Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption

With a start, Theravor blinked his eyes and shook his head. The pain in his head quickly faded away as his thoughts became clearer.

That was… rather disorienting. In his long life of over a century and a half, that had been the first time the Dragon King had ever experienced an out-of-body experience. It had been uncomfortable to feel his body move and act on its own accord without listening to his commands; the experience left him wondering if what he had experienced was really just a vision, or something else entirely. Theravor flexed his talons a few times before doing a few stretches to get his senses back on track. Judging by Drax’s and Vinkex’s reactions, they had undergone the same experience.

Suddenly, almost all the crystals on Theravor’s communication gauntlet lit up and started ringing nearly simultaneously. Theravor absentmindedly tapped all the ringing crystals, and a multitude of voices began speaking loudly, trying to make themselves heard above the others.

“Theravor, what the hell just happened?” he heard Vinzgar’s voice say among the din. “What did we just see?”

“Everyone, shut up,” Theravor growled in a low voice as a small headache began building up behind his temples. The clamor of voices instantly fell silent; Theravor rarely used such coarse language, except when the situation was pressing. Theravor rubbed his forehead with his index and thumb talons before continuing. “From what I can surmise, everyone just witnessed a vision of Draycos, correct?” he asked. Everyone who’d called him voiced their affirmation.

Theravor gave a deep sigh as he rubbed his forehead harder to stave off the growing headache. “I can only assume that Draycos inadvertently showed us all a vision of his memories. That can only mean that he subconsciously connected to all of us through some large-scale telepathy.”

“The brat has the capability to do such a thing?” Vinzgar questioned incredulously. Theravor could understand Vinzgar’s doubt. Telepathy is something that could not be classified as a magical skill or spell; it’s something else entirely, and it couldn’t be learned. Throughout recorded history, only a handful of dragons have been known to possess such a skill. Even so, such a large-scale telepathic event was unprecedented.

“I’m absolutely through with underestimating that damned brat.”

Glancing up, Theravor saw that Vinkex was staring past him and Drax, gazing at the unconscious Draycos still held in Perla’s hands. Vinkex’s right hand curled into a tight fist as a shiver ran up his spine, shaking his shoulders slightly.

“I will have that brat back; make no mistake,” Vinkex said in a low voice. “But I will no longer leave anything up to chance; I’ll make sure to take things slowly and properly dealing with him. That brat, no, Draycos, is far more unpredictable than I bargained for.”

“If you want to get to him, you’ll have to get past us, first,” Drax growled. Drax held his right hand out to his side as he prepared his magic, which enshrouded his hand in a deep blue aura.

“Hey, Drax! King Theravor!” Perla suddenly hissed, surprising the father and son. “Draycos woke up!”

Both Drax and Theravor whirled around in surprise and watched Draycos sit up from where he laid in Perla’s hands. Draycos yawned as he stretched his arms above his head, then hopped to his feet.

“Looks like I’m finally free of that bastard,” Draycos muttered as he cracked his neck. Taking a look around, Draycos noticed Drax and Theravor hovering in the air before him. A somewhat relieved smile crossed Draycos’s face as he raised a hand in greeting.

“It’s nice to see something other than the inside of Vinkex’s body,” he said. “Thanks for getting me out of there; I really owe you all now.”

“Honestly, that’s the first thing you say?” Theravor groaned, hiding his face behind a hand. “You shouldn’t feel indebted to us at all; you wouldn’t have been in need of rescuing if we hadn’t forced our problems onto you to solve.”

“It’s not like I mind that, though,” Draycos responded, shrugging his shoulders. “I couldn’t really do much else, and I ended up getting so much stronger because of it. I really am grateful for all you’ve done for me.”

A wide smile grew on Theravor’s face as he tilted his head back and laughed in a loud, hearty voice. “If that’s what you say, then so be it.” Theravor looked down at Draycos with a soft light twinkling in his eyes. “Welcome back, Draycos,” he said, hold his fist out towards Draycos.

Draycos smiled and bumped fists with the gigantic fist the Dragon King presented to him. He was almost knocked off his feet from the force of the fistbump. “It’s good to be back, Theravor.”

“Um, hello? What am I, some third-rate villain with fourth-rate skills? I’m still here; I hope you haven’t forgotten that!”

Draycos and Theravor turned their heads to see Vinkex glaring at them, trembling in rage.

“Oh, it’s you,” Draycos commented. “You did slip from my mind for a moment there.”

