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THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 17
Did the king come here and use that spell from before on me again? He shook his head at this thought. No, it probably wasn’t him. I can imagine how busy a king of dragons would be with the situation I’ve gotten myself involved in. Someone else must’ve done it.His clothing had also been changed during his sleep. Drake now wore a sleeveless black shirt made of a semi-soft fabric, and his tattered jeans had been replaced by blue pants of a similar fabric to the shirt. The pants were held up by a brown sash wrapped around Drake’s waist and tied off to the side, the extra length of the sash hanging from his left hip.The smell of food assaulted his nostrils. Looking around, Drake spotted a picture of water and two full bowls of the meaty mush from yesterday placed on a wooden table behind the head of his bed. Ravenous, Drake grabbed both bowls of mush and devoured them quickly, finally putting an end to his stomach’s loud protests of recent mistreatment. Thirsty, he grabbed the picture by
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 18
“I’ll only tell you this now: I have absolutely zero interest in what you’re envisioning, you perv! If you ever try anything, I will take aggressive actions!”“Oh, so you like it rough, huh?” Zero teased.“Zero, that’s enough of that,” Poseidon demanded as Drake went stark white in the face. “I didn’t call you out here to give Drake a hard time; I want you to teach him Dragonscript.”Great, even Poseidon’s making queer jokes now.Poseidon sighed and looked over at Drake. “I know this might be uncomfortable for you, but Zero’s going to be teaching you Dragonscript for the time being.“Like hell he will!” Drake shouted. “How come you had to pick the gay dragon to teach me?!”“Because he was the only one who said he’d be willing to teach you when I was asking around for a mentor,” Poseidon responded.Drake groaned. That’s when Zero began to laugh heartily.“Poseidon, I think we’ve teased the poor kid enough,” he chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye. “Relax, Drake; we were only joking. We
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 19
“Poseidon, it’s me,” a voice that he didn’t recognize said. “I’m coming in.” Without waiting for a response, the owner of the voice opened the door and stepped through the doorway. It was a slightly aged dragon with nearly black gray scales and pale red underbelly scales and wing skin. A gold band set with large rubies was fitting around his tail just before the tip, which was shaped much like that of a harpoon head. Multiple pale scars covered his entire body from head to toe. The dragon’s red eyes darted around the office until they rested their gaze on Drake, who was still half-buried in a pile of books and parchment. He raised an eyebrow questionably at the sight.“I’m guessing you’re the half-breed called Drake?” he snorted, a slight look of disgust on his face. “What are you doing?”Half-breed? “Nothing,” Drake responded, pulling himself out of the pile and dusting himself off. “Just got caught in a landslide of parchment. Mind telling me who you are?”“Where’s Poseidon?” the dr
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 20
“Have fun with Zero today, Drake,” Poseidon chuckled from his desk, not making any effort to answer Drake’s pleas. “See you tonight after you finish your training today.”“Poseidon?!” Drake’s cry was cut off as the door closed behind them.For the first time in over a month, Drake left the interior of the prison he had been kept in. However, he wasn't as quiet as when he first came.“Let go of me!” he shouted as Zero unfurled his wings and flew out of the cave where Poseidon’s office was located. “Put me down right now, you perv!”Smack. Using his tail, Zero had smacked Drake straight across his face. Even though it wasn’t the first time Drake had been slapped like that recently, he was still stunned by this unexpected reaction from the small dragon.“Shut up,” Zero growled, annoyance clear in his voice as he flew out the opening in the grotto and out into the open sky. “I’ve had enough of your rudeness; I may be much more easy-going than most of the others you’ve met, but I’m still t
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 21
“Feeling better now?” Poseidon asked innocently as Drake sat there in stunned silence. He had his right hand raised with his index talon extended forward; he had apparently shot the water ball at Drake.Drake’s irritation sparked. “Like hell I do!” he snarled as he got back on his feet, thoroughly soaked. “What was that for?”Poseidon pinched his nostrils with a hand. “You smelled really bad, so I thought I’d assist you with your hygiene. Are you feeling hungry now? You’ll need to eat after the training you did today.”Snapped wide awake from the surprise water attack, Drake finally noticed that he was indeed starving. He grabbed the two bowls of food and sat down in front of the fireplace with the sea-green flames. His clothes quickly dried out as he inhaled the food.Drake sighed in relief as he finished off the last of his food. He stood up and began stretching his sore muscles.“Thanks for that, Poseidon,” he yawned as he finished stretching, exhaustion setting in again. “I needed
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 22
“You leave yourself wide open whenever you rely on reflexes to protect yourself,” Zero commented as he walked over and stood above Drake. “You have to see everything going on in your surroundings; not just the first attack you see. Damraetbe.”Drake felt something splatter on his cheek, and the pain began to instantly melt away. He opened his eyes to see his arm had straightened back to the way it should be. He sat up and flexed it a few times before getting back on his feet. He had a sudden idea.“Let’s try this again,” Zero said as he got back into his stance. “Hold on a sec, Zero,” Drake said. “Can you give me a second? I want to try something.”Zero stopped bouncing and lowered his arms somewhat as he looked at Drake. “What is it?”“Just give me about thirty seconds,” Drake told him. “Once that time is up, feel free to attack me however you see fit, even if I don’t look like I’m ready.”Zero exchanged a nervous glance with Damrabe, who also had a similar expression on his face. D
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 23
“Oh, that? I was playing some music in my head, that’s all,” Drake answered simply.“Huh?” Both dragons were confused by this statement.“Well, I don’t know if you’ll understand any of this, but back where I came from, my friend did a college project on me,” Drake started. “She noticed that my concentration on whatever I was doing varied based on if I was listening to music or not. So, she did a psychology research project on me for about a month and played different types of music and recorded how much my concentration varied between each type, however she measured my concentration. The results were actually pretty interesting, and I found out my concentration peaks when I listen to loud, fast-paced rock instrumental music. So, during those thirty seconds, I just got some of that music going through my head ’till it was stuck in there on repeat, and my concentration spiked during our sparring just now. The name of the song I chose was aptly named for this situation; it’s named, ‘Whit
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 24
Drake held both hands behind his head, grinning like no tomorrow. “Praise from the blood doctor Damage? Thanks, I’ll take it!”“Blood doctor...?” Damrabe growled softly as Zero sniggered.“Opps, sorry, did you not like that?” Drake apologized. “My bad. It’s just that you keep healing me by splashing me with blood, so... yeah.”Damrabe sighed, shaking his head. “Whatever, it’s no big deal. Zero, go ahead and return Drake to Poseidon’s office. And Drake? Good luck.” Damrabe unfurled his wings and took off before waiting for a response.“Thank you, Damrabe!” Drake yelled after him, waving. “Thanks for everything!”“Oh, what, no thank-you’s for me?” Zero asked from behind Drake. Drake looked over his shoulder at him, then gave a big smile.“Your thanks go without saying, but if you wanna hear it that badly, then thanks a lot, Zero!”“Still not asleep, Drake?”Drake raised his head slightly from his pillow. It was late in the evening, and most of the other prisoners had already gone to sle