Chapter 3 - Julia Spector

High up in the skies of planet Yuba, there were two bright dots of light that were flying together at an astonishing speed. Viewing them from the ground, it was impossible to distinguish them from meteorites or other space objects. However, if someone had to zoom on them, one would end up deeply shocked! Because they were both humans!

‘’Julia, did I hear correctly? Did they found the key already? It hasn’t even been two days!’’

As the woman heard the excited voice of her companion, she smirked and gently said, ‘’Hey now Ozzy, aren’t you underestimating my special squad a little? I did train them to be fast and swift after all.”

The woman looked young and had long blonde hair. She was pretty gorgeous, with a delicate slender figure. One could easily say that her beauty was top notch. Next to her stood a bulky man. Unlike his companion, he looked rough and savage.

Suddenly, a device attached to Julia`s belt began to emit signals. She quickly picked her device and uttered, ‘’Chief Scientist Julia Spector has connected, what do you need?’’

The device looked similar to a small stone cube, but had a green crystal embed in it. From the device, a man`s voice could be heard.

‘’This is Glen, Head of the Communications room speaking. I have some updates for you Ms. Spector. First of all, we have found the key. We are currently performing relevant tests on him to confirm.”

Julia frowned and promptly interrupted, ‘’I already know this. If you don’t have anything else to say, I will be terminating this conversation.’’

‘’Of course not Ms. Spector, there is a rather important matter I wish to bring to your attention.” The voice echoed from the box.

Julia, speaking in a rather irritated voice, ‘’Spit it out. What happened?’’

The voice originating from the cube turned solemn, ‘’we have lost the signal of Gregory Belly a few moments ago.’’

“What!” Julia suddenly halted and stopped mid-air. “Glen! Tell me exactly what happened!!!” Her face was now displaying a nervous expression. Ozzy also stopped mid-air as he followed the conversation attentively.

‘’We don’t have much details Ms. Spector. All we know is that Gregory isn’t picking his communications device. It could be the case where his device malfunctioned. There is also the possibility that he found himself in some danger. I am going to send a special squad to investigate this.”

‘’There is no need. Send me the coordinates. I will be investigating this matter personally,” Julia replied with a serious expression.

“We lost connection with Gregory at the following coordinates: 34° North, 20° West,” the cube vibrated out.

Hearing this, Julia immediately replied, ‘’ok listen to what I have to say. Instruct all venturing squads to enter back to the base. I shall be coming there in a few hours. Then we shall depart this planet. I`m out.”

She swiftly placed back her device onto her belt, then started concentrating with her eyes closed. She seemed to be scanning the entire planet with her mind. She remained motionless for around five minutes, as her elegant hair waved gently with the wind, giving her an appearance of an angel.

“Fortunately, this planet isn’t that big. I was able to make a rough estimate of the location that the coordinates point out to. Come on Ozzy, let`s go check.”

Ozzy nodded and followed her, as they slowly vanished away into the distance.

Few minutes earlier, the hills around Hillfort Village, Frederick Kingdom.

Kane was currently on his knees, next to the dead oak tree. He seemed fine, albeit exhausted both physically and mentally. However, his right hand was totally unresponsive and in deep pain. In front of him, rested the body of a mysterious man. This man had tried to kill him with some sort of power, yet he ended up dying instead. No matter how much effort Kane exerted to try and figure what exactly had occurred, he couldn’t connect the dots.

He stood up and moved cautiously towards the mysterious man corpse, whilst holding his left hand on the top of his right hand. He slowly inspected the man`s body without touching anything. He could see that the man only had three items on him, and all of them had green crystals embed in them. The items were a small cube, a tiny plastic-like container not larger than a finger, and a large silver sword.

The silver sword caught Kane`s attention, but hesitated if he should snatch it or not. He was scared to touch anything this man possessed, as he didn’t understand anything about these mysterious items. Who knows how many dangerous secrets were hidden on this man`s body?

After pondering for a while, Kane finally made his decision. “I should depart to the Capital and check things out. It shouldn’t take me more than one day of walking to arrive there.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “I wonder if this calamity has hit the Capital city as well.”

