Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption

The sun was starting to set by the time Drax left the massive floating island hosting the Stormfang residences and barracks. While his father had been spending the day strategizing with Poseidon and a handful of other like-minded battle veterans, Drax had been left in charge of getting the members of the Stormfang family ready for the upcoming battle. The Stormfang family was gifted in both physical and magical skills, and were therefore highly effective combatants whenever the Dragon King was forced to intervene on skirmishes held occasionally by different tribes of rogue dragons. It had taken a good few hours to prepare the troops of the Stormfang family.

Drax left them on standby to follow any orders they received from the war council to check on how the other royal families were doing. Debating on who to visit first, Drax decided to drop in on Zero and flew off in the direction of the Vizard family residences. After a few minutes, a group of islands appeared on the distant horizon, but there was something odd about their appearance. There were three egg-shaped islands floating closely to one another in a triangular shape, held in place by the massive brass beams and bracers crisscrossing through the air between the stone islands. In the center of the three islands was a massive brass pillar that rose from the other beams, stretching high into the sky. Large red crystals placed in the pillar at regular intervals flashed at a slow speed. At the very top of the pillar sat a disc-shaped island. That island was Drax’s destination, as it was the workshop for the head of the Vizard family.

Flying right up to the underside of the island, where the brass pillar held it in place, Drax spotted an opening in the stone next to the pillar and flew in. The passageway immediately opened up into an enormous cavern that seemed to take up the entire interior of the island. Light blue crystals set into the stone walls lit the place, giving everything a slight blue hue. The cavern floor was littered with cables, spare metal parts, and all kinds of odds and ends. Towering over the rest of the items in the cavern was a massive item that appeared to be an old metal telescope. Rust and moss still clung to the silver surface in different places, indicating how ancient the item truly was.

Drax spotted the figures of both Zero and Boreta hunched over near one end of the old telescope-thing, their heads leaning close together as they examined the interior of the object exposed to the air. About a dozen or so Vizard family members were running around the cavern, occasionally picking up a spare part laying in the piles among the floor and either tossing it aside or placing it in a bag hanging from their shoulders. They’d make their way back to Zero and Boreta and dump the contents of their bag in a growing pile beside them before running off to fill the bag up again. Something else Drax saw made him pause for a moment in unease. Another Vizard family member, a young female dragon, went through the pile of spare pieces, taking one out and handing it to Zero whenever the family head stuck his hand out in her direction. She was the spitting image of what people would envision if they imagined a female Zero, although she was about twice as tall. The two of them even wore near-identical outfits, with the only change being the vest worn by the female completely covering her curvy chest. Female dragons are normally flat-chested like the males, but there are some with breasts like those of female humans.

Damn it. I was really hoping that she wouldn’t be here.

As Drax walked over to Zero and Boreta, Boreta pulled her head out of the machine and glared at the female Zero. Her mouth moved as she said something, but Drax couldn’t make out what was said over the loud clanking noises echoing loudly inside the cavern. The female Zero turned her head to glare at Boreta and said something as well. The two appeared to be arguing, so Drax quickened his pace to find out what was going on.

“...All I’m saying is that you don’t have the right to tell me what to do!” Boreta’s voice growled.

“I’m telling you what to do because you don’t know how these pieces work!” the other hissed. “Don’t get angry with me just because you’re jealous!”

“How dare you imply that I’m jealous of you! Just because you’re well endowed doesn’t mean I envy you!” Even as Boreta said this, her hand automatically snapped up to her flat chest.

“Both of you, shut up!” Zero snapped. He stretched his arm out and lightly brought a fist down atop the female Zero’s head. “Behave yourself, Perla!”

“But, Dad!” Perla cried. She pointed a finger at a very annoyed Boreta. “She’s the one who started it!”

Zero brought his fist down harder than last time on top of Perla’s head. “You’re over fifty years old, Perla; stop acting like a fresh hatchling already!”

“Am I interrupting something?”

The three of them whirled around and spotted Drax standing there with a slight expression of bitter disappointment on his face. Perla smiled when she saw him and got up before rushing over to Drax and embracing him.

“Drax! It’s been a while since you’ve come in person!” she cried, tightening her embrace around him. Her breasts pressed up against Drax’s chest. “What have you been up to lately that’s been keeping you from coming to see me.

Drax felt a bit of heat rising in his face as he looked down at Perla. The two of them were quite close to one another; they played together frequently when they were younger. Lately, though, Perla had been making it a little more romantic than Drax was comfortable with, which is why he had been avoiding coming to visit Zero at his home lately.

