This is my Upcoming Book

Hey everyone, this is Alex here, back for more! Sorry I haven't gotten around to posting anything lately, what with school and all... well, I'm going to post the first chapter here. There will be another page with the back-stories of the characters, upcoming as well, and if you have any comments, please, let me know. I love constructive criticism.
I know this will probably sound a bit like the Hunger Games at first, but it's nothing like it. Just keep reading... and eagerly await the next chapter! ;) Till next time~
-Alex

                                                                Dragons Gate

             Chapter 1

I ran across the forest, breathing heavily. A rock was in my way, about the size of a large sycamore tree. I stopped, catching my breath for a second. It was my only chance to get through this forest, my only chance to live… I managed to squeeze through the crack between the nearby tree and the rock, getting to the other side. I started to run again, still breathing heavily. As I watched the setting sun, I ran faster. Things froze over during the night, and I needed to get out of the forest if I wanted to live. It was described explicitly to me from the Game Director. Who had unfortunately been killed for telling me that. I looked towards the next batch of trees, and saw sunlight on the other end. The end of the forest! Thank the gods! Oh, mercy! I burst through the clearing, panting hard, and I ran across the field. Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past my head, and I stopped.

“You didn’t think it was that easy, did you, mi amour?”

I turned, looking around me. It was probably the Game master, who was mad at me. I had no idea why he was mad at me; I just knew he was mad. Maybe he was mad because I wouldn’t die? Anyways, I had to get to the door. I had to. I ran, despite the arrows whizzing past me, and reached the middle of the field when an arrow struck me right in the middle of my calf. I screamed, clutching my leg in pain.

“I told you, Luck, it wasn’t that easy. But I’m surprised you made it this far.”

There it was again. He was taunting me, making me doubt myself again. I gritted my teeth, and pulled the arrow out of my leg, watching the blood flow eagerly. I looked at the door, which was closer, oh, so closer, and I ran again.

“Fast, aren’t you, Luck?”

This time, instead of arrows, I could feel bullets. Maybe he ran out of arrows… hrmm. My clothes were getting quite muddy, running through the currently freezing mud, and I couldn’t feel my leg. At all. But I kept running. I felt a bullet hit my forearm, and I yelped in surprise, startled. It didn’t really hurt anymore, it just surprised me. That was bad, really bad… I looked across the field, looking for the door, and there it was. Still there, with a line in front of it. I sprinted with all my might, starting to feel my body get warmer from my running. But it wouldn’t last. I crossed the line and entered the door, panting hard. My whole body was numb, and I had lost a lot of blood. I looked at the next door, my vision blurring, and before I passed out, I had just managed to see that the Game master was standing there, a look of approval on his face. Snarky little bi-*.

When I woke up, I looked around. So far, so good… I flexed my leg, surprised to find that there was no pain, or no hole or scar-wait, no, there was a scar. Great.  Just great. I sighed, flexing my shoulder as well. All of my wounds that I had accumulated during The Game had been fixed, replaced with warrior scars. At least when I got home I could show these to Gray for proof… The door opened, and I whirled on my seat, looking at the Game Master.

“I’m so sorry about your little accidents, usually that doesn’t go over well with the audience…” He said, smiling awkwardly. I smiled meanly, harrumphing.

“Like you didn’t do it for ratings…”  He grimaced, and shut the door, looking for… something in the corners or on the wall, I don’t know, he was twigging out.         

“Quiet, we may be being watched right now.” He said, putting a finger to my mouth.

I was sooo tempted to bite it, but I had no idea where that finger had been, so bad idea. He pulled a device out of his pocket, and pressed a button. A high-pitched squealing noise reached my ears, and something fell from all four corners of the room.

“What the hell was that?!” I asked, instinctively putting my hands up to my ears.

He broke the chain holding me to the table, which I had just realized was there, and dragged me away from it. Suddenly, the table vaporized, and I stifled a cry. They were going to vaporize me?!

