Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness
Towards the Stage

“Draycos? Draycos, are you still there?” a voice asked. Draycos snapped back to reality and noticed that Iris was standing in front of him, giving him a somewhat concerned look.

“You okay?” Iris asked. “You were staring off into space for a bit there.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Draycos responded as he smiled, putting his sunglasses back on his face. “I was just thinking for a moment there.” He started walking away from Iris, waving his hand at her. “Come on! We need to hurry, or else we’ll miss our slot for the talent show.”

“Yeah, we do need to hurry,” Iris commented, checking her wristwatch as she caught up to Draycos. “It’s already 10:10; we need to hurry before registration closes at 11.”

As they were walking, Draycos noticed that Iris’s hair wasn’t in its usual braid. It was normally wrapped around her head in a French braid crown, but today, all her hair hung loosely around her shoulders. ” I see someone didn’t have time to do their hair properly this morning, huh?” he remarked.

Iris sighed. “I told you already; my father was all over me until I left. He wouldn’t give me a single minute to myself, and I ended up running out the door on him. He’s not going to be happy with me when he comes home this evening.”

“Every time you talk about your father, he sounds more and more like a stick in the mud,” Draycos commented. “Has he never heard of the concept of having fun?”

At this point, they had reached a sky rail station and walked inside. Since Atlantis City was only a few square miles, someone proposed the idea of having the sky rails, which were basically sky trolleys, to connect the entire city and would allow the citizens to quickly get to the main area where they wanted to go and walk the rest of the way. Since the sky rails didn’t take up much if any ground space and there weren’t many roads for cars, the proposed idea was agreed upon unanimously. There were stations throughout the city, and each station had a trolley that led to a different station, so there were about fifteen trolleys at each station since there were only sixteen stations in Atlantis City. Each rail line had two trolleys on the track that would go opposite directions on the track. Large clouds of steam swirled around low to the tiled floor, mostly hiding it from sight. Draycos wasn’t surprised by the insane amount of steam in the building; the sky trolleys were designed to be eco-friendly and ran on steam power.

Draycos and Iris walked through the gate, over which a large white I was painted to indicate which station is was. Their timing could not have been better; the dark green metal trolley linked to their destination had just entered the station. It came down to the loading platform, and the doors opened with a hiss of steam. The passengers onboard unloaded onto the platform, allowing those waiting to board to get on. The trolley in question had a large G painted in white on the top and next to each of the four doors. A map of the rail lines just within the station gate showed a map of the city. Atlantis City had been divided into sixteen smaller square sections, each about half a square mile. The sections were lined up four by four. Starting at the top and going to the right, they were labeled letters from A to P in alphabetical order. Henceforth, the trolley Draycos and Iris were getting on was heading to Section G, near the heart of Atlantis City. Trolleys that connected to adjacent sections were only usable for senior citizens or those with disabilities; the city council was trying to keep everyone’s health in mind as each section of the city was only a half square mile.

They flashed their Atlantis City ID cards across the tech screens at the entrance gate, stepped onto the platform, and walked towards the trolley. Not needing to wait to get on, Draycos and Iris immediately walked inside the trolley and sat down on a bench close to the back. The inside of the trolley was mostly empty aside from the several rows of benches that filled up its length and width, giving a similar vibe to that of a ferry boat one would ride at some amusement parks around the world. After they sat down, the doors closed, and the trolley began to move upwards until it leveled out near the roof of the station and headed outside through an opening in the wall.

“By the way, Draycos,” Iris began as she opened her purse and dug inside it for a second. “I know it’s a day early, but happy birthday!” She pulled out a small, plain silver box and handed it to Draycos.

Draycos had a stunned expression on his face as he accepted the gift. “I can’t believe you remembered,” he muttered. “I only mentioned it once shortly after we first met; you didn’t have to go out of your way to get me a gift.”

“Of course, I did!” Iris retorted; her expression a bit put-off. “My best friend’s birthday is tomorrow; I have to at least give you something. I won’t be able to see you tomorrow, since I gotta go with my father on his errands all day tomorrow, so I decided to give it to you today. Go on and open it.”

Draycos obliged and took the lid off the box. Inside was a crystal pendant the color of a clear blue sky. It was attached to a silver fastening at the top, where a pair of draconic-looking wings sprouted and wrapped around the crystal. At the top of the fastening, embedded in the mount where it connected to the string, was a small green crystal about the size of a thumbtack.

