Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

Questions and Answers

"S-stop!" the black and grey dragon demanded as Boreta continued to approach him. "Stay away from me with that stuff!"

"Huh, that's interesting. He's still able to talk that clearly with his mouth forced open like that?" Draycos remarked. "That's impressive."

Vertex lightly smacked the back of Draycos's head to shut him up. "This really isn't the time to be making comments, Draycos," he muttered under his breath. "Just keep quiet and watch."

Draycos rubbed the back of his head but did as he was told. Boreta had reached the Killwing family branch head and started to tip the vial over as the dragon struggled furiously against Zero and Vinzgar. Everyone watched on silently as a single drop of the cloudy liquid spilled from the neck of the vial and fell into the dragon's open mouth.

The second the drop touched his tongue, the dragon ceased struggling and hung limply in Zero and Vinzgar's arm, as if he had been knocked out. The two dragons holding him in place released him and he fell to his knees, staring listlessly at the floor.

"Let's start with the basics. Would you tell us who you are?" Boreta questioned.

The dragon looked at her with unfocused eyes. "My name is Daiken Killwing, head of the Killwing branch family."

Boreta nodded at Theravor. "Everything's ready now, Theravor."

"Excellent work, Boreta," Theravor praised. "The potions you create never leave anything to be desired. I can see why you were nicknamed, 'the Toxic Butterfly' during your time in the dragon king games."

Boreta frowned at that remark. "I never did like that nickname," she murmured. "Please refrain from calling me that anymore."

Theravor gave her a slight bow. "My apologies, Boreta. I meant no offense. My praise for your talents in alchemy still stands, though."

Boreta returned the bow. "Thank you, my king."

Finishing with the formalities, the two of them returned their attention to the drugged dragon before them. Theravor took a few steps forward and glared down at Diaken."

"Now, tell us, Daiken, what reason did you have for attempting to sabotage the assessment exam?" he growled in a dangerously low voice.

"I was following orders given to me by Vinzgar."

Everyone was shocked upon hearing this and immediately turned to Vinzgar, who was so shocked that he had frozen in place, mouth hanging open. He quickly regained his composure and glared at Daiken.

"What lies are you spouting off, Daiken?!" Vinzgar roared. "I never gave such orders! for one was all in on getting Draycos through the exam; I even conjured the weapon he used in the first part of it! Why would I go out of my way to sabotage him when I'm more concerned with recovering the orb?!"

"Easy, easy, Vinzgar!" Theravor soothed, placing his hand on Vinzgar's shoulder once more to calm him down. "None of us here believe that statement; for that matter, Zero, Boreta, and I know you far too well to even consider this a possibility from you."

Draycos had his hand on his chin, deep in thought as Theravor calmed down Vinzgar. He then looked up at Theravor.

"There's three possible answers that I can think of to this, Theravor," he said. All the dragons turned to look at him. "One, Vinzgar is lying. I can't say much about him since I hardly know Vinzgar, but if you trust him, that's a good enough reason to rule that possibility out."

Theravor and several others nodded at this.

"Two, there's the chance that Vinzgar was somehow controlled against his will when that order was placed and has no memory of it."