The voice was august and stern, mighty enough to shape the very heavens themselves.

Everything was deathly still. Even the woodpeckers fell silent.

The voice repeated its demand: Who wakes me?

The words seemed to come from everywhere all at once. His classmates staggered about, yelping in fright.

“What is that?” Hajime said. His friend’s voice had never seemed so unfamiliar. In Kosuke’s mind, Hajime was big and loud.

But now…?

Kosuke shook his head. “I don’t know.”

You do not know?

The voice didn’t like that.

Do you mean to mock me?

Kosuke looked around—up and down—trying to find the voice’s source.

No…

It was coming from below. The very earth beneath Kosuke’s feet thrummed with every word. The vibrations almost tickled.

Koji pointed at the mountain range. “Is that smoke?”

Suddenly, the voice lost its fire.

This cannot be…

How?

Kosuke lowered himself to his knees. The thud of his movements jostled the heap of rocky debris at his side. He grabbed it and spread it evenly on the riverbed around him, so that there was no chance of another slide.

Did we fail? Was it all for nothing!?

The earth shook with the voice’s regret.

“I don’t understand!” Kosuke said, raising his head. “Who are you? What are you?” He spoke to the earth and the sky.

The answer made the stones dance upon the ground.

I am Kléothag, god of Estravor, warrior of the Bythos. My breath is starfire; my fangs rend moons. My tears bring life to broken worlds. I am the bane of all who work evil. I am the justice of those who cannot protect themselves.

“Wh—what does that have to do with anything?” Kosuke asked.

“Kosuke!!”

Bending down, Kosuke saw Hajime run up to him.

“Look!” Hajime pointed skyward.

Kosuke turned and looked. What he saw made his red-feather mane stand on end.

Smoke was spewing up from the heart of the mountain range, from a tor abutting the Clawpeak.

The others ran up alongside Hajime. They clustered in front of Kosuke, no bigger than dolls.

“This is impossible!” Hiro yelled.

“You can say that again!” Hana replied.

Koji locked eyes with Kosuke, dust-struck cheeks smeared by his fresh tears. “You… you saved us.”

Osamu waved his arms like mad. “Um, hello?! This whole area is geologically active!”

“What?” Kosuke whispered.

“The tremors? The smoke from the mountain? They’re signs of an imminent eruption!”

Kosuke’s tail went stiff. His mane and fur bristled.

“Eruption!?” Kosuke’s yell boomed across the gorge. His classmates covered their ears.

As big as he was, Kosuke could still feel fear. He could still think thoughts that could make his heart race.

A loud weight repeatedly slammed into the riverbed, shaking the ravine and knocking the class to the ground. It took Kosuke a moment to realize it was his tail lashing out behind him. The restless limb seemed to move of its own accord, and without any practice using it, it was a fight to keep it still. After a couple seconds of trying and failing, Kosuke simply gave up and grabbed his tail and held it tight, pulling it around the edge of his shell, though he didn’t pull too hard. He didn’t want to tug himself off his own two feet!

As she righted herself, Moriko looked around and yelled. “Sage’s beard, what’s that sound? Or did his yell just break our ears?”

Hajime looked up in awe, staring at Kosuke’s chest. “I… I think that’s Kosuke’s heart.”

The voice spoke once more.

For ages, I have slumbered, hoping the time of my awakening would come before this aeon’s end. Now I am awake, yet what do I find? You, Godspawn.

The words were like bullets through Kosuke’s thoughts. He winced in pain as the being—Kléothag—scourged him with sheer force of will. Kosuke tried his best to block his thoughts from the entity’s touch, and he either didn’t know how to do it, or it wasn’t possible.

I fought to seal the Mwill away, yet here you are. I do not understand this. Has time itself come undone?

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Kléothag seemed to be everywhere.

“Is this God?” Aimi cried.

“Now would be a really good time for us to turn into kaiju, Kosuke!” Hiro quipped.

