Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

After stepping inside the building, Draycos stopped just past the door to take a moment to look at his surroundings. He stood in what appeared to be a large atrium, with pearly, white marble floor tiles that also covered the walls. A collection of differently colored orbs of light floated near the ceiling high above, slowly rotating around a gold rod that stuck down from the ceiling. There were plenty of people from all sorts of races milling around, standing in groups chatting or sitting in seats placed around the large room. A long counter ran along the walls on the other half of the floor from where he stood. Many beings sat on the other side of the counter, talking to groups of people who appeared to be ordinary citizens of the city below.

Behind the counter, set into the marble walls, were rows upon rows of swirling pools of blue and white light that were about as tall and wide as the orc named Brock that Draycos fought against during the Prisoners’ Games. A large scaffolding had been set up behind the counter, and the use of stairs allowed access to all levels of the scaffolding and each pool. Occasionally, one of the people behind the counter lifted up a flap in the counter and allowed the people on the other side through. They would lead the group up the scaffolding until they reached a certain pool, in which the group would step through and not reappear.

“What is it?” Forbap asked, noticing that Draycos hadn’t moved from the door and stopped walking as he turned around to face the young man gazing at his surroundings.

“What is all of this?” Draycos questioned, his gaze mainly focused on the swirling pools of light on the far wall.

Forbap actually snorted at this, just like a dragon would. “I thought I told you that Leygates allowed quick access to the faraway regions they’re connected to,” he growled. “Part of what the Gatekeepers do is allow ordinary citizens to travel through the gates after we bind them for quick transportation.”

“But aren’t the Leygates located wherever the Leylines intersect? Why are they here?”

“Did you see all those black chains outside?” Forbap asked. Draycos nodded. “Those chains are made of a material called zeronite. Zeronite conducts magic like electricity at a massive rate. By setting the chains inside the Leygates and connecting them to this building, we can transfer the magic of the gates over the long distance and basically replicate the gates here.”

Draycos shook his head in amazement. “I can’t even wrap my head around how all that even works,” he mumbled.

“Who said anything about you having to understand how any of it works? Now come on; we have to find Galán.”

Draycos sighed and walked over to the rugged man as Forbap swiveled his head back and forth, searching for their target. He finally spotted a gold top hat sticking out above the crowd. “There he is,” Forbap growled, grabbing Draycos’s arm and dragging him over to their destination, much to Draycos’s dismay.

As the crowds parted, they could see Galán standing next to a couple of red sofas. He was chatting it up with a pretty, slim lady sitting on one of the sofas. The lady wore a pale purple dress that exposed her rather large cleavage and had a crimson rose embroidery over where her heart would be. A gold earring shaped like an eye hung from her left ear, sticking out from underneath her straight, black hair that reached her lower back. Her outfit was completed with a set of black high heels and a red sash tied around her waist into a ribbon.

Galán heard the sound of heavy footsteps and turned his head to see Forbap coming his way with Draycos in tow. Smiling, Galán raised his hand and waved. “Hello, Forbap!” he called out. “You’re here rather earlier than normal! And I see you found Draycos, too! Good job!”

Forbap remained silent and continued to approach Galán until he stopped just before the dual-colored man. Without hesitation, Forbap raised a fist and brought it down on top of Galán’s head, crumpling the top hat and sending Galán to the floor.

“Ouch! What did you do that for?!” Galán cried, slowly picking himself off the floor.

“I did that to knock some sense into you!” Forbap snapped, glaring at his superior. “This isn’t the time to be flirting around with women and losing your escort in the city! Do you realize what will happen if we can’t get this job done?!”

Galán stood up and picked his top hat off the ground, dusting it off before placing it back on his head. “You don’t have much room to talk, you drunkard,” he muttered under his breath indignantly.

Forbap heard him. “What was that?!” he snarled, a vein pulsing in his forehead.

“Umm...” Draycos took a step forward and tried to intervene, but the next instant, he realized both men were on the floor, faces buried in the cracked marble. A large bump appeared on the back of their heads. Draycos looked around to see what caused this and saw the lady that Galán had been talking to was now standing up with an irritated expression on her face. Her right foot was suspended in the air, which she brought down hard on Galán’s back.

“Are the two of you really so childish that you’re getting into a fight over who’s at fault for this morning’s mess?!” she screamed, twisting her heel deep into Galán’s back as the man moaned in pain. “True, the both of you are pathetic when it comes to booze and women, but you’re the one at fault for getting distracted in the city and losing sight of Draycos, Galán!”

“If that’s the case, then why did you kick me, too?” Forbap groaned.

“Shut up!” the lady yelled, stepping over to Forbap and repeatedly stomping on his head, planting his face deeper into the marble floors. “You aren’t even doing your job half the time, Forbap! All you ever do is sneak off and waste your money getting drunk!”

After berating the two men for a few more minutes, the lady sighed and looked over at Draycos with intense, pale gray eyes. Draycos held his hands up in front of him and cautiously backed away.

“I take it that you’re Draycos?” she inquired, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

Draycos silently nodded at a high speed.

The lady smiled sweetly. “Sorry about these two fools,” she apologized. “They may be our powerful Gatemaster and Vice-Gatemaster, but they have more personality problems than the rest of the Gatekeepers combined. I hope they didn’t cause you any trouble.”

“Umm, i-it’s fine, they didn’t bother me,” Draycos stammered. He pointed at the two figures on the floor. “Are they...?”

“Going to be okay? Yeah, they’re fine. They aren’t weak enough to be done in by something like that.”

Draycos nervously glanced down at the two half-breeds. Both of them were obviously unconscious. I don’t know about that. And she said they had personality problems? She’s giving them a run for their money.

