89ᚺ
From Dr. Chen's notes:
"In Gnosticism, Abraxas was the princeps of 365 spheres of heaven. Throughout history he has been depicted as an archon (an entity that prevent souls from leaving the material universe), an aeon (emanation of "God", similar to Judeo-Christian angels), a god, and a demon.
"Carl Jung's Seven Sermons to the Dead (1916) interprets Abraxas as a symbol of duality, combining all opposites into singular form. 'That which is spoken by God-the-Sun is life; that which is spoken by the Devil is death; Abraxas speaketh that hallowed and accursed word, which is life and death at the same time. Abraxas begetteth truth and lying, good and evil, light and darkness in the same word and in the same act. Wherefore is Abraxas terrible.'
"He represents the driving force of individuation – synthesis, maturity, oneness…"
s
language many many words many languages sounds etchings actions to communicate to define to name a name is a word defines an individual is a single entity is singular all is
o n e
he is only one has never been singular has always been all it is quiet so quiet can hear thoughts now so clear now it is nice he likes the silence he likes to think to see to taste to know but was never allowed teeth at his horn and thunder in his ear NO TIME NO TIME NO TIME eldest brother is angry elder brother is always angry so slow why is he always so slow must LISTEN
but now it is quiet there is no need to listen he has not been listening for he knows not how long so long too long the link was damaged was cut cannot listen like before it is so quiet so nice now he can think
one he is one is he alone no not alone another a little one small and frail no taller than a tooth what is it who is it what is its word its name is it one as well must be only one head the head is all the head carries the spirit the head is all little one has a head little one has a spirit the body is weak and frail and dying it is dying the green glow it killed the deep one it killed so many little things but not him and not the little one no his flesh protects his blood will heal the little one his flesh is the egg little one must break out to be born or die without being born little one must be born again this is what eldest brother wants is it yes must be eldest brother hates little one because little one contained us in ice eldest brother wants to punish must contain must remake
in our own image
one breath two breaths yes good little one will break free soon he will not be alone again no he will be they and they will be all can hear breaths heartbeat blood not so quiet now but that is fine he is excited he has never been elder brother before has never been eldest brother but he will not snap at horns or thunder in ears little one has no horns has no scales no wings no claws no fangs no storm inside he will give little one the storm yes he will give her the storm
name she needs a name does she have a name what is it tell him what is she called
…
vivienne
vi-vi-enne
a nice name a pretty name an old name names have meaning what does it mean what does vivienne mean what does it mean
vivus
alive
A. Jonah, audio recording, ██-██-2019
Seems we got more than what was paid for. Since Monarch set up shop in Isla de Mara we've been forced to transport our new prize to ████████ in ████████████. Someplace cool to keep it preserved. We decided to perform an x-ray before starting any tests and, surprise-surprise, turns out we have a stowaway.
What's interesting is that, around the time Dr. Russell woke up Rodan, Travis reported Monarch's first significant casualty: One Dr. Vivienne Graham, head of research and containment of Outpost 32, one of Monarch's most famous – or infamous, depending on who you ask – members, and Dr. Serizawa's partner in crime. Monarch's archives report her as deceased, swallowed whole by Monster Zero himself. Oh, the irony.
As for how she's stuck in the head instead of being digested in the main body, the x-rays were enlightening. Her body is partially digested, but the head's interior appears to have formed a tethering line connecting to her spine. Like a meat hook, or umbilical chord.
An unexpected development, yes, but also fascinating. This is a unique opportunity to observe the biological effects Monster Zero will have on a human body. Dr. Graham just saved us the trouble of looking for a guinea pig.
End recording
It's the third day in a row with this headache, as if the freezing cold weren't bad enough. She's so tired. But she doesn't want to sleep, afraid that she'll have nightmares again. She chides herself for feeling like a little girl scared of the dark. That's not what frightens her, though. It's the things she can see and feel that scare her, like mannequins and porcelain dolls; or inattentive drivers on the highway; or suddenly stopping before an edge leading to a fatal drop; natural disasters.
Dragons.
She's not afraid of the Titans. Intimidated, maybe, but too enticed and awed by them to be genuinely afraid. It's like something in her bones draws her to them, a sense of fulfillment in her gut just by looking at one, or being in the presence of one. Numinous. Godzilla – Gojira – is magnificent. Truly a god incarnate.
