They kept walking through the halls of the base, the polished floor reflecting faint blue-white light from the overhead panels.
The corridor stretched long and straight and ending at a heavy reinforced door marked with an engraved brass nameplate: General Lennard - Strategic Command.
They stopped. Adrien raised a hand and knocked once.
"Come in." A voice from within answered, firm and precise.
The door swung open and as Erend and Adrien stepped inside, General Lennard looked up from his desk.
The instant he saw the two of them entering together, his eyes narrowed, and he let out a quiet sigh. That kind of sigh meant he already knew this wasn't going to be a meeting of a new big problem.
He leaned back slightly in his chair, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You two walking here together. That's never a good sign."
Erend and Adrien stepped forward and sat in the chairs across from the desk. Their expressions were serious.
General Lennard gave them a moment, then cut in. "Update me on the spy op first."
Adrien nodded and opened the folder in his hand.
"At present, all identified infiltrators have been apprehended by our task force. Their communications and extraction channels were cut off. We're running extended sweeps now to ensure no new links pop up. So far, nothing's surfaced, but we're staying sharp."
General Lennard's jaw moved slightly as he digested the info.
"Good. Don't get comfortable. Those bastards don't quit easily, especially not with the kind of research we're hiding," he said.
Adrien gave a short nod. "Understood."
Then Lennard shifted his gaze between the two men. "Alright. What brings you both here at the same time?"
Adrien gave a slight tilt of his head toward Erend. "He'll explain, sir."
Lennard raised an eyebrow. Slowly, his focus turned to Erend.
Erend straightened in his seat and began.
"Sir, this is about something bigger than any operation we've run here before. Bigger than any enemy we've ever faced. I need to talk to you about a threat of something unknown and could reach us at any time. It's not like the Great Calamity. It could be worse."
General Lennard didn't interrupt, but his stare sharpened.
Erend continued. "For the last three days, the version of me reporting for duty here was a clone. The real me was away, doing something in another world. Fighting a god."
Lennard's expression didn't immediately change. But his eyes widened slightly. He opened his mouth and closed it again, then leaned forward slowly, folding his hands on the desk.
He exhaled. "A god?."
Erend nodded. "Yes. A mad god, sir. This god had their entire world annihilated by a Dragonborn, one of my kind. Someone like me, only older, he is from another time and another place. But this Dragonborn were corrupted and controlled by something else. Something we don't understand."
The General leaned back and let out a long sigh again—longer this time. For a brief second, he looked as though he wanted to scold Erend. Maybe for going off-world again without clearance, maybe for being reckless. But it passed. Its not important right now.
He rubbed his temple.
"No use yelling at you now for abusing your power. You helped people there anyway," he muttered. "So… this god. Is he the threat?"
Erend shook his head. "No. He's gone now. The issue with him has been resolved."
Lennard looked up. "You mean you… defeated a god."
"I did," Erend answered simply.
The General turned to Adrien with raised brows. "Did you know anything about this?"
Adrien shook his head. "Not until last night."
"But you believe him?"
Lennard studied both men a moment longer, then leaned forward again. "Alright. So if the god isn't the threat… what is the threat?"
Erend's tone dropped slightly. "The real danger is the thing behind the god. The thing that manipulated the Dragonborn into destroying an entire world. It is a hidden and ancient entity. It doesn't show itself but spread its influences. It corrupts.
"I saw a vision, and in that vision, I saw how a Dragonborn was twisted into becoming the end of everything. All without even realizing it."
General Lennard's expression hardened. He didn't blink.
He'd seen Erend perform feats no human could replicate. He knew Erend's power wasn't just a miracle performance but something terrifying and alien at times. And now Erend was saying that something else was capable of manipulating that level of power?
"You're telling me," General Lennard said slowly, "there's something out there that can manipulate Dragonborn like you."
"Yes, sir," Erend said. "That's what scares me most. We have that kind of power without even knowing what is it."
The silence afterward was thick and pressing.
General Lennard didn't move. For a long moment he just sat there and staring at the desk in front of him.
Finally, he spoke with steady voice.
"Then we need to prepare for more than spies this time, right? We need to consider the possibility that one day that thing might come here."
Erend nodded. "Exactly why I came to you. It may not happen tomorrow, or even in our lifetimes. But it might. If it does… we can't afford to be caught flat-footed."
Lennard slowly stood up from his chair, walking toward the tall window behind his desk. He stared out at the base grounds below, hands behind his back.
"I'll call a high-clearance meeting with Defense Command," he said quietly. "We'll start building contingency models, new protocols, with this Magic-based threat recognition. A long-term defense planning…"
He turned halfway back toward Erend.
"I don't know if we can stop what you're describing. But I'll be damned if we don't try."
Erend stood up and saluted. Adrien followed.
"Thank you, sir," Erend said.
Lennard gave a short nod. Then looked at them both, voice hardening with resolve.
"I need to start the experiment with the power of Magic again," he said.
"Yes. But this time… let me and my friends helping," Erend said.
General Lennard smiled. "That's what I want to hear."