“Who is your commanding officer here?” asked The “Entity”.

I did not know whether it was just me or everybody felt the same, but the air itself seemed to change when “He” spoke those words.

With such an overwhelming aura from “His” voice alone, my instincts told me this mysterious “Alien” could effortlessly destroy us despite this amount of firepower against “Him”.

“The Entity” seemed to be scrutinizing the strange beings surrounding “Him”, namely us, while waiting for a response.

Some minutes passed, the ASLAV–28’s rear hatch opened, Colonel Hannibal stepped out and walked towards the line of soldiers and police officers.

He said something to his aide–de–camp. Then he turned to my direction and said: “Jack, you are with me.”

“Yes sir.” I replied and walked toward him.

Three soldiers, who were Warrant Officer McFarland, Second Lieutenant Dawson and me would escort the Colonel to make direct contact with The “Entity”. We followed the Colonel over barricade and walked toward to The “Entity”.

Only when we reached His position had we truly grasped how inhumanly tall He was. The Colonel was over 190 cm, but he looked like a toddler compared to “The Entity”.

“My name is Hannibal Lawrence, Colonel of the Australian Defense Force! I am the commanding officer of the forces here.” The Colonel introduced himself. “To whom am I speaking with?”

The Giant looked at us and the Colonel, He spoke. This time, He used a lower and calm voice. “My name is Ar’Taz Drekgard, Lord Sovereign of the Thal Vorlanz Ascendancy. We mean no harm upon your world. Not yet, at least.”

The Colonel relaxed a bit and ordered everyone to lower their weapons with his radio.

He turned to Lord Ar’Taz and asked: “So, should I call you Lord Ar’Taz…. or something?”

“Just Sir Ar’Taz is fine. We overheard your men call you Colonel Hannibal. Can we address you like that as well?” Lord Ar’Taz asked.

“Just Colonel is fine. How do you speak our language?” The Colonel asked Him.

“We are not speaking your language. My mask translates for me. It also converts my voice into English – the most common language of your world.” Lord Ar’Taz answered.

“I understand. Why have you come here, Sir Ar’Taz?” asked the Colonel.

“We were fighting the Rajmez* – A Parasitic Entity which was spreading and wreaking havoc at its Origin Dimension – Universe 517. This parasite consumed planets by infecting their inhabitant population and producing moon–sized monstrosities called the “Brevak*”. After consuming one planet, these “Brevak” would reproduce offspring and send them to other systems. We were able to exterminate them with extreme prejudice. When we cornered one of the last “Brevak”, it split itself into small fragments and hid deep within the planet’s surface. These fragments, called Trejmorphs* gained intelligence from the dead scientists who belonged to one of its victim species. Before we glassed* the planet’s surface, they had managed to activate Inter-Dimensional Portal Engine. After the activation, the Trejmorphs reassembled themselves into larger creatures and sent themselves through these portals. We triangulated their coordinates and determined this planet – Earth 652, is where they will make land. Since the energy required to open Portals is immense, we could only send one individual through at the moment. Thus, the two of us came here first to intercept them. The Ascendant Fleet under my command is cleaning up the remaining “Brevak” in other star systems as we speak. After the clean–up, they will join us later. Your world has experienced some strange weather phenomenon in the past few days, hasn’t it, Colonel?”

The Colonel was clearly incredulous after listening to Lord Ar’Taz’s explanation. He answered: “Yes, we have. We thought it was nothing of concern.”

Lord Ar’Taz resumed: “They are getting close. Those weather phenomenon are caused by the energy generated from those Portals. These critters, called “Degloka*” have tremendous masses respectively. It should take them longer to reach this world. By our calculations, you should have several more days until their arrival. “Degloka” are what your kind would call giant monsters. They are varying in sizes and appearances but share the same collective Hive Mind. Can we discuss this further with your leaders regarding this matter?”

