Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

Draycos continued to stare at the massive black dragonoid towering above him and his companions. Bulging muscles that put even Zero to shame were covered in glittering black scales with blue edgings. The scales were large and plate-like, almost like armor. An impressive rack of horns sprouted from the eyebrow ridges. A mane of long, shaggy black hair with blue highlights fell down to the shoulders, where what appeared to be crystal spikes colored in every shade of blue imaginable protruded from his body. More crystal spikes jutted out from his knees and elbows, and a small, dark blue crystal was set into the middle of his stomach. His underbelly scales and wing skin were a dark grey, and his hair had a short, blue braid in it that hung on the left side of his head. A dark brown leather cloth hung around his waist like a loincloth with a red insignia of the Stormfang family painted on it. There was something oddly familiar about him...

Where do I know him from...? Draycos wracked his brain for a few seconds, trying to find an answer. A recent memory popped into his head, and he gasped audibly.

“Hey, you!” he shouted, pointing up at the dragon. “Are you related to some guy named Balara?”

“What was that?!” Vertex asked, snapping his head around to stare at Draycos.

“Draycos...” Galán sighed, covering his face with one hand as he sighed. “Think about what you’re saying. This big brute just said he was sealed here for a thousand years. How would he know of anything going on out in the world right now?”

A loud noise rumbled out. Thinking it was thunder, the five of them prepared themselves for a possible oncoming lightning attack, but when nothing came, Draycos looked up and saw the black dragon’s chest heaving. He realized the dragon was actually laughing.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” the dragon boomed, laughing. “You really do have a good head on those shoulders.” He stopped laughing and looked down at Draycos intently. “To answer your question, yes, I do know Balara. He happens to be my direct descendant.”

“What?” Draycos didn’t completely accept what he’d just been told, but the information apparently was good enough for Vertex. A low warning growl rumbled deep in Vertex’s throat as every scale on his body stood on end.

“If that’s the case, then who the hell are you?!” Draycos shouted.

“Pardon me. Where are my manners?” The massive dragon took an exaggerated bow, never taking his eyes off Draycos.

“My name is Vinkex, the elder twin brother of that fool of a Dragon King that turned himself into an artifact.”

“What was that?!” Draycos had a hard time believing this information, but a few memories quickly flashed to the forefront of his mind.

“I guess you didn’t know this, but I’m a member of the Stormfang family!”

“It’s said to be made from the body of the first-ever Dragon King, who happened to be the first head of the Stormfang family.”

“I get it...” Draycos muttered. The pieces were all finally starting to add up and make sense. A nervous smile crept over his face as he glared up at Vinkex.

“So that means you used yourself as bait to get us to come down here?”

“Huh?! What are you talking about, Draycos?!” Galán cried, looking absolutely flabbergasted. Guerrino and Madniga also had stunned expressions on their faces. Vertex, however, seemed to have calmed down and stood motionlessly.

“Think about it, Galán,” Draycos started. “We came down here because you felt a magic power similar to that of the Orb of the First King’s. If we got into the castle, where you felt that magic, and this guy who claims to be the older brother of the first Dragon King was sealed up inside, wouldn’t it make sense if it was his magic you were sensing? Siblings do have similar magic, since it’s inherited from the parents.”

Galán’s jaw dropped open as he stared at Vinkex. He regained his composure after a second and straightened his tie as he broke out in a cold sweat. “True, I didn’t bother trying to sense the magic during the escape from that underground chamber. I was too caught up in the moment; I should have realized this sooner, since that magic is coming off this big brute in waves.”

“So what you thought was the Orb ended up being this guy in a sealed state?” Guerrino shook his head. “That may explain some things, but why did he thank Draycos for the ‘wake-up call’ as he put it. And why the hell were Madniga and I tasked with killing Draycos? There’s still a lot of unanswered questions.”

“Do you know who put in the assassination request?” Draycos questioned.

