Gatekeepers Book 1: Darkness

Why I Won't Fail

Twang. Draycos heard a bowstring being release from somewhere to his upper right. Without slowing his pace, he jumped to his right side and kept running as a handful of crossbow bolts whistled pass his left ear. Everything in the tunnel had a purple-blue glow to it from the clouds surrounding Draycos on all sides.

He had been sprinting down the purplish-blue tunnel for about ten minutes now, and every few minutes there was some obstacle impeding his progress. First there was a large bolder rolling down the tunnel towards him, but it was some sort of illusion, as Draycos ran right through it without pausing. The next one was a wall he had been forced to climb over. And now he had to deal with dodging ranged weapons from unseen attackers. That had been the fourth set of bolts fired at him that he managed to avoid.

They're not pulling any punches with this one. Maybe they keep firing at me since I doubt they got a good feel for my defensive capabilities during that fight with the mock dragon.

After another handful of minutes, Draycos could finally see the end of the swirling tunnel of purple-blue clouds. Relieved, Draycos picked up the pace as much as he could, attempting to reach the end of the tunnel before another obstacle popped up.

Twang. The sound came from behind him this time.

Shit! Draycos twisted his upper body around just in time to see another set of crossbow bolts already on top of him. Without any time to dodge, Draycos lifted his right arm to keep the bolts from getting his head, and three crossbow bolts buried themselves deeply in his right shoulder. Draycos yelled in pain as they almost reached his bones; it hurt much less just getting broken bones then having some foreign object bury itself in his flesh. He tripped and fell right at the exit of the tunnel, sliding to a stop beyond the exit.

Gripping his right shoulder, he managed to prop himself up on his left elbow and looked around. He was right back where he started before running down that booby-trapped tunnel, which was already starting to fragment and dissipate into the air.

A voice started speaking again as Draycos managed to stand up, but it wasn't Zero's voice that was talking this time. "You have now finished the agility assessment portion of the exam," a cool feminine voice echoed throughout the area. It sounded very gentle, like a flower on the verge of losing its petals. "Since you possess no magicka, you will receive a total of zero for that category. We will now proceed to start with the final portion of the assessment exam, which will determine your endurance."

"Great, still no break for me," Draycos grumbled as he grabbed one of the bolt shafts sticking out of his shoulder. He attempted to pull it out, but the excruciating pain that resulted from this action prevented him from doing so.

Just then, his entire surrounds began to shift and squirm, causing Draycos to look around in surprise. All the clouds were vanishing as if they were being blown away by a strong gale, relieving what laid beneath them.

Draycos was now standing on a cobblestone ground in the middle of a large square-shaped stone coliseum. The sun was now blazing overhead onto the hot age-worn stones of the structure, and debris filled the otherwise empty stands. A large stone statue of a dragon standing on four legs towered above the outside of the building on a large decorative pillar, but its body was in bad shape. Its lower jaw had been broken off, and one of the wings that extended majestically out of its back had been demolished. It was missing most of its tail, too, and one gleaming golden eye glared in Draycos's direction. The whole area looked like the place could fall apart at any disruption.

"The endurance assessment will now begin," the female voice rang out.

Clack. Startled by the sound, Draycos looked around to see its source, but he couldn't locate it.