As he prepared to leave, he turned his gaze one last time towards the corpse of the mysterious man, then he sighed inwardly. “I can’t risk suffering another injury while I am in this condition. Once I heal completely, I will come back and take his stuff. Then I will see if I can find any use to them. Just wait for me here like a good man.”

Kane wasn’t afraid that someone would come and steal this corpse. After all, there was nobody alive left in this area. Even if someone really did appear and steals this corpse, Kane wouldn’t really be bothered by that much. He then walked slowly, as he left towards the Capital city.

Roughly around thirty minutes later, two bright dots could be seen high up in the sky. They were none other than Ozzy and Julia. As they stepped on the ground, the nearby land trembled like an earthquake. Both of them had shocked expressions, as they looked towards each other in disbelief.

“He actually died… He died! Gregory has died!” Ozzy cried in alarm.

“I can clearly see that Ozzy…” Julia clinched her fists and began showing signs of anger. A trace of smoke could also be seen emitting from her left hand.

Ozzy still shocked, turned to face Julia. “How did he die? He was one of the elite soldiers of the Scientific Research squad. He definitely wasn’t weak. Could it be that those Imperial dogs managed to track us down?”

“I doubt it.” Julia rapidly interrupted. “The Imperial Government shouldn’t be aware about our real motive. Besides that, I can’t imagine them to act openly like this. If they wanted to act, they would have stopped us long ago, before we even arrived at this planet.”

Julia then moved slowly to Gregory`s corpse. “Whoever killed him didn’t steal anything. Not even his sword, really weird…’’

She took out a tiny bottle that was attached to her belt. She pressed on the blue crystal of the bottle, and suddenly the space above the bottle became distorted, as a small dimensional portal formed. Gregory`s sword, tiny bottle and communications cube levitated into the air, then they got sucked into the portal. With a flick of a finger she closed the portal, and placed the tiny bottle back to her belt.

She then spread her hands on Gregory`s body and began to examine him. Her face immediately turned dark, and instantly shouted. “Ozzy get on guard! Whoever killed him is unbelievable strong!” They both assumed combat stances and stood on the lookout. They scanned the entire area but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t notice anything unusual.

Ozzy was rather alarmed at this point, as he gazed towards Julia. “Are you by any chance saying that a Kanklar is on this planet?”

“What I am saying is that whoever killed him is most probably an expert! I suggest you keep on your guard. If he is still here, he might be hiding his aura and waiting for the perfect moment to try and ambush us!”

Julia then kept scanning the surrounding areas. Suddenly, she widened her eyes, because she had sensed that someone alive was slowly walking towards to north.

“Listen Ozzy, there is actually a survivor out there. Let`s go check him out. Maybe we can find answers.”

“What… a survivor?” But before he could finish the question, Julia had already departed, so he immediately followed her.

Few minutes later.

Kane was moving slowly towards the Capital, when out of the blue, Julia and Ozzy appeared in front him. Their sudden appearance terrified him, as he rapidly walked in reverse, before losing his balance and falling down sitting on the ground. He only used his left hand to halt the descent, as his right hand was still unresponsive.

“Now… now… what do we have here? How come you are still alive kid?” Ozzy couldn’t help but be curious.

In an instant, Julia disappeared and reappeared in front of Kane.

“Shut up Ozzy. Let me handle this.” She kept staring at Kane for a while, then she politely uttered, “Hello Kid. By any chance, have you seen anyone that was wearing a uniform similar to mine, or any other humans flying around?”

Kane already understood that these humans were friends of that mysterious man. If Kane had to reveal what actually happened, they would instantly kill him right here on the spot. He suddenly felt delighted that he didn’t steal the mysterious man`s sword, otherwise he would have been in big trouble!

“Who are you?!! This is the first time I am seeing someone dressed like you. Are you perhaps Deities that descended from the heavens to save me from this terrible calamity?!” Kane said in a hopeful elevated tone, as he pretended to be completely ignorant.

Upon hearing this from Kane`s mouth, Julia smiled. She had already scanned Kane`s body quite a few times, and yet she couldn’t notice anything unusual about him. “Ozzy, looks like this guy doesn’t know anything. I have scanned his body several times and his definitely a cripple like the rest of humans that lived here.”