Madniga shook his head. “We were both left in the dark about the client,” he answered. “But the request did say that we were supposed to kill you after luring you to the city down here and into that chamber.” He looked up at Vinkex. “Looks like he needed something from you in order to be freed, Draycos.”

Draycos nodded his head in agreement. That was something he concluded as well. He glared up at Vinkex. “So you were pulling the strings behind everything from the start, huh? Mind telling me what you needed from me to get unsealed?”

Vinkex started laughing again, shaking dust from the ceiling as his laughter thundered throughout the cavern.

“Honestly, Draycos,” Galán sighed. “Do you really think the mastermind of an evil plot would just answer your questions like that if you just asked?”

“I’ll admit, it’s impressive the group of you can connect the dots like this,” Vinkex admitted. He looked down at Draycos. “In return for helping me break free, I’ll answer that question. Draycos, what I needed from you was some of your blood.”

“He actually answered the question?!” Galán screamed.

“Why did you need my blood specifically?” Draycos demanded.

Vinkex snorted. “Like your half-elvish friend of yours said, don’t be naive enough to believe I’ll answer all your questions just because you asked. If you want more answers, you’re going to have to give me all of it.”

Draycos tilted his head to the side in confusion, puzzled by Vinkex’s demand. He was almost afraid to ask the question. “All of what?” he inquired slowly.

A greedy gleam lit up Vinkex’s eyes as he stooped over enough so that he and Draycos were face to face. He snorted in Draycos’s face, almost sending Draycos flying with a puff of air.

“Give me your blood, and I’ll tell you all I know.”

A sudden cold chill crept down Draycos’s spine as he understood what Vinkex was implying. Reacting purely on instinct, he started up Mana Focus and jumped back to put some distance between him and the ancient dragon.

“Draycos?!” Galán yelped in surprise. “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?!” Draycos snapped as he continued to retreat. “This guy either wants to kill me or eat me for some reason! I have no obligation to stay still and get myself captured!”

Vinkex made no move as he stood up straight and calmly watched Draycos’s figure recede in the distance.

“Do it,” he commanded.

Huh? Who’s he talking to? Before Draycos could figure out any answers, something wrapped around his left foot from below, fixing it to the spot and halting his retreat. Not expecting this, the momentum carried Draycos forward, and he ended up falling face-first on the rocky floor. He gritted his teeth in pain as he felt his left ankle pop and dislocate from the fall. Glancing at his left foot, he noticed that it had been caught by a hand made from stone that sprouted from the ground. Something stood next to where the hand stretched from the ground, and Draycos slowly raised his line of sight up the figure’s outline until he saw the face.

“Vertex?! What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“Damn it!” Theravor roared, slamming a fist on the marble tabletop stretching out before him. Large cracks ran down the table as he glared at the projection orb floating above. “What is the meaning of this, Vertex?!”

The fact that Vertex had followed Vinkex’s order and restrained Draycos was enough proof to convince everyone in the Dragon Council Chamber that he was the traitor who had leaked information about Draycos to the Mercenary Union and Shadow Strikers. The expressions on every dragons’ face was either that of shock or fury. Most of the Council members were completely baffled by this development and stared at the projection with their jaws hanging open. Theravor and Vinzgar were the only ones expressing their fury.

“So he was the traitor after all,” Vinzgar hissed, his scales standing on end as he glared at the image of Vertex in the projection. “I had my suspicions when he left the room earlier, but I didn’t want to believe it was remotely possible.”

Other dragons present finally overcame their shock as loud hisses and growls filled the room. Theravor glared at the screen for a few more seconds before he noticed something odd. His tense shoulders relaxed, and he took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking.

“Hold on a moment, everyone,” he announced. He pointed at something on Vertex’s forehead. “What is that?”

Draycos noticed something glowing faintly on Vertex’s forehead, almost at the same time as Theravor did up at Dragonspire Castle. A tiny, black magic circle was drawn on Vertex’s forehead, resting between the eyes. A small, red fragment of crystal stuck out of the center of the magic circle, giving off a faint, red light.

