Despair.

That is what one feels when torn from the angelic grace of hope. That is what one feels when cornered by the hulking essence of death. That is what one feels when the realization of no survival, no chance and no possibilities sink into the soul. Most tend to avoid such a dark disease at all cost and they succeed. Unfortunately, like death itself, it cannot be avoided forever. And when the time comes, an unholy fate awaits.

Peaceful, yet soothing chants were sung softly throughout the sacred land of Infant Island. Such heavenly chants echoed out from gentle vocals. These vocals belonged to the Cosmos. They sung for their graceful lepidopteran deity, Mothra, who wearingly rested upon her massive egg within her temple. The cool gentle breeze of the wind flowing through the air, the beautiful divine white glow cast the moon above from a clear sky, the sensation of peace and harmony... It was everything Mothra could ever want, one final peaceful night. Life was slowly robbing the goddess, honorably discharging her of her duties and leaving them to the Earth's next hope. With complete acceptance, the deity calmly waited to leave the world, knowing that her time would end very soon.

Though life is gentle and patient when taking, death, however, is not.

An unholy screeching quickly crushed the heavenly chanting, silencing the Cosmos with layers of fear in mere moments. Alert, dimmed blue eyes lit up brightly as the peace that was prized so dearly to the goddess was stolen away. Silence had fallen onto the island, an eerie silence that quietly promised death. Chirping angrily, Mothra gave forth challenge to the source. And without hesitation, the source gladly accepted with a unique reply.

Massive crimson explosions of micro-oxygen tainted the island, leaving chaotic destruction upon the scared land. The island trembled greatly from the force of each explosion. Natural land formations crumbled, plant life vaporized and flamed craters slashed the ground. Thick smoke and dust clouds swallowed the floating mass of rock, with the eerie silence slowly washing over once more. Flapping her mighty wings softly, Mothra took flight through the sky opening of her temple and headed toward the location of her challenger. As the screen of dust and smoke faded, the goddess halted her advancements, surges of terror stabbed throughout her entire body as the identity of the source was revealed.

Hellish bat wings stretched out widely from the corners of an armored devilish back. Pulsing in a molten glow was an amber hue horn that was attached to the forehead. Ghoulish jaws filled with numerous needle pointed teeth slowly opened, releasing a thick mist of micro-oxygen from its blood-hued fortress body. An evil devil-like, axe-structured head slowly reared back, unleashing another unholy cry. The source was none other than the taker of life itself...

Destoroyah.

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Mothra shook off the paralyzing fear that had captivated her and begun flapping her wings greatly. Powerful gusts of wind rammed against the towering abomination with heavy applied force, causing the devil to actually stagger back from its standing. Given the chance to land a strong blow, twin golden beams quickly struck home upon the target's chest. Screeching cries of pain raged loudly as Destoroyah fell to the ground. Mothra, however, continued to rain down her antenna beams heavily on to the fallen beast. Due to the power of Mothra's never ending assault, dust slowly consumed the visual sight of Destoroyah in mere moments. After a minute of attacking, Mothra brought her beam shower to an end.

Watching from a safe distance were the Cosmos. A slight warmth of relief softly comforted them, feeling that the threat was defeated. With no cries of pain, or any attacks coming from the slowly dissolving screen of dust, Mothra as well was beginning to feel at ease.

A haunting cackle lowly hiss broke the silence, as if mocking the moth goddess and her recent efforts. Destoroyah was standing with no hints of pain or any visual evidence of wounds. Mothra felt herself edging back as cold shivers crawled down her exoskeleton. The Cosmos were stunned to see the creature standing as if everything Mothra had done was nothing but mere child's play to it!

A chilling hiss crawled from the demon's maw; it could taste the very essence of despair and death slowly overflowing from the deity. Oh it was such a delicious joy to bare, to make even a deity quake in terror. Although Destoroyah wanted to dine into such a feast, it had an objective in mind. It was to completely dominate and destroy life, to wipe out everything in existence. That included hope, for hope was one of the life's greatest traits. Destoroyah sensed this hope and it was right within the cave behind Mothra. That was its primary target to send into oblivion.

Flashes and sparks of molten energy slithered across the demon's axe shaped skull; Destoroyah was not going to let a dying goddess stand in the way of its objective.

