“So.” Kanade Amou stretches and looks around, the pendant still dangling around her neck, as she examines the massive temple that she’s arrived at with Suwako Moriya and Wriggle. “This is the place? It sure looks like the kind of place for it.”
Suwako ribbits out a laugh. “This is the place for it. It was built so that many of my kind could be in her at the same time in order to observe the ritual. It’s a lot less impressive when Gojira is here though, I assure you.”
Wriggle, currently a giant moth, fidgets a bit. “Are you sure we’re protected here, Lady Suwako? I, um, I feel a bit warm.”
The frog goddess scoffs. “Yes, I’m certain. Unlike your clan, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to interact with radioactive power and come up with magic counters to it. The goal at the time was, well, WE thought we were doing Gensokyo a favor, but other residents thought otherwise.”
“...Sounds like an experience.” Kanade raises her eyebrow. “I’ll have to ask for the full story later.” Looking up at the temple, Kanade nods. “Well… I’ll take your word for it. Though I won’t have to in a bit, will I?”
Suwako looked up as the ground trembled. “Nope. No more waiting! Brace yourself, my children, for here comes our guest of honor.”
The ceilings of the temple were high enough to fit towers in, dwarfing man and beast alike with intricately-carved pillars displaying the old relationship between men and the gods who defended them, effigies depicting great heroes like Baragon and Gamera in combat with their hated foes. Dust was shaken from them though as a titan amongst titans began to enter.
“One week. He’s a hermit, but he’s a punctual hermit,” Suwako remarked, waving her hands in intricate motions as the King of Kings of the Monsters entered the temple, hunched over slightly. “Lord Gojira, it’s been a long time.”
“Not long enough,” Gojira snorted, hunched over slightly, his dorsal fins brushing against the ceiling. Oddly, Kanade didn’t seem to need a translation this time, Gojira’s words seemingly in her native tongue. Suwako winked.
“Oh, stop it. No marriage proposals this time, I promise,” Suwako sighed. “We’re all business today, Lord Gojira, aren’t we, ladies?”
The Mothra nervously nodded, twitching nervously even as Suwako’s magic protected her from exposure to the titan’s radioactivity, perched off to the side so as not to get in anyone’s way. She was here to give Kanade a ride home and nothing else. Gojira stood, waiting impatiently as Suwako began walking towards him.
“Alright, Kanade. Come over here and present your pendant,” the goddess instructed. “Just hold it up though; I don’t want to touch it if I don’t have to and I DON’T have to.”
Gojira’s entrance is enough to make Kanade swallow her nerves again. Sure, she’d talked him into cooperating, but that didn’t mean she’d suddenly become unaware of just how powerful he was, or just how easily he could change his mind. The language is enough to make her cock her head, surprised at the sudden translation ability - but she’s not gonna complain.
“Guess we’re already getting to know each other, huh?” Kanade jokes, before getting serious again. “Right. Let’s get this started.” Walking over and pulling out her pendant, Kanade holds it in front of Suwako. While there’s still some concern in her body language, her eyes are firm and ready, the red in them nearly glowing.
“Yep. We’re all good friends now,” Suwako says, standing between Kanade and Gojira. “I’ll make this quick. We all have things to do.”
The frog goddess raised her hands up, a palm facing both the titan and the Symphogear wielder, hands glowing as she began to chant, the incantation translating as well despite being spoken in a tongue that only a handful of being still knew.
“My fellow divinities, I come before you today to present two like-minded souls who have agreed to become joined in purpose. Gojira, sovereign of the titans, and Kanade Amou, righteous wielder of Gungir, are here to form a bond of power, of strength, of courage. Guardians of Earth, unite their power, join their forces together so that our world may be better protected!”
For a moment, all was quiet and still. Even Gojira seemed a bit unnerved as the glow suddenly left Suwako’s body. Then the room began to hum, a steady pounding as if a heart the size of Gojira began to beat all around them. Wriggle gasped as the room began to glow, the intricate runes and carvings seemingly coming to life, filled with light and whispers. Kanade felt as if thousands of gazes had suddenly turned towards her, more akin to being on trial than one of her concerts. After a few moments of the room whispering amongst itself in judgment, the whispers ceased and the light began to withdraw, pouring towards Suwako, flowing into the goddess’ body until she was engulfed in a blinding light. Gojira snorted at the display, unimpressed as Suwako seemed to grow for a moment, though there was no change. All was quiet once more as the frog goddess turned towards Kanade, eyes empty but for the strange light.
“Kanade, do you accept Lord Gojira’s power?”
Watching and listening, Kanade feels the pressure. It might be a familiar feeling, but the vibe… of judgement rather than adoration… it’s apparent even just from the way they feel.
The runes and carvings would be fascinating to Kanade, if she was able to focus on them. Once Suwako has finished absorbing it, the eyes make it clear to her that she isn’t Suwako right now. Whatever she’s talking to, it’s powerful. And Kanade can tell she’s about to make a commitment.
Breathing deeply, she nods. “I accept.”
Suwako nods and turns her head, gazing upon Gojira with those same glowing eyes.
“Gojira, do you accept Kanade Amou’s determination?”
