Gatekeeper Chronicles
an excerpt

PROLOGUE
We were only eight – eight years old and in danger for our very lives. Devan had trusted me. That trust is something I know I will never forget so long as I live, no matter how things turned out between us in the end. Devan had been my brother, Marcus’, best friend. But Marcus died in that battle, and things were never the same again. I suppose though, that I should start more towards the beginning - and I say that only because where this story REALLY starts... even I don't know that.
I don’t remember much about where I grew up. I do know that Marcus and I were close when we were young. I think we lived away from other people, because I can’t remember a town, just a sprawling complex in the middle of nowhere where Marcus and I must have lived with our family. There were mountains there that we would play in during the spring or summer, chasing each other around in the fields and forests, pretending to be knights or heroes of yore or some other game, I don’t remember. But I remember being happy. It’s the last time I remember being really and truly happy.
After that all there was, was fire – fire and darkness. When I awoke we were in a different place. It was cold there and Marcus and I were alone. How we ended up in the small mountain village of Qualar, I can’t remember either, but it was there that I first met Rina. Her brother, Devan, gave us a place to sleep and recover from our flight.
The mountain winter was harsh and we were forced to remain in the village for the duration of it. Rina and I connected immediately; there was just something about her that I felt drawn to. We were inseparable during that winter and I was almost happy again.
Marcus and Devan were the same way. They would spend all day together; Rina always said that Devan never had a friend like my brother before. They were both strong and driven. Their senses of honor and justice drove them both and bound them together like true brothers. What they did all day though, neither of us knew - but they were teenagers and therefore a completely different species in our minds. Other families of refugees that had traveled with Rina and Devan to Qualar were set up in wagons and people’s barns and stables. Rina and I stayed with our brothers in a loft over someone’s barn. Curling up next to each other were able to stay warm at night.
The sick and the very young were allowed to sleep in the common hall in the center of the town. It was the large hall used for government functions, community celebrations, and religious congregation. This was where Devan and Marcus were spending most of their time – when they weren’t practicing their fighting skills that it. Devan definitely had skill with weapons. I remember him telling me that his dad had been a knight, and that someday he was going to be a knight too.
Once Nerum was gone that is. Once Nerum was gone and their home free once more.
Winter left the mountains and with it went the caravan of refugees. The villagers in Qualar, while willing to aid travelers for the brutal mountain winters, were not willing to risk the attention of the refugees’ enemy – Nerum’s Freedom Empire. So with the first spring thaw the whole band packed up and continued on their way, with me and Marcus along for the ride. It was during this leg of the journey that I first experienced travel through the worlds.
One of the villagers knew the location of the rift in Qualar’s dimension. The rifts are holes between worlds that allow travelers to pass from one world in a series to another. Each rift was only capable of traveling so far within the series, sort of like a train system where there are lots of stops but you’ll eventually have to get in another train to finish your journey. It took us two months to reach the gate that would lead us out of the series we were in.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Devan and the others didn’t actually know where we were going, they were just praying that wherever we landed in a friendly world. Some families left when we reached the gate, but most, including the large contingent of orphans, decided to remain together.
It was like this that we arrived in the great underwater city of Artum, and it was like this that Nerum’s forces found us. The city's defenses were practically non-existent and easily overcome, so it was left to Marcus and Devan to protect our rag-tag group. Even I knew that we should have forgotten about honor and saved ourselves, but Marcus and Devan refused to listen to reason. They were adamant about all the refugees secreting themselves away before they would leave, and until then they both played to fight in order to draw the troops away. Both, however, were resolute about both me and Rina escaping while we could.
Neither one of us wanted to leave their brother behind. We fought and kicked and screamed but our brothers were not to be swayed. They knew their chances of survival just as much as we did, which only served to confuse us further - why were they staying if they knew they had almost no chance of surviving? Why not escape with the refugees now? It was then that my life changed forever.
