The United Nations helicopter sliced through the windswept steppe, its destination a sprawling subarctic mining camp that loomed in the distance. Inside the cockpit, a Japanese man, Serizawa, possessed an austere and pensive demeanor, almost brusque. He absently fiddled with a small brass pocket watch, his gaze fixed on the horizon.
Black smoke billowed into the sky, a grim testament to the disaster that had befallen the camp. Local rescue crews were already on scene, picking through the wreckage: corrugated hangars crushed like tin cans, decimated megadozers, and gigantic drill-bores snapped like twigs. A chilling sight of at least a dozen frozen corpses lay recovered in the snow.
The helicopter landed, and the Monarch team, identifiable by the emblem on their uniforms, spilled out, a multi-lingual babel rising as they unloaded scientific equipment. Serizawa, their leader, remained silent, a man of science simultaneously captivated and unnerved by the scene before him.
Inside one of the structures, half the roof had been violently torn away, exposing the interior to the frigid wind and moonlight. Dr. Stabler, a man in his 30s, led the way with a halide flashlight. "The miners were surveying for uranium ore and found a radioactive hotspot. But when they started drilling, it wasn't uranium they found... Our Geneva office got the call this morning."
Serizawa followed close behind. "Take us in, please."
Below, they descended into a vast, underground cavern, rappelling down ropes. Several dozen rescue workers were already present, their flashlights sporadically illuminating what appeared to be a giant nest. Hardened secretion coated two enormous oval spores. One remained intact, but the other had already "hatched."
Serizawa studied the scene with measured fascination, noticing deep grooves in the rocky wall – claw marks, perhaps?
"The rescue workers found it like this," Dr. Stabler explained. "One spore is still intact. The other, well…" He gestured towards the wreckage above. "…must have been what did this."
Cr-unch!
Serizawa had stepped on something brittle. He crouched, examining the green-gray rock under his foot. It pulverized to dust at the touch of his finger.
"And then there's that," Dr. Stabler added.
A colossal animal bone. Serizawa, eyes wide with astonishment, slowly moved his flashlight upwards, revealing that the entire cavern was ridged with bones. It was not a cavern at all. They had dug inside a gigantic, hollow rib-cage.
Later, an excavation crew arrived, swarming like tiny ants, busying themselves around the vague, dark silhouette of a gargantuan fossil frozen beneath the ice.
~~~~~~~~
Dr. Aris Thorne, his brow perpetually furrowed from years of scientific inquiry, strode into the observation deck. The air hung thick with a sterile coolness, a constant reminder of the facility's purpose, a stark contrast to the primal power slumbering just beyond the reinforced glass. Outside, the perpetually snow-dusted peaks of Greenland stood sentinel, dwarfed in comparison to the behemoths within.
"How are our two guests doing this morning?" he asked, his voice a baritone rumble that barely registered above the hum of the monitoring equipment.
A young woman, her face pale but focused, swiveled in her chair. "Technically, Doctor, we're the guests, since we found them here," she quipped, earning a few nervous chuckles from the other technicians. This was Maya Olsen, fresh out of MIT and brimming with a sardonic wit that often clashed with the gravity of their situation. "But to answer your question, they're doing well. Or rather, they're still sleeping. Vital signs are stable, energy readings minimal. Same as always."
Another technician, a burly man named Ben Carter, adjusted his headset. "Yeah, they haven't moved a scale in the last twelve hours. It's almost… boring."
Thorne shot him a sharp look. "Boring is good, Carter. Predictable is safe. We are here to observe, not antagonize. Their slumber is a privilege, not an inconvenience." He turned back to the massive, reinforced glass, his gaze intense. Beyond it, the cave stretched into shadow, illuminated by strategically placed spotlights that revealed the contours of two colossal forms.
Hela, by far the larger of the two, resembled a mountain range sculpted from obsidian and jade. Her scales shimmered with an internal heat, a barely contained inferno that radiated even through the thickest protective barriers. Astrid, smaller but no less imposing, was a serpentine cascade of sapphire and silver, her body coiled protectively around a section of the cavern floor. They were magnificent, terrifying, and utterly baffling.
"Have you managed to secure any samples?" Thorne asked, his mind already racing with the possibilities, the scientific breakthroughs, the answers that lay dormant within those gargantuan forms.
Maya sighed, running a hand through her already disheveled ponytail. "Aside from saliva, Doctor, not really. And even that's proving to be a challenge. It evaporates almost instantly upon contact with the air, leaving behind only a faint residue. We've tried containment protocols, different atmospheric pressures, even cryogenics... nothing seems to work."
"And the scales?" Thorne pressed, his eyes fixed on a shed scale, gleaming faintly near Hela's massive tail.
