Chapter 4 - The Key

Kaloka was a small island located in the southern seas of Planet Yuba. In the middle of the island, stood a large whitish structure that resembled a large medieval castle. However, it had no doors and no windows, and instead of watching towers there were four enormous blue crystal structures. Each crystal structure was about two hundred metres long, and they seemed to be glowing with a strange type of energy, that was slowly moving and swirling inside them.

Tons of people could be seen arriving here at a fast speed, and one after another entered through a large dimensional portal that was above the structure, as they completely disappeared within it. This kept on going for quite a while. However, as time passed, the rate of people that arrived kept dropping, until no more came.

Time continued to pass slowly. It was now almost dusk and the sky was starting to turn dark. It was at this instant that the structure became visible to both Ozzy and Julia, and a smile appeared on their faces.

“I wonder how the key looks like,” Julia spoke excitedly. “I do hope he actually is the key we have been searching for. I can already imagine how pleased Master will be.” Ozzy nodded in agreement as his face flashed with anticipation.

Kane was floating in the sky with them, still attached to Ozzy`s back. Earlier, he had viewed the pulling force that kept him stuck to Ozzy`s back as an obstacle. However, Kane was aware that right now this force was the only thing keeping him alive, and he hoped that Ozzy would never let him go. Kane could already imagine the consequences if he had to accidentally fall from this height! He would definitely die before even reaching the ground! The group of three then slowed down as they arrived above the dimensional portal.

Kane`s vision was limited to one direction, so he couldn’t really observe the surrounding areas. However, at one point, his line of sight was directly facing one of the towering blue crystals. The size of the crystals left him completely stunned. The view lasted for a few breaths, as the group moved down into the portal and reappeared inside a large white room.

Julia then picked her communications cube and spoke, “Zalister we have arrived. What is the status, is everyone inside?”

Shortly after, a prideful voice could be heard, “Everyone has returned. The crystals can be activated at any moment and we can depart this planet upon your command Ms. Spector. We have been waiting for the three of you to arrive.”

“Are you by any chance complaining that we were slow Zalister?” Julia said, completely annoyed.

“Why should a humble servant like me be irritated about such a trivial matter? Even if you stay here for a year, humble servant will never complain about it.”

“Fine, fine Zalister, I was just teasing you,” Julia giggled.

“Listen Zalister, go ahead and activate the crystals. Once we head out of this planet, head straight to the Eastern Sector at full speed.” Julia instructed as she put away her device. Thereafter, Julia and Ozzy floated in the air, as they started travelling through various long white corridors. The corridors were built with complexity, similar to a maze. If someone entered into these corridors and didn’t know the way, one would definitely get lost.

“Hey Julia, how does he know that we are three people? Do you think he figured it out that we have a prisoner?” Ozzy spoke curiously.

“No, Zalister shouldn’t be aware. The presence of the kid is completely concealed behind your aura. Don’t forget that I have Gregory`s communications cube on me. Even though it is sealed within my storage bottle, Zalister should still be able to track its signal. He definitely believes that Gregory is with us.”

“Oh that`s true. Ha ha.” Ozzy seemed to have understood now. Shortly after, he spoke again, this time in a rather depressing way.

“I still can’t believe that Gregory died. We should have at least brought his body with us Julia.”

Julia frowned, and spoke insensitively, “Why so? Were you by any chance thinking of making a souvenir out of his body? The presence of his dead body would just serve to create commotions amongst the other fighters. Not like his indispensable anyways. I have already secured his valuables, and as for his position, it can be easily be replaced by someone else. We can easily cover up his death.”

They had now arrived at a large room. It was filled with lots of scientific equipment and they were several officers roaming around the room, all doing some particular task they had been assigned. All of them were wearing identical uniforms, which were similar to the ones Julia and Ozzy wore.

Plak!

The silence was broken as Ozzy released Kane, who suddenly dropped flat to the ground.

“Hey guards, take this kid to one of the concealed rooms. Give him three bottles of water and two plates of food every day. Except the time when you delivery the food and water, you are not allowed to enter his room. Anyone who breach these instructions will be severely punished. Move on.” Julia ordered as she sat cross legged on a chair.

Instantly, two bulky man appeared before Kane, as they grabbed him and carried him away. They passed through some passageways, until they arrived in front of a concealed room. One of the guards pressed on a green crystal that was ingrained on the door of the room, then the door opened. Kane was thrown savagely into the room, as the door closed again.

It took a while for Kane to recover from the hit. As he returned back to his senses, he gave a quick gaze around the room. It had only a bed, a toilet and two wooden chairs. In the roof, there was a small hole, which ventilated air around the room.

Kane stood up and then sat on the nearby bed. The Phenomena that transpired lately were too tragic for him, and he felt miserable. Few days ago, he was relaxing under an oak tree, as he watched birds flying high up in the sky. Few days ago, he had a dear father that was worrying about him, whom he took care of. Few days ago, he was living a normal life, dreaming of becoming a successful scholar like his father, with the aim of eventually succeeding him as Vice Mayor. Few days ago, he dreamt of marrying a gorgeous noble wife. Few days ago, he dreamt of his future family, and the respect he would have earned from the villagers of Hillfort village. Few days ago he had everything, but now he had nothing.

In his heart, Kane knew that the sudden appearance of these mysterious humans coincided with the annihilation of his village and death of his family. The death of everyone was definitely connected with these people. However, he was incapable to do anything about it, because he was too weak and fragile, like a lamb in a lion`s den. He now laid down on the bed, crying. His body was in bad shape, whilst his right hand was still recovering.

