Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness
Encounter and Fear

6:02 pm

“Well now, I think that went better than we could have imagined,” Draycos commented.

“Yeah,” Iris agreed. “I didn’t think we would end up getting 2nd place in the contest.”

It was late afternoon, and Draycos and Iris were sitting at a table at the same outdoor cafe they sat at when they first met in section B of Atlantis City. Sitting between them on the table was a small silver trophy. A large clear crystal set in it had a “2nd” surrounded by a laurel was engraved on the surface.

A few hours after their performance, the rest of the performances had been finished, and all the performers were told to go to a waiting room while the judges tallied up the votes from the audience. After about another hour, they started calling for a handful of performers over the intercom system to return to the stage. Draycos and Iris were called but were completely in the dark about what was going on until they got to the stage and saw the trophies sitting on a table that had been set up there. They had managed to get second place, and after the award ceremony, one of the judges, wearing a full white suit and shaded glasses, had come up to Iris and given her his business card.

“That really was something else,” he had told her. “You’re obviously American, and yet you chose to sing a Japanese song, even though most of the audience is American. The fact that so many people voted for you says that you have talent; people wouldn’t vote for a song in a language they couldn’t understand unless they really enjoyed the performance.”

“Of course,” Draycos had spoken up. “Who says that you have to understand the language of a song in order to enjoy or like it? If you like it, you like it. No one can tell you that you can’t.”

The judge glanced over at Draycos at this point. “Your stunt during the performance was also unexpected. I can’t believe you decided to jump in and start singing along like that. The way you threw Iris was also incredible; just how strong are you? You threw her, like, fifteen feet up in the air. Was that all spur-of-the-moment?”

“Yeah, it was,” Draycos replied. During the award ceremony, they had seen the replays of the top three performances, and Draycos had seen his stunt. Seeing it himself had drained the color from his face “I honestly wasn’t expecting to throw her that high either. I really just got caught up in the moment and had some fun.” Draycos put a hand on his cheek, which still stung from Iris’s slap from earlier. “I’ve already been chewed out by Iris; trust me.”

The judge laughed. “I see. Either way, that was some impressive strength.” He put a hand inside his vest and pulled out another business card that he handed to Draycos. “I have quite a few friends who are in the movie production business. You could definitely go big there; what with your strength and those eyes of yours.”

“Huh?” Draycos reflexively attempted to push his sunglasses back into place on his nose, only to replace that they weren’t there. ​What? When did I lose those? Last time I remember having them was back at the park...

The judge turned around and started to walk off. “Both of you give me a call whenever you have some time on your hands. I’m sure we can work something out that will benefit all of us.”

“Draycos? You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a little irritated with myself,” Draycos sighed as he focused back on the present, stirring the ice in his water cup with a straw. “I went on stage during a big televised event and didn’t have my sunglasses on. I can’t believe I left them back at the park on our way to the talent show. That was pretty stupid of me; now the whole world will replace out about my eyes.”

“It’s partly my fault, too,” Iris soothed. “I was dragging you along since the park; I never did let go of your hand.” She was silent for a moment as she stirred her iced tea before she spoke up again. “Want me to buy you a new pair?”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Draycos said, sipping his water. “If everyone is gonna know about it, I might as well not bother to hide it. Besides, it doesn’t bother me too much lately. I can mostly ignore the comments now.”

They sat in silence for another minute or so before Iris downed the last of her iced tea and put its cup back on the table. “Thank you, Draycos,” she suddenly said.

Confused, Draycos looked at her. “What for?”

“For convincing me to take part in the talent show.” Iris looked up and smiled at him. “Thanks to you, a new possibility for my future opened up. I have you to thank for that.”

Draycos felt his cheeks starting to burn, and it wasn’t from the slap to the face he’d gotten earlier. Embarrassed, he looked out towards the road. “It was nothing, alright?” he muttered. “I just wanted you to have fun out there. I enjoyed myself, too.”

“A little too much, don’t you think?” Iris commented. “You could’ve killed me with that stunt you pulled out of the blue. Are you gonna apologize for that?”

“Shut it, I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I guess so,” Iris giggled. She also looked out at the road.

Just then, a shiny black sedan came down the road, and to their mild surprise, it slowed down as it approached the cafe they were at until it came to a complete stop right in front of their table.

“What’s that about?” Draycos wondered out loud as the driver got out of the car and started to walk around the front of it. Iris, however, went pale.

“Oh, God,” she whispered. “That’s my father’s butler. Don’t tell me it’s....”

The driver opened the passenger-side door, and a short, balding man stepped out of the car. He was pretty fat, and he was squeezed into a blue suit with a black and gold checkered tie. Draycos’s first impression of this man was that he was a giant blueberry.

“Who’s that?” Draycos asked.

“Dad?!” Iris cried. “What are you doing here?!”

“Dad?” Draycos echoed, mildly curious. He leaned his chair closer to get a better look. “This guy’s your father? The mayor here in Atlantis City?”

Mr. Jewelson pointed a short, stubby finger at Draycos. “You better show me some respect, punk,” he demanded.

