Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

“Isn’t there a better way to go about this?” Draycos grumbled, pinching his nose to protect his nostrils from the foul odors trying to assault him.

“It’s the only way I know how to get to the underground city,” Galán replied simply, unperturbed by the smells as he walked in front of Draycos. A small orb of yellow light hovered above his right hand held out in front of him, illuminating their path as he and Draycos made their way further down inside the mountain.

After that brief meeting at the Gatekeepers’ HQ, Draycos somehow found himself alone with Galán again, now trekking through the sewer system of Draiotic City.

“I can’t believe you didn’t bother learning a different route,” Draycos groaned. “What, are you trying to pay your respects to the one-day girlfriend you had after recovering her purse?”

“Shut up.”

“I bet she dumped you the second you came up out of the sewers because of how you smelled.”

“Stop rubbing it in.”

“I was right?!”

Draycos’s surprised shout bounced off the grey stones that formed the walls of the sewers, echoing loudly. The dark blue-green water running through the passageways flowed silently by as the two walked on the walkways.

Another ten minutes or so passed before Galán came to a stop, holding his arm out to the side to prevent Draycos from moving on. “Looks like we’re here,” he announced.

Peeking over Galán’s shoulder, Draycos saw that the passageway dead-ended before them. A round, metal grate had been placed here in the past, but nothing remained of it now except for a few pieces of metal still stuck in the walls that bent outwards. It was as if the grate had been blown away by some sort of explosion. Looking up at the ceiling of the passageway, Draycos did spot some scorch marks left in the stones.

“In case you’re wondering, I’m the one who caused the explosion that blew the grate away,” Galán stated. “I got a little overzealous trying to knock out that purse snatcher and made my spell a little more powerful than necessary.”

“Are you kidding me?!” Draycos snapped. “Were you trying to kill the guy or what?!”

Galán shrugged his shoulders. “Either way, we wouldn’t have found a lead if I hadn’t done that.”

“That doesn’t make what you did right....” Draycos muttered. He stepped past Galán and stood at the very edge of the passageway. The sewer water flowed out and cascaded down the rocky cliff that disappeared down in the darkness below. Draycos couldn’t see anything beyond the range of the small light in Galán’s hand. Far off in the distance, there was a collection of dim lights flickering around what appeared to be a group of buildings.

This cavern must really be enormous. I can barely see those lights over there.

“Looks like those archaeologists are still hard at work over at the city,” Galán commented when he stepped forward to stand next to Draycos’s side.

“Can you still sense that magic, Galán?” Draycos question in a serious tone, not even bothering to glance at the Gatemaster.

Galán tutted. “You really have no sense of dramatic effect, do you? Very well, give me a moment.” He closed his eyes as he concentrated hard. The light in his hands flared up as his concentration rose. When the light reached the point of almost being blinding, Galán opened his eyes, and the light dimmed down to its original level.

“Well?”

“It’s still there,” Galán answered with a nod. He pointed over at the distant lights. “I can sense it even more easily than I could last time. It’s somewhere in that area.”

“Can’t you be a little more specific than that?”

“I can once we get closer to it.”

“Alright then. Let’s head over there and give the archaeologists a hello.” Draycos raised his left hand, and a large broadsword appeared in the air beside him, just like what he had conjured on his way to Draiotic City. He hopped onto the blade and took off towards the lights. Sighing, Galán raised his cane above his head and split it into a helicopter propeller and pursued Draycos.

The city was a massive group of large, sandstone-colored stone buildings that seems to flow out of the very ground itself. Strings of magic powered lanterns hung everywhere, illuminating the city with a dim glow. A group of archaeologists were standing around a large wooden table covered in various tools and archaeological finds. It was to their great surprise when two figures suddenly fell down from the darkness covering the roof of the grotto and landed on the ground behind them, sending up a large cloud of dust.

“Wh-who’s there?!” one of them exclaimed, coughing on the dust.

“Are they monsters?! Are we under attack?!” another panicked.

A young man in blue pants and a white button up that nobody recognized stepped out of the dust and gave the archaeologists an uncomfortable glare, making all the archaeologists tense up in fright. However, when another figure stepped out of the cloud, relieved expressions crossed all their faces.

