Dark Universe & Forbidden Love (43 page)

When Klaycon woke up again, he
found himself fastened on a blood-smeared chair, facing a big glass box in a
steel-made room. Klaycon tried to stand up but could only move his neck. He
didn’t know how long he had slept. But judging by the pain on his head, he
believed it could be several hours. He hoped his friends got here before it was
too late.

After
about an hour, Klaycon heard the tread of footsteps. The door behind him slid
open. Liutein walked in and said, “We both know your time is up. Actually, I am
counting on you to make Klizan talk.”

“Keep
dreaming.” Klaycon laughed.

Liutein
smiled and pressed a button on the wall. Klizan was slowly lowered into the
glass box from the ceiling. Klizan was strapped on a chair just like Klaycon.
He looked gaunt and sick, like someone suffering years of diseases, his eyes
sinking in sockets, his face pale and ragged.

“General
Klizan, take a look at your grandson.” Liutein shouted proudly.

Klizan
slowly raised his head and glanced over at Klaycon, showing no emotion at all.

Liutein
waited for several seconds and said, “I guess I was wrong.” Then he laid a
knife on Klaycon’s neck.

“Boom!
Boom! Boom!” A series of explosions penetrated the floor. Then the entire floor
fell on the lower level. Everything was soaked in dust and smoke.

Liutein
quickly regained his balance and ran for his life.

Klaycon
was still suffering the pain from the fall. Several figures ran towards him and
the glass box, gunning down the guards struggling to stand up.

A
soldier reached Klaycon and cut him loose.

Five
soldiers cut open the glass box with lasers and freed Klizan from the chair.
While they were carrying him out, Liutein’s guards started the counter-attack
and poured bullets into the hole. The soldiers carrying Klizan fell down like
dominos and covered Klizan under them. 

The
rescue team fired back but barely hold the ground. In the meantime, Klaycon and
two soldiers pulled Klizan out from the body pile.

“Get
out!” The captain of the rescue team shouted.

Klaycon
carried Klizan on his back and ran to the tunnel at the far side of the room,
followed by the captain and four soldiers. Some 10 soldiers were covering for
them, but Liutein’s guards were taking them down quickly.

“Hurry!
Move!” The Captain shouted as Klaycon and others jumped into the tunnel.
Liutein’s guards were running towards the tunnel.

“Boom!”
The captained bombed the entrance and sealed the tunnel. The shockwave knocked
Klayon and others on the ground.

“Grandpa,
are you OK?” Klaycon asked caringly as he struggled to stand up.

“I am fine.”
Klizan said tiredly.

The
captain walked to Klizan and said, “General Klizan. I am captain Deoei.”

“Captain,
call in backup right away.” Klizan said weakly.

“Yes,
general. Let’s keep moving. We will take a break later.” Deoei said hastily.

“Captain,
my friends are OK?” Klaycon asked in a worried tone.

“They
are fine. By the way, how did you know Liutein would take you to General
Klizan?” Deoei asked.

“I
didn’t know.” Klaycon said easily.

“You are
very brave.” Deoei said respectfully.

Ten
minutes later, they stopped to drink some water. It was pitch black in the
tunnel. Klaycon walked to Deoei and asked, “Captain, where is the backup?”

“Oh,
they are coming. Don’t worry.” Deoei said easily and patted Klaycon’s shoulder.
Then he walked to Klizan and said, “General Klizan, according to the standard
procedure, I have to check your identity.” He pointed a flashlight at Klizan.

“I
understand.”

“You
guys, excuse us for a minute.” Deoei shouted.

Those
soldiers quickly got on their feet and walked away. Klaycon followed them but
he lagged behind on purpose. He recalled the conversation between Liutein and
Lreque. He switched off his flashlight and walked back swiftly, keeping it as
quiet as possible. He saw Deoei take over Klizan’s crystal and put it in a device.
While the device was running, Deoei reached his sidearm with the other hand. He
quickly hauled it out and aimed it at Klizan.