Outside of the base, the four big blue crystals began glowing with a blue aura, as a powerful pushing force emerged from beneath them. The whole island trembled, and the ground below began to break, as faults appeared everywhere. The sea surrounding the island instantly turned chaotic, as waves as high as ten metres started to form, as they moved away from the island together in circles.

Shortly after, four blue jets of powerful energy were unleashed, which triggered a huge explosion. The explosion completely blew away the remaining parts of the island, and the sea was instantly pushed away by hundreds of metres, totally exposing the sea bed underneath.

The white base then rose up high in the sky, whilst travelling at an astonishing speed, and shortly after it broke through the upper atmosphere, as it entered the vast region of space. The base gradually changed direction, then departed away with tremendous velocity. It had finally left planet Yuba.

Down below where the island once stood, the natural elements were now in total disorder. The sea rushed back, creating chaotic waves that covered the entire area. The colour of the sea was brown, and on its surface stood countless of debris and corpses of humans that once lived on the same island.

High up over the sea, a shadow of a man could now be seen. He stood there immobile observing the sky, while frowning slightly. He wore a white robe, and above his robe stood a thin military plastic-like coat. It was split in two and had no buttons. It was dark green and it had an image of a long serpent-like black dragon drawn on it.

“Oh fuck, looks like I was late.” His sound echoed around the area, but obviously nobody was there to hear it. He took out his communications device, which unlike the one that Julia had, it had the shape of a square based-pyramid.

“Hmm. I tried to be fast, but I didn’t make it in time Mark. I have failed the mission.” His voice echoed into the device. Not even a breath had passed before a reply could be heard.

“Don’t worry Ronald, you have tried your best! May I ask you to indicate which direction they are headed?”

“Well Mark, from what I can deduce, it seems they have taken a straight route towards the eastern sector. With their speed, they should arrive there in around two months. What should we do?”

“Ha ha ha. Is that so? That`s very important to know. You actually did a good job man, so need for concerns. I and my friends will make sure to welcome them with an unforgettable party!!”

“Oh and by the way... I have some good news for you directly from the Imperial Palace! For your contribution into this mission, they have now given you two years of paid leave starting from today! You lucky bastard, pack your bags and go enjoy your holiday already! Oh and don’t forget to be gentle with the ladies eh.” The voice humorously resonated from the device.

Ronald had a rather surprised expression, and promptly felt excited about his sudden long term vacation. “I don’t really understand Mark, but since the order came directly from the headquarters, I will definitely be taking up the offer. But, are you sure you will be fine without me? I could sense that Julia Spector was on board. She is a prodigy of the Spector Clan, and her strength should be on par with that of a Kanklar.”

“Ha ha, you really worry too much Ronald!! I have everything in hand, and I will definitely not fail. I’ll get going now. I’m out.”

Ronald, immediately put away his device, as he slowly muttered to himself. “Those bastards, did they really believed that we will just sit down and watch them do as they pleased? Bunch of fools. They are so going to regret this!”

“All this could have been simply avoided if the Barracuda clan had bothered to inform us beforehand. We could have sorted things out without going through all this hassle! Anyways, it is useless complaining at this stage, what`s done is done. Time to go and enjoy my little vacation!” He instantly soared high up in the sky and then flew away.

Deep space, inside the base of the scientific research centre, there was a large circular room that was filled with various scientific equipment, making it look exactly like a medical lab. Several scientists could be seen discussing and performing a variety of experiments. In the middle of the room, stood a large solitary wall. Chained against the wall was a young looking man.

The man was very handsome, had long grey hair, while his eyes looked similar to that of a wolf. He was completely naked except his grey boxers. Several wires could be seen coming out from his body. He stood there quietly, seemingly immobile. When he heard a rumbling sound of an opening door, he turned his gaze to this left to check what`s going on. He stared at the door, as he saw a woman walking out of it. The woman turned her gaze towards him, before she jumped high up and landed directly in front him.

“Hi there. I am Chief Scientist Julia Spector, the one in charge of this little operation.” She said as she smiled like an innocent little girl.

Hearing this, the face of the man in front of her instantly turned vicious. He struggled to break free and killing intent spread into his eyes. His mouth was moving savagely, but no sound came out, because he was under the influence of a pill of silence. By just observing the movement of his mouth, Julia could easily deduce that he was swearing at her.

Seeing that his hatred wasn’t reaching her, the young man decided to instead spit in her face. However, before his spit could make contact with her delicate face, it stopped mid-air around ten centimetres away from her face, before falling silently to the ground.

“Oh dear. You are actually rougher than I was expecting you to be,” Julia uttered as she kept smiling.

Steps could now be heard, as an old man appeared next to her. “Pardon me Julia for interrupting you, but we have already confirmed some facts about this fella.”

“Oh? What is it that you have discovered?” Julia promptly said.

“We have confirmed that in his veins runs the blood of the Barracuda clan. As for whether his body contains what we are looking for, it will take us around one more month of tests to confirm. Moreover, we have discovered that he was known as Konrad on planet Yuba. That is everything we currently know. Once we have more information I will be contacting you. I’ll be taking my leave now Julia. If you ever need anything from me, don’t hesitate to come and find me.”

The old man bowed his head towards Julia, then slowly walked away from her.

Julia too decided to leave the room. The capture of Konrad Barracuda had left her delighted, because within this man laid dormant a terrible secret, a secret that could throw the whole galaxy into turmoil.