Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption

Vinkex groaned as his wing failed to cut through Draycos’ wrist. Sparks flew when his wing tip came into contact with it, but he still failed to even break the skin.

“It’s just like how it was when the Orb was stuck on Río,” Vinkex grumbled. “It refuses to part from the body.”

“Of course,” a new voice said. Surprised, Vinkex lifted his head and looked around, but there was nobody in sight.

“Who’s there?” he growled. His tail twitched back and forth in anticipation. “Show yourself immediately!”

“No need to get worked up, my dear little brother,” the voice spoke again. The Orb of the First King let out a dull flash of light before it started emitting a pale blue steam. The steam rose up and shaped itself into the form of a dragon that Vinkex knew all too well from his past. He stood face to face with a ghostly image of his brother, Reiverd.

A savage smile curled Vinkex’s lips as he came eye to eye with Reiverd. “Well, well, well. What do we have here? To think that you and I would be speaking to one another like this after all this time.”

“It’s been over a millennia since we last spoke face to face,” Reiverd commented. “How did life on the surface treat you, Vinkex?”

Vinkex flexed the talons on each of his hands as a growl rose in his throat. “Oh, you know how it is. Destroying our hunters and being sealed away for a thousand years was quite an experience. However, I must admit that I have no desire to experience the latter ever again.” Vinkex glanced down at the immoblie Draycos. “If you want to talk, I’m afraid it will have to wait until I’ve acquired a suitable supply of high-quality blood from this half-breed. I don’t have much time before the sealing spells effects kick in completely.”

“Don’t be so cold!” Reiverd admonished as Vinkex bent over and picked up Draycos. “That’s all you have to say to your brother after all these years?” Reiverd shook his head. “I see some things never change, no matter how much time passes.”

“Don’t play coy with me, Reiverd,” Vinkex growled, glancing over at the ghost out of the corner of his eyes. “You and I both know that you’re only trying to stall to give the brat enough time to recover.” Vinkex strode over to Reiverd and poked at Reiverd’s chest with a talon. The talon pierced right into Reiverd’s form with no effort. “You don’t possess a physical body anymore, so the only thing you can do right now to try and slow me down is to distract me with your pointless conversations. I’m not falling for it.”

“Looks like you caught on more quickly than I would’ve liked,” Reiverd sighed after a moment of silence. “Is there nothing I can do to convince you to change your mind? You and I are the only brothers each of us ever had; I’m sure we can come to some form of a compromise that will benefit both of us.”

“Sorry, Reiverd, but you and I both know that we are well beyond the point of coming to a peaceful agreement,” Vinkex growled. He held the barely conscious Draycos above his head. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have a throne to take.”

Draycos had let the power he obtained after Reiverd brought out more of his potential strength go to his head and became overconfident. He dropped his guard and was therefore nailed with the full force of Vinkex’s randomly fired magic attack.

I’m. . . I’m so tired. I don’t think I can get back up this time. . . The pile of rubble that he laid under felt unusually warm and comfortable; Draycos felt like he was laying on a high-quality mattress. His arms and legs felt like they were made of lead, and his body refused to move the way he wanted it to.

A gust of cold air brushed against his face. Curious, Draycos managed to open his eyes a little and saw the night sky above him. The pile of rubble had been removed, and Vinkex towered over Draycos with a triumphant expression on his face.

Draycos. . . Draycos! Can you hear me?

Draycos let out a soft groan as he heard Reiverd’s voice echoing in his head.

Good, you managed to stay conscious. Listen; at this moment, I am talking to Vinkex in order to buy us some time. Use that time to get back on your feet!

I. . . don’t think I can do that, Reiverd. I’m completely spent. . . I don’t have anything left to fight with.

Then let me ask you: are you prepared for me to draw out more of your power?

W. . . what? You mean you weren’t already drawing out as much as possible?!

Of course not. What you experienced earlier was only what you are capable of a year from now. I refrained from going any further out of consideration for your wellbeing, but we are out of options now. So are you willing to--

God damnit, Reiverd! I already told you to draw out as much as we need! I don’t care how long I’m stuck in a hospital bed; just stop wasting time and do it already!