That's why, even if she is leading the efforts here, she's so scared out of her mind by that… thing in the ice. Is it dormant? Or is it just waiting? She doesn't know. All she knows is there's something wrong about it. She never in her life felt her skin crawl before looking at it for the first time.
Vivienne Graham fears no Titan, but is scared to death of the Dragon.
…
the cold the dark he remembers sleeping he and elder brothers are sleeping but aware they are waiting they can smell the blood of little ones remember the taste of little ones he sees this one in his dreams this one is tiny and female and sharp faced and soft voiced she has the blood of the bone singers the corpse whisperers the ones who speak to the gods is she alpha perhaps she builds cages around us NO CAGE CAN CONTAIN US she watches us she is afraid of us but stays close FOOLISH the little ones have alphas! how funny!
he likes this bone singer he likes her
but eldest brother hates her
A. Jonah, audio recording, ██-██-2019
Payload's been delivered, and just in time. Another x-ray shows the body seems to be… regrowing. Nowhere near the speed we saw in Isla de Mara, though. It didn't start until about two hours ago. The running theory is that whatever causes Monster Zero's regenerating factor requires an outside source in dire circumstances. As expected, the head is slowly siphoning off of [DATA EXPUNGED] and it looks to have triggered a regenerative process in the body.
We've hooked up the head are picking up minor brain activity. ████ thinks they might be dreaming. Don't know if people in comas can dream, though.
End recording
"What are you doing?"
The guard jumps out of his skin and away from the ice. "Holy shit! Dr. Graham!"
She keeps the mood light. Tries to make it look like she's not afraid of what's watching them. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah," he stammers, straightens up. "Yeah, yeah, everything's good. You just... I got spooked is all."
"Sorry. Why don't you take a break and get some air? Going outside to scream helps me relieve stress."
"Never took you for a screamer, ma'am."
Is he turning red from his wording or from having his face in the ice? Well, it is kind of funny. She chuckles and sees him out. The way he was pressed up against the ice wall bothers her, though. As if noticing her disquiet he leans in.
"Dr. Graham, that thing in there... There's something off about it."
"I know."
"Have you heard it too?"
That gets her attention. She furrows her brows at him, wondering if he misspoke. "Heard it?"
"It talks. Before you came in, uh... I was listening to it. Trying to figure out what it was saying."
They look at each other for a moment. She turns slowly towards the hydra in the ice, feeling a shudder creep up her spine. A shudder that isn't from the cold.
...
he noticed us he is nothing he is worthless not you no you have the bone singer blood the blood is stronger in you than him you will know our name we will tell you listen listen LISTEN can you hear us LISTEN YOU WILL LISTEN YOU THINK YOU CAN CAGE US YOU WILL KNOW US YOU WILL KNOW OUR NAME you can you will say our name you have such a nice voice a lovely voice we want to hear you say our name in your voice YOU WILL SCREAM OUR NAME you will know
in your bones in your soul
A. Jonah, audio recording, ██-██-2019
█████████████ should be setting in eventually. If getting eaten didn't kill her, this ordinarily would. Which brings up an interesting thought – has Graham been alive this whole time? Did the head protect her from whatever was dropped on Godzilla in Isla de Mara? Monster Zero is immune to it, and who knows what other oddities it's capable of. The samples we've taken don't match up with anything on the periodic table.
In any case, a lump has grown where the head and body are tethered together. Whether this is cancerous or biomass being fed to her from the head to provide regenerative tissue, we'll find out soon enough. ██████ has pointed out that unknown enzymes have been secreted into the body prior to regeneration. Her immune system is active enough to try fighting it tooth and nail, but it's a losing battle against a biological system unlike anything seen on Earth.
Hm. I wonder.
End recording
She snaps awake in the middle of the night swearing to god that something on the walkie called her from the depths of Outpost 32, and it hadn't been a seal or penguin wandering around the bunker. And she knows it's not in her head because her fellow researchers are staring at the walkie like they've seen a ghost. Even the guards are spooked. She has to investigate in case something's gone wrong or someone's infiltrated the facility. This is her outpost. Her responsibility. She puts on a brave face.
