Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

Zero jumped back to put some distance in between him and Draycos to assess this new development. But Draycos wasn’t about to give him any time to think; he quickly closed in on Zero and got right up under Zero’s shadow.

This boy; what the hell is he? A nervous smile cracked across Zero’s face as he jumped back a step to try and put enough distance between the two so he could throw punches. Draycos immediately closed the gap once more.

Interesting, so he realized I need some space between us to throw decent punches. Did he figure that out during that first exchange? No, he’s not that big of a battle maniac. He probably realized it when I jumped back after he grazed me. I slipped up and showed the weakness between my large frame and his small on.

Even so, Zero wasn’t done yet. He started gliding very slightly off the ground and flew backwards, attempting to nail Draycos in the stomach by throwing his knees into the fray, but Draycos managed to dodge those, too. He spun on the spot to dodge, and every time he did, he lightly touched Zero’s knee and began rotating in the opposite direction, throwing a punch with each change in rotation that Zero blocked with his forearms.

That’s some pretty impressive footwork Draycos has going on now. Damrabe observed the scene in front of him with some interest. The way he’s dodging all those knee throws makes him look like he’s dancing...? No, waltzing would probably be a better word to describe his movements.

After another knee throw, Draycos took the opportunity to slip past it and get right up in between Zero legs, ready to throw a hard punch right at some of Zero’s more tender areas.

An elbow came flying down and hit Draycos on top of his head, thwarting his punch and sending his facing crashing into the ground, sending up shards of rock as Draycos let out an oomph.

“Naughty boy,” Zero taunted as he jumped back once more and took up his fighting stance. “You have no shame going for those parts, huh? Come on, let’s keep going”

“Umm, Zero?” Damrabe called from where he stood. “I don’t think Draycos can hear you right now, much less keep fighting.”

“Huh?” Zero looked down at Draycos. He laid motionless on the ground; face buried in the rock.

“Oh, crap,” Zero murmured as Damrabe walked up, head in hand and sighing. “I guess I went a little over the limit Theravor told me to stay at. Is he going to be alright?”

“After that elbow you just threw? Not really,” Damrabe responded as he flipped Draycos over onto his back with his tail. “I can tell you now that the boy is at least suffering from a mild concussion from that; I can’t permit him training for the rest of the day.” Damrabe flicked another drop of blood on Draycos, healing him. “My magic can do many things, but it can’t help heal brain damage. I suggest you start planning your apology to give Theravor at tonight’s meeting for knocking out Draycos for a whole day.”

Zero’s complexion went somewhat pale at that thought. The king was a hard person to deal with when he was displeased, which rarely happened due to his long fuse.

“By the way, how much did the king tell you to hold back on the first day?” Damrabe suddenly asked.

“Huh? Oh, that?” Zero scratched the back of his head before responding sheepishly. “He told me to keep it at around ten percent, but that elbow just now was close to fifteen.”

Damrabe raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. “That high? That’s surprising, considering ten percent of your power should be enough to kill a human in one hit. What was Theravor thinking with that order?”

“He thought that since Draycos was a half-breed, he might be made of sterner stuff than an ordinary human.” Zero looked down at Draycos, who had started snoring softly. “Looks like he was right, as always. Even at fifteen percent, all I did was knock him out for a while. He’s at least two or three times more durable than a human, that much is apparent.”

“Indeed,” Damrabe agreed. “Well, since he’s not in any condition to do anymore training, you better go ahead and take him back to Poseidon.”

“Who says I’m not in any condition to train anymore?”

Shocked, Zero and Damrabe both looked down at Draycos, who was laying on the ground with his eyes open wide as he stared up at the sky.

“I thought you said he’d be out for the rest of the day?” Zero whispered.

“I forgot that he’s not just your everyday human when I made that assessment,” Damrabe whispered back. “He’s clearly not human after taking that hit and regaining consciousness only after a couple of minutes.”

“I can hear you guys, ya know?” Draycos groaned as he sat up, flakes of stone falling out of his hair. “What’s that about me not being human?”

Surprised, Zero looked at Damrabe. “You mean you haven’t told him already?”

Damrabe shrugged. “It was Theravor’s orders not to say anything about that unless he figured something out himself.”

Draycos listened to the two dragons go back and forth like this in silence for a while. He folded his knees closer to his body and wrapped his arms around them as he rested his head on his knees, a somber expression on his face.

