Jayrudin looked bored as he watched. He had orders to watch over things, but his alertness was going away as nothing happened.
“Nothing’s coming out. I hope something pops out soon.”
“Jayrudin, don’t say that. It’s better if nothing comes out.”
“What?! The elders always say that. They don’t want any change. Who knows what’ll come from it? Something good might come, you know. Momoa, maybe you should change your thought process?”
Jayrudin asked as he shook his head. It was apparent that he did not like the current situation. Momoa scoffed, “You’re too optimistic. I think what Joonbum said is right. this world is as good as it can be. It’s almost blessed. But that will end and we have to be prepared. Think about it. It’s not like we need anything new. Besides, something coming from that gate might lead to our doom. Haven’t you watched those movies?”
The Ainos had been having discussions about the Gate for a long time already. They had watched various movies that Joonbum brought, including disaster movies with aliens and monsters, and those helped the Ainos understand the world a bit better.
“Didn’t you see the movie with dinosaurs? Those that we have here came through the Gate from Joonbum’s world! They’re extinct over there, but we still have them here.”
Dinosaurs lived in this world, and they were called Krakuls. Most of them lived in the damp, marshy swamps of the Katzback Kingdom. Some came over to Khalodian, and those were mostly the flying dinosaurs.
“There are a lot.”
“Yeah. I think more of them are coming.”
“Right… huh?”
“S-signal!”
Both Jayrudin and Momoa’s eyes widened. There were weirdly-shaped living beings coming through the gate.
*
“Hmmm.”
It was just a short nap, but Joonbum had slept for three hours.
‘That was refreshing.’
He felt completely recharged after that short nap. He now had to get back to his work.
“What’s this? A Kokun?”
“Yeah. My mother is working on it.”
“Been a long time.”
“Yeah, it only lives here.”
A Kokun was an animal that looked like a mix between a kangaroo and a mouse. It was also very delicious when cooked. At that moment, the alarm rang and Joonbum and Doral narrowed their eyes.
“It’s the signal fire.”
“A messenger bird is flying in.”
Doral pointed at the sky, and there was a red messenger bird flying toward the village. Red meant only one thing.
“Something came out from it. Something not good.”
“We should go.”
Joonbum readied himself by picking up some weapons and Doral did the same. But then Doral turned and ran to the giant pot cooking in the center of the village.
“Mother, I’ll take this.”
There were baskets full of boiled Kokun meat. Joonbum began munching on the meat and the other Ainos Guards seemed to be shocked as they were about to move out.
“Hey, if any one of you is hungry, you should eat some too. You should fill up before you work.”
The guards then quickly came to pick up meat to eat. The atmosphere loosened up a bit and their tense expressions mellowed.
“Did you do this on purpose?”
“A bit. They were too afraid.”
“It’s because of you though,” Doral answered. It was true. It was Joonbum who was most afraid of the Gate and he wanted to share what he knew.
“It’s not bad to prepare but…”
Doral shook his head. As they moved, they saw the Gate from afar.
“It’s not good.”
The Guardians following them also growled. The breeze carried a foul stench and it got worse as they got closer. As smell got worse, the tension around them grew thicker.
“It’s foul.”
Doral frowned and Joonbum’s eyes went cold.
“It’s good that we were prepared.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
Doral nodded and walked forward.
“Sir, I’m Jeno, the person in charge of this guard.”
One of the Ainos came up to them and guided Joonbum and Doral up to the stairway made of wood. As they walked up the wooden fence, they saw the monster that had come out from the gate.
The first thing they noticed was the large head. It was very big and looked tough. It had a long mouth that seemed to open wide and it had countless pointy teeth.
“It looks like they are carnivorous by the look of their teeth.”
Joonbum and Doral frowned. Carnivores did not bode well.
The monster had long arms and legs and had a large developed chest. It moved like a gorilla or chimpanzee.
“Their claws seem to be very dangerous also.”
‘The problem is how many will come…’
Even if it was dangerous, one monster wasn’t much of a problem.
“It seems to be scouting the area,” Jeno continued.
“Scouting?”
Jeno nodded.
“Yes, Your Majesty. It seems to be highly intelligent and also seems to be watching us. It’s not trying to come over this way.”
The monster did not seem like it was going to be easy to deal with.
“Is there only one?”
“No, sir. There’s another and some young ones over there.”
Jeno shook his head at Doral’s question and pointed to an area near the gate. It had been dug up.
“It began digging in that area once it came through, and the female and their babies came and took the spot.”
It sure didn’t look safe. And at that moment, a new one came through the Gate.
“So, there’s more than one.”
“It’s coming.”
Joonbum looked and the Guardians below the wall growled.
‘It’s big.’
The monster that came first was only about five feet tall. It looked eerie but it wasn’t much of a threat due to its size. However, the new one was much larger. It howled as soon as it walked past the Gate and glanced around.
