The next morning at Porta Paradisi, as soon as the first rays of light shined on the horizon, a group of figures appeared at the edge of the forest in front of the base. The Peace Knights standing guard immediately recognized them and a few strong lights were lit from the watchtowers to illuminate them and the path to the base.

A message was passed along to both Jeong-Hwa and General Hull, who hurriedly moved to the gates before the figures coming from the forest even got close to the base. The few Knights brought over as protection stood eagerly at the sides as they all stretched their necks, trying to see better what was coming to their base, since all of them were already aware that a foreign visitor was about to show up.

Jeong-Hwa looked seriously ahead, the anxiousness within her hardly showing—if not for the slight rubbing she did with her thumb and index fingers. General Hull noticed this as he glanced over at her. “We can still call this whole thing off.”

Jeong-Hwa clenched her hands quickly for only a second before relaxing them. “No, I think this is for the better. It also gives us a chance to look into them and what kind of knowledge they have,” she said without turning to look at General Hull as she kept her eyes on the approaching figures.

“There is only so much I can do about the higher ups in the Global Alliance. For now, I’m keeping them at bay, but I can’t say the same if your base gets compromised, Commander,” General Hull continued, this time looking forward again at the figures in the distance.

“It won’t be,” Jeong-Hwa said with determination.

General Hull hummed for a second and decided not to say anything as they waited for the group of people to reach the base. Regis was somewhere in the middle of the Knights, standing in front and yawning as he looked drowsily at the incoming group as well.

“Are they like you as well?” asked Jeong-Hwa, turning her head slightly towards Regis without losing sight of the figures.

“Like this great one?” Regis responded almost tilting his head to the side like a confused dog, “There is nobody like this great one, for this great one is above the whole world, he is taller than the mountains as he looks down at it while it weeps at his feet in both sorrow and joy of this great one’s magnificent presence!”

“Urgh,” Jeong-Hwa groaned, “I mean if they’re short and green like you.”

“S-short?!” he exclaimed, taken aback, “This great one is not short! How can any great being be short?! This great one’s greatness reaches beyond the clouds!”

Jeong-Hwa furrowed her eyebrows and turned her glare down on Regis. “Does Commander Dominaris look like you!?” she asked with annoyance.

Regis was taken aback again as he took a step away from Jeong-Hwa while quickly shaking his head to the sides, “No, no, Da’Nuhl does not look like this great one, for this great one—”

Jeong-Hwa heavily groaned, almost sagging her shoulders. “Forget it.”

A few short minutes later, Da’Nuhl and a group of other three beings were standing in front of the base’s gate. Knights from both the watchtowers and the ones standing closer to Jeong-Hwa had their weapons raised and trailed on the group of beings that had shown up.

“Not quite what I expected,” Jeong-Hwa said with surprise in her voice as she approached the leading figure.

Da’Nuhl chuckled slightly. “And I did not expect this kind of beauty from your people.”

Jeong-Hwa scoffed, crossing her arms under her chest. “Well too bad I can’t say the same about you and yours.”

Da’Nuhl laughed out this time. “I know it’s weird, but it’s necessary for now.”

Da’Nuhl’s body shape was the same as any of the other Knights standing around the field, with a strong build and a somewhat tall stature. He was dressed in a dark-green military uniform that looked like the kind of uniform soldiers from the World War I era would use.

On his head, a large metal helmet was covering it, which didn’t quite fit in with the uniform, as its silver glint wouldn’t camouflage him like the uniform would. This helmet covered his face, while his eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark shades. And from the sides of the helmet, near the back, a pair of large horns popped out that curved to the side going forward and ending at the front of his head with the tips pointing upwards, similar to the kinds of horns that Marcus had on his Imperator helmet.

On his back, a large folded scythe was strapped, while on his hands—and hanging from his shoulder—he held a large metal rifle, that looked more like a piece of iron shaped to look like one rather than actually being one, since this rifle was missing: a trigger, a hammer, an ammo chamber of any kind, and even the muzzle at the end of the rifle—where the hole should be—a large red jewel was instead placed.

Behind Da’Nuhl, there stood three large beings. They couldn’t be human, since not only were they all about three to four heads taller than an average person, their heads were also larger. They were hunched over, and their bodies were large, with their width alone being two to three times more than any other person. Their legs were also unusually short, while their arms—besides being thick and strong like tree trunks—were also long.

These beings were also dressed similarly to Da’Nuhl, with a dark-green military uniform. The difference was in the gear they were carrying, since the two at the side had a belt full of the kinds of tools you’d find at a workshop, while the one in the middle of these two had an oversized backpack that almost reached the floor—even while being carried by this large being. They also had their heads and faces covered, but in their case they wore something that looked like a World War I era military helmet with a gas mask, with the rounded shades being dark, while the filter that a gas mask would have at the mouth was replaced with a black metal plate.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to leave the weapons here, Commander,” Jeong-Hwa said to Da’Nuhl as she looked at the rifle-like weapon and the scythe at his back.

