Author’s Note – The following entry into the Gfantis vs Guest Monster Series features the colossal godlike hero known as Talos from my novella The Kaiju and the Crime Fighter. Talos is a mysterious being who stands 150 feet tall and whose skin, armor, and helmet are composed entirely of bronze. In addition to his size, Talos also possesses the ability of flight and several energy attacks. During an attack on Earth by an alien force the being who would be known as Talos suddenly awoke and found himself buried underground. He did not know who he was or how he had arrived underground. All he knew was that he felt compelled to protect the Earth. The giant flew to the battle and joined several other heroes in fighting off the invasion. Due to his resemblance to the automaton of Greek Mythology, the giant was named Talos.
In The Kaiju and the Crime Fighter, the metropolis of Port City is attacked by the nearly invincible fire breathing kaiju Gargantasaurus. The city’s protector is a vigilante known as Raptor. For all his skills and weapons, Raptor is only a man. He knows that he cannot defeat Gargantasaurus. The vigilante immediately contacts Talos to battle the kaiju who informs Raptor that he will require several hours to arrive at Port City. With a grim determination, Raptor attempts to hold off Gargantasaurus until the bronze giant can arrive. This story takes place after the events of the novel.
The novella is available in both print and digital formats on Amazon and at www.matthewdennion.com
Greece
A large figure dressed entirely in black robes stood near the edge of a huge and seemingly bottomless round crater that was located in the middle of a vast field overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The man was known as Kane. He was a master of the dark arts and he was particularly well versed in the fields of demonology and necromancy. He stood nearly seven feet tall and had a muscular frame. His long black hair and beard shrouded his neck, shoulders, and face. From a distance, the thick hair and beard gave Kane the appearance of having a lion’s mane which is exactly what he had intended it to do. Kane was a masochist who had long ago dedicated his life to the Masters of Hell. He had made contact with several of the highest ranking demons in Hell’s Army who had promised him untold power and fortune if he was able to free them from their fiery prison.
The edge of the pit where Kane stood was a perfect circle that measured nearly 200 feet across. Kane inhaled through his nose and his nostrils were assaulted by the foul smell of rotting eggs. The odor was a clear indicator that there was a source of sulfur at the bottom of the pit. For centuries, the people of the nearby town had used it as a place to dispose of garbage. Despite the countless tons of refuse that had been dumped into the pit, the garbage had not piled up to the point where it was visible. The people of Greece thought that the pit led to a river of magma that burned all of the garbage they threw into it before flowing into the nearby sea. Decades of research and excavations of various ancient sites told Kane a different story about the pit.
What the people of Greece perceived as a volcanic vent was in truth a gateway to Hell itself. Kane had uncovered several demonic texts which indicated that the pit the physical location where the demon Araddon had been imprisoned in Hell. The fact that his cell had become a garbage dump only served to further humiliate and infuriate the powerful demon trapped at the bottom of the pit. When Kane had discovered the demon’s location he had also deciphered the means through which to make contact with the foul creature. When Kane contacted Araddon the demon promised the warlock that if he was able to unleash him from his prison that he would lay waste to Earth and that he would free the rest of his fellow demons from Hell. Araddon informed Kane that once the gates to Hell had been opened that the necromancer would be given a position of power in Hell’s Army.
A shiver of excitement ran down Kane’s spine as he thought about ruling over a large section of the planet with a contingent of demons under his command. He turned around to see his disciples using planks of wood attached to wire to push down large portions of the grass that made up the field around the pit. The men were using the boards to make depressions in the grass. They were creating a series of mystical symbols around the massive hole in the same fashion that crop circle hoaxers had utilized to convince the public that aliens were leaving messages in cornfields. In this instance though, the symbols were not meaningless intertwined circles. These designs were powerful mystical symbols that when combined with the proper incantation would free Araddon from his subterranean prison.
Kane stared at his men, and in his mind he desired nothing more than to scream at them to hurry and complete the task but he knew that it was essential that they created the symbols with complete accuracy. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that patience was an integral part to the success of his plan. Kane looked out over the Mediterranean where he could see the surface of the water rippling with movement. The demon worshipper smiled when he realized that the movement on the surface of the sea was thousands of fish swimming away from the shore. Kane nodded and said to himself, “The fish know that a great creature is coming. They sense the arrival of Araddon and they are fleeing the area. Let them flee. Soon there will be nowhere on Earth for the living to hide from the great Araddon.”
