Arendelle

The return to the city of Arendelle had never been so moribund and silent. The journey took the rest of the night, in a most dismal atmosphere, and it was not until early morning, when the first rays of the new sun appeared on the horizon, as if it were born from the ocean, than the city of Arendelle appeared in sight. When the convoy, or what was left of it, crossed the cobbled streets of the city, the silence continued to reign. The first inhabitants already awaken, seeing their queen and his companions pass before them on their horses, could see their closed faces, and their lost gazes, as if they had seen something abnormal, even terrifying. The sight of some wounded soldiers, including Commander Ulrik, did not reassured the citizens.

- "Majesty? Are you all right? ... What's going on ...?" asked a citizen as Elsa passed in front of him. She did not even seem to hear him and went on.

Suddenly, something abnormal happened. The sky was covered with thick, gray clouds, almost completely obscuring the sun, and snowflakes were slowly falling on the city like a flash winter coming. The convoy, looking up to see this abnormal phenomenon in the spring, feared at first a new crisis of Queen Elsa. The young queen turned to them, yet calm and astonished as they were.

- "Elsa?" Anna asked, worried.

- "This time, I don't think it's me." she said frankly. Ishiro, standing next to her, could only agree.

-"Yes, your power is not in question, your highness." said the historian, observing the sky, then the ocean with his serious face. "It's more disturbing than that ...."

Back at the castle, Elsa's first orders were clear: take the wounded soldiers to the barracks for treatment, and the council room be prepared for an emergency meeting. But having not slept this night like all, the young queen showed obvious signs of fatigue, and having used her magic, fatigue was even more important. Anna had to even support her to prevent her from falling to the ground.

- "Elsa, you have to try to sleep a bit, like all of us." Anna insisted, concerned about the state of her big sister. Elsa seemed to want to deny.

- "No ... We must prepare .... a plan ...." she mumbled between her lips. Ishiro stepped forward and despite the urgency of the situation, was understanding.

- "Majesty, your sister is right. You will not be able to do something in this state. Go to sleep for a few hours, I agree to wait."

Under the insistent gaze of her little sister and not having the strength to resist, Elsa agreed. Anna accompanied her into the grand spiral staircase of the castle, to lead her to her room. Kai brought Ishiro into a room, like a little living room, so he could wait. The historian sat down on a chair, facing a small fireplace, and when he was alone, opened his suitcase to take out a worn out old book. He looked at it, silent and thoughtful. Kristoff had gone with Sven to the royal stables, the reindeer also showing signs of exhaustion after galloping through the night and without eating. Kristoff lay on a pile of straw with his reindeer, but could barely find a bit of sleep because he had been so full of adrenaline because of the events of that night. The roars of these creatures were still in his mind, and gave him chills of terror. Olaf, not needing to sleep, and despite everything managed to keep his smile, spent the next hours waiting, watching the needles of an old clock move.

Elsa was lost, terrified, her face covered with dust and ashes, her hair dirty and her dress ragged. Kneeling in the middle of a ruined cobblestone street, she cried, her cheeks dripping with tears. All around her, the houses of Arendelle, as well as the castle, were for the most part on fire. Half of the castle had been completely destroyed. Lifeless bodies of soldiers and civilians lay scattered all over the ground. Elsa stared at this, with horror and pain, and saw his hands bleeding, making him sigh with terror.

- "E .... Elsa ..." suddenly said Olaf's voice, almost agonizingly. The young queen turned to see the little snowman, usually always smiling, the face seeming to express pain. Then, he melted in a few moments, turning into a puddle of water that evaporated under the burning flames of the fire. All that remained was the carrot that served her nose and the pebbles resting on his little belly, on the ground. Elsa cried again by seeing this. His suffering only became stronger at the sight, further away, of the lifeless corpses of Kristoff and Sven, side by side, under the rubble of one of the guard towers that had fallen on them. And suddenly .... familiar, frightening and powerful roars ..... In the huge cloud of smoke covering the bay and the wharves in ruins, two gigantic forms were clashing in a really violent fight. One of them resembled the giant lizard with its backbones, roaring loudly.

- "Elsa!!" Anna's voice rang in her ears. Surprised, the Snow Queen immediately looked towards the ruins of the castle. In the distance, she could see her little sister, terrified, running towards her. But as she ran on the bridge connecting the castle to the city, the giant form of one of the creatures fell violently on the bridge, crushing it in a second, and therefore taking Anna with it.

- "NOOOOOOOOOO!!" Elsa shouted with all her strength.