“You’ll understand that I cannot do that. However, if it pleases you, I’ll stay over here with the weapons while my engineers go with you—and don’t worry, they’re not armed,” Da’Nuhl responded as he took a step back.

Jeong-Hwa scoffed as she uncrossed her arms, lifting her chin up to look at the other three beings. “And you expect me to believe that those… ‘Ogres’…aren’t armed?”

A small laugh came out of Da’Nuhl. “You can go ahead and inspect them,” he said as he turned towards the one carrying the big backpack, “Show them what we brought.”

The one in the middle with the large backpack then turned and eased the backpack on the ground, carefully setting it down as he removed the straps keeping it on his back. Everyone else at the base looked carefully as well, their weapons aimed at these ogres. They on the other hand didn’t mind it, as the other two also started taking off their belts and tools and carefully placed them on the ground.

“Captain! Please inspect the equipment!” Jeong-Hwa ordered with a shout to the Knight that had been standing next to her.

The Knight quickly moved over with another few Knights to the tools dropped by ogres who had already taken a step back. Behind the Knights, a few common soldiers with tools in their hands also walked over to the tools and the backpack dropped on the ground. The soldiers passed their own tools over the equipment, and then carefully over the backpack. Nothing happened during the process besides the tense looks between the Knights who couldn’t take their eyes off of the ogres as well as Da’Nuhl.

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“We’re going to open it now!” shouted the Knight Captain as he approached the backpack.

“Sure,” Da’Nuhl responded, seemingly calm about the whole process.

The Knight Captain carefully opened the backpack as he unstrapped the few belts keeping it closed. “Huh?” he said, confused.

“What’s the matter, Captain?” asked Jeong-Hwa with a frown on her face.

“This is…? Just a bunch of rocks?” the Captain responded, his confusion not changing.

“No rocks, no, important tools, yes, me work with them,” the ogre who had dropped the backpack said as he slightly shook his head.

“Tools…?” Jeong-Hwa asked with the same frowned pointed at Da’Nuhl this time.

“Yes, those are needed to work on communication devices. I’m sure you saw something similar on Regis et al when he called me yesterday,” Da’Nuhl responded with a calm tone of voice as he nodded.

Jeong-Hwa’s frown didn’t lessen as she simply hummed in response.

“We’re clear ma’am!” shouted one of the soldiers carrying his tools back, “Scans don’t show us anything unusual.”

“So far anyway…” Jeong-Hwa said to herself while looking at the backpack, then turning to look at the Captain. “Very well! They may proceed!”

The ogres then walked over to their tools and the backpack, carefully picking them up and placing them in the same spots they had them when they reached the base. And then they simply stood on the same spot.

“Where tower?” asked the one in the middle with the backpack.

“Captain! You will escort them to the tower and nowhere else, you will keep a close eye on them and if there’s anything you don’t like, you stop them, is that clear?” she ordered the Knight Captain.

“Aye, aye!” responded the Knight Captain as he looked at the ogres, “Follow me and don’t try anything weird!”

The ogres did a couple of small nods and then followed the Knight Captain, who then ordered a few other Knights to surround the ogres as well.

“I will stay here with our guest…” Jeong-Hwa said as she looked over at Da’Nuhl, who simply shrugged as he watched her get closer.

* * *

“Me like,” the ogre with the large backpack said, followed by a couple of sharp nods from the other two as they all looked up at the recently constructed communication tower.

Another one stepped closer to one of the legs of the towers and looked closer at it, tapping it a couple of times. “Steel. Good.”

The third one was taken aback once he heard that. “Steel?! You wrong! Too much!”

The three of them then turned their heads to look at the lead engineer standing closer to them and being bodyguard by a few Knights. The one with the large backpack pointed at the tower while still looking at the engineer.

“Steel?” he asked.

The engineer was taken aback from these beings staring at him his way. He looked fearfully for a second, while they simply looked back, their expressions unknown due to the masks they were wearing. This staring lasted for a few seconds, until finally the engineer snapped out of his frozen state and answered, “Y-yes, this is mostly TMCP steel.”

“Tee… Em… What?” asked the ogre with the large backpack while the other two also tilted their heads.

“I-it stands for ‘Thermo-Mechanically Controlled Processed’, it was brought from Japan specifically for this place…” the engineer elaborated further.

“Interesting!” responded the one with the backpack.

“Yes! Yes!” followed up the other two with a nod, seemingly excited, as they lightly knocked on the steel.

“U-um…” the engineer fearfully spoke up, bringing the attention of the ogres back to him. “I was told to watch over your… work… misters…?”

“Gruul,” responded the ogre with the backpack as he pointed at himself with one finger.

“Krolu,” said another one, pointing at himself as well.

“Trook,” said the last one, doing the same motion.

“Me lead. They help,” Gruul said, pointing this time at the other two as they nodded along.