A mysterious alien entity just landed in the middle of our city and told us that there were some inter-dimensional giant monsters headed for our world. Then, He asked to meet with high-ranking government officials. I, McFarland and Dawson had a hard time believing what we were listening to.

While our heads were wrapped around Lord Ar’Taz’s lengthy exposition, Colonel Hannibal chuckled and said: “That is one hell of a story, Sir Ar’Taz. But how do I know you aren’t making all of this up? Besides, even if I do believe you, it is not easy to convince our government, based on your words alone. What if we refused?”

With the calmest voice He could muster, Lord Ar’Taz said: “In that case, they will destroy your world by infecting and devouring everything your planet has, plants, animals, including your species. Depending on the level of infestation, when the Ascendant Fleet arrives, we will commence Glassing or Heavy Orbital Bombardment on your planet. Such procedure can incinerate the entire planet’s surface, should we deem necessary. After the bombardment, your planet will become uninhabitable.”

It was not the context of what He said that bothered us, but the tone He used. He just mentioned “incinerating our entire planet” so casually. It felt like destroying a whole planet and killing 8 billion people was simply a normal work day for Him.

Colonel Hannibal was probably convinced by His tone as well when he said: “Could you… give us a minute? I need to contact my superiors. All of this, is really beyond my authority.”

Lord Ar’Taz replied: “We understand, Colonel. We shall wait.”

The Colonel ordered us: “You three stay with him. I need to make a call.”

“Yes Sir.” We replied.

The Colonel walked back to the barricade and inside the ASLAV–28, along with some other officers he gathered.

While we were waiting for the Colonel to make his call, the three of us stood guard Lord Ar’Taz. The atmosphere became eerily calm, even though the aura He had given off just minutes earlier was overwhelmingly intense. However, we dared not look directly into his eyes since the feeling when we did still lingered.

“What are your names, soldiers?” He spoke to us, which almost startled us. We looked at each other for a second, then at him. We agreed to begin our introduction.

“I am Cormack McFarland, Warrant Officer of the 8th Royal Australian Regiment, Sir!” Said the first soldier who stood at Lord Ar’Taz’s right side.

“Adrian Dawson, Second Lieutenant of the 7th Armored Division, Sir!” Said the soldier who stood next to McFarland.

Then me: “I am Jack Lennox Geralt, First Lieutenant of the 13th Royal Australian Regiment, Sir Ar’Taz!”

Lord Ar’Taz seemed to acknowledge our identity before asking us: “The War you fought was quite devastating, wasn’t it?”

His words took us by surprise. We looked at him speechless, Dawson even stuttered: “How do you…?”

“War is universal, young ones. We have fought and seen enough battles in many dimensions to know what individuals devastated by wars look like.” Lord Ar’Taz said in such a composed tone that we almost forgot we were talking to a mysterious being from another dimension.

“Like many of your fellow humans, you lost something, didn’t you?” Lord Ar’Taz looked at me when he said that.

It was as if He could see through our past just from looking at us. We were completely speechless for a moment.

Not wanting him to delve any further and make the atmosphere unbearable, I tried to change the subject by asking him: “Just now, you said there were two of you coming here. Where is the other one?”

“There are two of us here. She is my partner – Serina, a Neferti. “Neferti” is the name for Combat Support A.I (Artificial Intelligence). She is resting inside my armor right now.” Answered Lord Ar’Taz.

“So, where are you from, Sir Ar’Taz? Asked Warrant Officer McFarland.

“We come from the Thal Vorlanz Ascendancy. The Ascendancy is an inter-galactic spanning polity which consists of numerous spacefaring species. It would take quite some time to list them all. If the conditions allowed it, we could show you better visualizations.”

“Oh, I see.” McFarland awkwardly replied.

Since we couldn’t think of anything else to say, we just stood guard Lord Ar’Taz in silence.

After ten minutes of waiting, Colonel Hannibal returned and addressed Lord Ar’Taz: “Sir Ar’Taz! I’ve finished arrangements with my superiors. A transport is coming for your pickup. We will discuss in more details at our base. Major General Theodore – the base commander will organize an official meeting with you there.”

