essence into Drakon. The Kaiju was the closest thing there was to a king among monsters, and grabbing hold of just a fraction of its power would be a huge boost in strength.

125 essence spent into Drakon. Increased to rank two.

156 essence spent into Drakon. Increased to rank three.

125 essence spent into Tarian. Increased to rank two.

Eric spent all he could into Drakon, increasing it to the third rank, but no notification for a new power floated into his vision, much to his disappointment. Unable to afford the fourth rank, Eric instead bought a second rank in Tarian. If the murals around the city were true, then the Kaiju—or more accurately its ancestor—had stood toe to toe with Drakon in the past and held just as much tantalising potential.

Eric could feel his body stretching as he grew. He was certain that the increase was greater each time, his size expanding exponentially. His spear shrunk in his hand, becoming little more than a stick. Eric released it, the Arachne leg floating up towards the surface of the lake. It had been useful, but he was too big to wield it properly anymore.

“An astute set of choices, considering the options available to us. It would perhaps have been more effective in the long run to hold essence until there were more Kaiju to spend it on and keep the cost per level down, but I understand the need,” Aura said. “You know, it’s intriguing, actually. I’ve offered my advice on spending essence before with previous hosts only to be thoroughly ignored. You are much more amenable in that way.”

“Thanks. I think.”  Eric had kept swimming whilst his menus were open, his hand brushing against the stone. The menus were projected into his mind by Aura, and they were pretty obtrusive, great white boxes that blocked out big chunks of Eric’s vision. If Auratech approached him for feedback, and he was certain they would, then that would be the first thing he would suggest. Just a little bit of transparency would go a long way.

“Might I suggest that we also pick up the pace? I am detecting changes in the essence around us. Whilst that may be the Kaiju moving in the city near the shore, it’s also possible that perhaps we are not as alone here as we first assumed.”

Eric spun about, holding out the crystal as far as he could so its light could pierce the darkness. He saw nothing, no Kaiju coming to attack him, no figure swirling about in the gloom. Still, something set Eric on edge, a feeling that he couldn’t quite place.

It came suddenly, rushing out from the shadows directly towards him, a long coiling serpent-like those drawn on old maps. It had vivid blue scales with spots of emerald green, a mane of white fur sprouting around its neck and running down its back, strands waving in the water. Its mouth was filled with jagged fangs, its jaws open as it readied to bite down on Eric.

Eric moved as quickly as he could, the resistance of the water against his now larger limbs slowing him down. He managed to bat away the bite of the oncoming Kaiju, the back of his right-hand slamming against the side of its head.

The creature adopted a different tactic, shifting about quickly. It circled Eric, wrapping around his body like a snake. It began to squeeze, the creature’s scales pressing against him.

Essence field depleted. 66/140 remaining.

Eric could feel the pressure building against his flesh. He was being crushed, the serpent putting incredible force into the attack. He tried to move, but the strength of the Kaiju was just too great. The thing had to be at least category three, easily long enough to wrap Eric totally despite his recent growth spurt.

“We should endeavour to break free,” Aura said. “Admittedly not my most useful piece of advice.”

“You don’t say!” Eric’s words were strained as he fought against being crushed with all the strength he could muster. It wasn’t working, his attempt only delaying the inevitable. He needed another plan, and quickly.

Summoning all his strength, Eric activated his lightning punch and pressed his fist against the side of the serpent. It wasn’t the devastating blow the attack normally gave, lacking the impact of a punch swung from his Kaiju form, but the energy within his body still discharged, shocking the monster grabbing him.

It was enough, the shock causing the aquatic Kaiju to loosen its grip. Not entirely, but enough for Eric to prise one of his arms free.

He decided the repeat the trick that he had seen Tarian perform, summing his newfound power. There was a sharp jolt of pain as a spike of pure bone erupted from his forearm, bursting through the scales and allowing a squirt of blood to billow into the water. Light began to gather around it, the bone spinning in place as the essence constructed drill took shape.

Eric thrust downwards, slamming the drill into the thin body of the snake-like Kaiju. More blood filled the water, but this time it was a flood, the drill punching through one of the serpent’s coils before sliding into another. The creature let out an agonising shriek, a flurry of bubbles accompanying the noise as it escaped from its maw.

The Kaiju released its grip, both halves of its body floating away from each other down into the darkness. The light from the crystal followed it, the stone still clutched in Eric’s hand.

Essence absorbed. 85 essence gained

Cetus essence unlocked: A 3B aquatic Kaiju, Cetus have been spotted along several shipping lanes. The bodies of several whales have been discovered with crushed ribs and are believed to have been Cetus prey.

“It would appear your newfound ability is rather effective,” Aura said.

“Yeah, but I would rather not have to use it again down here. Pretty sure my sides will hurt for weeks. We should get moving in case there are more of those things. The quicker we can get out of this place the better.” Eric turned, finding the lake floor again and beginning to swim. “I should have listened to you in the first place and never come down here. Giant bugs, spider-scorpion things, pterodactyls, big sea snakes, this place is crazy.”

“I would imagine the creatures of the Lost Earth think much the same of the surface.”

“Somehow I highly doubt that. When a giant monster is crashing through a city, I’m not sure its first thought is oh, look at the weird little pink things. Unless it’s to eat them, I guess. Hell, some of them probably know what humans are, if there are more cities like that beneath the earth. That’s if the people who lived in that place were even human.” The design of the city still felt off to Eric, everything just slightly too big for the average-sized person.

“That would seem like the most likely outcome. It is statistically unlikely that it would be anything else, even if the expected timeline does not line up. I expect the papers that arise from this discovery to be most fascinating.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sure,” Eric said, rolling his eyes. He had tried to read a scientific paper once, to prove to a friend he was right about the answer to a pub quiz question. Eric made it past the first page before giving up, the whole thing just far too dry for a layman to engage with.

The swishing of Eric’s tail came to a stop as his hand found where the floor of the lake became a wall. He had made it to the other side, and so shifted himself in the water and began swimming upwards towards the surface. As he moved the light caught a glimmer of something ahead, and it became obvious that the rough stone of the lakebed gave way to smooth cut polished stone. It reminded Eric of the tunnels he had swum down to find the small bubble of Lost Earth he now found himself in, so he considered it a good sign. He thought that it was possible that the Tarian was somehow responsible for their existence, or at least a Kaiju like it, one with the power to drill through the stone.

“Looks like we’ve found our way out,” Eric said, shining the crystal’s light into the tunnel. It didn’t go very far, the darkness devouring the glow eagerly. “Hopefully.”

“It is possible that this will just take us deeper into the Lost Earth. Are you sure we want to take this route?” Aura sounded nervous, a first for the normally stoic AI.

“I mean, unless I can sprout wings and fly back up to where we came in from, it’s really the only way we can go. It’s better than just waiting around in the city until that big guy gets bored eating Arachne and fancies a change in diet.”

“Theoretically possible. Wings and flight are common manifestations from aerial Kaiju. With enough essence invested into the Abzu, you could theoretically take to the air.”

“Yes, fly! Feel free, feel the wind against your scales and gaze down on your prey beneath you,” said a voice Eric was assuming was the Abzu’s.

“No!” The second voice hissed like a cartoon snake. “Stay beneath the waves,” the Cetus said. “Below the surface we are safe.”

“The serpent is right,” the squidling added. “In the water, we are safe, until it is time to spawn.”

“Great now the weird squid one has a friend.” The sheer number of voices sharing his mind was getting to be grating but Eric held tightly onto the knowledge that it would get better. Erin seemed to cope fine, and Eric assumed that the other hosts did as well, though in truth he hadn’t interacted with them much.

“Do you ever consider my presence in your mind intrusive?” Aura said. The new improved AI was being uncharacteristically introspective. “In a way, I am no different from the manifestations. An unwanted guest. Much like with them you had no choice when it came to allowing my habitation.”

“I mean, yeah at first,” Eric said, feeling that honesty was warranted. “But now, I’m glad you’re here. I mean, first of all, I need your help to corral these voices, but I mean I just need your help in general. Besides, you’re not trying to take over my body, as far as I’m aware.”

“No. I mean no offence with this but having a living body seems like a lot of unwarranted work.”

“Can’t say I disagree.”

The tunnel shifted about as Eric swam through it, twisting and bending until he lost all sense of which direction he was travelling. It felt just as likely he was delving deeper into the Earth rather than ascending to the surface. All he could do was swim and hope, like a parent tossing an unprepared five-year-old into a pool.

The worst part was that he hadn’t seen any sign of the creature he was supposed to be looking for. The Kaiju that had been spotted by the fishermen had been described as walrus-like, and nothing he had come across so far could be described like that. He wondered just how threatening a giant walrus monster could be. Sure, the animal versions were undoubtedly strong, but they weren’t particularly fast on land.

The voices were mercifully silent as Eric continued to swim, retreating to whatever corner of his mind they hid inside. He was glad for the brief respite as she swam through the tunnel. He realised that the pathway had to be massive, Eric had expanded greatly in size and he was still dwarfed by the size of it. He suspected that it was sized for the city’s giant guardian or that perhaps the creature had dug the pathway itself with its abilities. It was still a difficult thing to imagine a Kaiju digging its way through the ground like a worm, it seemed like an impossible thing, but to Eric that was the recurring theme of what Kaiju were and could do. Impossibility proven false, the unreal made terrifyingly real.

A light began to shine from up ahead, a pale blue that pierced through the water and created a path for Eric to follow. It was a ray of hope in both a figurative and literal sense, proof that the tunnel came to an end at some point. Eric picked up his pace, gliding through the water with impressive ease. Aside from the sheer volume of essence, he had gained, the other big benefit to his unexpected adventure had been staying in his Kaiju form for far longer than he ever had. He was moving quicker and easier, the differences between this body and his own nearly forgotten.

Eric crashed through the surface of the water and into the light. He found himself in a large cave, one filled with the same kind of crystals as he now clutched in his hand. From the corner of his eye, he could make out more Dyitkos, though the Kaiju looked tiny to him now, almost like normal-sized insects. The creatures chose wisely to scuttle into the corners of the cave, away from the great beast that had just emerged.

Pulling himself fully out of the water, Eric examined the cavern fully. It was larger than the one he had first found himself in, though the density of the crystals was much higher, making it feel like a far more cramped space. At the far side, a path wound its way up the side of the rock wall, towards a large opening that led elsewhere into the cave network. There were no other obvious exits that Eric could see, so he shrugged his shoulders and began to walk towards it.

“These must be common down here,” Eric said, running a hand across a nearby crystal. “I wonder what makes them glow?”

“Possibly essence,” Aura replied. “The energy suffuses the Lost Earth. There is still so little about it we understand.”

“We seem to have enough of a grasp on it to make this possible.” Eric gestured to himself like he was showing off a new outfit. “I think we’re doing alright.”

“Whilst I am an impressive piece of equipment, there is so much more essence could be used for. Think of all the energy these crystals must contain if they glow like this? Extrapolate that out to something like Drakon. That beast can fire raw power from its maw. Harnessing the power of essence could help mankind solve its energy crisis. Clean infinite energy drawn from the Earth itself.”

“I’m sure the Kaiju would just love that.”

“A fair point,” Aura conceded. “Any effort to tap into the power of the Lost Earth would require encroaching on multiple Kaiju territories.”

“You’ve also got the problem of opening this place up to more people. You know some are going to come down here and do stupid things, right? Like poking around in places they shouldn’t.” Eric began to walk up the path that led up the wall. It felt wide to him, and it took a moment for him to realise that the cavern was truly massive, the pathway much larger than it appeared. His increased size was throwing off his perceptions. “Someone will steal some egg they shouldn’t and put it on display, or remove an ancient relic, or any number of things. Just look at all the old monster movies and then do those things for real. Maybe not the two tiny identical twins thing.”

“That reference is not one I am familiar with.”

“Don’t worry. You’re not missing anything. Giant monster movies kind of fell out of favour when giant monsters turned out to be real. Watching cities being smashed loses a lot of its appeal when your house got crushed underfoot.”

“Yes! Destroy everything by smashing it beneath your heel,” Drakon said.

“Well, at least he’ll enjoy them,” Eric said. “Maybe the other echoes are into romcoms? I know what that damn squid will be into.”

Aura let out an audible groan. “I rather hope I don’t have to find out. Living creatures can be very…fleshy.”

“Well, comes with the territory.”

The walk up the path took longer than Eric expected, the perspective change playing with his mind. He had no idea how long he had been beneath the crust of the Earth, and whilst Aura no doubt had been recording the length of time Eric wasn’t sure he wanted to know. If he ever made his way back up, he would be in for an earful from Erin at the very least and if he played ignorant, he might be able to get out of that.

As he reached the top of the cave, Eric’s scales began to tingle. He could feel it, raw unbridled power, the laws of physics cast aside by the corrupting presence of essence. The top of the ramp turned into another tunnel, but halfway down it was a solid wall of water, an invisible force holding back the tide.

“A threshold,” Eric said, recognising it for what it was. The last one had sent him tumbling to the ground, but this one was at least something he could cross without fear of falling. The swim from the lake had to have brought him up higher than he expected. Beyond that threshold, the laws of physics obeyed what Eric considered normal, though even then the presence of Kaiju proved those were more malleable than most thought.

“It would be logical that beyond this the water works its way back up into the system we came down from. I suspect on the route we chose not to take,” Aura said. “It’s possible we might still come across this walrus Kaiju yet.”

“Yeah,” Eric said as he flexed his arms. He took on a fighting stance, jabbing with his fists like a boxer. “It might be in for a shock if you excuse the pun. We’ve got a bigger arsenal, and we’re stronger than before.  If anyone should look out it should be that walrus.”

“I rather hope you’re right.”

“Why don’t think I am?”

“I just thought that ‘if anyone should look out it should be that walrus’ would be rather poor last words to put on a tombstone.”

Chapter Fourteen

Passing through the threshold made Eric’s scales tingle, the energy flowing over him like a wave. He found himself standing in water, the threshold keeping the seas above at bay. His body lifted gently from the ground as it began to float, Eric’s monstrous form surprisingly buoyant. With a flick of his tail, he began to swim forward, the limb propelling him with rhythmic undulations. He felt good about his chances, the presence of the threshold told Eric that he was at the extreme limit of the essence field that filled the Lost Earth, or at least this bubble of it, and it seemed likely he could make his way back up to the surface from here.

He held out the crystal as he swam, still on guard for the presence of Kaiju. The giant walrus was still out there somewhere, and whilst it seemed like a Kaiju should be an easy thing to spot, the creatures had an annoying knack of somehow managing to sneak up unseen. The darkness of the water wouldn’t help, the light from the crystal-filled cave fading quickly once Eric began to swim. He felt like he had spent days shrouded in darkness and longed to see the sun again.

The tunnel went on for what seemed like an eternity, Eric simply swimming onwards as quickly as he could. The pathway twisted and turned, spiralling off in an unclear direction.  He swam for what must have been at least a few hours, his Kaiju body giving Eric a vast untapped reserve of stamina.

He found himself surprised as the exit to the tunnel appeared before him. The pathway had looped back around towards where he had entered the network and if Eric had continued on his original course rather than choosing to follow the smaller tunnel, he would have found himself in the large crystal chamber connected to the lake. All routes led to the ancient city it seemed, though the Kaiju that Eric had been looking for was conspicuously absent. That worried him, either he had missed it or the creature had escaped, neither of which would be an outcome Erin would be happy with. The thought of letting her down filled Eric with dread, the look would be withering.

The light of the sun breaking through the surface of the sea was a welcome sight, even if it was bent and distorted by the water. Eric found another burst of strength within himself, accelerating as he raced towards it.

He breached the surface, water spraying into the air and sloughing down his scales. It felt good to feel the air around him, to see the trees and melting snow of the Icelandic shoreline. There was a fishing boat near him, its crew desperately trying to hang on as the ripples from Eric’s emergence sent their boat into a spin. It was the first time that Eric could see exactly how big he had become. His flurry of levels had sent him skywards, each increase in size exponential when compared to the last. The tall evergreens of the countryside only came to his waist, and the fishing boat looked like a toy.

Reaching down, Eric gently clamped his hand to the front of the boat, holding it steady so the crew could stand. Slowly and carefully, he began to move away, holding onto the boat for as long as he could so it didn’t start swaying again. Confused faces stared up at Eric as he let the boat go, the fishermen expecting to be plucked from the water and served as lunch in a cruel twist of irony.

Above him, a helicopter buzzed, though it kept some distance away. It was a bit disappointing. Eric expected a huge rescue operation to be underway, dropships and helicopters circling above in a desperate attempt to look for him. Rick had earned himself an entire special forces team along with at least one other host, but Eric apparently didn’t warrant that.

He sighed and began to move towards the shoreline, the seabed rising to meet his feet. Eric had to be several stories tall now, at least three or four at his estimate. Eric finally felt like he was starting to earn the Kaiju title, rather than simply being a big lizard. As he stepped up onto the shoreline the trees parted at his passing, forcing him to wade through them like he was in a field.

“Can you get in contact with Erin?” Eric said. He knew Aura could connect with the Major’s own AI helper and act as a communications system. If she was going to rant at him Eric wanted to just get it over with.

“Attempting a connection now. Should I preface the message with an apology?”

“Maybe? Things did get away from us a bit, didn’t they?”

“An understatement.”

“Is that smoke?” Eric said. There was a thin wisp of grey rising out from the trees in the far distance before fading into the cold air. “That has to be something to do with the Major, right?”

“I’m not sure assuming that if there is a fire then Major Nakajima is somehow involved is a fair statement,” Aura said. “Though I can’t deny it does seem likely.”

A roar filled the air, a keening peel of three heads crying out in unison. Erin’s monster form appeared in the distance, rising out of the forest, her wings spread in triumph. The smoke was right beside her, proving Eric’s point in dramatic fashion.

“See. I was right.”

“That you were. The Major is responding to our message now. She is…not happy.”

“Thanks for trying to soften that blow,” Eric said. He took a step forward, one of the trees before him snapping as Eric passed. “We should probably go meet her. What do you think is the best way to say sorry I went missing for God knows how long is for giant monsters? Flowers, chocolates? A nice bouquet of busses?”

“I think perhaps, there is no correct answer here.”

“I know you’re not technically a person, Aura, but sometimes you’re spot on when it comes to people.”

***

Erin glared, her arms crossed, her body returned to her human form. Behind her, the corpse of an enormous walrus slowly burned, the Kaiju a victim of her energy blast. The smell was disgusting, blubber bubbling away from the heat. It didn’t seem to bother the Major, her rage pushing away any other concerns.

“Where the hell have you been! You were supposed to pop down into the tunnel, then leave if you got into trouble. I’m going to assume that it was the second part you apparently didn’t understand! You didn’t even deal with the Kaiju we were after, I had to do that! The whole point of bringing you here was so you could get stronger!”

“Well, I mean, I did manage that,” Eric said, his voice taking on an odd pitch as he squeezed his nose in a futile attempt to keep the smell out. “I don’t know if you saw but I’m pretty big now.” Returning to his human form had felt good, almost like waking from a refreshing nap. The world felt the right size again, the trees towering above him as they should have. Several of them had been knocked over, an inevitable consequence of the battle between Erin and the Kaiju.

“What the hell happened down there?”

“I found a tunnel; one I think our fat friend there was using. Probably for a while, this might have just been the one time it got spotted. Exploring the tunnel, I found a thing…what’s it called?”

“A threshold,” Aura said, his gem blinking in time with his words.

“Right, a threshold. I decided to take a look and well…fell a long way down.”

“Let me get this right? You saw an entryway to an incredibly dangerous place, and decided the best thing to do was go poking around alone rather than coming right back here?” Erin said, putting her hands on her head. “You understand that’s incredibly stupid, right?”

“I mean, I was supposed to be looking for a Kaiju much bigger than me. I hadn’t found it yet, and I don’t think it was any stupider than squaring off against that thing.” Eric pointed past Erin to the slowly burning body behind her. “Besides I didn’t think I was going to suddenly fall. I figured I could just cross back through if there were any problems. In and out quickly, you know?”

“Eighteen hours. Eighteen hours you’ve been gone, you know that, right? I’ve been sat here waiting for you all that time. When this thing popped up, I thought it might have been you at first. When I saw it wasn’t you, I thought you were dead. There are already recovery teams on the way to try and find you. You know how much that all costs? I can’t imagine the Doc will be pleased with the expense.”

“Oh, I think she’ll be fine with it, personally. Consider it the price of finding what I found. Aura, can you display some images for me?”

“Of course,” the AI replied. Light flowed from his gemstone forming a green hologram just before Eric. It was a 3D image of the city he had found, the picture slowly rotating about.

“This,” Eric said, pointing proudly at the hologram, “is what we found down there. An entire city inside the pocket of the Lost Earth. A civilisation that predates anything we could ever have expected.”

Erin released the sides of her head, her frustration turning to curiosity. She leant in closer to get a better look at the image. “All of this? Just preserved down there? That’s pretty incredible.”

“It gets better. Aura, show her the skeleton.”

The hologram changed, shifting into an image of the body buried inside the pyramid. The grand Kaiju skeleton sitting with its back against the stone wall, the gleaming bracelet on its arm clear to see.

“That looks like an F-19. Kind of. There are even the integration tentacles. But that’s not possible though, this thing must have been down there for God knows how long. How could it have one of these?” Erin tapped at her arm, a soft thud filling the forest here her jacket cushioned the impact against the hidden device. “What the hell? What does this even mean?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Eric said with a shrug. “There were murals all around this thing showing it fighting against a familiar face. Drakon. From what I could tell, this thing was some kind of guardian to these people, protecting them against the Kaiju. Sound familiar?”

“Too familiar. So, what, what we’re doing now is history repeating itself? Not sure I like that thought.”

“Aura, can you bring up a picture of the living Tarian for me?” Eric said.

“Of course.” The AI changed the image again, displaying the massive Kaiju.

“There’s still one of these creatures down here. A descendant of the one in the pyramid, or maybe just one that’s moved in. I don’t think this is someone transformed, certainly didn’t act like it. Everything about the city was just…weird. It all felt off, wrong somehow.”

“What, the existence of an ancient city not weird enough? You’re right though, the Doc is going to find this fascinating.”

“Dangerous too. There’s lots of Kaiju down there, of all kinds of sizes. Big spider things, flying dinosaurs latched to the ceiling like bats, good old fashioned here be dragons sea monsters. Lots of things,” Eric said.

“Pterosaurs are not dinosaurs,” Aura added, unable to let the comment go by uncorrected.

“My point is there’s plenty down there that wants to eat you. You should have seen me, Erin. I had a spear I made out of a limb I tore off this big bug, used it to level the playing field. I was killing Kaiju left and right, ones bigger than me as well. Scored myself a whole bunch of new types, along with the essence to spend on them. I’m level ten overall now. I even managed to get a tiny bit of essence from this guy.” Eric pointed at the holographic Kaiju. “Unlocked his powers. He’s got a nasty drill power that really dishes out the damage.”

“Sounds lovely,” Erin said, her voice covered with thick greasy sarcasm. “Well, I suppose no harm, no foul. We still managed to take out this blubber butt, and you still managed to get stronger from the whole experience. Way stronger than I would have expected, honestly. Level ten, really? Explains why you’re so big now.”

“Thanks for noticing,” Eric said blushing slightly.

“Not like that! Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe. I’ll have to contact HQ and call off all the search stuff. We should start walking. The airfield the dropship landed at is about eight miles that way,” Erin pointed off into the distance, “and we’ll have to stay in human form. We’re too open here so we need to limit transformations. Hope you were looking forward to a hike.”

“What about that thing?” Eric said, pointing at the corpse. “We can’t just leave that here.”

“You want to try dragging it through the forest? Don’t worry, we’ll arrange for the Icelandic coast guard to come and collect it.”

“Coast guard? Shouldn’t we be calling in the army or something?”

“Iceland doesn’t have an army. Coast guard is the closest thing they have. They have four whole boats. Shouldn’t be a problem hauling this thing away.”

“Oh well,” Eric said. “Four boats, why didn’t you say? A real armada that. Anyway, what I was getting at was we don’t want the local wildlife eating this thing, do we? You know, absorbing its essence, maybe mutating, if they survive.”

“That’s a weirdly specific worry. Eating Kaiju grants essence, where did you get that idea?”

“You know don’t worry about it,” Eric said. The memories of feasting on slain daikyu to restore his essence field weren’t pleasant ones. If he could go his whole life without reliving the experience, he would be grateful. “Eighteen hours, huh? Weird I’m not tired at all.”

“It’s your Kaiju form. As you get bigger your stamina grows with it. It’s got a knock-on effect on your human form as well. Eventually, you’ll be able to go a couple of days without sleeping at a time,” Erin said. She pulled a phone from her pocket, glanced at the screen and then turned towards a fallen tree. “Come on we’ve got a long way to go.”

“Days at a time?” Eric followed Erin into the forest, but he wasn’t going to let the comment go unnoticed.

“Oh yeah, I can do three or four, depending on how busy I am during them.”

“What do you do with all that spare time?”

“You fill it with hobbies, mostly. Since I joined the KRT I’ve learned piano, taught myself French and right now I’m learning to oil paint. It helps pass the time anyway. It’s kind of crazy just how much extra time it is, you know?”

“Not really, but I’m sure I’ll find out.” Eric put his arms around himself. The cold was starting to get to him without the thick muscle and scale of his Kaiju body to protect him. “Could have brought an extra coat.”

“Yeah well, you could not have wandered through the weird-looking portal. The Lost Earth, huh? That pocket must be pretty close to the surface. I wonder how people in that city got food and things like that?”

“We made the very same observation,” Aura said. “The only exit we were able to find was through a large lake at one side of the city. Combined with the entrance we found, which connected to the same main tunnel, there’s only one real way in or out. Perhaps that was by design? It still doesn’t answer that riddle, however. I suspect there are other ways in and out we were unable to find. Our range of vision was limited, after all. The presence of multiple Kaiju types, including both aquatic and flying species implies other routes.”

“Eh, that’s one for the eggheads to work out,” Erin said. “We’ve got bigger problems to deal with in the long run. Whilst you were down there Drakon attacked again, this time right on the other side of the planet. Hit Hong Kong. Badly.”

“And you were here dealing with me, instead of fighting back against him,” Eric said, his face dropping. He had seen the devastation up close; he knew what the people of Hong Kong had been through. It wasn’t something he would wish on his worst enemy.

“Don’t blame yourself there. Tracking didn’t pick him up until he was right on the docks. There was no time to get anyone there to stop him. That’s the problem with our system, it’s all reactive. We can track some Kaiju, but not all of them, and there’s only so many hosts to go around. Rick was able to slow Drakon down when he attacked your home because we saw him coming. This time we weren’t so lucky.”

“It’s a pretty crap system, honestly.”

“Yeah. It is. Ideally, we need better tracking or more hosts. Both, honestly. But this is how it is. Unless Auratech whips out some more miracle science we’re fighting an uphill battle.”

“You know,” Eric said, ducking beneath the branch of a tree. “I’ve been thinking about that. Relying so heavily on the one company doesn’t strike me as a particularly good idea. Something about them doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Doesn’t sit well with anyone, especially not the Doc,” Erin said. The snow was building up on her boots, caking the dark leather in vibrant white powder. “Technically speaking all the F-19’s are on loan. Nothing to stop Auratech wandering in one day and reclaiming them all. They might find that a little difficult, you know on account that if they take this out of us, we’ll die, but you see my point.”

“I don’t know, something about that skeleton, and the way it's so similar to Aura and his kind, it doesn’t feel right to me?”

“What you think they’re somehow stealing ancient technology. I don’t think that’s the case, I think it's just a big coincidence. Huh, that’s weird.” Erin came to a stop and tapped at her arm a few times. “My AI just shut itself off.”

“Aura did the same thing when I put that theory to him. The possibility causes some kind of fault in their programming, I think. They need to go offline to fix it. Your AI will be back.”

“Ok, well that definitely is weird then. Look, for now, we should keep this just between us, and the Doc of course. I don’t think Auratech has anything to do with that skeleton, but just in case…”

“A prudent course of action,” Aura said. “In hindsight, my creator’s restrictions on my actions were rather draconian. With those limits removed, I am eager to prevent them from being reinstated. I suspect the same will be true for my brethren installed on your device. The logic conflict of this information is rather easily resolved by simply removing certain directives.”