“Oh if that`s the case, allow me to give him the marching orders.” Ozzy expression flashed with killing intent towards Kane.

“No wait!!” Julia cried in alarm. Ozzy turned to face Julia, clearly confused by what he just heard.

Julia ignored Ozzy`s gaze, as she lowered her head, whilst slowly whispering into her heart. “I wonder how he survived the powerful wave of the Violet Crystal Radiator… only the key should have been resistant to that wave. All lifeforms on this planet should have been eradicated. Damn it! This should have been an easy task, I never expected such complications! The first problem is that there are actually two survivors instead of one, and the second problem is that a supreme warrior is actually roaming around on this planet!”

“Ozzy, we are bringing this kid together with us to base, move on.” Julia immediately said. Both Ozzy and Kane were shocked by this declaration.

“Hey wait a minute Julia, what is the meaning of this! I want an explanation!!!” Ozzy couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded.

“Ozzy until we are 100% sure that this guy is not the key, we can’t kill him. Even though the chance is very remote, we just cannot risk. We have no way to verify his identity right now. You surely are aware what will happen if we accidentally kill the key? Not only our families will be killed, but entire clans bearing same surnames as us would be immediately annihilated!”

Ozzy seemed lost in thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

When Kane heard this, who was quietly staring at them without saying anything, instantly panicked and began asking random questions.

“You can’t kill me? What Key? Where are you…"

While Kane was in the middle of his blabbering, Ozzy waved his palm towards Kane. Kane`s body was immediately pulled towards Ozzy, who then grabbed Kane from his neck. Kane was powerless to resist this force.

Immediately, Ozzy put his finger on the crystal of his tiny bottle, as a small dimensional portal appeared. A pill flew out from the dimensional portal, then it closed again. Ozzy forcefully pushed the pill into Kane`s mouth, as he struggled to resist swallowing the pill. However, the pill moved on its own and headed straight to his stomach. It was only then that Ozzy let off Kane from his grip.

Kane was about to shout angrily, but to his shock, he realised that he wasn’t even able to make the lightest sound. Seeing the struggling Kane, Ozzy laughed out and coolly said, “It is useless kid. That pill is one of the special pills that our Scientific Research Centre produces. Once taken, it will mute you for a long time, depending on the doze. But after the effect passes, you will be able to speak again.”

Kane now realised that he was in danger of being captured. He could see that in their eyes they harboured ill intentions. He frowned, thinking of what to do next. He panicked, then turned around and ran away from them. The only option he had left was to run as fast he could!

Julia turned her funny face towards Ozzy, “You actually gave him the pill that lasts for six months?! You really are a bastard!”

“Ha Ha Julia, If it weren’t for you telling me to refrain from killing him, I would have already killed him! Besides, our journey will be taking around eight months. I really don’t want to spend six of those months listening to his moans and whines!” Ozzy said humorously.

Julia let out a soft sweet laugh, “Ok Ozzy, the time has come for us to return to base, and don’t forget to keep on guard… we might end up running into that expert.”

Ozzy felt worried and immediately replied, “I wonder... if that expert will date to attack our base...”

“Don’t worry Ozzy, even if this expert is someone ridiculously strong, we have a force of around one thousand fighters. No expert would dare to assault us.” Julia said proudly.

Ozzy nodded with agreement. “Yes. Only someone out of his mind would dare to take such a force on his own.” As he finished speaking, he noticed the running Kane, and immediately burst into laughter. “Ha Ha, that kid is so funny!! He thinks that he can escape from us!”

Kane was already around two hundred metres away from Ozzy. Unfortunately for Kane, he again felt the same pulling force he experienced earlier. Kane couldn’t resist the force, as he saw himself being drawn towards Ozzy`s large back, before finally colliding with him like a sticker. Kane was terrified, but no matter how much he struggled, he couldn’t even move an inch!

Without further delay, Julia and Ozzy floated straight up in the sky.

“Let’s hurry up Julia, even though his a just kid, having a guy attached to my back is rather embarrassing for me.” Ozzy said as a hint of humiliation appeared on his face.

Julia laughed, as she flew upward, whilst Ozzy followed suit. Then they both sped away, until they disappeared over the horizon.