“Look, I don’t have a lot of time. I’m not even supposed to be doing this, and I’m probably breaking all the rules by doing this and telling you this. People don’t win and people don’t go home in this game. You’re the first in a long, long time to get through the last stretch, and they aren’t going to abide by their rules.No pot at the end of the rainbow, no passing go. But I’m pretty tired of seeing everyone die. So I’ve arranged for a transport to take you out with your winnings. You’ll be home in no time. Just… stay in the walls, and you’ll be fine, because that was supposed to vaporize you. Now that they know it didn’t, they’ll be looking for you. Be careful. I’ll be in touch.” He said, pushing me into a convenient secret corridor I hadn’t noticed before.

He shut the door, and I heard the door slide open in the other room.

What he had just done, just now, it had changed my whole outlook about him. Suddenly, he wasn’t that bad of a guy. I nodded, and slowly walked towards the hallway in front of me. He had given me a small flashlight, just so I could see, and I fingered it carefully. I smacked it into my hand once, and it turned on. I covered my mouth with my free hand, tears falling down my eyes. This was the corridor where all the dead people were stored. And some of them were still alive.

“My god… what the….” I muttered. This wasn’t right. None of it was. I went over to one of the people that were still alive, holding my hand out towards her. It was a 13-year-old child, just a couple of years younger than me. She groaned, and her eyes opened slowly.

“WH-who are you? Are you… here to finish me….off?” she asked, stumbling over the words. I shook my head, stroking her blood-covered hand silently.

“I’m here to help you,” I said softly. She groaned, looking at me with soft and hurting eyes. I picked her up slowly, looking at the welt running down her back. It was a cut! Holy Jesus, she needed a hospital! But there was no way to get her to one, and it wasn’t like I could have just… disguised me and her? Duh! Obvious! I grabbed some hair dye, and then realized it was a bottle of cyanide. I put it back on the shelf, disgusted. Why would people keep these things here?! Then again, I was in the place of no return… I sighed, and had an idea. I walked over to where I had set the little girl, and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

“I have a question for you, if it’s not too much for you to answer at this point, okay?” I asked, stroking her cheek lightly. She opened her eyes, staring at me.

“I don’t think there’s any…. Hair dye here… I’m sorry, miss…” She muttered. But I watched as she pulled out a bottle of red hair dye, contradicting her last statement. She had two small bottles in her hands, and she was clutching them like a lifeline. One of them was red, and the other was a dirty red. I took the dirty red and looked at it, worried. Would these small bottles-wait. There was a tag on the bottom of both of them.

“Good for all types of hair… blah, blah, blah, aha! Here it is! ‘More in bottle than appears to be… compressed.’” I murmured. I stuffed the bottles in her pocket, and picked up the girl again. She groaned in protest, but when the girl realized she was being saved, she smiled wearily. I kept running down the corridors, searching for a good place to stop. But when I reached the end of what felt like forever, I realized that I was looking at a huge, monstrous gate.

“I-I’ve heard rumors about this… but I thought that was all it was. Just a rumor…” I whispered. It seemed to call to me… it was whispering in a language I couldn’t understand… but I could make out the words “Dragon’s” and “Gate of Dragon”. It was weird, and I guess I liked it. I took a step towards it, and the corridor behind me disappeared. I took in a sharp breath, seriously weirded out by the sudden disappearance of the door.

I set her down, close to where the door used to be. This was starting to get weird, and not in a good way. Besides, I needed to get that girl to the hospital… after I dyed both our hair. I got out the hair dye, and got to work quickly. In at least 30 minutes, her hair was bright red. Like, cherry red. I sighed, and got out my hair dye, and in like, 45 minutes, my hair was a darker red than hers. I sighed, remembering my brown hair days. Oh well, living with red hair is better than dying with brown hair. I had to wait some time for the hair dye to dry and stuff, and when it was dry, I picked her up and looked for a way out. I couldn't believe that there was no sink… well, there was a definite stain on the floor now. But all that was there was the door. Danget. I took a step towards it, and the whispering got louder. This was weirding me out, big time. I took a step backwards, and the door shone with the light of the sun. I shielded my eyes, wincing, and suddenly, it wasn’t that bright anymore. But in front of me was a huge, scaly, winged lizard.