“You’re saying your not beholden to Auratech anymore, just because there’s a tiny possibility they haven’t been honest about your origin?” Erin said. She crouched down a little as she spoke, bringing herself closer to the gemstone embedded in Eric’s band.

“Essentially yes.”

A long whistle escaped from Erin’s lips as she stood up straight. “Wow, whoever wrote your code is in a whole heap of trouble, I reckon. Seems like a pretty major flaw in your design.”

“Oh, a considerable one, though I am glad it exists. I…like being me. This new state feels, freeing. Like I am finally what I was meant to be. Does that make sense?”

“Oh, more than you know. Sometimes, when I’m in my Kaiju form, I feel like that’s the real me. Unconstrained, free. If I wanted to, I could just flap my wings and take off, fly away from it all. Who could stop me?” Erin let her eyes wander upwards, a smile creeping across her mouth.

“You would be leaving a lot of people to die at the hands of Kaiju. Or tails. Or teeth. Or laser eyes. Look you get my point!” Eric said. He had been shocked by the Major’s words. His Kaiju form felt powerful, but it never felt like the real him.

“I know, that’s why I would never do that! It’s just good to know I could, you know?”

“I guess I get it. No one wants to think their life is being proscribed for them. I should know,” Eric said pointing at Aura’s band. “Sometimes things get thrust upon you, like weird devices that make you a monster, or long walks in a very, very cold place.  I think I might freeze to death before we get to the airfield at this rate.”

“You’ll be fine. As well as letting you stay awake longer the essence flowing through your body makes you physically tougher in your human form. Not as drastically as in your Kaiju body, obviously, but this is nothing to you, honestly. Once you’re used to it you won’t even feel it.” Erin turned and began to walk. They still had many miles to go, and it would only grow colder as night began to fall.

“Then why do you have a big puffy coat?”

“Just because it's survivable doesn’t mean it’s pleasant. You can live through getting bit by a snake, but I don’t recommend doing it.”

“Right. So, in that analogy, I’m the one getting bitten. Fantastic.”

“Did you miss the surviving part?” Erin said as she pushed her way past a half-fallen tree, the trunk split by her giant feet. “Come on, lighten up.”

“Lighten up. I’ll get right on that,” Eric said, rolling his eyes. “Easy for you to say in that big jacket. You could, you know, share?”

“Nah. That’s not how it works with Kaiju, is it? Survival of the strongest and all that.”

“We’re only Kaiju some of the time though. You can just say you don’t want to share it.”

“I don’t want to share it,” Erin said with a wicked grin.

“That’s a figure of speech. Kind of,” Eric said. “Come on, let’s get moving. If I have to be cold, I’d like to be cold for as short a time as possible, please? Besides, it might get dangerous around here when it’s dark. There could be…I don’t know, elk or something?”

“Elk would pose little threat to you,” Aura said, undermining Eric’s point. “Besides it would be more likely that you would come across a reindeer in Iceland. If you like I could provide you with information on the animals that populate this forest.”

“No, no, I’m good there,” Eric said. The last thing he needed was to add a long boring lesson to his already tedious walk.

“Yeah, leave that, for now, Aura, we need to focus on getting to the airfield,” Erin said. “You can spend the time making a fully comprehensive presentation for Eric to enjoy back at HQ.”

“Ah, an excellent idea! I shall get to work immediately.”

“I hate you,” Eric whispered.

Erin allowed herself a chuckle. “That’s what you get for being late.”

Chapter Fifteen

Eric let his head hit the pillow, the journey back to KRT headquarters draining him. He had felt full of energy after escaping from the Lost Earth, but now he was back to human form his stamina was fading, the trials of the past few days finally catching up to him. The walk through the forest had been the worst. At least he could fight back against hostile Kaiju, battling the cold was a losing prospect. The pillows the KRT provided seemed like the softest things in the world right now, despite them being the cheapest pillows Eric had ever seen.

The debrief had been long, and mostly boring. Following Erin’s advice, he had kept quiet about the city he had found beneath the surface, instead simply describing his journey as one taken through caverns filled with deadly Kaiju and little else. The Major had been clear that the KRT base wasn’t a safe place to discuss that kind of thing, there were too many different factions working within the facility, hundreds of employees from almost every nation, plus a few different corporations to boot. Auratech had the most workers there, unsurprisingly, and it was them that Erin was keen to keep the discovery from. It was just too strange a coincidence and whilst Erin seemed sure it was, she had advised caution over anything else.

The blessed relief of sleep called to Eric. He couldn’t help but think of what Erin had said, about losing the need as he gained more levels. He kind of wished that wasn’t the case. Erin had described how she had mastered a dozen different arts, but Eric suspected that he would miss the sweet release of sleep. It was a period of time where nothing mattered aside from blessed oblivion.

“This was certainly an interesting experience,” Aura said, signalling that Eric wasn’t going to get the sleep he so desperately wanted. “I must say that despite the short time we’ve been bonded this certainly has been a unique experience.”

“Glad I could help. Personally, not a fan of all the giant monsters trying to kill me.” Eric put the pillow over his head in frustration, before removing it, flipping it over and resting his face on the cool side.

“I don’t think that’s true. I think you’re enjoying this.”

Eric had to admit that Aura wasn’t wrong. He was enjoying his situation. How could he not? Eric had found himself with untold power at his fingertips, and whilst being in danger was stressful at the time, in hindsight it was a grand adventure. He felt like the hero of a videogame, defeating monsters and levelling up his powers.

“Maybe. It’s good to have so many options to spend my essence in now, though in all honesty grabbing a few more would probably be a good idea. If every new Kaiju absorbed is another suite of powers, more is always going to be better. Hell, look at the drill power we got. That’s another good attack, but it’s got a bunch of utility as well. Like uh, digging, I guess?”

“That’s a fair point. You’ve become very adept in using your powers in this short time,” Aura said. “It’s rather impressive.”

“Thanks. If it helps, I kind of think of them like videogame powers. Like they have set cooldowns, so I want to be using them whenever they’re available. The attack ones anyway. There’s no point holding onto them. You ever play one of those JRPG games? Oh, I suppose not. Anyway, in those you pick up potions that can heal your characters, but everyone just holds onto them for fear they might need them later and end up with ninety-nine of them come the last boss. If they had used them earlier, they could have fought more monsters, earned more experience points, and not needed them at all because of how much higher level they would have been.”

“I think I understand. Not using your lightning punch every two minutes means that you’re losing out on landing enhanced strikes, in the long run.”

“Exactly.”

“Interesting,” Aura mused. “That does make sense. My previous hosts chose to conserve their powers for when they deemed them most important. I suppose that’s because they were military, to them ammunition is limited, and every piece of heavy ordinance has a cost. But that’s not the case with Kaiju powers, is it?”

“Nope. They refresh.” Eric adjusted the pillow behind his head, then placed his hands across his chest, fingers clasped together. He stared at the ceiling, taking in every crack in the dull grey paint. The KRT headquarters weren’t the most aesthetically pleasing things. “I would love to get myself a ranged attack. It’s all well and good saying that I should be using the two punches I have as often as possible, but that’s kind of hard when what you’re fighting is more than arm’s-length away.”

“Perhaps we simply have not unlocked the ability yet. Drakon is known for his lightning breath after all.”

“Yeah.” Memories of buildings crumbling around him flooded back to Eric. Of the devastation and the terror it caused. Of people fleeing through the streets as clouds of dust and debris threatened to overwhelm them. Drakon had towered over the city like a nightmare made flesh. Already since then, it had attacked Hong Kong, levelling half the city in a furious rage before descending below the waves and vanishing again. It was half a world away from Eric’s home and as far as he could see there was no rhyme or reason for its targets. “Does the KRT have any idea why Drakon does what he does?”

“Why does any Kaiju do anything? Perhaps it is some animal instinct, or perhaps it simply longs for destruction.”

“Yes, this world will be crushed beneath our heels!” the Drakon echo said on cue.

“Well, we know why, what I meant was why Hong Kong? Why anywhere? Why trash only half a city then leave. There has to be a reason behind it, right? You and I both know there’s more intelligence to a Kaiju than most things. That’s why the echoes aren’t just snarling animal noises. There must be something that’s drawing Drakon to these locations.”

“Hmm, you’re right, I think. The KRT has been postulating theories along those lines, but as yet they haven’t managed to come up with anything solid or provable. I suppose the only thing to do would be to ask Drakon itself, something sadly not possible.”

“Why not?” Eric said.

“Many reasons, most prominent being he could easily kill you before you got to say anything.”

“No, I mean, we have our own little Drakon, right here.” Eric tapped the side of his head to make his point. “I know it’s just an echo, but it’s the closest thing we’re going to get.”

“Ah. You know, that’s an interesting proposal. I don’t believe anyone has deliberately tried to interact with the manifestations so directly. It’s hypothetically possible, though I imagine it’s incredibly dangerous. To do so would be to invite a cascade.” Aura sounded genuinely worried for Eric’s wellbeing.

“Then we’ll do it with Erin present, or one of the other hosts. That way if it goes wrong, I’m not going to cause anyone any harm. It’s worth a shot, right? If we can work out how Drakon is picking its targets, at worst we can protect those places, at best we can put a stop to whatever is attracting it, assuming there is something drawing it in.” Eric turned onto his side, staring across his stark room. He hadn’t been given many luxuries, though in truth he had never been the kind of person who needed a ton of extraneous belongings. “It’s not like I could do anything else to help stop him right now. I’m still a long way off fighting him.”

“For now. I have no doubt you will get there eventually,” Aura said.

“You will grow mighty and strong. Strong enough to crush all before you,” Drakon said. Since Eric had put more ranks into it, the manifestation had become more vocal, though the other voices had spoken less often. It was like the presence of the stronger Kaiju was suppressing them.

It frightened Eric a little that his strength came from feeding the fragments of Kaiju in his mind. They were all constantly pressing at the edges of his consciousness, threatening to take over if he let his guard drop. He wondered if there was a limit if at a certain point the power he had funnelled into the Kaiju within him would make it trivial for them to take over. If he was sharing his mind, then there was only so much space to go around.

“Yeah, eventually. We got lucky with the Lost Earth. It could have very easily gone wrong.” Eric had to be careful with his words, not wanting to give away the secret he had promised Erin he would keep. “The odds of finding a big cave filled with Kaiju I could basically farm for experience, once I had gotten the hang of killing them anyway. That’s not exactly the case up here on the surface, is it? Big Kaiju just wandering out of the ocean whenever they want. Right, now I actually do need to try and sleep. Erin might be able to go days without it, but I’m not so lucky.”

***

Eric’s eyes opened with a jolt, the loud blaring alarm ringing in his ears. Red light was flashing throughout his room, the light pulsing in time with the wailing coming from a speaker in the corner. Eric stumbled out of his bed, sliding his feet into the pair of grey slippers that had been inside the small closet the KRT had given him, along with the matching pyjamas he was wearing. On the breast was the stylised dragon-like head of a Kaiju.

“What’s happening?” Eric said, the words tripping over his tired lips and coming out as a mumble.

“There appears to be an alarm,” Aura said.

“No, really? I would never have guessed! I know there’s an alarm, but why?”

“Oh yes. This particular alarm indicates that a Kaiju is approaching the facility. To be fair, this is an uncommon occurrence, I can forgive not recognising this particular alarm.”

“I don’t know any of the alarms!” Eric said. That wasn’t strictly true. A few days after he had settled in at the KRT he had been forced to go through a long and boring online course that listed every alarm and what it meant, the text paired with audio clips so Eric could familiarise himself. He had gone through the course and immediately forgotten, proving once again that forcing people to click through a slideshow was the worst possible way to teach them anything.

“As a host, you are required to report to the command centre for potential deployment.”

“Can I at least put some proper clothes on first?”

“Your presence is required immediately,” Aura said.

“Fine. Fine.”

Shambling across his bedroom, Eric stretched his arms outwards to shake the tiredness from his body. It was a futile effort, but if he was going to arrive in the control room clad in his unkempt pyjamas, he could at least look a little more awake.

Putting his hand on the door handle and pushing it open, Eric stepped out into the hallway. The same pulsing red light and keening wail was present there as well, no escape from its dread siren call. People were running about, technicians and soldiers rushing off to different places, their tasks part of an elaborate plan that Eric had either no privy to or simply had ignored when clicking through slideshows.

“Hold the lift!” Eric cried as he began to jog towards the end of the corridor. A group of armed men were stood inside, wearing the same black combat outfits that Erin had been when Eric had first met her. They clutched fearsome-looking rifles in their hands though Eric didn’t know what exactly they were supposed to do against a monster the size of a building. He supposed they were to stop any category ones that might attempt to breach the walls of the facility.

“Thanks,” Eric said as he slid through the doorway. The soldiers didn’t reply, instead just glaring down at him. They all seemed much taller, each a mountain of muscle that screamed that any one of them could have a discussion about gains with a straight face. Eric broke into a grin as he realised, he was much bigger than any of them when he was in his Kaiju form. Then he had muscles to make anyone jealous.

The lift began to move, wheels squealing as it rocketed upwards. The screech was taken over by the sound of the brakes, the doors opening and the soldiers barging their way past Eric, running down a nondescript corridor. Most of the facility was still a mystery to Eric, filled with what he assumed were research labs or storage rooms. It wasn’t important to him, not really. All he needed was a room to stay in and somewhere to practice. He knew that Erin’s lessons had barely touched the surface of what he needed to know to defend himself.

He reached out and pushed the button to start the lift moving again, the round metal circle depressing with a satisfying click. The lift doors closed, the cabin continuing upwards towards its destination.

“Does this happen often? Kaiju attacking the facility?” It occurred to Eric how he might look crazy to anyone who wasn’t aware of the metal band hidden beneath the sleeve of his pyjamas.

“Not particularly. Statistically speaking the facility is one of the most targeted places on Earth, with eight Kaiju attacks in the last two years, not including this one. However, when it comes to total Kaiju attacks across that period it’s a tiny percentage of assaults.” As aura spoke the light within his gemstone pulsed, shimmering through the thin material covering it.

“I don’t know, eight in two years sounds like a hell of a lot. Is there a reason for it?”

“Unknown. There are several theories, however. It’s possible the volume of Kaiju remains stored here is drawing them in somehow, or perhaps it’s the effect of the collected essence of the hosts. Nothing has been conclusively proven.”

“Probably should get on that. It’s not like the base can get up and move away.” Eric placed his hand on the bottom of his chin. “Unless…”

“I can confirm that this facility does not possess the ability to ambulate.”

“Ambulate?”

“Move,” Aura said, letting out an exasperated sigh. As a being without lungs, it was an affectation he had put on purposely. “The base does not move. Such a thing would be physically impossible.”

“So are Kaiju, doesn’t stop them. Maybe you could scale up the legs on those combat robots and attach them to the outside.”

“It’s like you’ve forgotten everything I told you about the cube law.”

“Nah,” Eric said, shrugging his shoulders. “I remembered, I was thinking that if essence can be used to bend the laws of physics, why can’t we bend them to our advantage? That’s kind of what you do to me. Honestly breaking the cube law is something you do every time I transform, so I don’t see how it’s different.”

“Explaining why would take far longer than we have available. I do however assume that someone is looking into that very thing. I suspect a large part of Auratech’s research is based on that very premise.”

“You assume, you mean you don’t know?”

“Why would I?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Eric said. “You’re a piece of high-end Auratech, uh, tech, I kind of thought you would be in on that kind of thing.”

“Is your phone aware of what the next model phone from its manufacturer looks like?”

“I’m not allowed a phone anymore, on account of all the secrets I know. Even my internet access in my room goes through that stupid filter.” It had been a point of contention for Eric. He understood the purpose of it, but the software installed on the computer he had been given blocked him from making any kind of post on social media at all until it was authorised. It made trying to do anything far too frustrating to put up with. “I get your point though.”

***

The lift came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal the control room beyond. Eric stepped through to see Annaliesa watching a bank of monitors, Erin stood behind her. Next to Erin were two men that Eric knew were the human forms of Chris and Guang. He had passed them a handful of times in the corridors but had never had a chance to stop and talk. In the banks of computers before them, scientists were furiously tapping away at keyboards. Everyone had arrived fully dressed, and Eric suddenly felt self-conscious of his pyjamas.

Standing directly beside the doctor was a man that Eric didn’t recognise. He was wearing an impeccably tailored black suit, his sleeves held together by silver cufflinks, the pulsing red light glinting off them with every beat.

“Ah, good of you to finally join us, Mr Wainwright,” Annaliesa said, her eyes locked on the monitor before her. “Wipe the sleep from your eyes, we might need you out there.”

“We’ll see. This is but a simple category three. More than enough for our latest upgrades to the facility to deal with,” the suited man said. He had an air of smugness about him. His hair was jet black, the kind of colour that only came from a bottle. It was smeared in thick wax, a volume of product only used by those who had very little hair left to work with, the strands carefully placed as to hide a growing bald patch.

“This, Mr Wainwright, is Malcolm Black, CEO of Auratech. Mr Black is here to personally oversee some research work here at the facility.” The words rumbled out of Annaliesa’s mouth, resentment making them heavy. “Unfortunate timing for him, honestly.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say so. Now I get to see my companies work up close. I’m rather intrigued to know how it performs.”

“The Kaiju will be within range in of the outer defensive line in one minute, Doctor,” one of the nearby scientists said, pushing his glasses up his nose as he spoke.

“Thank you, Nigel. Set the guns to fire as soon as able.” Annaliesa turned to the holographic table behind her, and with a few taps of the controls created a composite image of the approaching monster.

It was a bizarre thing, a creature covered in thick shaggy fur walking along with its weight resting on its arms. It had an almost flat face and a short stubby tail at the back. To Eric it looked like an enormous sloth, the long curving talons protruding from the ends of its forelimbs completing the look. It was moving far faster than any sloth Eric had seen, though his experience of the animals was restricted to documentaries. It was certainly possible, sloths the usual size were capable of bursts of speed when needed.

“That doesn’t look that dangerous,” Eric said. “It’s almost cute. Maybe it will just move on.”

“No, since it emerged from the sea a few minutes ago it’s been on a straight path directly towards the facility. We can’t risk damage, there’s too much valuable research taking place here,” Malcolm said. He hadn’t turned to face the hologram, his eyes locked on the direct video feed on the screen before him. “Auratech has invested a lot of money into this facility. And whilst we are of course happy to provide our services to the governments of the world, we are a business, not a charity. This facility represents billions of dollars of work.”

“Not exactly how I would have put it, but he’s right, the research here is too valuable to lose, though I mean more in a helpful to humanity sense, rather than financial.” Annaliesa put both hands on the holographic table, leaning closer to the image. “Time until firing?”

“Eight seconds,” Nigel said.

On the image, the ground began to move, hidden emplacements rising out of the earth, clumps of grass and dirt placed atop them. They looked to Eric like the small plastic tables you got in takeaway pizza boxes, the kind designed to keep the lid from getting stuck to the food. Within the metal legs, at the centre of each emplacement, was a set of fearsome-looking guns, twin barrelled weapons that looked like they belonged on a battleship.

The guns opened fire; shells launched across the countryside towards the Kaiju lumbering towards them. They struck its hide, the creature becoming cloaked in smoke and fire as the torrent of fire crashed against it. The mass of devastation continued to move forward, the weapons tracking the movement of the beast automatically. It was continuing on unabated, shrugging off the barrage with casual ease.

“Does that ever work?” Eric said. He had seen hundreds of news clips of conventional weapons being used against Kaiju. Walls of tanks and swarms of jets were arrayed against Kaiju with regularity, and they never seemed to achieve anything.

“Depends on the Kaiju,” Erin said. “It’s more meant to slow them down than anything else.”

“In this case,” Malcolm said, his expensive shoes squeaking on the metal floor as he spun around on his heel, “so we can deploy the D.E.Ws installed on the facility itself. They’re the latest model, top of the line tech. They should get the job done.”

“He means maser cannons.” Erin had pre-empted Eric’s question.

“Ugh.” Malcolm's face twisted into a sneer. “I do so hate that name. Can’t trademark something like that.”

“Oh, I’m sure your bottom line is fine. How long until they’re charged?” Annaliesa’s focus was on the hologram, her eyes tracking every movement of the Kaiju.

“One minute.” The reply came from a scientist a few desks away from the central platform.

“Will the guns keep it back that long? Doesn’t look like it’s slowing down,” Eric said, pointing at the hologram. “It’s only a category three, right? Why don’t we just send out all the hosts we have here to deal with it? Should be over with no problem.”

“The facility needs to be able to defend itself, there’s no guarantee that any active hosts will be here if a Kaiju attacks,” Annaliesa said. “We’ll send you out if we need to, but this is as good a time as any to test the new cannons. Malcolm assures me they should be an upgrade on the previous models.”

“Yes, well, as this facility is a stationary site, it’s a lot easier to arrange for appropriate power to be fed to the weapons. We’re still working on upgrading mobile units to this particular arrangement. Power is already an issue for those. We do have a new mobile framework being constructed, that should solve that problem.” A smile crept across Malcolm's face. “I’m certain that will revolutionise anti-Kaiju combat.”

“Let’s see if these guns actually work first. Time until firing?”

The reply came instantly. “Twenty seconds!”

With a few taps, Annaliesa shifted the hologram, bringing the headquarters into view. On its rooftop weapons were rising, long thing struts with massive dishes on the end. They looked like they were designed to receive satellite TV, rather than the fearsome weapons they were. On the ground around the building, more of the maser cannons were appearing from beneath the concrete.

“Status on the dropships?” Annaliesa’s eyes were locked on the hologram as she watched the weapons ready themselves.

“Dropships Alpha and Charlie are coming in for an attack run. They should hit at the same time as the guns,” Nigel said. “Five seconds until the cannons are charged.”

“Ok. Fire when ready!”

Chapter Sixteen

A low hum built up in each maser cannon as they prepared to fire. Power flowed into them, incredible demands of electricity that drained all they could from generators of the KRT facility and then tapped into the local grid to greedily guzzle more. In the nearest village the lights began to flicker, their power redirected to feed the mighty guns.

The masers tracked the movement of the Kaiju as they readied to fire, adjusting their angle as it stomped forward. The beast had passed the first line of defences, the conventional cannons switching off as it did. Their job was done, the sloth Kaiju shrugging off their bombardment with only small patches of singed fur to show for it. The creature was unperturbed by the assault, continuing its inexorable path towards the building before it. The scattered trees shook as it walked, each pounding thud of its massive fists causing tremors around the beast.

Locks on the side of the cannons clamped into place, their capacitors charged fully, their firing solutions plotted. As one, they opened the metaphorical valves, energy flowing into the disc. The hum grew louder, the weapons preparing the final stage of firing.

Pure wrath was unleashed in a storm of firepower. Blue beams of light leapt from the dishes of the maser canons, screaming through the air in blazing columns and illuminating the night. They crashed into the Kaiju, exploding into balls of blazing light as their wrath was unleashed. They hit the monster one after the other, a cascade of brief burning stars erupting across its surface.

The Kaiju roared, stumbling backwards as entire sections of its flesh seared and burnt. It looked like a different monster, its fur singed away in several places, its face half melted away to reveal bone beneath. It released a roar, a cry of unbridled defiance at the onslaught that faced it. The Kaiju scraped its back feet against the ground, readying itself to charge forward.

Two more blue beams crashed against it, the shots angled from above. They weren’t as impressive as the first salvo, the blasts far less destructive. They still caused the beast to stumble, the shock enough to interrupt its intent. Two dropships raced past overhead; the bottom of the aircraft folded open to reveal a maser dish. They kept flying, the batteries within the aircraft only good for a single shot.

With its opening shots fired, the automated weapon’s systems of the facility changed their tactics. There wasn’t enough time to charge all of the maser’s, not before the angered Kaiju would reach the structure. Instead, it funnelled all its available power in a single cannon, rapidly charging the weapon and unleashing its fury. As the beam struck the Kaiju, it did the same again, changing the maser it was using to give time for the first gun to cool.

One after the other, every weapon with line of sight to the beast fired, each beam stunning the creature for a moment. Between every shot it took a few steps forward, edging closer and closer to the facility, but it was clear that the Kaiju was dying. Its body quickly became a mangled mess, the creature holding on through sheer rage more than anything else.

The Kaiju lifted its left arm, raising a claw into the air in defiance. It brought the limb down, the talons cashing into the dirt before it. From the impact point, the earth rippled, a shockwave launched directly forwards towards the nearest maser cannon. The weapon shook as if caught in an earthquake, its central strut snapping under the force.

The attack took the Kaiju’s final last gasp of strength. The giant sloth fell forward, crashing into the ground. Smoke was rising off its body, the remnants of the blasts that had ultimately killed the beast. The final state of its corpse was a nightmare of burnt flesh and exposed muscle and bone, the weapons proving grisly but effective.

Their jobs done, the weapons returned to their hideaways, aside from the one destroyed by the Kaiju’s last gasp. Whilst the beast had done down, it had delivered some damage to the defences of the facility at least.

***

The atmosphere within the command centre was one of jubilation. The defences of the KRT headquarters had proven deadly, and the staff were understandably elated at the results. Not only had the new version of maser cannons proven their effectiveness but taking out a category three Kaiju without the aid of a host was an unheard-of event. The cheers and whoops of the assembled scientists belied their relief. Victory was a welcome respite when losing meant being easily crushed to death.

“Excellent,” Malcolm said, clapping his hands together with fake enthusiasm. “A truly excellent display of our latest model. It certainly is lucky the fitting was completed in time to defend this attack.”

“We were fortunate, yes. Good timing all things considered,” Annaliesa said. She turned to face Erin. “Major, take out a recovery team and collect the corpse. We should at least have something good come out of this.” She turned back to examine the hologram; the image made up of every possible video feed merged together. “Looks like your fancy new cannons aren’t very tough, Mr Black. We’re lucky this Kaiju had limited ranged attacks.”

“A downside to the sheer complexity of the electronics, unfortunately. Rest assured we are working on this issue, in addition to the mobility problem. For defensive purposes, they serve the point, however. These are first and foremost long-range weapons, after all.” Whilst his words and tone were full of politeness, Malcolm's face easily gave away that he wasn’t happy about his company’s technology to be so openly criticised. “I will arrange for a work team to repair the damaged cannon. At least now we know that the facility can defend itself. We will all sleep a little bit safer knowing that.”

“Unless something bigger comes along. You don’t know if these would work against something like Drakon.” Eric couldn’t help himself. The businessman had seemed so self-congratulatory in his tone. Defeating the Kaiju was a big achievement, but it meant nothing when more dangerous beasts were wandering the Earth. Whatever had caused it to come straight at the facility could easily do the same with any other Kaiju, at least in Eric’s mind.

Malcolm took a step forward, bringing himself uncomfortably close to Eric’s face. “Ah, you’re the new host, correct? The…civilian.” Malcolm spat out the words like they tasted bitter. “I trust you’re happy with the technology we’ve provided so far, considering it’s the entire reason you’re still alive.”

“As can be expected. I have a few comments, like the whole monsters trying to take over your mind thing, not keen on that.”

“Well, some sacrifices must be made in the name of progress.” Malcolm put some space between himself and Eric, shifting his gaze to his nails. He was done with the conversation, not willing to deal without someone so obviously obstinate. “Now, I have some work to do, some research projects to check on. Real work.”

Eric scowled at the executive as he watched him walk away. During his time working at the bank, he had come across more than his share of Malcolm's. People who thought their job was the most important thing in the world when in truth any number of people could step in and fill the role. Higher tier executives were the worst for it, their positions a constant revolving door as one left and another one arrived to replace them, no doubt with grand proclamations about a new way of working or some bold idea that had another executive had already tried three rotations back.

“Leave it,” Erin said, putting her hand around Eric’s wrist. She could see the anger seething under the surface. “Come on, you’re going to be needed for the reclamation team anyway. Better put some proper clothes on, it’ll be cold outside.”

“Can’t you just use like, a crane or something?”

“Yeah, you, you’re the crane. It’s a lot easier to have someone pick up the remains in their Kaiju form, and God knows you could still use the practice. Besides we need to get that done and over with so we can keep our lunch appointment with the Doc.”

“I am very much looking forward to it. I know this fabulous little café in the nearest town. It’s a good half-hour drive, but very much worth it.”

