Skull Island - The Outlook (1949)
Ernst stood on the cliff edge, breathing in the prehistoric air.
It was 1949. Four years had passed since the fall of the Third Reich.
The world outside was freezing into the Cold War, but here, in the South Pacific, Ernst was building a kingdom of monsters.
He rubbed his temples. He was frustrated.
"Project Chimera is stalled," Ernst muttered to Azazel, who was sharpening his blades nearby.
"Stalled?" Azazel looked up.
"I saw a soldier turn into a Tiger last week. He tore three test subjects apart. It looked successful to me."
"Thats basic," Ernst scoffed.
"Turning a man into a tiger is easy. The mass displacement is negligible. But I want Titans. I want a soldier who can transform into a Skullcrawler or a King Kong."
He pulled up a holographic display from his wrist computer.
"It's a physics problem," Ernst explained.
"Conservation of Energy. To turn a two-hundred-pound man into a sixty-ton ape, you need to generate massive amounts of biological matter instantly. The human body is a poor battery. It can't store enough energy to fuel that expansion without detonating."
'Should i try golden lightning' Ernst thought.
"So, we give up?"
"No. We adapt."
Ernst pointed to the treeline.
"Watch."
He whistled. A flock of a thousand black crows took flight from the canopy.
Their eyes didn't glint like birds; they burned red like embers.
"I implanted a magi-tech 'Heart Seal' in each of them," Ernst said proudly.
"A battery made of crystallized dragon blood and circuitry. They absorb ambient magical radiation for a year to charge."
"Activate," Ernst commanded mentally.
The flock shrieked. Red lightning crackled around them.
ROAAAAAR.
In a flash of light, the birds expanded.
Flesh knit together, scales hardened, and wings spanned wide.
In seconds, the thousand crows transformed into a swarm of Fire Dragons, each twenty meters long.
They circled the island, breathing plumes of flame that turned the clouds orange.
"Wow," Azazel breathed.
"They can hold the form for twenty-four hours," Ernst noted.
"Then they must recharge. But for one day... I have an air force that can burn a nation."
"But they are just infantry," Ernst said, dismissing the transformation.
"I have a general."
He put two fingers to his lips and blew a piercing, ultrasonic whistle.
The ground shook.
From the volcanic peak of the island, a shadow detached itself.
It blocked out the sun.
A massive black dragon, eighty meters long, dove toward them.
Its scales were obsidian, its eyes like molten gold.
It was larger than any dragon in recorded history, a super-predator bred from concentrated essence.
Smaug.
The dragon landed with a force that cracked the bedrock.
It loomed over Ernst, smoke curling from its nostrils.
Then, the terrifying beast lowered its head, let out a happy chirp, and nudged Ernst's chest, nearly knocking him over.
It rolled onto its back, exposing its armored belly for a scratch.
"Easy, you overgrown lizard," Ernst laughed, patting the warm scales.
"You forget your size."
"He is huge," Azazel said, stepping back.
"Even Kong avoids him."
"Kong is a mammal," Ernst said, climbing onto Smaug's neck.
"Smaug is a predator with wings. Let's go check the Sanctuary."
They flew inland.
Below, the jungle parted. Ernst saw the Iwi tribe bowing as the shadow of the dragon passed over them.
Even the Skullcrawlers slithered into their holes.
Smaug landed in a secluded valley protected by high cliffs.
This was Ernst's collection.
The valley was teeming with life, but not normal life.
The radiation from the Star Whale and the unique energy of the island had hyper-evolved the magical creatures he had imported.
Griffins the size of fighter jets soared through the air.
Trolls with stone-hard skin lumbered through the trees.
A herd of Unicorns grazed, their coats shining with a blinding luminescence.
"The environment is volatile," Ernst noted.
"They are reverting to their primal, mythic forms."
As he dismounted, a massive shape bounded toward him.
It looked like a lion, but its tail was forked.
It stood a meter tall at the shoulder.
"Simba!" Ernst greeted the beast.
The Crup, once a small puppy he bought in Diagon Alley, barked joyfully, its tail wagging so hard it knocked down a sapling.
"You've grown," Ernst said, scratching the dog's ears.
"I see the diet of dinosaur meat agrees with you."
Ernst looked around his valley.
He had an army of dragons, a valley of monsters, a Star Whale in the bay, and a fortress of science.
He was ready for the next phase.
"The 1950s are approaching," Ernst mused, looking toward the horizon.
"The Cold War. The Space Race. It is time to step out of the shadows."
-----
Comment if you know the golden lightning ref.
😆
-------------
Author's Note:
Do you want to read 25+ Chapters ahead right now?
Stop waiting. Come over to the dark side. We have cookies, advanced chapters, and very, very detailed 'plot.'
patreon.com/
Dark_sym