Sweaty face, tears emerging on the corner of her eyes, Elsa jumped up, emitting a "NO!" panicked from his mouth. Breathing loudly, to the point that snowflakes had begun to fall around her and her bed, creating a thin layer on the carpet. She was sitting in her big bed, under her sheets, in her half-dark room. She was dressed in her white nightgown. She did not know how many hours she had slept, or even how she had managed to sleep despite the fear, but it does not matter. Elsa sighed, running her hand over her forehead and stopping the flakes falling around her. It was only a nightmare .... A horrible nightmare, she thought. The roar and the fiery eyes of the giant humanoid reptile came back to her mind, almost haunting her.

After getting up, feeling the softness of the carpet under her bare feet, the young queen walked slowly to the window and watched. Outside, the snow continued to fall slowly, and Arendelle was still standing, intact. She was relieved. Her gaze then turned toward one of the walls, where stood the grand and magnificent portrait of her father, the king, standing upright and dignified, the crown on his head and holding the royal scepter in his hands. Elsa approached, nostalgic, and a few moments stared at the painting without saying anything.

- "Father ..." she sighed, tilting her head slightly "... what can I do?"

Knock! Knock! A few light knocks behind her front door made her suddenly come out of her thoughts.

-"Who is it?" Elsa asked in a reserved tone.

- "It's Kai, your highness .... I came to make sure if you were well." said the voice of her devoted servant behind the door.

- "Wait a moment, please ..." she replied as she walked to her dresser, where her snow queen dress had been put, probably by Anna.

Meanwhile, in her own room, Anna too, had managed to sleep a few hours. In front of her mirror, she was finishing her hair in two braids. She had had to wash her face a little as a result of the dust and ashes that had flown around her in the ruins. She had dressed in her shirt with light blue sleeves, her black corset and a long blue skirt. Anna looked at her face in the mirror. She saw the traces of dried tears on her cheeks still a little red. The young princess still felt this fear in her body and in her mind, and who could blame her. She had seen things that were not supposed to exist, that could not exist, at least in the very conception that humans have about this world. She wished to wake up suddenly as from an endless dream, and find herself in her bed, as for the beginning of an ordinary day. But no....All that happened was real, and she knew it.

Knock! Knock!

- "Come in." Anna said, getting up from her chair to turn to the door. Kristoff entered, he too seeming to have regained some strength, but his face was still hollowed by the fear he had experienced. Anna noticed it immediately, but he too could not be blamed. Kristoff smiled at her anyway, and she did the same. They gently hugged each other, as if to recover a little human warmth and moments of tenderness, and kissed tenderly.

-"You're okay?" Kristoff asked her calmly after the kiss.

- "Well ...." she said a little confused "... I think so, only time will really tell."

Kristoff fully understood what she meant and nodded before speaking again.

-"The council meeting is about to begin. Elsa and the others are waiting for us."

Side by side and holding hands, Anna and Kristoff crossed the long corridor leading to the door of the council room and were greeted by Kai, who stepped aside to open the door. In the room, all the people most directly concerned were already present, some sitting at their respective chairs, others preferring to wait up. Elsa, Commander Ulrik, Warden, and Thoran, and also Ishiro, who stood near one of the windows and watched the outside, hands behind his back. The historian turned to the princess and her fiance and nodded greetings, and they did the same. Olaf was also present, sitting on a chair in a corner and waiting without saying a word, but a certain curiosity reading on his face. Despite his wound, Ulrik had wanted to attend the meeting and ignored the pain emitted by his leg. He patted his fingers gloved on the wood of the table, as if waiting for the meeting to begin as soon as possible.

The eyes of Elsa and Anna met and the two sisters smiled at each other, reassured to see one as the other that she was well. Elsa got up from her seat, and hugged her sister.

- "I am reassured to see you are well." said Anna. Elsa said nothing and smiled again. Ulrik then cleared his throat.

- "I think we're all gathered now." he said coldly, and visibly wanting that the council meeting begins. Elsa sighed and motioned for Kai to close the door, and no one disturbed the meeting. The servant bowed and obeyed. Elsa, Anna and Kristoff joined their respective seats, as did the rest of the assembly. Ishiro sits at the other end of the table, facing Queen Elsa, who, with her hands clasped together and taking a deep breath, begins the meeting.

- "If I ordered a meeting of the council, it is for a matter which concerns not only the kingdom of Arendelle, but perhaps the whole world."

These first words made everyone listen attentively, no one daring to say a word. Elsa continued.

- "We are facing an enemy we had never seen before. An enemy that even the wildest legends could never have described, or even imagined. If we do not act, the kingdom of Arendelle could disappear completely before the end of this year."

Warden and Thoran seemed shocked by such words, but the others could only agree with her. Elsa then pointed to Professor Ishiro.