“Bang!”
Klaycon shot Deoei on the head just before Deoei pulled the trigger. 

Klaycon
ran to Klizan and said, “Don’t worry. It’s me.”

Klizan
was still in shock. The moment he saw the gun, he thought he was done.

“There
are still four soldiers.” Klaycon said calmly as he gave Klizan Deoei’s gun.

They
waited in the darkness and later heard some fizzing sound. While Klaycon was
wondering why those soldiers didn’t come at them, the fizzing sound started to
get louder.

“They
are probably dead.” Klizan said slowly.

Klaycon
went to check it out. Those soldiers were lying on the ground. Their body were
quickly decomposing and that was where the fizzing sound came from. Klaycon
brought Klizan to see those soldiers. Klizan wasn’t surprised at all.

“Who did
this?” Klizan asked.

“Deoei.
He probably thought the job was done before he pulled out his gun, so he
activated the device.” Klizan said.

“What
device?”

Klizan
told Klaycon that soldiers on this kind of mission always had a small device
they could use to kill themselves if things went terribly wrong. But what they
didn’t know was others could also turn on the device.

Klaycon
took Deoei’s badge and backpack, carried Klizan on his back and continued into
the tunnel.

“I
thought you were in the training center. How did you end up on Sylareon?”
Klizan asked.

“It is a
long story.” Klaycon said as he gulped down the biscuits he got from the
backpack.

“Well,
we have time.”

Klaycon
told him what happened in the training center, the trip with the Hylocan
eyeball and the fight with Hylocans.

“So we
lost the eyeball? I can’t believe Kalan can be this stupid.” Klizan said
angrily.

“My
father did everything he could do.”

“You
have no idea how much effort we put into that eyeball. It is the key to the
future. Now Hylocan had it and we are all dead!”

“At
least my father saved you from Liutein.”

“You
think he saved me? You think those men acted on their own. Boy, you are just
too young!”

“You
mean he gave the order to those men to kill you. Then why save you in the first
place? He could simply leave you to Liutein.”

“Kiddo,
you will understand one day.” Klizan sighed.

“I hope
so.” Klaycon said ironically.

“Based
on what you said, that Human boy Jason led Hylocan to the fleet.”

“I
guess.”

“I
should kill him long time ago. I am stupid enough to let Kalan handle it. Never
mind. This time I will finish him and Gloria all together.” 

“Gloria
has nothing to do with this.” Klaycon said in a begging tone.

“You
still don’t see the problem. We are Glycan. We don’t make friends with Human or
other second class species, no matter what. If that Human didn’t get involved,
things won’t be this bad. I had a soft heart when you begged me for Gloria’s
life last time. This time, don’t even try.” Klizan said decisively.

Klaycon
fell into silence. He knew his grandpa meant every word he said. But he still
didn’t want to give up on Gloria. He loved her with all his heart.

“General
Klizan, I saved your life, so I think I should be rewarded. Am I right?”
Klaycon said seriously.

“Yes. I
promise you. You will be the youngest fleet commander, even younger than your
father.”

“If that
is the case, I like to use that to exchange Gloria’s life. I love her.” Klaycon
said emotionally.

“Find
someone else to love. We are not here to discuss a degenerate bitch.” Klizan
said slowly and coldly.

Klaycon
felt like a cold and blunt blade was cutting into his heart slowly. He began to
understand that he was nothing but one of Klaycon’s soldiers. When he thought
about how much pain he went through to save his grandpa, his sadness slowly
turned into anger and it started to boil his blood. He knew he would do
anything to save Gloria. Suddenly a horrifying idea appeared in his brain. If
Klizan was dead, then no one would give such order to kill Gloria.

