CH.1
Angel swung the baseball bat and hit the ball perfectly. Clearing the fence by 10 metres. As he was in his backswing, preparing for the next ball from the animatronic pitching machine, He met eyes with this breathtaking, seraphim. He had to ask her for her name. He immediately put down the baseball bat and, as the other players on the field practicing with him hardly noticed him leave, he was face to face with this beauty in less than 10 seconds. He asked her for her name. “Sophie” she replied, kind of stalwart and stoneface, almost uncaring. But he didn’t seem to mind the uncaring attitude of Sophie. He was intrigued and wanted to find out more about her. He asked about why she was at the baseball park and, as he was finishing his sentence, her dad came walking from behind her, mumbling about how they needed to get going. He said they weren’t going to make the softball team if they just sat here. That was his in. He found mutual interest. She would soon be his, He just had to figure out how to get away from her dad for now.
Her dad stared at him, with much expression in his face, a vast difference from Sophie’s demeanor. It, however, was not a good expression by any means. Without any words exchanged, Angel saw the “get lost” look in the dad’s eyes. So he backed away. Strangely, he noticed everything about this girl. He wanted to savor the moment, hoping he could remember enough to find her again. He noticed her blonde hair, green eyes, even the jogging pants and t-shirt were imprinted in his memory. He also noticed a strange bracelet she had on – only it wasn’t a bracelet. It was a snake? It was a snake. He was sure of it. As she walked away, he saw her playing with it and weaving it between her hands, changing its position from the bracelet-like appearance it had had before. He didn’t care. He was bewitched. He was only 19 but he could see his future, and it was with her.
CH.2
Three years go by, Angel had not had eyes for another girl since that single, bewitching day. It may not have seemed like much to some people, but to him, it was everything. He was in his final year of baseball, unless he got scouted onto a professional team, and he was trying to make the most of it. However, that all changed when that angelic girl appeared again. But, this time, she was different. Her skin was bright, some would call it shiny, Her eyes were even more green than before. But still, it was her, the one he had waited for. He wasn’t currently doing anything but sitting in the dugout, relaxing, so he jumped up and ran through the fence door, embracing her. She was taken aback, but a shock shot through her mind, remembering him, and she gently put her arms around him. Not much care of emotion, but a lot of immersed feelings under the surface. And the pet snake wrapped around her arm stayed calm.
They talked for about three weeks. Angel, summing up the courage, then asked her to “be his queen”, in the sweetest way possible. She simply nodded her head and it was done. A relationship was made. A king found his queen. Or possibly, a queen found her king.
CH.3
Another week went by and, in a rush of Angel’s emotions, he started to get a little intimate with Sophie. She seemed to enjoy it. They were getting deeper into the moment when Angel felt a sharp pain in his lower bicep. He looked down and there was blood. Sophie had bitten him. “It’s okay, It’ll feel strange at first” Angel said. “What… what did you do?” Angel murmured. Sohpie stroked Angel’s cheek, her eyes dark and unreadable. “I’m sharing something with you. Something ancient. Something that wants us to be more.” The world blurred, and Angel sank into the warmth. Qui-Cu’s Warmth.
CH.4
Days passed in a fevered haze. Angel felt his body changing in ways he couldn’t explain. His movements became more precise. His senses sharpened. Hunger gnawed at him in ways that food couldn’t satisfy. Sophie stayed close, guiding him through the transformation. “The hunger will pass,” she promised. “But you’ll feel it in them. We all share now.” Angel didn’t understand at first. Then she saw the others. Sophie had gathered them—people who had been touched by Qui-Cu. Their skin had taken on a strange, iridescent sheen. Their pupils had slit like a snake’s. They moved as one, their thoughts intertwined, their needs no longer individual but shared. Angel felt himself slipping into their rhythm. He could hear them—not in words, but in sensations. Their hunger was his hunger. Their pain was his pain.
And Qui-Cu was always watching.
CH.5
It had grown. No longer a small serpent, it now coiled around entire buildings, its body stretching into the skyline. It spoke to them in thoughts, its voice like silk sliding through their minds. “I will protect you. I will make you more.” Angel should have fought it. But the truth was, he didn’t want to. Not anymore.
CH.6
As days turned into months, the ancient snake, Qui-Cu, seemed more and more agitated. Something was going on, something no-one could have expected until it actually happened. At first the world took notice of the snake titan and they began to launch attacks at it. Nuclear, atomic, all sorts and kinds of attacks were launched. But it all changed when an equally massive kaiju came from the south. It was an arachnid type of creature, with similar context to Qui-Cu; apparently being a kid’s rescue who had grown to monstrous size and started to transform people. In the days soon coming, it was revealed that both titans were discovered at the same time, as if being set free by some sort of ritual, and were taken in by their “owner’s”, who they transformed and kept as their Keepers. Each Kaiju had a King and a Queen. If either the King or Queen died, the Kaiju died as well. Sophie knew of this from the beginning. She knew she must find Qui-Cu a king for it to survive its monstrous form. And she brought Angel in to do just that.
CH.7
The war began with any attacks, it was hunger-fueled and each titan’s army began to attack from the shadows. They attacked anything they could, but whenever they encountered someone from a separate clan, they would give everything, even their lives, to make sure their adversaries ended up dead. The war was quick and brutal. Qui-Cu was stronger. More ancient. More relentless. The rival clan was torn apart, its Kaiju slain, its followers consumed by Qua-Cu and his followers. And in the aftermath, Qui-Cu spoke to Angel, its voice softer than before.
“I would give my life for you.”
He felt its love then, overwhelming and all-consuming. He sank into it, letting it become everything.
CH. 8
The world was different now. Cities had fallen. The sky was silent. The remaining humans were either transformed or gone. Angel and Sophie stood at the top of the ruined skyline, their scales glistening under the dying sun.
“This is ours now,” Sophie murmured.
Angel turned to her, his tongue flicking out instinctively, tasting the air. He smiled.
Their old lives were gone. Their old names meant nothing.
The world belonged to Qui-Cu.
And they were its Keepers.
King and Queen.
FIN