What? Draycos felt a prickle of irritation. He had just told Iris he could mostly ignore the comments now, but this guy was just asking for a punch to the face. The way the mayor said it made it sound like he was talking to some disgusting piece of trash.

“Dad! You can’t just pull up and talk to someone you’ve never met before like that!” Iris scolded, pushing her chair back as she stood up, her hands on the table.

Her father proceeded to point his finger at her. “Now listen, Iris, I don’t want you near this guy anymore!” he ordered.

“What?!” Iris and Draycos exclaimed, shocked.

“What did I ever do to her to warrant such a demand?” Draycos spat.

“I watched the performance today,” the mayor started. Iris’s face fell upon hearing this. “During a break in one of my meetings, an associate showed me the award ceremony on his phone.” His finger returned to pointing at Draycos. “You could’ve killed Iris with that stunt,” he continued, “and anyone who puts my daughter in harm’s way is not allowed to associate with her anymore!”

Draycos’ irritation grew after hearing this. He gave the mayor a cold stare at this point. In response, the mayor paled and took a step back.

“Whatever,” Draycos almost growled, turning his chair and folding his arms to rest on top of its back as he sat backward in it to stare hard at Mr. Jewelson. He didn’t care what Iris’s father’s first impression of him was. “I don’t care what you have to say about me. Iris is my only friend here in Atlantis City, and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let a giant blueberry like you tell me if I can hang out with her or not.”

“B-b-blueberry?” Mr. Jewelson sputtered, breaking out into a cold sweat.

“D-Draycos....” Iris cautioned. Things stayed in this position for a few moments, then Draycos glanced at Iris’s watch. It had just turned to 6:06.

Just then, an odd sound filled the air. It sounded like the gong of a clock, but it was so incredibly out of tune that it was nearly unrecognizable. Draycos looked around and spotted the clock tower placed in section A of the city in the distance, rising above the cityscape. For some reason, the clock hands were indicating it was midnight, even though it was six hours off.

The odd gong rang six times, and after the last one faded away, the face of the clock blew up. Screams could be heard from the area around the clock tower as it collapsed on itself, sending up a huge pile of dust visible from where they stood.

“W-what’s going on?” Iris asked nervously.

At that point, Draycos’s ears picked up on a different sound from the distant screams. He, Iris, and Mr. Jewelson all looked up towards the sky. Everyone else around them did, too. Heads were sticking out of the windows of cars and the shops and houses that lined the sidewalk; everyone was looking up at the sky.

In the distance, there was a long line of planes, all flying side-by-side. The hair on the back of Draycos’s neck rose as they got closer; he couldn’t spot any tell-tale markings on the planes to indicate where they came from. They were all painted a cold steel grey.

“Why are all of those planes flying towards us?” Mr. Jewelson questioned, still pale from the clock tower’s destruction. “There shouldn’t be any more seaplanes coming to deliver anything for the rest of the day; in fact, those aren’t even seaplanes.”

When the line of planes got close to the edge of the city, the hatches on their bellies opened. Draycos broke out into a cold sweat upon seeing this, and he stood up violently, knocking his chair over. He took a step towards Iris.

“Draycos, what are you- wah?!” Iris yelped as Draycos grabbed her wrist and took off at top speed down the sidewalk, in the opposite direction that the planes were coming in.

“I got a really bad feeling about this!” Draycos explained as he weaved between the people on the sidewalk, pulling Iris along with him. “I always think it’s better to be safe than sorry, so let’s go replace shelter somewhere!”

“Shelter?” Iris parroted. “From what?”

“I think those planes are about to drop bombs!” Draycos told her as he continued to run. ​ Come on, where is it?

“B-bombs?” Iris stammered, shocked and confused. Draycos didn’t say anything as he continued to scan the surface of the sidewalk as they ran.

There! He spotted a steel cover in the sidewalk with a handle built into it. It was a hatch leading down into the maintenance shafts for the wave motion generators that powered the city. Power to the city was provided by the generators on the bottom side of the city that used the motion of the waves to create electricity, and these shafts allowed those in charge of maintenance for the city’s power to go down and run daily inspections.

Everyone in Atlantis City got a basic rundown of emergency protocol when they came to the city. If there was ever a disaster occurring above ground, they were to replace one of these hatches to climb down into to take shelter. It was supposed to be deep enough to ensure safety.

Draycos came to a stop in front of the hatch and grabbed the handle. He pulled. Hard. Unfortunately, it was locked.

“Damn it!” Draycos cursed. He pulled on the handle as hard as he could. He could hear the planes getting closer. Finally, with a loud ​snap​, he broke the latch on the handle and flung the hatch open. The door landed with a loud ​boom on the ground. A ladder leading down into darkness was revealed.

“Come on!” Draycos yelled, jumping into the shaft. He grabbed the sides of the ladder and proceeded to slide down the shaft at top speed. Shaken, Iris put one foot on the top of the ladder and tried to climb in.

But that’s when the first explosion shook Atlantis City to its very core.