THE GATEKEEPER

Chapter 7

Why is the ground trembling so much?The sarge screamed,Give me an answer, please!

Sarge: "A-Atlantis City must be falling apart!"A man from his men yelled.

"The bombing must have destroyed the supports!"Another yelled, "We'll end up going swimming if we don't leave right away!

"Bless it!"Sarge bleated.He turned away from Drake, who was having trouble standing up.Get out of here before this building collapses!The men then started to run away.

"W-wait, you scumbags!"Drake yelled and extended a hand as he stood up once more.Where the f--- do you think you are?

Drake lost his balance and fell into the ladder shaft as a result of a subsequent violent shaking.

He closed his eyes and waited for the moment when he would fall to the ground and splatter, "Damn, I guess this is really it."I'm sorry, Alice, that I was unable to safeguard you.I hope that when I get there, you will forgive me.

Following a couple of additional seconds, Drake opened his eyes once more.I ought to have reached the bottom by now.What's happening?

He lost consciousness as he continued to descend into a bright blue light that appeared out of nowhere after his head hit a piece of wall debris.

?:??

Where are you?

A loud commotion jolted the inhabitants of an enormous castle perched on foreign lands from their slumber.Throughout the castle's outer walls, numerous large openings allowed large winged creatures to enter and exit.

"Find that criminal and bring him to me immediately!"A loud voice gave the order.We cannot permit the theft of our kind's treasure!Obtain the First King's Orb at all costs!

"Yes, sir!" "Sir!"The reply arrived.As it continued to look for anything suspicious, one creature flew out of the castle and over the courtyard walls.The creature was illuminated as the moon emerged from behind the clouds.It was a massive humanoid dragon that was dark grey.As its head moved side to side in the dim moonlight, its scales sparkled.

"How on earth did somebody figure out how to break into the vault and take the Circle?"As it continued to use its sky-blue eyes to look at the ground, it murmured.The dragon suddenly saw something moving in the darkness out of the corner of its eye.From the castle's direction, a small, human-like figure was quickly fleeing.A black coat that covered it from head to toe concealed its appearance.

"Stop! Stop there!"As it attempted to catch up to the figure, the dragon roared and flailed its wings.The figure started moving at a quicker speed. "I said, "Stop!"

A sudden, loud whistling sound was heard by the dragon at that point.It stopped cautiously, flapped its wings to keep its altitude, and cautiously took in its surroundings.The noise just kept getting louder and louder.The dragon raised its head to observe what appeared to be a meteorite falling from the sky after realizing that the sound was coming from above.The blue-flamed meteorite was heading straight for the dragon.

“Wah?!”As the meteorite flew by him, the dragon cried as it narrowly missed hitting it.The creature it had been chasing vanished when the dragon turned to look back.

“I better see what this is about,” the dragon growled as it flew down to the impact site and turned back as the meteorite crashed into the ground with a loud bang.It folded its wings against its back as it landed on the crater's edge.The impact smoke was too thick to see through, but a breeze picked up after a while and started spreading the smoke.The dragon was clearly shocked to see what lay at the bottom of the crater after the smoke had cleared.

In the crater, a young man with black hair that was spiky lay unconscious.His body was covered in burns and scratches, and he only wore ragged blue pants.He wore a crystal pendant that sparkled a little in the starlight around his neck.

Why on earth is a person falling from the sky?

Drake squinted openly.Or so he thought.Regardless of whether his eyes were open or not, the darkness in his vision remained unchanged when he opened them.His eyes slightly adjusted to their surroundings after a few blinks.

Even though it was still pitch black, he could at least tell that his surroundings weren't normal.Standing or floating in a pitch-black void, Drake's surroundings randomly changed from pitch black to dark grey, as if he were in the middle of a black smoke cloud.He completed a full circle to check for anything else, but he could not see anything else.

Where are I?

"So, you've finally reached this point, right?"From the depths, a monotonous voice called.Drake turned to face the direction the voice was coming from and spun around.However, nobody was there.Wait, there was a floating object not too far from him.He could make out the figure's static black outline against the dynamic black and grey background, but he was unable to identify it.

What are you?Drake inquired, concerned that he could not identify the mysterious figure.

Drake's inquiry was completely ignored as the monotone voice continued, "You've finally made it to this brink, or rather, this barrier."But you can't go any further until you can get over this edge.Do this by yourself;If I can, I won't get in the way.However, try not to die from now on;If you do, it will scuttle my plans.

"Like I care what plans you have!"Drake replied in a tense manner.What in the world are you?

The voice simply replied, "Go," still ignoring Drake.Drake let out a sigh after a few seconds.

He grunted and scratched his head, "Guess I won't be getting any information outta you."However, allow me to ask you this:What should I do to get over this "brink"?I can only imagine that there are multiple routes.

Drake could tell that the figure had taken a pleasant surprise from the pause.Good question,” it said, acknowledging Drake's presence for the first time, in a voice that was slightly less monotonous than before.However, go investigate that response for yourself.The silhouette began to recede into the background as a result of that.

“Wait!”Drake yelled and extended his hand to try to catch that shadow.But he had somehow lost his balance, and he started to fall, and fall, and fall... Crash!

Drake started to wake up.The pain that ran through his entire body made him cringe right away.He was aware that he was standing up.His eyes adjusted to the light after a few seconds, allowing him to take in his surroundings.

The primary thing Drake saw was that he was tied up;His arms were hanging in front of him, bound together in metal bindings that were connected to the ground by chains, and there were cuffs around his ankles that were chained to the ground.The chain for the additional cuff that was around his neck came down from the ceiling.

He appears to have been supported while unconscious by that chain.There were several large stone fragments right next to his feet;When it hit the ground, the crash that jolted him awake must have been like a rock falling.

However confounding as Drake's ongoing situation seemed to be, the room he was tied up in was much more unusual.Even though the ceiling wasn't very high, he was in a huge cave.The hundred or so evenly spaced stone pillars around the exterior kept the flat faces of two distinct rocks apart, giving the impression that they had been placed very close together.Drake appeared to be positioned on a stone stand in the middle of the grotto.

As it went down, the stand got wider, giving the impression of a huge four-sided staircase leading to a single point.Drake was reminded of a game he used to play in which you could build almost anything from large cubes of various materials. At the bottom of this, it continued to ascend once more.

What was perched on every one of these external advances, notwithstanding, made Drake's heart skirt a thump.

Dragons.Drake was surrounded by hundreds of dragons.They were all of varying sizes and hues;Drake had even never seen dragons with colors like these before.Some of them were walking around on two legs and stood on four legs, while others were standing on four legs.They were all staring at Drake from the enormous steps surrounding him, hissing and snarling to one another.

Drake was briefly exhilarated;His dream since he was a child was to one day meet and become friends with a real dragon.However, the excitement quickly subsided, and confusion and anxiety replaced it.Where am I now?What's happening?

All of the nearby dragons suddenly stopped talking and looked in Drake's general direction.Drake stiffened up as he followed their gaze, causing the hairs on his neck to stand on end.