Kane was correct that the fish were fleeing the shores of Greece because they sensed a powerful creature approaching the shore. What Kane was unaware of though was the fish were fleeing because the creature they sensed was not coming from the pit but rather from the sea itself. While the fish did not sense the coming of the great evil known as Araddon, Gfantis the Prince of the Monsters, was aware that a great evil was soon to set foot on the Earth and that was something which he could not abide.
The sun reflected brightly off the bronze form of the mighty Talos as he flew through the skies of Greece. The colossal hero was able to see his snow covered target from miles away as he flew toward it. The peak of Mount Olympus stood high above the rest of the mountains around it and as Talos approached the fabled mountain he allowed the briefest glimmer of hope to enter into his bronze heart.
When he awoke to find himself underground he had no idea of who he was or where he had come from. He only knew that he sensed a great threat to the Earth and he felt compelled to fight against it. Since fighting off the alien invasion Talos pondered both his origin and his purpose. Given his resemblance to Talos of old and his desire to act as protector just as the mythical automaton did, the giant wondered if he was not the guardian of myth or that he had at least had some connection to the myth.
As Talos flew closer to Mount Olympus his eyes could see what his mind already knew, the top of Mount Olympus was nothing but rock and snow. The giant landed on top the mountain and he looked across it for any sign of the gods that myth had said once lived there. From what he had learned from Raptor and the other heroes, he did not expect to find anything physical on top of the mountain but he had hoped to find some kind of spiritual or metaphysical clue to his past. The giant sat down atop of the great mountain and he closed his bronze eyes as he pondered his very existence.
Kane watched as his men completed the last of the symbols that were required to free the demon. With the symbols in place, Kane reached into his robes and pulled out a book that was bound in human flesh and inked in blood. The demon worshipper turned to the page that he had previously marked and began to recite an incantation in a language that was known to few people on the planet. With each word that he spoke, his voice began to rise until its pitch became a hellish shriek. When the final word escaped his lips a gust of wind rushed up from behind Kane and flew down into the pit with such force that it nearly tossed the necromancer into the endless void. Kane fought to keep his balance as he stared down at the darkness below him. For several long seconds, nothing happened. Then suddenly, Kane thought he heard something akin to the sound of steel scraping against rock. He fell to his knees and leaned his head over the pit as a vicious wail echoed up from the bottomless cavern. As he peered into the darkness below him, Kane saw a huge red claw bury itself into the side of the wall.
At the sight of the claw, Kane turned and ran away from the edge of the pit.
He ran several hundred feet before he stopped, turned around and fell to his knees. He watched as the red claw reached up out of the pit and placed itself on the edge of the massive hole. A second later he saw a two gargantuan black horns appear out of the tunnel. The horns sprouted from the side of a red human-like face in the same fashion that a bull’s horn’s protrude from its head. The demon opened its mouth to reveal several rows of serrated teeth. As Araddon continued to climb out of the pit more of his body came into view. The giant demon pulled himself out of the pit to reveal the heavily muscled arms and torso of a human male. Araddon’s upper body had the same red hue to it that his head possessed. The demon pulled his lower body out of the pit and Kane gasped when he saw the fur covered and cloven feet of a goat. Araddon wailed as he drew himself to his full 170 foot height. The demon threw his arms out at his sides and roared announcing his arrival to the world that he would soon lay waste to.
Still on his knees, Kane bent his head slightly and called out to the demon, “Master, it is I your humble servant Kane. I have freed you from your prison! Now reward me with the power and glory that you promised me.”
Araddon turned his head toward Kane and he spoke in a voice that sounded as if thousands of shards of glass were attached to the demon’s vocal chords. “As promised you shall have the power and glory that you seek as I absorb your soul and add it to my essence. There is no greater status that a human soul can attain than to join Araddon!”
Kane was shaking with fear and when he saw fire beginning to swirl in the demon’s mouth he started to scream, “No Master, I have fulfilled ….” The necromancer’s words were cut short as the hellfire from Araddon’s mouth incinerated him leaving only the accursed book and a pile of ash where Kane’s body had once stood. Kane’s followers watched as the essence of Kane’s soul emerged from the ashes and flew towards that towering nightmare that was Araddon. The terrified followers could actually hear Kane’s soul scream in pain as it was absorbed into the demon’s body. When Kane’s soul entered Araddon’s body he threw his head back and the look of a profound sense of contentment crept onto the demon’s face. It had been countless millennia since had had last experienced the ecstasy of absorbing a soul. Araddon pulled his head forward to see Kane’s followers fleeing from him. The demon laughed at their futile attempt to escape his wrath. The colossal horror took several steps forward and spewed his fiery breath upon them. Kane’s followers shared his grim fate as their bodies were incinerated and their souls were absorbed by Araddon. With Kane and his followers assimilated into his body, Kane looked toward the town that was a little over a mile to his left. The demon could sense the thousands of humans living there and he hungered for their souls. The demon wailed as he began lumbering toward the collected souls he would soon reap.