I’m still asking you this because there is a very good chance that you will end up suffering permanent damage if I drew out any more power! Are you certain that this is what you want?!

If it really is the last option to put your brother down for good, then don’t hesitate in doing it!

. . . As you wish, then. I hope you have resolved yourself for the consequences of these actions.

“. . .”

“Hmm?” Vinkex looked up at Draycos and saw the boy’s eyes were fully open and focused on his. Draycos’ mouth was slightly open as he panted for breath. Vinkex laughed at the sight. “Well, you woke up at a rather interesting moment! Since this is the final time you’ll have something to say, I’ll wait and let you say it again; I couldn’t quite hear what you said last time!”

Draycos’ lips quivered from his effort to raise his voice. “. . . yet. Not. . . yet.” Vinkex narrowed his eyes as he stared at Draycos with an unreadable expression on his face. Draycos’ arms and legs trembled as he tried to move them. “This. . . isn’t over. . . yet!”

“And what can you do now in your condition?” Vinkex growled. “You’re out of magic, and you don’t even have the strength to move anymore. You can’t do anything.”

“I can. . . still. . . win!”

At Draycos’ words, the Orb of the First King let out a blinding flash of light. Stunned, Vinkex let out a howl of rage as he released Draycos to cover his eyes. The light from the Orb grew brighter with every passing second. Cracks began forming on the surface of the Orb, but they did not stop there. Draycos gritted his teeth and cringed in pain as the cracks traveled from the Orb and began spreading across his right arm.

“Draycos!! What are you doing?!”

Draycos turned and saw that Theravor and Damrabe were watching the spectacle from a short distance away. Corax’s limp body hung over Damrabe’s shoulders. Draycos hadn’t even realized that the three dragons were still present.

“Draycos! What are you doing?!” Theravor repeated, shielding his eyes from the light with one hand. Theravor watched as the crack continued to travel up Draycos’ arm and across the right side of his face. “Don’t do anything reckless! Stop whatever it is you’re doing immediately!!”

“It’s fine, Theravor!” Draycos shouted at the top of his lungs. Theravor was taken aback by Draycos’ response and widened his eyes as the cracks spread across the rest of Draycos’ body. Draycos stared into Theravor’s golden eyes with his blue and gold ones before cracking a smile. “I got this! Trust me!”

“Draycos. . .” Theravor murmured in a worried tone. There was a sound like breaking glass, and Theravor watched in horror as the Orb of the First King shattered into pieces, closely followed by Draycos. The light grew in intensity and swallowed up the Orb and Draycos. Damrabe and Theravor were forced to close their eyes against the blinding light.

The light began to fade after a few seconds. Theravor opened his inner eyelid and saw an orb of white light hovering in the air above Vinkex. The orb was rapidly shrinking as he watched it, slowly revealing what was inside.

First, a large pair of silver-white wings emerged from the sphere. They flapped once and scattered glittering sparkles of silver light through the air.

Next, a long, whip-like white tail with a spiked tip snaked out of the light, swaying from side to side. Blue scales began to cover the tail as more of it came out of the light.

Then, the arms and legs came out. There were four talons on the front of each foot and one protruding from the heels. Five finger-like talons tipped each hand. Patches of blue muscle-like skin could be seen in the gaps between the silver-white scales and on the calves. Spiky scale formations protruded from the area around the kneecaps like kneepads, and shark fin-shaped protrusions extended from the forearms.

Finally, the head of a dragon emerged from the light as if faded away completely. Three curved, white horns sprouted from top of its head, which sat atop a long, serpentine neck with sharp hook-like fins growing down the back. A long, pointed nose grew past the end of the snout. The majority of the dragon’s chest was covered by a blue crystal-like membrane.

The dragon opened its eyes. Those solid yellow eyes fixed themselves on Vinkex, who was staring back with his mouth hanging open. The dragon arched its head back and let out a roar loud enough to shake the air.

