Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce

“As expected of the current Dragon King, you’re quick on the uptake,” Vinkex commented at Theravor’s observation, nodding his head. “Yes, you’re right; those who get stabbed by my crystal fragments are forcibly bent to my will. If the crystal stabs a limb, I’d only get control of that limb, but if it lands in the head, I can control the whole body.”

Theravor shook his head in bewilderment. “The old record books indicated you had some kind of brainwashing ability, but for it to be so simple and effective is beyond what I was expecting. I guess it’s no marvel how you almost succeeded in overthrowing your brother with a massive gathering of supporters.”

Vinkex’s lips curled in a savage smile. “It still wasn’t enough to overcome my brother. I was hasty last time; things will unfold differently this time around.”

“Oh? Does that mean you’ll be attempting the same thing you failed to accomplish over a thousand years ago?”

“Of course.” Vinkex’s massive tail thumped the ground, leaving large cracks in its wake. “I will not be denied what should have been mine to begin with. I should’ve been the king, not my fool of a brother!”

Theravor sighed as he shook his head. “You had no claim to the throne to begin with. You did nothing to participate in the creation of the Metra Anomaly, and you never even assisted the first heads of the royal families once. Your brother was chosen by the people for his contributions to dragonkind’s wellbeing. You being his older brother has nothing to do with it.”

“Shut up!” Vinkex hissed. His eyes flashed dangerously as he glared at the projection. “My brother was the weakling who didn’t want to fight back against those hunting us to begin with; all he wanted was to coexist with all the races! Dragons are far stronger in all aspects compared to the others! Why should we coexist when we can dominate?!”

“Damn, another dragon supremacist?” Draycos commented, interrupting the two dragons. Both of them turned their heads to look at him as he stood up. Grunting, he shoved his left leg down hard, popping his ankle back in place. Sighing, Draycos looked up at Vinkex.

“All this supremacy stuff is getting on my nerves,” he said candidly. “Just because you’re stronger than others doesn’t give you the right to rule over them and look down on them. Strength isn’t everything. We all have something we’re better at than others.”

“You can’t even say anything about this!” Vinkex snapped. “You’re a half-breed of a human and something else; you don’t even belong in this world!”

Draycos’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the old dragon. “Just because I don’t belong here doesn’t mean I can’t have an opinion on your rotten views. Supremacy was being kicked to the curb back in my world; we may have some loose cannons that can’t conform to modern society, but the general opinion has been gradually improving.”

Vinkex snorted in laughter. “Oh, please, like I give a damn about your world full of nothing but humans with no magical abilities at all. Know your place, brat.”

“Must I remind you that I’m not fully human? You just said it yourself.”

“So? What does that matter?”

Draycos’s magic aura flared up around his body and condensed as he used Mana Focus again. “It means that I’m a mold-breaker.” The rock around his left foot shattered as he pulled it out of the ground. “And mold-breakers bring change, whether the world wants it or not.” With that, Draycos kicked off the ground and headed straight for Vinkex, running straight through the projection of Theravor in the process.

“You idiot!” Theravor roared as the projection began to fade. “Don’t get near him; you’re no match for him and he’s after you!”

“Don’t worry; I’m sure you and the rest of the Council will back me up!” Draycos called back with a sly smile as the projection dissipated.

“Hmph. Vertex, take care of the brat!” Vinkex ordered. Draycos’s ears popped with the sound of Vertex moving as supersonic speeds. Vertex appeared in front of Draycos, intent on blocking his way. Draycos didn’t stop; in fact, he leapt right up at Vertex’s face, avoiding the grey dragon’s arms.

“Snap out of it, Vertex!” Draycos shouted, raising his right fist. “Don’t sully your reputation for falling for such a cheap mind trick! Dragon Impact!”

Draycos’s fist slammed down on the crystal implanted in Vertex’s forehead, which so happened to be in the common pressure point most dragons shared. The crystal shattered, and Vertex fell to the ground in a heap, completely unconscious.

Vinkex watched this unfold with great interest. He eyed Draycos as the young half-breed straightened his back and glared over at him.

“Now that was unexpected,” Vinkex muttered to himself, a hand on his chin. “I wasn’t expecting the Dragon King’s advisor to fall so easily. Either he’s weaker than I had expected, or the brat’s actually stronger than what I was told.”

“Don’t know if this answers your question, but I feel like I can kick your ass right now,” Draycos growled. Ever since getting back up after being stabbed in the heart, his body’s been feeling jumpy. It was like his body was bursting with excess energy, and he was ready to blow it all off. As he raised his hands in front of him to assume a stance, the back crest on his chest changed slightly. A fourth boomerang-like mark appeared and joined with the other three, making the symbol look something like a swastika.

“Madniga, intercept him,” Vinkex ordered. “But do not kill the brat; I need him alive right now.”

Draycos felt something shift in the air, as if a silent, gentle shockwave had just reached him from where Madniga still stood motionlessly. Without warning, Madniga’s body faded away as he disappeared in thin air.

“Watch it, Draycos!” Galán called from where he was treating Guerrino’s injuries. “Madniga’s capable of using a high-end Upper Class spell! He’s using a Territory spell to get into your blind spot!”

“Territory spell?” Draycos shook his head at the unfamiliar term. “Don’t know about these Upper Classes you’re talking about, but thanks for the heads-up!” Draycos raised his right foot high in the air. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated his magic into his foot before bringing it down on the ground. Instead of destroying the ground like it normally would have, the black aura around Draycos’s foot began spreading out over the surface of the ground. As it continued to cover a wider area, a sound like shattering glass rang out, and Madniga suddenly appeared far over to Draycos’s left. Vinkex’s eyes widen in surprise as Draycos didn’t miss the opportunity to close in on Madniga and land a punch on the forehead before the small dragon could react. Madniga fell to the ground in a similar manner to Vertex and laid there motionlessly.

