Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

The interior of the castle was completely dark. Draycos couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face in the inky blackness.

“Alright, Theravor, we got good news and bad news,” he said. “The good news is that we managed to get inside the castle. The bad news is that we can’t see a thing.”

“Give it a second,” Theravor voice came from Draycos’s pendant, flashing with a dim blue light every time it spoke.

Suddenly, a torch to Draycos’s left lit up all on its own. Another one to his right lit up an instant after the first. This continued down the length of the apparently massive entrance hall until the entire room was lit with torches. The flickering flames from the torches hanging from numerous stone columns supporting the ceiling filled the room with dancing shadows. A marble pathway extended from where Galán and Draycos stood and stretched all the way to the other side of the room, where a gaping hole stood in the wall. There were other openings in the walls, but this particular one was by far the most prominent.

“Interesting,” Theravor commented. “This design is exactly like that of Dragonspire Castle. Hmm? Draycos, walk over to the pillar on your right.”

Draycos followed Theravor’s instructions and approached the pillar. He couldn’t see it from the door in the faint light, but when he got close, he realized the pillar was covered in markings carved into the stone. He ran a hand over the markings.

“It’s all writing in Dragonscript,” he observed. Draycos read the line his hand was on. “From the looks of it, it’s the same message carved into the stone over and over again. Let’s see...‘We welcome ye to Drageon Castle, where we of Dragonkind make our strongest stand. Those not of our kind, take heed of this warning: you will not leave here alive.’”

Up in the Council Chamber, Theravor perked up in surprise. “Drageon Castle? Now that’s truly remarkable.”

“What? Do you know about this place?” Draycos’s voice asked through the communication device.

“There’s not a dragon that hasn’t heard stories about the place,” Vinzgar said in a low growl. “That’s the castle of the first Dragon King, the very same one that transmuted his body into the relic you’re searching for, Draycos.”

“It’s incredible that it has been found,” Boreta muttered. “According to the records, the castle was abandoned after the creation of the Metra Anomaly a millennia ago. I thought that place was lost to the ages.”

Zero snorted. “Kinda fitting that the magic Galán’s sensing is coming from somewhere inside. This is starting to get creepy.”

“Creepy or not, we still need to follow through on this lead,” Theravor reminded Zero. He returned his attention to the projection. “Galán, can you still sense it?”

“Oh, most definitely,” Galán responded. Galán pointed over at the hole on the far wall. “It just keeps getting stronger and stronger. It feels like it’s still farther down below us, though.”

“Get going,” Theravor ordered. “We’ll be maintaining a constant watch over you two as you make your way further into the castle. But please, be cautious. We have no idea what could be lurking in the building after over a thousand years of abandonment.”

Draycos looked over at Galán, and the two of them nodded in unison before taking off towards the hole. They reached it quickly, and Draycos saw that a large, stone spiral staircase descended down into the ground past the hole. Not wanting to waste time on descending the stairs by foot, Draycos conjured up a broadsword and rode it down the stairwell, with Galán in hot pursuit with his cane. As the pair of half-breeds descended, the stairwell was lit by torches that came alight as soon as they zoomed past their scones. After about five minutes, Draycos finally broke the silence.

“How much longer do these stairs go?” he wondered out loud. “We were already pretty deep underground when we entered the castle, and now we’ve gone so much farther down, I wouldn’t be surprised if we came across some magma soon.”

“This magic I’m sensing keeps getting stronger and stronger,” Galán repeated. “I’m quite sure we’re almost there.”

A few seconds after Galán’s words, Draycos could see a dim blue light bouncing off the rock walls farther down below. Picking up his pace, he finally reached the bottom of the staircase and zoomed out into another large room, around the same size of the entrance hall. This room was an entirely natural cavern, and stalagmites and stalactites covered the floor and ceiling. The blue light filling the room with flickering shadows came from four metal braziers, two on each side of the bottom of the stairwell and the other two on the far end of the cave. Dark blue flames burned in each brazier, giving the room an eerie vibe.

The hairs on the back of Draycos’s neck suddenly stood on end, and he broke out in a cold sweat as a chill crept up his spine. The air in the cavern felt cold and clammy, as if there was an underground waterfall somewhere spraying chilly water into the air. Glancing down, Draycos saw a large clearing on the floor of the cave, void of any stalagmites. A massive arcane circle glowed in an ominous emerald green light on the sandy floor, and on the far end of the circle stood a human-sized figure. Since it was wearing a golden orange helmet that covered the top half of its head, Draycos couldn’t see its face, but he could tell it was some type of humanoid dragon. A large two-handed sword had its head buried in the sand in front of the figure, the blade bigger than Draycos’s whole body. The figure rested its arms on the guard of his weapon, eyes closed.

“Draycos....” Theravor’s voice spoke through the pendant in a low warning growl.

“Gotcha,” Draycos responded. Jumping off his conjured ride, Draycos fell to the ground on the other side of the circle from the dragonoid, sending up a spray of sand as he landed. Rising to his feet, Draycos silently glared at the figure. Upon closer inspection, the dragonoid was seen wearing a near full set of black armor with orange trimmings, fitting snugly over his well-trained body that could give Zero’s a run for its money. Two white horns protruded from the eyebrow ridge and through the helmet. A mane of wavy orange hair fell out of the backside of the helmet and rested on his shoulders. The tail twitching slightly behind the figure had a needle-like tip, and the dragonoid’s three-toed feet were half-sunken in the sand, tipped in white claws. The helmet’s only bit of decoration was a black horn jutting out from the end of the snout’s cover.

