Gatekeepers Book 3: Redemption

In an empty, dark void of shifting shades of black and dark grey, a dark silhouette sat cross-legged in the air, its head looking down at the only thing of detail on its body. An obsidian scaled hand with finger-like claws sat at the end of its right arm. The figure twisted the hand around as he examined it, curling the talons in a tight fist periodically before letting out a satisfied sigh.

“The brat’s doing much better than I expected,” a monotonic voice rang out, speaking to no one in particular. “To think he’s already broken past the first three Brinks.... It’s astonishing.”

“Pleased about something?” a new voice asked cheerfully.

The silhouette twisted its head around to see a bright ball of white light descend from above. The ball of bright light burst apart like a firework, and a young lady fell to the invisible floor the silhouette sat on. She had pale skin, and her long, lavender hair was tied up in a ponytail above her head with a pink ribbon. Red eyes looked down at the silhouette, glittering like rubies. A kimono adorned her body; the white top revealing her upper curves while the red bottom reached to her ankles. Black socks were worn under straw sandals, and a rapier hung from her black sash. The handle and guard were gold in color, with a red jewel set in the hilt near the blue blade.

The figure made a snorting sound. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, come now,” the woman pouted, putting her hands on her hip as she stared at the silhouette. “It’s been several millennia since we’ve seen each other, and that’s the only greeting I get?” She peered over the silhouette’s shoulder and saw its right hand. A smile crept over her face. “Looks like you’re finally starting to get a defining body,” she observed. “You’re way behind the rest of us; all six of us already have our whole bodies back.”

“Be quiet,” the silhouette growled, turning away from the lady. It stared out across the abyss. “It took me quite a long time to find my realm’s Gatekeeper. All the other possible candidates couldn’t withstand even a fraction of the power and were unable to break past through the first Brink. But the candidate I currently have my eyes on had no problem adapting and forced his way through several Brinks in the span of three months.”

“Really?” The woman cocked her head to one side in surprise. “Which Brinks has he cleared?”

“The Brink of Power, the Brink of Endurance, and the Brink of the Arcane.”

The female whistled loudly. “Wow, sounds like you found yourself a real winner this time around,” she commented. “It took my candidate two years to break past those brinks, and three more for the last two.” She fell silent for a few moments, her eyes glazed over before speaking again. “Looks like the other five took about the same amount of time as me.” Her eyes grew clear again as she eyed the silhouette cautiously. “You may have gotten a late start, but you might be done materializing before three years pass.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it only took another three months.”

“Huh?” As the woman stood there, perplexed by the silhouette’s statement, the shadows wrapped around the figure’s right arm suddenly blew off the body, like shreds of black bandages being torn off. The right arm, exposed from the shadows up to the shoulder, was covered by a long, robe-like dark green sleeve with dark orange trimmings. The lady could only stand there in shocked silence as the figure pulled the sleeve up, revealing the muscular arm covered in glistening black scales. The silhouette flexed his bulging arm a few times before letting the sleeve fall back down. He turned to look at the flabbergasted lady, and one black eye with a yellow iris and a slit pupil glared at her from the right side of his head.

“You think I’m way behind the others?" the voice growled, less emotionless than it had been before. “You fool. I’m not behind; I’m ahead of the rest of you.”

“I think I can see that now,” the lady finally managed to find her voice as she put a less-than-convincing smile on her face. “Looks like the battle will be entertaining this time around. Anyways, I’m at my limit in this space of yours, so I’m going to go now.” With that, the lady’s body began growing transparent, fading more and more away with each second. “I’ll be back to see you once your body’s completely materialized. Until then, take care, Wrath.”

The single black eye narrowed as the lady completely faded out of existence. “You too, Envy.”