“Silence!” Vinkex roared as Drax and Theravor both chuckled in amusement. Vinkex pointed a talon at Draycos. “Why don’t you keep that vulgar mouth of yours shut and surrender to me quietly? I’ll make sure to kill your friends here as painlessly as possible if you do.”

“What kind of deal is that?!” Draycos snapped. He stuck his tongue out at Vinkex and blew a raspberry. “I have no intention of getting caught by you again! Go to hell!”

“Draycos...” Perla cautioned as Vinkex visibly grew more enraged. “I don’t think it would be wise to antagonize Vinkex anymore than you already have.”

Vinkex took a deep breath in an attempt to compose himself before letting out a big sigh and smiled savagely. “Say what you want,” he growled, “but don’t think the battle is over already just because you’ve managed to get free.”

Draycos grunted in amusement. “And why wouldn’t I?” he retorted. Closing his eyes, Draycos spread his feet apart and held his right hand up above shoulder height while his left hand was held near waist height, palms facing inwards. “Now that I’m free, I intend to finish what we started back in the caverns below Draiotic City.”

“Oh, please,” Vinkex snorted, rolling his eyes. “Do you honestly think that you, a human half-breed, can best a pure-blooded dragon like myself? I’ve abandoned my overconfidence now, so I do not plan on making any more mistakes and allowing you to get an advantage.”

“A statement like that proves that you still cling to your self-centeredness,” Theravor growled. The Dragon King turned his attention to Draycos. “However, he does have a point, Draycos. It may be wiser to back down and leave this to Drax and myself.”

“Hey, Theravor,” Draycos suddenly said. “You know, I could hear everything you said to Vinkex while I was inside him. Didn’t you and Drax tell Vinkex not to underestimate me?”

Theravor nodded his head, mildly surprised. “Well, yes, we did,” he admitted. “What are you trying to say, though...?”

“I’ll tell you what you told Vinkex: don’t underestimate me just cuz I’m half human.”

There was an audible snap as the black coloring of Draycos’s hair came out and crumbled away like ash, reverting his hair to the brown perm Galán had cut it to. Draycos eyes snapped open as his blue-white magic aura enveloped his body. His sclera had turned white and his irises changed to brown.

“Blade Storm: Ascalon.”

A blindingly bright flash of light lit up the night sky like a supernova, dimming the light from the stars above. The light was bright enough to be seen from the distant Draiotic City. All the dragons and other participants in the civil war were blinded by the light, which brought a stop to all the remaining skirmishes. After the light faded away enough so Theravor could no longer see it through his closed eyelids, he lowered his arms that shielded his face and opened his eyes. The sight that greeted his eyes made Theravor experience a thrill that ran down his spine.

Draycos hovered in the air before the Dragon King, but no conjured wings were seen keeping him aloft. His brown hair had become snow white, a sign that Draycos was currently using Mana Overload. He held a simple sword handle in his grip, past which a massive, transparent white double-edge blade extended. Theravor’s eyes traveled up the length of the blade… and kept traveling. He was unable to see the tip, the blade faded out of existence before reaching the end. Nevertheless, the blade stood at least twice as tall as Theravor, and as wide as Draycos was tall. A line of script that Theravor couldn’t read ran down the middle of the blade, and the characters retained a hint of gold color despite the transparent white weapon.

As all eyes were fixed on the weapon, Vinkex took a deep breath and gave a nervous smile. “Well, as flashy and impressive as that display was, can you even do anything with an unfinished conjuration?” he growled.

Draycos said nothing as he quietly examined the weapon he held. He took a few practice swings at the side to test it, and each swing of the sword created a gust of wind that buffeted the spectators. Draycos then directed his attention at Vinkex, narrowing his eyes as he glared intensely at his opponent. Both of his irises turned blue as his white-blue aura flared up around him. His weapon glowed as Draycos held it high above his head.

Theravor, who had watched all of this unfold in silent fascination, suddenly noticed a spike in the surrounding air pressure. Now this is interesting. Draycos is currently exerting enough magic force to come close to how he was after the Dragon Council and I poured our power into him when he first fought Vinkex. Did he really get this much more powerful while he was trapped in Vinkex’s body?

Vinkex started laughing like a madman, holding his arms out to his sides as he watched Draycos. “Ha! Do you think you can injure me with a conjuration on the verge of falling apart?! Not that I’m going to let you--!”

Faster than a blink of an eye, Draycos swung his arm down. Theravor watched as the conjured weapon fell towards Vinkex, who made no attempt to dodge. The blade harmlessly passed through Vinkex’s right shoulder and out at his right waist.

Vinkex smiled savagely as he reached out to grab Draycos with his right hand. Theravor and Drax both flew out from behind Draycos and took position in front of him in an attempt to guard him from Vinkex.