“Very well, Colonel. We have one request. We would like you and this young soldier to accompany us there. Is that okay, Colonel?” Lord Ar’Taz asserted and looked at me.

Once again, I was taken aback by His demeanor. Colonel Hannibal was the highest ranking military officer at the scene, so I understood why Lord Ar’Taz chose him. But why would He choose a random soldier like me?

The Colonel gave me an inquiring look. After a few seconds of consideration, I nodded at him. He replied: “Okay, we will go with you. Let’s get you to the landing zone and wait for our transport.”

We escorted Lord Ar’Taz towards the barricade. When he stepped over the barricade, we became the center of attention. Everyone, besides us four, finally realized how inhumanly tall he really was. He even towered over the LAVs and tanks when he walked past them.

Followed by the Major Ackerman’s helicopters and thirty infantrymen, we headed towards the Eastern Shard of Federation Square, where a helicopter could land. City blocks around the Square had been evacuated and sealed off, so it was really quiet. Something I hadn’t noticed until now. For a bustling city like Melbourne, this silence felt somewhat unsettling.

When we reached the LZ (Landing Zone), Colonel Hannibal handed command of ground forces over to the Major. Thirty minutes later, we could hear the distinct swirling wind from the transport’s rotors. As the helicopter approached, I noticed that it was carrying a large white container.

Warrant Officer McFarland ignited a flare to signal the helicopter our location. When the CH–47 Chinook landed, it was quite a large container (roughly 4 meters in height, 5 meters in width and 8 meters in length). On its side, there was a strange logo depicting a winged knight clad in black armor, holding a medieval shield. It was quite a bizarre logo to be sure, but I thought nothing of it at the time.

Our destination was Johnson Air Force Base, one of Australia’s largest bases. Following standard procedures for transporting an HVI (Highly Valuable Individual), two Tiger Attack Helicopters detached from the Major’s squadron and escorted us.

Per the Colonel’s order, I would stay with Lord Ar’Taz inside the container, whereas he stayed with the crew onboard the helicopter. The container’s interior was modified to resemble a reception room. There were lights, a table and some seats attached to the container’s wall. Due to obvious reasons and the fact that they were human-sized, Lord Ar’Taz couldn’t use any of them. As a result, He had to seat on the floor facing the door. Thankfully, there were four windows so it wouldn’t make me feel claustrophobic.

After the doors were closed, I could feel the wind from the aircraft’s rotors as it slowly lifted off the ground, taking us with it. While passing over the city, I noticed the blockade stretched 2 km in radius, with Federation Square at the center. Beyond the blockade, some people tried get to their houses or workplaces located inside the sealed area. They were promptly stopped by riot police and Australian Defense Force soldiers. Some fights even broke out. Most of the civilians were, however, going on with their daily routine, completely oblivious to the extraordinary event several blocks from their neighborhood. They simply drove around the blockade and didn’t seem all that concerned with what was happening.

After we exited the city’s vicinity, I drank some water and relaxed myself to avoid fatigue setting in. Next to me, Lord Ar’Taz was sitting with arms crossed and eyes closed, looking as if He was meditating or something.

Since there was nothing better to do, I tried to have a closer look at our mysterious guest and noticed a few features. His right face had a scar half covered by His mask. Although I couldn’t see what He actually looked like, His facial features didn’t make Him much older than the Colonel.

Besides the armor covering His chest and back, Lord Ar’Taz also had ornate crimson gauntlets on His arms. They both had scratch marks all over. It made me wonder what could possibly injure this seemingly invincible being.

Up close, His tail was longer than I expected. The hard exoskeleton covering His tail and the sharp tip made it almost like a weapon of its own. The most peculiar, however, was that he never took his mask off. At first, I thought it helped him breath in our atmosphere, but it had none of the necessary apparatus for such function. I deduced that he kept it on for a different reason.

