Gatekeepers Book 2: Galeforce
Chapter 20: The Gatekeepers' HQ

“What the hell kind of name is Forbap?! And while we’re at it, why the hell do you have wings and a tail?!” Draycos screamed, completely losing his composure at the unexpected situation he found himself in. He thrashed around in an attempt to free himself, but Forbap’s grip on his forearm didn’t loosen a bit.

Forbap’s tail lightly smacked the back of Draycos’s head. “Don’t thrash around like that,” Forbap commented, turning to look at Draycos. “You’ll make me drop you. And to answer your question, my name is draconic. I’m a half-breed like you; half-human, half dragon.”

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“My father was the dragon,” Forbap answered simply.

Draycos fell silent as he understood what Forbap was implying. Ugh, I didn’t need that mental image.... Draycos shook his to get his mind out of the gutter. “You’re the second-in-command with the Gatekeepers?”

“That’s right,” Forbap responded, nodding his head. The two of them quickly flew further into the interior of the city, sloping up the mountain side. The number of buildings gradually dwindled as they approached the peak of the mountain. “We have eyes and ears all over the city. Nothing happens here that we don’t know about; it wouldn’t bode well for our organization if we didn’t stay well informed.”

“It looked like you were just out to get drunk, if you ask me,” Draycos commented.

Forbap gave him a bitter smile. “I can’t argue with that. Anyways, we’re almost at HQ.”

They flew over a tall, white stone watchtower jutting out from the nearly-vertical mountainside. The watchtower stood alone at this point on the mountain, as the rest of the city was built on the gentler slopes below. A single, narrow stone path was carved out of the mountainside, ascending up the mountain in a jagged pattern. As they drew near the top of the mountain, Forbap suddenly changed directions. He landed on the stone path just short of the summit, unceremoniously dropping Draycos on the ground as he did.

Irritated, Draycos stood up and glared at Forbap as he dusted off is butt. “Mind not dropping me like that? And why did you stop flying? We’re almost to the top.”

“It can’t be helped,” Forbap sighed, shrugging. “I’m not happy with my heritage, so nobody in the organization is aware of my mixed blood, except for the Gatemaster.” Forbap looked over his shoulder and gave Draycos a hard stare. “I’d prefer if you kept your mouth shut about it. I don’t want to have to clobber you if you spill the beans.”

“Is a threat really necessary?!” Draycos snapped. He sighed. “Fine, I get it. Don’t worry, I know how to keep my mouth shut about touchy topics. Can I ask you a question, though?”

Forbap had begun walking up the path after his threat but stopped in his tracks when Draycos said this. “What is it?” he asked without turning around.

“Can you completely transform into a dragon?”

Surprised, Forbap whirled around and stared at Draycos with a baffled expression on his rugged face. “That’s what you want to know?!” he asked incredulously.

Draycos nodded, an excited light in his eyes. “Yeah. Truth be told, when I was a kid, I often daydreamed about being able to turn into a dragon. It was a childhood fantasy of mine.”

Forbap turned around and continued walking. “Yes, I can,” he replied after a few moments. Draycos smiled lightly and went after him. It didn’t take long for them to reach the end of the path. After climbing over the crest, bright sunlight shone into Draycos’s eyes. Blinking rapidly for a few seconds, Draycos’s eyes soon adjusted and he was able to see his surroundings.

The two of them stood on the edge of an enormous field full of vibrantly colored wild mountain flowers, and large hemlock trees dotted the field in small groves. The whole area was completely flat, as if someone had taken a massive pair of scissors and sheared off the top of the mountain. A gentle breeze that blew constantly across the field made the flowers sway back and forth in the wind. However, there was something else swaying in the wind, filling the crisp mountain air with the sound of chains clanking.

