Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

Draycos had been walking back to his apartment from college later in the afternoon than normal after staying late to work on a project. He was passing by a cafe on the tree-lined sidewalk when he heard a guitar coming from the other side of the street. He turned his head and caught sight of a young woman with glossy black hair standing on the sidewalk across the road holding a guitar. The girl opened her mouth and began singing, but she wasn’t singing in English. After a moment of listening, Draycos realized she was singing in Japanese, which he only knew because he watched a decent amount of anime.

Curious, Draycos crossed the road and joined the rest of the crowd that was gathering around the girl. Her voice was clear as a bell, and the wind carried it farther down the street. By the time she closed her mouth and stopped playing the guitar, a massive throng of people had gathered to listen to her, spilling out onto the road and causing traffic problems. After a moment of silence, there was loud applause, and people began throwing money into the open guitar case laying on the ground next to the girl. The crowd began to disperse, but Draycos stuck around to try to talk to the girl. By the time he got close to her, she had already placed the tips in her purse and was slinging her guitar case over her shoulder. She stopped and turned around to look at Draycos when he started clapping again. “That really was pretty good,” he commented. “Even though almost everyone here in this city is American, you caught the nation singing a Japanese song. That just goes to show you don’t have to understand the language to like the song.”

The girl smiled and gave a small thank you. Upon getting a closer look at her face, Draycos could see she looked like an ordinary American, with no traces of Japanese in her face.

As he was standing there, she suddenly asked, “Are you getting ready to propose to me or something?”

Shocked, Draycos backed off and stared at her, flustered by the unexpected question. “Wha- no! That’s not it at all!” he stammered, crossing his hands in front of him like an X. “You got the wrong idea!”

“Oh, okay then,” the girl replied, looking disheartened for a moment, but her expression went back to normal. “I get proposed to a lot in public here, so I kinda was expecting you to do the same.”

Draycos violently shook his head. “Trust me, I’m not. I’m not interested in developing a relationship in my lifetime. No interest whatsoever. I just thought I recognized that song from the opening for that demon slaying anime. Have you seen it?”

“Yeah, I know the one you’re talking about,” she responded. “A friend of mine made me watch the first ten episodes or so in one sitting while we were supposed to be studying for an exam. After hearing it so many times, I thought I’d like to try doing it myself, so here I am, playing it by memory.”

Draycos had been staring at her, dumbfounded when the sunglasses he had just bought that morning slipped and fell off his face. Realizing that Iris had gotten a good look at his eyes, Draycos flinched and backed off, turning around and was about to head home before the insults started when a hand grabbed his wrist, preventing him from running off. He was forcefully turned around, and the girl leaned in real close to examine his eyes, their faces only an inch or two apart as her hands were placed on both sides of his head, while she held it in place. Mentally preparing himself for the insults he was expecting, Draycos flinched once more when the girl gave him a bright smile and released him before taking a step back.

“Those eyes of yours look really cool!” She said. “You look like an anime character! Is it some sort of genetic disorder or something?”

“Hah!?” Draycos stared at her for the third time, stunned by the girl’s reaction to his eyes. Not one person had ever complimented his eyes before, and he had an extremely rough childhood growing up because of them. Children from school insulted him and kept their distance, calling him things like ‘freak’ or ‘monster’. The adults never really said anything about it either; they would just do their best to ignore it and try to treat him the same as their other students. He had taken up to wearing sunglasses at the beginning of middle school, but it didn’t do him much good as everyone around him already knew about his eyes. Coming to Atlantis City allowed Draycos to have a fresh start at things, and he had his eyes covered the entire time up until that point. He was forced to buy a new pair that morning after he woke up and found that he had rolled on top of his other pair of sunglasses in his sleep, breaking them. The store he stopped at didn’t have any left in his size, so this pair didn’t fit very well. Thinking back to that day, Draycos realized it was almost a miracle that they hadn’t fallen off at all prior to that moment.

After another moment or two of stunned silence, Draycos managed to find his voice again. “I’ve never been given a compliment on my eyes before. You’re the first person I’ve met that hasn’t been afraid of them or shunned me after seeing them.”

“Huh? Really?” she responded, tilting her head to the side a little bit. “I don’t see what the problem would be with them; there’s nothing wrong with your eyes if you ask me. It’s not like just having them make you evil or something.”

“I know, right?! I’ve been telling people that for years!” Draycos almost shouted back, overeager about having a normal conversation for once without worrying about his eyes. The girl looked taken aback for a second before she giggled.

“By the way, my name’s Iris. What’s your name?”

“Draycos.”

“Draycos?” she echoed. “Now that’s a name I’ve never heard of before.”

“Yeah, well, it’s the only name I have ever had. I don’t even have a last name or anything; I don’t have a family.”

“Oh, I’m sorry about that,” Iris responded, looking down at the ground upon hearing this.

“What are you apologizing for?” Draycos asked. “There’s no point in apologizing for something I’ve never had. Don’t worry about it.”

“I guess you’re right.” Iris paused for a moment before continuing. “Want to sit down and talk for a while? I’d be interested in talking to you about some other anime songs I want to try singing.”

“Alright, that sounds good to me,” Draycos replied. They proceeded to cross the street and sat down at a table at the outdoor café Draycos had walked past previously. Iris ordered herself an iced tea, and after it was delivered, the two of them began talking. The cup was quickly emptied, and the ice had melted completely before Iris looked at her watch. She flinched when she saw the time.

“Oh my God, it’s already 6:30?!” she exclaimed. “I’m gonna break my 7 o’clock curfew if I don’t run!”

“Seriously? You have a curfew?” Draycos commented, rolling his eyes as Iris stood up and began to pick up her belongings. “Your parents sound like they’re really overbearing.”

Iris pulled the receipt from the iced tea towards her and started writing furiously on the back of it. “Well, my father won’t be home yet, but if I break my curfew, our butler will definitely let him know about it.”

“Your butler?” Draycos echoed as Iris handed him the receipt with the name and phone number she had written on it. “Is your dad a CEO of a company or something?”

“No, but since he’s the mayor, we were provided with one when we first got here.”

“Mayor?!” Draycos exclaimed.

“Yup, my dad’s the mayor here in Atlantis City. Anyways, I got to run now, but call me tomorrow. I enjoyed the conversation, so let’s try doing it again as soon as possible. Later!” And with that Iris ran off down the road in a hurry, leaving Draycos standing alone in shock at the table. After a few moments, he looked at the slip of paper Iris had given him. Above the number provided was a name: Iris Jewelson.