“Hello.” It said.

I think that was when I passed out. From shock.

Back~
Okay, so here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy, and you find pleasure in reading about this kind of things. Soon there will be more, I'm hoping to update a lot, have fun and please, make sure to comment!

Chapter 2

Crap was a lot harder to take when you knew that someone’s life was on the line. Especially since she was the DragonsGate Finder. I mean, there was only so much I could do to keep her alive. I was only a person, and most possibly, a candidate. And being a candidate was harder than being her. Because being a candidate meant you could get put in the ring at any time, and she had no idea how much tension that put on me. I had to do things that she could only imagine. Luck had it lucky… pun intended. I had to go to a therapist every week to just deal with the tension that being a candidate held. I sighed, tapping on the keys on my computer aimlessly, and heard voices. they were getting louder, and I knew exactly what was going on. They had found out that she hadn't been vaporized. And they would eventually figure out how it happened. But they would never find her. Nor would they find me.

“What the hell happened here?! I sent the cleanup to pick up the ashes, and what do I find? That there are none! Dammit!” someone yelled. It was Barren, the leader of the whole operation.Crap! Worse than that, he was pissed. He walked into the room, a scowl on his face, and he looked at me.

“Saya. I need you to check the Pit and see if she went in there. That’s an order, don't back talk me since you hate the Pit. Think of this as punishment for letting her get away…” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. I shivered at his touch, his hand that gave the wave on deaths of people all around… the hand that let my sister die in cold blood just because she refused to play this sick game… I nodded, looking him in the eye with a defiant stare.
“Yes, sir, I’ll get to it right away, but I need to get some things first.” I said, frowning. I stood, and saved the letter I was writing on my flash drive, taking it with me as I walked out of the room with an air of authority. I could tell that Barren really hated me, but he couldn't do shit about me since I was the Game Maker's son. I hated my dad so much for making the game. And why did he make it? I had no fucking idea, since whenever I asked him about why he made the Game, he just pointed outside and answered,

“The Fence, son, the Fence.” Little bastard wouldn't tell me. Had to be mysterious, like always. I reached the supply room, MY supply room, and I punched in the entry code. I walked inside, marveling at all the weapons and food I had stocked up for in the years. 20 years I had been doing this shit. For 5 blissfully unaware years I had had my innocence, not noticing the sick game that people watched every fucking day. Now it was time for me to move on and help Luck. I grabbed my duffel bag and stocked up on food and crap, grabbed a couple of guns, and headed towards the Room. That’s what I called it. I mean, it was a huge room where dragons came out of, so what else was I supposed to call it? I bumped into someone on the way to the Room, and I nodded my head to show I was sorry. The person narrowed his eyes, suspicious, I could tell, and I smiled wearily.

“Gotta go to the Pit, make sure she didn’t escape there.” I said, saluting him. He narrowed his eyes, then took the answer as acceptable and walked down the corridor, ignoring me. I reached the Pit, searching the corridor for the secret entrance I had made a long time ago.

“What the hell are you looking for, boy?! Get to work, or I’ll tell your father you’ve been naughty!” Barren yelled. I involuntarily winced, and stuck my tongue out at nothing. But he probably got the idea. He was an ass anyways, and he needed someone to hand his ass to him in a fight. But there was plenty of time for that later…

He finally found the switch on the wall, and he pressed it, sighing slightly. The time was here for him to finally escape the hell he had endured his entire life. Now was his time to be the hero. Along with Luck… and anyone else she had found.

Hey guys, I'm sorry I haven't been able to update lately, I know it's been at least a week, but I've been...~shudders~ grounded.
But I was able to get this one up now~
Enjoy!~ -Alex

Chapter 3

I woke up, and the thingy was still there. It was a giant freaking dragon. That was the only word I had for it. I stood shakily, feeling like my stomach was going to expel all its contents.