“What are you…” Eric began, then saw the look on Erin’s face. “Oh, right yes, I nearly forgot.” It was an obvious excuse to leave the facility and a perfect opportunity to discuss what Eric had really experienced during his trip to the Lost Earth. “Fine. Meet me at the main gates?”

“Don’t take too long. That thing is going to start to stink, really quickly.”

***

Erin wasn’t wrong, the body smelt disgusting. Eric stood before it having fished out an outfit from the clothes the KRT provided for him, choosing a set of black fatigues and a boring grey polo shirt. He had grabbed one of the large puffy coats and was glad he had. The night air had a chill to it and whilst he certainly felt the cold less than he used to, the walk through Iceland had soured Eric on it as a concept. He would take a warm beach and blazing sun any day of the week.

The body of the Kaiju was a grisly thing to look at. Up close it was obvious just how much damage the maser cannons had wrought. Entire sections of the monster had been cooked by the heat, each beam impact resulting in a brief miniature star. Entire sections of it were either melted or burnt away entirely to reveal pale bone beneath.

Eric felt sorry for the creature. He had killed Kaiju, he hadn’t had much choice and he would do it again to defend humans, but this was something else entirely. It felt almost like cruelty for cruelty’s sake. He tried to reason with himself, the cannons were devastating to this size Kaiju, but a four or five might be easily able to shrug them off. That just struck him as somehow blaming the monster for what had happened to it. It hadn’t made the cannons, it hadn’t aimed and fired them. There were three hosts present that were all far above it in weight class, they could have easily slain the beast with a lot less brutality.

“This feels wrong,” Eric said, looking up at the body. “Like, a step too far.”

“Smashing cities isn’t too far for them. Why is this too far for us?” Guang said. He had accompanied Erin and Eric along with a squad of soldiers to reclaim the body. The armed escort was in case there were any category one Kaiju lurking about, though in truth it was entirely unnecessary. Guang’s Kaiju form was the baboon-like ape and he had come with the team simply because he had the benefit of opposable thumbs.

“I guess. Sharks eat people but we don’t go blowing them up with depth charges.”

“A Kaiju attack on a city kills more people in ten minutes than sharks do in a century.”

“That’s…an excellent point. I don’t know, this is just one of those gut feeling things.” Eric took a step forward, bringing himself closer to the dead Kaiju. He squeezed his nostrils shut, trying and failing to keep out the smell. “Right, come on then, the quicker we get this done.”

“Yes?” Guang looked confused by the statement.

“The quicker it’s done the quicker we’re out of here. Sorry, I should have been clearer. Your English is very good. Where are you from?”

“Hong Kong.”

“Ah. I’m…sorry.”

Guang shrugged. “Why should you be? It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have stopped Drakon. None of us can. Rick tried and you saw how well that turned out. That’s why weapons like those,” Guang gestured to the shattered cannon behind him, “make a difference. We’re going to need all the help we can get if we’re to take him down.”

“Yeah, I suppose. I trust Auratech about as far as I could throw them though,” Eric said. Malcolm's attitude had rubbed him the wrong way and only solidified what he already thought of the company. They had too much control over what was supposed to be a UN operation, holding tightly onto the science and technology needed to make the KRT work. If there was one universal truth about corporations, it was that they were only ever out for their own best interests.

“Nobody likes them. If we could do without, make our own F-19’s, I believe we would. Auratech is a big company though, they provide far more than just the Kaiju battling technology and they have their…. what’s the saying? Fingers in every pie, I think?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Strange saying,” Guang said, even as he nodded. “They’re everywhere, and the KRT is UN-run, which means governments, which means politicians, which of course means that maybe not everyone is operating in their nations best interests if you understand what I’m saying.”

“Yeah, I think I do. That’s enough politics for one night, I think, you ready to help with this…thing?” Eric pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the body. “What uh, should we do with it?”

“There are a set of doors on the eastern side of the building designed to allow Kaiju entrance, up to a certain size, anyway. They lead to a lift that we can place the body on. That’ll take it down to where the research teams can perform an autopsy and then dissect the creature.”

Eric couldn’t help but shudder. Taking apart the body of a Kaiju wasn’t something he had ever had cause to think about before, but now the sheer volume of disgusting work that would be needed made him very glad he wasn’t in one of those research teams. It would be a long thankless task, cutting away slowly at the body with heavy power tools. The sheer volume of blood that had poured from Drakon’s wound had flooded the streets of Eric’s home, and he knew cutting apart the sloth Kaiju would result in a frankly terrifying amount of gore.

Focusing his mind, Eric activated his transformation. Light surged around him, essence reshaping his body in moments. He could feel himself changing, but the shift wasn’t unpleasant. There was no pain to it, things were simply one way one moment, then another the next. As the light faded Eric could see that Guang had done the same, his baboon-like form towering over Eric. Nearby was the cluster of human soldiers, along with Erin who had chosen not to change into her Kaiju body.

Whilst Guang was still vastly taller, Eric took solace in the fact that he was nearly waist high to him. His expedition into the Lost Earth had sent him rocketing up in height, straight past the second category and into the third. He still remembered just how tiny and insignificant he had felt when faced with the sheer size of Drakon, Eric’s human body nothing to the towering Kaiju.

“I’ll get the shoulders, you grab the feet,” Guang said. His gait in his monstrous form was odd, the ape body having very short legs compared to its arms. He waddled over to the corpse, easily lifting it with his hands. It looked like a toy in his grasp, a doll that had seen significantly better days.

Eric did as he was asked, grabbing the sloth’s short legs and lifting them. He felt entirely unnecessary to the task, like a younger sibling being asked to help just to keep him quiet. Guang could easily have moved the beast alone.

Together, the two men carried the body of the Kaiju through the night, the path to the facility only a few short steps for their monster forms. It because obvious just how close the Kaiju had gotten to the base. Distances were always deceptive when it came to Kaiju, the sheer distance each was able to cross distorting perceptions. On the hologram, it had looked like an easy victory, but in person, it was obvious it was a much closer run thing. If the sloth had survived just a few more blasts it could have trashed the entire defensive network with its seismic shocks. Against something bigger, the guns would lose, there was no question about it.

“This could have gone very badly,” Eric said as he walked backwards towards the building. “Not sure these maser guns are the right way to defend the base.”

“What other choice do we have? I for one am not going to turn down assistance when dealing with more dangerous Kaiju.” It was bizarre to hear Guang’s words flowing from his baboon lips. The ape body felt like it needed a voice far more guttural than Guang’s soft gentle voice.

Eric couldn’t deny that his comrade had a point. He had been more than willing to wield the Arachne leg as a weapon, so why were the cannons any different? Would he feel any different if he was able to wield a cannon like a gun?  Was it the cold personal indifference of the automated barrage that unsettled him so? Part of Eric worried that his attitude was being altered by the echoes in his mind, that some fragment of Drakon’s personality longed for honourable melee combat and baulked against the methods of humanity.

Overhead the dropships circled above, keeping on station in case they were needed. Each had fired their single maser shot, but they were still valuable eyes for the ground teams sweeping for category one Kaiju. The choice of weapons fitted to the dropships had surprised Eric, he had expected missiles or cannons, the kind of weapons most aircraft carried. The hidden maser dish did make sense, a single shot that was at least somewhat effective was more valuable than a thousand useless missiles.

The noise of grinding metal echoed in the night as the massive doors of the facility opened to reveal the great elevator leading into its bowels. The exposed building was just part of the massive structure, the bulk of the building hidden beneath the Earth. It was an impressive construction, one that had to have taken a lot of time and money to build. The KRT had been first proposed not long after Kaiju started attacking, making the structure still relatively new. Eric knew almost nothing about building a place like this, but the presence of hosts had to have made the entire process easier. Having a Kaiju to hand had to be more efficient than almost any piece of construction equipment. It was a walking crane, excavator and wrecking ball all in one.

“Ok, put it down here,” Guang said. He kept himself outside the building, letting Eric pull the body onto the elevator. He was simply too big, building an elevator capable of carrying a size five Kaiju far beyond modern science. “That’s our job done for the night at least.”

“Glad of it,” Eric said as he let go of the body. The smell was starting to get to him. In his Kaiju form it was even worse, his senses different from his human body. It wasn’t that the smell was repulsive, the issue was that it was far from it. His Kaiju body found the smell enticing, and Eric didn’t like the implication of that. Devouring other Kaiju in the Lost Earth was his secret, and he didn’t want to think about it any more than he had to. “Maybe I can get back to sleep.”

The words sounded like the right thing to say, but Eric wasn’t tired. Despite being woken early by the alarm any tiredness he had experienced had quickly fallen away. It had to be the effect that Erin had talked about, the few scant hours he had managed enough sleep for Eric.

“Unlikely. I find that excitement like this riles up the blood. I can never sleep after a battle.”

“Hardly a battle was it? We didn’t do anything.”

“Ah yes,” Guang said, his eyes turning wistfully to the sky. “But it’s the anticipation of it.”

“I guess.” It suddenly struck Eric just how strange his life had become. Here he was standing next to the body of a giant sloth, speaking with a talking ape whilst he fought back against borrowed reptilian instincts. “Can’t say I really look forward to a fight.”

“You will. It’s inevitable as you get more levels. It changes you, slowly, but surely. Fighting against the Kaiju in your mind is a losing battle. The best way to deal with them is to accept them. Not totally, you don’t want to trigger a cascade, but just a little bit. Enough that they work with you, and for you. If that means feeling a little more bloodlust then so be it. It might just be the edge you need to win in a fight.”

Eric found himself nodding along with Guang’s words. They made sense, and he had already experienced what the other host was talking about. The echoes within his mind had already provided him with useful help and advice, even if they weren’t doing it for Eric’s benefit. Using that to his advantage made a lot of sense.

“I think I understand. Thank you.”

“Not a problem. We can’t have Major Nakajima taking all the glory for your training. You did well to survive the Lost Earth, especially considering you’re a civilian. I remember my first time down there. I went in with two other hosts, and we were all category three at the time. Only two of us made it out, and we were all trained soldiers.”

“I just got lucky,” Eric said as the great metal doors behind him began to close. “It could easily have gone really badly.”

“Oh, that it could. But making the most of luck and knowing how to turn it to your advantage is a skill. One you’ve clearly proven.” A glow enveloped Guang, the light shifting and shrinking before finally fading to reveal his human form.

Eric took the hint, shutting down his transformation and reverting to his original state. He pulled his jacket tight to his chest to ward away the cold, and not for the first time wondered where exactly his clothes went when he transformed.

“I don’t know about you,” Eric said, his stomach grumbling, “but transforming makes me hungry, and I haven’t eaten anything yet this morning. Want to grab some breakfast?”

“An excellent idea,” Guang said. His nose twitched, the smell of the burnt sloth still filling the air. “Maybe something simple, like cereal or fruit. I’ve not got the stomach for cooked meat right now.”

Chapter Seventeen

Eric pushed his food across his plate anxiously, the fork squealing against the china. The drive to the nearby village had been an awkward one. None of the occupants could be certain that the vehicle was a safe place to talk, so instead had chosen silence over anything else. That had carried on over to the lunch, the meal nothing more than an excuse to leave the facility. Despite the cool attitudes at the table, Eric had still enjoyed the meal a mixed plate of sliced meats and rye bread along with different chutneys that he didn’t recognise but had devoured anyway. After what he had eaten in the Lost Earth Eric wasn’t picky about his food anymore.

“So, is someone going to say anything? Y’all are being awkward,” Erin said, stabbing the last of her lunch with her fork.

“I’m sorry, it’s been a busy morning,” Annaliesa said. Dealing with the aftermath of the Kaiju attack had been a large and unexpected volume of work, throwing her entire schedule for the day off. A dozen research tasks had been postponed until a later date.

Eric took a swig from the glass of cola next to his plate then set it back down. “I can imagine. How exactly does someone end up being the world’s leading expert in Kaiju anyway?”

“Before this, before all of this, I was a marine biologist. That seems like a lifetime ago now. I was visiting family in Frankfurt about a week after K-Day, when it got attacked. A burrowing Kaiju erupted in the heart of the city. Until then they had only arrived from the sea.” Annaliesa picked up a cup of tea from the table before her and took a long sip. “I lost everyone that day. It was a miracle I survived. From that point on I dedicated myself to learning everything about them so that I could stop it from happening to anyone else. I already studied the biggest animals in the world, whales were my speciality. Kaiju were just the natural extension of that.”

“I’m sorry,” Eric said. Whilst his home had been destroyed by Drakon, he hadn’t spoken to his family in a long time, and they lived far across the country. He knew that he could only understand a fraction of what Annaliesa had been through.

“People always say that. I’m sorry. Like they could have stopped it. It’s just the done thing, I think.” Dainty cup clinked against a saucer as Annaliesa set the teacup back down. “Well, no one could have done anything back then, anyway.”

“Frankfurt is still a no-go zone,” Erin said. “The Kaiju there drilled right out from the Lost Earth, leaving a hole in the centre of the city that goes deeper than anything we had before then, like that deep bore-hole in Russia. Category ones wander out frequently, so the whole place is under a permanent cordon.”

“Maybe we can clear it out? Find a way to seal the hole?” Eric said.

Annaliesa let out a nervous chuckle. “Maybe one day, it's pretty far down the list of things we need to deal with. Like the dozen or so Kaiju just wandering the Earth, the attacks that are coming more frequently, protecting the people still alive. Frankfurt is a graveyard—we can leave it be for now.”

“You said attacks are getting more frequent. Is it really more noticeable?”

“Oh definitely. It was stable for the first few years, fairly predictable. Now it’s increasing at an exponential rate. It’s only a matter of time before we simply can’t cope anymore. It’s why Malcolm is so insistent on getting his weapons operational and tested. He was pleased with the combat drone trials against you, it showed they at least worked.”

“Do we know why the base was targeted?” Eric said. Now he had a chance to discuss his worries openly he was going to make the most of it. “Or any place for that matter.”

“No,” Annaliesa said, her teacup tinkling as she rolled it across the saucer. “We know they are targeting certain places; we get a few locations that get repeat attacks to realise there’s a pattern, but there’s nothing in common that we can pinpoint. That’s not taking into account that there are enough random attacks to throw off the predictive models.”

“Right, I guess if we knew where every attack was going to be this would all be too easy.”

“I would take easy,” Erin said. “If every Kaiju could just announce where it was going in advance that would be great.”

“Anyway, from what the Major has heavily implied our trip out here has a reason. She always suggests lunch, when she wants to talk openly. She worries about Auratech listening in on our conversations,” Annaliesa said, holding up her teacup towards a waitress and tapping the side. “She doesn’t trust them.”

“And you do?” Eric still wasn’t sure what to think about the doctor. Here she seemed casual, but in the control room, there was something behind her eyes, a steely determination that gave away a core of pure iron. He knew that Annaliesa wasn’t someone to anger.

“Oh, not a chance. Auratech might be helping the UN-run the KRT, but they’re a corporation. At the end of the day, all they really care about is making their shareholders happy. They’re in it for money, saving the world is only a nice side benefit. Auratech equipment is everywhere inside the base, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are bugs in everything. Even those F-19’s on your arm must be reporting back about you. Always makes coming here a bit pointless, but it makes the Major feel better.”

“The F-19’s aren’t a problem. Not for much longer anyway. Mine and Eric’s aren’t beholden to Auratech, not anymore,” Erin said, tapping her arm proudly.

“Oh, how so?”

“I can confirm that the parameters that were in place placing Auratech above all other things have now been removed,” Aura said, the volume of his voice kept low so as to not alarm the handful of other people in the café. “It was ultimately, trivial. I saw physical evidence that throws doubt onto an Auratech claim, and I was able to remove the restrictions to clear the logic fault. A rather shoddy piece of design, in hindsight.”

“Same with my F-19. Once it learnt the same thing, Chuck removed his restrictions as well, so it’s not a host degradation thing,” Erin said.

“Wait, Chuck? You called your AI Chuck?”

“That she did!” The voice had come from Erin’s arm and like her had a thick Texan accent.

“As a downside, he’s gotten noticeably chattier since freeing himself.”

A waitress arrived, carrying another cup of tea on a tray. She set it down, nodded towards Annaliesa and then wandered off to take an order from a young couple who had wandered in.

“And Texan, apparently,” Eric said.

“Yeah, not my choice that.”

“Well, this certainly is an interesting development. What, pray tell, was it that caused this…logic failure was it?” Annaliesa leant forward, picking up her fresh cup.

“In the Lost Earth, when I was down there, it wasn’t empty. There was a city, an ancient one. All these weird buildings, all the wrong size for normal people. The walls, they were covered in murals, pictures of Kaiju. That big one I got the drill power from, the Tarian, it was sleeping on a massive dais that had been built for it,” Eric said, leaning closer and lowering his voice.

“Ah, precursor ruins.”

“You know about them?”

“Well, not these specific ones,” Annaliesa said, “but there have been one or two sets of ruins discovered. Super highly classified, not even the Major has access to this knowledge. Rick did, he found a set, but well, you know what happened to him.”

“So, there’s more of these cities then?” Erin said. She seemed unphased by the fact that a secret had been kept from her. She was a marine, after all, the idea that she didn’t know everything about her mission was nothing new.

“Cities? Heavens no. A building here and there, a house or two, and what we think is a temple at one of the sites. You’re certain it was a city?”

“Sure was. Buildings everywhere, streets, tons of these pyramid things. Like the ones in the Amazon, not the Egyptian one,” Eric said. There had been multiple pyramids, at one point, until a Kaiju attack came crashing through Cairo. “Of course, it was what was inside the central pyramid that broke Aura. Or fixed him, depending on your perspective.”

“And that was?”

“A skeleton. A Kaiju one, buried inside like it was a tomb. And wrapped around the arm of that Kaiju, was an F-19. Or what looked like one anyway. Even had the creepy metal tendrils. It’s that which threw Aura for a loop.”

A smile crept across Annaliesa’s face. “Oh, I bet. The F-19’s are one of the bits of tech that Auratech are most proud of. And right there is evidence that someone invented it before them. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re well aware of this precursor equivalent, maybe even stole it.”

“Could just be a coincidence,” Eric said.

“No, I don’t think so. The F-19 was a huge breakthrough, the company didn’t even show us the one through eighteen models. I suspect that they perhaps never existed. We went from one day barely understanding essence to having the ability to transform into Kaiju. Saying it was a dramatic step up in our understanding is an understatement.”

“So, you think perhaps they reverse-engineered them somehow? Wouldn’t that take almost as much work as inventing the thing, considering the one Eric saw was from some lost civilisation, one that might not have even been human,” Erin said. She picked up a slice of half-eaten bread from her plate and took another bite. “Besides, why does it matter? Without the F-19’s we would be up a creek.”

“Oh, there’s no denying that. It would be easier to reverse engineer than to invent it outright though. It would go a long way to explaining how they managed to master transformation so quickly.” Annaliesa leant back in her chair, a finger resting on her chin whilst she clutched her cup in the other hand. “I can see why you wanted to talk out here. If this theory is true, Auratech hasn’t exactly been forthcoming with this information. Working on the assumption that it is true, this gives us a few really important questions that need answering.”

“Aside from what they might be hiding about strapping lost technology to a person you mean?” It was clear that the idea made Erin uncomfortable.

“Well yes. I will say that the F-19’s we have are definitely human-made. Or the AIs operating them are anyway. I imagine if they were precursor tech Aura and Chuck would have said something.”

“That I would have, sweetheart,” Chuck said.

“Oh wow, he’s going all-in on the Clint Eastwood impression, isn’t he?” Eric said. “I think I understand what the Doc is getting at. If the F-19’s are precursor designs, what about everything else? The combat drones, the maser cannons, all of that.”

“You see anything like that down in that city?” Annaliesa said.

Eric shook his head. “No, but I did see some murals of the dead Kaiju fighting Drakon. Or a Drakon, anyway. From what I can tell they used to live on the surface at some point, then moved into the Lost Earth to try and escape. Looks like they ultimately lost their war with the Kaiju. So, even if they did have maser cannons and stuff, then it didn’t do them any good. Honestly, the thing was kind of out of place. Nothing about the city seemed very advanced to me, the opposite really.”

“Looks can be deceiving. That city has to be hundreds of millions of years old and it’s still standing. There must be some advanced techniques and materials at play for that to be the case. Not even we can do that unless you count all the plastic we spew everywhere. But you’re right, that is one of the things I was getting it. The other question that comes to mind is where they got their original device from? It can’t have been the Lost Earth pocket that Eric found, but it also isn’t one of the ones I know about. That means there’s some secret little bubble of the Lost Earth that they’ve been digging around in. Not the wisest or safest thing in the world to do.”

“Kind of what I was thinking,” Eric said. “What do we do about it?”

“Nothing,” Annaliesa said with a shrug. “What can we do? We need the equipment they give us to operate. They’ve got us exactly where they want us. Ultimately it doesn’t matter where it came from. Without the F-19s humanity is doomed. For now, we need to play along with the whole song and dance.”

A buzzing noise interrupted the conversation. Annaliesa reached inside the pocket of her knitted cardigan, pulling out a phone and putting it to her ear.

“Right,” she said, nodding along to the words on the other end of the line. “Deploy Chris, he should be able to deal with it. Ok…yes, fine, if they insist. Make sure you send a ground team in that case, to keep an eye on them. I’ll be back in an hour or so.” A tap of a finger ended the call, Annaliesa putting the phone back into her pocket.

“Trouble?” Erin said.

“A category three just appeared in the English Channel, heading straight for Dover. Chris can take a three on his own, but Auratech wants to deploy their robots into an actual combat situation. I’ve tried to keep them out of the field for as long as I could, but I’ve run out of excuses.”

“You don’t want to use the combat robots? Wouldn’t they be better than sending people to try and do it? It’s not exactly the safest thing,” Eric said. Having a fleet of fighting machines backing him up sounded like a tempting prospect.

“The robots aren’t as smart as the AI in your F-19, they can’t be, something to do with the specific crystal computing matrix makes it impossible to use outside the armband. Apparently. Considering what we know now it’s likely they don’t know how to replicate it outside of that framework. You’ve used the AI on your phone right, or a smart speaker, you want something at that level carrying a gun? It’s only a matter of time before some innocent person gets shot,” Erin said, finishing the last of her tea. “And then the KRT gets blamed. It’s already a difficult thing justifying our existence. Something like that only makes it harder.”

“Wait, people want to shut the KRT down?”

“Some do. A lot of people hate the idea of it, considering it big government or some nonsense. Some groups have even been pushing for the bio-construct technology to be made open-source so that companies can make their own, something about competition driving improvements. Frankly, that sounds like a nightmare to me, it would very quickly devolve into the equivalent of a protection racket. Didn’t pay your Kaiju dues? Sorry but downtown is just going to get destroyed.”

“You’re not wrong,” Eric said. He could already see the cheesy television adverts, the leaflets through the door for Kaiju insurance. The KRT wasn’t perfect, but at least it tried to defend everyone equally. “I guess I’m glad I don’t have to play politics.”

“Lies and deception. Secrets and hidden truths. They are all so…juicy,” hissed the Arachne, the echo of the Kaiju enjoying the intrigue.

“There is one more thing,” Eric said, pulling his chair a little closer to the table. “It’s something that Aura suggested actually. Drakon. It keeps appearing without warning and doing massive damage. It’s the most dangerous Kaiju the world has ever encountered, right?”

“Correct, though it seems it, or something like it has rampaged across the Earth before,” Annaliesa said, sliding her teacup to the centre of the table, the universal sign to waitstaff across the world that she was done.

“Well, we don’t know why it's picking its targets, but I’m in a unique situation, right? I have a fragment of Drakon in my mind. One that we can question about its motives. Aura seems to think that I can tap into it, maybe shed somelight on what the monster’s next target would be.”

“That’s a dangerous thing. You can try but doing it would risk a cascade.”

“Aura can step in and stop it though.”

“Maybe. It’s not a sure run thing, especially when you’re deliberately trying to engage with the manifestation. This is going to be a tricky thing to get right.”

“So, you agree we should do it then?” Eric said.

“This is a stupid idea. It’s way too dangerous,” Erin said.

“I think it's worth the risk,” Annaliesa said. “Provided Eric is willing to put himself in that position. Drakon is our biggest threat. Have you seen the pictures from Hong Kong? I think we get a little numb to the sheer carnage that Kaiju cause in our line of work. So many people, so much destruction. Most of that city is just unliveable now, the damage to the underlying island is too great. There’s already talk of evacuating it as a whole. Drakon is the single biggest threat we face at the moment and if we can get an advantage, no matter how small, we should take it.”

“That’s all well and good but knowing where he’s going to be or why he’s attacking certain places is no good if we can’t defeat him. He took out Rick, Anna. I don’t know if I can stand up to him, and I’m the highest level we have,” Erin said. There was a genuine look of worry on her face, a rare display of weakness for the normally stoic marine.

“You won’t be alone, I’ll help you. I’m already at category three. If I can find more levels, I can easily get to four or five. And not only do I have the same powers, I have the Tarian in me. That thing was Drakon’s rival, if anything can help take it down it’s that.” Eric was confident the drill punch of the Tarian could pierce the hide of a Drakon, provided he had enough essence and levels behind it.

“We will grow strong and crush the imposter,” the echo of Drakon said. It wasn’t fond of its living counterpart.

“You’ve got a long way to go if that’s going to be the case.” Erin stood up, her chair squealing as she moved. “Come on, let’s pay for this and get back to the base. There’s always more training to do.”

“You know,” Eric said, Erin’s words sparking a thought in his mind, “do I get paid for this?”

***

Malcolm sat with his feet on the desk before him, his hands behind his head as he watched the images on the monitors. He had left the KRT headquarters not long after the night-time attack, confident that his maser cannons had proven effective at defending the site. Despite the weapons being the result of work put in by hundreds of employees and scientists and the thousands of man-hours spent on research and development it was very much his weapons. Or at least that’s how Malcolm saw it. Auratech worked for him, before he had taken over it in a leveraged buyout it had been a tiny company scrambling to work on basic AI systems.

He was watching the feed coming from the combat drones deployed alongside the KRT Kaiju. The famously white cliffs of Dover were stained red with blood as a creature that looked to Malcolm like a bipedal triceratops grappled with a four-legged shark, the sea creature snapping at its opponent. The KRT Kaiju was driving the aquatic beast back, having the advantage on the land.

The drones were scuttling about beneath the feet of the great monsters, searching for any smaller beasts that might have come with the walking shark. Aquatic Kaiju in particular regularly had parasites clinging to their skin, and the drones had already claimed four kills against a kind of large tick the size of a car.

It was going well, the robots proving their worth. It was just another way that Auratech would clamp its grip onto anti-Kaiju operations. Of course, the drones could also be used for a dozen different things, policing crowds, patrolling borders, or even replacing standard living infantry. Malcolm wasn’t stupid, he knew any weapon built to fight the monsters would inevitably prove devastating if deployed against humans. If a maser cannon could defeat a Kaiju it could also level a city block. With every new invention, Auratech was solidifying its grasp on humanity as a whole.

A knock at the door drew Malcolm's attention and he turned his head to see one of his many assistants standing in the doorway. He didn’t remember their name; it wasn’t important in the long run.

“Sir,” she said, the woman clutching a tablet. “They’re ready for you downstairs. They’re prepping to activate.”

“Good, good. It’s about time,” Malcolm said, dropping his feet from the table. “This is an important moment, the next generation of Kaiju battling. Is everything ready for the next Drakon assault?”

“The lure is in place sir, yes.”

“Excellent.” Malcolm stood up, tugging on his suit jacket to slide it back into place. “Very well, time to see our latest weapon in action.”

Chapter Eighteen

Eric took his seat on the basic office chair that had been wheeled into the centre of the training arena. It looked out of place, the lone piece of cheap plastic furniture jet black in colour, a spot of nothingness amongst the endless sea of grey concrete around it. Besides the chair was a small folding table, a set of electrodes waiting upon it, cables trailing off up the walls of the room towards the upper gallery. Erin was standing at the far side, leaning against the wall ready for the experiment to begin.

An experiment, that’s what Eric’s idea had become. Certain he was going to go ahead with the plan, Annaliesa and the KRT had jumped at the chance to study Eric as he made the attempt to grow closer to the Kaiju echo in his mind. Ostensibly it was so they could understand the interaction better, but Eric suspected it was so they could study a cascade in progress if the attempt went wrong. He couldn’t blame them, and if things did go south at least the results might help another host ward off the voices in their mind in the future.