As if he could read my mind, he said while keeping his eyes closed: “This mask is a part my armor. It is how I connect with Serina. Our species can any adapt to most environment which host living organisms. I can breathe your atmosphere just fine.”

“How do you know what I am thinking?” I asked Him.

“Think of it as an old warrior intuition.” He answered.

He called me and the other two “young ones”, plus the way He interacted with the Colonel was like an old master talking with his young apprentice.

Out of curiosity, I asked Him: “Lord Ar’Taz, how old are you?”

Lord Ar’Taz opened his eyes and seemed to think about the answer for a second. He said: “I lost count at twenty million Earth Years.”

“Holy Shit! This Entity is over twenty million years old?” I silently blurted and thought to myself while being blown away by this incredible fact.

“So you guys come from a different universe?” I asked.

“Correct!” He replied, His eyes opened.

“Do you all travel by spaceships or simply use inter-dimensional portals, like you just did?”

“The Portals are simply an access points between different dimensions. We mostly use starships capable of FTL (Faster Than Light) travel.”

“That… sounds really incredible!” I remarked. “I wish I could see it someday.”

“You will, young warrior.” He said.

“What do you mean, Sir?” His words took me by surprise.

“One day, your species will achieve greatness. It is only a matter of time.”

“Oh, I… I see,” I said. So that was what He meant. “I hope so. I hope that one day, we would be able to travel the stars.”

He didn’t respond, simply shifted His gaze towards me. Instinctively, I averted my eyes since I feared it would give me that feeling from earlier.

“Do you wish to join us, young one?” He asked.

Again, I was taken aback by His words. I looked at Him, expecting some sort of joke that I was too “human” to understand. No, even though I had never met this Being until now, I could tell that He was serious with that question.

“I don’t think…” I was interrupted when the container shook violently, followed by a metal crashing sound. We were no longer moving. We had arrived at Johnson Air Force Base after nearly an hour of flight.

When the doors were opened, it was Colonel Hannibal and one other soldier who opened them.

“Are you airsick, Jack?” He asked me.

“No Sir!” I replied.

“What about you, Sir?” He asked Lord Ar’Taz.

“There isn’t an issue, Colonel.” Lord Ar’Taz answered.

“Good, because we are having some trouble.” The Colonel said. After exiting the container, I realized that the base was located next to an oasis, far from any populated area. I could pick up the distinct smell of sand, leaves and trees. The helicopter dropped us right outside the front gate.

However, we were greeted by an unexpected sight. A whole company of nearly 30 soldiers armed with assault rifles, along with six other men–in–black armed with submachine guns. They were all wearing standard military gas masks.

All of them stood at the ready spread around the base’s front gate, while five high–ranking officers stood in the middle. The men–in–black were holding a restraining device which resembled makeshift oversized handcuffs.

The Colonel stepped towards them and asked the officers in front of us: “General Theodore, I thought you said there wouldn’t be any drastic measures. Why would you have them prepare those restraints?” His expression suggested that he was unhappy or even pissed at whatever was happening here.

Standing in the middle of the officer line–up, General Theodore, who looked to be in his sixties, spoke: “I said there would not be any drastic measures, Colonel Hannibal. I never said I would welcome this alien into our property with open arms.”

The way he phrased it was so condescending, I felt irritated even though I never met the man before.

The General continued: “This Alien breached our country’s borders, a clear violation of Australian constitution. I will not have this… this thing walk around my base unrestrained. The A.S.I.S. (Australian Secret Intelligence Service) will take him in for thorough interrogation.”

At that moment, only one thought crossed my mind: “Does this idiot of a general even know what we are dealing with?”

We were supposed to make a peaceful First Contact with Him – Lord Ar’Taz, not piss Him off. For all we knew, He could have been a high–ranking general or even a Royalty of some powerful Alien Empire.