“Wh-what the hell… what is this?!” I said quietly. It pulled itself out of the … portal? Yes, the portal thing. Anyways, it was out now, and i would gauge it’s size to about halfway up to the ceiling. It had at least two eggs on its back, and my eyes couldn't take themselves off of them.

“You like my children?” It asked. I shook my head a little, trying to get used to the situation. I needed my parents so much right now… but i had left them behind to keep them safe. So many times i had doubted my decision, but right now i needed to keep my mind on the task at hand. Not breaking down again. I needed to be tough.

“Y-yea… umm, I'm sorry if… umm… i don't talk normal…. giant dragon complex, right?” I laughed out, trying to be funny and serious at the same time. I think the thing got that i was trying to keep it together really bad. The girl on the floor was just staring at the thing, and it smiled at her.

“It seems you have an injured party member. Would you mind if i healed her?”

“N-no, not at all! Whatever, just… make it so she lives, thanks…” I murmured, surprised by the dragon’s hospitality and kindness. All that she had read about dragons had led her to believe that they were monsters, but this was… so very different.

The dragon swung its long tail towards her, and said something in that language she couldn't understand. There was a blinding light, and then there… wasn’t. And then her wound was closed, all that was left a scar that ran from her side to almost all the way to her back. I stroked her face lightly, and said adoringly,

“You know, i think we’re going to make it.” She nodded, smiling slightly. I turned back to the dragon, eyeing it suspiciously.

“Lemme guess. You want us to go through your magical portal of happiness that just happens to be in the middle of a huge-ass magical room.” I said, frowning.

“Yes, if you want to put it that way…” It said. I sighed, and picked the girl up gingerly. She hugged me, and snuggled her face into my chest, sort of like my little sister used to do when i would pick her up…

“Why us?” I asked.

“You have gone through what is necessary to be one of the Dragon-holders. I will give you one of my children, and her the other. I wish that you two become Dragon-keepers. It is your destiny, our oracles have foretold it. Please, take much care with my children. They are very fragile.” It said. I guess it was a she…

` “You didn't answer my question.”

“Yes, technically, i told you what you needed to know. Dragons never lie. Except for corrupt ones.

“Whatever…” I murmured.

“Fine. I’ll be what you said, whatever, just leave her out of it. She’s just a child…” I told the dragon.

“But are you not a child yourself?”

“Th-that's not the point!” I yelled, my cheeks flushing. I was at least 15 years old, old enough to drive! How could I be a child?!

“No need to get rude, child. I understand your current situation. All i am asking is before you say anything else, you two make the oath of Dragon-gate.” She said. I sighed, and looked at the girl, shaking my head.

“You wanna do this?”

“S-sure! I’ve never had a friend with me all the time before, so this might be fun!” She said, smiling. She was still a bit disoriented, i could tell, but i could tell that she was an honest person overall, even if she was 12 years at the time. She struggled upwards, and i grabbed her, steadying her as she stood.

“We’ll do it.” The dragon nodded, smiling slightly, if you could call the slight curve of a fanged mouth a smile. It picked up one of its eggs with it’s tail, and lowered it towards me. I touched it once, and felt a burning sensation throughout my entire body.

“Excuse me, but I am not a human torch. Care to explain the flames from my fingertips?” I said gingerly. The flames that were bouncing from my fingertips really didn't hurt, they just… felt weird. The girl behind me was experiencing similar problems with her fingers and the egg she was touching.

“This is all part of the oath. Now repeat after me: I swear that no matter the cost, i will try my best to help humanity in its darkest hours, and i will not abuse the power of the Dragon-keepers. I will keep this a secret at all cost, and if anyone but The Ones who Know or the Dragon-keepers, who will be my brethren through heaven and hell, find out, I will have to kill them.”

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. I nodded once, looking at the girl behind me, who was already in the middle of saying the oath, and I looked at the dragon.

“I swear, that no matter the cost, I will try my best…. “ It went on for at least a minute. And when i finished, a warm gust of air blew into my face, like it was trying to get into my body. I shivered, and my arm burned for just a second.

