The Gatekeepers

Prologue

Looking out the window at the rolling grey clouds gather, a feeling of pending doom slithered down his spine, he knew his era was fast coming to a close and time was running out like sand in an hour glass, he could almost see it tickling away.
"They are ready" Dren said telepathically, her voice as soft as a whisper and yet so loud it felt as if she was right behind him.
The wind whipping his ash curls about his leathered face, he brushed them back in place with a bony hand and vanished from the room to reappear silently in the huge hall.
The time had come to chose the next Gatekeeper.
There was a legend everyone was familiar with. 
The legend of the phoenix. 
How the mystical creatures were born from their ashes only to raise again to full glory. There had been so many literature written over the time about the magical properties of the mythical creatures, their tears, their feathers and their song, and must of them quite untrue.
Staring at the line of youths before him and he wondered who the unlucky soul would be. The next in line to protect the truth about the myth; to protect the flame of the phoenix.
Dren waited patiently, unblinkingly watching the boys and girls lined up in their finery. They were the only ones un the middle kingdom that possessed the potential.
Slowly moving from one end of the long line to the other, he walked invincible to human senses, before the twenty youths between eleven and fifteen - not one blinked. 
They had potential but his successor won't be found today.
"They can leave" he said standing next to her again and turned to leave for his chambers when he saw the last boy on the right cork his ear with a frown, eyes roving as the young boy of about 12 years tried to find him.
Hmm.
The mage paused. The boy may not be his successor but the child could prove useful. The others were all deaf and blind to his presence.
He tapped her shoulder and Dren nodded in silent agreement then motioned for the helpers to lead them out but stopped the blonde Pougit boy when he tried to follow the others.
Dissatisfaction churning his stomach, the mage entered his private chamber and closed the door with a ward, then walked further into the run to do something he'd left as a last resort.
He lifted the glowing blue veil that shimmered like a flowing waterfall with a flick of his palm. After so many years, he did not need to utter commands to perform magic.
The veil parted to reveal a glided cage on the other side. A golden cage that hung suspended in a room that seemed endlessly dark as night and filled with stars.
Time had long passed for desperate action, a dangerous one but one that would yield results.
Eyes of incredible depth starred back at him; reading his mind and understanding his motives. "Now, it is up to you to find the next Gatekeeper, My lady"
The fiery head of the phoenix raise as she gave a warm cry of agreement, the sound washed over the mage, replenishing some of the strength he'd exerted using magic to walk before the youths.
Reaching for the lock of the cage with the long key chained around his neck, he turned the lock and watched the cage crumble to dust in before him.
***