Talos was sitting atop Mount Olympus when he was literally knocked onto his back as a sense of impending doom from a source of pure evil overwhelmed him. The bronze guardian had never felt a source of evil as powerful as the presence he now detected. The evil was near the sea and Talos looked in that direction before leaping off the top of Mount Olympus and flying toward this threat. Talos could sense the fear of thousands of people who saw the great evil coming toward them. The giant lowered his head and increased his speed creating a sonic boom as he shattered the sound barrier. The clouds became a blur as the giant continued to increase his speed. Then ahead of him he could see a dark shape with large horns walking toward a town. Talos’ entire body shook as he felt the malevolent energy emanating from the creature. Talos flew over the city of screaming and panicked people as he spread his arms out in front of him. He drove his shoulder into Araddon’s midsection at a five times the speed of sound.
Araddon slammed into the ground and skidded for several hundred feet before coming to a stop. Talos quickly jumped on top of the fallen demon. The hero grabbed one of Araddon’s horns in his left hand while using his right fist to repeatedly punch the demon in the jaw. Despite the blows that Talos was delivering to the demon, Araddon slowly stood up. The demon absorbed one more punch to the face before backhanding Talos across the chest and knocking the hero away from him.
Araddon hit Talos with such force that the hero was knocked to the ground. Araddon lifted his cloven foot to stomp on the giant but Talos moved with speed and agility that the demon was unable to match. Talos rolled out of the way of the stomp, leapt to his feet, and quickly delivered a thrust kick to Araddon’s chest that pushed the demon back. The bronze giant pressed his attack with a snap kick to the demon’s jaw that snapped it shut and two quick jabs to his snout that rocked Araddon’s head.
Angered at the hero’s persistence, Araddon stepped forward and struck Talos with a roundhouse punch that was so powerful it sent Talos flying the air. The blow was so powerful, that it sent the bronze giant splashing down in to the surf of the Mediterranean Sea. Talos lifted himself out of the water to see Araddon walking toward him. The Demon stopped a few hundred feet short of the water’s edge where he smiled at Talos, “You are the Bronze Guardian that my brother demons spoke of. The one who led the heroes and monsters of the past against the Unspeakable One a millennia ago. It was my understanding that the Unspeakable One trapped you beneath the earth during your battle with him.” The demon smiled, “No matter, I shall slay you myself and then collect this world’s souls as my own!”
Talos was caught off guard by the fact that the demon seemed to know some of his history. As much as Talos wanted to learn about his past he pushed the thought aside and focused on the threat posed by the demon. The hero was about to attack Araddon once again when he felt a powerful presence quickly approaching him from the sea. Talos turned around to see a huge swell of water glowing yellow with energy heading directly for him. Gfantis exploded from the water as sunlight cascaded out of his body. The Prince of the Monsters roared at Araddon while the crescent horn atop of his head began to glow as bright as the sun itself. A second later an arching beam of energy shot out from the crescent horn and struck Araddon across his chest. The blast caused Araddon to roar in pain and back up several steps.
Gfantis looked over toward Talos. The hero could sense that the powerful and potentially dangerous Gfantis was currently here to combat Araddon. Talos simply nodded to the kaiju who roared again and then began walking toward Araddon. The bronze giant assumed that the kaiju understood that he would assist him in has battle against the demon and Talos started walking toward Araddon as well.
Araddon shook off Gfantis’s blast then he howled in anger at the monster and the hero who dared to oppose his will. The demon opened his mouth and spewed a wall of hellfire at his two opponents. The ethereal blast caused the sea water it struck to immediately turn to steam while the flames that engulfed Talos and Gfantis caused them pain like they had never experienced before.
