Having passed this area, she walked fifty meters or so, marvelling how vast the vault was. A spell must have been used to make it greater in the inside than the outside. It was the only logical explanation.
Anything like order was abandoned in this place. The common point between the objects gathered in great piles, heaps and clusters was that there were objects of destruction. There were non-magical guns. Wizards and witches wands, some so old there was dust everywhere when she tried to touch one. Enormous staffs. Rifles of several centuries. Large halberds. Explosives (she stayed far away from the box labelled in large red letters TNT). Potion vials containing liquids she had no idea what use they could be given the derelict state of their glass container. Hundreds of muskets, old-style cannons, runic circles were everywhere.
"I didn't find the alchemy notes I was looking for," she said aloud, "but if I had the capacity to take these weapons, I would have the capacity to arm a very respectable army."
Giving a last glance to an axe which had certainly been the personal weapon of a giant (because who else would have handled a six feet-tall axe?), Alexandra's attention was attracted by a flash of silver on her right.
Advancing towards it, she came face to face with a stone sculpture of a beautiful woman. No, not a woman. The sculpture of an angel. With closed eyes and great large wings, the realisation was breathtaking. The being who had created it had been so successful one could believe the angel was instants away to open its eyes and came to life.
In its hands, the sculpture held a platter of silver colour. Upon which there was a magnificent one-handed sword.
Alexandra had never pretended to be an expert, but this weapon was really of a price defying imagination. The pommel was gold and had a shining emerald incrusted in it with two dragons, one silver, one gold, circling around the jewel. The hilt was also decorated with two silver dragons. The blade itself was reflecting her image like a mirror. Its edge was so sharp her eyes had difficulties seeing where the sword ended.
Upon reflection, the last point was definitely weird. Looking in the vicinity, all the objects looked to be hundreds of years old, with the dust and the lack of maintenance which went with it. So why did this sword was looking like it had just been forged? And why did the figure of the angel looked so familiar? She was sure to have seen it somewhere, but where?
RRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!
"It found us so soon?" Alexandra supposed her question would be classified by future historians as one of the most useless in human history, but at that moment, she didn't care.
The salamander had found them while they were inside the vault, and if the defences of the vault didn't hold her life expectancy would be measured in minutes. Rushing towards the stone angel, Alexandra took the silver sword and ran in the direction she had just come from.
Alexandra had taken more or less half an hour to reach the location of the stone angel in her exploration of the vault. By her reckoning, less than five minutes were necessary to come back to the entrance.
Unfortunately, it did not look like her speed was going to make the difference. Rushing along an alley of swords, she arrived just in time to see Steelfang charge straight at the opened maw of the salamander with one axe in each of his hands. The left axe was shining of an ice corona. The right one was launching bright lightning.
The war cry of the goblin warrior, while fairly loud, did not seem to faze the salamander one bit. The Summon erupted an inferno of dark flames from every part of its body, which consumed the goblin in one instant. Alexandra had two full alleys between her and the flames, and even then she felt the terrible warmth propagated by this unnatural fire.
Then the salamander posed its demonic eyes on her. Despite every experience she had endured at Hogwarts in one year, Alexandra recoiled under what she saw in the eyes of the entity. Death. Death, an eternity or torment and chaos. The Summon was not simply a being from another plane. It was a force of evil, older than the time humans were sticking stones together to get fire. It was a true monster, the reason why the humans fear adventuring alone in the darkness. The kind of force there was no prayer to protect against.
"Well, if I have to die..." Alexandra shouted in defiance. "You will have to do it properly. I am not going to do the work for you. I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor! The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn!"
Deep in her heart Alexandra knew she had no chance. An entire army had failed to stop this evil. But with no safety exits, the salamander was going to find and kill her. If she had to die as the last member of House Potter, she would face her death weapon in hands, not in a hole trying to crawl away.
The big demon of flames and shadows roared in defiance, emitting a shockwave of fire which missed her by inches. The reality shimmered and vacillated. Powerful wards and magical defences ruptured and shattered as the colossal entity poured its wrath in the flames.
Unsheathing her wand and her new sword, Alexandra screamed "Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass!"
And the world exploded in flames.
13 July 1992, Approaches of Brise-Roc Fortress, France
"The gates of Brise-Roc are completely closed, Monsieur." Said the young employee of the French Ministry. "The ward-masters and curse-breakers are confident they will be able to break the dark protections which are sealing the fortress from the outside world, but it's going to take hours!"
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