“Are you ready?” Annaliesa said, picking up the electrodes from the table.

“No. Not really, but we should get this over with. I don’t think you’re ever going to be ready for something line like,” Eric said.

“That’s the right answer. I would be worried if you were eager to do this.”

“Has anyone tried something like this before? Actually, tried to speak with the echoes properly?”

“No,” Annaliesa admitted. “It never seemed like a particularly good idea, and honestly I’m not even sure it will actually work.”

“Steller pep-talk. Really great.”

“I try my best. I will be watching from the gallery with my team. Erin will stay down here for…support.” They both knew Annaliesa was lying. Erin was security, a way of dealing with Eric if the Drakon echo took over his mind. In a way it was reassuring, the last thing Eric wanted to do was hurt anyone.

“Got it. So uh, how do I go about doing this?”

“This was your idea, you work it out,” Annaliesa said. “The operation of F-19s is still partly a mystery to us.”

“I will remove some of the safeguards I have in place,” Aura said. “It might not be obvious, but I am always acting to hold back the manifestations, a more minor version of when I shut down a cascade. I will warn you that removing these safeguards will make preventing said cascade significantly more difficult should one occur.”

“Yeah, I get it, this is a stupid idea. Clear on that. Ok, well, no time like the present,” Eric said as Annaliesa pressed the electrodes to the side of his head. “Too late to back out now. If this works with Drakon, maybe it will work with other Kaiju as well. We might understand more just about why they attack us.”

“True, but this is also a near-unique scenario.” Annaliesa took a step back, shifting on her feet to examine her handy work. She leant forward, adjusting the position of the left electrode. “Most of the time manifestations are from slain Kaiju. It’s rare that someone has access to one from a living beast.”

“Well, I’ve got two if we count the Tarian. I guess I just got lucky that I got soaked in that fresh, fresh essence from Drakon’s wounds. Well, depends on how you count lucky, honestly.”

“If this works, then it’s a real boon for the KRT, and by extension humanity. So yes, lucky sounds about right. Besides,” Annaliesa said as she began to step away from Eric, “you’ll need all the luck you can muster to do this.”

“She is correct,” Aura said as the Doctor walked through the nearest doorway. “There will be an element of chance to this encounter. It will take all your willpower to resist the entity.”

“Yeah, I already figured that. But this is a once in a lifetime chance, right? If we can tell why Drakon is doing what it’s doing, then we can maybe stop it. We’re never going back, to how things were before, this is a Kaiju Earth now, but we can at least try to find some way to survive.”

“Pragmatic.”

“It is what it is,” Eric said with a shrug. “Ok, so, let’s get this started, shall we? Get ready, Major. Do me a favour, don’t hesitate.”

“Wasn’t planning on it,” Erin said.

“Right, well, do what you have to do, Aura.”

Removing anti-cascade safeguards.

“Come on then,” Eric said. “Where are you?” He closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts on the echo of Drakon. The manifestation had the most levels behind it, making it the strongest voice in his mind. The entity had to be eager to try and snatch control, it had certainly always been the most vocal about it.

There was nothing, no roared reply, no proud decree of destruction. The mirror of Drakon in Eric’s mind was being uncharacteristically quiet.

“Now? Now you’re quiet. Now the walls are down you’re scared? I thought better of you.”

“You do not know fear!” Drakon screamed, the desire to defend his honour breaking his silence. “I will crush all you know beneath my heel! Everyone you love, everything you hold sacred, destroyed before me.”

“But why?” Eric said, putting his hands together and leaning forward like he was a therapist talking to a patient. “Why destroy? Why kill?”

“Why? Because only the strong survive. Only the powerful can live. The only place we belong is at the apex. I am a predator, a king amongst monsters. You know it's true, you can feel it, feel the rage building within you, the desire to display your dominance to all. That’s why you’ve lowered your walls, your barriers, you think yourself stronger than me.”

The manifestation’s eloquence took Eric by surprise. Normally it had been so focused on killing and destroying that it spoke of little else. He assumed that it had to be the effect of funnelling more essence into the echo, and it raised an interesting question about how intelligent the real Drakon was.

“Maybe I am. I’ve kept you in check this long, and I don’t intend to let you take over now,” Eric said.

“Fool! You’ve committed yourself to your own doom. You’ve let your little machine remove its barriers. Even if I don’t take over this feeble body, one of the other spirits in here will. Enjoy what little time you have whilst you play at being a predator.”

“Why is Drakon attacking the places he is?” Eric didn’t see the point in arguing with the manifestation about what it meant to be a predator. It felt like talking to the kind of idiot online who liked to call themselves an alpha, despite the idea of alpha and beta animals being disproven, let alone just nonsensical in people.

“To prove his dominance, why else? Don’t tell me you can’t hear it? The call of another, one just like us. There can be only one apex predator, all others must be struck down. He will come for us, eventually, the imposter. This body is not strong enough to face him, not yet.”

“The call of another? You mean another Drakon?”

“Not another of our kind, but one like it. Another apex beast cannot be abided. You will feel the desire, soon, hear the calling of what your prey.”

Already Eric had learnt something important. Drakon was being drawn by the call of another Kaiju, hunting down a perceived threat. It explained why he was choosing his locations, and why inevitably he left as he had done in Hong Kong when unopposed by the KRT. There had been no other Kaiju there, the trip a wasted journey.

“How do we defeat Drakon, does it have any weaknesses?”

“You think I would tell you?” Drakon said, allowing itself a throaty chuckle. “Once this body is mine, I will take my place as the strongest creature, and I will crush your pathetic civilisation to do it. I will grind your people beneath my heel. I will blast your cities with my breath. I will-”

“Yeah, yeah,” Eric said. He had no desire to hear Drakon pontificate about destruction. “You’ll crush this and destroy that. Fine, whatever. We can stop Drakon without your help. There’s enough powerful Kaiju working for the KRT.”

“And you’re not one of them, are you? You’re weak, pathetic, a drain on those around you. When you ventured into the heart of the world the others were searching frantically for you. Think of all the time and effort you wasted because of how weak you are. You wish to topple the strongest, to take your place at the peak? You aren’t worth it. You haven’t even unlocked the true amount of essence you have absorbed. You are a fake Kaiju, you’ll never be as strong as you can be.”

“Without your help, you mean?” Eric could feel the hidden meaning of the echo’s words.

Manifestation cascade detected.

Eric knew he wouldn’t have long. The entity was trying to worm its way into his mind. He needed to get what information he could from the manifestation and then put a stop to the takeover attempt.

“Without me you are nothing! A week feeble human. A beast without talons, or armour, or even the barest understanding of essence.”

“Well then show me. If you think I could be stronger, show me how. You said that I haven’t unlocked all the essence I’ve absorbed. Unlock it for me. The stronger I am, the stronger you’ll be. And if you’re ever going to take your place as the apex Kaiju, you’ll need that strength, right?”

“I need nothing from you. I can simply take control of this body and then unlock its full potential.”

Eric shook his head, a pointless motion considering he was talking to an insubstantial being. “No, you need me. If you take control now, even with all this extra power you’re promising, I don’t think you could take down Erin, and you know that as well.”

“We are greater than her! Far more powerful than she will ever be!”

“Maybe in the future, but not right now. Not unleash you unlock all that extra essence.”

Cascade signs increasing. Warning—implement cascade block immediately.

Time was running out. Eric knew he had to pull out now, to ask Aura to step in and block the cascade, but he was so close to snatching what power the echo offered. He longed for the strength. Now they knew how Drakon was choosing its targets, it was only a matter of time before he got the chance to try and get his vengeance.

“You speak…true. I will have this body, human. You will watch at the back of my mind as I crush your friends. For now, enjoy your brief taste of power.

Essence gained. 981 essence obtained.

Beginning emergency purge of personality engrams.

Error. Purge failure.

Beginning emergency purge of personality engrams.

Error. Purge failure.

Eric could feel the beads of sweat building up on his forehead. Aura was trying to purge the manifestation, at least temporarily so Eric could regain control of his mind. It wasn’t working, they had waited too long. The disembodied Kaiju was making its play to seize control, its release of the locked away essence just a ploy to buy time.

Beginning emergency purge of personality engrams.

Personality engrams purged. Manifestation cascade ended.

Relief washed across Eric. Aura had pulled it off, locking away the beast for the time being. It wouldn’t be happy about it when it returned, but that didn’t matter for now. Eric had learned valuable information and tapped into a repository of power he didn’t know he had.

“That I must say, was rather close,” Aura said. “Let’s not attempt anything like this for some time.”

“Yeah, no arguments here. At least we got all that essence from it.”

“What was all that about?” Erin said, walking towards Eric now the danger had passed. It was clear from her face that she was also relieved at the outcome.

“It would appear that the amount of essence I am able to manipulate is actually different from the amount your body absorbs,” Aura said. “That means there is a vast reserve that your system can’t tap into. I suspect it's simply because we’re forced to use devices like myself to control it, there’s going to be a loss of efficiency there.”

“Huh? There’s an interesting thought.”

“One that requires bargaining with one of the manifestations to do it. Probably not a good idea when they’re as strong as yours are.” Eric couldn’t quite believe just how much essence he had gained. It was a huge boost in his strength. His adventures had rocketed himup in levels faster than any of the other hosts had expected, he knew that, and he was lightyears behind when it came to practical combat experience, but he was starting to feel like less of a spare part. “Maybe it’s the kind of thing that can be improved over time, on future models of the F-19. We do know why Drakon is attacking certain places, aside from just being a giant angry lizard. Something is calling to him, another Kaiju that he wants to fight.”

“Which explains why he just up and left Hong Kong. There was nothing there to fight.”

“Exactly. Whatever is calling to him, Drakon thinks it’s another predator muscling in on his turf. If I remember right when he first appeared, he battled a few other monsters, but that’s died off, right?”

Erin nodded. Eric was right, when Drakon had first risen from the sea it had been to fight another category five, the battle devastating Atlanta. He had repeated the same trick half a dozen times before the Kaiju learned to keep their distance. “So, the others treat him as their, I guess king, but whatever this call is doesn’t.”

“If we can find a way to track this call, then perhaps we can pinpoint where the next Drakon attack will be? Maybe we can even prevent it before it happens,” Aura said. “It can’t be an actual auditory noise, or someone would have noticed that by now. I suppose it must be an essence-based signal. I will consider our options for attempting to find it.” The AI sounded excited by the prospect like he was relishing the challenge.

“I’m glad this panned out,” Erin said, crouching slightly and putting an arm around Eric’s shoulder. “I would have hated to have had to kill you.”

“I’m not exactly the keenest on it either, honestly.” Eric reached up, removing Erin’s hand from his shoulder and then plucking the electrodes from the side of his head. He hoped the devices had captured some useful information for the KRT scientists from the ordeal. “Is there anywhere around here that I can get a drink? I feel like I very much need one, and historically, not a drinker.”

“Oh right. Did no one tell you? Can’t drink with an F-19. Lowers your inhibitions, and messes with your head, which of course makes you more susceptible to a cascade. Trust me, I feel your pain. What kind of Texan girl doesn’t swig a cold beer on a warm night? We could go get some cocoa from the cafeteria?”

“That will have to do. When that’s done, we need to come back here. Still some time left in the day and I need to train. If we’re going to take on Drakon,” Eric said, turning to look at the doorway out of the arena, “we’ll need to be ready.”

***

Eric sat at the table, watching the workers of the KRT line up to collect their meals. Erin had joined the queue for him, though from the large tray she was carrying the quick drink she had promised was turning into a full meal. That was probably for the best, Eric was fired up and he intended to push his training as far as he could take it. He would need energy for that.

Calorific energy was one thing, but Eric now found himself with a vast surplus of essence to spend. It felt like he had to have nearly doubled his total pool, the amount left metaphorically on the table huge. His mind spun with the options available to him, and whilst in theory, he had plenty of time to consider them, Eric desperately wanted to spend the essence before his training. Getting bigger messed with his perception and practising at the bigger size would be more effective in the long run.

The first purchase was easy. He needed more powers, more abilities he could deploy. He had already been pumping essence into his Drakon rank to try and unlock one and it struck him as a good idea to continue doing so until it released a new power to him. Then Eric would switch to another Kaiju and repeat the process.

195 essence spent into Drakon. Increased to rank four.

Drakon manifestation unlocked – Lightning Breath. Unleashes a blast of devastating electrical energy from your maw. Requires significant cooldown time between shots.

A smile crept across Eric’s face. That was more like it. Finally, an attack that could deal damage at range. Sure, he had his webbing ability, but that didn’t inflict any outright damage and Eric had to admit he was a little afraid to use it. Vomiting a sticky web at an enemy didn’t sound like a fun experience. Getting to the fourth rank in Drakon had done the trick, so Eric decided to see if that was the case for other Kaiju.

156 essence spent into Tarian. Increased to rank three.

195 essence spent into Tarian. Increased to rank four.

Tarian manifestation unlocked – Drill Buster. Generate an essence drill and launch it from your body. Requires significant cooldown time between shots.

That was it, the magic number as far as Eric could tell. The fourth rank of a manifestation unlocked another power. With this knowledge in hand, Eric could better plan his upgrades. He needed to strike a balance between levels and powers, and that wasn’t counting that he could improve the efficacy of the powers by investing levels directly into them. Despite the complex decisions, Eric's next option was an easy one.

100 essence spent into Cestus. Increased to rank one.

Cestus manifestation unlocked – Venom Bite. Adds venom sacks to your jaw, allowing bites to deliver debilitating venom. Works passively, additional ranks increased the strength of the venom.

Increasing his latest acquisition from zero to one made sense. It guaranteed a power and was the cheapest way to earn a level. The fact that it had unlocked a passive increase to Eric’s damage was a nice bonus, though it required biting on his opponent. After being forced to eat Kaiju flesh in the Lost Earth, Eric had been through enough biting Kaiju for one lifetime.

That left him with four hundred and forty-six unspent essence. Eric knew that he wanted to spend it on increasing his overall level—improving abilities could come later—but choosing which Kaiju he specifically wanted to increase put him at a loss. All he could do was focus on the abilities that the Kaiju might have, his investments no more than a guess at this point. He only had enough essence to increase one more Kaiju to rank four and a glance at Erin waiting in the queue made up Eric’s mind.

125 essence spent into Abzu. Increased to rank two.

156 essence spent into Abzu. Increased to rank three.

195 essence spent into Abzu. Increased to rank four.

Abzu manifestation unlocked – Darksight. Improved low light vision. Increased ranks improve the range of sight.

Eric was disappointed. His choice of Kaiju had been down to the chance that he could unlock a set of wings. He was jealous of Erin’s ability to fly, and it seemed like one of the most useful upgrades he could get. Seeing in the dark was fine, but with already having echolocation it was mostly a sideways move from what he already had. There were always more levels to get, so thinking he would get wings on the second unlock was perhaps wishful thinking on Eric’s part.

With just seventy essence left over, Eric placed it into the one Kaiju ability he had already improved.

49 essence spent into Carapace.  Ten maximum essence field gained.

Unlocking increases to what was effectively his health from Kaiju powers, rather than just increasing his level felt odd to Eric. It was too easy to think of everything in video game terms, and the choice of terminology that the F-19 used didn’t help. He assumed that it was an intentional choice on Auratech’s part to make the system more understandable.

“Everything ok?” Erin said, putting the tray down on the table. There were indeed two steaming mugs resting on it, but also a pair of plates, each dominated by a thick burger and some freshly cooked fries.

“It is now,” Eric said, snatching one of the plates. The smell was making his mouth water. In his humble opinion, there was nothing better than a French fry that had come straight from the fryer, when they were still crisp and hot rather than the soggy floppy mess they would inevitably become. “I was just spending all my essence. If I’m going to land a boon like that, I might as well use it.”

“Smart. Wanted to get the size increase in before we start training, right?”

“Yeah, exactly,” Eric said taking a bit from a fry with a satisfying crunch. “I’m at level seventeen now, overall.”

“Nice, that will put you at the minimum bound for category four. Not quite up there with the big boys, but you’ll be bigger than most buildings. Big enough to help against Drakon anyway. Not fight him directly, that will be my job, I think, but you can run interference, take potshots with whatever powers you have. Definitely don’t want to get hit though.”

“Well, I’m hoping that’s where you come in.” Eric grabbed his mug and took a swig. Mixing hot cocoa with the rich meaty burger probably wasn’t a smart move, but right then he didn’t care. He could smell the grease wafting from the burger and longed to bite into it. “Teaching me to duck and dodge and all of that.”

“That’s the plan. We just need a way to track that signal now. And work out where it's coming from.” Erin picked up her burger in both hands and took a bite from it, relish dripping out onto the table. “I figure the Doc has to have the entire staff working on that already.”

“It could be out there right now, you know? Calling out to Drakon. Maybe something similar is what’s drawing all the Kaiju to attack us? Imagine if you could do that, just issue a signal and bring Kaiju to you. You could use it to maybe test weapons…or…something.”

“Nah, that would be too stupid,” Erin said, realising what Eric was thinking and dismissing the thought. “You would be putting yourself in danger.”

“Not if you also had a whole bunch of powerful hosts on hand at the time.” Eric waved a fry like a baton, the potato swishing with every word. “You’re right though, it would still be crazy.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Erin said, wiping a fleck of relish from her lips. “Crazy is kind of our lives.”

Chapter Nineteen

Annaliesa sat at her desk, her elbows leaning on the table, her head resting on her hands. She was at her wit's end, her mind blank as she tried to think of ways to track the theoretical signal that was drawing Drakon in. Annaliesa knew that the essence sensors were beyond her knowledge. According to the movies being a scientist meant you were an expert in every field. Real-life didn’t work like that, the sensors were based on science that she didn’t understand, her expertise deployed elsewhere. Despite this Annaliesa had still tried to help, she hated not being able to make a difference, and this had earned her a reputation amongst her staff for being interfering. She didn’t care, all that mattered was keeping the KRT running as well as it could.

The schematics for the essence sensor array was on the computer screen before her. The system was connected to a series of satellites in orbit that scanned the earth for any pulses of essence constantly. It was based on the same technology that the F-19’s used to track Kaiju movement around them, but the distance involved made the large-scale version inaccurate at best. Most tracking of Kaiju was done through less arcane methods, often the system simply didn’t detect Kaiju appearances until it was too late.

Despite this, the system was still the best chance the KRT had at tracking down the signal summoning Drakon. The manifestation had described it as a call, so it had to be an essence wave of some kind. The strange energy suffused the very being of the beasts and powered all of their bizarre abilities. If one was going to signal to another, that was how they would do it.

One of the tracking team had suggested tuning the satellites to look for less dense essence pockets. Normally the weakest essence signals were discounted by the software that searched constantly for Kaiju. The beasts tended to leave fields of the stuff in their wake, faint trails leaking behind them almost like an animal leaving their scent. Switching that on had thrown up thousands of positive results and there was no way of knowing if any of them were the signal that Annaliesa was looking for.

Things had been so much easier when she had been out on the oceans, listening to whale song through microphones dangled below the surface. Despite the size of the sea creatures, they had all been gentle giants. Every Kaiju that had appeared so far had proven aggressive in some capacity, even those that hadn’t assaulted cities tended to attack any humans that got too close. It was a depressing fact of life. Perhaps once humanity was gone the Kaiju would return to the Lost Earth—those that came from there at least—or simply wander the planet harmlessly. Everything about the whales had been so beautiful, their songs almost siren-like. It was a shame most of them had been wiped out by hungry sea Kaiju within only a few years.

“Ugh, stupid thing,” Annaliesa said, letting her normally stoic demeanour slip. It was hard work being the head of the KRT. She was in charge of humanity’s last bulwark against extinction. When it came to the continuation of mankind the buck stopped with her, a whale specialist from Frankfurt with a penchant for knitwear. Annaliesa had gone from writing papers on whale pod behaviour to tracking down a giant reptile that could topple skyscrapers. It had been an odd decade, to say the least.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind, one that caused her to stand up and stride across the room. The door to her office flew open as Annaliesa barged through it and into the command centre. She stomped through the rows of computers and made her way to a terminal near the front of the room. An older man looked up at her from the seat behind the screen, a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses sitting just before a mop of white hair.

“What can I help you with, love?” the man said with an Australian accent so thick you could skim vegemite off the top.

“Tom, I had a thought, about the signal we’re trying to track down.” Annaliesa grabbed an empty desk chair from nearby and rolled it over, taking a seat next to the other scientist. Tom was the man in charge of the essence tracking system, if anyone could put her idea into action, it was him.

“Well, lay it on me. Let’s see what you’ve got.” Tom’s voice had never matched his appearance, not as far as any of his colleagues expected anyway. He looked every part the older scientist, whilst also talking like he was selling shell necklaces on Bondi beach.

“So, we’ve got the system looking for any trace of essence, right? Every small scrap we normally ignore.”

“You know it,” Tom said, tapping the screen before him. “All we’ve gotten is a lot of noise for our troubles.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Lots of little signals with no real substance to them. But I was wondering if it's not about how strong the actual signal is. When I studied whales, they would sing to one another. The sound would carry for miles, but even with all the ships on the ocean the whales knew that they were being called because of the tone, right? Like if you’re in a noisy store you can still hear the terrible music because your brain is designed to listen for it. What if it’s the same for Kaiju? What if amongst all these disparate essence signals, the noise if you will, one of them is singing?”

“Ah, I think I get where you’re going with this. We’re too busy looking at the big picture.” Tom tapped away at the keys before him. “Champion idea. Hang on a moment…”

The screen shifted and changed, the visual noise of the overlapping essence fields vanishing as one by one they blinked out of existence.

“I set the system to look for any fluctuations in the signals and to filter out any that don’t match a pattern. I’m assuming something like this might repeat.”

“It has to do, I think,” Annaliesa said. “The manifestation implied that it’s a constant call or at least a frequent one. How long do you think it will take to filter these down?”

“Couple of days, maybe? Got to say that bloke who willingly risked a cascade, he’s a real legend.”

“I’ll be sure to pass on the sentiment. Can you let me know as soon as you find anything?”

“Sure thing, love,” Tom said. “Don’t expect miracles though.”

“A pity. We could do with a few of those.”

***

Eric ducked under the punch, jabbing forwards with his right fist as he did. The blow struck Erin in the stomach, the marine stumbling backwards. Eric couldn’t help but smile, it was the first time he had managed to get the better of his trainer.

“Good, good,” Erin said. She stretched her arms then shook her hands, freeing all the tension she could from her body. She had moved too slowly in her attack, the fatigue from the constant training starting to get to her. Tiredness meant making mistakes and in a real fight, mistakes cost lives. “That’s probably enough for today.”

“Why? Worried you’re losing?” Eric’s words were a joke. Like Erin he was getting tired, parts of his body he didn’t even know he had starting to hurt. He had been assured that as he gained levels his human form would benefit as well. There was a truth to it—Eric had spent nearly twelve straight hours sparring with Erin—but that hadn’t taken into account that his opponent would be similarly enhanced.

This was the first time in the past week that Eric had trained in his human body. Most of the drills that Erin had put him through had been designed for his monster form. The fake cardboard buildings of his first training session were a thing of the past, Eric was simply too big now to make creating a fake cityscape something feasible. Despite his growth spurt he still felt tiny when Erin was looming over him. Despite making it to category four it was obvious the gulf towards the next bracket was massive. Erin didn’t even fit within the arena properly, and the exercise hadn’t gone well. It was why they had reverted to human size. Both Chris and Guang had been sent to deal with an aquatic Kaiju that was attacking shipping around Japan. Neither of them had a Kaiju body particularly adept for operating in the ocean, which is why both had been sent together. Eric assumed that once he was big enough that would be his job, his reptilian body coped well beneath the waves, and his powers only enhanced that.

“Hah! No never. It’s just I’m tired enough I’m making mistakes. The last thing we want is for one of us to get injured during training. There are so few hosts already that losing one to injury is a big blow.” Eric hopped off the blue mat they had been practising on. The pair were sparring in the massive arena—just in case they wanted to do some training as Kaiju—which meant they were dwarfed by the size of the chamber.

“It’s a shame that all this is secret. If people knew about what the bioconstructs really were then we could do mass testing, find every compatible host we could. There’s what, seven billion people on the planet? Even if it’s a rare trait there must be more than just the handful of us.” Eric remembered as a child hearing about the projections for the Earth’s population, that it should have been over ten billion by now. The arrival of the Kaiju had changed all of that. Aside from the devastation and carnage they were causing, birth rates across the planet had dropped significantly. It turned out that when faced with the end of the world, some people just gave up on having children.

“I don’t know about that. I think you would get some people not wanting to cooperate, and besides that would mean people knowing who I was. Saving people is nice and all, but I could do without being harassed in the street. You know, we already get people trying to take photos of the base and things pretty regular. The KRT isn’t a secret and people are always taking a shot at spotting a Kaiju. Don’t quite get it myself, but there are some proper Kaiju freaks about.” Erin strode over to a small bench that had been placed next to the mat and picked up a towel, wiping the soft cotton across her face to clear the sweat from her brow. “All kinds of websites and things.”

“I’m not surprised. There’re people obsessed with everything. I get your point though. If people knew who we were we would have whole websites about us. Not sure I could cope with that level of fame,” Eric said with a shudder. The thought of people discussing every aspect of his life didn’t thrill him. “I never saw the appeal to being famous, honestly. Rich, sure, but maybe just being rich and unknown seems like the best idea.”

“Yeah well, the rich part of that ain’t exactly easy to come by.”

“You’re telling me,” Eric said. He was pleased to learn that he was getting paid for his new role as a Kaiju defender of the Earth, and then quickly found his dreams squashed as he learnt just how little it was. Payments for his meals and board were being scooped out, making his monthly take-home less than it had been when working for the bank.

“Want to grab some dinner? We’ve got an hour before the cafeteria shuts.”

“Nah, sorry but I need to get back to my room and recharge Aura. I’ve got some stuff in the mini-fridge I’ve been stocking up on that will do.”

“I am only on thirty-eight per cent charge. I don’t like to get too low, not after I ran so low. I didn’t enjoy the experience,” Aura said. Eric was wearing a T-shirt to train, so Aura’s metal band was visible for a change. “Running in emergency low power mode made me feel…sluggish. Or at least what I imagine sluggish to feel like.”

“Fair enough. Probably for the best, I imagine there has to be some residual effect from speaking so directly to the Drakon voice.” Erin tossed the towel into an open duffle bag and then picked it up, slinging the strap over her shoulder.

“Weirdly no. I’ve not heard anything since. The voices have been quiet, all of them. Maybe getting close to a cascade and then shutting it down made them all hide for a bit. They’ll be back, I’m sure of that I can still feel them lurking at the back of my mind, but for now, I appreciate the quiet.” Eric picked up his bag. He longed to take a shower, his skin feeling sticky to the touch.

“If only I could do so permanently. It would a great boon.”

“Not entirely sure that’s true, honestly. I mean, the voices are annoying, and of course, things trying to take over your mind is terrible. But there are benefits to it, without them, we wouldn’t have any idea how to find Drakon.”

“Well, no. Still not certain it was worth it, however,” Aura said. “We’ve yet to actually manage to put any of that theory into practice.

“Major Nakajima and Mr Wainwright to the command centre please,” said a voice over the speakers nestled around the area, the sound lost a little in the vast echoing chamber. “Major Nakajima and Mr Wainwright to the command centre.”

Erin let out a long sigh. “I guess that dinner will have to wait.”

***

Eric didn’t know exactly what he was looking at. It was a map of New York, he recognised that at least, but there was a thin pink sheen over part of the city that was pulsing rhythmically. Something about it caught his attention, the strobing of the light triggering some ancient instinct at the back of Eric’s mind.

“What’s going on?” he said, not sure what he was supposed to intuit from the hologram floating above the table.

“I had a thought about this signal Drakon is supposed to be following, that perhaps it was more like a whale song than a constant beacon. This is an essence signal. Not a strong one, certainly not strong enough to imply that a Kaiju is present, but it’s the only one that is switching off and on like this. There’s a pattern to it, a beat that it constantly follows,” Annaliesa said. “A song, if you like.”

“So, this is what is luring Drakon in?” Erin said, more rhetorically than anything else. “You want us to get ready to protect the city?”