In the middle of the field sat a massive, oddly-shaped yellow building. If Draycos had to describe it, it would be like a hexagonal prism, with the middle section jutting out farther than the top or bottom. It was like a squarish ball, and stood about two hundred yards or so tall. What made the building’s appearance even more bizarre was the fact that large, gold rings were attached to each vertex of the hexagonal building’s top ring and the wider middle ring. Massive black chains, each link bigger than Draycos’s whole body, were attached to each ring, cris-crossing over the whole surface of the building, while countless more extended out and buried themselves in the ground. As Draycos watched, a spark of blue lightning would occasionally burst from the end of a chain attached to the building and make its way down the maze of chains until it reached the ground and disappeared. Overall, the building made Draycos think of an oversized yellow basketball covered in those chain basketball nets used at parks.

“Welcome to the Gatekeepers’ HQ,” Forbap announced. He stuck a hand in one of his coat pockets before throwing it at Draycos. Draycos caught the object and saw it was a small blue glass lens. It was like something he’d seen jewelers use in their shops at Atlantis City.

“It’s called a Leyscope,” Forbap informed him when Draycos looked at him quizzically. “Turn around and look at the view below while holding that over your right eye.”

Confused by the order, Draycos still did as he was told. As he gazed out over the magnificent view of the valley below, he held the Leyscope in front of his right eye. What he saw through it nearly made him drop the fragile piece of glass.

Through the lens of the Leyscope, in that world tinted in blues, a thin, long line of humongous white-blue flames erupted from the earth, starting in the city below and disappearing over the horizon. Draycos removed the Leyscope to make sure that the flames weren’t really there, then started looking through it again. Looking out beyond the valley, Draycos noticed that the long lines of flames were scattered about the surface wherever he looked, looming over the ground it spewed from.

A bead of sweat rolled down Draycos’s face as he stopped using the Leyscope and stared at Forbap over his shoulder. “What are those things?” he asked Forbap in a slightly shaky voice.

Forbap crossed his arms over his chest. “Those are what we call Leylines,” he replied, a serious expression on his face. “They’re lines of this world’s natural mana erupting to the surface from this world’s core, far down below our feet. They cris-cross over the entire surface of the world. The job of the Gatekeepers is to monitor them and to control any outbursts from Leygates.”

“Leygates? I’m pretty sure I’ve heard that word a few times in the last three months.”

The shaggy half-breed nodded. “Leygates are formed when two or more Leylines end up intersecting each other at one point. A gateway to a different area that’s connected to one of Leylines forms from the massive amount of magic that pours out of the intersection. The magic that pours out of the gate has a bad influence on the immediate surroundings, so the Gatekeepers head out to newly-formed Leygates and bind it with a set of special spells to bring the Leygate under control. It’s a dangerous job, as the Leygates often spew debris and other object from wherever it’s connected to. Sometimes it could spew lava from a volcano or even summon a violent storm from the region on the other side. You can’t ever predict what will come through that gate before you bind it.”

“Does binding a Leygate let you pass through it to the other region?”

Forbap whistled. “Wow, you’re really on it,” he commented, clapping his hands. “Yes, you’re right. Bound Leygates allow quick travel between far-away regions. After we bind a Leygate, we get the assistance of the Killwing family to explore the zone, as they’re generally unpopulated areas with strong magic and dangerous creatures and climates. We do stumble on the occasional civilization every once in a while, but our goal isn’t territorial. The Gatekeepers keep a few skilled diplomats in their ranks for such occasions.”

Forbap checked the progress of the sun in the sky, which was almost at the peak of its arch. “We better stop talking and get moving. It’s almost noon, and the information about the Orb Galán got his hands on won't be good anymore if we keep wasting time like this." With that, he started strolling down the path that led to the building. Draycos walked right on his heels, looking up at the building in amazement as they drew closer.

A sudden idea occurred to Draycos, and he took a look at Forbap through the Leyscope still in his hand as they walked. At first, he saw nothing, but as he focused on Forbap's walking figure, a cobalt-blue aura gradually appeared around the half-breed's form. It resembled something like lightning, and bits of the aura occasionally shot off at an incredible speed and disappeared in the distance.