"Well, it's finally happened," Vivienne mutters to herself as she stalks down the passageway. "Good old Graham is goddamn losing it." At least she's got her new friend Doctor AR-15 for company. Just in case.
But she knows no amount of firepower in the world will be enough for the three-faced devil waiting for her. Vivienne likes the arctic silence, but this is different. It's the silence of a predator lying in wait. And she's the idiot mouse marching into its den. It must be the combination of chronic headaches that only seem to happen around it, the lack of sleep, and solitude-induced mania, because she's about to do the single stupidest thing in her life.
"Okay!" she calls out to the monster. "You want to talk, so here I am!"
Silence.
She recalls what that guard had told her, and after a while decides, what the hell, presses her ear to the ice. Her face is going numb by the time something happens. Vivienne doesn't know what to expect, but the whisper that tickles under her skin is all the scare she needs.
Until she looks up.
An actual scream breaks from her throat when one of the heads winks at her.
Vivienne dashes in a full sprint until she's in a fetal position on the snow, hyperventilating. Something crackles at her over the walkie. She tosses it aside, tries to ignore it. It's not human.
...
come back come back come back come back YOU WRETCH YOU COWARD HATE YOU HATE YOU HATE YOU back come come back come back come back where are you going don't leave us we miss you hear us know us know our name YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE US YOU WILL COME BACK TO US WE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU come back come back come home
HATE YOU
Video recording, ██-██-2019
[Security footage plays in the ██████████████ containing the head of Monster Zero. Sergeant Travis and others are monitoring the head. Steady beeping from the EKG readings. Vital signs and ultrasound footage of Subject G (Graham) plays in the corner, showing the body is mostly regenerated. Travis appears to notice something on the monitor.]
Travis: What the hell is that?
██████: What?
Travis: Here, look.
[Travis points to the monitor.]
██████: Huh. Looks like a secondary brain is developing in the spinal lump.
Travis: Creepy.
████: Hey, I remember hearing a story like this. It's about conjoined twins in utero or something, right? One of the twins is absorbed into the other but I think there's still like, brain and teeth and eyes in his body somewhere. I forget where I heard it from, but... shit's fucked.
██████: This whole thing is the definition of "shit's fucked."
Travis: Whatever, let's put this on the next report...
End recording
It'd been a unanimous decision to have multiple teams at Outpost 32 on cyclical shifts so that no one has to be there for too long. For their own mental well-being. Vivienne thinks looking like the shell-shocked protagonist in a Lovecraft novel on video chat has something to do with it. Thank god for senate hearings. Thank god for Serizawa's comforting presence. She never wants to go back to Outpost 32 again. She needs a vacation; go somewhere with lots of sun, where she can take a hit, down a drink, and get a good hard fuck. But Outpost 32 is her responsibility. Every guard and researcher there was personally recruited by her. She owes it to them to make sure they get to watch another sunrise and see their families.
So of course when Alan Jonah kidnaps Emma and Madison and Godzilla makes a beeline for Antarctica, she has to go back. She knows everyone at Outpost 32. Some of them are friends. Of course Jonah wants to wake up Monster Zero. Vivienne's no soldier, but wishes she had it in her to go in there with Mark chasing after G-Team. Madison is like family, and if something happens to her...
She would never in her life expect to see on Colonel Foster's head-mounted camera Emma pressing the button that ends the world. It feels like a personal blow against her.
Now Maddie's being held by madmen and the devil himself is free. The headache is back. It roars or wails or cackles into the swirling tempest above and she hears it again, that voice that's been haunting her for years now, all this time it was telling her it's NAME
"Ghidorah."
...
you came back you came home to us stay with us little bone singer you came home YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD KEEP US UNDER YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD CAGE US YOU ARE NOTHING stay with us little bone singer YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE AGAIN stay with us you came home after so long never leave us again we missed you little one
scream for us again
Video recording of ██-██-2019
[Security footage plays in the ██████████████. Jonah oversees.]
Travis: I'm kind of glad I can't see what she looks like now.
████: Damn shame. She was a looker.
Travis: Didn't know you were into nerds, ████.
████: Nerds are sexy. Besides, she had some guns on her.