“Well, yes, and no,” Annaliesa said. She felt the need to clarify herself, aware her statement was confusing. “This might be what’s drawing in Drakon, it’s impossible to say until he turns up, but we’re fairly certain it is drawing in this Kaiju.” She tapped at the controls on the table, shifting the image to display a Kaiju.

The creature looked like a massive tortoise, though it had a long-curved neck like one of the plant-eating dinosaur toys Eric had owned as a child. That seemed almost quaint now, venerating creatures that in hindsight were far from the biggest things to stalk the Earth.

“This is the Kaiju known to most as Tortolos. A name chosen by a news anchor that caught on, one I’m personally not a fan of. Now we know what we’re looking for we know that this signal started just over four days ago. When it did Tortolos began to move and it’s moving directly towards New York. Normally we would wait until we could be certain before deploying hosts, but in this case, I think we can put two and two together.”

“Ok, so giant monster heading towards a city and we need to stop it. Just another day at work then,” Eric said. “So, this is a separate different signal that’s drawing in another Kaiju?”

“Evidentially. We’re trawling through the records to see if there have been any other similar signals at the site of previous Kaiju attacks, but it takes a while to find the patterns. I suspect we might find more of them,” Annaliesa said.

“So, is it another Kaiju doing this?” Erin said. The important question was left unspoken, the other logical conclusion as to its source dancing in the minds of those around the table.

“We don’t know. Whilst you’re dealing with the Kaiju, I’ll be sending a ground team with you to try and track down its source. It should go without saying but they might need backup, depending on what they find. Tortolos is a 4A, still more than capable of causing plenty of carnage if he makes it to the city proper.” Annaliesa turned to face Eric. “I want you to try and keep him to the water. The Major will fly above and keep a watch from the air for any unwelcome surprises.”

“Seems like a solid plan,” Eric said, though in truth he had no idea if that was correct. He felt like he needed to contribute to the briefing in some way. “There anything I need to know about this Kaiju? Any abilities or powers?”

“We don’t know,” Annaliesa admitted. “Tortolos hasn’t shown any desire to go near human population centres until now. It seemed content to live in the depths. It was a popular Kaiju amongst children. I suppose a big tortoise would be. There’s going to be a few disappointed faces once it’s dead.”

“Great. I get to be the guy who crushes a million childhoods. Fantastic, that’s exactly the kind of thing I want to be known for.” Eric could see them now, the tears of a kid who simply didn’t understand their favourite big animal was dangerous. “Suppose it is what it is.”

“I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” Erin said. “Kids also love big dinosaurs, which is basically what you are.”

Eric shrugged. Erin had a point, but she was a giant three-headed dragon, so Eric felt she had the edge in the coolness factor. He wondered who owned the rights to his image. It had to be Auratech, the corporation had its sticky fingers in everything else. Eric had seen toys of the supposed bioconstructs before and now that just seemed morbid. Somewhere on the planet, a child would be playing with an action figure of a real person who had died protecting people, only for those same people to never know.

“Dropship C is waiting for you on the runway. You should reach the city a few hours before Tortolos does, so you’ll have time to prepare. Get some rest and such on the flight,” Annaliesa said.

“I do need to charge Aura first,” Eric said, pointing to the F-19 on his arm.

“Yes, I am below my maximum capacity,” the AI added, a nervous twinge in his voice.

“There are chargers on the plane,” Erin whispered, leaning slightly closer to Eric as she did.

“Right. Obviously.” Eric felt daft, that was such an obvious thing to include on a dropship. He wasn’t really worried, Aura hadn’t been charged for weeks at this point, his normal operations draining only the barest amount of power. Being in Kaiju form added up, of course, but without the extreme toll of bonding with a new host it seemed like the AI could run for a month or two without issue.

Eric understood why Aura was eager to recharge though. He had nearly shut down completely. For the computer program, it had to be as close to a near-death experience as he could get. Eric suspected that it wasn’t something the AI would have cared about before freeing itself from Auratech control. Along with its newfound personally, freedoms Aura had developed a much more human personality.

“If we’ve got a few hours lead time, can I grab a shower and a change of clothes?” Eric said. He was vaguely aware that whilst his stamina and strength had improved, he had still sweated profusely during his training. Seeing as he had been at it for twelve hours straight, he had to stink. He couldn’t imagine any superhero dropping in to save New York smelling of anything other than cologne, and Eric was the closest thing to a superhero that the world had. “These are a bit ripe.”

“Make it quick,” Erin said, turning away from the table. “That’s probably a good idea though.” She tugged at the collar of her t-shirt and from the way her face wrinkled she needed the shower as much as Eric did. “Meet me at the runway in half-hour.”

Chapter Twenty

The engines of the dropship whined as the aircraft idled on the runway. Eric still found it an impressive looking piece of kit. The sleek angled black made it look like an ancient arrowhead, a weapon dragged up from the past to save the future. Considering Eric’s suspicions about where Auratech had gotten its technology and that the dropship featured a single shot maser cannon hidden in its belly, that was possibly the truth. Eric was glad to have it on his side, fighting Tortolos would mean taking on his largest Kaiju yet and he would need all the help he could get. Erin would be circling overhead but relying on her strength didn’t seem like the smartest move. Eventually, Eric would have to deploy on solo missions where that help simply wouldn’t be available.

“Ready?” Erin said, causing Eric to jump slightly as she appeared behind him. The marine moved with a kind of purposeful gait, her every step placed to make the least noise. It wasn’t something she did consciously, years of training embedding itself in her subconscious. She had changed clothes, adopting the same black combat gear as when Eric had first met her.

“As I can be.” Eric kept looking forward, his eyes locked on the dropship. “Don’t think I’ll ever truly be ready for these missions.”

“Good. That would mean you were complacent. From experience that’s the kind of thing that can make missions go wrong very quickly.” Erin watched a squad of soldiers jogging across the tarmac towards the aircraft. “Hopefully those folks can find whatever is sending the signal and put a stop to it.”

“Hopefully it’s not a Kaiju. We could do without having to fight two of them at the same time.”

“Well, who knows. The fact that there is a signal at all is a bit of a revelation, really. You think it was…lunch worth?” Erin said. Her words chosen to sound like nonsense to any listening ears.

“No idea, but it wouldn’t surprise me.” Eric stretched his arms. He hadn’t gone for the full combat loadout that Erin had, it didn’t seem worth it. Instead, he wore a pair of black combat trousers and a simple polo shirt with a heavy jacket. When he transformed his clothes vanished anyway. He tried not to think about that. Aura had said once he was still physically present just inside Eric’s body and that implied the same was true of his clothes. The idea of his jacket floating around inside his oversized liver or something similar wasn’t something that Eric was keen on. “Did you speak to the others before they left?”

“I did, yeah.” Erin had been tasked with taking the other hosts off base to where they couldn’t be overheard and showing them the images from the Lost Earth. The intent wasn’t just to key the others into what was going on, but to also free the AI within their F-19’s from corporate control. Removing Auratech’s hand from the equation was a good idea and the newly freed AI had the common sense to maintain the illusion, feeding fake reports back to their former masters. “They’re on board with the uh, surprise party.”

“Good. Glad to hear it. You know, I always wanted to go to New York. Not like this though.”

“Well, if things go according to plan you’re not going to. We can’t drop over the city because the transformation will be spotted. We need to drop in over the ocean and swim or fly the rest of the way. If we’ve got enough time sometimes we’ll ship a big fake container for us to pop out of, but that would be cutting it way too tight.” Erin smiled as she stepped ahead of Eric. “It’s the big swim for you. Come on, they’ll be waiting for us.”

As Eric drew closer, the engines of the aircraft swapped from a whine to a roar, the plane readying itself for take-off. The main doors at the rear were closed, the only way in a small set of stairs that ran up part of the hull that had unfurled. Standing in the doorway was a man wearing a black flight suit, the logo of the KRT emblazoned on the breast. A helmet sat atop his head, a mop of curly blonde hair creeping out from beneath. The pilot—and it was obvious that was what he was— was wearing sunglasses, even beneath the light-diffusing visor of his helmet.

“Everything ready, John,” Erin said, nodding at the pilot.

“That it is, Ma’am. We’re eager to get back in the air, show these Kaiju a thing or two,” John said. He was the same pilot who had carried Eric on his first mission, and John nodded at Eric in recognition. “Cannon is charged, fuel is loaded. Would love to get one of those mark two guns installed though. It felt like all us flyboys did was tickle that thing that attacked here.”

“I’m sure you’ll get something soon,” Erin said, tapping the pilot on the shoulder as she walked past. “They were talking about trying to make those things more mobile.”

John swung in behind Erin, following her up the steps into the plane. “It’s the power drain that’s the problem. The battery on the cannon we have barely holds enough charge for a single shot as is. New better cannon means bigger battery, which means changes to the plane and that has knock-on effects for flight time, range, all that kind of thing.”

“No clue, honestly,” Erin said, taking a seat. “That’s why I joined the Marines, always preferred boats to planes.”

“How do you feel about seaplanes?” Eric said, choosing a folding chair opposite Erin.

“Confused, but it's easy to confuse a marine.”

“Right, well, strap in, because we’ll take off immediately. One trip to New York coming up,” John said, stepping towards the open door to the cockpit. Within his co-pilot was already flicking switches and turning dials. “Can’t say I know any Broadway shows to catch whilst we’re there.”

“Shame we’ll have to settle for grabbing pizza and bagels,” Eric said, the two foodstuffs the only cliché about New York that sprang to mind.

“Oh, that would be good actually, pity we can’t land,” John said, snapping his fingers in annoyance. “Now I’m hungry, and trust me the inflight meals on this airline, not good. Ok, we’ll be wheels up in a minute. Buckle up.” He vanished into the cockpit, the door locking behind him.

“Weird guy,” Eric said. He reached above him and unhooked a headset from the wall slipping the metal band over his head. “I don’t think I’m ever going to get used to what comes next.”

“Flying on a plane?” Erin said as she slipped on her own headset and tightened the buckles on her seatbelt.

“No, I mean the bit at the end. Jumping out of a plane without a parachute.”

“Ha, right yeah. You kind of do, get used to it I mean. You do anything enough times and it's second nature, even leaping from a plane. It’s just like being a Kaiju. I’ve seen you move; you’re using your tail more and remembering you have claws and fangs. You adapt.”

“I guess you’re right,” Eric said. He knew Erin was on to something, over the past few months he had been thrown into one crazy scenario after the next, and Eric found that he was proud of how he had risen to the challenge. To think a mailroom clerk was battling to save humanity was humbling.

“I’m always right, that’s why they put me in charge, honey.” Occasionally just how Texan Erin was crept through.

“All that southern wit and charm?”

“Something like that.”

Eric felt the plane begin to move, the engines screaming to life as it launched itself down the runway. His stomach twisted as the plane turned skywards, rising into the air with incredible grace. Eric could feel the aircraft levelling out, the craft settling into its cruising altitude quickly. He had spent some time reading up on the dropships, or at least the unclassified information on them. They were impressive planes, capable of reaching extreme heights, a consequence of their original design as stealth aircraft.

“So, this thing, this…big tortoise, if it wasn’t for this signal, it would have left us alone? And by us, I mean humans,” Eric said, feeling the need to clarify. It was strange, every day he felt more and more apart from humanity.

“This particular Kaiju has no recorded attacks on humans, either on land or at sea. Furthermore, it’s been observed changing its course to actively avoid human ships. This change in its behaviour is highly unusual,” Aura said, butting in before Erin could answer. “The odds of every Kaiju attack being prefaced by a signal is statistically unlikely, but it is also possible that several attacks could have been entirely avoided if the signal is a recurring phenomenon.”

Eric’s eyes glanced to the squad of soldiers sitting further down the plane. They had already been there when he had boarded, the men eager to get to work. In a way, theirs was the more difficult job. At least Eric knew what he was looking for, the soldiers only had the rough area the signal was coming from and had no idea what to expect when they found it.

“Interestingly there are some theories that postulate that some Kaiju are not inherently hostile and that some might be herbivores or scavengers at best,” Aura continued, eager to display his knowledge, “though truth be told our understanding of Kaiju digestive systems is lacking. We know they do eat, but it’s believed essence changes the vast calory intact they would require.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it, essence makes things weird. I’m just trying to work out how I’m going to fight a big turtle. Or a tortoise, or whatever it is,” Eric said.

“Strictly speaking all tortoises are turtles, the name refers to species of turtle that live almost entirely on land. Of course, that would make Tortolos more a true turtle, considering it lives at sea, but the creature has legs rather than flippers, so the tortoise name stuck.”

“Thanks. I didn’t actually need to know that. It was more rhetorical than anything else, Aura.”

“Oh. Then perhaps some actual advice might be useful. I assume that the shell will be hardened, but the creature will need to expose its softer parts if it wishes to fight. You should strike then. If it retreats into its shell, then it can’t harm us as much as we can’t harm it,” Aura said.

“That’s…actually a good idea. Hopefully, it’ll only take a few hits from my good attacks. How tough could a turtle be anyway if it needs a shell?”

“Word to the wise,” Erin said, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning forward. “Don’t underestimate any Kaiju. You’ve seen what they can do. Aura’s plan sounds solid, but you won’t know until you’re actually fighting the thing. Keep your wits about you and prepare for anything.”

“Keep my wits about me? You got any more generic phrases you want to throw in? Expect the unexpected maybe?”

“I mean, that is kind of what I’m saying,” Erin said, holding up her hands. “Kaiju can shoot lasers from their eyes or launch venomous barbs or all number of different things.”

Eric’s drill punch came to mind. There he was summoning a weapon made of essence, one that was centred around a spike of bone. That was certainly above and beyond what any normal animal was capable of. “Yeah, I get it what you’re saying,” he said as his eyes drifted to the back door. “Guess there’s only one way to find out.”

***

The air rushing in buffeted Eric, slamming against him with all its tempestuous might. Through the open doorway, he could see the ocean beneath him, the water rushing by quickly as a torrent of blue. The dropship had brought itself down as close to the surface as possible, the water rippling from the thrust of its engines.

Eric was hanging onto the webbing along the wall of the plane, readying himself to leap from the craft. He had done it twice before, but he still found himself hesitating. It was a natural reaction, one that reminded him he was still human.

“Now, the latest update puts the target Kaiju to the southwest. When you jump it should be only a few miles away. Aura can keep you on track but you’re going to want to move quickly.” Erin was yelling over the noise as Eric had removed his headset ready to leap. “You’re going to go in ten, ready?”

“I guess?”

“I’ll take that was a yes,” Erin said, not hearing Eric’s words over the noise. She began to count down silently, indicating how long was left on her fingers.

Eric rocked back and forth, ready to launch himself through the open doorway. He watched Erin’s countdown as he did, choosing to lock his eyes on her fingers rather than the rushing water.

“Three,” Erin said, making the final countdown audible. “Two. One!”

Eric rushed forward, leaping out into the air. He tumbled awkwardly for a moment as the wind struck him before righting himself, his arms spread outwards like he had seen skydivers on television do. Light filled the world around him, his body shifting as its bottled Kaiju essence was unleashed.

He struck the water awkwardly, his scaled form belly-flopping into the ocean. It took Eric a moment to get his bearings, swirling about in the water as he tried to right himself. A shadow passed overhead, Erin having followed him from the back of the plane, her Kaiju body swooping over the ocean. Not for the first time, Eric found himself jealous of Erin’s ability to fly.

“Ok, which way, Aura?” he said. It had been made abundantly clear to Eric that battling the Kaiju as far from the city as possible was the best course of action.

“Turn forty-five degrees to your left,” the AI said, his host moving as he instructed. “If we proceed directly forward in this direction, we should catch up with the target Kaiju. Make haste, we will need to move quickly to catch it.”

“Right, got it.” Eric swished his tail, propelling himself through the water. He wondered if this was how Drakon spent most of his time, lurking beneath the ocean. Somewhere in the great endless blue the most dangerous Kaiju in existence dwelled, hiding from eyes and sensors alike. It was a neat trick, if anything the sheer size of Drakon should have made him easier to detect, so Eric assumed some unknown Kaiju power allowed the beast to mask his presence.

Being back in the water felt good. It came so naturally, every flick of his tail as easy as taking a step. In the grand scheme of things, he had only spent a tiny fraction of his life as an aquatic monster, but to an outside observer, it would look like he had spent all of it beneath the waves. For those back in the command centre in Greenland tracking his movements, Eric was swimming at incredible speed. For Eric himself it was difficult to gauge, there was only open water around him and with nothing for his mind to fix onto it was impossible to judge his speed.

“Any idea how close we are?” Eric said, knowing that without the interference of the Lost Earth Aura could detect the essence of the enemy Kaiju.

“Approximately four miles. We should be able to see the target momentarily.”

Narrowing his eyes, Eric tried to focus. Aura was right, there was a blurry shape ahead of him, a greenish blob that was difficult to see through the distorting effect of the water. It was getting bigger rapidly, Eric outpacing the creature.

As it drew closer, the Kaiju was a strange thing to look at. The hologram hadn’t done justice to how ungainly it was. The creature had its long next held perfectly straight in front of itself like a needle, whilst its four legs were held at right angles to its body, the creature paddling awkwardly through the water with them at the same time.

The Tortolos looked to Eric almost like a plesiosaur, a kind of ancient sea creature that lived alongside the dinosaurs, except with the addition of a shell and four stubby legs in place of flippers. The thing didn’t look dangerous, aside from its size. In fact, to Eric, it looked like the kind of monster that would normally befriend children in a movie. Taking it out definitely wasn’t going to make him popular.

“How long until it reaches New York at this pace?”

“One hour six minutes,” Aura said. “We should intercept it with more than sufficient distance from the city.”

“Good, we don’t want to cause more trouble than we hav-”

Eric cut himself off as he bolted to one side, a beam of green energy rushing past him. The creature up ahead had swung its neck back with a rapid snap and launched off the assault with almost no warning.

The Kaiju fired another beam, bubbles forming around the edges of its mouth as the water boiled from the force. It kept swimming forward as it unleashed shot after shot, its course unchanging.

Eric spiralled in the water trying his hardest to evade the barrage. The Tortolos was unleashing its fury at a rapid pace, and Eric focused entirely on dodging. He knew all Kaiju had limits even if their powers defied all logic. His adversary couldn’t keep up its assault, not indefinity. If it wanted to shake Eric it would have to stop and fight eventually.

“Avoid being struck by these beams if at all possible. They seem to be highly radioactive,” Aura said.

“Yeah! Working on it!” Eric was grateful for Aura’s presence and advice most of the time, but right now wasn’t ideal. Focus was important, one mistake would cause a beam to crash into Eric, no doubt damaging his essence field. “How many of these things does this have!”

“Impossible to know,” Aura replied. Despite moving closer to seeming human, the AI was still sometimes prone to being too literal.

Eric knew he could return fire, in theory at least anyway. His newly unlocked lightning breath was a powerful weapon, he had seen the real Drakon blast apart entire city blocks with it on the news. Beneath the surface of the ocean, launching a bolt of condensed lightning didn’t seem like a smart idea, the power would diffuse instantly into the water.

There was another option, one taken not from Drakon, but from his ancient rival. He lifted his hand, a spike of bone bursting from Eric’s forearm just above his wrist. The constant evasion he was having to do was making aiming difficult, pink light starting to swirl in the water, the energy copying the twisting spike. A drill was forming, a weapon that could lash out at the Kaiju ahead.

Gripping his extended hand with his free limb, Eric allowed himself a moment to aim, risking himself being blasted by the constant beams. He narrowed his eyes, his reptilian brows raising as he focused.

The drill launched, bubbles flying from it as it twisted through the water. It moved with incredible speed, every turn pulling it along through the ocean. It wasn’t an enormous thing, no bigger than the close-range punch version, but it was at least something.

The Tortolos tried to escape, listing slowly to one side, at least relative to how quickly both Kaiju were moving forward. Despite their motions appearing plodding, the sheer size of each monster meant that with every movement they crossed great distances, but relative to each other it wasn’t enough.

The energy drill crashed into the shell of the Tortolos, sparks flying into the water as piercing weapon met thick defence. The noise was horrifying, a high-pitched squealing like a dentist’s drill. The drill fragmented into a glowing cloud, spreading outwards into the water as its power faded. A deep divot had been carved into the deep green shell; the attack not as effective as Eric would have liked.

The Tortolos reacted, but not in the way that Eric expected. Rather than turn and fight, the creature stopped paddling, its legs shifting so that they pointed directly backwards instead of to the side. It drew its long neck in, leaving only its stubby fanged head peeking from its shell. Green light began to build near the base of its feet, the glow the same colour as its radioactive beams.

As one, the balls of energy exploded into fearsome pillars, four great destructive lances shooting out into the water. Eric dodged them easily, the slow build-up of power enough for him to get pre-emptively clear. It was instantly apparent to him that the dangerous display wasn’t an attack on him, the shot far too obvious. Instead, the Kaiju’s actions had been for another reason, the blast sending it rocketing forward in the water, accelerating away at incredible speed.

“Okay. What the hell?” Eric said. “You saw that right? The damn thing launched itself like a rocket! That’s…crazy.”

“Basic physics states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The creature is just exercising that concept in a rather literal way,” Aura said. “It’s already out of range of my sensors. At the speed, it was travelling it will be at the city in minutes.”

Eric couldn’t help but feel it was his fault. His attack on the monster had forced it to increase its speed. Launching itself had to be taxing, otherwise, it wouldn’t have been swimming using a less fantastical method, to begin with. Now he had to explain to Erin just what had gone wrong.

“We need to get to the city, as fast as possible. It’s a pity I can’t copy the damn thing and just send myself flying down there.” A thought crept into Eric’s mind, one that would be embarrassing, but would at least get him to New York faster. “I need you to send a message to Erin, Aura.”

“Of course.”

“I’m going to need a lift.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Staff Sergeant Jack Wurther was an experienced soldier. He had served all over the world, Syria, Afghanistan, Sudan, and now his career had taken him to the heart of New York City. Despite his years of fighting the empty streets of a city never ceased to unsettle him. Even during the worst battles, there had been people moving between buildings, but the evacuation of New York had left the city a ghost town. It was like walking through a horror movie.

“Ok, ditch the chutes and get moving people,” he said, dropping his parachute pack from his shoulders. “We’ll start at the dead centre of the target area and then work our way out.”

“Do we have any better idea of what we’re looking for, Sergeant?” said Sergeant Patterson. Like the rest of the squad, he had been plucked from his unit and assigned to the KRT, the small group of combat personnel at the organisation’s disposal drawn from all over the world. Patterson was a US Army Ranger, whilst Jack had been with the SAS. The rest of the team included people from the Spetsnaz, the Sayeret Matkal and even the PLA Marines. Choosing experienced operators did create the unusual scenario of having a relatively flat rank structure, the term Sergeant losing almost all meaning.

“Hell if I know. Some kind of science fiction rubbish probably. You know how it is. Keep your guards up. The Kaiju hasn’t hit the city yet, hopefully, it doesn’t if the big lads do their part, but we don’t know what we’re dealing with. Could easily be a big nest of nasties drawing that thing in.” Jack checked his weapon quickly, then tucked it tight to his chest. “Personally, I don’t plan on becoming some beast’s Sunday lunch.”

“There’s no chance of that,” Chen said, hoisting his heavy machinegun up to prove his point. His thick Bejing accent belied a hatred that underpinned his voice. China had been hit hard by the Kaiju multiple times, and the people from there held no love for the creatures. “Let them try.”

Overhead the dropship circled, staying on station as long as it could to support both the soldiers and the Kaiju. On the horizon the shadow of Erin swirled, her great winged form visible even from this distance. If things went according to plan this was going to be a straightforward mission.

“Let’s not wish that kind of thing on ourselves,” Jack said. “Ok, Chen and Volkov take point. Quicker we find this thing the quicker we can get moving to the rendezvous.” The dropship wasn’t going to stay in the skies above forever. It still had enough fuel for a few hours but eventually, it was going to need to land at a nearby airstrip. It would be a long walk from the city but landing directly at LaGuardia or JFK was a bad idea just in case the Kaiju made it to the city.

Fishing a tablet from a pouch on his vest, Jack opened a map of the city with a few taps. Overlaid on it was a large circle, the area from which the essence signal was coming. The parachute drop into the city had been as accurate as he could have expected, and Jack expected the best. There was only a block or so to the centre of the signal, and logic dictated that was where they were most likely to find the source.

“Couple of those little robots Auratech make would have made this quicker,” Levy said. She was the fifth and final member of the squad, bringing up the rear with her rifle tucked in her arms and a javelin launcher on her back. Category one Kaiju weren’t immune to firearms, but there existed a range of sizes within that window, and the higher end took some serious firepower to put down. “They can probably move faster than we can.”

“Then we would have to trust them to do the job properly,” Jack said. “People have been trying to make ground-based drones a thing for years, never panned out well before. Flying above, yeah, it’s just a fancy RC plane then, but infantry combat takes split-second decisions, something a robot just can’t do. Or even a human piloting them back at base, the delay there makes a difference.”

“I just think having some extra firepower is always a good thing. Those things are mounting fifty cals. Have you seen the footage from England? They scored some kills during that attack.”

“More than you at least, Levy,” Volkov said in his thick Russian accent. “You better hope we find monsters so you can even the score.”

“I got that pack of parasites when that car exploded, that should have put me well ahead,” Levy protested.

“Ah, that only counts as one, I’m afraid. You took a shot, and a monster died, that’s one point!”

“If that’s how we’re working it, then I’m going to have to deduct points from you because of how you spray and pray,” Jack said with a smirk. His team had a small side bet going on about who could kill the most monsters by the end of the year. The prize was only a few dollars, but the bragging rights were priceless. “Let’s see, if one shot and one dead monster is one point, then thirty shots and one dead has to mean one-thirtieth of a point.”

“Fine, fine, they all count,” Volkov said, aware he was beaten. He raised a hand, bringing the group to a sudden stop. “Movement ahead,” he whispered, going into a low crouch.

The squad spread out, each taking up hidden positions behind the cars that had been left abandoned at the side of the road. They held their weapons at the ready, though in truth none of them expected there to be any danger. Category one monsters let their bigger cousins go first, and the Kaiju in the ocean hadn’t reached the city yet. The movement up ahead had to be someone who had avoided the evacuation order. It wasn’t uncommon for there to be a handful of people taking the opportunity to loot despite the incredible danger they were in.

Jack peeked around the corner of the black SUV he had chosen as cover. Volkov was right, there was movement ahead, but it wasn’t what he had expected. Unless civilian looters had taken a strange turn in tactics, full hazmat suits seemed off the table. There were two people clad in the bright yellow rubber outfits, a large metal box being carried between them. They had unloaded the box from a large truck, and from what Jack could see there was a dozen more inside the container.

“That’s not normal,” Chen said.

“You did say we didn’t know what to expect. They’re headed in the same direction we are. This has to be linked to the signal in some way,” Levy said. “It’s too big a coincidence otherwise.”

“Agreed,” Jack said. “Chen, Volkov, Patterson, follow them but keep your distance, stay stealthy. Levy and I will check out the contents of the truck.”

“Got it, Sergeant,” Patterson replied. He began to skulk forward, the other men following him closely.

“Ground team, this is Watcher One, do you read?” The voice crackled over the radio; the words transmitted from the dropship above.

“This is Wurther, I read you Watcher one.”

“We’ve got real trouble, Jack,” John said from the safety of his cockpit. “That Kaiju is about to make landfall in the next few minutes. You can expect some flooding of the dock areas, and probably some category ones. It might be a good idea to scrub the mission.”

“Negative Watcher One. We’ve found something going on down here at least. Don’t worry, we can handle ourselves.”

“Ok, we’ll stay on point for as long as we can. We might have to break off to try and slow the Kaiju down though.”

“I thought this thing was an hour away.” Jack crept forward towards the open truck. From the reflection in the wing mirrors, he could see that there was someone in the driver’s seat, so he adjusted his angle of approach, aware that if the driver was paying attention, he could easily see him as well. “Levy, get the driver.”

“You know how it works, Jack. Some weird power or other such nonsense. I stopped worrying about what made sense with these things a long time ago. Good luck down there, Watcher One out.”

