Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

Draycos stared at Theravor in shock for a few seconds, unable to process what the king had pronounced. After the shock faded away, Vertex could almost feel the anger welling up in Draycos from where he stood.

“Why, you--!” Draycos started.

Whack. Vertex decided this moment was the best time to knock Draycos out and did so with a quick and precise strike with his tail to the back of Draycos’s neck. Draycos’s body went rigid for a second before it went limp, held in place by the chains binding him. Vertex proceeded to bow deeply to his king.

“I apologize for my actions just now, King Theravor,” Vertex stated as the crowd of dragons began to disperse and fly out of the grotto. Some were either irritated with the outcome of the trial or puzzled by their king’s uncharacteristic behavior during said trial. “I thought it was wise to render him unconscious before the boy said something that would cause a worst-case scenario for himself, so I took preemptive measures. Please excuse me acting on my own accord.”

The king snorted in half amusement. Almost all the attending dragons had left at this point. “There’s no need to be formal with me now, Vertex,” Theravor told him. “If you’re going to be like that your whole life, you’ll never know how to relax.”

“Someone has to be serious all the time here, sir,” Vertex retorted pointedly. “You have no regard for document deadlines or meetings with the Council at all. I’m here to keep you from getting out of hand.”

“Oh, bother,” Theravor snorted. Getting serious again, he stood up from the makeshift throne. Damrabe took a step towards the king.

“Theravor, are you really sure you made the right decision?” Damrabe questioned. “Your statements during the trial may have raised many eyebrows. It might come back to bite your tail later.”

“I said things the way that I did so the other dragons would keep an open mind about this whole affair,” Theravor explained, his tail thumping the floor. Numerous small cracks appeared in the rock where his tail struck. “I’m almost positive that this human, Draycos, is telling us the truth. So, I indirectly told all those gathered here today not to place the blame on Draycos.”

“But you still didn’t follow normal protocol with that verdict of yours, either,” Reothad spoke up. “Under normal circumstances, if a person is suspected of colluding with a suspect in a large-scale crime, said person is supposed to be kept under close watch for one month with restricted privileges. That’s one of the rules that you and the Council developed and enforced yourselves; are you really just going to ignore your own rule and keep Draycos in prison until we actually find out what we need to do?”

“It’s for his own protection, really,” Theravor responded. “Even with my attempt to appease them, there are still plenty of hot-headed dragons that would love to pin the blame on a scapegoat and tear it to shreds. What if our one month of observation ended and Draycos was let loose, and no sooner do we take our eyes off him than one of these hotheads gets the drop on him? Even then, they could still ambush the lad during our one-month observation time frame if they felt like it.”

“I get it,” Damrabe muttered. “If we keep him in prison, where we have guards stationed all over twenty-four seven, then we can keep an eye on him at all times to ensure his safety, and once we can actually find evidence for the real thief and bring him to justice, Draycos can walk out of prison without any worries.”

Theravor nodded. Reothad, however, shook his head and hid his face in a clawed hand before giving a small groan.

“So, you sent him to prison for his own safety? How sadly ironic.”

“Theravor, why are you going this far just to protect this human?” Vertex called out from next to Draycos. “I mean, you normally do try to do the right thing for innocent suspects, but you’re putting your reputation on the line for this one.”

Theravor didn’t answer for a moment. Instead, he looked over at Draycos’ limp body, still hanging from the chains. He then gave a small smile. “To be honest, his personality reminds me of my son’s a bit,” he finally responded. “From what I’ve seen, the boy is blunt and to the point; he’s not afraid to say exactly what’s on his mind. But he’s certainly not simple-minded. I sincerely hope that this human and my son might be able to talk to each other at some point; maybe even become friends. My son had no peers growing up, so it’s better late than never, I suppose.”

“You mean Prince Drax?” Vertex asked. “Now that I think about it, he was here today; he even went up and spoke to you for a bit before the trial started, King Theravor.”

“Yes, about that. . .,” Theravor started. “Apparently, the Gatekeepers are trying to reign in a new Leygate that opened last night, but it was far more potent than predicted. They had requested Drax’s assistance to fully claim the gate, so he left to do so when the trial began.”

“What were the predicted and actual magicka outputs for this gate?” Reothad asked curiously.

“The prediction was dead set at Level Two, so it should have been easy to handle. But the team at the Leygate now says it’s almost strong enough to be considered Level Five.”

“. . . .”

The heavy silence hung oppressively in the air. It had become a problem in the last few years that more and more newly formed leygates had been underestimated; the Gatekeepers organization had lost too many good operatives due to this.

