Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

Draycos

"Have you discovered something?" Boreta asked Damrabe as the blood dragon strolled farther into the council room.

"I've discovered many things about Draycos this afternoon," he responded. He turned to face the king and bowed. "Do I have your permission to discuss what I have discovered to the rest of the council, my king?"

"Granted," Theravor told him, flicking the tip of his tail. Damrabe straightened up and placed a small rounded silver object in the middle of the table. It appeared to be an ornate heart-shape decoration, and it shined silver in the moonlight. In the center of the heart was a small hole that seemed to require something to be placed inside it.

Damrabe took two test tubes of blood out of his sash and poured them both into the hole in the heart. There was a slight mechanical buzz, and a light shot out of the hole and reached all the way to the ceiling. After a few seconds the light focused and formed two spheres in the air, and in each of those spheres was a double helix structure. It looked like it was a holographic display of two different DNA models.

"The DNA structure you see on the left is a sample from the average human found on the ground below the castle," Damrabe started, pointing at the DNA in question. It was unremarkable in appearance. "The one on the right is the sample I obtained from Draycos earlier today."

Everyone shifted their gaze to the other DNA model floating in the air. Compared to the average human's DNA structure, this one was similar, but far more complex. There were extra bits attached to the DNA all over the place and trailing off the rest of the structure at odd intervals.

Theravor sighed as he leaned back in his throne. "I suspected as much, but confirming it is another thing entirely. So Draycos isn't human, is he?"

"You're half right, my King."

"Oh?" Theravor raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"It's true that Draycos isn't human. He's only half human."

There was some muttering around the table. Their suspect was a half-breed, much like Damrabe. Inter-race relationships and offspring were highly looked down upon, and half-breeds almost never lived longer than three years. Both Draycos and Damrabe were among those that lived past that limit.

"And?" Vinzgar spoke. "What's the other half of Draycos's heritage?"

"That...I don't know," Damrabe admitted. "I've compared his blood sample to that of the blood samples I have on all the other races known to exist in this world. Dragon, human, elf, orc, fairy, giant, troll, goblin, etc.... His structure doesn't match up to any of them at all. But...."

"What is it?" Boreta asked as Damrabe hesitated. "Don't keep us in suspense; spit it out already."

Damrabe sighed before a dark expression crossed his face. "Based on the relationships between DNA structures and one's magicka attribute, if Draycos managed to awaken his magicka, his attribute would be... Dark."

A flicker of shock ran through the entire council, and they all turned to their king. There was a surprised expression on Theravor's face upon hearing his, and he grew very serious as he stared hard at Damrabe.

"Damrabe, I hope you aren't spouting off nonsense right now to keep everyone here on edge. Are you certain about that? We can't afford to have any baseless opinions being thrown about here."

Damrabe's tail twitched. "I wouldn't say it unless I had a solid conviction about it," he quietly told his king.

"What the hell, Theravor?!" Vinzgar hissed, losing all formality as his voice shook. "That magicka attribute is exceedingly unpredictable and dangerous; what are you going to do if the brat manages to awaken his magic and goes on a rampage?! Almost all of us would be screwed!"