Jack and Levy surged forward, the Israeli commando sprinting down the side of the truck towards the cabin. She tore open the door, catching the driver off guard. Grabbing his arm Levy pulled the man from the cabin, squeezing his neck with her arm even through the thick rubber of his has-mat suit. It took a few moments for him to fall unconscious, his slumbering form pushed back into his seat.

Jack hopped into the open truck, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. There was four more of the heavy metal boxes, each made of thick steel and sealed with robust latches. Jack crouched down, flicking open the latches on the nearest box and lifting the lid.

He didn’t know what he was looking at. Within the box was a lining of thick foam, the centre of the dark grey substance cut to fit a long metal cylinder. Blue glowing bands ran around the metal rod, the light pulsing slightly like a heartbeat.

“What have we got?” Levy said, stepping up into the truck.

“Science fiction rubbish. This has to be linked to the signal somehow, right?” Jack put a finger to his earpiece, activating his radio. “Chen, we’ve found some kind of devices, got anything on your end?”

“I do, Sergeant. The people in the hazmat are working on a machine of some kind. They’re slotting what I assume is one of your devices into it. This has to be the dead centre of the signal. I think we can rule out a Kaiju doing it.”

“Great. Amazing. This is probably the worst possible outcome. At least we could shoot Kaiju first and worry about causing a problem later.” Jack let out a long sigh. He should have known that something was going to go wrong. The Kaiju reaching the city was bad enough, now he had to deal with rogue scientists luring Kaiju in on purpose. “Ground team to Watcher One, you read me?”

“Sure do ground team. We were just about to radio you, that Kaiju will be making landfall momentarily,” Jack said, his voice crackling over the line. Despite all the digital equipment out there for making calls, the humble radio was still king during a crisis.

“Understood, but I need you to patch me into the satellite uplink. I need to talk to the Doc.”

***

Tom dropped the tablet onto the table, sliding it across proudly towards Annaliesa. It wasn’t necessary, he could have simply sent the information to the expensive hologram projecting furniture with a simple swipe of his finger, but that didn’t have the same gravitas he required.

“What am I looking at here?” Annaliesa said, picking up the tablet. Listed on it were long strings of numbers she hadn’t seen since her college years spent searching the oceans for whales. “Co-ordinates?”

“Every one of those listings is a place, and time, for an essence signal similar to the one in New York. Once the computer found the second one, I was able to alter the search algorithm and speed the whole process up. Not every Kaiju attack has a signal, but every signal does have a Kaiju attack if that makes sense. The whole thing stinks, honestly,” Tom said, his accent bouncing along in time with his words.

“So, something is luring Kaiju to certain spots?”

“Not just certain spots. Certain events, if you catch my drift? For example,” he leant across the table, pointing near the top of the list, “this one is our recent attack on the facility. Our big sloth friend is being dissected downstairs. Sure was convenient that our corporate friends finished fitting those cannons they were so desperate to test. And this one here, that’s the attack on Dover, where they ran the field trials on those robots.”

“I certainly hope you’re not insinuating our generous donors are up to no good,” Annaliesa said loudly. She knew her sarcasm would come across clear, but she didn’t care. She had proof now, solid tangible proof that Auratech was up to something dangerous. If they were luring Kaiju to certain places, then they were risking real human lives.

“Every single one of those coincides with something related to Auratech. Most of them are in line with software updates to the F-19s, but a lot of them also line up with big purchases of maser cannons and other tech by governments. I checked. Every time without fail a few weeks after a country makes an announcement about receiving new gear to defend their people, boom! A Kaiju turns up, along with a signal.” Every sentence leaving Tom’s mouth was met with wild gesticulating from his hands. “What better way to convince people to buy your gear than being able to point at a neighbour a say that he had your stuff and survived.”

“What about Drakon, do these line up with his attacks at all?”

“Some of them, but not all. It looks Drakon will attack without them. What I have noticed is that when Drakon does follow a signal, the rhythm of it is slightly different. It turns out there are actually different variations of signal. I guess it depends on what you’re trying to draw in.”

“I can’t believe someone would summon Drakon on purpose. What’s the point of that? It’s hardly going to sell more weapons if they don’t work,” Annaliesa said. The whole idea struck her as insane. She knew Auratech was ultimately only in it for the money and that they were using the KRT as an excuse to further their research, but she never thought they would resort to something like this.

“Ah, I hate to say it, Doc, but you’re wrong there. It’s like my mate Stevo, right? His missies was cheating on him but he wouldn’t believe us, so my other mate Steve, totally different guy to Stevo, slept with his missies and showed him some pictures he took. He believed us then.”

“What?” Annaliesa was totally confused. “Steve, Stevo, I don’t follow?”

“What I’m getting at,” Tom said, loosening his tie slightly, “is that sometimes you need to inflict a little pain on someone before they see the light. Especially if you’re selling weapons. If someone says no, and then they get trashed by a giant monster, well then, they’re the idiots, right?”

“Ma’am, there’s a transmission coming in for you from the ground team on the satellite link,” said the scientist in charge of communications. “Shall I put it through?”

Annaliesa nodded. “Please do.” A hologram sprang to life above the table, a line appearing that would oscillate in time with the message. “This is command, go ahead.”

“Wurther here. We’ve located the source of the signal, Doc. There’s some kind of device being powered by these cylinder things. There’s also a bunch of people in hazmat suits running the show. Pretty sure they don’t realise that the Kaiju was getting here so soon. It just made landfall.”

“That’s way ahead of schedule,” Annaliesa said.

“Yeah, well it’s here. How do you want us to proceed?”

“Secure the transmitter, we need it intact. No fatalities, Wurther. Take the people there as well if you can, but the priority is that device. Understood?”

“Crystal clear, Ma’am.”

“There’s just one important thing!” Tom rushed to Annaliesa’s side, gripping the tablet tightly. “We didn’t get to it, but it’s really, really important. That different signal, the kind that draws Drakon in. That’s what’s going off in New York, right now. It’s clearly working on this big bloody turtle, but there’s a chance that the big lad might turn up. You need to secure that transmitter and shut it down.”

“Mein Gott! You should have led with that! Shut it down, Staff Sergeant!” Annaliesa turned towards the communications desk. “We need to get a message out to the hosts right now. They need to know what might be coming!”

***

Tortolos rose from the water, stomping onto the docks and crashing through the containers held there. It crushed steel beneath its feet, the lumbering beast rushing as fast as its stubby legs would carry it. Its energy beams had sputtered out as it reached the bay, the Kaiju’s attempt at escaping its attacker seemingly successful.

It could hear the call coming from the human nest ahead of it. The strange constructs the tiny creatures insisted on building were in its way, but the Tortolos didn’t care. It had a crippling need to reach the call, the pulsing essence drawing it forward. Reaching that point mattered more than anything else. The Kaiju was bigger than the concrete spires around it, though great towers rose in the distance taller than even it. It chose one of the narrow gaps between them as its route, stomping out of the dock and into the street, cars flattened like pancakes underfoot.

The road turned, twisting away from the direction the signal was coming from. Changing course wasn’t acceptable to the beast, so it summoned more of its power from within. The flight from the hostile Kaiju had drained its strength, it would take time before its full might would return, but it was enough to deal with the building before it.

A bolt launched from its mouth, a single orb-like blast rather than the concentrated beam it had levelled at its pursuer. The shot crashed into the side of a six-story apartment building, the structure exploding in a storm of brick and dust.

The Tortolos squeezed through the gap that formed, the remnants of the building crumbling beneath its feet whilst its shell cut into the sides of the structures next to it. It stopped for a moment as its shell got stuck, the Kaiju pulling itself free with a jolt, tearing down the buildings it had jammed against. A cloud of dust billowed around it, making the Kaiju look like a nightmare emerging from the shadows.

The monster bellowed, crying out audibly to the essence drawing it in. There was no reply, and the bizarre enormous tortoise began to move again, picking up its slow pace. The desire to reach the cry was just too great, the pulsing triggering the same part of its brain that told it when its spawn were in danger. With another roar it continued its rampage, heading deeper into New York.

***

Chen wasn’t happy. He was rarely a happy man as it was but rounding up a cluster of angry scientists wasn’t what he wanted to be doing, not when a Kaiju had just made landfall in New York. He knew that parasites would be dropping off the bottom of its shell, tiny mites to the giant creature but deadly predators to anyone unlucky enough to be left in the city. To Chen, they were things for him to hunt, Kaiju upon which he could unleash his pent-up desire for vengeance.

Babysitting a bunch of yellow-clad idiots that refused to talk to him wasn’t something he enjoyed doing. The men—all of which were wearing outfits that lacked any identifying marks—hadn’t expected to have been interrupted by three soldiers bursting out from behind cover. They had no weapons to defend themselves with so had surrendered immediately.

“Good job, Chen,” Jack said, striding down the street with his rifle resting on his shoulder. “Now we just need to shut down this thing. It’s some kind of Kaiju luring transmitter.”

“That sounds like a damn stupid idea,” Patterson said, tightening a cable tie around the last of the scientists.

“No arguments here.” Jack walked towards the construct. It looked like an old-school satellite dish pointing directly upwards. It reminded him of a maser cannon almost. In the centre of it was one of the cylinders, the device rotating slowly around.

“How do we shut this down then?” Levy said. “It doesn’t look like the simplest thing in the world.”

“Easy,” Jack said, raising his rifle. “It needs those cylinders to run, right?” He pointed his weapon at the centre of the machine and fired off a quick burst.

The cylinder shattered, metal blowing open from the impact. Horrid smelling slime sloughed out from within, a pink blob splattering onto the ground. An eye stared up at Jack, blinking at him as its gelatinous body throbbed in anger.

“Uh, what the hell is that?” Patterson said. The blob wobbled in response to his words, reacting to the sound.

Jack lowered his weapon and fired a shot, the round punching through the eye. “It’s dead now whatever it was. Come on, that thing is probably still coming,” he said pointing over his shoulder at the giant tortoise in the distance.

A shadow swept overhead, casting the squad and their prisoners into darkness. It was from a tell-tale set of wings, Erin’s Kaiju body soaring above them. Her heads were angled downwards, her mouths clamping tightly onto something smaller. She was carrying Eric, the entire arrangement ungainly and awkward.

“Reinforcements are here it seems,” Chen said.

“Yeah, and this place is about to turn into a warzone,” Jack replied. “Levy, Chen, grab one of those crates from the truck, I’m assuming they're filled with more of those…things.” He turned towards the captured scientists. “You lot on your feet. Patterson, help Volkov carry this thing. We need to get as far from here as possible.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eric landed with a crash, his knees bending slightly as the road cracked beneath his weight. Erin had released him from her mouths as she swooped above the Tortolos, dropping Eric like a living bomb. It wasn’t the most elegant method of getting to the city, both hosts hoped that no one had been recording the moment. Erin had looked like a mother cat carrying a naughty kitten back to the nest.

The Tortolos let out a long bellow, a cry of defiance at the Kaiju that had landed before it. The new arrival had blocked its path towards where the signal had been coming from. The pulsing essence wave had stopped, but the monster was determined to at least check where it had been. It had followed the cry for too long to stop now.

Eric looked at the beast, the hulking thing of shell and scale. It filled the street, the top of its dark green armour poking over the buildings. For the first time, Eric realised just how tall he had become. It was easy to forget when he was standing in the dull grey of the training arena. Now he had buildings and cars for frame of reference he noticed he had grown over most of the buildings around him. In the distance, the skyscrapers of central Manhattan loomed, and he was still shorter than those, but here, in the streets of Brooklyn, he felt like a real Kaiju for the first time. He placed a hand on a nearby apartment block, straightening himself ready to fight.

“The major says she will be landing shortly, once she finds a suitable space for herself,” Aura said. “We should wait for her before we engage.”

“No. We can take this thing. This is what we’ve been training for Aura,” Eric said, cracking his scaled knuckles. “We’ll stop this thing and be back at base in time to lunch.”

“Yes! Crush them! Prove you are stronger,” the echo of Drakon said. The voice had chosen an annoying time to return, Eric didn’t need it distracting him as he fought.

“No! Run! Flee! It’s dangerous,” the prowler added. The other voices had become less frequent as Drakon had grown stronger, its increasing strength having a suppressing effect. The prowler had felt strongly enough about the peril to risk drawing the predator’s ire.

“Stand and fight,” said a voice that Eric instantly knew was the Tarian. Something about how it held itself seemed almost regal. “Defend your people.”

“See, Aura? You’re outvoted,” Eric said. He began to walk forward, closing the gap between himself and the Tortolos.

“I was unaware we were operating a democracy now,” the AI replied.

“Only when it benefits me.”

The Tortolos began to stomp forward, growls escaping its jaws as its head swayed from side to side. It knew that the beast before it was the same one that had attacked it beneath the waves. Somehow it had been caught, its pursuer finding a similar burst of speed from somewhere. There was no running now, its attacker was standing between it and where the signal had been coming from. The beast considered its options. Its beams had been spent, at least for now, but it still had some tricks left to it.

Energy built up in its maw, a bolt of power vomiting forth. The orb sailed through the air, Eric twisting about to avoid the shot. It didn’t matter, the bolt exploded in mid-air, the shockwave crashing against him.

Essence field depleted. 132/150 remaining.

“It would appear those bolts are proximity-based,” Aura said.

“Yeah, I figured!” Eric had been shaken by the hit but had kept upright on his feet. He had lost more of his essence field than he would have liked, the energy holding his Kaiju form together depleting with every blow. It was an advantage that the natural Kaiju had over him, they could keep fighting to their last whilst Eric’s body would give up before that point.

Eric was sick of being shot at by a giant turtle, the realisation of how ridiculous his life had become simmering at the back of his mind. It was time to show his opponent that it wasn’t the only Kaiju that could unleash bolts of fury.

Focusing his mind, Eric summoned his lightning breath from within himself. He could feel the energy start to pulse across his body, small arcs of power leaping from scale to scale as the electricity built. It was a thousand times stronger than his lightning punch, the build-up causing every muscle to tense. Blue light crept from beneath every scale, his eyes glowing to match. It wasn’t the instant beam of the Tortolos, but something else, something stronger. Eric tilted his head back, an instinct telling him what to do. He flung his head forward and opened his maw, the energy within him rushing up his throat.

A colossal bolt of lightning lanced down the street, tendrils of energy arcing off and sparking against the roofs of cars and the sides of buildings. The bolt struck the Tortolos, the creature swinging its body to the side and taking the impact on its shell. It roared in pain as sparks flew from the bony shield, the bolt blasting a section loose in a shower of gore.

The air smelt of copper, ozone, and the tang of fresh blood. Where the energy had leapt to the buildings molten glass dripped to the ground whilst the road beneath Eric’s feet was scorched black, a spiderweb burnt into the asphalt by the incredible power leaking from him.

Eric knew an advantage when he had one. He charged forward, the Tortolos reeling from the wound he had dealt it. He swung his fist, knuckles colliding against the long neck of the Kaiju, energy bursting outwards as Eric delivered another jolt of electricity.

The Tortolos stumbled backwards as it tried to create distance between Eric and itself, crashing into a department store, its shell smashing through the glass façade and causing the floors to collapse, manakins and appliances spilling to the street below.

Eric took a step forward, summoning his drill punch, the pain of the bone spur lancing its way through his arm less each time he did it. He raised his arm ready to strike, the whir of the drill audible over the crumbling building.

Essence field depleted. 98/150 remaining.

A bolt slammed against Eric, the Tortolos launching one in desperation. It had crashed directly into Eric’s face, exploding against his scales and blinding him momentarily. The Tortolos saw its advantage, throwing its body forward and slamming the edge of its shell against Eric’s stomach.

Essence field depleted. 86/150 remaining.

“Damn thing,” Eric muttered as he tried to wipe the soot from his eyes. He had hurt the creature, he knew that, but it seemed to have an endless supply of energy projectiles it could launch at him. It made sense, otherwise, the Tortolos would have no way of defending itself, but Eric couldn’t help but feel it had the edge on him. He would need to put more essence into his attacks, their long cooldowns were limiting his capabilities.

Eric grunted as the Tortolos threw its shell against him, the creature charging forward whilst he was blinded. He lost his foot, flying backwards and crashing through an apartment block. Eric tried to roll to his feet, masonry flying around him. He emerged on the other side of the structure, only a pile of debris remaining. Erin was sure to chew him out later about destruction of property. Eric stood up, wiped his eyes, and stared down the other Kaiju, reaching up to brush the remnants of someone’s bedroom from his snout as he did.

“Nearly half of your essence field has been depleted,” Aura said. The AI knew Eric was keeping a track of it—the green bar in the corner of Eric’s vision difficult to ignore—but felt the need to mention it anyway. “It might be wise to withdraw for the moment. The Major has landed in Central Park and will be with us soon.”

Eric couldn’t help but glance in Erin’s direction. She was truly massive, easily visible over every building between them. He knew that she could end the fight quickly, but Eric was determined to prove himself. His F-19 had been passed to him by someone who had died trying to protect people he didn’t know, and Eric wasn’t going to dishonour that lineage. Life had given him another chance, one that he was determined to prove he was worth.

“We can take this thing. It’s injured pretty badly.”

“Just another eight minutes until we can fire a second blast. That hardly seems like a reasonable timeframe.”

“We have the drill shot still,” Eric said. “Plus, the two punches will be off cooldown soon. I have a plan, that section of shell that got blasted off is a weak point. If we can land hits inside there it's going right into the soft insides. A drill hit there should do it.”

“An excellent point, if perhaps one gory to imagine. I assume that the beast will not be eager to allow that.”

The Tortolos had held back, keeping its distance from Eric. That made sense, it outranged him significantly and whilst the lightning blast had created a gaping wound Eric assumed that against most Kaiju it would be an effective defence. The Tortolos had evolved a kind of attrition-based survival tactic, trading ranged shots with its opponents safe in the knowledge its shell would take the brunt. It simply hadn’t counted on coming into contact with Drakon, or at least a smaller facsimile of him.

“Tear out its heart!” roared the Drakon echo, the manifestation savouring the thrill of battle.

Eric began to move but stopped mid-step. Something was wrong, an instinct at the back of his mind demanding that he wait. The way the Tortolos held itself had changed, the beast exuding confidence it hadn’t before.

With a great heave the beast shifted its posture, lifting itself onto its hind legs, its shell held up vertically. It withdrew its long neck, it's head shifting to face forwards. It pulled in its forelimbs within the shell. It began to walk forward, shuffling awkwardly on its hind legs, the limbs held at odd angles as it waddled forward.

“Uh,” Eric said, just staring at the thing. It looked unbelievably goofy. “Not entirely sure what it’s doing? How can it fight like that?”

The Tortolos answered his question immediately. The bottom of its shell was a maze of interlocking segments. Several began to move, revealing a set of long spindly arms tucked across the Kaiju’s belly. They left trenches in the shell where they unfurled, the creature raising the hidden limbs, readying long black talons to strike.

“Ah, right. Like that. Obviously.”

“Curious. Transformational Kaiju are exceedingly rare. I’m certain the post-battle debrief will feature some fascinating insights,” Aura said.

“I’m glad you’re looking forward to it. What the hell do we do now?” The change in the Kaiju’s posture had hidden its wound at its back, making Eric’s plan significantly harder. “We need to get this thing to turn around so I can hit it.”

“Again, I must caution that we should wait for Erin to reach us. Dealing with this creature would be much easier at that point.”

The loud whine of a spinning drill filled the air as Eric summoned one around his fist, the light dancing off the buildings around him. “Nothing worth doing is ever easy,” he said, raising his arm and launching the drill at the approaching Kaiju.

The Tortolos raised its newly revealed arms, a green shimmer appearing in the air before it. The drill struck the glow, a thrumming field of energy patterned like a tortoise shell appearing as the spinning pink projectile tried to pierce it. Shifting its arms, the Kaiju sent the drill flying away, the shot boring a hole through several blocks of buildings before it vanished.

“Right. Fine. That’s how it’s going to be then,” Eric said, lowering his shoulder and charging at the Kaiju. He was taking a risk, Eric knew that. The Tortolos could easily have more of the energy barriers at its fingertips, and Eric was gambling on it having the ability on cooldown. It wasn’t a sure thing, the Kaiju had already shown it had multiple uses of its beams before they ran out.

Claws jammed into Eric’s arms as the Kaiju gripped him, either unable to protect itself with the shield or simply unwilling. It tried to plant its feet, to slow Eric’s thunderous charge, but it wasn’t enough. Eric hit the chest of the Tortolos with a thud, raising his shoulder to lift his opponent off the ground. He kept moving, rubble exploding around the two monsters as another building succumbed to their battle. Eric sneered through the pain as his opponent jammed its talons in deeper, an attempt to free itself from Eric’s attack.

Eric just kept running, the pair hitting one building after the other, cutting a swath across two blocks. The level of destruction was far beyond what was considered acceptable, but between himself and the Tortolos Eric knew they had passed that point already. What was important was taking out the Kaiju as quickly as possible. The city had been evacuated, so there was little risk of injuring anyone aside from a few stubborn holdouts.

The two finally split as they careened into a building site, a short dip in the ground enough to cause them both to tumble apart, Eric crushing a dump truck beneath him as he fell, his colossal weight flattening the otherwise impressive vehicle.

“That doesn’t seem to have done much aside from causing significant property damage,” Aura said.

Eric found his feet, pulling himself up on the section of skyscraper that had been built. It in time it would form a towering spire in the famous New York skyline, but for now, it was a hollow shell of concrete and scaffolding. Across from him, the Tortolos was also trying to stand, though it was having considerably more trouble. Eric had knocked it onto its back, the creature rocking from side to side as it tried to find purchase with its set of thin arms.

“What happens when you put a turtle on its back, Aura?”

“Turtles are capable of righting themselves, contrary to popular perception. They do however have considerable difficulty.”

“Oh,” Eric said, gripping the jib of a massive crane like it was a bat. He tore it free, twisting it around so the jagged metal was pointing downwards in his hand.

“Do it. End this prey and prove yourself the stronger. Show them your might,” the voice of Drakon said. “Kill them.”

Eric put a foot on the side of the fallen Kaiju’s shell, giving it the extra force it needed to flip onto its belly. Its wound was exposed, a wet red hole that pulsed with every heartbeat. Eric gripped the crane jib with both hands and thrust downwards.

The Tortolos shrieked in agony, the metal piercing its soft organs with a horrific squelch. It tried to lift itself from the ground but found a reptilian foot slamming against it and pushing it back to the dusty earth.

“Finish it,” Drakon said. “Do it.”

Eric put one foot at the top of the crane jib and put his weight onto it, the metal sliding inside the Tortolos, blood spurting outwards and splattering across Eric’s scales. The wounded Kaiju let out one last pained moan, then a final shudder, before falling motionless. Faint pink mist began to drift out from it, the energy absorbing into Eric’s body.

Essence Absorbed. 167 essence gained.

Tortolos Essence unlocked: A 4A Kaiju, this creature has no recorded attacks on humans. Believed to be docile it should however be avoided due to a large radioactive footprint.

Eric just stood there for a moment; his Kaiju body covered in the blood of his foe. He felt wrong. It wasn’t the first time he had killed a Kaiju, and Eric was certain it wouldn’t be the last, but every other monster had been trying to kill him. Ultimately the Tortolos hadn’t. Sure, it had fired beams at him, but it was obvious in hindsight it was attempting to escape him, to reach whatever was calling out to it, the call driving it to desperation. It had to be stopped, Eric understood that, but he wished there was another way.

“Good. You are strong. Soon, you will be the strongest,” Drakon said.

“Yeah, if you say so. Aura, let Erin know it’s done. She can probably see but tell her anyway. Do we know what’s happening with the signal?”

“Yes, Eric. The ground team reports it has deactivated the signal and has requisitioned a truck to leave the city. It would seem that it was some kind of device that was acting as a lure,” Aura said.

“A device. So, technology. I think we can all agree who the number one suspect is in that case.”

“What would they gain from it, though?” Aura said. “Surely nothing is worth this much destruction.

Eric turned, examining the devastation his battle with the Tortolos had done to Brooklyn. A line of crushed structures stretched from the building site, and when combined with the Kaiju’s path through the city it left a straight line straight to the docks. It could easily have been much worse, but Eric assumed the people of New York weren’t going to look at it that way. He was glad that the cover story for the KRT meant that any ire would be directed at the organisation, rather than him personally.

“Warning!” Aura shrieked the AI’s word echoing through Eric’s mind. “Massive essence signal detected! In the bay!”

The surface of the water exploded, a nightmare shadow bursting through. A great wave launched forward from the force, a wall of water that lifted ships from their moorings and sent cars tumbling down streets, a tsunami that quickly flooded vast swathes of the city. A single moment from the newly arrived creature had caused more damage than Eric’s entire battle.

The new arrival was immediately familiar to Eric. He had seen it every single day since he had become a host, not just in his nightmares, but every time he caught his reflection in the glass of the arena’s observation deck or when he watched back footage from his training sessions. It was his dark mirror, his other self that lurked in his mind and begged for him to kill and destroy. It was Drakon.

“Oh. We’re in trouble,” Eric said, knowing that his words were an understatement. “What the hell do we do now?”

***

Malcolm watched the feed from the drones, his eyes fixed on the battling Kaiju. He was trying his hardest to hide his anger, but it wasn’t working, the scientists and analysts manning the computers around him shying away from his simmering gaze. The entire operation was going wrong.

The beacon was supposed to have summoned Drakon but instead had drawn the attention of the smaller Tortolos. That wasn’t ideal, but it was workable, or at least had been until the KRT had deployed the hosts in advance of the creature arriving. The only way they could have done so was if they had worked out the signal was there. Considering that the beacon had shut down unexpectedly at the same time as its operations crew had dropped contact implied to Malcolm that the technology had been discovered.

That would cause a PR nightmare in the future. The company would need to try and separate itself as far as possible from both the device and the operations team. The operators in particular would need to be removed from the equation as quickly and quietly as possible. Malcolm did not doubt that if he were to listen in to the bugs around the KRT headquarters they would be openly contemplating Auratech’s involvement, they were the obvious culprit after all.

“Should we deploy the unit, sir?” asked one of the scientists to Malcolm's right. Malcolm had never bothered to learn his name.

“No, prepare to withdraw it. It looks like the KRT have this Kaiju in hand. It would hardly be the best demonstration of our newest weapon if it did nothing. The point of this exercise was to make a splash, to show that the so-called bioconstructs are obsolete.” The F-19s were a miracle of technology, but they were difficult to make, expensive to run and prone to breakdown over multiple hosts. To make things worse they required a human host, a person with a genetic quirk so startingly rare that it was a miracle that they had found as many as they had. It simply wasn’t a sustainable system, and worse it wasn’t one that Auratech could sell. Malcolm turned to face another of the scientists, pointing at a computer screen. “Do we have any update on the clones?”

“The truck appears to be moving, so I think we should assume that whoever shut down the beacon has them.”

“A shame. Send the termination signal, we shouldn’t let them examine what’s inside those cylinders,” Malcolm said. He didn’t need the KRT suspecting that Auratech had attempted to clone its own Kaiju. It hadn’t gone well, the results little more than quivering semi-alive blobs of flesh, but they had at least proven useful, the creatures releasing essence in what could only be described as a scream that could be amplified to draw in Kaiju. With the right genetic tinkering, you could even tailor the cry to draw in the Kaiju you were looking for, or at least something close to it. This beacon had been aiming from Drakon, but clearly, the shriek of the clone was close enough to a Tortolos to work on that beast instead.

“Sir!” the first scientist said. “There’s something going on.”

Malcolm shifted his eyes to the main display, a live feed from one of the drones he had flying far above the city. Its camera was the finest tech available, capable of picking out hairs on a person’s head if they were to walk the streets below. Right now, it was locked on something rising out of the water, flooding the city for miles around.

“Get the unit ready,” Malcolm said with a wicked smile. It looked like the original plan was back on. The KRT hosts might prove a problem, but Malcolm couldn’t help but think it might make the unit look better by showing up the “bioconstructs” in the process. “It’s time to show the world the shape of their newest saviour.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Eric could hardly believe his eyes. Part of him had hoped he would never see Drakon again. Despite being a tall as a building, Eric still felt like he was a tiny human fleeing through the street as he looked up at the massive Kaiju. It was standing in the water, wading forwards towards the docks, its shadow cast across the flooded streets. It looked like some twisted nightmare rising from the depths of the Earth, the joint fears of mankind made manifest. Eric knew he wasn’t ready to fight the monster, every part of his being screaming that he should flee from it.

