Chapter 14

As the hours passed, Darthra found out that these people were really living here.

Some of them even created a fire, settling meat on it. Besides bowing to his bulky self, they were in an endless cycle of eating and sleeping. Perhaps their waste went elsewhere.

'They must be hiding from something,' He pondered, the armour clanging with him, 'I'd be hiding too,'

His heavy wings moved.

'Healed?' Weird,' Darthra thought, admiring the fact that his wing was back, 'Now that I mention it, how does this armour truly work?'

The armour accompanied his body movements with simple bangs and clunks.

'Honestly, I don't mind keeping it on, but I have no choice,'

'Hmm?'

While he thought, a man approached him.

He walked slowly, taking each step with extra caution. A basket clung tightly to his chest, wrapped by his skinny arms. The light above revealed his dirty skin.

The man stopped and set the basket down in front of Darthra with care.

Within it, flowers. Bundled up perfectly.

'...'

Darthra didn't know how to respond. The man looked at him, waiting for an answer.

'I don't think I can communicate with them,' He thought, staring at the basket, 'I don't have the Cosmos, nor any telepathy, I think,'

When he looked back, the man shivered and descended to his knees, his head against the floor.

"P-Please..." He whimpered, his voice dry, "I'll get you an even greater gift, but please..."

Darthra looked at the man.

'I mean, it's a nice gift,' He thought, 'wait...I see...'

He let out a screech.

One of acceptance.

At least Darthra hoped so.

"Thank you," The man groveled, and raised his head, "I hand you this offering for your assistance, if you care to listen, our saviour,"

'I don't have a choice, I don't even care, as I am not human," He stared at his silver wing, 'Once I'm healed, I'm out,'

"Our village," The man continued, pointing at everyone around him, "has been taken over by those...demons!"

He seethed, slamming a fist on the cold ground.

"All we can do is pray that something can change, as there is no hope for us. Against them, we do not stand a chance,"

Rage fumed from him as he exhaled, opening his hand.

"We're...useless to the giant monsters who flatten our houses. So we prayed. Prayed here in this cave, to the statue."

Darthra glanced over at the corpse, understanding what he had meant.

"Those here won't go back," The man sighed, looking over his shoulder, "until now,"

He raised a finger at Darthra.

"If you understand, please," The man bowed again, "Rid of those monsters who terrorize the blue sky,"

Darthra's eyes lit up like a lightbulb.

"The one you scared away, will be back," The man spoke, "until then, we have nowhere else to go,"

'It is Mecha-Mothra he is talking about,' Darthra thought, looking up at the open ceiling, 'it would be good if they were destroyed,'

He looked at the man with indifference.

'My wing's back,' Darthra flapped it a bit, 'I can get out of here,'

"It is quite the travel, for us, to follow the valley," The man raised, "only a breeze for you,"

Darthra stared at the man and the ceiling in separate intervals.

He could get out of there, but one question would stick in his dented brain.

'What is my goal?'

To arise to the heavens, and out of hell, Darthra would be lost. He would be free, but there'd be no direction.

Even if he was a monster, and a human's plight was not of his valour, Darthra needed a goal.

Something to drive him forward.

'This...could be my goal,' He pondered, his antennae twitching, 'To improve myself,'

'I can do this,'

With a flap, Darthra struggled a little as his wings took him into the air.

The armour could be compared to arm and leg weights. Would it be wing weights now?

Whatever the case, He rose from the cold floor, and a wave of dust hit the walls of the room. The people too.

"T-Thank you, saviour," The man called out, kowtowing, "We'll forever be in your debt,"

Darthra heard this as he made it out of the ceiling, his wings battered against the heaviness of his armour.

'My goal is to defeat Mecha-Mothra, not save some humans,' He thought, hovering in the hair, 'I often forget that I'm a monster, not a hero,'

That man said something about a valley, and Darthra knew that there was more than just a 'valley'.

However, far in the distance, Darthra could make out a certain characteristic of something.

As he glided through the air, his thorax tightened in uneasiness.

Darthra would land harshly on the green below, his silver body rampaging and cutting down all that stood in his way.

His feet shuddered as something ate at the inside of his thorax as if it were going to burst out.

"Ugh," It made Darthra want to hurl and puke.

But nothing happened.

That heavy sensation sat there, waiting...

'What was that?' He looked around, trying to find the culprit, 'No,'

He shook his head.

'I must not be nervous now,' Darthra flapped his wings, 'whatever that was...I don't know,'

Even as he battered into the air, that feeling never left.

Darthra continued onward, following the valley as he went. It ended. On one side, he could see the shoreline of a beach and almost taste the salt.

He hesitated for a moment.

'No. Keep flying.' Darthra was not going to jinx it.

Sadly, the memories kept on coming.

"Argh!" He groaned, trying to ignore them, "STOP!"

For what seemed like an eternity, was a few seconds as Darthra shut out what he had wanted.

It was silent before he reached another point of interest.

The stretching land came to an end. On this end, almost touching the shoreline, stood rows of huts made of wood.

Darthra focused on the centre.

Standing out from the huts, stood a massive temple. A large staircase led to the top of the building, the inside obscured by darkness.

He ran a gaze over all the huts.

No people outside.

'They must be hiding inside,' Darthra stared at the temple, 'do they worship someone? Something?'

As he stared, Darthra felt this pressure roll off his body. From the armour to his exoskeleton.

The darkness in that temple held something.

'Is that where my goal is?' Darthra hovered slowly to the top, his heart beating like a drum, 'This void...is pulling me,'

The next thing he knew, Darthra froze.

A monstrous roar shook the very foundation of this village. Trees fell and huts rattled.

There was no mistaking this roar. However, there was an underline of pain and struggle. Darthra paid no more attention to the temple, but out to sea.

Nothing else made him fly up into the air faster.

As he heaved, Darthra's gaze rolled carefully across the surface of the ocean, the waves looking to branch at any moment. Maybe he was paranoid and scared himself.

He could see it now.

Perhaps if he had looked left and right more, Darthra would've seen it sooner.

Mecha-Mothra.

The robotic moth fluttered with no emotion around a certain spot, eying its challenger.

Darthra's body tensed as he laid eyes on the other monster Mecha-Mothra was fighting.

'No.'

Yes. It was the monster. The one that he had bad memories of. The kaiju to solidify his position as a failure.

'Minus One.'