“Hey, there,” Draycos greeted. “Mind telling me why you’re standing alone in a place like this?”

The dragonoid opened his eyes, and jade-green eyes focused on Draycos. He grabbed the handle of his sword with one hand and heaved. The massive blade rose from the sand and rested on the figure’s shoulder.

“Don’t play dumb,” the dragon growled in a low voice. The voice was deep enough to be on par with Theravor’s. “Our intel tells me that you’ve got a good head on those shoulders of yours. There’s no way you haven’t already started piecing the puzzle together.”

Draycos sighed, then cracked an excited smile. “Yeah, you got me. So you’re the one responsible for that illusion in the city this morning?”

“Not entirely,” the dragonoid replied, assuming a stance as he readied his weapon. “I’m incapable of such spells. My accomplice is responsible for that. Either way, you still managed to escape that trap.”

Draycos also assumed an aggressive stance, crouching low as he held his hands out to the side. “Mind telling me what your group is after me?”

The dragonoid uttered a short laugh before snorting. “You’re not naive enough to assume I’d give you information like that if you just asked. I’m not telling you a thing, other than my name.” He held the greatsword out before him in one hand. “My name’s Guerrino, top mercenary of the Mercenary Union. I’m here to collect your head.”

“And I’m sure you know it already, but my name’s Draycos,” Draycos answered.

Theravor’s sudden yell interrupted Draycos’s thoughts. “Draycos, get out of there, now!!”

“Huh?!” Draycos was caught off guard by this sudden demand. Guerrino cracked a sly smile.

“Your friends noticed too late.”

The magic circle Draycos and Guerrino stood on suddenly vanished instantly. A loud rumble filled the air, and the cavern shook so violently that Draycos nearly fell over. Ear-splitting cracks rang out. Draycos turned his head towards the source just in time to see the staircase he and Galán just came down shatter to pieces and disappear under a mountain of falling rocks.

“So that’s how it is, huh?” he commented as he turned back to face Guerrino again. “Don’t want me escaping this time, do you?”

“Unless you can dig your way through many tons of solid bedrock, I’d suggest you give up on getting away,” Guerrino said coldly. Placing both hands on the hilt of his weapon, he dashed forward, trying to cut Draycos in half with one swing. Raising his right hand, Draycos conjured two floating blades to intercept the attack. Guerrino’s blade met with his own, and sparks went flying from the impact.

What the hell?! One of Draycos’s knees buckled as he tried desperately to keep his ground. That swing was way more powerful than I was expecting! This guy’s really strong!

After another few seconds, Guerrino’s greatsword knocked back Draycos’s conjurations. A strong shockwave radiated out from his location as Draycos was sent flying backwards, smashing into the stalagmites several dozen feet behind him.

Near the roof of the cavern, Galán, still hovering above with his cane, watched the scene in horror. “Draycos!” he cried, his shout echoing loudly throughout the cave.

Guerrino looked up at the ceiling and finally noticed Galán for the first time. His eyes widened slightly in surprise underneath the helmet. “Now this is a surprise,” he commented. “I didn’t know there was someone else down here with Draycos. And to think it’s the leader of the Gatekeepers organization. How wonderful.”

Galán glared down at the dragonoid. “Are you going to try and kill me, too?”

“Oh, no,” Guerrino responded, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t dare pick a fight with someone like you without a good reason. Besides, I’m only after Draycos today, so you’re not my target. Feel free to watch on the sidelines and escape later.”

“You think I’ll just stay here and do nothing?!” Galán snapped. “I happen to have a responsibility from the Dragon King to keep the boy safe!”

“Stay out of this, Galán!”

Both Guerrino and Galán looked over at the rubble Draycos disappeared under to see many rocks get sent flying. Draycos stood up from among the debris, panting hard.

“This is my fight, Galán!” he hissed. His hair turned black as it grew shorter and spikier while his eyes turned black and yellow as he glared at Guerrino. “This guy’s only after me! I don’t want you to get involved in this! I’ll cut you down myself if you try!”

“Draycos....” Galán muttered uneasily.

Guerrino laughed heartily. “Too full of pride to accept any help in a fight?” he managed to get out between his laughter. “Or are you trying not to get others hurt for you?”

“Neither,” Draycos growled. His black-blue aura flared up around his body momentarily before compressing down onto his skin.

“If I can’t take care of my own problems on my own, then what’s the point in trying to get stronger?! Or even being born a man?!”

Guerrino’s laughter ceased and he stared at Draycos. His eyelids wrinkled under the helmet, and his exposed mouth smiled. “Well said,” he growled.

Draycos leapt at Guerrino, waving his right hand above his head in an arc as he ran. Ten swords appeared in the air where his hand passed through.

“Blade Storm: Gatling!” Draycos pointed at Guerrino, and the swords shot forward at an insane speed as he fired them off randomly. As soon as one sword went flying, another appeared in its place and shot forward, as well. Guerrino was hidden by a cloud of dust created by the swords demolishing nearby stalagmites.

Draycos paused for a second to catch his breath after such an outburst of magic. It was in that second that Guerrino jumped out of the dust cloud, directly in front of Draycos. Draycos didn’t have time to react before Guerrino swung his weapon horizontally. The massive blade smashed into Draycos’s chest edge-first, and Draycos was sent flying backwards for a second time. Blood sprayed from his chest as he slammed into the rubble at the bottom of the staircase.