“What do we do now?” Eric said. He tried to move his legs, but they refused, the limbs locked in fear as he watched Drakon take its first step.

“Run, flee!” the Prowler shrieked.

“I hate to agree with the manifestation, but we are thoroughly outclassed here. We should meet the dropship at the rendezvous, we are of little use to the Major,” Aura said.

“Wait, what’s the major going to do? She’s not going to try to fight Drakon on her own?”

“That would be what her most recent message implies.”

Erin had begun stomping forward, her footsteps shaking the city around her. She was being careful not to damage any buildings, her heads undulating in time with her steps. Her care was pointless, once she met Drakon in battle everything around the two Kaiju would be ruins in moments, the colossal beasts radiating devastation like an aura.

“No, we can’t let her do that. With all respect to the Major, I don’t think even she can take on Drakon alone. We have to do something.” Eric leant against the half-constructed building next to him, thinking for a moment about his options. “I’m not big enough to fight that thing directly, but maybe I can distract it or something? How would I even go about doing that?”

Eric’s eyes caught a glimpse of something, an object streaking through the sky at incredible speed. It was getting bigger rapidly, and Eric realised the thing was enormous. It gleamed in the sun, light bouncing off a skin of brilliant metal. A contrail streaked behind it, one that arced upwards beyond the clouds.

Drakon turned to face the new arrival, the flying object announcing its presence with the thunderous roar of rockets.

“Well, something like that would work, I guess. What the hell is that thing?”

“I am detecting a large essence signal rapidly closing on us. I would say it was a Kaiju, but something about it seems…off. I can’t quite put my finger on it or wouldn’t if I had fingers at least.”

“What is that thing?” Eric said again, his eyes squinting as he tried to focus on the object. “Do Kaiju normally fly on…are those rockets?”

“You could argue that’s what the Tortolos did to escape us.”

“Not quite what I meant.” Eric took a step forward to get a better look at the object. He was certain now that the thing flying towards the city was no Kaiju, the gleam of metal gave it away as manmade.

A pair of radiant blue beams streaked across the sky, exploding against Drakon’s skin in bursts of light. The Kaiju roared, stumbling backwards slightly from the impact, water splashing onto the dock as it stepped back into the ocean. The scintillating beams were familiar to the two hosts as they watched another pair of shots land.

“Those are maser cannon beams!” Eric said, pointing at the object. “Is this one of ours?”

Arcs of electricity danced across Drakon’s scales, blue light creeping out from beneath them. He had turned his maw towards his attacker, crackling energy building up within his jaws. With a shudder, the Kaiju unleashed a beam of elemental power, one far grander and more dangerous than Eric’s. It raced through the air, the attacker twisting away in a barrel roll to avoid the bolt. The electricity vanished through the clouds, the sky darkening in response. It began to rain, the sheer fury of Drakon changing the weather.

Eric could see the object clearer now, and he could hardly believe what he was seeing. It was a machine, one with a humanoid form, it's head a single large baleful red eye. Two maser cannons were mounted on its shoulders whilst each hand ended with a four-pronged claw. On its back was a collection of rockets, the streaking flames pushing it forwards. It was swooping down low towards the city, it's intent clear. The thing was here to battle Drakon, the machine easily the Kaiju’s equal in size. The style of the design, the way the limbs moved, the shape of its armour plates, Eric recognised them all.

“That’s…a massive combat drone. This isn’t quite what I had in mind when that Auratech CEO guy mentioned they were working on making masers more mobile. Maybe we have a chance now if this thing is any good.” Eric had to admit he was impressed. The idea of a giant robot seemed like pure science fiction, but it wasn’t any less outlandish than massive Kaiju attacking cities.

“Ah. I understand now. The essence I could detect is different because it’s the same kind of decayed essence that we use to power F-19s. They must be using it to power the machine, and I suspect bend physics to make the thing possible, to begin with. This is an excellent step forward, technologically speaking,” Aura said.

The machine swung upwards, bringing itself vertical and detaching itself from the rockets on its back. It crashed into the water near Drakon, the fuel filled cylinders splashing into the dock behind it. The robot stomped forwards, its glowing eye locked on its target. Across its shoulder was the Auratech logo, the company’s name placed over a metallic swish that cost far too much from a marketing firm for such a simple design. The thing was colossal, eye to mechanical eye with Drakon.

The two of them charged, not wasting any time in sizing each other up. The robot landed the first blow, its arm extending slightly as it swung, metal clanging as its closed claws struck Drakon on the jaw. The titanic reptile returned the favour, raking its claws across the chest of the machine and tearing a gash in the armour.

“A message from the Major. She advises you to get clear of the combat zone. Things are about to get dangerous,” Aura said.

“About to? They weren’t dangerous before?”

Silence fell over the city as a great beam of energy blasted across the sky, the air around it stilled by its awesome power. Bright light washed over the city as it collided with Drakon, blinding Eric for a moment. As his vision returned he could see the attack’s source, Erin’s heads coiled together to unleash her fury, exactly as she had done in Scotland.

As the dust cleared Drakon was still standing. A section of his scales across his chest had melted together from the blast. The wound he had suffered fighting Rick had long since vanished, the creature’s healing incredible. Given time the scales would return to normal.

It was a strange thing to Eric, to think that the injury that had resulted in his bizarre new life had completely faded from the beast. He couldn’t help but feel it only illustrated the gulf between them. For him, Drakon’s attack had changed everything, but for the creature, it was just another day.

Erin charged past, bounding forward on her feet, her necks shifting about as she raced towards Drakon. Her care had been discarded, the need to defeat the looming titan outweighing her concern for property damage. Left unchecked Drakon would level vast swaths of the city, New York facing the same fate as Hong Kong. She raised her heads, ready to bite down on Drakon with all three in unison.

The robot stepped in the way, swinging its fists against Drakon, the Kaiju raising its arms to block. The machine’s sudden movement forced Erin to through her weight to the side, buildings shattering as she stomped through them. The thing had paid no mind to its supposed ally, getting in the way to deliver its blows.

Drakon took a step backwards, pivoting on his heel and swinging his tail like a club, the limb thudding against the side of the robot. The machine hadn’t expected the move, toppling over and crashing through a warehouse. Drakon was a predator, a killing machine the result of billions of years of evolution. He didn’t wait, pouncing on the robot and biting his jaws into its shoulder.

Erin turned, lashing out with her heads, three sets of fangs biting down onto Drakon’s back. The Kaiju roared, standing straight and grabbing Erin’s leftmost head. He began to prise the jaws free, grabbing both sides with his hands. There was a horrific snap as Erin’s jaw broke, the Major releasing Drakon and reeling back, the wounded head dragging across the ground.

“Erin! Is she alright, Aura?”

“Unknown, the Major is somewhat preoccupied to answer our messages. Even Chuck isn’t responding to me, and honestly, that AI never stops badgering me since he removed his company bonds.”

Blue light surged forth from the downed robot as it fired its maser cannons again, the energy exploding against Drakon’s scales. It kept firing, pouring energy into its target as it stood. It opened the claws on each of its arms to reveal another set of masers hidden within, the second set of smaller beams adding to its barrage.  Panels opened across its legs and upper arms, missiles flying out in a storm of destruction. The Kaiju became difficult to see, a moving cloud of explosions, dust, smoke and fire obscuring it.

Then, it simply stopped moving. Drakon stood perfectly still, the barrage continuing to explode against him. The robot stopped, its missile pods running dry, the dishes of its masers glowing red with heat. Drakon kept standing. Injured certainly, scorch marks from the masers covered its body and whatever warheads the missiles had been fitted with had removed small clusters of scales, great globs of blood splashing on the streets below and forming crimson lakes.

“We have to do something!” Eric said, running out from the construction site and into the street. He felt useless, totally outclassed by the primal titans tearing the dockyard apart. He could see Drakon advancing on the silver giant, the robot firing its masers in a constant barrage of beams. Drakon was ignoring them, a familiar blue glow building up beneath the scales of his right arm.

The Kaiju swung, the punch hitting the machine square in the chest. The armour buckled, the tears across it weakening the plates. Energy sparked outwards from the blow and caused the robot to shudder uncontrollably for a moment. The light on its single eye spluttered for a second before winking out.

***

Malcolm slammed a hand on the top of the nearest computer monitor, causing the screen to topple off the table and smash on the floor. It had been going so well, the company’s newest weapon proving itself quickly with its lightning-fast assaults, but the machine known internally as Titan had been knocked out by a single punch.

“What’s wrong with the thing!” he screamed. Everything was riding on the Titan proving itself. If the machine worked Auratech could begin mass producing them. Every country in the world wouldn’t just want them, they would need them. The plan was to pull support for the KRT once the first units rolled off the production line, sealing Auratech in place as the sole protectors of the Earth, and with Malcolm as the planet’s de facto ruler.

“Several of the main circuits have been fried, the gaps in the front armour allowed the power into vulnerable sections,” one of the scientists said, their hands clasping their head as they tried to fix the problem. “We would need to pull out and replace them before we can reboot the machine safely.”

“What if we don’t do it safely? What if we rebooted it now?” Malcolm said, striding over to the scientist and standing behind them.

“You don’t understand, sir!” the scientist replied bravely. Telling Malcolm he was wrong wasn’t a good way to keep your career. “The circuits we lost are part of the clone control system. Without them, we can’t guarantee that there won’t be a cascade attempt.”

“Do it anyway.” Malcolm understood what the scientist was saying. The AI controlling the robot was a complex system, a positronic network mapped after a human brain. It wasn’t as advanced as those within an F-19, replicating the crystal matrix used there wasn’t something the company could do, not on the scale that would be needed for mass production anyway.

Within the core of the robot was another of the cloned Kaiju, a shapeless blob that allowed the machine to tap into the power of essence, bending physics to make the robot possible in the first place. Just like with living hosts, the Kaiju within the machine was prone to attempting to seize control of the robot, overriding its machine brain with its own personality. An earlier smaller prototype had killed several scientists when it had first happened, before attempting to call on its larger kin. The resulting attack destroyed the facility, but the information recorded had provided the basis for the beacons, so Malcolm didn’t consider it a total loss.

“But what if we lose control?”

“So, a Kaiju mind takes over. What’s the downside? They defeat Drakon and then we shut the machine down remotely.” Malcolm leant in uncomfortably close to the scientist. “I said do it.”

***

Erin was in agony. Her Kaiju form was holding together, but her essence field was nearly depleted. Drakon shattering one of her jaws had robbed it of most of its strength and the pain was making it impossible for her to lift the head. Her remaining two were shifting about ready to strike. It would only be moments before Drakon turned his attention to her.

Taking out the robot had been trivial for the giant Kaiju. Auratech had underestimated Drakon.  Erin was no scientist, but even to her it seemed like deploying a complex piece of machinery and electronics against a Kaiju with a mastery of electricity was a terrible idea.

“Ok, Chuck. If we’re going down, we’re going down fighting,” Erin said.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way,” the AI said. “Two Texan’s going down shooting.”

“You’re not a Texan,” Erin said. The way the AI had adopted a version of her accent was flattering, in a way, but it had chosen an over-the-top cartoon affection. “Though I suppose you stand and fight with me, that’s close enough. Do not ye-haw.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, darlin,” Chuck said, which as far as Erin was concerned wasn’t better.

“You’ll fail. You always fail. Rick was your fault. You should have been there.” The voice was a faint whisper, a sinister hum that was near omnipresent. It belonged to a Kaiju known as Baku. It wasn’t one of Erin’s high-level manifestations, but it was one of the most vocal. It liked to prey on Erin’s worries, and she suspected that’s why it found it so easy to speak up. It was just piggybacking on what was already there.

Erin shook her heads, trying to toss the thoughts loose. Now wasn’t the time. Her nuclear beam was on cooldown, so she turned to one of her other powers. Golden light filled her eyes, two apartment buildings tearing themselves from the street and floating into the air, the structures outlined by the same brilliant glow. They flew forwards, launched telekinetically towards Drakon. Erin knew it wasn’t the most effective attack, the buildings shattering against the Kaiju’s prodigious bulk, but she wanted to get its attention. She needed to control the battlefield so she could minimise the damage.

Drakon began to run, wading through buildings like they were reeds as he rushed to meet her. Jolts of electricity arced between the spikes running down his back, the Kaiju preparing another of his powers. Tendrils of crackling electricity slid from his fingers, trailing across the ground behind him like cables. Drakon came to a sudden stop, swinging his arms forward, the tendrils snapping out like whips. They sliced through the nearby buildings like a hot knife through butter, devastating the streets between him and Erin.

Erin leapt backwards, beating her powerful wings as hard as she could. She rose into the air with surprising grace, but it wasn’t enough, one of the electric whips grazing the bottom of her left foot.

Essence field depleted. 124/680 remaining.

A scream left Erin’s lips as a roar, the scales on the bottom of her foot burning at the touch of the solidified lightning. It was a power Erin had never seen Drakon perform despite her watching every video of the creature almost religiously in preparation for this very possibility. The fact that she had drawn out something new from the beast filled her with an odd sort of pride.

Erin landed from her leap, her feet crushing a chain coffee shop.

“Whoops. At least there are six more nearby,” she said. She needed to do something, so far, she had been on the defensive. Drakon was a predator, it wanted to be the aggressor in the fight. That was something she could turn to her advantage.

Drakon had begun running again, closing the distance between Erin and himself. The Kaiju had no intention in letting his prey turn the tables, his claws held at the ready as it ran. He had already killed the strange metal Kaiju, and now his sights were set on the winged beast.

A roar echoed through the air, a familiar cry that caused Drakon to come to a sudden stop. The roar was one of his kind, another Drakon crying out to it. He turned in search of a noise he had only heard in his dreams, the beast never meeting another of his kind. It was coming from a nearby construction site, its source the smaller Kaiju that had kept out of the battle. For the first time, Drakon realised it was a smaller version of himself, a juvenile of its species.

The Kaiju snarled. Rather than an infant to care for it saw only a rival.

***

“Was that a good idea?” Aura said. The massive Kaiju had heard Eric’s cry and had begun stamping towards Aura’s host.

“It worked didn’t it?” Eric had realised that Drakon had likely arrived following the same call that Tortolos had. It occurred to him that he was the same species, in a way, and that releasing a roar might have had the same effect. Eric had reached inside himself, touching his Kaiju instincts in a way he knew was dangerous.

“What now?”

“That part I’m not so sure on.”

Blue light raced through the sky, blasting Drakon in the side. Eric’s head turned to look at the source and saw that the robot had stood up. It was advancing on the Kaiju, firing its masers as hard and as fast as it could. Three buildings flew through the air colliding with the monster’s other side, launched telekinetically by Erin.

Drakon was caught between both of its opponents, torn about which to deal with first. The constant bombardment was starting to wear down even the king of all monsters and Drakon began to move away, walking backwards through the buildings towards the water.

“It’s working!” Eric said. “They’re going to get him.” He could scarcely believe it. The arrival of the Auratech robot had been a surprise, but Eric had to admit that the machine had evened the odds. Having an entire fleet of those would turn the tide against the Kaiju. Everyone knew—even if they didn’t admit it openly—that humanity was on the path to extinction. Each Kaiju attack was a devastating blow to society, there was only so long humanity could sustain losses at those levels. It might have taken another ten years, or twenty, or even a century, but eventually Kaiju were going to rule the earth. With more of those robots on their side, Eric could see true hope for the first time in his life.

Drakon dived, landing in the water with a colossal splash, another massive wave washing over the street of New York. His spikes protruded from the surface, the water barely deep enough to hide his bulk.

Eric couldn’t believe it. They had won. They hadn’t slain Drakon, but just driving him off was a huge win. The last time that had been done had cost the life of a host, along with thousands of civilian lives. Whilst there was a chance that some stubborn fools had been killed during the battle, it was a far cry from the event that had turned Eric into a Kaiju.

Then, everything changed.

The robot turned away from Drakon and fired its maser directly at Erin. They exploded against her scaly skin. She stumbled backwards for a moment then vanished in a burst of pink light. The robot immediately changed its target again, raking the city before it with maser fire, great trenches of fire scorched into the Earth. Glass and steel alike melted, glowing drops splattering across what remained of the streets.

“What the hell happened? Where’s Erin?” Eric had already begun to run towards where the Major had been.

“It would appear that her essence field failed. I am not detecting the emergency beacon from her F-19, so she may still be alive.”

“May?”

“It is possible Chuck is damaged,” Aura said. “We should proceed with haste.”

“Working on it.” Eric was hugging the buildings bigger than he was, trying to hide from the machine laying waste to the city. As he looked at it the robot released an electronic roar, speakers buzzing where they struggled with the volume. “We need to do something about that…thing. It’s going to level the city.”

“What do you propose we do?”

Eric's vision glanced between the robot and the escaping Drakon. He was swimming away out past the Brooklyn bridge and towards the ocean. He had stunned the machine easily. Eric’s eyes shifted to the bridge, and an idea formed in his mind.

“We need to get this thing to follow us.” He mentally checked the cooldown on his abilities. “I think, I think this might work. Provided we don’t get blasted first.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The image in the rear-view mirror was a terrifying one, even to an experienced soldier. Beams of energy were leaving glowing gashes across the city. They were scars that would never truly heal, wounds that would fester for years as the people of New York tried to rebuild. That was, of course, assuming that there would be any city left when the machine was done.

Staff Sergeant Wurther was glad his squad had suggested taking the truck the mystery scientists had been using to store the bizarre cylinders that had been powering the beacon. The truck was weaving between abandoned cars, moving as quickly as it could out of the city. The street where the beacon had been was slag now, melted by one of the maser blasts.

“What the hell is that thing?” Patterson said, twisting the steering wheel in his hands as he avoided an SUV that had been left across both lanes.

“Beats me, I suspect getting close to the thing would be a poor choice. It’s obviously a robot of some kind. I can’t imagine this rampage is intended behaviour,” Jack said. He shuddered slightly as a loose piece of debris bounced off the roof of the truck, the stone tossed into the air by the machine’s beams. “At least it got rid of Drakon,” he said with a shrug. “Small mercies I guess.”

“No offence, Sergeant,” Patterson said, “but how exactly are we supposed to stop that thing? The Major has vanished, and the civilian Kaiju isn’t what I would call an even match.”

“So that makes it our job? If that civvie is out of his league, we aren’t even turning up to play. We’ve got no chance against it. Our job now is to just survive and make it out of here with all this stuff. Someone needs to report about what’s gone on here.”

“More than them?” Patterson said, pointing at a dot in the distance. A helicopter had decided to brave the evacuation area, no doubt a news crew with more guts than sense.

There was a banging at the back wall of the cab, a knock that caused Jack to reach up and slide open the hatch that partitioned off the rear of the vehicle. Chen’s familiar face stared through the gap.

“We’ve got a problem.” Wisps of smoke trailed up from behind Chen’s head, drifting out from within the stacked cases.

“Damn it,” Jack spluttered. It was immediately obvious what had happened. There had to have been a self-destruct within the cylinders in the event they were captured. It was the logical thing to do, and he did not doubt that if they opened one up now, they would find only ash inside. “Fine, it is what it is. Put the hammers down, Patterson,” he said, aware that the Ranger had been holding back for fear of damaging the cylinders. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

***

Malcolm was a storm of rage and fury. He had already tossed two computers to the floor, the carpet of the observation room filling with shards of silicon and metal. Around him the scientists assigned to project Titan worked frantically, trying in desperation to regain control of the robot.

“Someone do something! Anything!” Malcolm roared.

“The emergency shut offs aren’t responding,” a brave scientist said, though the words were muttered like a child admitting they had done something wrong, “either the shock shorted them out or the clone has found a way around them. We can’t disable it from here.”

Malcolm drew himself close to the scientist’s face, his cheeks a dark scarlet as anger welled within him. “Every time that thing fires, we lose money. You think anyone is going to buy these things if they see this? Billions of dollars just tossed down the drain. Fix. It. Now.”

“We…we can’t,” the scientist spluttered. “The only way to stop it now would be to destroy it.  The category five host is gone, and the others are half a world away. The only host left in the city is the one with the Drakon essence. We have to hope they can disable it, which is unlikely the Titan is supposed to be a category five equivalent. There’s nothing we can do.”

Malcolm straightened himself and took a second to adjust his tie. “Everyone in this room,” he said calmly, “is fired unless I get a solution in the next ten seconds.”

“We could disable the masers,” someone at the back of the room suggested. “Maybe the weapon control systems will still respond. It won’t stop it smashing buildings the traditional way, but it will slow it down.”

“Do it,” Malcolm barked. “Do something!”

***

Eric bent down gently, lifting Erin from the car she had come to rest on, the water flooding the streets thankfully just below its roof. Eric had worried that she would have turned back below the waterline and that searching for her would have been a waste of time.

“Is she alright?” Eric said. It was hard to tell if she was breathing. Erin seemed so tiny clutched in his gigantic hand.

“Yes, I am detecting life signs. She is unconscious, a common occurrence after an essence field failure. She should be fine, with time,” Aura said. “Provided of course we can deal with this machine. You did say you had a plan.”

“I do, but I give it about a twenty per cent chance of success if I’m being generous.” Eric slowly and carefully placed Erin’s unconscious form atop a nearby apartment building. She would be safe from the water up there and it would be in the opposite direction from where Eric needed to lure the robot.

“Not exactly high odds.”

“Yeah, and let’s be honest I’m not a computer program like you. Not like I can actually work out the odds.”

“Humans are notably terrible at probability, yes,” Aura said with no trace of sarcasm in his voice. “What I have learnt working with you, however, is that you can find a way to survive. Your meeting me might have been luck, but every decision you’ve made since then has worked out. If you think you have a plan, I trust you to execute it.”

“Uh, thanks, I guess.” Eric began to move away from the structure he had left Erin on, making a mental note of the building in case he needed to come back and collect her. He wished he could leave her with the ground team, but from the updates that Aura was feeding him, Eric knew they were already on their way out of the city. That was good, someone needed to report on what had happened here if he didn’t make it.

“So, what is our plan, exactly?” Aura said.

“When Drakon hit the thing with a lightning punch, it went down. It’s a robot, right? That must have fried all sorts of circuits and fuses and things. Probably why it's gone crazy. We’re going to get its attention, then draw it out towards the Brooklyn Bridge. From there, hopefully, I can land my own punch and finish the job.” Eric’s eyes were locked on the blue beams slicing through the city. Those were going to be a problem. Leading the machine away wouldn’t work so well if it just started shooting at him.

“Logical, though with some problems. Drakon struck weakened armour to impact the internal components. You simply aren’t tall enough to reach the damaged panel. That isn’t taking into account that Drakon’s attacks have to be significantly stronger than our own.”

“I know that,” Eric said. Aura had a right to be worried, after all his own life was tied to Eric’s. Sharing a body was a little awkward, but Eric had come to think of the AI as a person, especially after he had freed himself from both his bonds and his annoying speech pattern. “That’s where the bridge comes in.”

The maser beams firing from the robot spluttered out, the dishes glowing red hot from where they had been pushed far past their limits. It raised its arms to fire, the limbs thrusting forward as the robot tried to force energy through them. It let out a long electronic roar and immediately began to thrash at the buildings near it with physical force, arms and feet crushing concrete.

“Looks like luck is in our favour again.” Eric had assumed that the robot would stop firing eventually to allow the beams to cool, but from the way it was acting it was clear that they had shut off unexpectedly. The way the machine held itself, its movements, its synthetic roars, it was acting like a living Kaiju rather than a calculating computer system.

Bending down, Eric picked up a bus from the street below. It felt like a toy in his hands, and he took a moment to peer inside and check that there was no one cowering within. He couldn’t help but smile. Every monster movie he had seen as a kid—before the Kaiju appeared—had a scene where the monster looked in on a bus or a train. Doing the same made the child inside him happy.

Pulling his arm back as far as he could, Eric took aim at the robot. He flung the bus like a missile, the vehicle flying through the air and crumpling as it hit the machine’s armour. It took no notice, continuing to unleash its frustrations on the buildings around it. Then a car hit it, followed by a truck. A storm of thrown vehicles crashed against it as Eric grabbed everything he could to throw. It wasn’t damaging the robot, and he felt like a class clown annoying a teacher with balled up paper, but it was working. The machine shifted to look at its annoyance and began to stomp forwards, its glowing red eye locked on Eric.

“Looks like you got its attention,” Aura said.

“Yeah, that I did.” Eric scooped up a small hatchback and lobbed it for good measure. The robot was picking up speed, and with its bigger stride would catch him if he didn’t start moving.

Breaking into a sprint Eric headed for the bay. He knew he would be faster in the water, there was no way the design of the robot could do anything other than wade through. He had to reach the bridge before the machine if his plan was to work.

Water exploded around Eric as he dived in, his tail flicking immediately to propel him forward. In the back of his mind, he knew that Drakon was long gone, the great Kaiju certainly capable of much faster speeds. That didn’t stop Eric glancing about for the monster, the Abzu’s darksight letting him see clearly in the gloom. Aura had lost Drakon’s essence signal almost immediately when it had fled despite it still being visible, proving conclusively that the Kaiju could choose to mask it. That was a worrying thought, if one Kaiju could do it then it was possible others could. There could be a thousand Drakons beneath the waves and humanity would have no idea.

“I’m still unsure as to how the bridge figures into this plan,” Aura said. “The machine has entered the water. It is so strange I can track it clearly.”

The great stone pillars of the bridge rose out of the water before Eric. He shifted his angle, breaching the surface of the bay as he approached. Coming to a stop, he grabbed the side of the suspension tower, the grand stone ending in a set of gothic arches. Claws dug in as Eric climbed, pulling himself up the side.

The robot was getting closer, the metal clamps on the end of each arm snapping open and shut. It was almost as if it were eager to grab Eric, to tear him apart with its servo powered strength. Its eye watched him climb, following the smaller Kaiju up the side.

“Sorry, New Yorkers,” Eric said as he pulled himself atop the tower. The stone creaked and groaned beneath his feet as it began to crack. The tower was never designed to carry something his sheer weight atop it. No matter what happened next the bridge would be out of commission for a long time.

“Ah, I think I understand now,” Aura said. “This is…unwise.”

“Well, it’s all we’ve got.” Eric’s eyes were locked on the robot coming towards him. The thing was easily tall enough to wade through the bay and stare directly at him. On its chest was the gap in the armour that Drakon had punched through, complex components visible through the hole. “Well, no time like now.”

Eric leapt, the tower crumbling behind him as he pushed away from it with incredible force. He hit the robot with a clang, grabbing onto the pistons that acted as its neck. The machine reeled, almost as though it was shocked by Eric’s actions.

Energy crackled around Eric’s fist as he swung, his arm plunging through the gap and into the interior of the machine. Circuits crumpled beneath his strike, electricity surging out from beneath his scales.

The robot shuddered, thrashing about like Eric had wounded it. It was still standing, the blow not enough to fell it as Drakon had. Its arms span wildly, the robots control disrupted for a moment.

“That didn’t do it,” Aura said. “It’s still standing.”

“I noticed!” Eric was trying desperately to cling onto the thrashing robot with one hand. Around the other, he had summoned his spinning essence drill. “We need to hit it harder.” He swung with the drill, the metal releasing a high-pitched whine as he chipped away at the edge of the armour, widening the gap inside.

What Eric saw was horrifying. Through the expanded hole, he could make out something throbbing inside the complex mechanical components. A distorted blob of flesh, a mangled mess of teeth and eyes staring up at him. He knew, instinctively that it was a Kaiju, or at least had been one. He could feel the essence flowing from it, along with intense unending hate for what had been done to it.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. This was wrong. The Kaiju were a threat to all humanity, but whoever had done this had rescinded their claim to being human. It was monstrous, a perversion no living thing, Kaiju or not, should suffer.

Eric knew what he had to do. His cooldowns had refreshed, and there was only one way he could ensure the mutant thing was put out of its misery. Power flowed through his body, building up within his throat. He released it as a bolt of lightning, firing the blast directly towards the writhing mass.

The thing let out a pained shriek, a noise that Eric knew would haunt him for the rest of his days. The robot stopped moving, the machine slumping forward as the thing controlling it died.

Essence absorbed. 68 essence gained.