“Okay…? Mister… ‘Gruul’,” The engineer said awkwardly, noticing now that they seemed to be somewhat excited about what they were doing. “I’m engineer Adams. Where would you like to begin? Keep in mind that there’s certain things that I cannot show you.”

Gruul hummed for a second as he looked at the tower, only for him to then carefully place the backpack on the ground and walk backwards a certain distance as he tried to look higher at the tower. Adams looked at Gruul confused, while the other two ogres didn’t do much besides just wait as they also looked around the tower, without going back with Gruul.

A few short minutes later, Gruul walked back to Adams. “Power?” he asked as he looked at a few cables connected to the tower.

“Huh? Yes, it does have power running into it,” Adams responded, looking at the same cables as Gruul.

“No. He ask, where power from?” Trook said as he shook his head and pointed deeper into where the cables were coming from.

“Ah! If you’d follow me then I’ll show you,” Adams said, stopping himself mid walk as he looked at the Knights escorting him. “Would that be an issue?” he asked the Knight Captain.

“There’s some zones that are off-limits—even for certain personnel on the base; however, we got orders that as long as they don’t damage anything related to the base or the tower, then they’re free to go look,” the captain calmly explained.

“Ah, alright then,” he responded to the captain as he turned to look at the ogres, “Follow me.”

A short distance away, inside a one floor, concrete building; the ogres, Adams and a few Knights were standing next to a large, but silent generator.

“Quiet…” Gruul said as he looked all over the large generator.

“Yes, this is a top of the line battery fueled power station, so all that chugging and clunking from the old machines was discarded in favor of these, which are connected themselves to a few solar panels that keep them powered all the time,” Adams responded while looking up and down the generator.

“I open?” Gruul asked as he pulled out a large screwdriver.

“Err, I think I should do that instead…” Adams responded with a wry smile when he looked at the size of the screwdriver on the ogre’s hand. He went to reach into one of the pockets on his overalls, but realized that he forgot to bring his tools and keys with him. “Oh, I forgot the tools and keys for this, give me a second and I’ll get that open for you.”

Not waiting for Adams to retrieve his tools, Gruul lowered himself down and looked at the panel. He noticed that the screws on the locks, as well as on the side panels to open the generator didn’t match the shape of his own screwdriver, so he pulled out a hammer, which suddenly started glowing red. He gave a couple of quick taps on the tip of his screwdriver, which released a few small sparks and then put away the hammer that had already lost the glow.

The Knights in the room went tense as they looked at what had just happened, with Adams being stunned, looking at the screwdriver on Gruul’s hand that had suddenly changed shape. Gruul brought up the screwdriver to show to Adams. “I open?”

“Well… it seems like you have the proper tools… so sure…” Adams answered, somewhat dazed about the glow from that hammer.

Gruul lowered himself again, and carefully stuck the screwdriver into the side of the generator, and with a delicate twist of his wrist, the door and the panel protecting the insides of the generator were easily removed and placed down on the ground. Then, instead of looking into the generator, Gruul took a step back, letting the other two ogres walk in front and look into the generator.

“Quite the handy tool he has there…” Adams murmured to himself.

A few minutes later, after the couple of ogres looked into the generator and moved a few things around, Gruul finally called out to them as he said, “Krolu. Report.”

Krolu stayed quiet for a second as he hummed, thinking about what to answer. “Me not sure but…”

“No Arkana,” Trook followed up as he shook his head, standing back up and turning to look at Gruul.

Gruul nodded right after, crossing his large arms in front of his chest, “Yes. Me no see Arkana on tower.”

“Arkana?” asked Adams, furrowing his eyebrows.

All three ogres turned to look at Adams when he asked that. He was slightly taken aback by their sudden turn, but he didn’t feel threatened as they simply stared for but a moment. Gruul uncrossed his arms and tilted his head. “You no know Arkana?”

“It’s the very first time I hear of such a term,” Adams responded, shaking his head.

“Show him,” Gruul said to Trook as he pointed with a slight tilt of his head towards the large backpack he had been carrying so far.

Trook walked over to the backpack without saying anything, and while he was opening it, the Knights tensed up as they held on their rifles firmly in case that it was something dangerous. The ogres, however, ignored the Knights as they patiently waited while Trook was rummaging inside the backpack. A few seconds later, he pulled out a large cubic gem that covered most of the ogre’s large hand. “This. Arkana,” he said.

“Is that a jewel? Like a sapphire?” asked Adams as he took a fearful step forward.

Gruul shook his head. “No. This. Vessel for Arkana,” he explained, walking over to where Trook stood and taking the rock with his large hand. Soon after taking it, the rock’s inside started to gently glow and it looked as if something with the same blue color started flowing, creating a kind of whirlpool inside the stone.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” shouted the Knight Captain, raising his weapon and pointing it at the ogres, which prompted the other Knights standing with him to also raise their weapons, ready to shoot.