The titan snarls, looking down at the god-filled god. “I am here, aren’t I?”
“That answer is sufficient.”
Suwako clenched her palms into fists, sending bright beams of divine power outwards. Swirling rivers of spiritual power flowed over the two subjects of the ritual, seeming to flinch away from Gojira’s atomic energy and the sophisticated technology of the Gungnir pendant, hovering just out of reach for a moment before Suwako clenched her teeth and let out a loud CROAK, shocking the spirits and urging them onward. For the barest of moments, Gojira and Kanade’s minds were one, the songstress seeing herself on a bare island, watching over an egg while Gojira seemed for a moment to be watching someone hand over a small item on a chain while speaking a language he didn’t comprehend.
The birth of their power became a shared moment between them, connecting them for a moment before their thoughts were once again their own, though both participants in the ritual felt something new in their souls, a connection that throbbed for long seconds before slowly dying down to a hum and then...to silence. Suwako gasped suddenly, letting out a loud ribbit as her human form shifted back to that of the Dinosaur Toad. She breathed heavily for a moment before getting back on her feet.
“You two were made for each other,” she groaned. “Never have I had to FORCE the bond to be made.”
The Mothra chirped and flew down to the toad’s side. “Lady Suwako, are you alright?”
Suwako croaked. “No, I’m not, but I’m not dead either.” She turned towards Kanade with a stern gaze. “Well, how do you feel?”
As the process happens, Kanade watches the pendant in her hands, as a strange blue glow begins to seep into it. It starts to shine, brighter and brighter, Kanade staring into it until her vision is ripped away. For a moment, she watches in wonder through Gojira’s eyes, before getting slammed back to herself.
When her vision returns to herself, Kanade feels… different. There’s a furious raging somewhere deep inside her, an energy that roils around, begging to escape. Her pendant has changed as well, now a strange blue and yellow crystal rather than the red crystal it was before. Kanade brings a hand to her forehead and pulls it away, feeling like she’s nearly on fire.
Despite all of that, she smiles at Suwako. “Me? I feel great!” How true that it is is for Suwako to decide.
Suwako nods. “Good. Glad one of us is alright.” She turns towards Gojira and bows. “Thank you for your assistance, Lord Gojira. Hopefully we need not call upon you again.”
The kaiju lord, looking as if he had just come out of a daze, snorted and began to back out of the temple, too large to turn around without destroying the pillars holding it up. “See to it that you do not. The world has grown cold and I dislike it.” He looked down at Kanade, eyes narrowing. “See to it that you do not burn, human. I shall be...disappointed if your talk is actually sharper than your claws.”
Gojira’s towering form slowly disappeared back into the outside world, the ground trembling less and less with each step that took the titan further from the temple. Wriggle watched for a moment before taking on her human form and walking over to Kanade.
“Th-that was better than last time, right? Lady Suwako?”
Slowly changing forms as well, Suwako waved off Wriggle’s concern, sitting down with a loud sigh. “I’m fine. I am out of practice, that’s...all. Gojira is more powerful than any kaiju I have channeled the bond into. Miss Amou as well is one of the more powerful humans to undergo the ritual.”
As Gojira prepares to leave, Kanade smirks and stares him down. “I’ll be sure to show you what I’m capable of.”
Once he leaves, Kanade looks at her pendant, with a mix of worry, interest, and concert. She smiles when Suwako mentions her power, looking moderately smug. “I am, huh? Well, thanks for that.” Kanade looks at the pendant, and she stares deeply into it. “...Not yet.”
“I’ll try this later, if that’s not a problem. This is going to need a lot of practice. A lot of strength. I’d… like to have some people I trust when I use it. Not that I don’t trust you two!”
“No offense taken,” Suwako says, waving off Kanade’s concern. “I don’t want you playing around with untested power in here anyway. This is a sacred place built on spiritually powerful ground. I could find real estate like this in a few other places but I’m not much for building.”
The frog goddess takes a deep breath and then...lies down.
“Alright, if you’re good then, you can go whenever you like. Or don’t. I’m napping.”
“Yeah, that’d be-” Kanade shuts up and laughs when she realizes Suwako is already asleep. She turns to Wriggle and smiles. “Hey… listen. I know this was a lot. So thanks for putting up with all of it. And, hey, at least we didn’t get killed!”
Wriggle looks at Kanade and nods. “I don’t know if I ever want to meet him again, but...we made it through, alright. I just hope it was worth it,” the Mothra sighed. “Well, I’m ready to leave whenever you are. I don’t think Lady Suwako would want you taking pictures, but looking around should be fine.”
Eventually, the two left the sleeping goddess to lay in the middle of the temple, letting the holy site return to being lost once again. The dust almost began to settle once more as Suwako awoke, coughing harshly and feeling pain in her chest, looking up at the room as it watched her.
“Oh, don’t you start on me. I’m old, not useless. It’s just been awhile.”
In spite of the pain she felt, Suwako smiled, letting the cool floor suck the heat from her.
“Never thought I’d live to see this day after what happened last year. It’s a new age, I tell you...titans and tribes...together again…”
And then she slept, dreaming of an age long gone...an age that was beginning again...
No comments:
Post a Comment