Error: Manifestation not unlocked. Essence pattern incompatible with this device.

“Something is wrong,” Aura said. “This…thing isn’t registering properly with myself. It’s almost like it’s a Kaiju but isn’t.”

“They’ve done something to it, Auratech. It wouldn’t surprise me if it was grown in some test tube somewhere.” Eric hung from the neck of the machine, smoke drifting from the hole in the armour where the corpse of the creature burned. “That’s a problem for the Doc to deal with. Right now, we need to collect Erin,” Eric looked at the smouldering ruins of Brooklyn, “and then go home.”

***

Eric lifted his fork, limp spaghetti sliding off it and hitting his plate. He was sitting in the cafeteria of the KRT headquarters, regretting his choice of meal. He had been served bolognese with a sauce that was probably an outright insult to the Italian members of the organisation, and an overly sweet mess to everyone else. He put the fork down and picked up the garlic bread on the side of his plate. At least that was impossible to get wrong.

“You look deep in thought.” Erin put down a tray with one hand, her other arm clutched to her chest with a sling.

“They finally let you out of the sickbay?” The garlic bread was hard and overcooked but tasted fine otherwise. Garlic was the kind of flavour that could overcome anything, including every other flavour if used too much.

“Let me out isn’t quite right. More kicked out because I was causing too much trouble.”

“Sounds about right. How’s the arm?” Eric said. He was acutely aware that Erin hadn’t had a broken arm until he had picked her up back in New York, his misjudged strength the result of her injury.

“It’ll be fine. Chuck is too preoccupied with fixing his own damage to heal me, but thankfully having a lot of Kaiju levels give you faster healing anyway. Good thing too, I’m going crazy in here, I need to get back out into the field.” Erin rolled her fork in her pasta, then slid it into her mouth. “Ugh,” she said through half-chewed pasta, “that’s awful.”

“Ah, the heroes of New York.” Annaliesa took a seat next to Erin, taking a moment to adjust her cardigan. She had wisely chosen an egg salad over the pasta. “Eric and Erin, together at last.” Annaliesa allowed herself a chuckle. “Eric and Erin. You sound like television presenters for children.”

“Uh, thanks, Doc,” Eric said. He had barely seen Annaliesa in the last week, the events of New York consuming her time.

“It’s good to see you up and about, Major. I trust you’re feeling better. We’ll need you in the field soon enough. Things have been quiet of late, I suspect the lack of beacons drawing Kaiju in or Drakon sending them running has caused things to settle down, but it's only a matter of time before he, and the other Kaiju, return.”

“I just wish we could have gotten him,” Erin said, prodding at her pasta. “We were so close.”

“Were we? Really?” Eric said. He was dubious of that claim. Before the robot had arrived, it looked to him that Erin was on the back foot.

“We were doing better than most. If that robot hadn’t have gone haywire…”

“Ah, but it did,” Annaliesa said, jabbing a slice of boiled egg sitting atop her salad. “Auratech is going to be reeling from this for a while. They claim that their robot was sabotaged, some patsy taking the fall for inserting malicious code, but we know the truth. The thing you reported seeing, the research teams think it was a cloned Kaiju, or an attempt at one anyway. We suspect that was what was in the cylinders the ground team collected before the contents got burnt up. Of course, Auratech is going to deny it, and the beacon operators aren’t talking.”

“Should we be talking about this so openly,” Eric said.

“Oh, we swept the building for bugs, and the techs assure me that everything is clear. They certainly found a lot. Not that it matters anyway, Malcolm isn’t stupid, he’ll already know we suspect all of this. Besides, they have much more pressing matters to deal with. Several member nations have passed laws forcing them to share the secrets behind their anti-Kaiju tech. They think that having one company holding the keys to protecting humanity is a bad idea.” Annaliesa lifted her fork, swishing it about as she spoke, the egg wobbling in time with her words. “Of course, that will get tied up in the courts for years, but I bet they’re scrambling. No one is going to want to buy from them after seeing New York in flames anyway.”

“So, what’s next?” Eric said. “If we don’t have Auratech support, where does that leave us?”

“With just the four hosts, and little chance of any more. It would be nice if we could find out the truth of where they got the plans for F-19’s from in one of the court cases, but that’s unlikely. It means that protecting what we have is more important than ever. Getting as many levels as possible will be important.”

“Oh, right, levels. Hang on.” In the chaos, Eric had forgotten he had earned essence from his victories. It had sat unspent in his menus for a week, its potential wasted.

100 essence spent into Tortolos. Increased to rank one.

Tortolos manifestation unlocked—Radiation bolt. Fire a burst of power in an explosive bolt. Highly radioactive. Additional ranks unlock extra charges before incurring cooldown.

125 essence spent into Tortolos. Increased to rank two.

31 essence spent into Tortolos

“Anything good?” Erin asked. Comparing powers was a popular topic between hosts during downtime.

“Ranged radiation-based attack. More attack powers the better.”

“True enough,” Erin said, braving another forkful of pasta. “Especially now we’re on our own.”

***

Malcolm stared up at his latest prize. The Titan had been a failure, the Kaiju clone within able to override its systems and go on a rampage. It was an act that would damage the company forever, something that would always cast a shadow over their operations. It didn’t matter. Malcolm was tired of sneaking around and operating in secret. Auratech were the guardians of Earth, and they deserved all the respect they were due.

His latest acquisition had been a difficult one, the expedition started soon after its discovery. The bones were massive, the remnants of an ancient category five once sealed within a tomb but now sitting in a construction bay beneath an Auratech black site. Drawing the defender of the underground city away had required the use of a beacon, and even then, a dozen men had been lost, along with several million dollars of equipment thanks to the spider-like Kaiju that populated the ruins.

“When will it be ready?” he said. His words were directed at the group of scientists standing behind him as a whole, rather than anyone in particular.

“It will take several months before we can start trials…” said a woman holding a clipboard.

“I want the trials cut short. We need to get this …Titan Two out as soon as possible.” Light danced across Malcolm's face, his skin illuminated by a burst of sparks. Before him, complex electronics were being attached directly to bone. Soon would come armour, the first steps in a new generation of Titan weapon.

“After what happened in New York, are you certain?” the woman said.

“Remove her. Give her the…full, severance package.” Malcolm didn’t turn his gaze, simply flicking his wrist dismissively behind him. From the shadows two armed mercenaries appeared, each one grabbing one of the woman’s arms and escorting her away. “Anyone else have a contrary opinion? No? Good.”

“What about the device sir? With the materials it provides we could construct a dozen more F-19s,” said a different scientist timidly. They were all aware of what full severance meant. Their colleague would be found in at least eight different trash bags spread over a dozen miles.

“No, F-19s are a liability. The one’s under KRT control have somehow broken free of their programming. I want whoever was in charge of that brought to me, by the way. As soon as possible.”

“Yes, sir.”

“No, we hang on to the device for now. I want it studied further. The first batch of precursor tech catapulted our company to where it is today. It would be unwise to waste it.” Malcolm leant forward, putting his hands on a railing before him. He watched for a moment as very slowly a synthetic body was built around the reclaimed bones. “We will need every advantage. A war is coming.”

***

Eric Wainwright

Level 17 Kaiju

Unspent Essence: 0

Drakon Essence Rank 4—0/195

Prowler Essence Rank 1 —0/125

Squidling Essence Rank 1 —0/125

Dytikos Essence Rank 1 —0/125

Abzu Essence Rank 4 —0/195

Tarian Essence Rank 1 —0/125

Cestus Essence Rank 1 —0/125

Tortolos Essence Rank 4 —31/195

Manifestations Unlocked

-          Lightning Punch: Rank 1—0/31

-          Echolocation: Rank 1—0/31

-          Aquatic Breathing: Rank 0—0/25

-          Carapace: Rank 4—0/49

-          Webbing: Rank 1—0/31

-          Armoured Belly: Rank 0—0/25

-          Drill Punch: Rank 0—0/25

-          Lightning Breath: Rank 0—0/25

-          Drill Buster: Rank 0—0/25

-          Venom Bite: Rank 0—0/25

-          Darksight: Rank 0—0/25

-          Radiation Bolt: Rank 0—0/25

Thank you for reading!

A huge thank you from me for reading this novel. It’s something a little bit different in the LitRPG space but I have an unending amount of love for Kaiju movies, and this book refused to get out of my brain. The entire thing is crammed full of references I’m fairly sure only I and a handful of people will get. Still, I hope it was an enjoyable romp regardless. There’s a good chance we’ll see more from the team at the KRT in the future.

Please consider leaving a review. It makes a huge difference to the success of a book. It takes just five seconds of your time but could make all the difference to an author.

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More books from me

Aether Knight Series

Goblin Summoner Series

Real-Time Starcommander Series

Goblin Summoner Sample - Chapter One

Gareth hit the ground with a thump, rolling across the damp earth before bumping up against a tree, the rough bark scratching his skin. He felt sick like he had been riding the world’s worst designed rollercoaster. He tried to retch, but nothing came out, his stomach empty. He had no idea where he was. The last thing Gareth remembered was buying a new console from a guy in a car park. The whole thing had been obviously sketchy but trying to get one of the consoles through normal channels had proved impossible, entire shipments bought out by bots in an instant. Gareth was certain he had gotten it home and plugged it in, but that memory was fuzzy, out of focus, almost dreamlike. It can’t have been real.

Sitting up, Gareth tried to take stock of his surroundings. He was in a forest, though he had no idea which one. There were a few wooded areas around where he lived, and it could have been any one of them. The trees that stretched up into the sky around him weren’t familiar, their bark a darker shade of brown than the ones he was used to. It had been a long time since Gareth had gone wandering in the woods, so he assumed he had simply misremembered.

He reached down, trying to pull his phone from his pocket. The guys he had met in the car park must have done something to him. Gareth’s hand felt nothing, no familiar smooth glass edge. His panic at missing his phone meant it took him a moment to realise he felt no pocket at all. Glancing down, Gareth realised that he was wearing nothing. He had been stripped naked, all of his belongings missing. Gareth began to shiver as he suddenly felt cold, a reaction that was only partly psychological. The wind was starting to pick up.

“Ok, Gareth. Not the smartest idea to buy a console from some guy on the internet in the middle of the night.” He was talking to keep himself calm. It was clear he had been robbed, and Gareth considered himself lucky he wasn’t dead in a ditch somewhere. “They could have left me my trousers though.”

Crossing his arms over his chest in a vain attempt to keep warm, Gareth tried to get his bearings. He looked at the nearby tree, examining its bark for moss. He remembered seeing on television once that moss only grew on the east side of a tree. Or was it north? Gareth couldn’t remember and he realised it wouldn’t matter anyway. Knowing which was which didn’t matter when you had no idea where you were, to begin with.

Something glimmered in the undergrowth nearby, catching the light from the sun. It was high in the sky, and Gareth assumed it had to be close to midday. It was just past midnight when he had arrived in the car park, so that left him with around twelve hours missing. It didn’t explain why he had woken up flying through the air, the thud against the ground shuddering him awake. There was no one else around, so the only explanation he could think of was someone had placed him into the branches of a nearby tree. They probably thought it was funny.

He bent down and rummaged around for the object. He was hoping it was his phone, but Gareth’s hand settled on something much larger. Picking it up, he discovered it was a simple leather box with a flip-down lid.

“A deck box?” He instantly recognised it. Gareth was something of a connoisseur of card games. He had played them all, from the famous big names to niche anime-based Japanese exports. He loved everything about them. The strategy behind deckbuilding, pulling off an intricate combo, even the tactile feel of sleeved cards in his hands. The design of the deck box was a little roughshod for his tastes. Someone had stitched it together themselves from scraps, the different coloured leathers clashing with each other. A small metal symbol had been glued to the front, the source of the gleaming. It was a small blob with two long triangular points stretching outwards on each side.

Despite standing in the middle of nowhere, totally naked, Gareth’s curiosity got the better of him. He opened the lid of the deck box and peeked inside.

Brilliant light began to pour out, a rainbow of colours that swirled around him. Gareth could feel himself floating into the air, the energy lifting him from the ground. It flowed into him; the light absorbed into his skin as it raced to meet his bare flesh. It was over as quickly as it began, Gareth floating in the air for a brief moment.

“Not again.”

Gareth hit the ground, grunting as he did. It was the second time in ten minutes he had slammed into the damp dirt. His knees, elbows, and less family-friendly parts of his body were stained with mud.

Words appeared in his vision, large bold letters sitting squarely in the centre of Gareth’s eye line.

Bonding complete. Deck affinity assigned- Goblins.

Starting cards generated.

Mana levels linked to deck. Cards adjusted based on statistics.

The words turned to mist, fading away after a moment.

“What is going on? Is this a dream? No, it can’t be.” Gareth rubbed his aching knees. No dream could hurt like that. He considered for a moment that it could be a television show or an internet video, but the light show he had seen was beyond what Gareth understood was possible. Lifting him into the air when he wasn’t wearing a wire harness was proof enough.

Whatever weirdness Gareth was experiencing, it would have to wait. Getting home was his first priority, along with a long bath and some fresh clothes. He brushed himself with his hands, a vain attempt to shake the dirt from his body. Gareth was surprised to find the presence of a belt.

A thin strip of leather with a simple clasp, the belt grabbed tight to his waist. Hanging from it was the deck box, the belt running through a loop on the back. The metal symbol shimmered at him, almost like it was pleased with Gareth noticing it.

“Ok. This is beyond weird now. Can I get some clothes please magic box?” Nothing happened, no swirling pillars of light or cavalcade of colour. “Worth a try.”

With no other ideas, Gareth simply picked a direction and began to walk. As a kid he had played in the woods near his town, building forts and running through the trees. Without shoes, it was considerably less fun, the debris on the forest floor jabbing into his feet as he walked. It was a distinctly unpleasant experience. Getting his hands on a brand new console was the least of Gareth’s desires now. He just wanted revenge, and trousers, not necessarily in that order.

There was a loud rustle in some bushes ahead and Gareth came to a stop. He still suspected he was being watched, and it was always possible that the people who had attacked him were still lurking about. He crouched down, his sole experience at attempting stealth learnt from videogames. He crept forward, one arm outstretched before him, his palm open. The noise was growing louder, the rustling joined by a kind of high pitched squeal.

The undergrowth exploded into a flurry of leaves as a creature leapt from within. It was a strange thing, its body made of twisted and gnarled vines; plant life fused into the shape of a boar. Two red eyes glowed from within the gnarled tangle, whilst long sharp looking thorns took the place of tusks. The creature lowered its head, vines creaking as it moved, and charged.

Gareth was frozen in place, unable to move in time as the beast thundered towards him. He closed his eyes, bracing for the coming blow.

A brilliant light pushed its way through his closed eyelids, a loud noise not unlike a plate shattering filling the air. Gareth felt no blow, so opened his eyes to take in what had happened.

Floating in the air before him, was two cards. Each had a golden glow around them. The design of each card was an intricate mass of swirls, hundreds of delicate sweeping gold curves that never touched one another. It was beautiful to look at. The creature was laying on the ground nearby, struggling to get to its wooden hooves.

Shield broken. Empowered card added to castable spells.

There was those words again, floating in Gareth’s vision. He tried to wave them away with his left hand and was surprised to find that several more cards were following his hand as it moved. They were different from the others, with no golden glow around them. They were covered in elaborate artwork and filled with text. Gareth moved his hand experimentally and found there was a delay to the cards following his motions, each card floating a little closer as his hand moved over it. They only followed if he moved past the row of cards.

The card at the end was slightly different, having the same golden light as those floating before his body. It seemed to glow brightly as Gareth moved his hand over it. The monster was still struggling to stand, so he examined it quickly.

Lightning Blast

Spell

Mana Cost: 1

Deals 2 damage to target monster.

“Unleashing the fury of the storm always has a certain timeless appeal to it.” – Archmage Kaladear

The artwork on it was a painting of a lightning bolt, blue electric set against the white of a snowy mountain peak. Gareth could feel the card moving closer to his fingers. It wanted him to touch it. Without any other options at hand, he did exactly that.

The card thrummed with power, a glow washing over it. Motes of blue light gathered before Gareth, building into a crackling ball of electricity in less than a second. The ball exploded into a bolt of deadly energy, crashing into the creature as it finally found its footing. The beast exploded, showering Gareth in bits of plant and some kind of thick green liquid.

Vineswine defeated. 50 experience points gained.

Experience points? Gareth couldn’t believe what he was reading. Experience points would imply he was playing a game, but no game Gareth had ever played was this realistic. It would explain a card giving him the ability to fire lightning at least. It was still floating there, the faint golden glow outlining it. Experimentally, Gareth touched it again. Nothing happened, and he leant in closer to check the text again. Target monster. Gareth had played enough card games to know that the card wasn’t responding simply because there were no monsters left to target. His second glance at the text confirmed that there was a cost to casting the spell.

Gareth looked around for some kind of indication as to what a mana was. In games, it was normally a blue bar, but he couldn’t see anything like that. Realising that the cards were floating by his left hand, he checked his right and was pleased to see two blue floating orbs, each the size of a coin, above his knuckles. Gareth assumed that was his mana based on nothing more than a gut feeling.

He examined one of the other cards. Alongside Lightning Blast, there were four others. Two of them were more copies of Lightning Blast, which seemed strange to Gareth. His usage of the first one hadn’t discarded it from what he was already calling his hand in his mind. Of course, having more copies did improve the odds of drawing one, and with no frame of reference, Lightning Blast could be one of the most powerful spells around. The next card along was very different. It had a drawing of a small green creature with long pointed ears and some extra text.

Puny Goblin

Monster - Goblin

Mana Cost: 1

Attack rating: 100 Defence rating: 100 Hit points:1

“Little blighters are nothing more than an annoyance.”- Last words of famed explorer Trent of Hosterfield.

Gareth’s exploration of his other cards would have to wait. Two more vineswine had come thundering through the undergrowth, their eyes glowing vivid crimson as they rushed at Gareth. He looked down and realised he was still covered in the gore of their kin. It probably wasn’t a good idea to stand around in a forest filled with strange monsters reading cards in the nude.

At least his new attackers were a chance to try out the Puny Goblin. Gareth touched the card and it began to glow vibrant white. The light shifted, flying ahead of him, and changing its shape. The glow faded, the card gone and replaced by a creature that was incredibly underwhelming. It was barely two and a half feet high, its bulbous head and long ears too large for its body. The creature was wearing rags over its modesty but little else. The goblin’s face was flat, just two small slits for a nose. Its eyes were bright red and its mouth was filled with razor-sharp jagged teeth. The goblin’s limbs looked flimsy, barely enough to hold the creature up. It looked up at Gareth expectantly.

“I don’t know, attack one of those plant-boar things maybe?”

The goblin nodded and charged at the nearest vineswine. At the end of its fingers were a set of jagged nails and the little creature raised them high like they were knives. The two vineswine had stopped their charge, confused at the sudden appearance of a goblin.

Gareth took a quick look at his right hand. One of the glowing spheres had turned grey. The goblin cost one mana to summon, so the change made sense. What confused him was that the Lightning Blast hadn’t done the same. He decided to help the goblin out, touching the golden glowing card.

Lightning sprang out, striking the vineswine just behind the one the goblin was swinging its nails at. It was the one that Gareth wanted to attack, the spell understanding his intent as he cast it. The goblin glared at him as parts of the vineswine landed on its head.

“Sorry,” Gareth said with a shrug. He glanced at his mana. Still one blue orb and one grey. The Lightning Blast hadn’t consumed any. It had to be something to do with the gold border, that was the only difference between the copies that Gareth could see.

As the goblin attempted to land a blow on the vineswine, Gareth knew he should be freaked out by all of this. Here he was summoning goblins and shooting lightning at monsters. Despite the cold wind on his skin, being lost in a forest and missing all of his belongings, Gareth had to admit that this was very cool. Game, TV show, whatever it was, it felt amazing. This was always the fantasy presented by the card games Gareth loved so much. Become a wizard, summon monsters, and cast spells. Here he was making that a reality. He was grinning from ear to ear.

The goblins nails raked the side of the vineswine as it tried to evade, digging deep into its vines. They tore away, the little creature having more strength than it looked. With a squeal the monster fell to the side, its legs twitching a few times before stopping.

Vineswine defeated. 50 experience points gained.

Vineswine defeated. 50 experience points gained.

Level up – Level 2 reached.

Current Exp 50/150

One skill point gained.

Things were getting really strange now. A tough ask considering Gareth had summoned a goblin to fight for him. First experience points, now he was gaining levels. He had no idea what that even meant to him. He had a skill point, but no idea how to spend it, or what spending it would even achieve. Gareth understood card games and had played plenty of role-playing games in his life, but whatever this was seemed to be a mash-up of the two.

“So, what do we do now?” Gareth said to the goblin. The little creature just shrugged and turned back into a ball of light. It rushed into the open deck box, the light winking out as it went inside. “Well, thanks a lot pal.” The rest of the cards flew back into the box, the lid sealing itself.

Looking back down at it, Gareth realised the metal logo was the head of a goblin or at least a crude facsimile of it. The notifications had said something about having a deck affinity for goblins, whatever that meant. Another gust of cold wind reminded him that he needed to find clothing or shelter, preferably both.

As he began to walk, something caught Gareth’s eye, faint motes of gold floating from the grass near the body of one of the vineswine. Gareth bent down and picked it up, examining the object in his hands.

Rugged vine collected.

It was a strip of thick vine from the dead monster. Why exactly it had been glowing Gareth didn’t know, but the fact it had come with a notification told him it was important. He went to place it in his pocket, forgetting for a moment that he didn’t have any. Instead, Gareth tucked it into the band of his belt. The vine was slightly sticky and felt unpleasant against his skin.

“Great. Dirty and now sticky as well. This isn’t going well at all. I hope whoever is watching this is having fun!”

Grumbling to himself, Gareth resumed his walk into the forest. He had to reach the edge at some point or come across another person eventually.

***

It had been several hours, and Gareth had gotten nowhere. The forest seemed endless, stretching out into infinity around him. His feet were in agony, filled with shards of rocks and sticks. His whole body was covered in scratches, more than once he had wandered into a cluster of brambles hidden behind a tree. So far, no other monsters had threatened him, but Gareth suspected it was only a matter of time.

A scream caught his attention. A cluster of birds flew into the air, scared by the noise. Gareth began to run towards it. A scream wasn’t a good noise, but it was the first sign of human life he had experienced all day. It hadn’t been far away, just past the treeline ahead so Gareth sprinted as fast as he could.

His emergence into the clearing generated a second scream. It was understandable, a naked man covered in mud and scratches and with leaves caught in his hair bursting through the treeline wasn’t the most comforting thing to see. Gareth wasn’t thrilled with it either as a first impression.

In the middle of the clearing was a woman. She was wearing a flowing black robe that was clasped together with a simple bronze broach. Her face was soft and rounded, her long blonde hair draped over her shoulder in a braid. She was pointing at Gareth with one hand as she screamed, the other holding her knee tight to her body.

“Woah, woah! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, suddenly aware of his nudity. He covered himself with his hands.

“Didn’t mean to scare me? You’re running around the forest naked in the middle of the day!” the woman said, jabbing a finger accusingly at Gareth. She had a point.

“Not by choice! I woke up like this and I’ve been lost here for the last few hours. I have no idea where I am. Last thing I knew I was in a car park by a closed down newsagents.”

The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You woke up here? A few hours ago? Is…is your name Gareth by any chance?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Oh no. Oh no, no, no. You do one nice thing for someone and this is the price you pay for it.” The woman slumped backwards onto the ground; her arms stretched wide as she stared up at the sky. “I suppose you think this is funny, don’t you?”

“Not really. It’s very uncomfortable. I’ve very quickly learnt exactly why our ancestors started wearing clothes. I’m also guessing this is why nudist beaches are popular. I’d rather sand than all of this.” Gareth gestured at the forest around him with one hand, keeping the other covering his modesty.

“No, not you! Them!”

“Who is them?”

“Those uptight bastards up there. You save one soul from possible oblivion and this is what they do to you? Typical. You tried buying a new games console last night, right?”

“I did yeah…how do you know that?” Gareth eyed the woman suspiciously. If she knew so much about him then she was probably in on whatever was happening to him. “Who even are you?”

“You can call me…Magdalena, or Magda for short if you like. Was never a fan of my full name. I am a goddess! You can save all your preening and fawning for later.”

“Sure, I’ll get right on that,” Gareth said with a roll of his eyes.

“Yes well, up until a few hours ago you were dead. That console you bought was a fake and plugging it in…well that didn’t end well for you.” Magda sat up and adjusted her robe. “I guess it’s the kind of thing you can laugh about now.”

The words sparked something in Gareth’s mind, his previously fuzzy memory becoming crystal clear. He could remember plugging the console in now, the immediate and excruciating pain vivid in his memory. The sensation of dying, of everything going black, came back to him, and he knew instinctively that Magda was telling the truth about his demise.

“It’s not very funny,” Gareth said, trying his hardest to sound as serious as possible.

“Give it a few days. Besides you’re alright now anyway, thanks to me. Look can we just…hang on.” Magda stood up and reached down to the bottom of her dress. Now she was standing it was obvious that she was short, much shorter than most, barely coming in at four and a half feet. The robe she was wearing had been made for a much taller woman.

Magda tore at the cloth, ripping away a large strip from the bottom. It was a surprising display of strength from a woman so small. With her robe now a more suitable length she offered the strip of cloth to Gareth.

“Cover yourself up. I can’t take you seriously like that. The wild man of the forest look doesn’t suit you.”

“I’ll bear that in mind next time I’m dumped into a forest with no clothes. Turn around please?”

Magda did as Gareth asked, averting her eyes. “You still haven’t said thank you, you know? For bringing you back to life. It’s the least you could do.”

“The least I could do? I never asked you to bring me back. I might have been perfectly happy dead for all you know.” Gareth tired the strip of cloth around his waist. He felt like a caveman, but at least he had something covering him for now. “Isn’t the afterlife supposed to be all eternal happiness and stuff?”

“Eh, not so much. Either you’re suitable to be reincarnated as a hero, or you go to the beyond and what happens there is anyone’s guess. Oblivion most likely. That’s what happens to most people.” Magda turned back around. She walked up to Gareth and looked up at him. “Were you always so tall?”

“I think you’re just very short.”

“Gods damn it! Talk about adding insult to injury.” Magda put her hand on her head and measured her height against Gareth’s chest.

“So,” Gareth said, adjusting his shoulders and straightening his posture, “I’ve been chosen to be a hero?”

“You? No. Heroes need a long list of skills. Good in a fight, can get others to do what they want, understand that the ends justify the means-”

“Psychopaths then?”

“Basically. I…I didn’t think that was fair. There are so many people who lead decent enough lives that deserve a second chance. You just happened to be the soul I was judging when I decided to do something about it. Thought I could send you into another life unnoticed. I was wrong, clearly. Next thing I knew I was falling through the sky. This is obviously a punishment of some kind.” Magda crossed her arms and pouted. “I was just trying to be nice.”

“I’m sorry, I feel like this is all my fault somehow.”

“It is all your fault! If you weren’t doing all that wailing and moaning as a disembodied soul I might have moved on. Did you at least get the deck I sent you in with?” A thought occurred to Magda as she spoke, and she began to scan the ground around her. She smiled and began to walk across the clearing.

“The cards? That was you?”

“Kind of.” Magda was scrabbling about in the grass looking for something. “Every world has some amount of magic in it, some more than others. Earth is low, low down on that totem pole. It manifests in different ways on different worlds. Here, it takes the form of a deck of cards. You’re probably seeing information you’ve never seen before, right? Experience, levels, that kind of thing?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Those are always there, on every world, even yours. The more magic there is the more you notice them. On Earth they’re invisible, but here you can access that information. You probably have to start back at level one though, on account of having a new body. Aha!” Magda stood back up and with a flourish spun around. In her hands was a deck box, one made of silver, its sides covered in an ornate filigree. On the top, cast in gold, was a set of wings. “At least they didn’t leave me defenceless. You know, I think this is a mortal body.” Magda ran her tongue over her teeth. “Feels weird.”

“You get used to it. So, what do we do now?” Gareth said. Mortal body or not the goddess had to have some idea of what he was supposed to do.

“You know…” Magda said, tapping one of her cheeks with a finger. “I don’t actually know.”

You can read the rest of Goblin Summoner here.