“Hey, Vertex!” Draycos shouted. He pointed at Vertex’s forehead. “What is that on your forehead?”

Vertex said nothing as he stared at Draycos with a blank expression on his face. His eyes reflected none of the dim light of the cavern; if Draycos didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought Vertex had died standing there.

“Oi, Vertex! Didn’t you hear me?! I asked you a question!”

“Draycos, he can’t hear you as he is now,” a voice said. It was Theravor’s voice, coming out of Draycos’s pendant as it flashed dimly.

“Did I just hear the voice of the current Dragon King?” Vinkex questioned, cupping a hand around the side of his head. “Where’d that come from?”

Draycos grabbed this pendant hanging from his neck and tried to hide it, but Vinkex noticed what he was doing. “Ah, so you have a communication line established with the Dragon King, do you?” he observed, rubbing his chin. “That makes things easier for me. Can I speak with him?”

“Like hell you can!” Draycos snapped, clutching the pendant tightly.

“Draycos, let go of your pendant,” Theravor’s voice ordered.

“But why?!” Draycos stared at the glowing blue crystal. “We don’t know what this guy’s capable of! What if he could do something to you through our connection through the crystal?”

“Draycos, let go of your pendant!” Theravor repeated with a roar loud enough for Galán, Guerrino, and Madniga to hear. Draycos flinched from the anger in the Dragon King’s voice. Finally consenting, Draycos let go of the pendant as a bright flash of blue light shot out of it and hit the ground next to where Vertex stood. A pale, transparent blue image of Theravor formed in the spot, standing taller than Vertex as the projection glared up at Vinkex.

Vinkex stared at the project, and his lower lip curled as a low growl escaped his throat. “So, you’re the current Dragon King, Theravor,” he growled. “I guess you do have my accursed younger brother’s blood in you; you’re the spitting image of him.”

Theravor snorted as he stared down Vinkex, not standing down at all under the ancient dragon’s glare. “I don’t care about that,” he hissed. “What I want to know is what you did to Vertex. I won’t listen to anything else you say until I get that answer from you.”

Vinkex’s angry growl made the air tremble. “Very well,” he answered. “Given your current status as the Dragon King, I’ll at least answer that.” He lifted his hand and held it next to one of the red crystals jutting from his shoulders. “Hey, Shadow Striker.”

“Huh?” Madniga glanced up at Vinkex just as the dragon flicked the crystal with his talons. A soft tinkling sound like glass breaking rank out, and something small spun through the air like a boomerang. It flew at Madniga and embedded itself in the assassin’s forehead before he could even react. Madniga fell to his knees as his body slumped forward.

“Madniga?” Guerrino cried. He got down on one knee before Madniga and shook him roughly. Madniga?! Say something to me!”

Vinkex cracked his neck with a completely bored expression on his face as Guerrino continued to shake Madniga. “Alright, Madniga,” he said after getting the crick out of his neck. “Go ahead and take care of that mercenary.”

Madniga’s head shot up as he stared at a startled Guerrino. Guerrino opened his mouth to say something, but before any words came out, Madniga’s right hand shot out. The hand buried itself into Guerrino’s chest and came out the mercenary’s back with a spray of blood.

“Wha...?” Guerrino’s voice was cut off by a spray of blood from his mouth. He stared down at the arm protruding from his chest as Madniga stood up. Madniga’s arm snapped to the side, and Guerrino’s body slid off and went flying through the air before landing on the ground nearby with a splash of blood. Guerrino laid motionless as the pool of blood continued to grow at an alarming rate.

“Guerrino!” Galán yelled. He rushed over to Guerrino’s side and knelt down. Holding his hands over the wound, a soft light emitted from Galán’s hands as he tried to treat the fatally wounded dragonoid.

“Does that answer your question, Theravor?” Vinkex questioned as he watched events unfold with mild interest.

“Oh, yes,” Theravor growled. The projection’s body trembled slightly as the tail smacked the ground repeatedly. “So you’re able to manipulate anyone stabbed by your crystals to do your bidding, is that it?”