Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness
Tempo

The next morning, Draycos woke up, and the very first thing he noticed was that Zero had squeezed himself into Draycos’s cell and was looking down at Draycos while he laid in bed, towering over him with a seriously creepy grin on his face. That smile didn’t last very long as Draycos immediately delivered a swift kick to the underside of Zero’s jaw. There was a loud clack as one of Zero’s sharp teeth went flying out of his mouth and hit the ceiling, shattering from the force of the impact.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing in my cell, you sicko?!”

“See? What did I tell you, Zero?” a familiar voice called from outside the cell as Zero staggered backwards, spitting blood while Draycos glared at him. “I knew that was going to happen. Glad I decided to come along on a hunch. You really are taking this joke too far.”

Zero fell backwards out of the cell, his jaw already turning purple from the bruising. Draycos walked out of his cell, scratching the back of his head as he glared down at Zero. Poseidon sat at his desk as usual, and Damrabe stood in front of it, resting a hand on the desk. Both dragons observed the spectacle unfold in front of them, shaking their heads simultaneously.

Grimacing in pain as he rubbed his jaw, Zero sat up. “Ow, that one hurt,” he groaned. “Why’d you kick me out of the blue like that, Draycos?”

“Why do you think?” Draycos growled. “I wake up and first thing I see is a gay dragon standing over my bed. How else would I react?”

“I’m not gay,” Zero muttered. “I told you that was a joke.”

“Even if it was a joke, you’re starting to take it too far, Zero,” Poseidon told him. “Draycos isn’t the only one starting to think that this act of yours isn’t a joke anymore.”

Surprised, Zero looked at Poseidon and Damrabe. “Is it really coming off as that?”

Both dragons nodded their heads.

“Aww, all right, all right. I get it; I’ll stop for real now,” Zero grumbled, spitting out another mouthful of blood. “It’s just been really entertaining to watch Draycos’s reactions all the time. But if people are starting to doubt my motives behind it, I guess I should call it quits.”

Damrabe bit into his thumb and flicked the resulting droplet of blood onto Zero while Poseidon cleaned up the blood on the floor by sending small orbs of water gliding across any blood-covered surfaces. The bruising faded away from Zero’s jaw, and the slightly red water balls all popped into a very fine mist which dissipated in the air.

Draycos was surprised to see Damrabe’s healing abilities; he had yet to witness it up to this point. A sudden realization came upon him. He must have been the one to heal my injuries after that brawl with Brock.

“Sorry about knocking out one of your teeth, Zero,” Draycos apologized uncomfortably.

“What are you talking about, Draycos?” Zero put his index finger inside his mouth and pulled back his lips. A new fang had already grown in the spot where the original one had been kicked out. There was still some blood on his gums around that spot, making it clear that the tooth had indeed been removed.

“Wha-? How did- I thought I knocked it out!” Draycos couldn’t understand what was going on. Zero pointed at Damrabe from where he sat.

“It’s all thanks to Damrabe’s healing abilities. Not only can he heal almost any injury, he can also assist his target in regenerating lost limbs, teeth, organs, etc. His unique blood magic has some of the most powerful restoration class spells known in this world.”

Blood magic? Restoration class? The unfamiliar terms stuck out to Draycos. There seems to be some rules to magic in this world.

“I think that’s enough talking about my magic,” Damrabe growled as he glared at Zero, who finally got to his feet. “Draycos, how are you feeling today?”

“Huh?” Draycos was surprised by Damrabe’s interest in his well-being. “Fine, I think.” Draycos was quiet for a moment as he took a quick assessment of his body. He did a few quick stretches. “Actually, now that you mention it, I don’t feel tired or sore at all. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good before!” With that, Draycos jumped and did a backflip, landing perfectly on his feet. “I don’t think I would have been able to do that before,” he commented.

That’s because Damrabe worked some of his blood magic into your food. Poseidon thought to himself as Draycos re-entered his cell. The magic isn’t going to do anything other than help rid your body of exhaustion, but it does give a slight boost to your physical abilities.

On the table behind the head of Draycos’s bed was the usual two bowls of mush and the water picture but placed on the floor was a pair of brown slip on boots with black soles. They had no laces or straps, the slot where you put your foot in the shoe had a large v-shaped cut in the front to allow the foot to slide in easily. Zero peeked into the cell as Draycos picked up the boots.

“I was in your cell because I was getting your feet measured,” he explained. “I doubt you noticed, but we tore up the bottom of your feet pretty badly yesterday with all that running around barefoot. We can’t have that slow you down, so Damrabe and I brought those boots with us for you to wear.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” Draycos responded, immediately putting on the boots.

