 The Magical Triumvirate by lavo0810
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A ripple travelled through the lair, it was soft at first, like the breath of an ancient spell being disturbed. The chamber was lit by flickering green flames, as the air stirred with power each of the candles danced. The litany of Gallions twitched and hissed, their heads turning in unison toward the crystal mirror mounted on the wall. The Vandagyre felt it first. She snapped her head up from the spell she’d been weaving. “Did you feel that?” She hissed. The Bori closed his book with a heavy thud. “It senses magic being used near us.” The Techo slithered forward, robes trailing across the stone. He placed one clawed hand on the mirror’s frame, muttering words and spells. The surface shimmered, cleared, and showed smoke curling into the sky above the river town. “The magic”, he breathed. “Show us who is using magic!”. The image shifted, showcasing a blur of red. A Gallion and at its side, a blue Acara with a glowing ring. The Vandagyre leaned in, feathers ruffling. “That’s not one of our agents, nor is it one of our gallions.” “No,” the Techo rasped. “It must be a wild gallion, one of those we haven’t been able to ensnare. I thought we had all of them.” The Bori narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps it is one of the ancient gallions.” “A hatchling,” the Techo replied. “Nothing for us to be concerned about, the others will never escape our spell. That ring though, do you see the gem glowing within”, His voice darkened. “Could it be one of the gems we were looking for?” The Vandagyre's eyes glittered. “We sent them to search and sniff them out, not destroy. What fool let the gallions burn the town? That will draw the King’s eyes. News of this will reach the old grumpy one in Meridell” “This is not my fault,” the Bori growled. “They must be hungry, they’re a lot harder to control when they are hungry. Anyway…they found magic, didn’t they?” He tapped the mirror. “Now we know where this ring is.” The Techo turned, sweeping toward the central dais, where a great map of Brightvale had been laid out in shimmering ink. He raised his claw and dropped small beads onto the map. Uttering some magic phrases, he traced a glowing line from the ruined town back toward the edge of the forest. “This locator spell will help us track the ring as long as it keeps reacting to the boy’s anger, it will stay alight with magic. The trail is strong so he must be carrying something far more valuable than he knows. More powerful than we originally thought!” The Vandagyre smiled. “Then we send the Shadow Gallions. Quiet and swift, they will be able to follow him…” “And lead us to any others he may have,” the Bori finished. Behind them, dozens of gallions stirred restlessly, their tails coiling like smoke, their eyes reflecting the same flicker of flame dancing in the mirror. Their hunt was about to begin.
Arlo and Kit raced along the winding trail that led through twisting paths and forgotten pieces of forest. They stumbled past hollow trees and moss-covered stones that held an inescapable gloom. Kit padded silently beside Arlo, his nose twitching with every pause. The glow of Arlo’s ring pulsed stronger with each step, tugging at his paw like a compass. Without warning, Kit stopped and dug his claws into the ground. Lowering his head to the ground, he emitted a low growling sound as he began to pace in a circle. “What is it, Kit?”, Arlo asked cautiously. Suddenly, shadows enveloped the pair. Claws, fangs, wings and tails covered every part of Arlo’s vision. It was almost as though they were being lifted into the air by a torrent of scales. A squeak of panic and pain jolted Arlo out of his confused daze. “No! Kit!”, Arlo screamed. Reacting to his emotions his ring pulsed. Whether it was fear or anger, Arlo didn’t know but from his ring a bright lift shone and radiated outwards. The blinding lift grew stronger and stronger until all around them was still. “What?”, Arlo said as he opened his eyes. When the light had dissipated. Arlo was caught in a tangle of stone, it appeared that whatever had been grabbing him had been turned completely to stone. Arlo wriggled through the small gaps to try and escape the tangle of limbs and wings. Eventually he was able to climb down. Stepping back, he could finally see what it was. There were many statues, perhaps twenty in all. Gallions, frozen in stone. That was when he heard it, a squeak from a few feet away. “Kit!”, Arlo raced to his friend. He was backed