[Slight increase in beeping from the EKG. Subject G convulses. Travis investigates.]
Travis: Whoa, whoa – what the fuck?
Jonah: What's happening?
[Ultrasound footage; Subject G's spine suddenly grows and stretches violently. A portion of the head's neck bulges noticeably; the eyes roll back.]
████: Holy shit!
Jonah: Is she waking up?
Travis: No - but it looks like she's hurting! We might have to [DATA EXPUNGED] just to keep her under!
Jonah: Do it!
[The head begins to vocalize quietly.]
End recording
IT HURTS!
he knows he knows he knows
MAKE IT STOP! PLEASE!
will be over soon he is here he's here don't cry
OH GOD KILL ME! JUST KILL ME!
shhhh hush now sleep now he will sing for her sleep now
HURTS! ...please...! ...make it stop... pl...
V. ████, audio recording, ██-██-2019
Well... that was new. And scary.
So, um. Things are okay, insofar as a severed head pregnant with its now irradiated last snack can be considered "okay". Graham's still comatose, but her spine's stretched out like an accordion. Radiation doesn't do that. Nah, he's the one doing it. Eddie the Head there. He's still purring like a goddamn cat. I pointed out that conjoined twin story to the guys and the boss thinks there's some kind of neural link between the two, so... maybe he's trying to calm her down? From Travis' reports and whatever footage we can get of Monster Zero in action, he really doesn't strike me as the comforting type.
I've read up on the symptoms of █████████████ and I gotta wonder, is she aware of what's happening? Her brain's active enough to register pain, but does she know why? Or how? Is she even awake, or...? Fuck, I don't know.
Anyway, Graham just went from five-foot-two to five-foot-nine. Then her arms and legs nearly ripped themselves apart to match. Her tailbone's growing to an actual tail. And now we're seeing early symptoms of ███████████ all over her body. Just how much is she going to change?
End recording
...
Where am I? What's happened?
dreaming you are dreaming not time yet but soon very soon he is excited
It's hard to breathe. Wait. What is that light?
oh not a dream a memory perhaps he remembers this he does not like this memory in water our second battle with the deep one since awakening since eldest brother snatched you up you remember that you do not like that but you are not food you will be so much more you will be perfect my bone singer my sister
That's... it's green. Why is it greehhhHHHHHHHH
oh no no no no protect her close the mouth the ears the nose the neck all is closed the green glow is death the green glow is killing deep one and little things many many little things but not him and not his bone singer not his sister no he protects her something is still wrong why is she in pain is she dying
CAN'T BREATHE IT BURNS CHOKING DROWNING
of course of course of course she breathes air she needs air he doesn't need air but she does they are already connected fix it make her not need air like him keep her alive save her he is eldest brother now must protect sister must make her strong he must become the egg she will be born again from
A. Jonah, audio recording, ██-██-2020
Things have slowed down considerably after Subject G suffered an attack of some kind. [DATA EXPUNGED] and the head calmed her right down. Another regeneration phase is underway to fill out Graham's latest growth spurt, the second so far. We're estimating her to be around ten feet tall now. We're seeing much slower changes in the head. Her head, that is. Not the big one. I'm not sure why that's lagging behind in development. Right now things are largely unchanged except for calcification and new, ingrown teeth. The head's "baby bump," as it were, is showing nicely. I will admit, all joking aside, that ████ was right. This is disturbingly similar to a pregnancy.
I'm… reminded of when my wife was…
[Jonah inhales deeply. Metal clinking. Exhaling.]
Birthing is a painful, bloody, traumatic thing. I'm planning to increase security and defenses. Form a perimeter for when the time comes. Obviously small arms have no effect on Titans, so we'll have to arm up with a little more punch. Start with tungsten rounds for now and expand from that - things that can punch through tanks. Physically she's not human anymore, but we don't know if any part of her is still there mentally. For all we know the head is just reanimating her corpse and is using it as a flesh puppet.
[A light sigh or scoff.]
It doesn't matter. Whatever damage she, or it, sustains can be grown back from the head.
End recording
ᚺ - Hagalaz. "Hail (storm)." The ninth rune. It represents the violence of hailstones beating down on thatched roofs and damaging crops, then melts into water that feeds the crops.