“Hurry up and eat so we can get back to training,” Zero said as Draycos started eating. “Damrabe is going to assist us today.”

“Are we not going to be running today?” Draycos questioned around a mouthful of mush.

“Nope, you’ll be running every other day. The days in between, though, will be for hand-to-hand combat training with me. We will have Damrabe on standby in case I accidentally injure you.”

Draycos polished off the rest of his food in silence before standing up. Upon doing so, Zero reached into the cell with one arm and grabbed Draycos by the belt once more.

“Not this again!” Draycos cried as Zero pulled him and his arm out of the cell. “I thought you just said you were going to stop with that?!”

“How else am I supposed to carry you to the island?”

“....”

Draycos didn’t have a clear response for that and stayed quiet as Damrabe and Zero said their farewells to Poseidon and walked out of the office. Ten minutes later, the three of them were on the island from yesterday. Draycos and Zero were facing off against each other near the center of the island while Damrabe stood off at a distance to observe.

“I understand that you were able to dodge a surprise attack from that orc last month quite easily, am I correct?” Zero asked as he got into a fighting stance, lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Draycos shrugged. “Yeah, I dodged it. But it was mostly just pure reflex that let me do so. I managed to get a good hit in on Brock right after that.”

Zero shook his head. “It’s nice to have good reflexes when you fight an opponent, but don’t rely on that too much,” He informed Draycos. “If you just rely on those without doing any training for yourself at all, sooner or later they’ll fail you.”

“So, what am I going to hafta do to not rely on them?”

“Simple. I’m just going to keep beating you up until you’re able to dodge my attacks.”

What?

“H-hold on now,” Draycos stammered nervously, raising his hands slightly. “Isn’t that a little-?”

“Dangerous?” Zero finished his sentence. “Yes, it is. But it’s the only effective method we have right now. We could give you the ability to fight with magic, but you wouldn’t know how to use those abilities since you didn’t train them yourself. Besides, altering one’s physical abilities with magic is a taboo strictly enforced by the dragon king and the council. Don’t worry, I won’t be going all out at first, and we have Damrabe here to heal any injuries. Are you ready now? I’m coming!”

Not giving Draycos any time to prepare, Zero dashed forward. He was up in Draycos’s face in a mere second and started to throw a left hook from the side. Draycos saw the punch coming but didn’t have time to think about his response. He could tell it would be serious if that punch hit him head-on, so he instinctively raised his right arm to protect his head from the impact.

Zero’s hit landed, but it wasn’t the one that Draycos had been preparing for. Zero’s right leg had come flying up without Draycos noticing it. It landed right on Draycos’s waist, pinning Draycos’s left arm that had been hanging uselessly to his body. Draycos saw his arm break like a toothpick before he even felt the pain as he was sent flying, bouncing off the ground a few times before rolling to a stop.

Damn, now that one really hurt. Draycos coughed up some blood as he laid on his side, grimacing in pain as he held his broken arm. He refused to open his mouth and scream in pain, and instead just clenched his teeth tightly together as he made a hissing sound by inhaling and exhaling air through his teeth. That hurt way more than that kick from Brock. Dragons really are something else.

“You leave yourself wide open whenever you rely on reflexes to protect yourself,” Zero commented as he walked over and stood above Draycos. “You have to see everything going on in your surroundings; not just the first attack you see. Damrabe.”

Draycos 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,” Draycos said. “Can you give me a second? I want to try something.”

Zero stopped bouncing and lowered his arms somewhat as he looked at Draycos. “What is it?”

“Just give me about thirty seconds,” Draycos 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. Damrabe eventually consented by nodding, and Zero nodded in response.

“Alright then,” he said as he turned back to Draycos. “You got thirty seconds starting now.”

Draycos closed his eyes and stood motionlessly. Zero could hear Draycos’s breath slow down until he sounded like he was asleep. After about twenty seconds had passed, though, something different occurred. Draycos began tapping the ground with his right foot at a steady rhythm. A smile slowly grew across his face.

“Your thirty seconds are up,” Zero growled as he moved in. “I hope you’ve prepared yourself, Draycos!”

Draycos’s eyes snapped open, the smile growing larger on his face as he continued tapping his foot while Zero drew close. Zero drew his right arm back and prepared to throw a simple straight punch when he suddenly shivered. His instincts were telling him something.

Wait; something’s different. Draycos’s expression is way too lax if he thinks he’s was about to get hurt again.

Just before Zero punch landed on target, in this case, Draycos’s right should, Draycos stepped to the left, dodging by a hair’s breadth. In the same instance, Draycos threw a left uppercut aimed at Zero’s chin. Caught off guard, Zero tilted his head to the right, barely avoiding a direct hit as Draycos’s fist grazed his left cheek.

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