The Ultimate Gatekeeper :

Sumary (full): The tale of a young man, Sir Auric Antana, who is searching for his lost memories from before he became a Gatekeeper. But it seems there are more pressing issues to think on, such as the looming war in the background and the deteriorating Gatestream that seems to be having a disastrous effects on the whole world. But his constant 'visions' and the tempting mysteries unravelling before his eyes starts to link together and they take him across perilous terrains, to corrupt governing bodies and reveals devastating truths about his real identity and the reason he became a Gatekeeper. His past begins to tie in with the growing problems of the Gatestream and its soon realised that not all was left chance, some one had planned his fate. But with other greedy eyes on the prize, will he be able to overcome the terrible lies and save the Gatestream from total destruction or will he fall headfirst into a downward spiral of depression and shock?

Fate may have chosen his path but its up to him to walk it...

Elemental-Zer0

Chapter One

A brilliant flash of light streaked across the dark skies above, as an ominous rumble of thunder followed loudly at a deafening decibel. Dark, heavy clouds swarmed threateningly over the small village of Dar’iro as the gale force storm picked and battered at its inhabitants and their homes. It was a tireless attack of nature in all its formidable glory.

Another flash blinded those who dared to face the storm while its counter-part rumble roared its disapproval at their momentary show of defiance. The winds picked up dramatically as if to emphasize its displeasure; it sent chilling shivers down the backs of all who dared to venture its wrath. Fat splashes of water fell from on high as the pressure increased, slowly at first, but soon turning into a downpour of great magnitude.

But it wasn’t the chaos from the raging storm that had the poor villagers running about in the mud and rain. In fact the villagers paid little or no heed to the impressive efforts of nature bristling about them. Their focus was on one thing; an incoming Gate was trying to open

It was a call from a Gatekeeper, sending out a signal or a beacon for another to pick up and help open the Gate from both ends. It worked almost like a telephone, where an incoming Gate would be an incoming call that only another Gatekeeper could answer. But in the case that a Gatekeeper could not answer the incoming Gate. . .well, one might as well look Death in the eye and call him on his cards; for if one managed to survive the destructive powers of a collapsing Gate, he’d have nowhere to go and no one to run to.

Even if he tried to trek to the next village, he’d never make it out of the point of origin – the ring of destruction from whence the Gate first collapsed – without an anomaly or defective effect attacking him in some form or another through the negative residue left over. Of those who had survived, only one had escaped Fate’s grasp, though age soon caught him up and laid him to rest eventually.

“Find the Gatekeeper!” A shout called through the winds. “Ready the Village Hall! There may be refugees coming through!” A burly man gave the order, his thick black mane of hair whipping about him as the storm cursed the villagers for their bravado. “Fiedad!” A boy of no more than twelve stood straight and to attention as the Village Leader spied him. “Find your Gatekeeper! We need him now!” The boy gave a nod, his blond bangs blown horizontally across his head until his ponytail halted any further attempts of escape.

He spun on his muddy heel and took off, as fast as the winds would allow, to the Turla paddies that were the fields beyond the village.

Lightning crashed and thunder boomed. The wind howled mockingly at their predicament, while the clouds wept over them, playfully grieving their deaths all too soon. Daine, the Village Leader, glared up at the sky in defiance earning the village another deafening rumble. “You’ll not have your way this day.” He promised in a determined tone then turned to glance at the progress of young Fiedad, his head bobbing up and down as he ran to the end of the main road and began sprinting across the paddies, heading toward the Gatekeeper’s last known place; Li’Ko’s Summit.

“Hurry my boy; our lives are in your hands now.”

The dark sky above seemed to mock him, reflecting his gloomy mood. The Gods were in a goading spirit it seemed. The young man heaved a sigh; what could he do about it? Fate is as she will be, and no one had a say; she was a stubborn creature when challenged in that respect. But she did reward those she deemed worthy, and though he didn’t see it himself, others had commented on his worthiness for a gift sometime soon in his life.

But then again, it wasn’t all that hard to believe, given his life thus far. Somehow, for reasons beyond his control, he had been chosen to lead an enchanted life of mystery and adventure. No matter how he ran, argued, begged, or fought, his life remained toiled with surprises, evils, and temptations that anyone else would have crumbled at had they faced such terrors alone.

He paused curiously on that thought; alone. . . he wasn’t alone. No, he had friends, colleagues, and even a surrogate family. But the one person who stuck out prominently in his thoughts was his best friend and partner in crime; Virridus Vennus. Although not as powerful as he, Virridus was twice his senior and a very talented Keeper. Granted he hadn’t been a Gatekeeper for as long as Virridus but who was he to choose Fate’s favourite players?

