Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

“Now then, let’s get this over with,” Guerrino grunted. He bent over and picked his sword up from out of the sand, which he had dropped when Madniga intercepted Draycos’s attack. Blowing the sand off the blade, he walked over to Draycos’s body. Raising his sword high above his head with both hands, Guerrino swung it down as he aimed for the neck.

“Do you think I’ll stand here and do nothing while you try to do something like that?!”

Startled, Guerrino glanced over to the side to see Galán right next to him. Galán held his cane before him in both hands and pulled the bottom off, revealing a thin sword blade extending from the handle. With a quick motion, Galán jabbed the tip of his cane sword against the flat of Guerrino’s large blade, knocking it off course. The blade buried itself deep into the sand directly above Draycos’s head.

Guerrino glared at Galán as the two remained in place, both of their weapons buried in the sand. “What do you think you’re doing?” Guerrino growled, agitated.

“What do you think?!” Galán snapped, pulling his cane out of the sand. He jumped into the air and took a swing at Guerrino’s head. “I’m trying to stop you from finishing off an injured friend of mine!”

Guerrino pulled his sword out of the sand and held it in front of his face, blocking Galán’s attack. Sparks flew as Galán’s sword was deflected, and he performed a backflip before landing on the sand, only to dash at Guerrino the second he landed. Galán’s blade glowed with a golden light as he charged it with his magic.

“Temporal Sword!” Galán’s cane sword and the entire right arm that held it disappeared. A large number of gold lights, no bigger than the size of fireflies, appeared in the air around Galán. Surprised, Guerrino held his blade in front of him as the lights all flared brightly before shooting forward, taking the shape of Galán’s cane sword as they flew at Guerrino. A bright orange aura flashed around Guerrino’s body, and Guerrino proceeded to knock all the flying sword attacks out of the air. Each impact made Guerrino slide back in the sand, putting some distance between him and Draycos’s motionless body.

Galán didn’t let up. He raised his left hand, which became enveloped in a silver aura before it disappeared, too.

“Spatial Destruction!” Massive silver, transparent fists suddenly appeared and beat down on Guerrino’s body, landing heavy blows with each strike. Guerrino could do nothing except hold his massive greatsword over his vital spots and bear the brunt of the attack. When the last fist landed, Guerrinos was sent flying into one of the braziers burning next to the wooden door behind him. There was a loud crash as metal twisted and screamed from the impact, and Guerrino disappeared inside the broken brazier under a pile of hot ashes.

Madniga, who’d been standing next to the brazier Guerrino slammed into, suddenly snickered. “Not bad, Gatemaster,” he commented, still snickering. “But remember that there’s two of us; can you handle both of us at the same time?” Madniga’s body gradually faded out of existence.

“I know what you’re up to!” Galán shouted, unperturbed by Madniga’s disappearance. Throwing his cane sword aside, he enveloped his hands in their silver and gold auras before clapping them together. The auras vanished, and Galán separated his hands, revealing a small, black orb that floated between his palms. Grabbing it in his right hand, he threw it at the air above Draycos’s body.

“Woah, there!” Madniga suddenly appeared in the air above Draycos and just barely managed to dodge the flying black orb. The orb hit a stalagmite beyond and bore straight through it without slowing down, instantly eating a perfect round hole through the stone as it continued flying through stalagmites. It hit the far wall and exploded with a loud bang. Cylinders of stone were sent flying out of the explosion, the same shape of the holes the black orb dug out of the stalagmites.

Madniga whistled as he looked at the spectacle with great interest. “Damn, now that’s impressive,” he admitted as he turned to face Galán. Galán extended his outstretched right hand to one side, and his cane sword flew out of the ground it stuck out of and landed in his hand.

“I’ve heard the rumors, but to see the half-breed leader of the Gatekeepers wield both Time and Space magic at the same time is truly something else. You aren’t nicknamed the ‘God of the Domain’ for nothing.”

Galán said nothing as he glared at the assassin. “I can say the same about you,” he muttered. “Our intel told us that there was an extremely skilled assassin among the ranks of the Shadow Strikers, but to think you’re capable of Territory spells....” Galán shook his head. “Truly a waste of Upper-Class magic.”