The silence was broken by Theravor’s sigh. “Well, nothing can be done about the messed-up predictions for now. We’ll have to figure out something eventually, but for now, our priority is the Orb of the First King. Who knows what chaos will break loose if the wrong person manages to obtain it?” With that, the king raised his right and pointed his index talon at Draycos. A soft white beam of light shot out of Theravor’s talon and hit Draycos, wrapping him in a faint glow. As the glow persisted, the burns covering Draycos’s body faded away until the glow dissipated. Draycos’s body now appeared to be in pristine condition.

“Well done,” Damrabe praised, clapping his hands. “When did you have time to get a fairy to teach you that Restoration spell?”

“Is that really important right now?” Theravor questioned, lowering his hand. His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at the unconscious Draycos. “I healed him enough to restore all of his injuries, but it took a little more of my power than I would’ve thought. Apparently, those burns of his were not the only injuries the boy had.”

“What other injuries did he have?” Reothad asked.

“It seems like the bones in both his legs and arms were lacerated with multiple fractures,” Theravor observed. “I could tell that he was suffering from a decent amount of pain during the trial; the boy was obviously uncomfortable. But having that many bone fractures should cause immense pain.”

“How did he get so many bone fractures?” Damrabe muttered.

“Hmm. . . well, didn’t he say he fell down a shaft before he woke up here?” Reothad suggested. “That story would certainly explain those injuries.”

“Not only that, but he did fall to the ground from a considerable height when he nearly hit me last night,” Vertex added. He glanced down at Draycos. “Draycos was well past an ordinary human’s pain threshold. It was a miracle that he could even regain consciousness like that.”

As the four dragons glazed at Draycos, the human began to stir. Damrabe whistled again, astonished.

“Wow, the guy’s waking up already!” Damrabe commented, whistling. “Are you sure that your spell didn’t help him with that, Theravor?”

“Why are you doubting my spell?” Theravor growled. “My spell does nothing more than heal the target’s injuries. Magicka consumed for its use depends on the number of injuries and the severity of each injury. It does not do anything to assist the target to regain consciousness. And besides that, were we not just talking about this human’s endurance?”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right,” Damrabe laughed.

“Honestly,” Theravor sighed. A sudden thought crossed his head, and he looked at Reothad. “Speaking of endurance, Reothad, do you mind checking him?”

“Of course,” Reothad answered, immediately understanding Theravor intentions. Reothad reached into a niche inside his craggy scales and pulled out a jewel focus, just like what one would see a jeweler use when the jeweler was inspecting their gems. The only difference was that the lens of this focus was sapphire blue. Reothad held the focus up to his eye and focused his intense gaze on Draycos. After a few moments, Reothad took the focus away from his eye and sighed.

“As far as I can tell, he doesn’t possess any magicka at all right now, so we shouldn’t have to worry about putting a restrictor on him,” Reothad commented as he placed the focus back in the niche in his scales.

“Very well.” The Dragon King looked over at Vertex. “Do you mind taking Draycos to the warden?” he asked. “I must admit that I’m slightly worried about Drax dealing with a Leygate almost strong enough to be classified as a Level Five. I want to go and observe him from a distance.”

Vertex gave a small sigh. “Very well,” he relented, “but as soon as the matter is resolved, come back immediately. The Council will want you to give them a personal report on how the trial went; I can only waylay them for so long.”

Theravor’s eyes crinkled as a smile grew on his face. “Thank you for putting up with me, Vertex.”

Vertex shook his head. “If you want to thank me, then hurry up and get back as soon as possible,” he admonished.

“Very well, will do.” With that last comment, Theravor, along with Damrabe and Reothad, left the grotto, leaving Vertex alone with a half-conscious Draycos.

“Now then, let’s get this place cleaned up.” Vertex whipped the ground with his tail once. As soon as he did so, multiple changes rapidly occurred throughout the cavern. With a loud ​crack, the makeshift throne shattered​ into infinitesimal dust. The lower levels of the amphitheater shuddered and rose until all the steps became leveled with the ground, making it look like it had never existed in the first place. Finally, all the chains binding Draycos, except for the one attached to his neck collar disintegrated with a pop. The stone pillars holding the whole structure up began to groan and crack as Vertex calmly wrapped a length of Draycos’s neck chain around his right hand. After the first two or three pillars gave in to the pressure they were under and literally exploded, Vertex finally unfolded his wings and jumped into the air. He took off like a rocket with Draycos dangling by his side. Vertex made it outside just before the rest of the pillars gave way and shattered. The two rocks slammed into each other and instantly sealed the crack.

Vertex looked over his shoulder as the large floating rock island quickly grew smaller in the distance. “It’s a pity that the space was only used for one trial,” he muttered to himself as he faced forward again. “I could have kept that island split in half for as long as I felt like it, but Theravor only got permission to use it for one day. What a waste.”