Galán also stared at Draycos in shock, his eyeballs nearly out of their sockets as his mouth hung open. “To think Draycos unconsciously cast a Territory spell of his own...!” he gasped.

There was a somewhat impressed expression on Vinkex’s face as Draycos returned his gaze to the massive dragon. “You never cease to surprise me, Draycos,” Vinkex admitted with a snort. “You actually cast a Territory spell that overpowered Madniga’s own spell and broke it. That’s quite the accomplishment.”

“Huh?” Draycos looked puzzled by this. “I wasn’t trying to cast a spell or anything. All I was doing was trying to spread my magic out into my surroundings in order to find where Madniga was hiding.”

“This is ridiculous,” Vinkex commented, shaking his head in amazement. “Injecting your magic into your surroundings is the very basis of Territory spells. To accidentally fire one off in such a manner is unbelievable.”

“Hey, Vinkex?”

Startled by the close proximity which the voice came from, Vinkex returned his focus to the situation and found Draycos standing on his shoulder.

“When did you...?!”

“You really shouldn’t take your eyes off your opponent in a fight,” Draycos admonished him. Jumping into the air, Draycos threw a swift kick at Vinkex’s jaw. “It might very well lead to your undoing.”

“Argh!” Vinkex’s head was snapped to the side from the kick, and a few drops of steaming blood leaked out from between his lips. Meanwhile, Draycos had conjured a floating blade to stand on and a black scimitar in his hand. He floated there motionlessly while Vinkex began to recover from his kick. After a few seconds, there was an audible snap, and Draycos’s aura flared to an unbelievable size.

“Mana Overload at this point in the fight?!” Vinkex screeched. Draycos said nothing as he focused everything he had into his scimitar, which began humming with power as it gave off a strong gust of wind. With a grunt, Draycos brought the blade down and sent his magic flying through the air at Vinkex, just like he had done during his battle with Clyad. The sickle of magic power crashed into the ancient dragon and exploded upon the impact, rocking the entire cavern with a tremor that even the citizens of Draiotic City above felt.

Completely spent, Draycos fell to the ground and landed on his hands and feet, gasping for air. The black markings on his chest and arm began smoldering as they peeled off his skin. The fragments floated in the air for a few seconds before disintegrating like ashes. Draycos noticed his body temperature was dropping, and he placed a hand over his sternum to check for the unusual heartbeat. There was no indication of a pulse beating there anymore.

“Is that all?”

Shocked, Draycos looked up and saw Vinkex emerge from a cloud of dust, completely unscathed. Vinkex turned his head to the side and spat out a mouthful of blood before returning his furious gaze at Draycos.

“You bastard,” he growled in a low tone. “You actually managed to make me bleed a little. Now I’m really going to mess you up.”

Are you frickin’ kidding me?! I threw everything I had at him!! It’s like my magic attack had no effect on him at all!!

“I’d imagine that you’re completely spent after such an outburst, am I right?” Vinkex assumed. “If that’s the case, it’ll make catching you that much easier.” Vinkex’s arm stretched out as he reached out to grab the immobilized Draycos. However, just before his massive hands closed around Draycos, Vinkex sensed something was off and paused for a fraction of a second. In that single instant, Draycos’s pendant flashed with a bright blue light that engulfed the boy’s entire body. Draycos’s hair turned brown and grew out to its perm look before the right side became frizzled and stood up slightly as it turned snow white. When Draycos lifted his head to glare at Vinkex, the dragon saw that his sclera had turned from black to white, and the iris in his right eye had changed from yellow to blue. A large shockwave radiated out from Draycos as a deep whitish-blue aura flared up around him, knocking Vinkex’s hand back.

“What the hell?!” Vinkex cried, shielding his eyes from the sudden flash of light. “Where did this magic come from?! I thought you already used up everything you had, brat!”

“I did,” Draycos answered quietly as he stood up. He conjured a scimitar in each hand before continuing. “Who said anything about this magic being my own?”

Vinkex’s eyes widened in understanding as he realized what was going on. His eyes quickly narrowed as a low growl rumbled in his throat.

“Damn that Dragon King,” he muttered, staring at Draycos’s glowing pendant. “So he’s transferring his own power to you to help take me down, is that it?”

“Theravor, are you certain you want to do this?” Zero voiced his question out loud as everyone stared at the Dragon King. Theravor had grabbed the item that produced the projection orb and held it tightly in the palm of his hand. His eyes were closed as he concentrated on pouring his magic into the item, sending it directly to Draycos. The room was lit up by the king’s golden aura.

One of Theravor’s eyelids flicked open and gazed at Zero. “It’s wiser to take care of the situation now instead of letting it get out of hand, don’t you think?” Theravor questioned. “We absolutely cannot allow Vinkex to get his way; not when we’re so close to finally fulfilling the first Dragon King’s desire of coexistence with the other races.”

A few of the dragons looked at one another with uncomfortable expressions on their faces, unsure of what to think of the current situation.

Zero sighed and stood up, pushing his throne back as he did so. “If that’s the case, then allow me to assist you,” he said. He walked up to Theravor and placed a hand on the king’s shoulder. Zero’s blue aura appeared and mixed in with Theravor’s own aura.

One by one, more thrones scratched against the floor as more members of the Dragon Council stood up and approached Theravor. Poseidon, Damrabe, Vinzgar, Reothad, Boreta, Drax, Diaken, and the rest of the Council gathered around their king and placed a hand on each other’s shoulders as they pooled their magic together and sent it to Draycos.