Draycos could tell by the weight of the pendant that the materials used in it were legit; nothing in the pendant was made from plastic or cast iron. Back in high school, he had taken to wearing a cheaper pendant almost all the time that he’d buy off the internet, but it would fall apart after about six months and he would need to order a new one. After the third one broke he stopped ordering them, as even the cheap ones cost a pretty penny. Draycos lifted the pendant out of the box and held it out in front of him, watching as the sunlight coming in through the windows sparkled on it.

“Wow, Iris... This is amazing.” Draycos said in awe.

“I know, right?” Iris said with a gleeful tone in her voice. She pointed at the blue crystal set in as the centerpiece in the pendant. “My mother gave me that stone when I was little, but I haven’t had any use for it and it’s just been collecting dust in my closet. I got it polished down and had it worked into the pendant when I placed an order for it.”

Draycos turned to look at Iris with a somewhat strained expression showing on his own. “How much did it cost you to get this made?”

Iris sighed. “Really?” she said, exasperated. “That’s not what you’re supposed to say to someone when they give you a birthday present.”

“Sorry! Thank you very much!” Draycos quickly corrected himself and placed the pendant around his neck. Somehow, the weight of the pendant on his chest gave him a sense of comfort. He put his hand over the pendant, then looked over at Iris and smiled. “I really do like it. Thank you, Iris.”

Iris’s cheeks turned red, and she looked away after a moment. “W-well I guess if you like it that much, I guess I can overlook your initial response,” she stammered.

“Are you actually going to get hung up on that?” Draycos questioned, bemused. “You really shouldn’t let that get to you.”

Iris ignored him and continued to look out the window beside her for the next few minutes until the trolley entered another station and began to descend. The trolley slowly came to a stop and the doors opened with a hiss of steam. Iris suddenly jumped up from her seat and ran out before anyone else exited the trolley. Draycos sighed as he stood up and made his way out of the trolley with the rest of the crowd. He found Iris waiting for him at the exit of the platform, leaning up against the wall next to the exit and whistling. When Draycos got close, she smiled and bounced out of the gate. “Come on! We gotta hurry up, or else we won’t get there in time!” She called over her shoulder.

“What are you talking about? We still got over forty minutes!” Draycos called after her. He shook his head as Iris exited the station, thoroughly perplexed. ​One second she’s giving me the cold shoulder, the next she wants to race? Girls really are so confusing. Sighing again, Draycos took off after Iris, darting between the crowd as he made his way out of the station. Once he hit the exit and got outside, he took a quick look around and saw Iris waving at him from the other side of the street. After confirming Draycos spotted her, Iris took off once more, heading in the direction of the venue that was hosting the talent show.

Draycos gave chase, and after a few minutes of running, he noticed Iris ran through a gateway that led into Atlantis City Park. Smiling, Draycos picked up the pace and passed through the park gate. Without any people in his way, he quickly closed the gap between him and Iris until he was able to reach out and grab her hand.

“Mind telling me why you decided to run?” Draycos panted, pulling Iris over to a nearby park bench and sitting them both down on it.

Iris panted for a few moments before smiling at Draycos. “Just because I felt like it,” she wheezed.

“I swear, girls really are complicated,” Draycos moaned as he leaned back on the bench. “I can never understand what’s going through that head of yours.”

Iris pouted. “Well, at least I’m not socially awkward,” she retorted.

“I’m not, though. I have my reasons for keeping to myself,” Draycos reminded her, taking off his sunglasses. “Anyways, I thought we were going to the talent show venue. I hope you didn’t forget that in your sudden need to run around the city.”

“Of course, I didn’t!” Iris shot back. “This park is actually a shortcut over to the venue; you can see the building from here, see?”

Draycos followed the direction Iris’ fingers were pointing in and did see the talent show venue on the other side of the park from them. Walking there from the station would’ve taken fifteen minutes, but they arrived at the park within five minutes, so after a few more minutes of walking, they would arrive at their destination.

After another minute or so, Draycos and Iris stood up, and it was at that moment that Draycos realized he was still holding Iris’ hand. He released her hand and opened his mouth to apologize when Iris grabbed his wrist again, dragging him along with her. They spent the next few minutes in silence until they approached the venue for the talent show and entered the building.

Both of them had forgotten about the pair of sunglasses left on the park bench.