- "Professor Ishiro .... I think you have things to tell us." the queen said clearly, looking him straight in the eye. All eyes turned to him. The Japanese historian nodded and rose from his seat, opening his suitcase and taking out his old big book. All watched in silence, perplexed. Ishiro put his heavy book on the table, and one by one, looked at the people at the table.

- "Majesty. Noble members of the council of Arendelle. I have only arrived very recently in your kingdom, but for a good reason ...."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

-"When I was five, several ships, including some from the Japanese imperial fleet, had disappeared in a matter of weeks, as well as completely devastated coastal villages. And one day, my own village was attacked. ... A beast, as big as a mountain, ravaged my village in a few minutes and killed all the inhabitants, including my parents.... I have been the only survivor, without knowing why I had been spared. Years later, while I was walking on a cliff along the sea, I saw this same creature, off. But this time, she was fighting with another, much bigger and more powerful. I could never forget those yellow eyes, and that roar engraved in my mind.... This thing has ruthlessly killed the creature that had destroyed my village, and so many others before ..... This other monster, with its backbones, had avenged my family and probably saved Japan.... "

- "Forgive me for interrupting this little dramatic story, professor, but come to the point." Ulrik asked with a misplaced emphasis.

- "Commander Ulrik, let him talk." ordered Elsa. The commander sighed in frustration and said no more. Ishiro could continue.

- "I was just coming to the point ..." Ishiro said, the tone of his voice becoming darker and deeper. His gaze clearly showed that he relived these past events in his mind. ".... That day, I realized one essential thing: that the world did not belong to us."

All looked at the professor with perplexity, even deep anxiety. Anna felt her arms and body shudder, as many in the assembly.

- "Be clearer, professor." Elsa insisted, very attentive. Ishiro then leaned over to his big book and opened it on a specific page, before pushing the book in the middle of the table, in the sight of all. Everyone leaned towards the book to see, and all were surprised. The pages, although ancient, clearly showed the black ink drawings of several creatures, all of them gigantic and terrifying. One of the monsters looked like a flying reptile, like a pterosaur, another had a giant moth look, and another was like a three-headed dragon. One of these drawings showed the monster-gorilla-turtle who had attacked them, drawn in these finer details. Anna looked up from the book towards Ishiro.

- "What .... what are they?" she asked anxiously.

- "They got many names beyond the civilizations and millennias they crossed ..... They have been here since immemorial times, long before the birth of the human species.... In my country, we call them" Kaiju ", which means" giant monsters "in your language .... But there is a name that often came back to them ..... The titans."

Titans! This word echoed in everyone's mind and they felt their blood freeze and their hearts leap in their bosom. Historically, every civilization has told in its stories the presence of gigantic and powerful creatures, some so tall that they their heads were touching the sky. The giants of Scandinavian mythology, the titans of Greek mythology, etc. ... All these legends thus turned out to be real. Elsa, as well as everyone else, had difficult realizing the magnitude of this revelation and had to give their minds time to process the information. Ishiro pointed at the design of the gorilla-tortoise creature.

- "The one who attacked you is named Leatherback, or nicknamed the lizard-monkey. It is reputed to be responsible for many destructions throughout the ages. Arendelle is not the first kingdom to suffer its assaults."

- "But why would he attack our kingdom in particular?" Kristoff asked. Ishiro shook his head nonchalantly.

"It's impossible to know what these creatures think. Leatherback is a destroyer, he kills for plesaure. He probably chose Arendelle among all kingdoms just like this, as he did with all the ancient kingdoms that fell under his attack."

A giant monster, invincible to any human weapon, and killing for the simple pleasure of killing. Kristoff swallowed. Elsa put her hands on the table.

- "And ..... This other creature?" she asked, referring to the giant reptile with backbones. Ishiro's face became even more concerned. He turned the page to show another. On this new page, a drawing larger and more detailed than the others, showing this reptilian monster, standing on his big legs, and roaring. At the sight of the drawing, Elsa could almost hear this terrifying and mighty roar echoing in her mind.

- "Yes ... It's him, no doubt ..." she said softly. Her blood quivered in her veins, rather ironic for her. Ishiro then began the description of this particular monster.

- "This one is much more, different from the others ..... he is the king of an ancestral and gigantic kingdom, existing since millions of years.... he is here since long before us, and it is likely that he will still be there centuries after the extinction of humans." says the Japanese teacher, and everyone listening to him with the greatest attention. Ulrik commented contemptuously.

-"It's a monster." said the commander in an easy answer. Ishiro shook his head and gave another response.

- "No .... a god."

All showed stupefied expressions, and again the word was weak. At first surprised like the others, Ulrik seemed to deny this eventuality and sits down again. Anna and Kristoff looked at each other simultaneously with the same air. Olaf also had a hard time believing what he had just heard, his wooden arms falling literally from his body. Elsa looked back at the drawing, feeling once more crushed, as if the monster were looking at her through the drawing. Warden almost fainted, but Thoran caught her.