He sighed again. All this thinking about family and friends was depressing him. He snorted at the logic therein. Sure he had friends and he loved them dearly but. . . there was still a hole inside, a hole that ached and unnerved him to no ends. It was common knowledge that a Gatekeeper is distanced, unbiased, and grounded in all situations. He is a formidable being with access to powerful energies and privy to the knowledge of how to use them but. . .it was not so common knowledge to know that a Gatekeeper had a life beforehand. One he cannot remember.

Enforced amnesia; a small price to pay for the privilege of higher powers and cosmic energies at one’s fingertips. But Gatekeepers were also human, and so they had human emotions; fear, love, hate, desire. They may not show it very often, in fact it was extremely rare to see a Gatekeeper lose his cool, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have feelings or questions. Where did he come from? Who were his biological parents? Did he have any siblings? And the most annoying one of all; who was he before he became Auric Antana – Gatekeeper Extraordinaire?

He didn’t know. Couldn’t remember anything past the four years he’d spent as a Gatekeeper, and even that was beginning to fade at the early edges. He sighed again. There was nothing he could do about it, so what was the point in thinking like this? He didn’t know, but he did it anyway, because it wasn’t like he couldn’t remember everything. He still had two or three memories that stubbornly clung to him. They weren’t anything significant. . .flashes really; of a house, a blurred face, a vast field of white flowers, and a tall mountain with a crooked star shaped formation to one side of the rock face. They meant nothing to him now. They must have done at some point, but he didn’t know enough about his past to warrant them as important.

Meh, what was the point? The memories never came and he’d just give himself a headache trying to grasp what he couldn’t reach. He was better off just trying to move forward with the life he’d been given as a Gatekeeper; serving the Guild for as long as he can, using his power to better mankind.

“Sir Auric! Sir Auric! A Gate has opened!”

And answering the call of duty when it rang. He sighed again and stood slowly, turning away from the murky view on the cliff top. His sea blue eyes found a young lad running toward him panting and wheezing. “Sir Auric, a Gate-” The boy tried again thinking the Gatekeeper hadn’t heard him.

“So I hear. Where is it?” The Gatekeeper interrupted impatiently, moving a stray strand of rustic red hair from his eyes. The boy looked up then, an apology in his eyes, but he wasted no breath on unnecessary words. Instead he pointed back towards the village. Auric’s eyes widened.

“In the village square!” The boy cried. “It's chaos! You have to hurry!”

Auric frowned. Virridus must be calling him for some reason but why call at the town square? Why not here at the cliff top? Was he trying to destroy the village? He couldn’t waste a second, he had to get to the Point of Origin or the entire area within a thirty mile radius was doomed.

He addressed the boy again. “Fiedad, I need you to focus on the village square for me.” The boy looked at him as if he’d grown a second head. Auric sighed. Trust was still an unfinished bridge with this boy, but then he couldn’t blame him. He knelt down to the boy’s height and gave a kind, rare smile before offering his hand. “Trust me.”

The boy looked at him as though trying to figure out his motive. Gatekeepers were revered and respected, but never trusted to help an individual of his own will. It wasn’t prohibited; it just wasn’t done. Most were arrogant and held an air of snobbiness about their person, but they were good at what they did, which was why the people respected them. But Sir Auric wasn’t like other Gatekeepers. Yes he was cool and collected, but rather than turning a cold face to the people and demanding respect, he turned that cold face to the Guild and earned his respect through his actions for the people. He was also a very powerful Gatekeeper and he knew how to use that power too.

Fiedad gave a cautious nod. This man had saved him from a world of trouble and misery and even now, knowing what he used to be, Auric still kept him close. Hesitantly, he took the man’s offered hand and closed his eyes before focusing on the chaos he’d not long left behind him. Auric gave one last sweeping suspicious glance around the cliff top before tuning into his energies deep inside.

With a gentle glow of light, the two vanished into thin air.

“Make way!!” The cry ran through the crowds that had gathered to watch their imminent doom grow wildly out of control. “Move people! Let Sir Auric through!”

The people parted instantly, moving aside for the unusually tall man of eighteen years as he and his guide, young Fiedad, ran forward spraying muddy splashes behind them. Tch, leave it to a kid to lose his focus at the smallest of fears and land us both in the paddies outside the Village! Sheesh, you’d think the boy’d never teleported before… ah, come to think of it he probably hasn't. Regardless! We have to hurry! Who knows how long the energy source would last before. . . well. . .it just wouldn't be good if the energy source runs out. Auric thought ashe pushed forward through the parting crowds; Fiedad in tow with Daine following closely. He glanced up and could see the whirring lights of the Gate ahead, and after pushing through the last throng of villagers, Auric finally set his eyes on the ticking time bomb before him. . .his step faltered.