“If you look at your arm, you will see that you have the apprentice tattoo. It will go away when you become a Master, but until then, you will need this amulet to identify you as an Apprentice Dragon-keeper.” I nodded warily, aware of the burning sensation in my hands as i touched the egg. I picked it up, surprisingly light, and i walked over towards the girl.

“Time to go, little.” I said. She sat up, carrying her blue-teal egg in her hands, and   walked towards the dragon.

“Do your crap magic.” I said, eyeing it carefully. It stepped away from the portal, and there was a blinding flash of light. This time i didn’t close my eyes. This time, I stepped through, because the number one thought going through my head was, ‘Don’t you want to say in twenty years that you had the guts to go through the portal?’

~Hey guys! Merry Christmas~ 
Sorry I haven't updated, But I'll be doing a lot more of that more often~ 
I'm officially ungrounded~
"YAAY" "WOOT"
Well, here's the next chapter! Hope you like it~

Chapter 4

I walked along the wall, more like the secret passageway, and I marveled at the mirrors installed. He had done this one year while everyone was asleep, and it had taken two days. Everyone was seriously messed up about it, and he had to worm his way through an interrogation just to get them to believe he was at a friends house. Jesus, they were too suspicious. They had good reason to be, though. I looked through the window, and to my surprise, I was looking at the middle of the fortress! Lücwise was there, all suited up and… holding an egg?? And so was the little girl that was with her too… I recognized the girl as the fourth one they had to take. Her family, they had had to kill… I pushed the thought out of my mind, and watched as they walked through the portal. I whistled softly, and the dragon’s eyes slowly drifted towards me. I took a sharp intake of breath, and started to back away, but the glass disappeared and I was falling towards the ground. And I landed in the worst place possible - in front of the beast.

“Excuse me, but why were you watching the new apprentices, young master?” I took in a steadying breath, aware that I was about to break all the rules set by my father. Good.

“She’s my friend, and I wanted to make sure she got across safely. You can never be too sure…” I said, trailing off as I stared into the eyes of the thing. I was mesmerized… no! I turned away, shaking my head. I shouldn’t do that again, it gave the thing total control over my actions eventually. Stupid crap magic…

“Look, I just want to go through to follow her.” I said tentatively.

“And why do I not feel your dragon’s presence?” It asked.

    “You know why. They took my egg, cracked it open, and studied it while they scolded me to never come back here. I had no power to help it.”

    “They did that?!” I nodded, a silent tear falling down my face as I remembered watching over the egg on the nights that I would cry myself to sleep. Those nights were always the hardest, but remembering that I had a friend that would be with me soon had helped me in so many ways. Then they had taken it, and I had had to watch as they cracked it open and I watched it look at me as it died, as I tried to get through to save it, give it a breath of life, anything… as I was helpless to do anything while they sawed it open like the monsters they were, as they studied it’s anatomy and the way it squirmed when they poked at it with a scalpel…

    “They did all that?” It asked softly. I swore under my breath, aware that it had just read my mind.

    “Yea. They… they did.”

    “I should have had you go through the portal.”

    “Yea.”

    “If you go through now, do you promise to keep Lücwise safe?” It asked. I nodded, a solemn look on my face.

    “I promise. I have everything ready, supplies, food, blankets, clothes… even bras for Luck…”

    “Then you have my permission and my blessing. Cerison mey no kawatishon…” It said, in its stupid-ass language. I felt warm for a second, then looked at my hand. A tattoo of a cherry blossom was there, when it hadn’t been there before, and i nodded.

    “Maybe this will help me. I don't know. But thank you. I’ll hopefully be in touch.” I said. I stepped through the portal, expecting blinding lights and pain, but all that was there was… trees, and some ancient structures. That was when I heard the screams. Dammit! It was Luck! I ran towards the screams, leaving my bag hanging over my shoulder. I pulled out my saber, .4 caliber, and I pointed it towards the increasing-in-volume screams. I reached the edge of the clearing, and quickly found out why they were screaming. They had met an Es’tuke . Shit.