Lord Ar’Taz might have breached our borders, but He had proven himself capable of peaceful discussions. Such action is unnecessary and would only give Him and His forces legitimate reason of retaliation.

Worst case scenario, we could risk starting a war with an Intergalactic Empire without knowing.

The Colonel seemed to think the same as me, because he immediately said: “General! That is not…” but he was cut off by something unexplainable. No, it was the same as back then. The primal fear that we, who were present when HE first came to our world, all felt.

This time, however, it was so intense that we were gripped by it, unable to move a muscle. It was like we were in the presence of Death itself.

The moment I looked over, I knew everyone there could feel it as well. The General was so terrified, his face became visibly pale.

“Very well!” said Lord Ar’Taz and just like that, the tension in the air instantly vanished. The two of us let out an audible sigh of relief. So did everyone else, except the General whose face was still pale from the experience.

“However, Major General Theodore Jerry Woodmark, son of Robert Woodmark and Mariah Jackson.” Asserted Lord Ar’Taz. “There is something we would like to say before you do what you were ordered to.”

The General was so stupefied, he could only mutter the words: “How the fuck…?” before being interrupted by Lord Ar’Taz.

“By our calculations, there are seven giant monsters headed for your world from another dimension. The first two would land on this island country 30 hours 25 minutes from now. Each of them which possesses different appearance and size will land on different continents. Their sole purpose of existence is destruction of civilizations and procreation of their species. We came to this dimension to finish them off. Consequently, you have two options: 1) Arrest us and deal with them on yourselves, which would guarantee extinction of your species; 2) Let us help you and we will leave your world after we are done. Now, choose wisely, little one.”

The General’s face grew so pale, I thought he might need an ambulance afterward.

The following silence was so long, everyone looked at him waiting for an order.

One of the officers on his right even asked: “Sir, what are your orders?”

Ultimately, he grimaced: “Fine then. Ar’Taz, wasn’t it? I will take full responsibility and let you in. For now, anyway. But I still need you to be restrained inside the facility. The Minister of Defense is here. I hope you understand.”

“We understand, General!” Lord Ar’Taz put up his hands. The A.S.I.S agents were visibly shaken when they tried putting his hands into oversized handcuffs.

“Looks like this is getting farther and farther from our pay grade, Jack?” The Colonel nervously told me.

“No Shit, Sir.” I chuckled.

When we were walking inside the large building which served as Forward Operation Base, the soldiers kept their distance around Lord Ar’Taz despite the durable handcuffs He was wearing.

We were taken to a large white room which looked like a small auditorium before being disarmed of our weapons.

Because of His oversized frame, Lord Ar’Taz was sat down at a lower floor while the two of us were situated on the higher step.

“Wait here. I will inform the Minister of your arrival.” The General told us, then left the room along with his guards.

As we were waiting, Colonel Hannibal asked Lord Ar’Taz: “Why did you choose the two of us to accompany you?”

“You are this country’s most battle hardened soldier in this timeline.” Answered Lord Ar’Taz. “While this young man has something…”

He paused and seemed to be contemplating on which word He should use. “Simply put, you two are among those who we deem the best humanity can offer. Those who are worthy of greater knowledge.”

Perplexed by what He said, we could do nothing but wait in silence. From this angle, I noticed that His tail had three rows of black spikes running down from His spine, like that of a crocodile. Occasionally, I saw the spikes moved or twitched, albeit slightly. It seemed as if they were controlled by His nervous system or something like that.

24 minutes later, a voice from the speakers spoke up: “Good afternoon! Sir Ar’Taz Drekgard, I am the Australian Minister of Defense – Marcus Whitmore. On behalf of the Prime Minister, it is such an honor to meet a member of an Extraterrestrial Species. I understand that you had come a long way. But, can I ask you some questions before we hold an official meeting?”

Lord Ar’Taz nodded at the mirror wall in front of us, which was actually a reinforced one-way mirror.

The Minister began his questions: “You told General Theodore that there were seven inter-dimensional giant monsters headed for our world. Can you specify more about these creatures?”

