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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
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 25
“Thanks for the info, Brock” Drake shouted as he was yanked into the air. Drake thought it might be best to avoid drawing unwanted attention to Draco, so he didn’t say anything to the dark gray dragon. Drake and his two guards exited the cavern and started flying in the direction of the rising sun. Blinded by the light, Drake was forced to keep his eyes closed for the next several minutes as his hair whipped in the wind. His hair had barely grown out over the past month, but his spiky bangs were now threatening to cover his eyes.Suddenly, the two guards changed course and shot straight up into the sky, increasing their speed dramatically. The wind force tore Drake’s eyelids apart, and he watched as they continued to rise higher and higher, bursting through the clouds. There was an incredibly bright flash of blue light that forced Drake to close his eyes, and he heard a loud sonic boom that surrounded him, deafening his ears. Then all was quiet, and Drake slowly opened his eyes.The b
THE GATEKEEPER Chapter 26
“Easy, easy, Vinzgar!” Bastian soothed, placing his hand on Vinzgar’s shoulder once more to calm him down. “None of us here believe that statement; for that matter, Zero, Boreta, and I know you far too well to even consider this a possibility from you.”Drake had his hand on his chin, deep in thought as Bastian calmed down Vinegar. He then looked up at Bastian.“There’s three possible answers that I can think of, Bastian,” he said. All the dragons turned to look at him. “One, Vinegar is lying. I can’t say much about him since I hardly know Vinzgar, but if you trust him, that’s a good enough reason to rule that possibility out.”Bastian and several others nodded at this.“Two, there’s the chance that Vinzgar was somehow controlled against his will when that order was placed and has no memory of it.”“That’s nearly impossible,” Boreta interjected, shaking her head. “Magic might not be the Killing family’s strong point, but Vinzgar has an exceptionally high amount for his family. And bra
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- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 33
The gate in front of Drake’ waiting room was lifted, allowing Draco to walk out and join Bastian in the middle of the arena. His eyes darted down to Drake before returning his gaze to Bastian and uttering a short snort. “It appears we won’t find ourselves with a moment’s respite while Drake is around.”“Indeed,” Bastian agreed. He focused his eyes on Draco. “Can I trust you to carry the lad to the infirmary? Judging by the performance we just witnessed, he will require some rest before he can muster the energy to fight again.”Draco silently dipped his head towards the Dragon King before bending over and gently scooping Drake up in one hand. “You know that we cannot leave him like this. If we don’t make an effort to teach him to control his magic, then--.”“I am aware of what must be done,” Bastian interrupted Draco quietly, his flat tone causing his advisor to fall silent. His tail slapped the ground a few times. “Needless to say, I will be making the necessary preparations for Drake
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 32
The gate in front of Drake’ waiting room was lifted, allowing Draco to walk out and join Bastian in the middle of the arena. His eyes darted down to Drake before returning his gaze to Bastian and uttering a short snort. “It appears we won’t find ourselves with a moment’s respite while Drake is around.”“Indeed,” Bastian agreed. He focused his eyes on Draco. “Can I trust you to carry the lad to the infirmary? Judging by the performance we just witnessed, he will require some rest before he can muster the energy to fight again.”Draco silently dipped his head towards the Dragon King before bending over and gently scooping Drake up in one hand. “You know that we cannot leave him like this. If we don’t make an effort to teach him to control his magic, then--.”“I am aware of what must be done,” Bastian interrupted Draco quietly, his flat tone causing his advisor to fall silent. His tail slapped the ground a few times. “Needless to say, I will be making the necessary preparations for Drake
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 31
“Move,” Vinzgar hissed, glaring at Poseidon. Poseidon returned the glare and remained silent as he refused to budge from the spot.“Vinzgar,” Bastian started, “I can understand what you are trying to do here. However, you know as well as I do that we need to let this match continue for the time being. If we interrupt it, we’ll never be able to see how Drake handles himself if his emotions flare up after winning the games and starts investigating things on his own down below on the surface. This is the perfect test to see whether or not we can trust him to act properly on his own out in the world.”Vinzgar growled dangerously but didn’t respond; he couldn’t refute what his king had just said. After glaring with Poseidon for a few more moments, he humped and turned back around, sitting back down on his throne as he resumed watching the match.Brock was back on his feet, cautiously observing Drake as he remained standing on the spot motionlessly, still glaring at Brock. Brock finally spo
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 30
