TITANS 2150.4 - The Last Empire (Disney Monster Universe Phase 2)

Chapter 16 - The Tyrant King part 1

Guided through a series of dark corridors by the Iwi priestesses holding flaming torches and the Iwi Queen, Jia's group wondered where they were being taken this time, although it seemed to be in the depths of the temple beneath the great crystal pyramid. The answer was soon revealed in the presence of a medium-sized circular room looking like a crypt.

With the utmost respect and silence, Jia, Ann, Trapper and James were invited to stand to the side and wait while the Iwi Queen and her priestesses performed some sort of ritual on the small circular altar in the center. After a ritual gesture that surely had symbolic importance, the Queen let two of the priestesses, having equipped themselves with earthenware jars, pour a strange and shiny blue liquid onto the altar. The liquid flowed along the altar, gradually filling small channels dug into the ground and spreading throughout the room, illuminating it with its magnificent blue light and leaving the group speechless. This liquid seemed charged with the same energy as the crystals, this unique energy that the Hollow Earth was imbued with and which seemed to be the very source of all life. Thus, this energy could therefore exist in different forms, physical, liquid, etc... A phenomenon that Ann would not fail to remember and note for her future research. However, another subject caught her full attention. The light revealed the walls of the room, which were entirely covered with frescoes carved into the rock itself and seemed to tell something.

_"Incredible. Iwi writings and frescoes, perfectly intact." Ann breathed, fascinated.

The Iwi queen, seeing Ann so interested, then invited her with a gesture to take a closer look. Jia, James and Trapper also approached, just as intrigued. Ann approached the first writings and did her best to translate them.

_"It is said that at the beginning of time, the Hollow Earth and the surface lived in harmony, under the benevolence of Te Fiti, goddess of life and Lucanger, god of death, as well as the primordial elements: water, fire, air, earth and the element that united them all, ice. These titans were the guardians of nature, and the... the great apes became the protectors of humanity."

_"The great apes? But... I thought Kong was one of a kind." James said, confused.

_"It seems that we don't know much about the titans and their history." Ann admitted, who then continued to read the Iwi engravings, turning to one in particular apparently representing a battle scene between titans. "But one day, this balance was threatened... A powerful and ruthless ape, eager for conquest and destruction, turned against its creators and wanted to impose his domination on the surface... To do this, this ape managed to rally an army of his own to his cause and led them into a merciless war against the other titans, in particular the most powerful of them, the one that the Iwis call: "the monster who ate a star."

_"Godzilla..." Trapper breathed.

_"That's not all." Ann continued, completely absorbed in reading these frescoes. "This war almost destroyed the natural balance entirely, but after a terrible battle where many titans were killed, Godzilla managed to banish and seal the renegade apes in an underground and infernal kingdom of the Hollow Earth. However, according to the Iwi prophets, the ape at the origin of the revolt against the gods, this tyrant, would patiently wait for the day when he could free himself, take his revenge and establish a new empire on the world... The Iwi call him..."

Ann did not pronounce the name right away, as if the simple idea of ​​pronouncing it made her shudder with anguish. All eyes then fell on a final fresco, representing a threatening ape-like form enthroned atop a mountain of bones and skulls of titans.

_"... The Skar King." Ann finally said.

The mention of the name made Queen Iwi and the priestesses uneasy. Jia, upon laying eyes on the fresco, was the one who was the most uneasy, recognizing there, with certainty, this menacing ape-like creature that she saw in her visions.