Three obscure words that had started it all. While she was sure that they held some charm, Lin was sick of being kept in the dark.

“No,” she said shaking her head. “No more of these games. What’s with this weird aura? How did I transform earlier? Why is there a DRAGON outside trying to kill my friend?! What…” she paused, trying to sum all of her thoughts into a single phrase. “What is it that you want?”

Avalon tilted its head in the other direction, staring in silence in an apparent attempt to assemble an answer that would satisfy the wary girl. Then, its neck snapped straight with an audible click. Its red eyes blinked like the headlights of a car, and after another click, shone a bright gold.

“Accessing Central Library Archive…”

Its mouth no longer moved, yet it was clear that the creature continued to speak.

“Opening file: Project AVALON.

Unit 003:

Magic Containment Field.

Error.

Systems damaged.

In order to suppress the excess miasma that is polluting the air, a medium is required to serve as a link to the container.”

The light from its eyes faded, and again it spoke with its innocent demeanor.

“You are the link, Lin. You – are the one to channel my power!”

Lin again looked to her hand. She had figured that the light around it was some form of Avalon’s magic, but to have it explained at last lifted a weight off her shoulders.

“So what?” she asked, not yet willing to completely trust its words. Whatever that was just now was way too creepy! “I just do to the miasma what I’ve been doing to the webs?”

“No,” replied the ferret, shaking its mane. “The light you have right now isn’t enough – You’ll need all of my magic before you can seal the source.”

“The source?” Lin didn’t like the sound of that.

“The source,” Avalon repeated. “The source of the miasma – Morgan.”

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Outside, the sky had become an ocean of deep violet whirlpools, each swirling mass like an endless abyss attempting to swallow the sky. The wind groaned as blue lightning crackled with thunder. In the centre of it all roared a cyclone, a purple pillar of toxic miasma that anchored the heavens to earth. And in the centre of that – was Morgan.

“What… What is this?” She screamed, falling to her knees. Her hands went to her sides, holding them dear as every bit of heat in her body seemed to vanish by the second. “What’s happening to me?!”

Aisa, having reverted to her human form emerged from a cloud of debris. Her black dress remained unscathed, not a perfectly placed strand of her long hair suggesting that she had been in battle only moments before.

“Do I have to explain everything?” she looked down at the shivering girl. “One year ago, you and your merry little band had thought you had saved the world. Maybe you did – at least at the time. But that beast you destroyed wasn’t the end – On the brink of its destruction it hid itself away inside you, like a parasite it fed off of and corrupted your magic. And ever since then it continued to grow. Ever since that day one year ago, you became something that should not exist in this world.”

“No…” Morgan shook her head. She wanted to deny the truth being told, but she also knew that there was no denying that the distortion raging with her at its epicentre was real.

“I tried being merciful, you know?” Aisa continued. “All you had to do was let my webs seal you away. But then that foolish friend of yours had to interfere… If you must blame anyone for your fate, blame her. As things have progressed this far, there’s only one thing left that I can do.“

From her hands erupted two balls of purple fire, each growing with the chant of her spell.

“In my left hand burns the flame of the goddess.

In my right, the flame of the forgotten dragons.”

Together they burn.

Burn to cinders all within my sight.”

On command her fire exploded into the air. Roaring, it came down in an arc over Morgan, who was too overcome by the miasma eating her from within to realize anything else.

But it never reached.

At the same time that Aisa’s fire had reached its peak, another voice rang out.

“Resound: AVALON!”

The six-legged ferret flew from the building in a streak of golden light, transforming into a sceptre that twirled into a waiting Lin’s hand.

Fire sputtered and sprayed as it was propelled away. Between them stood Lin, garbed in her previous white dress – only now complemented with the addition of a black vest and gloves.

“It’s been a really long day,” she said, flipping the staff under her arm. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to wrap things up here and go home.”