- "A god?! .... Ha! That's absurd!" Ulrik said in the most complete denial. Ishiro sighed at so much disbelief on the part of the commander. Elsa did not really know who or what to believe.

- "And yet, Commander ...." continued Ishiro "... Nature has a specific code, a balance to maintain at all costs ..... and I think this creature is this balance .. ... a guardian, who is precisely tracking the threat that Leatherback represents for this world."

Ishiro turned other pages of his book, showing the drawings representing this same giant god, facing other titans, including Leatherback. Elsa's finger touched one of the giant reptile's drawings.

- "And .... does this god have a name?" she asked in her intimidated voice. Ishiro nodded slowly, his face showing almost as if he was reluctant to pronounce the name, as if he was not worthy to say it.

- "My people gave him a name describing it perfectly: Gojira ...... In your language, this is pronounced...... Godzilla."

This very specific name made shake the hearts of everyone in the room, like an ancestral name returning after thousands of years and announcing the power incarnated in its raw state.

- "Well, given what we saw, I think that name suits him." Kristoff commented.

- "No matter what their names ..." Ulrik got impatient as he got up from his seat "the important thing is to find out how to stop them!"

"I do not think it's a good idea, Commander," Ishiro interrupted him, "As you've seen, your weapons have no effect on these creatures. Godzilla is probably the only one able to stop Leatherback."

Ulrik's face tensed with anger. Warden and Thoran seemed rather in the commander's opinion and were outraged by the reaction of the Japanese professor. Ulrik's gloved fist pointed to the professor, almost as if to threaten him.

- "And what do you suggest?! Let us let these abominations fight each other and devastate the kingdom in their struggle?"

- "This may be the only way!" replied Ishiro immediately on the defensive "I told you, Godzilla is a protector, not a destroyer! He must restore the natural balance by eliminating Leatherback, or it is the world that will fall!"

- "These are just speculations uttered by an old fool!" Ulrik spat unrestrained, Warden and Thoran still seeming to agree with him. Faced with this, Ishiro was less patient.

- "Your blindness will lose you, Commander!" said the professor, also raising the tone "You choose the facility and believe that Godzilla is nothing but a rabid animal, while it is our only chance! If Godzilla is killed, we are all lost! You have seen how dangerous Leatherback is .... "

- "Like Godzilla is!" the commander snapped.

The voices were rising around the table like a thermometer, and almost threatening to become a fight. Ulrik seemed ready to come to Ishiro and hit him in the face. Anna and Kristoff watched all this, confused and trying to calm things down without success. Elsa, who for a few minutes had been gritting her teeth trying to stay calm, could not contain herself.

-"Enough!" she shouted dryly, a layer of ice immediately covering the table in two seconds. The argument was immediately stopped and calm fell back into the room. Everyone sits down in the greatest calm, while the queen calmed herself and made the ice disappear from the table. Even Anna had never seen her like that. Slightly rubbing her temples with her fingertips, Elsa gathered her thoughts and in a calmer voice, spoke to Ishiro.

- "Professor Ishiro: With all due respect, Commander Ulrik could be right. There is nothing to tell us that Godzilla does not represent a danger to us, and even if it does not, nothing can be said that what would happen during their fight, or that it would unfold. We can not take such a risk for Arendelle."

Ulrik discreetly showed a narcissistic and satisfied smile at Ishiro. This one was incredulous when he heard Elsa's words. He knew that it would not be easy to convince everyone, but he was sure that the Queen would understand his point of view. Sighing, admitting his defeat, he resigned himself and bowed his head.

- "As you wish, highness ...." was his only answer. Elsa heard her disappointed tone, and felt sorry for him, but it was her decision. With that, she rose from her seat, followed by the commander, the financial master, and the ambassador.

- "Commander Ulrik, we need to put up a defence system in all Arendelle, and especially on the port." Elsa began giving her first orders as she left the room.

-"Yes your majesty." replied the commander.

Anna and Kristoff had not left the council room, just like Olaf. They all looked desolately at Professor Ishiro, who was sitting alone at the table, looking at his big book, looking disappointed. Without a word, he closed his book and headed for the nearest window, his hands behind his back.

- "I'm sorry, professor ....." said Anna as if to apologize, even if he had nothing wrong with him. Ishiro, without turning around, emitted a small "Hmmph" of irony.

-"The human species is egocentric by nature ..." he said, while watching through the window. Anna, Kristoff and Olaf listened what he said. "...We like to believe that we dominate the world, that nature is under our control.... But these are only illusions..... We are only hosts on this earth, and we must respect the laws of its true rulers."