Devan took me aside, just before the battle began and gave me a purpose, a reason for running. I think he knew, even back then how much I cared for Rina. He had me take a solemn vow; an oath he knew I would never break unless I succumbed to death itself. He charged me with protecting Rina. He charged me with protecting the most important person in either of our lives. I was to protect her, even if it cost me my very soul. She continued to fight our flight but I was against her now as well. I would not fail Devan, I would not fail her. I would put my life on the line to protect her, and I would never go back to the way I was before.
So we ran. We ran and ran, leaving the city behind and escaping to an old cave system near the shore of the main island located closest to the city. We had been seen by troops leaving the city, but we kept running. Through the dark and damp passages we continued on, hoping beyond hope to escape unscathed. It was here that we encountered Nerum himself.
To this day I have no idea how we survived, let alone escaped such an evil. I remember fear, and anger, and an absolute determination to protect Rina. He didn’t kill us right away. In fact he may have wanted us alive – possibly as leverage against our brothers, but it didn’t matter. There was no way he was getting his hands on Rina; I had sworn it to Devan.
Then came the light.
Then came the pain.
All I remember after that is walking out onto the beach, carrying Rina in my arms. I could barely walk and support her weight at the same time. That was where Devan found us both, and where I collapsed after handing his sister into his bloodied hands. I couldn’t even stay conscious long enough to ask where Marcus was. It was a weakness I would soon regret.
By the time I woke up two months later, Devan, Rina, and all the refugees were long gone. And my brother, my only brother, Marcus… he was laid to rest on the mainland two days after I awoke. They had put off the memorial to their fallen hero until after I was conscious and able to attend. Apparently Devan had had enough sympathy for me to tell them that I was Marcus' brother before abandoning me alone in a strange land with nothing but the clothes on my back.
The people were kind and generous, but all looked at me with pity in their eyes. The Lord of the Island took me in and I grew up with the luxury of a prince. I had the best tutors and greedily absorbed everything they gave me. Math and science, history and literature, even the fighting arts and magic were nothing but stepping stones to me. I was given everything I wanted, except the thing I wanted most – the ability to leave.
I lived on the island of Halson for just about eight years. It was custom on the island to take the test of manhood when one reached sixteen years of age and take their place as an adult, a full member of the island's society. So when I was turned sixteen I was finally able to make my own decisions and quickly did so. I had learned all I could on Halson years earlier and had only been wasting the time away until I go elsewhere. Upon reaching adulthood I was finally given permission to access the rift, and I left to a place where I could learn everything I would need – because I had a goal.
I was going to destroy Nerum.
Obliterate him for what he did to my brother. I had waited eight years on the isolated island kingdom. I was patient and knew that even at the rate I was going, I was still many years away from being his equal. The stories of his power, both magically and physically, may have been exaggerated, but I knew better then to assume such. In my studies of history I learned leaders were often given credit for great victories when it was truly their underlings that were responsible, but every once in a while a great leader came who was everything his legends said he was. And with what I had could remember of the man’s fearsome abilities, I knew better then to doubt that he was of the former type.
And that is what led me here, to Palanus - the Palanus Institute of Advanced Multi-versal Studies that is. And let me tell you first days at new school are harder then they sound.

Application for Admittance to Palanus Institute for Advanced Multi-versal Studies
Name: Tobias Kristopher O'Connor
Age: 16
Land of Residence: Kingdom of Halson
Dimensional ID: PV-509
School previously attended: Personal tutoring on Halson
Previous Education (by subject):
Math: Enough
Science: Dimensional Physics adept
Literature: Halson traditional
History: Halsonian adept, minimal multi-versal
Etiquette: minimal
Magical: Halsonian master mage
Philosophy/Theology: Halsonian adept
Combat:
Strategy/Tactics: basic
Weapons: proficiency in sword, staff, small blades
Unarmed combat: Halsonian expert level
Music: minimal Halsonian lyre ability
Art: none
Herbalism: Halsonian ecology proficient
Medicinal: emergency and first aid proficient
*Please note all claims of advanced level knowledge are subject to testing prior to class enrollment
Anticipated Areas of Study: Combat, Magic, Science