Kosuke looked over his shoulder. The smoke rising from the mountains was thickening.

No!

Kléothag’s voice sent earthquakes rippling through the world. Fire Valley Gorge. Fissures opened up on the rocky plateaus above the ravine. Fractures bit into the mountains. The earth’s molten blood spurted out from the crevices in curtains and sprays.

Everyone screamed.

A crimson aura covered the mountains, casting a hazy glow upon the starry skies. The light tinted the night in red and infrared. The bus’ lights cast cones onto the dusty air.

What do you have to say for yourself?

“I don’t know!” Kosuke pled. He was on the verge of tears.

“Don’t let him get to you, Kosuke!” Hajime shouted.

Kosuke shook his head. “What does it even matter? My life is over, and soon, yours will be too!”

He turned to the mountain. It seethed. Smoke billowed up from its furious mouth.

It might erupt at any moment.

His arms drooped; he let his head hang low.

“I’m so sorry guys. This is all my fault. If I understood what was happening to me, maybe things would have turned out differently.” He sighed.

Osamu waved his arms at his sides. “This ravine is like a gutter. If the volcano erupts, the flow will plow straight though the ravine. We need to get out of here!”

The irony of the moment wasn’t lost on Kosuke. “If I was bigger, I could lift you guys out of the ravine.” He stared at his giant’s hands. Yet, as tall as he was, the ravine was taller still.

Hiro stepped forward. “Wait, you mean, like… with your hands?”

“I can’t,” Kosuke said.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Hana asked.

Kosuke stepped up to the base of the ravine.

On the one hand, he figured he was now at least as tall as the length of their bus. On the other hand….

He stretched his arms as far up as they would go.

The others cursed.

“He’s right,” Moriko said.

Even with his arms stretched to the limit, he couldn’t reach the metal guardrail that marked the cliffside road overhead.

The earth shook yet again.

He stepped away from the cliff face.

“Could you climb it?” Hajime suggested.

Scratching the fur on his neck, Kosuke turned around to get another look at the ravine. He nodded slowly, his thoughts churned.

“I… I think I could.”

Enough of this! I will not be tricked. I have nothing left to lose, and there are none here who can act in my stead. My cause is righteous; my honor is true. I shall not shirk my duty, not even as I fade.

Kosuke sat down on his knees. To his eyes, each of his classmates looked to be about twenty centimeters tall or so.

“How the hell would this work?” Hana asked.

“There are spikes on my back, right?”

“Yes,” Hajime answered.

Kosuke scooped his arm up his back. “Well, climb on those, and hold on! I’ll climb up and carry you to the road!”

He bent forward, biting his lip to keep his tail steady.

“Are we really doing this?” Aimi said.

Kosuke couldn’t believe it either.

He shook his head. “Just go,” he said. “Hurry!”

Kosuke had to keep himself very, very still as his classmates’ climbed up him, their footsteps pitter-pattering along his tail. Even though there wasn’t much, if any, feeling on the outer surface of his shell, he could feel their weight as they clambered onto his spikes.

I will not allow your tyranny to go unchecked, Godspawn. No longer will you feed off the faith of mortals!

Feed off faith? Kléothag was raving mad!

Behind him, Kosuke heard yelling. He looked over his shoulder. “Is everybody on?”

“No!” Moriko shouted.

“What do you mean, no?”

“Alright,” Hana said, “enough, enough! Everybody off him, except me. Now!”

“What’s going on?” Kosuke demanded.

“This bitch is going to get us killed!” Aimi shrieked.

He felt like a tree overrun with squirrels. Bickering squirrels.

“Dammit,” Hana said, “I’m trying to save lives here. Listen: let him get me up, first. I’m the strongest. If I can’t hold on while Kosuke climbs the ravine, none of you will be able to, either.”

That actually made a lot of sense.

“Just go, Kosuke!” Hajime said. “Go!”

“Are you ready, Hana?” Kosuke spoke without turning his head.

A light tap vibrated through one of his shell pikes.