“It’s alright,” Draycos suddenly muttered, almost too quietly to be heard. The Dragon King and Prince looked over their shoulders and watched Draycos lift up his left hand.

“It’ll end with this,” Draycos murmured, snapping his fingers.

Without warning, a massive sickle of white light shot out from Vinkex’s back, exactly where Draycos’s sword had cut through. Vinkex froze on the spot for a split second before another, larger blade of light erupted from the same spot. With an ear-splitting scream of agony, Vinkex was sent flying backwards with the second blade, screaming until he was out of sight.

Several miles away, the few ongoing skirmishes between soldiers of the two forces were coming to an end as word got around about the fake Rogue King. Río’s soldiers gathered around the chunk of ice that held the defeated Olafoc encased inside. Many of them let out enraged roars as they realized the entire battle had been staged by a single dragon hell-bent on seizing Theravor’s title.

Reothad stood a little ways away from the crowd, keeping an eye out while Damrabe treated Corax’s injuries. He kept his silence while Damrabe continued the treatment, but the moment Damrabe stood up straight, Reothad strode over until he stood by Corax’s side.

“All of these soldier’s certainly seem to have a great deal of respect for Río,” Reothad commented.

Corax sighed as he stood up and cracked his neck. “It’s only the respect he deserves for keeping all the outlying dragon tribes in check,” he informed Reothad.

Reothad nodded. Even though Theravor was the true Dragon King, there were a number of dragons that refused to pledge their allegiance to his claim. When dragonkind first fled from the surface and began living in the sky, there were quite a few dragons upset with the first Dragon King over the losses they suffered. They refused to acknowledge the first Dragon King any longer, taking off and creating their own tribes and laws. Over time, the position of the “Rogue King” was created as the outlying tribes’ leader.

“I’ll admit, I was skeptical upon learning that we had two Dragon Kings that ruled over all of dragonkind,” Reothad admitted as he and Corax watched the soldiers of both forces go about assisting one another. “But Río has been, by far, the most cooperative of the Rogue Kings we’ve dealt with over the last millennium. He and Theravor actually get along well, which left me shocked when I heard Río was providing Vinkex support.”

Corax sighed. “It came as a surprise to all of us, as well,” he growled. His hands curled into tight fists that trembled slightly as he looked at the chunk of ice. “But it makes much more sense if it wasn’t actually Río who gave us all those orders until now.” He shook his head in disappointment. “I can’t believe we had the wool pulled over our eyes so easily; I’m disappointed with myself for not noticing.”

“It’s not something to blame yourself for,” Damrabe interjected, speaking up for the first time. “Olafoc is a master at deceit and disguise; when he’s impersonating someone, it’s nigh impossible to tell the two apart.”

Corax gave Damrabe an odd look.

“What is it?”

“Nothing, it just doesn’t sound right to hear someone speak of their father that way.”

Damrabe hissed softly and opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment, there was a sudden flash of white light so bright it blinded everyone present. The air and ground shook with enough force that, for a moment, Damrabe thought a meteorite had just crashed into the nearby castle. Amid the roars of shock, Damrabe could hear Vinzgar cursing.

“What the hell is going on?” Vinzgar roared as the violent shaking slowly came to a stop. The light faded away, and every dragon lifted the head and looked around to see what had just occurred.

Half of the flying archipelago that Río's castle sat on had already been destroyed by the initial blast from the Plasma-Tech weapon Zero resurrected, but the main island had been left untouched. Now, however, the main island had been cleaved in two vertically, and the two halves began floating apart from the pull from the islands chained to them. The castle itself had been cut cleanly down the middle, but rubble from the upper floors came loose and crashed down to the bottom, bringing a mountain of debris down with it.

When the dust finally settled, Zero and Vinzgar cautiously approached the castle's exterior, closely followed by Corax.

"What just happened?" Zero questioned in a hushed tone as he looked around at the devastation.

"You tell me," Vinzgar snorted. He rubbed a section of the wall that had been cleanly cut. When he pulled his hand away, there wasn't a speck of loose dust on his hand. "Whatever it was, it seems like it was some blade made from magic. There really isn't much else that could explain this."

Farther inside the castle, something shifted underneath a large pile of rubble. When the three dragons turned their heads towards the rubble pile, the pile of rubble suddenly exploded with enough force to send large boulders flying.

Vinkex pulled himself out of the rubble, bleeding profusely from a deep cut in his torso. Panting heavily, he turned his head to the sky and let out an enraged roar.