Dragon's Key

Chapter 3: The Magician's Keep

With the knowledge of the Magician's Keep the trio set out towards their destination. It was an hour down the main road that lead towards the capital city. Then they turned onto a trail that was barely distinguishable from the surrounding greenery. After another hour of difficult travel along the overgrown trail, Gwen could see a grassy clearing with a tower in the center.

As the group approached the Magician's Keep, inside the top of the keep a young magician was mixing powders together intently. "What did I tell you about trying to make gunpowder explosives, Max?" a fairy chastised the magician, fluttering over his shoulder. "Aren't dragon-tech weapons and ballistae effective enough?"

"They are, but the average person shouldn't need to be able to read and speak Draconic in order to defend themself against a manticore or a Lesser," the magician named Max replied. "Gunpowder will help to ward off the dangerous monsters and allow civilization in this world to finally advance."

Gwen and the brothers entered the Magician's keep through the dragon-sized archway. They entered into an atrium area. The edges of the atrium were lined with statues of different mythical species. Elves, dwarves, manticore, humans, and some which Gwen could not recognize. The entryway was adorned on both sides by two dragon statues. Unlike the other stone statues surrounding the rest of the room these were composed of metal. They were also positioned staring towards each other.

The three young adventurers stepped forward with Tristan confidently leading the way. Gwen and Gabriel followed behind with slightly more caution. Once they reached the center of the room, a loud creak erupted from behind them. All three whirled around, Tristan and Gabriel grabbing their weapons. To the teens' amazement the two dragon statues had sprung to life and began advancing toward them.

Tristan pulled out his sword and shield and rushed the metal creature on the left. He tried to guide his sword between the metal scales on the side of the beast, but it did not pierce. He was subsequently pushed backwards several feet by a swipe of the dragon's tail, falling onto his back.

Gabriel pulls out his crossbow and prepares to fire at the metal creature when they heard a voice from behind them, speaking in a language unrecognizable to Gwen. The words made the metal dragons freeze. They then turned and walked back to their original positions.

As the two giant robots retreated to their pedestals, Gwen turned her head, and the form of their savior came into her view. He was a tall young man with olive skin, brown hair, and bright green eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry about that. I wasn't expecting visitors," the young man sheepishly said. "I would have disabled the dragonoids if I had known."

"What is it this time, did a deer walk in and set off the defense system again?" A fairy appeared floating from behind the young man.

The fairy was five inches tall and had translucent wings. She had her arms crossed over her chest.

"Who are you?" Gabriel asked the strange pair, the first to come to his senses.

"I believe since you are the ones in my home, I should be asking that first," the tall young man stated.

"Now if you would be so kind, could you explain to me why there are three travelers in our Keep?" the magician inquired. "It would also appear that one of you is a Displaced."

"We were told to seek the Magician for answers," Gwen explained.

"That is interesting," The magician seemed apparently rather eager to switch to the topic of Gwen. "First, I wish to ask you for clarification. Are you indeed not from this world?"

"No, this definitely is not my world," Gwen responded firmly without hesitation, "The Earth I live on definitely does not have giant monsters, magic, or fairies."

"What level of technology has your world reached? What level of understanding of the laws of nature do your people have? Are there multiple intelligent species inhabiting your world? How long have humans had recorded history? What are the flora and fauna like? Is your entire world charted and mapped? What is your society like?" the magician asked the questions in rapid succession, barely even pausing to breathe.

"Max," the fairy interjected in a condescending tone, interrupting the Magician's barrage of questions and flying out in front of his face where she hovered at eyelevel with him, "you can't expect to get any answers about this girl's world if you ask the questions one after the other."

"My apologies. I guess I was getting carried away in my excitement. Mari's right, we can discuss your world at a more gradual pace. For starters introductions are in order."

"My name is Maximus; I am the one everyone refers to as the Magician. This here," the magician said with a smile, pointing at the fairy who was now sitting on his shoulder, arms folded and an annoyed look on her face, "is Marigold, my fairy partner. I call her Mari for short."

"I'm the one who makes sure that Max doesn't burn the tower down with his experiments," the fairy clarified, apparently more so at Max than at any of the three visitors.

"If you wouldn't mind, could you give me a general timeline of your world's history?" Max asked.

"I'm not the most interested in history in school, but I can tell you what I know," Gwen stated hesitantly. Gwen paused a moment to collect her thoughts, then taking a breath she began to explain.

"Is that useful to you?" Gwen asked after finishing off her description of the history of the world.

"Yes, that is very useful," Maximus replied, "Your history is essentially the same as it is in the world from which I originated with a few key differences. As that is the case, I assume that your world also achieved a relatively impressive level of technological progress and the corresponding level of understanding of the physical and chemical laws."

"So, you actually are a Displaced as well?" Gwen asks excited by the possibility that this could be her chance to get home. "Do you know a way that I can get back to my world?"

"To answer your first question, yes, I am technically what you would define as a Displaced, although I view this world more as my home than I do the one from which I originate as I have spent almost the entirety of my life here. As for knowing a way to get you back to your own world, that is a bit more complicated."

"How exactly is it complicated? Do you have the ability to send her home or do you not, Magician?" Tristan interjected, his annoyance audible in his voice.

"I'm sorry, but I lack the necessary tools to send you back to your own world, Miss Gwen," Max explained with a look of sympathy towards Gwen. "This facility only has the resources to open Windows to observe but not interact."

"So, I'm right back where I started?!" Gwen exclaimed feeling tears starting to form in her eyes. The despair of being trapped forever in this dangerous world came crashing down upon her.

"Not quite. While we don't have the ability to open full portals here, there are pieces of Dragon technology that can create stable portals between worlds. They are the instruments the dragons used to travel between different alternate Earths to find other intelligent beings and bring them together to share and expand their combined knowledge. They are essentially keys to other worlds, Dimensional Rift Activation GateKeys, or DRAG keys. Due to the acronymthey have come to be called Dragon Keys. There were only about a hundred dragon keys created and many of those have been destroyed, lost, or damaged. However," Max sighed, "we do know of a location that should still have one in working order. The Grand Library's auxiliary vault." The magician paused before continuing, "Unfortunately, the library is a great distance from here and there are many dangerous obstacles in the way of the path."