“Is that. . . Draycos?” Damrabe muttered in disbelief, staring at the dragon in a sense of awe. Damrabe walked up to stand at Theravor’s side with Corax in tow. “Is that really him?”

Theravor said nothing and gazed at the scene with an unreadable expression on his face. Corax stirred and gave a soft moan before opening his eyes. His gaze immediately fell upon the form of the dragon. Corax silently stared at the dragon for a few moments before closing his eyes without saying a word.

Meanwhile, Vinkex finally regained his composure and glared at the dragon as it floated down to the ground. “So, what is it that my brother has done this time?” he asked himself in a soft voice. The dragon landed on the ground and uttered a low growl as it stared down Vinkex. Its tail lashed back and forth like a cat’s. “Has he finally decided to possess the boy to gain a physical body? Or has something else entirely just occurred. . .?”

The dragon uttered a short hiss before it leapt at Vinkex, who stood twice its height.

“Oh, please,” Vinkex snorted as the dragon flew up towards his face. “Just because you’ve taken the form of a dragon doesn’t mean you’ve recovered from my magic attack. This fight is already--!”

The dragon said nothing as it lunged forward and grabbed Vinkex’s face with one hand. The talons clamped around Vinkex’s head like a vice and quickly tightened their grip to an unimaginable degree. Vinkex’s sentence was cut off as he uttered a muffled shriek when he felt fractures form on his very skull. The dragon dropped back to the ground and slammed Vinkex’s head into it. It continued to fly across the courtyard as it dragged Vinkex’s face through the dirt. When they reached the far wall, the dragon tossed Vinkex’s massive frame at the wall. Vinkex crashed through the wall and spun through the air until he hit a fragmented floating island.

“Gahk!” Vinkex vomited a mouthful of blood. What the hell just happened?! I blinked, and then I was already here!! Vinkex attempted to pry himself out of the island, but his limbs refused to budge. Curses! Of all the times that I could’ve been left immobilized by the sealing spells, why does it have to be now?!

As Vinkex continued to struggle to free himself, something shot over the courtyard wall. He looked up and saw the dragon flying up high into the sky, shooting through the clouds. It continued to ascend until its silhouette stood out against the half moon behind it. The dragon spread its wings wide as it arched its neck back and took a huge breath. Vinkex’s eyes widened in horror as he saw a pale silver light gather inside the dragon’s maw. Don’t tell me… Is the brat really going to unleash a breath right here?! Does the fool want to wipe out everyone here?! Either way, I have to get out of here now!!

But Vinkex was too late. Starlight glittered around the dragon’s wings as it snapped its head forward and unleashed a laser-like beam of light from its mouth. The beam of silvers, blues, and whites shot forward in a straight path, hitting right on target as it engulfed Vinkex. A blood curdling scream ripped through the air as Vinkex’s body completely disappeared into light. The light gradually faded away, and the onlookers stared in awe as they saw a perfectly circular hole had been cut into the island. There was no sign of Vinkex.

“Did. . . did he do it?” Damrabe whispered at Theravor’s side. “Is Vinkex. . . really gone?”

Theravor looked up at the dragon still hovering in the sky overhead. The corners of Theravor’s eyes crinkled as a big smile grew on his face. He tapped on all the crystals of his communication gauntlet so everyone could hear what he said next. “The last remnants of Vinkex’s magic power have completely disappeared,” he announced, speaking directly into the gauntlet. “Vinkex is no more; this battle is over.”

The cheers and roars of joy immediately shook the very air itself as the dragons spread across the battlefield celebrated the end of Vinkex’s plans. Upon hearing the noise, the dragon above glanced down at the scene. Its body began to glow and turned into white light before it shattered into stardust. Something fell from the center of the light and plummeted to the ground. Spotting this, Theravor leapt into the air and caught the object before it hit the ground.

Theravor was all smiles as he gazed at Draycos laying in his palm. “Well done, Draycos. Well done indeed,” he murmured.

Draycos slowly sat up and looked up at Theravor. His eyes and hair had changed back to brown when he gave the Dragon King a thumbs up.