up against a tree, with three enormous looming statues cornering him. It seemed that the ring had reacted just in time. Arlo checked over Kit, who seemed to be fine. He couldn’t stop his mind from wondering. How did the ring do this by itself? What else could it do? Were these the gallions that destroyed his home? Arlo knew he had to go on, what choice did he have? Leave his grandma to her fate? So many questions were swirling around his head. A new magical world had opened up around him, what was the true power of this ring? Could he use that power? Arlo wanted to answer these questions, curiosity tugged at every fibre of his being, but first he needed to find his grandma. After a short rest Kit and Arlo gathered their belongings and moved to take up the trail again. It seemed to be heading towards the base of a looming mountain. Dotted along the slopes appeared to be a number of old caves. They reached the mouth of an old caves by dusk. Jagged stones towered from the ceiling of the cave. Arlo suspected that these could be long abandoned mines for Brightvale stone and that they had been long since forgotten by most. Arlo crouched behind a boulder near the entrance. Inside, the faint flicker of torches bounced across stone walls. Shadows moved to many of them to count. Gallions! Big ones, much bigger than Kit. “Quiet,” Arlo whispered. Kit gave a low huff and shrank against the wall. Slowly meandering into the cave. They crept from cover to cover, sticking to the edges of the rocky cavern halls. The deeper they went; the more Arlo saw clutches of glowing eggs nestled in pits of heated rock. Steam arose all around them, making the air hot and humid. The eggs were a vast array of colours including deep blues, midnight black and luminous greens. There were even clutches of eggs nestled upon shallow pools that led into other aquatic caverns. Ahead, a tall archway leading into a wide crypt ringed with carved columns. The pair crept around the groups of eggs, careful not to disturb them. Arlo and Kit slipped behind one of the columns just as a voice echoed across the chamber. " We need more. Larger. Fiercer!" came the cold command of the Vandagyre. She stood on a dais, wings spread wide, her eyes glowing with magic as she raised her hooked talons above a circle of waiting gallions. “None will resist our mighty gallions, you are ours now and will serve us forever!” She began to chant. The gallions in the circle snarled as her spell took hold. Their once tiny limbs growing, muscles bulging, smoke curling from their mouths as arcane energy surged into their forms. A look of menace contorted each of their faces. Across the chamber, the Bori stood by the egg pits, fire dancing from his paws. “Hatch, my pets,” he murmured, casting the flames in spirals across the eggs. “Grow quickly, and join your brothers. We need all of you for this next mission”. Arlo’s stomach twisted. This was an army. He edged back, nearly stumbling over Kit. However, Kit hadn’t budged. He was frozen, his eyes locked on another figure. Towards the back of the caverns was a Techo, hunched over a pile of stolen books and velvet-lined boxes of gems. “Useless,” the Techo snarled, holding a clear blue gem in the light. “So many gems yet not one of them are the elemental stones!” He threw the gem at the wall. And then it happened. The gem struck stone just as Arlo shifted his paw. His ring flared in response and the thrown gem lit up like a small star in a sea of darkness. A hum filled the whole cave. The stones around the Techo glittered in response. The Techo froze. “So... someone’s here and they’ve brought us a little present. My guess is the stone of protection.” He turned sharply, eyes narrowing, and pointed a crooked claw. “Find him! He is here already!”, yelled the Techo. Arlo and Kit broke into a sprint as two massive Gallions roared, their claws skittering across the stone. The Techo gave chase himself, his tail lashing, books and spells forgotten. Kit and Arlo raced through the winding tunnels, Kit weaving around obstacles and Arlo panting hard, the ring still glowing amongst the gloom. Behind them, the sounds of snarling, clawed feet echoed closer. They burst from the cave mouth just as the stars began to rise. Smoke still hung in the air, and the forest below glowed faintly with the fires of the ruined town. “Run now,” Arlo muttered to Kit, “we have a decent lead!” They fled into the night, the darkness behind them alive with fury. To be continued…
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