Gfantis roared in pain as every nerve ending in his body was assaulted by the mystical fire while Talos was in complete agony. Talos knew virtually nothing about himself. He had no idea if he was a living being, a mystical artifact, or an artificial intelligence. As he experienced the agony of being doused in hellfire Talos was able to answer one question about himself. Whatever he was, Talos was now sure that he possessed a soul because he could feel it burning. Talos fell to his knees in torment as Araddon continued to douse him in hellfire.
The pain that Gfantis was experiencing was quickly pushed aside at the anger that he felt toward this foul creature that had not only invaded his home but had hurt him. Despite the scorching heat of the hellfire blast, Gfantis roared in defiance at Araddon and began walking toward him. Araddon’s eyes widened in disbelief as Gfantis trudged toward him through the torrent of hellfire. Araddon opened his mouth wider and allowed more hellfire to engulf the kaiju but Gfantis continued to press through it. When Gfantis was only a few steps away from Araddon the mighty kaiju spun around and used his tail to strike the demon across the face cutting off t
he barrage of mystic flames.
Gfantis’s tail strike staggered Araddon causing the demon to back up several steps. Gfantis moved closer to the demon and delivered a claw strike to the hellion’s face. The Price of the Monster’s then grabbed Araddon by the shoulders and with one heave tossed the demon to the ground. With his opponent downed, Gfantis turned his back to Araddon and lifted his tail into the air. Gfantis roared and brought his tail crashing down across Araddon’s chest with such force that the entire ground shook. The kaiju repeated the move over and over again in hopes of beating the demon to death.
Talos forced his body to stand after the torture it had endured from the hellfire. When the hero regained his feet he was shocked to see that Gfantis was physically dominating Araddon. Talos had thought that either he or Gargantasaurus was the most powerful being on the planet but as he watched the Prince of the Monster’s continually strike Araddon with his tail, the bronze warrior began to wonder if Gfantis truly held the claim to being the most powerful creature on Earth. Talos’s thoughts were put on hold when Araddon’s hand shot up and grabbed Gfantis’s tail. The hell lord moved like lighting as he stood up, pulled Gfantis’s tail taut, and yanked on the appendage with such force that it lifted Gfantis off of his feet and sent the kaiju flying through the air. The golden monster slammed into the ground and rolled to a stop several hundred feet short of the town that Araddon had planned to attack.
The Demon began walking in the direction of both Gfantis and the town when he was struck from behind by a blast of energy. Araddon turned around to see Talos holding his arms in front of him in the shape of an X. When the hero pulled his arms apart a bright yellow X composed of an unknown form of energy streaked through the air and struck Araddon.
Araddon sneered at Talos, “Do you still think that your pathetic powers are capable of stopping me?” Hellfire began to build in the demon’s mouth and at the sight of it Talos flew at Araddon. Hellfire once more exploded from the demon’s mouth but Talos flew above the burst of ethereal flames. When the giant was over the demon he reached down and grabbed the foul creature by its horns. Talos then shifted his momentum so that he landed directly behind Araddon and as he brought his arms forward he flipped the demon over his back and sent him flying through the air. Araddon came crashing down next to the spot where he had incinerated Kane. It was at that point, that Talos saw the evil book which Kane had used to free Araddon. The hero could feel the power coming from the book and he somehow knew that if he was able to force Araddon back into the pit that he could use the power of the book to lock the demon in hell once more. When Talos saw Araddon starting to stand up he flew at the demon feet first hitting him in the chest and forcing the horror closer to the pit from whence he had escaped.
Gfantis pulled himself up from the ground. The kaiju shook his head and then stood up. He looked toward the battling Talos and Araddon and when he saw Talos trying to force the demon back into the pit Gfantis understood what he needed to do in order to defeat the horror that threatened his world. The Prince of the Monster’s roared then he began walking toward Araddon once more.
Talos continued to deliver a salvo of kicks and punches to Araddon and with each blow he forced the demon closer to the edge of the pit. The hell lord quickly realized what the hero was trying do to. As Talos was preparing to throw a punch Araddon lowered his horned head and charged the giant. A loud clang echoed across the sky as Araddon’s horns struck Talos’s bronze body. The blow knocked Talos to the ground. He looked up to see an enraged Araddon screaming at him, “I shall never return to Hell! I shall lay waste to this planet and absorb all of its souls! With the power the souls will give me, I shall be more powerful than any of my brother elder demons! I shall enslave them as well! Even …”
Araddon’s ravings were cut short when a blast from Gfantis’s crescent horn struck him in the face. The demon was still reeling from the blast when Gfantis latched his powerful jaws around the demon’s throat. Gfantis pulled Araddon’s head toward the ground then like a gargantuan crocodile that had trapped its prey Gfantis started to roll. Talos stood up to see the Gfantis and Araddon rolling across the field with Gfantis’s jaws still latched on to the demon’s neck. When Araddon saw that they were rolling toward the hell pit the demon began fighting with renewed ferocity in an attempt to break the kaiju’s grip but Gfantis’s jaws were totally unyielding. With one final roll, Gfantis threw both himself and Araddon into the pit. Talos ran over to the edge of the pit where he was able to see a brief glimpse of the monster and the demon still locked in battle before they faded into the seemingly never ending darkness of the pit.