“Galán! It’s you!” they cried cheerfully. They all rushed in and crowded around the Gatemaster, forcefully shoving Draycos aside and knocking him over in the process.

“Yes, yes. It is I, Galán!” Galán laughed happily. “Sorry for dropping in and scaring you like that, but my friend and I have some business in these ruins today.”

“Your friend?” A few of them looked over at where Draycos sat with his butt on the rocky ground. Draycos paid them no heed, though. A cold sweat broke out over his body when he saw a certain stone building jutting out over the surrounding rooftops.

“Hey, Galán,” he spoke with an unsteady voice. “That building over there, doesn’t it remind you of something?”

“Huh?” Galán turned to face the direction Draycos was staring in. His eyes widened in shock, and he was left speechless from what he saw.

Looming over the rest of the underground city stood a massive stone castle, with large spires and towers jutting out from numerous places that disappeared in the darkness above. Large openings leading inside the building dotted the walls of the castle, large enough to easily allow castle access for a dragon. Draycos knew he’d seen something exactly like this building just recently-- earlier that day, in fact. He may have only glanced at it this morning, but there was no mistaking its structure.

The building was exactly the same as Dragonspire Castle, which floated high in the sky above.

Galán grabbed the shoulders of the closest archaeologist and shook him roughly. “Have you people been inside that building yet?!” he demanded.

“Wha-no!” the archaeologist stammered. “We tried to get in, but the front door wouldn’t budge at all, and those openings are too high to reach with any of our equipment!”

“I absolutely forbid you from going near that place again!” Galán shouted. “This is for your own safety, as well!” Galán whirled around and took off running at top speed. “Come on, Draycos!”

“Right behind you!” The archaeologists turned their heads to look where Draycos sat only to see a small cloud of dust. They turned back to where Galán ran off to and saw Draycos was already running right behind the Gatemaster as the two rushed towards the distant castle.

The archaeologists were left dumbfounded by this event. “What in the world is going on...?”

As they ran, Draycos stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out his crystal pendant. He’d actually forgotten about it until now, when he knew he had to contact Theravor. He and Galán passed by the skeletal remains of a dragon as he put the pendant around his neck and lifted the crystal up to his face.

“Hey, Theravor! Can you hear me?!”

The Dragon Council Chamber has been under absolute lockdown for the last six hours or so. Theravor had not permitted any of the Council members to even leave their seats, and nobody has gone in or out of the door since Theravor made the claim of a traitor being in their midst. Late afternoon sunlight fell from the windows behind Theravor’s throne, where the Dragon King sat. Elbows on the table and head resting on his hands, Theravor gave each of the Council members an intense stare as he thought about who the traitor could possibly be.

The uncomfortable silence was suddenly shattered when the communication tool still sitting in the middle of the table let out a loud crack of static, causing quite a few dragons to flinch at the unexpected sound. A ray of light shot out of the top of the device and formed an orb that floated above the. A fuzzy image appeared in the orb, but it quickly cleared up, showing a close-up of Draycos’s face staring down at the King and Council members.

“Hey, Theravor! Can you hear me?!”

Theravor sighed loudly and sat up, a relieved expression on his face. “It’s about time you put that pendant back on,” he growled. “I was worried that something else had happened when you didn’t wear it again after an hour or two.”

“Sorry about that! Anyways, can you see my surroundings right now?”

Theravor sensed the urgency in Draycos’s voice, and he glanced over at the nearby Damrabe, who nodded. “Yes, we can,” Theravor responded. “What’s this all about, though?”

“Just take a look at what’s in front of me!”

Confused, Theravor still did as he was told and had Damrabe change the image perspective so that everyone in the room could see what Draycos saw, as if it was through his eyes. What the image showed brought shock to all those present.

Theravor stood up from his throne and brought his hands down hard on the surface of the table. “What is this?” he growled. “Draycos, explain what’s going on!”

“Galán and I are following up on the lead Galán found last week regarding the Orb,” Draycos’s voice explained, the image in the orb not changing. “We ended up in a city buried deep underground below Draiotic City. That’s where we found this.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Vinzgar snorted. “That castle looks exactly like this one. This is starting to get unnerving.”