“Oh, so you noticed my ‘Assassin’s Domain’ Territory spell?” Madniga snickered. “You truly are terrifying. But don’t forget that I’m not alone here.”

There was the sound of metal creaking, and Galán turned his head just as Guerrino flew out of the busted brazier, holding his sword in front of him like a spearhead as he flew through the air. Guerrino’s wings were finally opened, showing off the blood-red wing skin between the orange spines.

“Damn it!” Galán shouted, holding his sword out and bracing himself for the impact. Guerrino’s sword tip slammed into Galán’s blade, sending sparks flying. Galán’s sword held up, but with the poor footing in the sandy ground, Galán couldn’t help it as he began slowly sliding backwards, gaining speed as the momentum from Guerrino’s flight didn’t lose power. The two of them sped across the cavern until they slammed into the wall with enough force to knock a few stalactites from the ceiling down to the ground. The fighters were hidden behind a large cloud of dust knocked into the air from the fallen stalactites.

Madniga looked down at Draycos before shaking his head. “I don’t have any big weapons for decapitating targets,” he groaned as he pulled out the biggest dagger hanging from his waist. He flipped it around in the air a few times as he eyed Draycos’s neck. “I don’t like doing things this way, but I don’t have much of a choice while Guerrino’s keeping that Gatemaster busy.” Gripping the handle of the dagger tightly, Madniga swung it down towards Draycos’s exposed neck. That’s when Madniga heard it.

It was a sound so unexpected to the situation that he would’ve normally ignored it, but he found himself frozen in place, his dagger just touching the skin on the back of Draycos’s neck. He heard it again, this time echoing loudly throughout the cavern. Madniga stared down at Draycos’s motionless body in shock. Sure enough, Draycos’s chest twitched slightly when the sound occurred again.

Draycos’s heart was still beating.

When Draycos came to, he realized something was not right even before opening his eyes. His whole body felt warm, as if he was soaking in a pool warmed by a hot summer’s sun. Curious, Draycos slowly opened his eyes.

He was floating in a very dark place, with no solid objects anywhere to be found. The very space around him seemed to shimmer as nearly black and very dark grey hazy pillars rotated around him randomly, as if he was standing in the middle of a cloud of smoke. Draycos’s sleepy mind gradually woke up as he gazed at his surroundings.

Hey, wait, I recognize this place. I had a dream like this before I woke up at that trial, right? Why am I dreaming about this again? And when did I fall asleep? Draycos thought hard, but his recent memories were all a blur for him; he couldn’t seem to recall anything prior to his victory at the Prisoner’s Games.

“This is the second time you’ve managed to get yourself here in three months,” a monotonous voice rang out. Startled, Draycos looked directly above him and spotted a silhouette floating in the darkness above him.

“You again?” Draycos snapped. “What do you want this time?”

There was the sound of someone sighing as the silhouette descended until it hovered directly in front of Draycos. It appeared to be human shaped, sitting cross-legged in the air with the left elbow on one knee and the head resting in the left hand.

“I don’t want anything,” the voice said. “I was just here, minding my own business when you came barging in. Didn’t I tell you not to die?”

“What do you mean by that?” A surge of pain suddenly rushed through Draycos’s head, and the blurry memories suddenly grew clear as he remembered what happened. A blank expression crossed his face as he just stared at the silhouette. “Oh,” he said simply.

“‘Oh?’ Is that all you have to say? I told you it’d throw a wrench in my plans if you died, and you’re already on death’s door after only three months.”

Draycos snorted. “And I told you that I didn’t care for your plans,” he remarked. “Anyways, what’s with the way you’re talking? Your voice is still bland, but you’re talking more like...me.”

“That’s what you want to ask?” There was another loud sigh. “Look, it would be beneficial to both of us if you kept living. I can help you get back up and stay alive. Do you want to get back in the fight?”

“Yes,” Draycos answered without hesitation, nodding his head.