A moment later the bronze giant watched as an orange hellfire and the yellow streaks that were Gfantis’s crescent beam pierced the darkness of the pit. From the roars and howls that echoed up from the darkness, Talos knew that the two monsters were continuing their battle in the bowels of Hell itself.
Talos quickly ran to where he had seen the accursed book, picked it up, then returned to the edge of the pit. The lights and sounds of the battle raging in hell confirmed that Gfantis was still alive and fighting Araddon in the underworld. For a moment, Talos considered what he should do. He was unsure if Gfantis would be able to defeat Araddon on his own and if that was the case then he needed to seal the pit now before Araddon was able to slay the kaiju and escape.
Talos was also unsure if he sealed the pit and Gfantis was able to defeat Araddon if the seal would trap the kaiju in Hell forever. Several months ago Talos would not have hesitated to trap both Gfantis and Araddon in Hell. Having one less monster and demon roaming the planet would have been a victory by any standard. Still, Talos was not sure that Gfantis was truly a threat to the planet and the people on it. When Gfantis had arrived the kaiju did nothing but attack Araddon. Talos even suspected Gfantis knew he was potentially sacrificing himself when he pulled the demon into the pit. Talos was torn as to how he could trap such a seemingly noble creature in the darkest part of Hell itself.
As a blast of hellfire made its way up from the pit Talos quickly decided that he needed to trap Araddon while he still had the chance. The giant closed his huge fist around the book. He could feel its dark power surging through him. Without even opening the book, Talos was able to locate the spell that he required to reseal the Hell Mouth. Talos looked toward the pit and he recited and incantation in a language that was long forgotten by the human race. When he finished the incantation he opened his fist and a bolt of green energy shot out from the book and cascaded over the pit. Talos instinctively could sense that the pit had been resealed. He quickly destroyed the markings around the pit that Kane’s men had used to free Araddon. He then turned toward the sea and threw the book deep into the heart of it beyond the reaches of mortal men.
Talos heard a roar from the pit and he turned to see another yellow blast from Gfantis’s crescent beam light up the darkness below him. Gfantis was still alive and he was still battling Araddon. Talos decided that he would not leave the monster to face the demon in Hell alone. The bronze giant flew into the air and dove at the pit only to bounce off the mystical barrier that he placed upon it. Whatever Talos was the seal he had placed over the pit prevented him from crossing as well. He peered down into the pit where he could both see and hear that the battle continued to rage on. Talos decided that whatever happened, he would not leave the side of the pit until battle was over. It was all that he could do for the mighty Gfantis.
Like a massive sentry, Talos stood over the entrance of the pit as day turned to night and still the battle continued to be fought with an unbelievable ferocity. It was not until roughly an hour after nightfall that the sounds of the war beneath him finally subsided. Talos looked down into the pit only to see a blinding light coming up from the darkness. Talos stepped away from the edge of the pit and he watched in awe as a bloody Gfantis pulled himself out of the pit with seemingly no ill effects from the seal that covered it. The kaiju looked toward Talos then he unleashed a roar which proclaimed
his victory over the demon. When the roar ended Gfantis turned and began lumbering back to the sea.
Talos shook his head in disbelief at the power of the Gfantis. The kaiju had battled one of the most powerful demons in existence in his own domain and defeated him. Talos nodded to the kaiju as he walked by him out of respect of the kaiju’s power and courage. The bronze giant watched Gfantis as he entered the sea and disappeared below the waves.
With the threat of Araddon eliminated and Gfantis safely returned to the sea, Talos took to the sky to continue his never ending battle against evil and to continue his quest to discover his identity.
The End
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GFANTIS VS KING KOMODO
Story by Matthew Dennion
Art by John Opal