Luck Of The Claw - Episode 31.

- Episode 31 -

Ancient evil arcane energy was beginning to flood it's way out of the Vault of Echoes, Trinity could feel it building around her. It was beginning to choke her, the vile forces were sickening to her. And then she looked up, and she could see the intimate madness working its way into reality through the creature in front of them.

So much festering maliciousness, it was so ancient and right now it was mingling - weaving itself together until it was assimilating the helpless entity it reshaped. Somewhere inside it, Trinity could see a vague spark of what it had once been, but already it was too far gone to save. The thought made one simple truth become all to clear to her as she recalled all the dragon corpses. Dragons were known as creatures of pure arcane power, the very natural fabric of their being, their innate essence was magical. If all this malevolent dark magic had coalesced together over the ages then it was possible it had grown into some sentient poison, a toxic magical presence that was deadly to anything living. It had proven fatal for the dragons, the very core of their being destroyed from so much prolonged exposure. And yet, a single dragon had survived!

Trinity turned her gaze upon the weakened wonder, the last guardian of the Vault and let her mind process everything as it continued to come to her. The baneful black forces were still struggling to overcome the sapphire scaled sentinel. For some reason it had as yet managed to overtake the beast, while instead it was seizing upon the soul of this other thing. There was some difference there, Trinity could almost make it out as it as it tugged and teased at the back of her mind.

"That's it," Trinity declared decisively her voice muffled by the bursting spells cacophony. Already confused by the strange events unfolding before them, Mal found himself turning to look up at Trinity as he prayed she held some answer for him. He felt powerless against all this sorcery, Mal needed to know where to point his blade and how to fight it. Trinity was his best bet to gain any real understanding, and only a fool would enter into a battle ignorant of understanding what he faced.

"It's the Vault Mal," the majestic little maiden started to point out to him, her eyes almost aglow with the scene around them. "There has been too much dark magic locked away in there for too long, it has become magnified and alive somehow. It wants out, to spread; so many of the things hidden in the Vault was meant for evil purposes and that core element it driving it. The dragons all died from being exposed to so much toxic power for so long."

Trinity raised her finger to mark her point, gesturing at the last of the dragons Mal had tried to safeguard. "Only one remains because it alone had a heart pure enough to fight it with courage." As if it was his cue, Camden erupted out of the deadly magic still pouring down from above to land off balanced from a hard roll at their feet.

"This is very bad," her brother remarked through pants while a strange shimmer made it look like he was smoldering from the magical flames. "We must warn the King," Mal stated, following Camden's lead. "Without warning this could sweep through the kingdom unopposed."

"I think I may have an idea about that," Trinity said with a grin her eyes still shining. And for once, Camden didn't seem to hate those words nearly as much.