A monstrous lavender-hued beam hellishly lashed out from Destoroyah's maw, tearing into Mothra's right wing. Howls of agony reached the heavens as the mammoth moth felt her wing shredded away by micro-oxygen properties. Falling out of the sky, Mothra crashed heavily into one of the craters made from Destoroyah's earlier attacks. A hole he planned on turning into a grave.

The ground trembled and cracked from each step the hellish fortress took, advancing toward the weakened moth with a mind filled with dark intent. Molten energy crackled and sparked from the demon as it unleashed multiple strikes of its Oxygen Destroyer Beam. Fur burned. Flesh eroded slowly on a microscopic level. Blood gushed and spilled onto the ground. Cries and shrieks of pain and suffering clawed the skies above; Mothra could feel her life being ripped out of her gravely injured body. The bloody sounds of a life being crushed into extinction... It was the most beautiful music that had ever fallen upon Destoroyah's ears. Such lamenting cries of pain was heavenly to the demon.

Gargled chirps weakly sound, almost as if choking, struggling for air, for life. Clamping down around the moth's neck with its massive demonic tail, Destoroyah sadistically smashed and flung Mothra around like a child's toy. It flung Mothra against the scorched ground. It flung her against massive piles of stoned rubble. Over and over, heartlessly cackling from the mass enjoyment of her pain, Destoroyah would make Mothra understand that no form of life would escape its wrath.

Ten minutes passed.

The loud impact flooded the air as a heavily injured and bloodied Mothra lifelessly laid upon the cracked and crumbled land. Tattered wings spread out in a jerked form. Missing legs tainted the damaged island widely. A gashed-in, dim blue eye rested roughly on the ground, soaking in a mildly small puddle of spilled blood. Gazing coldly over its shoulder, Destoroyah looked onto the creature. No movements presented itself; nor were signs of life displayed. A part of it felt disappointed. It was having so much fun, though knowing that the moth was dying, Destoroyah thought that Mothra would put up a better fight. Slowly, the demon turned its sights back on its objective. A lavender-hued Oxygen Destroyer Beam discharged from the fiend's foul maw, blasting through the cave that had hidden the temple. Ancient formations that held paintings of the Cosmos and Mothra's history were reduced to rubble, with the dust settling from the attack. It came into view...

There it was... The egg.

Hope. Life.

The Cosmos could only watch helplessly as the taker of life marched forth unchallenged. Sparks and flashes of molten energy crackled and surged out. Needle jaws slowly opened, revealing death's lavender power brimming over as a thick mist of micro-oxygen streamed from both sides of the demon's maw. But before the demon could unleash its destructive weapon, a heavy pressure slammed against its right side. Unable to calculate what was going on; the monster was already down on the ground! A low groan hissed from its maw, Destoroyah couldn't understand what had hit it. Either he was focusing on its target too much to pay attention, or whatever had struck it was too quick. All in all, it did not matter. Destoroyah had already decided to erase whatever had struck it from the realm of existence.

Shaking off the sluggish daze that surrounded its vision, a heavy breeze brushed against him carrying millions of golden scales along with it. With its vision settling back, cold eyes opened widely in shock. Such a thing was impossible: Mothra was still alive! A heartless screech filled with hatred raged out from the hellish beast as it felt a grand greeting of pain pierce its body repeatedly. Bolts of lightning lashed out from Mothra's tattered wings, surging through her golden scales and guided straight upon the downed fiend. The bolts tore and drove through the nightmarish creature, blasting through its chest with extreme intensity. Mothra was willing to die for her offspring; she had already understood that once her assault ended, she would then forever leave the world. But if anything else, she would deny death as long as she could if it meant saving her unborn child's life.

Dark cumulonimbus clouds drowned the once heavenly night sky, flashes of lightning snaking through the massive abyss over the damaged island. Winds whirled and whipped aggressively, a blinding fury of heavy rain pouring down. It was a typhoon.

Bloodcurdling shrieks of pain continued to scream out from Destoroyah as Mothra turned her up assault, launching her antennae beams into fray to increase the damage output. Blood spouted and sprayed from the massive bloody hole that was once an encased chest. The grueling agony, the monstrous pain, such sensations were overwhelming! Molten sparks of energy coursed around Destoroyah's head furiously. It refused to be beaten, especially by a weak deity who was already at death's door! Crimson energy burst from the devil's horn, slashing across the mammoth moth's upper body in a hideous display of raw power. Thrashing through the harsh rejection of Mothra's scales, crimson energy compressed itself into the form a katana. And with a mighty heave, Destoroyah thrust the blade through the exoskeleton of the goddess completely through.