“You know, I kinda thought that might’ve been the case for a long time now,” he muttered, half to himself. Damrabe and Zero stopped chattering and looked at him.

“What do you mean?” Damrabe was the first to say something.

“I mean, have you ever seen a human with eyes like mine?”

Neither Damrabe or Zero had a response to that, and the wind blowing was the only sound that was heard.

“I’ve always had my suspicions about what I am,” Draycos continued. “Just hearing what I’ve been thinking about since I was a little kid isn’t going to throw me for a loop. “Besides, finding out that I’m not completely human doesn’t change the fact that I’m human at heart. I’m still me.”

“This is all very touching and all, but don’t you think we shouldn’t be wasting our time with this?” Zero stated, not really caring what Draycos had to say. Damrabe glared at him, but he ignored it. “We got less than a month ’til the exam; don’t waste your time by getting sentimental.”

Draycos sighed and stood up. “You’re right. Let’s get back to it.”

“Hold on a second,” Damrabe quickly interjected, somewhat flustered by the pace of the conversation. “Draycos, I can’t recommend that you continue training for the rest of the day. You more than likely received a concussion from Zero’s last blow.”

“Weren’t you the one saying that you made that assessment based on a normal human?”

“Ugh...” Damrabe couldn’t counter that statement.

“Don’t worry, I got a thick skull, physically, mind you, and I’m made of tougher stuff than other humans. I can keep going. By the way,” he added as he looked hard at Zero. “I was told that Vizards were mostly just skilled in magic. So how is it that one of them is my combat instructor when I don’t have any magic? And why are you this frickin’ strong?”

“You’re forgetting something,” Zero said, shaking his head. “Draycos, what am I?”

“Huh?” Draycos was caught off guard by this question. “Um, a dragon, right?”

“That’s right. And what are you?”

Ah, I get it now. “I’m a human half-breed. You’re a dragon. The two of us simply can’t be compared to one another.”

“Correct. Now it’s my turn to ask you a question. What was that you did during our last sparring session? Not only was your reaction time better, you dodged all my attacks up until the end and even grazed me.” Zero wiped the scratch on his face with his thumb, wiping off the drop of blood and bringing his thumb up to his mouth before licking it clean, all in one motion.

“Oh, that? I was playing some music in my head, that’s all,” Draycos answered simply.

“Huh?” Both dragons were confused by this statement.

“Well, I don’t know if you’ll understand any of this, but back where I came from, my friend did a college project on me,” Draycos started. “She noticed that my concentration on whatever I was doing varied based on if I was listening to music or not. So, she did a psychology research project on me for about a month and played different types of music and recorded how much my concentration varied between each type, however she measured my concentration. The results were actually pretty interesting, and I found out my concentration peaks when I listen to loud, fast-paced rock instrumental music. So, during those thirty seconds, I just got some of that music going through my head ’til it was stuck in there on repeat, and my concentration spiked during our sparring just now. The name of the song I chose was aptly named for this situation; it’s named, ‘White-Hot Fighting Spirit’.”

“So, long story short, you can change your level of focus by simply thinking about a song?” Damrabe summarized, both arms folded across his chest and cocking an eye at Draycos.

“Pretty much. I can also get tasks done faster when I think about it; I just kinda move with the beat of the song. Crazy, isn’t it?” Draycos started laughing.

Zero and Damrabe turned their backs to Draycos and huddled together, whispering in hushed voices.

“What do you think about that?” Zero asked Damrabe.

“Who knows?” Damrabe responded, shrugging. “I doubt he’d lie to us at this point. But that’s just weird.”

“What’s weird? What are you two whispering about?”

The two turned around and faced Draycos again. “We were just discussing something trivial,” Zero responded in an uninterested tone. “Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”

Draycos continued to look between the two of them, an eyebrow raised. He eventually sighed.

“Fine, whatever,” he muttered, scratching the back of his head. “Let’s just get back to it, alright? You’re the ones who keep going on about wasting time.”

“Alright, I’ll be kicking it up a notch now, you okay with that?” Zero questioned as he jumped back and got back into his fighting stance.

Draycos crouched over and spread his arms wide, like he was getting ready to catch some huge bowling ball rolling his way. A somewhat sinister grin crept across his face. “I’d be insulted if you didn’t bring it up at all,” he almost growled. “Bring it!”

Damrabe sighed as he watched the exchange from a distance, shaking his head. I swear, it almost seems like those two are enjoying themselves too much to consider this as training.