Gatekeepers

--- Lobby, IronSpark Center

After dinner was over, Rodrick snapped his fingers again causing the lobby to return to its original state. The moment he did so, LJ whispered something to Jayson and he suddenly disappeared from sight.

"Huh? What the..." Jin and Cidney was surprised when they saw LJ suddenly disappearing.

"Don't mind him." Jayson said and walked towards Rodrick and Jay.

"The stuff I am about to tell is a bit hard for mortals to understand. As I see it, only the two of you can get the gist of it, so let's move somewhere else."

Before Rodrick and Jay could even speak up, Jayson grabbed the two of them on their shoulders. The three of them suddenly disappeared after that.

"Sir Rodrick!"

"Dad!"

Jin and Cidney started to panic. Not knowing what just happened and why four people suddenly disappeared, Jin quickly accessed his phone and requested that IronSpark Center be on full alert and look for Jayson and the rest.

"Jin. Do you think they teleported?" Cidney asked since this was what she believed had happened. But the strange thing was that stuff like that or any other kind of magic was technically impossible in Earth except if someone owned a 'Teleportation Crystal,' one of the most complex and advanced technologies built by the Alliance.

Cidney knew that so far, only five people had a teleportation crystal on their hands, with one of them being her dad, Rodrick.

"I'm not sure Cidney. If that Jayson guy really did use teleportation, then there would have been some kind of glow around them before they disappeared..." Jin said and was also at a loss on what just happened.

...

--- Unknown Location

Jayson, Jay, and Rodrick were now in a small log house. There were shelves, tables, chairs, and other furniture inside the log house, making it look like an ordinary house.

"Hey, what did you-" Rodrick was about to ask in a loud voice, but Jay spoke up in his stead.

"Mind explaining it to us why you teleported us to this log house?" Jay asked and tried looking out the window. What he saw was just like a painting. There was a clear lake beside the log house and a forest surrounding them. As for the skies, it had a rainbow color to it, which was really weird and mesmerizing to look at.

"Welcome to the Gatekeepers' base of operations. Sit down and get comfortable since we might be here for a while." Jayson said as he yawned and stretched his back.

Jay and Rodrick had a feeling that they shouldn't do anything weird so they just did as Jayson told them.

The moment they sat down on the log bench near them, Jayson started speaking.

"Let me reintroduce myself. My name is Jayson Lockwood, one of the 'Ten Gatekeepers.' And just like me, LJ is also one of the Ten Gatekeepers. Our job as Gatekeepers is simple, and it is to close down any Dimensional Gate that pops up to maintain the order and balance of everything."

Rodrick did not know if Jayson was just messing with them since this was the first time he heard of dimensional gates and stuff, but when Jay heard this, he was surprised.

"You must have been slacking at your job the past years haven't you?" Jay suddenly interrupted Jayson and said this.

"Oh? Care to enlighten me why you said so?" Jayson asked with a surprised look on his face.

"Do you know a man named Hellson?" Jay asked.

"Hmm... I do know of him. One of my friends almost killed him when we learned that he opened up thousands of dimensional gates. But how does someone like you know of him?" Jayson was starting to wonder who Jay really is and if he was hiding something.

"Before I tell you, do you know about something called as the Great Millennia?" Jay asked since he was also starting to wonder a lot of things to himself.

"The fragmented world of Levendricus. Care to tell me who you really are and why do you know all of this even though you aren't from that world?"

Even though Jay did not want to involve himself with anything about this, he had no choice but to speak up.

For who knows how long, Jay started to tell Jayson about his knowledge and experiences back at Hellson's Dimension, or whatever it should be called.

"Hellson's Dimension? What kind of silly name is that?" Jayson said to Jay as he linked some thought to what Jay told him. As for Rodrick, he was at a loss on what the two were talking about and the only thing he understood was that what they were talking about was really important.

"To think that Hellson dragged thousands of people like you to Levendricus. Sadly though, no matter what the 'players' do back there, they won't be able to return Levendricus to its original state unless they destroy or seal off the dimensional gates there." Jayson said and sighed.

"Before you guys continue, could someone explain to me the difference between dimensions and world and whatnot?" Rodrick spoke up since he was starting to get confused.