Looking away so Boreta and Zero wouldn’t see him flustered, Drax pushed Perla away. “U-umm, you know. I have plenty to do as the son of the Dragon King,” he managed to spit out. Boreta gave the pair a dead-pan look. Zero chuckled and walked over to Drax, motioning for the price to lean over. Drax bent over and leaned in close as Zero put his mouth near his ear, hiding it from view with one hand.

“Isn’t it about time you asked her?” Zero whispered. “I’m all for this relationship, you know.”

“Stop it,” Drax sighed as he straightened up. Perla gave the two a puzzled look but didn’t comment. “I came here to see how things were going on your end since I ended up with a bit of spare time.” Drax looked up and gazed at the ancient tool. “Will it be ready on time?”

Zero smiled and patted the old metal with a gentle hand. “After the king’s desire to see this used during the battle, I ended up having plenty of people willing to lend me a helping hand when they wouldn’t before. It’s moving along much faster now that I’m not working on it alone.” Zero sighed before going on. “Everyone thought I was crazy, spending years tinkering with this old relic and trying to get it up and running. They wouldn’t help me in the slightest until now.”

Drax approached the relic and knocked on the metal with the knuckles of his claws. A loud, hollow boom echoed out with each knock. “Is it really usable?” he asked with a doubtful expression.

“Honestly? Probably not.”

“And we’re still trying it?!” Drax snapped.

“It may work, it may not work,” Zero answered, picking a metal panel up off the floor and fitting it into the opening. “At best, I’d say it’s a fifty-fifty chance. If I had more time I could improve the odds, but we’re running on a tight schedule right now.” Walking over a few steps to the side, he stopped and got his talons into a crack in the metal before prying another panel off the machine. Pulling his goggles down over his eyes, he produced a bright blue light on the tip of his index talon and did some welding. “What’s making it even more complicated is Theravor’s modification request. This is a two thousand-year-old war artifact; it’s not easy to reconfigure it to begin with, even less so so it doesn’t kill its victims. I’m being forced to cut corners and had to call for Boreta’s assistance to modify it magically instead of doing it the proper way.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Well, you can take my daughter off my hands,” Zero suggested. He twisted his neck around and gave Drax a wink. “Having these two bickering at every step is slowing me down. Since you’re already done preparing, why not spend some quality time with her?”

“No thanks,” Drax replied flatly. The answer was instantaneous, just a tad faster than the hand that came flying out of nowhere and slapped Drax across the face. He immediately tasted blood inside his mouth.

“Oww!” Drax cried. He staggered back a few steps away from a furious Perla, who still had her hand raised.

“‘No thanks?!’” Perla echoed. Her expression was menacing enough to make Drax take another half-step back. “My dad just tried setting up a date for you and me and you turned him down?!”

“I don’t have time for a date!” Drax retorted. Irritation blossomed in his head as he glared at his childhood friend. “In case you didn’t notice, we have a war that’s starting any time now!”

“What’s more important to you; this silly war or me?!”

A furious light filled Drax eyes. He lifted one foot and stomped the floor as hard as he could. Cracks radiated from the spot he stomped on as the entire cavern shook roughly, knocking quite a few of the dragons collecting parts to the floor. The piles of oddities scattered about the cavern shifted and moved about. Perla froze with her mouth hanging open as she realized she’d gone too far.

“Let me make this clear to you,” Drax growled. His tail whipped from side to side, knocking nearby spare parts into the air. “This isn’t a ‘silly’ war. Lives are at stake here, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to waste my time flirting with you when I could spend it finding out how to protect you better!” Whirling around, Drax angrily stomped over to the entrance he came in from.

“Wait! Drax!” Perla cried, chasing after the prince. Drax ignored her and dove through the exit, leaving the cavern in a bigger mess than when he arrived. Everyone slowly got to their feet warily as they remained on guard in case Drax showed up again. Perla fell to her knees and started sobbing into her hands.

Zero eventually snorted before turning back to work on the old weapon more. “Stupid girl,” he muttered under his breath.

“Will she be okay?” Boreta asked, leaning in and whispering so that Perla wouldn’t hear. “Drax did get unusually angry with her.”

“She’ll be fine. If anything, Drax’s anger just goes to show how much he cares about my daughter.”

Boreta didn’t look completely convinced by Zero’s statement, but she nodded her head before resuming her work on the relic.