Lord Ar’Taz looked at the mirror as if he knew where exactly the Minister was. He said: “There are computers where you are standing, aren’t there, Minister Marcus?”

“Well, there are.” Answered Minister Marcus with confusion.

“Then it would be much faster to show you. Serina, would you please?” Lord Ar’Taz said to seemingly no one in particular.”

A soothing female voice came out of nowhere and reverberated throughout the room: “Yes, You Majesty!”

The lights inside the room flickered and the speakers also had static noises as it happened. Although, we could not see what exactly was happening, we could feel another presence inside the room with us.

Few minutes later, we could hear the sound of people shuffling over the mirror wall. The Minister quivered over the speaker: “This is,… what we are dealing with?”

Even through the speakers, we could feel the sheer terror in his voice. “How can you help us?” asked Minister Marcus.

“It is quite simple, Minister Marcus! We will work with you to destroy them. We already exterminated all of the largest ones in the last dimension.”

The Minister was speechless, while I and the Colonel were left speculating on what they were talking about.

All of a sudden, we heard a loud snap, Lord Ar’Taz rose up with His arms free. As He stood, we could see that His handcuffs were completely broken.

“Those restraints are made of titanium. Yet, He... broke them, just like that?” The Colonel was so taken aback, he just said it inadvertently.

Lord Ar’Taz slowly walked towards the glass wall. The doors from both sides of the room swung open, a dozen soldiers rushed in and trained their guns on Him.

He stopped just 2 meter before the glass, completely ignoring the fact He was being held at gunpoint by 12 fully armed men.

He leaned down a bit and said: “However, Minister Marcus, as you can see on those files we gave you. Your country, or rather, you world does not have much time left. Those creatures are our responsibility. If you want to survive, you need to work with us. Do we have an agreement, Minister Marcus?”

Seconds of tension passed, the Minister’s voice returned: “Everyone stand down.”

The soldiers lowered their weapons. I sighed and asked the Colonel out of curiosity: “Colonel, why did they let us stay with Him?”

The Colonel chuckled: “Isn’t it obvious? They want to confirm whether he carried some kind of contagion or not. What kind of effect it would have on humans if He did. You see the scanners behind us, the ones on the wall? They have been scanning us for anomalies ever since we walked in. You understand what I meant by that, don’t you?”

The fact of the matter hit me like a brick when I thought about it. He was an Alien Entity who came from a different dimension after all.

The door on the left side of the mirror wall opened. General Theodore and a man in suit stepped in, escorted by the A.S.I.S agents from earlier.

The government official who I figured was the Defense Minister walked to Lord Ar’Taz and said: “Let us talk, Sir Ar’Taz. Officially.”

Lord Ar’Taz nodded in response.

The Minister looked at us and asked: “What about these two?”

“Colonel Hannibal Lawrence and Lieutenant Jack Geralt were chosen as our envoy. However, we respect their decision, should they choose to leave now.” Lord Ar’Taz looked at us, as if asking for our permission.

The Colonel contemplated for a moment, then replied: “Well, you said we were some of the best humanity could offer. It wouldn’t look good for us to back down now, would it? What about you, Jack?”

A sense of dread built up inside me at that moment. I was afraid of what was coming, of what I had been thrown into. It felt like that time when I was at death’s door while laid in the hospital bed after the attack in Saudi Arabia.

Yet, there was something else this time. Something I had only realized just now. It was excitement. The excitement of becoming one of the few people who made first contact with an alien. I took a deep breath and said: “I will come with you as well.”

“Thank you. We appreciate it.” Lord Ar’Taz expressed his gratitude.

“Okay, then let us go…” the Minister was cut off when Lord Ar’Taz suddenly looked up at the ceiling. Somehow, we could feel that something bad was going to happen as He did that.

Then, He turned to the Minister and said: “Looks like, your time is much shorter than we had previously calculated.”