While Draycos was distracted by Forbap's aura, the person in question suddenly spun around on his heel without warning. In a single motion, he snatched the Leyscope out of Draycos's hand and stuffed it back inside his trenchcoat.

"Already figured that out, huh?" Forbap grunted as he continued walking. Draycos finally realized what just happened. Clenching his now empty hand, he sighed before accelerating his pace to walk side-by-side with Forbap. He couldn't help but to ask. "Was that your magic I just saw through the thing?"

"Yup," Forbap sighed. "Leyscopes are commonly used to observe an individual's magic. I assume that you have a guess as to what my magical element might be, based off what you saw?"

Draycos didn't immediately reply as he pondered over what he saw before coming to a conclusion. "Is it Lightning?"

Forbap merely nodded his head and grunted in response. After walking for another minute or two, the pair of them came to a stop. They now stood before a set of massive black iron doors set into the exterior of the building. The surface of the doors were completely blank, with no textures or images to be seen. A single round knocker, gold in color and held in the jaws of an ornate dragon head protruding from the door, broke the otherwise flat surface of the doors.

Taking a small step back, Forbap gestured for Draycos to use the knocker. Taking a deep breath, Draycos slowly raised his hand and grabbed the knocker. Bracing himself for something to happen the moment the knocker made a sound, Draycos slammed the knocker onto the iron door. A loud boom rang out, startling a flock of birds resting in a nearby hemlock grove and sending them flying. It almost sounded like a bell. Draycos proceeded to use the knocker three times before releasing it and stepping back, standing by Forbap's side as he waited.

It happened when the sound of the last knock finally faded away. A bright red light flashed at the base of the dragon head's neck, where it connected to the door. The light traveled up the length of the neck and head until it reached the tip of the dragon's snout. After the light dimmed, the black iron of the head slowly changed colors. Crimson scales coating the head and neck reflected the sunlight, and a rack of golden-yellow horns adorned the dragon's head. An eyelid flickered, and the dragon head suddenly yawned, dropping the knocker to the ground as a puff of smoke flew out from between its shiny white teeth. After blinking a few times, the dragon head finally noticed something was standing before him and fixed his bright green eyes on Forbap.

"Oh, it's you, Forbap," it yawned, sending a puff of smoke flying at Forbap and Draycos. "Good morning. You're here rather earlier than usual, aren't you?"

"O-oh, come on!" Forbap choked out as he and Draycos coughed on the smoke. Waving his hand around to disperse the smoke, Forbap glared at the dragon head. "Don't give me than, Leinzo! I'm still second-in-command here! Show me some respect!"

"Sure, sure," Leinzo yawned. The talking door knocker finally noticed Draycos standing beside Forbap. "Hm? And who's this?" he asked, looking Draycos up and down. "Is he a new recruit?"

"Wh-what the hell are you?" Draycos stammered, finally finding his voice. He had been expecting something to happen, but this was just beyond the realm of predictions. "How the hell is a door knocker talking?!"

The dragon head chuckled. "What, have you never seen a Knocker Dragon before? Guess you haven't been in the city much."

"We don't have much time for small talk, you two," Forbap interrupted, putting himself between the two as he glared at Leinzo. "Could you hurry up and open the door for us? We have an urgent matter to attend to."

"Alright, fine. As long as the kid's with you, I guess it'll be okay."

"What do you mean, 'you guess'?!"

But the dragon head was already gone, disappearing after pulling himself completely into the door. There we a few clicks, and the doors suddenly started opening inwards.

"Let's go," Forbap said, shoving Draycos hard on the back when the doors opened wide enough for them to pass through. Draycos stumbled through the doorway he could even get a glimpse of what laid beyond the doors, closely followed by Forbap. With a loud noise, the doors closed shut behind them.

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