All of a
sudden, he grasped Klizan and threw him over his shoulder. Klizan hit hard on
the rocks. Then Klaycon dashed to Klizan and clamped his neck with both hands.
Klizan tried to pull Klaycon’s hands away, his hands shivering, his body
trembling, his feet kicking all over the place. It only lasted less than one
minute. Then it all quieted down. But Klaycon didn’t lose his grip until his
muscles were cramped. He plunged on the ground, gasping and weeping. For a
second, he thought it wasn’t true, so he picked up the flashlight and pointed
it at Klizan. He was dead, his face twisted, eyes bulging, and mouth open.
Klaycon sat on the ground sobbing like a little girl.

After Klaycon calmed down, he
started to realise the seriousness of the situation. He killed his grandfather,
the military leader of Glycan. Now he couldn’t understand why he did what he
did. Back then the only thought in his mind was saving Gloria.

“Maybe
that is just fate.” Klaycon murmured. Then he started to think how to save
himself. Apparently, his father or someone wanted to kill Klizan. He knew Zier
must had contacted Kalan and told him about the tracer. Then Kalan sent the
rescue team. In this case, Kalan would expect to hear Klizan was dead. Thinking
about this, Klaycon quickly found Deoei’s communicator. Then he realised that
if Kalan did call, he would demand the proof of death. For Glycan, that would
be the crystal in the heart. Klaycon hesitated for several seconds and cut open
Klizan’s chest. He extracted the crystal from Klizan’s heart.

While he
was thinking about how to disposal of Klizan’s body, the communicator started
to ring. Klaycon took a deep breath and answered, “This is Deoei.”

“What is
the status?” It was a cold voice, but definitely not his father Kalan’s voice.

“It is
done.” Klaycon wanted to keep the conversation as short as possible.

“Scan
his crystal.”

“OK.”
Klaycon said and then searched Deoei’s backpack in panic. He quickly found a
small cylinder. He pushed a button on the side and the cylinder opened. He put
Klizan’s crystal in it and started the scan.

“Thank
you.” That voice now sounded much happier.

Klaycon
was still listening, but the line was cut off soon after. At first he thought
it was some kind of signal problem, then he heard an explosion in the distance.

On the
flag vessel of Seventh fleet, when Doensen was speaking to Klaycon, Kalan was
next to him and heard all the conversation, but he didn’t recognize Klaycon’s
voice. At that moment, all he cared was whether Klizan was dead or not. Right
after Doensen hung up on Klaycon, Kalan ordered the soldiers waiting at the
exit of the tunnel to seal it.

“Deoei
is my cousin.” Doensen said sadly.

“Well,
we can’t afford to have loose end!” Kalan said coldly.

“I
understand.” Doensen said quietly, casting his eyes down.

“Now it
is the time we move in.” Kalan said firmly.

Klaycon
established the communication with the deputy chiefs of 22 fleets and said, “We
can’t wait any longer! It is time we do something.”

“General
Kalan, I thought we would wait for the reply from the five teams we sent.” The
deputy chief of Ninth fleet said.

“Yes, I
remember and I have gotten the reply. Liutein have killed my father General
Klizan.” Kalan said sadly.

“General
Kalan, Are you sure?” The deputy chief of Fourteenth fleet asked.

“The
team found his body and scanned the crystal. It was him. I have the crystal
information here.” Klaycon said as he uploaded the reading from the scanner.
The crystal from the heart stored the unique information of a Glycan. It not
only contained the genetic information but also the family code.

All of
them fell into silence.

“If
Liutein even killed General Klizan, the fate of other generals are almost
certain.” The commander of 22nd fleet said.

“There
is no point to wait any longer.” The deputy chief of Eighteenth fleet said.

“We will
move in.” Kalan said firmly.

No one
objected.

“The
Ninth to Thirteenth fleets secure the outer layer of the defense system. No one
leaves. The First to Fourth fleet checked other locations belonging to the
royal families. I will lead the rest to attack the palace.” Kalan said
decisively. 

Soon
hundreds of thousands of vessels headed to Sylareon at full blast.