Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption

“Stop mocking me!” Vinkex roared as he chased after Theravor in the skies above Dragonspire Castle. “Come back here and face me in combat!”

Theravor twisted around in mid flight to glance at Vinkex. “Give me a reason to fight you head-on, then,” he responded before facing forward again.

Half an hour has passed since the beginning of their battle. Theravor had spent the entire time avoiding direct combat and being chased around by Vinkex. During this time, Theravor observed half of Vinkex’s right sclera slowly turned black.

Only thirty minutes or so left until Draycos is completely assimilated. Once that time is up, I doubt we will ever get another chance to separate him from Vinkex. Guess it’s about time for me to take action.

Theravor came to a sudden halt, and Vinkex came to a stop just behind him, flexing his outstretched claws as he glared at Theravor’s back with a vicious expression.

“I think I’ve spent enough time observing you,” Theravor suddenly announced as he turned around to face Vinkex. A serious expression filled his face as he took an aggressive stance with his arms crossed in front of his chest. His eyes narrowed while his tail tip twitched back and forth in anticipation. “Let’s begin.”

“Huh?” Vinkex was caught off guard by the sudden change in Theravor’s demeanor. The next second, he was bent over backwards as far as possible to avoid Theravor’s hand when it darted forward at a breakneck speed.

“Hmm, not bad,” Theravor commented as he withdrew his hand. He flicked a droplet of blood off the tip of a talon. “I’m surprised you managed to avoid taking a direct blow from that; I did my best to hide my body language from you.”

Vinkex straightened up and wiped a claw across a cut in the scales above his right eye. He stared at the blood on his claw before licking it off with his tongue. “That was an unusually brutal attack for someone who calls himself the Dragon King,” he growled. “You could’ve taken my head off with that. You’re coldblooded.”

“Oh, please, like you’re one to talk,” Theravor snorted. He held up his right hand, and a golden aura flared up around his fist as he cranked his arm back. A shiver ran down Vinkex’s spine as he felt the vast amount of magic power being focused into that fist.

“I’m not dense enough to want to face that head-on,” he hissed, slowly backing off. “I’m out of here.” Vinkex turned around and attempted to fly off, but something snaked through the air and twisted around his tail, preventing his escape. Surprised, Vinkex twisted around to find that Theravor wrapped his own tail tightly around Vinkex’s. Vinkex panicked slightly and tried to break free, but Theravor refused to lessen his grip. Pulling his tail back, Theravor dragged Vinkex through the air until the black dragon was just a few feet away.

“This one is for Vertex,” Theravor growled. Theravor’s aura flashed brightly as he swung his fist forward.

“Dragon Impact.”

Vinkex put his arms in front of his face to guard himself, but Theravor threw a right hook, bypassing Vinkex’s guard and landing a direct hit on Vinkex’s left cheek. A loud bang filled the air as Theravor nailed Vinkex with several times the force of a cannonball being shot. There was a bright flash of golden light before Vinkex was sent spiraling backwards from the impact.

“Ugh?!” Vinkex yelped as he came to a stop. His left cheek burned with an intense pain. He placed a hand on the spot and it came away bloody. Theravor’s attack had completely shattered his scales and tore apart the flesh underneath; Vinkex could even feel his talons scratching the surface of his cheekbone.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Vinkex growled as the wound slowly closed up by itself. “To think you had the power to damage me this badly, despite all the Enhancement spells I have active right now… I might have to change my opinion of you.”

“And yet that wasn’t enough to inflict any lasting damage on you….” Theravor muttered, narrowing his eyes as he watched Vinkex’s injury disappear completely. “Do you have someone hidden nearby to cast Restoration magic on you, or is that simply a regenerative ability you possess?”

“And why should I answer that?” Vinkex questioned as a savage smile played on his lips. He held both hands behind his back so Theravor couldn’t see what he was doing. “Giving answers to the dead is pointless.”

“Huh?” Theravor tilted his head to the side, confused. “What are you trying to say?”

“King Theravor! We’re finally ready for another shot!”

Theravor flinched in surprise from the unexpected shout that came from his communication gauntlet as the blue crystal began to glow. The voice belonged to Zero’s daughter, Perla.

“Sorry it took to recharge the cannon!” Perla announced into the communication ring she wore as she moved around inside the cockpit of the ancient cannon. “Putting all the Manastones in place took longer than expected!” Perla picked up a panel and struggled to place it back on the wall. A large pile of colorful, glowing blue crystals placed in the opening made her job much harder. Irritated, Perla slammed her shoulder into the panel. The panel pressed back against the crystals and finally fitted into place back on the wall.

Manastones. They’re magic crystals formed by the residual excess energy of Leygates after the gate has been claimed by the Gatekeepers. Dragons, in exchange for providing assistance in conquering Leygates and the occasional diplomatic missions with the native people from the other side of the gates, were given the rights to all Manastones found at the sites. They are very useful for magical research and spell development, as the stones are capable of storing up magic power from anyone who happens to touch it. The magic power can then be used up at a later time, such as when casting a spell that requires more magic than one is capable of producing.

Years ago, while he was tinkering with the old cannon, Zero discovered that the material that fueled the cannon was a rare, unique energy alloy created long ago and was now lost to the ages. Stuck in a rut, Zero conferred with Boreta, and the two of them eventually realized that the Manastones had a structure strikingly similar to the lost fuel, and could therefore be used as substitute. Before the fighting started, Zero had ‘acquired’ a large crate of charged Manastones from a rather annoyed Boreta.

“It’s for the battle tonight- don’t sweat over such a small crate~!” Zero had said when he tried to calm the Managuard family head down as they entered his workshop earlier that day. He jiggled the crate rather noisily in front of her.