Wing movements slowed down. The seemingly drowning waves of scales and bolts of golden lightning came to a halt.

Rising up, the nightmarish fortress stood from the now drenched and muddy ground, sensing no extreme danger. The crimson katana faded, allowing Mothra to rest onto the monster's horn, bloody gargling pants groaning out wearingly from its throat. Destoroyah couldn't believe what had taken place. It hadn't seen such ferocity in many years. The only monster that had ever presented such power was... Godzilla.

Taking one step forward, Destoroyah felt its body stumble slightly downward before catching itself. The grave chest wound was too deep and painful to make any physical advancement. It spent most of its strength enduring the punishment and keeping its complete form intact. But with a handful of reserved energy left, one hit of its Oxygen Destroyer Beam would be enough to send the egg into oblivion. Molten sparks once more summoned around the demon's skull, Destoroyah was ready to take another life. Before releasing its attack, scales lightly fluttered around the monster. Destoroyah quickly disarmed its attack, discharging the energy down to its tail which swayed against a nearby boulder, causing a mildly large explosion. He noticed that the scales reflected energy properties; if he had released its beam, he wasn't sure how the outcome would unfold. But in some part of its corrupted mind, he knew that it would have worsened its situation somehow. Destoroyah felt an inner rage boil hotly down within its empty soul, how could a dying creature withstand so much?! It was the taker of life! The physical manifestation of death! The nightmarish symbol and embodiment of despair! If there was life, it would crush it. If there was resistance, it would send it into the depths of the eternal inferno. If there was hope it would drown it into despair. Its attacks should have killed that pathetic weakling of an insect by now!

In the beginning, Destoroyah planned on destroying the egg and leaving. Realizing Mothra was rejecting its will, the devil decided to forge a new will...

Its will demanded that everything on Infant Island be annihilated!

A weak chirp softly echoed. Mothra knew that this time she couldn't deny death. Destoroyah stood there puzzled, enraged, confused beyond all reason as to why the goddess continued to fight back against it. It knew that she had nothing left; it knew that she was going under.

So why? Why continue to fight, when the battle has already been lost?

Gazing upward at the dark thunderous clouds, Mothra watched as her scales carried with the powerful winds of the typhoon. She had given everything she had to protect her egg... Not as Earth's protector, but as a loving mother. In the end, she accepted that it sadly wasn't enough. With her last moments of life, Mothra peacefully looked into the heavens, knowing that it was going to end her suffering and protect her egg. Nature's angelic whip flashed across the dark skies, diving straight down with the guidance of the deity's scales and devoured both the Goddess and the Devil in a bright eruption of lightning. The grand explosion forcefully tore through the entire island, pressing the egg back into a low ditch, having it land on a soft mass of dirt, rubble and fallen trees. Spreading for nearly a mile in length, anything within the radius was engulfed and blasted.

In minutes, the explosion faded. The mixture of smoke and dust lightly died down, revealing a giant hole bathed in small flames and ashes within the middle of the island. The Cosmos, hiding within a lower chamber of the island for safety, went out and looked upon the results of the battle. Everything that once looked so beautiful now looked dead and ghastly, like a graveyard. Tears shed from their eyes, lamenting at the lost of their beloved Mothra. And with no sight of the egg, their tears had flown greatly with the assumption of the egg's demise. Clearing away, the typhoon came to an end, releasing the beautiful night sky and its moon back into the world. The winds blew softly; the roar of the ocean became settled and calm. A loud crack quickly fell upon the ears of the weeping Cosmos. The flowing of tears stopped as they heard the sound continue and form into the noises of something hatching.

Their tear filled eyes opened widely with happiness as they both heard the loud lively chirps of a Mothra Larva. Mothra's legacy was safe and had become the new beacon of hope.

Elsewhere...

Beneath the island, lays a dark murky world. A shark suddenly dies, its body eroding away at a haunting pace, showing bone and dying flesh. Slowly, small swarms of microorganism crustaceans swim through the watery void, away from its corpse.

Despair may never die in this world...

But as long as there's hope, despair's defeat is most certain.