The next day, Kong walked alongside Gorosaurus and Varan to the elder's temple.
"So the elder said he's gonna tell you who this Ramarak guy is?" Varan asked.
"He said he'll explain everything." Kong said. "I guess Ramarak was more of a big deal than I thought."
"And he created the crawlers?" Gorosaurus asked.
"I guess so." Kong shrugged. "Let's see what the elder has to say."
Finally, the reached the temple and stepped inside. The elder was there already, waiting for them.
"I see you've arrived on time. Good." The elder nodded. "Come in, and I'll explain everything."
Kong abided and sat down on one of the seats around the table on the centre of the room. Gorosaurus and Varan sat in the other ones next to him, while the elder sat across from them.
"Tell me, my king, how much do you know about the island's history?" The elder began.
"Besides the last few hundred years or so, not much, I'm afraid." Kong said.
"I see." The elder muttered. "I suppose I will have to start at the beginning. Many years ago, when I was only in training, another elder in training was a young man named Ramarak. He and the king at the time got along well. But Ramarak was not just an elder in training. He was also an alchemist. He believed that the resources on the island were plentiful enough that we could create substances and devices no one had ever seen before. He even believed that he could cheat death itself."
Kong and the others leaned in closer, now completely enthralled in what the elder had to say.
"He planned to use his alchemic powers to restart the heart of a recently deceased islander. His plan had worked, but not as he had hoped. The corpse came back as a monster, completely subservient to him. Rather than end the experiment there, he began to go mad, drunk with the new power he had found. He told nobody about his experiment, and continued his work in secret. He found an ancient tunnel system in the ground and allowed the alchemic substance he created to flow into the dirt. Every dead body that had ever been buried in the island's soil came back to life as a monster and served only him."
"And those were the Skull  Crawlers?" Kong pieced together.
"Yes." The elder nodded. "The Crawlers that emerge from the island today are the long deceased residents of the island, brought back to life by Ramarak's alchemy."
Kong sat back in shock. He had always imagined the skull crawlers were nothing but monsters for him to fight, but now he learned just how wrong he was. The elder continued.
"Ramarak didn't stop there." He said. "He decided to use the substance on himself. This transformed him into a horrific incomplete abomination, neither dead nor living. He used his army of Crawlers to attack the island and attempt to take over the the kingdom. But the king was much more powerful that Ramarak could ever hope to be. He used the powers over the elements to defeat Ramarak and seal him underground."
"The king had elemental powers?" Kong asked. "Wait... does that mean I can access these powers?"
"Yes, but you have no need for them at the moment." The elder explained. "As long as his coffin remains underground on this island, he will never awake again."
Kong's eyes widened. The elder noticed his distress and furrowed his eyebrows. "Is something wrong, my king?"
"...The coffin isn't underground anymore." Kong admitted. The room fell silent as everyone looked at Kong.
"What? Where is it?" The elder asked, standing back up.
"Hana brought it back with her!" Kong said, shooting back up to his feet. "Ramarak is gonna be set free in New York! The entire city is in danger!"
"I suppose now would be a good time for you to learn of your powers after all." The elder explained. "I know enough to teach you the basics, but you will have to figure out the rest on your own."
"If it means saving the world, I think I can handle that." Kong nodded.
"Very well. Ramarak shouldn't be causing any trouble until tomorrow, so we'll have all day to train." The elder said. "You may leave now, I must prepare what I need to train you."
Kong nodded, and left along with Gorosaurus and Varan.
"I feel so stupid." Kong muttered. "I can't believe I let Hana take that monster back with her."
"It's alright, Kong. Nobody could have known what was in that coffin." Gorosaurus said.
"We should call Godzilla, right?" Varan suggested. "He'll be able to get there faster and handle everything."
"No, we have no way of contacting him." Gorosaurus said. "Kong must do this on his own."
"You two are coming with me." Kong said. "I'll need someone there to fight the crawlers while I deal with Ramarak."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Varan groaned.