"Geez... you even don't know this stuff?" Jayson sighed but still explained it to Rodrick.

"Rodrick, imagine you are in Earth and you have a banana in your hand."

"Okay?" Rodrick was not sure what Jayson was getting at but he still did what Jayson said.

"Let's say you ate the banana. And at the exact same time as you did so, in a parallel universe, you threw the banana away. This is if we're talking about a multiverse kind of thing.

But when we are talking about dimensions, it is another thing entirely. Let's say you are still in the same situation where you are going to eat or throw a banana. In the dimension you are in, the situation is the same. But in another dimension, what you might be holding isn't a banana anymore and is some kind of black gooey rod instead. See the difference?"

Rodrick cleared up some of his thoughts but was still lost about worlds and such.

"Then what about worlds? And the multiverse thingy?" Rodrick asked and acted as if he was in science class.

"A multiverse is a term we use if there are a lot of universes in existence at a certain dimension. A dimension could either have a multiverse or a universe type of setting. As for worlds, it is literally the same thing as planets.

And the final thing to know is about the dimensional gates. These are passageways that connects dimensions to each other. There isn't really much to tell besides this."

After Jayson explained this to Rodrick, he did not bother with him anymore and summed up everything he explained so far.

"To sum up everything I've said, we Gatekeepers have one ultimate goal; to destroy all of the dimensional gates in existence in order to return the order and balance to all."

"Then aren't you just wasting your time? You said that there are only ten of you Gatekeepers and you want to close off EVERY dimensional gates???" Jay said with a lot of doubt in his voice.

"Right..." Jayson suddenly became a bit gloomy for some reason when Jay mentioned that.

"There is much more to this than closing the dimensional gates isn't it?" Jay said as he grabbed Jay by the shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"Do you really want to know the truth about this Jay? But if I tell you, your life might change for better or for worse. Your life won't remain the same as it is. Are you sure you want me to tell you?" Jayson said since he did not want to drag Jay into a shitload of problems that the Gatekeepers had to deal with.

Jay had a conflicted look on his face when he heard this. It was true that he was really curious and all, but he already made a resolve to himself to not get involved in otherworldly crap anymore and just live his life in Earth.

"Forget it then. But since we are talking about stuff like this, does it mean that there is a dimensional gate back in our dimension?" Jay said as he released his hold on Jayson and sat back down.

"Yup. Three dimensional gates to be exact. But don't worry, once we close these three dimensional gates off, your dimension would return to normal."

"What do you mean normal?" Rodrick spoke up and asked.

"The planet, or world you live in at your dimension is called Earth right?" Jayson asked. Jay and Rodrick nodded at him.

"Once we close of the dimensional gates, every change that happened in Earth, EVERY change that happened, it will all disappear and your lives will return to the way it was."

"Wait, so you're saying that it is as if everything that happened so far will be like a dream?" Rodrick asked again.

"Indeed. Just like a dream. It might even be a good bedtime story for the future generations to come." Jayson said as he grabbed Jay and Rodrick again, teleporting himself and both of them back to IronSpark Center.

...

--- Lobby, IronSpark Center

The moment the three of them returned here, they heard Jin speaking to Cidney about something.

"I'm not sure Cidney. If that Jayson guy really did use teleportation, then there would have been some kind of glow around them before they disappeared... Sir Rodrick!" Jin stopped speaking as he saw the three suddenly appearing in the lobby again.

"Dad! What just happened?!!" Cidney said loudly as she ran towards Rodrick and hugged him.

"Don't worry Cid. Your dad is fine. So how much time had passed since we left?" Rodrick asked.

"A few seconds." Jin answered and was still bewildered with what happened.

"A few seconds? But..." Rodrick and Jay were shocked since they were pretty sure they were at that unknown log house for a couple of hours.

"So there you have it. I won't force you guys to do anything while LJ and I do our job, but be sure to enjoy the sights before it disappears." Jayson said and bid his farewell before disappearing from sight again.

"A dream..." For some reason, Jay had a weird feeling deep within himself. He was still conflicted whether he wanted to return his normal life or involve himself with the dimension crap.

"Goddammit! I already made my choice... so why..." Jay's mind was in shambles and sat down on a couch, getting lost in his thoughts.