“Something wrong?”

“N-no!” Draycos replied hastily, shaking his head quickly. He managed to put on a smile and extended a hand in greeting. “I’m Draycos. Nice to meet you.”

The lady returned the smile and grabbed his outstretched hand. “Likewise. The name’s Uaina Ròs. I’m the third-in-command here with the Gatekeepers.”

At that moment, Galán and Forbap started to pick themselves off the ground, shaking fragments of marble out of their hair.

“I swear, it’s no wonder the other’s call you ‘The Crimson Thorn Queen’,” Forbap grumbled, dusting himself off. “You’re a real loose cannon, Uaina.”

Uaina glared at Forbap and took a step forward, her heel clicking loudly against the marble. Forbap’s expression grew stiff and he glanced over at Galán with a pleading look in his eyes, silently asking for assistance. Galán sighed and stepped between the two.

“Now, now, Uaina,” he soothed. “Let’s not forget what we’re here to do. We have to tell Draycos about this lead of ours, remember?”

Uaina’s glare focused on Galán for a few seconds before eventually sighing and standing down. Galán directed everyone to sit on the sofas while he picked his cane off the floor. He sat down on a sofa with Forbap, while Draycos and Uaina sat on another one facing them. Galán lightly tapped the floor twice with the bottom of his cane. There was a slight vibration, and to Draycos’s surprise, the section of the floor the two sofas sat on slowly rose from the ground and floated into the air. They continued to rise in altitude until they hovered around the collections of lights near the ceiling.

“Uaina, mind giving us some privacy?” Galán asked. Uaina nodded and snapped her fingers. A transparent, aqua-blue light quickly formed around the block of marble, enclosing the group in a spherical barrier. She then clicked her right heel on the marble, and a low wooden table rose out of the floor between the sofas.

“Well, now, it looks like all of us are finally here,” Galán announced, resting his chin atop his cane propped between his legs. “Since time is now of the essence, let’s skip the formalities and get to the heart of the matter.” His gaze fixed itself on Draycos. “Draycos, we believe we’ve found credible info pertaining to the location of the Orb of the First King.”

Draycos nodded upon hearing this. “I kinda figured that was the case,” he responded. “Tell me what you know.”

Galán lightly tapped the floor with his cane a few times. “It’s right below us,” he answered simply.

“What?” Draycos couldn’t comprehend what he was hearing. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m saying that the Orb is located underground,” Galán explained. “Since you’ve only just here three months ago, I doubt you have much knowledge of this world’s history.” Draycos nodded. “Well, the truth is, there’s the ruins of a large city buried in the caverns underneath Draiotic City. Whether it was buried through a natural or magical phenomenon, we don’t know. The ruins were uncovered by accident just over a year ago when workers were trying to expand the city’s sewer system.”

Draycos was a little surprised by this. “Huh, so there really was something down there after all?”

Galán raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

Oh, that’s right. They still haven’t heard what happened earlier. “Well, remember when I ran off while we were in the city?” he started. “I ended up chasing after an illusion, and when it vanished, the street opened up right beneath my feet. If I hadn’t gotten a warning from the Dragon Council through my pendant, I’d probably still be stuck in whatever that pit was.”

“Sounds about right,” Galán muttered, rubbing his chin with one hand as he sat deep in thought. “The cavern that the underground city’s in is particularly massive. I’m not surprised at all to hear that it extends underneath Draiotic City itself.”

“Umm, Galán?” Uaina spoke up. “There’s something troublesome about what Draycos just told us. Sounds like he was led straight into a trap. That means there’s more going on than we originally thought.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Galán said breezily, waving off the matter. “Let’s leave that problem to the Dragon Council. We’re in charge of recovering the Orb for them, remember? We don’t need to worry about other matters.”

“Okay, but how do you know that the Orb is even down in this city?” Draycos inquired.

“He doesn’t know anything for certain,” Forbap interjected, sighing. “Long story short, Galán ended up in the ruins while chasing after a purse-snatcher who stole his date’s bag last week. While he was down there, he sensed a brief wave of magic that he claims is similar to what the Orb gives off.”

“Hold on a moment,” Draycos interrupted. There was a lot of new info being thrown at him. “The Orb has magic? I haven’t heard anything about it other than its name, even though I was imprisoned over its theft.”

Uaina eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You haven’t even been told what it is?” she asked. Draycos shook his head, and Uaina sighed, covering her eyes with one hand. “Honestly, what are those dragons thinking up there, not giving you critical information like that? Has the thin air up in the clouds affected their brains?”

“Draycos, the Orb of the First King is one of the most powerful magic artifacts in recorded history,” Galán stated as Forbap chuckled at Uania’s remark. “Even the people down here on the ground have heard stories about it as children. It’s said to be made from the body of the first-ever Dragon King, who happened to be the first head of . According to the legends, upon drawing close to death, the Dragon King cast a high-level spell on himself to transmute his body into what we know as the Orb of the First King so he could assist the future generations.”

Forbap leaned back on the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s said to bring out the full potential of whoever wields it,” he added onto Galán’s explanation. “However, since nobody really knows how to use it, that claim can’t be verified. Regardless of that, everyone would dearly love to have such a relic in their possession. If I had to guess, whoever’s responsible for stealing it isn’t working alone.”

The four of them remained silent for a moment as they sat in thought. Draycos finally broke the silence with a loud gulp as he looked at the other three.

“So does this mean that I have to go and trek down into these ruins to find the source of the magic Galán sensed?”

The three highest-ranking members of the Gatekeepers nodded in unison.