“Is that a yes?”

“Just go already!” she shouted.

And, with a gulp, he did, though he rose to his feet so slowly, he almost thought he was turning to stone.

“Faster!” Hana yelled.

Glancing down at his classmates, Kosuke trundled off to the side, further along the ravine, until he was far enough away that he wouldn’t need to worry about squishing anyone. Then, digging his claws into the cliff face, he climbed.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this…” he muttered.

But Kosuke shook his head. He closed his eyes.

Just pretend I’m at the rock climbing gym, he told himself. Just pretend.

He swallowed hard, and then opened his eyes. As long as he kept his gaze on the cliff face and didn’t think too much about the trees, he could convince himself that everything was normal, even when it wasn’t.

It was slow going at first. One limb after the other. But soon, he fell into a rhythm. He almost forgot he wasn’t himself anymore. He climbed and climbed, up and up, until his claws clasped around the highway’s guardrail. The metal popped free of the road like ivy off a wall.

“Just a little more!” Hana said.

Nodding, Kosuke pulled himself up.

“There!” she yelled. “Hold that position!”

Kosuke didn’t budge. He closed his eyes as Hana scrambled up his shoulders. For a moment, his scalp tickled and then he blinked his eyes as she dropped into his vision—right on his nose—and then jumped off the tip of his snout and onto the road.

She raised her arms in triumph “You did it, Kosuke!”

I can do it! Kosuke told himself. “I can do it!” he shouted.

Hana covered her ears as she smiled and nodded. “Yes, you can! I believe in you!”

Brimming with fresh confidence, Kosuke began his descent, only for the all-too-familiar heat to flush through his body. It was like an ocean was pouring into him, and all he could do was accept the power and swell to bursting.

No! Not now!

The road sank beneath him. His growing hands lost their grip. He flailed his arms and legs, scraping his fur and scales against the side of the gorge, only managing to stop his fall by stabbing his claws into the rock. They sank in like butter, and then deeper still.

“Why am I still growing?!”

Kosuke’s panicked roar echoed across the sky.

He’d already turned into the kaiju from his sketch. Why was he getting—

—Oh no.

His jaw gaped. He might have completed his transformation from human shape to kaiju shape, but he still had a long way to go before he’d reached kaiju size.

I’m going to be as big as the Tokuwatsu Palace, aren’t I?

Somewhere in the middle of all the insanity, Kosuke wondered if that might finally be the thing to impress his Dad.

The fire in him was in full bloom. What had Kléothag called him? A Godspawn? That sounded about right to Kosuke. It certainly described what it felt like. If the feelings coming from his body were to be believed, he felt like he could do anything—at least, anything a kaiju could do. In fact, the ravine was now small enough that Kosuke figured he could climb it with only a single holdfast to grip along the way. In his excitement, he nearly hopped off the wall, down to the bottom of the gorge, only when he remembered his size and that his wasn’t the rocking climbing studio with bungee cords and cushions to soften his landing. He forced himself to be patient. Patient, but efficient. It took a few seconds, and he didn’t waste any time, not as he descended, nor as he knelt down on the ground and bent forward, extending his tail behind him, to let on his next bunch of passengers.

If I somehow survive this, I’m going to have nightmares about people crawling over me.

Wait…

Kosuke looked over his shoulder. “No!” he said. “Not all at once!”

They were walking up his tail, one after another.

“Why not?” Hajime asked.

“It’ll make me try to rush. I screw up when I rush!”

Moriko hopped off his shell and slid down his tail.

“Moriko,” Aimi shouted. “What are you doing!?”

He felt something skitter down the side of his shell.

“You heard the kaiju!” Hajime said.

“H-Hajime!?” Kosuke was fraught with worry. He felt his tail start to thrash, and had to push down on it with one of his feet to keep it from stirring up the riverbed or flicking his classmates off his back.

Koji, Hajime, and Moriko stayed behind.

“Go, man!” Hajime yelled. “Go!”