The image shifted before showing the remains of a dead dragon. “Not only that, but it’s clear that there were dragons down here,” Draycos’s voice said.

Boreta gripped the armrests of her chair as she stared at the remains. “Judging from what I can see, those bones are at least eight hundred or so years old.” She pointed at the tail of the skeleton. “See the joints in the tail? They aren’t as numerous as the joints we have in our tails nowadays. Our bodies began to evolve shortly after we started living up in the skies to be more aerodynamic.”

“Eight hundred years ago?” Zero echoed with a low growl. He stared at the skeleton. His head tilted to the side in confusion. “Aren’t those bones a little too well preserved to be that old? Shouldn’t they be dust by now?”

Theravor shook his head. “They’ve been left alone in an underground cavern for many centuries,” he reminded Zero. “There’s been nothing to disturb them for hundreds of years.”

“I hate to interrupt this fascinating conversation the four of you seem to be having, but Galán and I have reached the castle now.”

Everyone returned their attention to the projection and saw a large castle gate dominating the image. The castle walls were made of a darker stone than the other buildings of the city. It was like the dark stones were trying to devour the dim light of the city. A draconic crest was emblazoned on the middle of the gate, and a large hole was located right where the eye would be.

“Interesting,” Galán’s voice commented. “I can definitely feel the magic I’ve been sensing coming from inside this castle.”

“The problem is, how do we get inside?” Draycos’s voice asked. “Any ideas, Theravor?”

Vertex, who’d been standing beneath the stained glass windows behind Theravor’s throne, took a step forward as he gazed at the emblem on the gate. He rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

“I think I saw an image of something like that in an old history book,” he finally said after some thought. All eyes turned on him as he continued. “They aren’t used anymore, but I’m pretty sure that this door is magically locked with a Blood Seal.”

Theravor groaned after hearing this. “Of all the....” he muttered under his breath, covering his face with a hand. “Of course, it has to be a Blood Seal. Galán and Draycos won’t be able to deal with that.”

“What’s a Blood Seal?” Draycos asked.

“It’s a rather powerful sealing technique to keep unwanted guests out of certain places in the past,” Theravor answered. “It was mostly used by dragons before we moved up into the skies to keep the other races from getting into our homes and whatnot. They won’t open unless one gives a little blood with a high level of magic. You have to place a finger or something inside the hole there so the seal will draw the blood. Dragons are the only ones with the blood to open these kinds of doors.”

“So, will the blood of someone with a Magic Purity level to match a dragon work?”

Theravor paused for a moment at this question. A smile slowly crept across his face, and he nodded to himself. “I don’t see why not,” he announced. “Go ahead and give it a shot.”

On the other end of the communication, Draycos nodded. He stuffed his hand into his bag and pulled out his black mantle-jacket, which he quickly threw on over his button-up.

“Is there any point to that?” Galán asked as Draycos put on the matching belt.

“Not really,” Draycos admitted as he pressed out the wrinkles. “It just feels kinda comforting to wear. I think it’ll help me keep my cool while inside.”

“If you say so,” Galán murmured with a shrug. Draycos conjured another large broadsword and stepped on it. The sword quickly elevated until Draycos hovered directly in front of the hole on the emblem. Without hesitation, Draycos shoved his whole right arm into the slot.

Something inside the hole cut deeply into his hand. With a surprised cry of pain, Draycos quickly withdrew his already bloodied hand as a red light started to flow across the outline of the draconic emblem. He quickly descended back down to the ground and landed next to Galán as the red light completely enveloped the emblem. There was a loud tremor that sent pieces of stone falling from the cavern’s ceiling, and the large stone doors slowly began to open. They came to a complete stop with a loud thud that echoed throughout the cavern.

Galán crouched down next to Draycos, who was on his knees, cradling his injured hand in his arms. “Well done,” Galán praised, holding his right hand over Draycos’s injury. His hand emitted a soft, golden light that fell on Draycos’s hand, and the gash in his hand quickly closed up.

“Let’s go,” Galán stated, rising to his feet. Draycos nodded and also stood up. As one, the two half-breeds stepped through the doorway into the darkness that waited beyond.