“Virridus. . .are you trying to kill me?” He breathed, hardly daring to believe the size of the Gate forming in front of him. Quicker than a flash from above, he set his features into a dangerous snarl. If this is Fate’s cruel game then so be it. He frowned and clapped his hands together, focusing on his inner energies and matching them to the ones flying around the Gate in a gravitational orbit. He squeezed his eyes shut and once again concentrated on his power within, bringing it to the surface with a natural ease. Several gasps ran through the crowds as his aura began to glow brightly, a blue halo surrounding his body as he called on his power.

The skies roared its displeasure. The winds tried to sway the man who dared defy their wishes. The rains poured harder, trying to drown the Gatekeeper in his work.

“Ho-kai!”

With a shout of the two most powerful words to a Gatekeeper, he released the energies deep inside and aimed it toward the growing Gate. He snapped his hands out to the Gate palms open; power surging, successfully attracting the energy of the Gate toward him. He took the energies into his hands, channelling them through his arms, then down his legs and deep into the earth; effectively grounding them to allow the portal within to open safely.

But then something strange happened. Almost instantly everything went dark. Silence found his ears and locked them tightly away from any other sound; a cold numbness struck his nerves, cutting him off from the outside world completely. He sensed rather than saw the masses of refugees running through into the town square. Sensed their terror, their pain, and loss.

This was something that had never happened before, and as he focused on the darkness that was penetrating his vision, he swore he could see a dash of blue light from somewhere deep in its depths. A light that was strikingly familiar to the Gate he was controlling at that very moment and also something else. . . he’d seen this kind of light before, but not in a Gate. Curious, he concentrated harder on the blue light, bringing it closer to his vision. As he watched, the blue light became a blue glowing line; a tubular shaped tunnel of energy maybe? He didn’t know. Couldn’t guess either, for a split second later the scene changed, and a flash of a picture imprinted itself in his mind followed almost instantly by a sharp twang of pain.

His eyes snapped open. The pain was suddenly gone, only to be replaced by the strain of the Gate energies fighting within his body. . .the Gate was bordering on complete shutdown. His eyes widened. How had his focus had wavered? He gasped and realized he was losing control! No! With a snarl, he ignored the heaviness of his limbs and the sudden sharp ache in his head as he poured his entire essence into the Gate, forcing his energy into the portal in an attempt to re-stabilise the energy source. He was close to breaking, he could feel it, but he couldn’t give up yet. Just a few minutes longer. . .

Those few minutes seemed to last a lifetime in his mind as he struggled to stay conscious long enough to see the safe shut down of the raging portal behind his numbing hands. If he didn’t. . . if he couldn’t. . .it didn’t bear thinking about the consequences that could happen. His view suddenly dropped as his foot slipped in the mud. The pressures mounting inside him and the Gate were wearing him down, throbbing in time to his rapid heartbeat. It’d been open for too long. If this kept up for much longer there’d be no way he could contain and ground the energies that would surge out and explode.

“Auric! We’re almost done! Just hold on a little longer!” Virridus? It sounded like him but why was his voice so shaky? Ah, he’s probably at his limits too. As if to emphasize his current state, his other foot slipped leaving him knelt down before the Gate, palms still open toward the portal, but looking a little charred now. Well, energy does form heat, and with the amount of energy this portal was taking up, he was surprised to find himself relatively unharmed in that respect. Meh, another perk to this job.

“We got another thirty people coming through, then that’s it. Just hold on Auric.”

The red haired Gatekeeper frowned; why did his voice sound so far away? And why was there a muted echo to it? He didn’t know and quite frankly didn’t care at that point. He just wanted a bed and some painkillers.

“Almost there!”

He could feel his heart jumping in an irregular pattern, could feel his lungs striving manically for air, his blood rushing through his ears in an attempt to stay conscious. His body was trying to shut down. . .he wasn’t going to make it.

“Ok Auric ground the energies! I’ll see you in a few hours!”

Instantly he felt the change in rhythm. He quickly absorbed the sudden push of energy and channelled it through his body, sending it deep into the earth, unaware of the sudden life he’d given to the greenery around him. He collapsed to his hands and knees, breathing deeply, ignorant of the chaos around him. His vision swam, his whole body ached and his chest hurt.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, and because of that his coughing fit worsened until he felt something wet fall on his hands. He smelt it rather than saw it; a red metallic tang in the otherwise rain filled air.

“Sir Auric! You’re hurt! Get the Healer! Quick!” He didn’t know who was talking, but he vaguely recognised the voice. Warm hands found his shoulders and guided him to a more comfortable position. He was leaning against a warm body but still sat in the freezing cold mud. “Sir Auric, stay awake please. . .” The voices faded into oblivion as darkness swarmed his vision.

Virridus, you owe me big time, was his last thought before the black abyss took him prisoner.

And Special Thanks go to Faith Adeline for doing a superb job at beta-ing this Chapter! Seriously, my originals were atrocious! - Zer0 x