“You’re not making me feel any better about this,” Boreta sighed, placing a hand over her face to hide her strained expression.

“Dad, I don’t think you’re good at this kind of thing.” Perla commented, eyeing Boreta cautiously.

“Shut up,” Zero snapped as he placed the crate on the floor next to the cannon.

“Listen, Zero. It took over ten years for dozens of my family’s top mages to fill up all those Manastones with magic power, and you plan to use them all up with a few shots from your toy here?” Boreta shook her head angrily. “It’s madness.”

“It can’t be helped,” Zero argued, leaning back against the cannon and crossing his arms across his chest. “My family has some Manastones, too, but we barely had enough to just power up the cannon. Theravor said he wanted this cannon to be usable by tonight. I know how you feel, but we needed the Managuard family’s stockpile in order to meet the Dragon King’s demand.”

Boreta sighed again and stood motionlessly for a few moments before taking her hand away from her face and walking over to the cannon’s barrel. “So be it,” she sighed, tail twitching slightly as she began tweaking the arcane symbols faintly glowing in the metal. “But if we’re going to use up all of the Manastones for this, I’m going to make sure this toy of yours makes quite the spectacle.”

Zero gave a big smile as he strode over to Boreta’s side and joined her in her work. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

“The Plasma-Tech Gorgon is finally ready to fire again?” Theravor’s voice asked, pulling Perla back to the present.

Perla shook her head before nodding slightly. “Yessir. You might want to put some distance between yourself and Vinkex; I plan on wiping him out with this blast!”

“What was that?!” Theravor cried, stunned. “I forbid you from doing that! You’ll take out Draycos if you do something reckless like that!”

“Oh, come on!” Perla whined, snapping her orange goggles into place over her eyes. “This battle is a lot like that Tàileasg game you’re so fond of, right? If we take out the enemy king, we win!”

“Even so….” Theravor muttered, still sounding unconvinced.

“Listen. It’s not like the cannon blast will kill either Vinkex or Draycos; they’ll just be petrified. Once they are, we can figure out a way to extract Draycos while Vinkex is still immobilized!”

Theravor remained silent for a few moments as he thought about Perla’s suggestion. He eventually gave an audible sigh. “Fine, then,” he conceded. “You have permission to fire whenever you’re prepared.”

“Alright!” Perla cheered, raising a fist into the air. Her fist smacked the ceiling of the cramped cockpit, bringing Perla back to the reality of the situation. “Alright,” she echoed quietly, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She leaned forward and stared out of the air vent placed in front of her eyes intensely as the cannon’s targeting system came online. The transparent screen appeared before Perla as she finally spotted the far-off Dragonspire Castle in the distance. Focusing her sight, she managed to spot the outlines of two dragons facing off in the skies above the castle. She picked out Vinkex, and the transparent screen placed crosshairs over her target. With all signs of her former excitement gone, Perla’s talons wrapped around the grip of the lever next to her seat. “Firing in five seconds.”

A sudden crack of static sound caused Perla to twitch violently.

“I don’t think so,” a new voice coming from her communication bangle announced as the static faded away. “I’m not about to let you fire that infernal weapon a second time in my presence.”

“Vinkex!” Theravor roared, glaring furiously at his enemy. Theravor had been keeping an eye on him the whole time as he conversed with Perla, but he hadn’t seen the ancient dragon make any movements at all. “How did you manage to break into our communication signals?!”

Vinkex gave a wicked smile and held up one hand. At first, Theravor thought the hand was empty, but something pinched in between his index and thumb talons glittered softly in the weak moonlight. Squinting, Theravor realized it was a small, blue bead.

Wait, I’ve seen that somewhere before…. With a start, Theravor remembered where he had seen it.

“Is that one of the beads Balara wore in his hair while he was imprisoned?”

Vinkex’s smile grew wider as he flicked the bead up into the air before snatching it away. “The Managuard family head may be skilled in encrypting your communication frequencies, but even she can’t protect them from these beauties. I had a skilled craftsman make these for me back during my time. Just constantly expose these beads to the frequencies you use, and they’ll eventually be able to break the encryptions with no effort whatsoever.”

“So you had Balara wear them before he was imprisoned for this purpose?” Theravor surmised with a growl. “You thought much farther ahead than I would’ve initially guessed.”

“Of course I thought this far ahead,” Vinkex growled, assuming an intimidating stance as he glared at Theravor. “All the slips and mistakes you’ve seen me make thus far have been nothing but an act to make you think you could actually drive me away from my prize.” Vinkex’s tail lashed back and forth in an agitated manner. “Mark my words; I will be sitting on the Dragon King’s throne by night’s end.”

“T-Theravor?!” Perla’s voice cried through the communication gauntlet. “W-what should I do?”

“You’ll do nothing more, you irritating pest,” Vinkex hissed, apparently listening in. He pointed a talon in a different direction from Theravor. A narrow, black-red beam of light shot out of the tip of his talon and almost instantly disappeared in the distance. A few seconds later, a faint boom reached Theravor’s ears, accompanied by a bright flash of light on the horizon. A cold feeling crept into Theravor’s chest as a cold sweat broke out over his body. Strong winds buffeted against him as he looked down at his communication gauntlet.

“Perla, are you there?!” Theravor cried frantically. “Respond if you hear me, Perla!” But despite Theravor’s pleading, Perla’s voice did not come from the gauntlet, and her crystal stopped emitting light.

“That’s one problem dealt with,” Vinkex announced cooly, lowering his hand. “Now I don’t have to worry about any more of my forces being turned to stone.”

Theravor's hands curled into tight fists as his body shook with rage. A fire burned in his eyes as he returned his glare to Vinkex.

"You're going to pay for that one, bastard," he hissed in a deep voice.