Ben shook his head. "Forget about them, Doctor. We managed to retrieve a few with the robotic arms, but they're untouchable. Temperature readings are off the charts. We're talking surface temperatures hotter than molten steel. We'd need a whole new suite of equipment just to handle the damn things."
Thorne chewed on his lip, frustration gnawing at him. They were so close, yet so far. He craved understanding, a glimpse into the biological mechanisms that allowed these creatures to exist, to thrive, to defy the very laws of nature.
"What about energy signatures?" he asked finally. "Any fluctuations? Any signs of…"
He trailed off, unsure how to articulate his hopes, his anxieties. Signs of awakening, perhaps? Signs of the cataclysmic power they knew these Titans possessed?
Before either Maya or Ben could answer, a piercing alarm shrieked through the observation deck. Red lights flashed, bathing the room in an unsettling crimson glow. Technicians scrambled, their faces etched with panic.
"What's happening?!" Thorne barked, his voice laced with urgency.
"Seismic activity! Minor tremors, but… energy readings are spiking!" Maya shouted, her fingers flying across the keyboard. "They're waking up, Doctor! I repeat, the Titans are waking up!"
The tremors intensified, rattling the observation deck. Dust rained down from the ceiling. A low, guttural rumble echoed from the cavern, shaking the very foundations of the mountain.
"Evacuate Sector Seven! All personnel, evacuate immediately!" a voice boomed over the intercom, its urgency undeniable. "This is not a drill! I repeat, evacuate Sector Seven!"
Thorne hesitated, his scientific curiosity warring with his survival instincts. He glanced back at the glass, just as Hela's massive head began to stir. The obsidian scales shimmered, catching the red light in a kaleidoscope of terrifying beauty.
"Get out of here!" he yelled at Maya and Ben, pushing them towards the exit. "I need to see this."
He watched as, with agonizing slowness, Hela lifted her head. A yawn, vast and terrible, ripped through the silence, revealing rows of teeth like jagged mountains. Astrid, jolted awake by the tremors, sneezed, unleashing a jet of pure, incandescent flame that scorched the cave wall.
Hela cooed, a low, rumbling sound that vibrated through the floor, and nudged Astrid affectionately with her snout. Astrid responded in kind, nuzzling against Hela's massive head. A display of affection that was somehow more terrifying than any display of aggression.
Then, their eyes, ancient and knowing, focused on the observation deck. They noticed the change in their environment, the unnatural structure that blocked the cave entrance, the tiny, panicked figures behind the glass.
Hela and Astrid rose to their full height, their immense forms dwarfing everything around them. They moved with surprising grace, their four legs carrying them towards the observation deck. The humans inside scrambled back, their faces contorted with fear, pointing whatever they could find – pens, clipboards, even trembling fingers – at the approaching Titans.
Hela, her curiosity piqued, lifted her right paw and tapped the glass with a massive claw. A spiderweb of cracks appeared, spreading across the reinforced surface. Thorne saw the blood drain from the faces of the remaining technicians. He felt a primal fear grip him, but also an exhilarating sense of awe. He was witnessing something extraordinary, something that would change the world forever.
Hela, seemingly amused by the reaction, huffed, a puff of hot air that further cracked the glass, and turned away. Astrid followed close behind. They walked towards the far end of the cave, towards what appeared to be a natural throne carved from the rock.
And then, the impossible happened. With each step, their dragon forms began to shrink. Their scales shimmered, their bodies contorted and reformed. The obsidian and sapphire faded, replaced by flesh and bone, armor and steel.
By the time they reached the throne, Hela and Astrid were dragons no more. In their place stood two strikingly beautiful women, clad in Viking shieldmaiden armor, their faces fierce and regal. Hela, the taller of the two, turned and sat upon the throne. Astrid, her hair a cascade of blond, her eyes the color of glacial ice, sat on the armrest to her right. They surveyed the observation deck with an expression that was both curious and commanding.
The silence in the observation deck was absolute, broken only by the frantic beeping of the monitors. The technicians stared, their mouths agape, their minds struggling to comprehend what they had just witnessed.
Thorne, however, felt a surge of adrenaline. He had seen the impossible, the unbelievable, the utterly extraordinary. He had a thousand questions, a million theories swirling in his mind. He knew, with absolute certainty, that everything he thought he knew about the world had just been shattered.
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to regain control. He had a responsibility, a duty to report what he had seen, to understand what was happening.
He turned to the nearest technician, his voice calm despite the turmoil within. "Call Dr. Serizawa," he said, his eyes fixed on the two figures seated on the throne. "He needs to see this."
~~~~~~~~~~
AN: Hey everyone! As the first chapter of Monstervers, and I would love to hear what you think! Do you feel it's a strong start, or does it need something more? Personally, I'm pretty happy with it, but your feedback means a lot to me. Share your thoughts in the comments! Thanks!