The voice made a somewhat surprised sound. “That’s unusual,” it commented. “Normally, when I tell people that, they give me lines like, ‘what’s the catch?’ or ‘if I can’t do it alone, then there’s no point in coming back to life’. Why did you accept the offer so readily?”

“So this isn’t your first time, huh?” Draycos observed. He scratched the back of his head before answering. “Because I’m no God. I just got stabbed in the heart; there’s no way I can come back from that on my own. Plus, I have unfinished business to take care of, so I don’t feel like calling it quits now.”

Things were quiet for a moment before Draycos heard a soft chuckle as the silhouette covered the area where the mouth would be with its right hand. “Alright, then,” it finally said. “Although to be clear, you aren’t dead yet. You’re still alive, although just barely.” The silhouette reached out with its right hand and placed a fist over Draycos’s heart. “Let’s see what lies hidden inside of you. And don’t come back here anytime soon.” The fist over Draycos’s heart suddenly gained solidity, showing a black hand covered in shiny black scales. It had no fingers; five finger-like claws tipped the hand.

A fresh wave of intense pain radiate from Draycos’s chest. It felt like someone just pressed a white-hot iron over the skin where his heart was. Draycos’s vision went black as the pain knocked him unconscious.

Madniga stared down at Draycos’s body in horror as the heartbeats continued to echo throughout the cavern, quickly increasing in tempo.

You have got to be shitting me! I just stabbed the brat through the heart; no creature of this world could survive for more than a minute after such an injury! Yet his heart is still beating so loudly it’s echoing in this cave! What the fuckin’ hell is going on?

Suddenly, the loud heartbeat was accompanied by the noise of another heartbeat, and the two sounds echoed in perfect sync with one another as a smoky black aura enveloped Draycos’s body. Alarmed, Madniga jumped back and pulled something out of one of his pockets. It looked like a Leyscope, except the lens was red in color. Holding it up to his right eye, Madniga peered at Draycos through it as the young man slowly got to his knees. The glass lens exploded into powder when Madniga curled his hand into a tight fist that trembled slightly as Draycos stood up completely.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Madniga screamed at the top of his lungs. A black mark appeared on the skin over Draycos’s heart. It was a spiral flame-shaped pattern that surrounded a mark that looked like three boomerangs converging at their very tips and spinning outwards. Smoky black lines traveled out of the marking and across Draycos’s chest, moving over his right shoulder and extending all the way down to his right hand, the lines growing thicker as they traveled farther. From his wrist down to his fingertips, his right hand was completely black, covered in shiny black scales that glittered in the blue light. His fingers had become enclosed in black, finger-like talons.

“This brat has two hearts in his body!!”

Deep below the cavern where Draycos, Galán, Guerrino, and Madniga all fought in, was another, smaller cavern. This one was completely man-made, with stone blocks forming the round walls of the small, circular room. Four columns stretched from the floor all the way to the sandy ceiling above, holding up the blue magic barrier that kept the sand from pouring down into the room. Between each column sat a tall brazier burning with the same blue flames as the ones from above. The four braziers and four columns sat in a ring around a pedestal sitting in the middle of a red magic circle that stretched across the floor. Sitting on the pedestal was a large stone shaped like an oversized egg with a black ribbon tied around it. Dragonscript words in the color of blood were written on the ribbon, but the wear and tear of time had made the words completely illegible.

Up above, in the sand above the transparent barrier, a small red dot appeared in the sand. It quickly grew bigger as it pressed up against the barrier. It was Draycos’s blood, which had bled from his injuries and soaked into the sandy floor of the cavern above. Ever so slowly, a single drop of blood forced its way through the barrier, hanging tediously from the roof of the room. The room shook slightly as a tremor from the fight above reached through the stone between the two areas, and the drop of blood fell free from the barrier. It fell straight down until it landed on the stone egg below. The droplet sat on the surface for a moment before sinking into the stone. A strong tremor rocked the room, cracking the stone pillars and walls as a brazier toppled over, sending its contents scattering across the magic circle. The magic circle flared brightly before turning black and vanishing.

There was a tiny sound as the smallest of cracks formed on the surface of the stone egg.