“Is there a problem, Damrabe?” the crimson-scaled dragon king questioned, an eyebrow raised. Something caught Bastian’s eyes, and he and everyone else in the room proceeded to stare at it in shock.One of the test tubes of blood in Damrabe’s sash glowed red-hot as it visibly vibrated in its slot. As everyone continued to observe the spectacle, the test tube shattered without warning, sending shards of glass and droplets of blood flying throughout the room. Wherever the blood splattered, be it on skin, scales, cloth, or stone, the surface splattered immediately sizzled and burned black. Several dragons hissed in pain as their skin and scales were burned.“What the hell just happened!?” Vinegar growled, shock evident in his voice. “Damrabe, what was that!?”“I...I don’t know!” Damrabe responded as he attempted to heal his right hand and torso, which had received the brunt of the blood exploding. “All I can tell you is that vial contained a sample of Drake’s blood that I took from him tw
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 29
Back up in the top box where Bastian and the Dragon Council observed the battles, Reothand and Poseidon entered the room. Bastian turned around and looked at them, raising his eyebrow in a silent question.Poseidon shook his aged, golden head and stroked his beard. “We didn’t find anyone in the magical maintenance room, but we did find evidence that the lottery-system spell used to randomly determine matchups had been tampered with. All the crystal ball surveillance cameras had been smashed, as well.”Prismo groaned, covering his face with his left hand. “None of the guards openly admitted to seeing anything, either,” he added to Poseidon’s statement. “My hunch says someone with the Shadow Strikers may be involved in this.”Several sets of eyebrows shot up at the mention of the Shadow strikers. “The Shadow Strikers is that group of assassins-for-hire, correct?” Vinegar questioned. “Why would they be involved in this?”“Isn’t that obvious?” Bastian asked, looking down at the fight belo
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 28
“This year, we have a slew of new and old participants in these bloody games! In addition to the two-time runner up dragon Balara, we also have a prisoner who’s convicted of stealing the Orb of the First King! Who’s excited to see what these two are capable of during the games? I know I am!”Drake slapped his forehead as the crowd cheered even louder when the announcer brought him up. What the hell is wrong with these people?“Now then, let’s get the ball rolling! We have one hundred and twenty-eight prisoners that passed the assessment exam and made it to the games this year! That means we’ll have seven rounds of one-on-one fights, so there will be plenty of time to watch the carnage in the arena! Let’s begin with deciding the first match for the day!There’s something wrong with that MC. Is he a frickin’ devil or something? Drake stood up from the cot and walked over the iron gate. The arena was set on the ground and was separated from the elevated stands by a large wall. Standing j
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 27
Drake placed another neat stack of parchment on a shelf before replying. “I happen to think so. I can’t really do anything else right now to prepare myself, can I?”“Yes, you can,” Poseidon told him. “There’s more to the games than just a simple fighting tournament. Did anyone give you details on it?”“Ugh, no.”Poseidon leaned back in his chair and sighed, the wood creaking under his weight. “Very well, allow me to explain what the games entail.” He glanced at a sheet of parchment laying on his desk. “The Prisoners’ Games is a fighting event open for public viewing that’s set in a tournament bracket. This year, one hundred twenty-eight prisoners passed the assessment exam, so that means you’ll have to win seven matches to come out the winner. The first round will take up the first day or two, depending on how fast the matches come to an end. The tournament will speed up as we progress to the later rounds as prisoners are weeded out.”“Hold on, this event is open to the public? Why?”
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 26
“Easy, easy, Vinzgar!” Bastian soothed, placing his hand on Vinzgar’s shoulder once more to calm him down. “None of us here believe that statement; for that matter, Zero, Boreta, and I know you far too well to even consider this a possibility from you.”Drake had his hand on his chin, deep in thought as Bastian calmed down Vinegar. He then looked up at Bastian.“There’s three possible answers that I can think of, Bastian,” he said. All the dragons turned to look at him. “One, Vinegar is lying. I can’t say much about him since I hardly know Vinzgar, but if you trust him, that’s a good enough reason to rule that possibility out.”Bastian and several others nodded at this.“Two, there’s the chance that Vinzgar was somehow controlled against his will when that order was placed and has no memory of it.”“That’s nearly impossible,” Boreta interjected, shaking her head. “Magic might not be the Killing family’s strong point, but Vinzgar has an exceptionally high amount for his family. And bra
- THE GATEKEEPER
Chapter 25
“Thanks for the info, Brock” Drake shouted as he was yanked into the air. Drake thought it might be best to avoid drawing unwanted attention to Draco, so he didn’t say anything to the dark gray dragon. Drake and his two guards exited the cavern and started flying in the direction of the rising sun. Blinded by the light, Drake was forced to keep his eyes closed for the next several minutes as his hair whipped in the wind. His hair had barely grown out over the past month, but his spiky bangs were now threatening to cover his eyes.Suddenly, the two guards changed course and shot straight up into the sky, increasing their speed dramatically. The wind force tore Drake’s eyelids apart, and he watched as they continued to rise higher and higher, bursting through the clouds. There was an incredibly bright flash of blue light that forced Drake to close his eyes, and he heard a loud sonic boom that surrounded him, deafening his ears. Then all was quiet, and Drake slowly opened his eyes.The b
