Chapter 3 : Findings

"Did I say I hate this blasted rainforest?" Another series of snickers by Frank were triggered by the latest explosion of an increasingly irritated and frustrated Zhalia. "Oh, just about a zillion times!" said Lok, trying to hide his smirk. "It's just because I totally hate this blasted rainforest!" "Don't worry, we're nearly there!" Frank said still snickering. "I thought that after three days of hiking through this, you would have become a true amazon, Zhalia!" said Cherit playfully. His reward was a murderous glare, but any comment was cut short by Sophie's excited cry : "There we are!"

Soon, they exited to a huge rock that stood beside a very tall waterfall. "At last, here we are! Here we lost any track of Lok's power signature, and so we had to search blindly around. But this time, we're going to do something different. Ready, Sophie, Lok?" The teenagers nodded; they had followed his advice, and in the previous days they had practiced using their magical powers together; in this way, Frank hoped, Lok's relation with Eathon and Sophie's mastery of magic could point at least the direction in which Eathon had disappeared.

Lok squeezed in his right hand Sophie's left one, and with a last encouraging look, they began. They both closed their eyes, as a purple aura formed around them. Sophie lifted her other arm, and moved it around. After a minute, she stopped the movement and opened her eyes. "It's that way! I'm sure of it!" Everyone went considerably happier at the announcement. "The last to arrive has to pay the beer!" Frank announced while gripping on his backpack and striding downwards in the pinpointed direction.

They strode forwards for about an hour, but then Frank, who had started to look around worriedly, stopped abruptly. He visibly gulped and murmured : "I don't get it. I've met countless defensive spells that can confound one's mind, but I never felt anything like this one! My lucidity is almost gone, and I feel more tired and dizzier than ever before. Can you feel it, guys?" As he spoke, he turned around, to see with much horror, that Lok was barely able to stand, clinging desperately to a tree, while Dante was trying to get an unconscious Zhalia up to her feet; Sophie was slowly collapsing on her knees, and Cherit wasn't looking any better. "Oh, damn. If we succumb to this, we're screwed." He bit his lip, then he proclaimed in desperation : "Omenshield!"

The spell had an immediate effect, and everyone regained at once their strenght and lucidity, although a lingering effect was still present. Frank however fell on his knee, breathing heavily. "Hey! What's the matter?" Dante said hurriedly. "I managed to fire a spell that should protect us... but this curse it's quite strong, I'm barely managing to keep it at bay!" Frank panted, sweat rolling down his forehead. "What do we do? We can't wuit and go back, but we can't go on!" said Sophie, anxiety building up in her voice. Lok answered in a low voice : "Well, I think the best option is staying... and batling him."

Everyone looked at what he was looking, and saw a huge, green creature that looked like a mixture of a snake and a lizard; but the critical detail were the multi-colored feathers that crowned his head. Dante's Holotome quickly identified it : "Quetzalcoatl. Attack 5. Defense 4. Meso-Titan Mythological Animal. Size: Huge. Special Power : Hypnotic aura." "Damn, this is bad! We get out our Titans, he's gonna charm them defenseless and smash them!" Lok cursed. Frank nodded. "You're quite right, Lok, but if I remember right your girlfriend here has an Albion amulet, and that Titan is impossible to be controlled, as does my Hrungnir. We start with them, then as this badboy is occupied with 'em, we summon more Titans and we help them with some spellwork, but be careful not to use up all your energy! I've got a feeling we might need some soon!" "Yes, it's a good plan. Seekers, let's dance!" Dante approved, and Frank gritted his teeth and roared : "Come forth, Hrungnir!" "Fight for victory, Albion!" was Sophie's answer.

The two titans charged the mighty enemy, and luckily Frank was right, his power didn't work on them. As soon as he got into defensive mode, it was Lok's turn to shout : "I summon you, Freelancer, Lindorm!" "Take him on, Solwing, Ignatius!" Dante ordered, and Zhalia finished by declaring : "It's your turn, Kilthane, Gareon!" The newly summoned Titans ran to support Hrungnir and Albion, and soon Quetzalcoatl was surrounded by them. He was very dangerous, however, and soon dispatched with some swift tail blow Freelancer and Ignatius. Dante, Lok and Zhalia added their spells to their Titan's attack, while Sophie stood by Frank, whose effort to shield them from his power and to summon Hrungnir had rendered him vulnerable, even if Cherit had given him his signature power-up.

It took a long time, an absurd quantity of spells, and Albion, Kilthane and Solwing defeated to subdue the lizard Titan; but with a last, mighty roar, the huge beast disappeared, to switch places with its amulet. Lok fell on his knees while wiping off sweat from his forehead. "Whew, that was a though one!" he panted, and Frank wholeheartily agreed. "Yeah. No wonder the Toltec emperor who managed to bond with him had such a large and powerful empire. Such a Titan would be enough to subdue countless armies!" "Wow!" said Zhalia with sarcasm dripping off her voice (she had been hit twice by Quetzalcoatl's huge tail and was still fuming), "so what are we going to do with this amulet?" Dante shrugged : "We will send it to the Foundation's headquarters, and then it will be their problem!" "Hah! I like your approach, Mr. Vale!" exclaimed Frank, now recuperating. He kneeled and carefully took the amulet with a special gauntlet that they knew was used to grab amulets you don't want to bond with, finally putting it in a pocket.

"And now that the road is clear, we ought to rest for a while, then resume our march, because I can feel that our search is coming to a close, in a way or another!" "Oh, yes, I like the sound of that, I'm quite exhausted!" Sophie moaned, as she crumpled under a tree. Frank paced around, mumbling : "You know, it's quite frustrating when you've got a knack for this 'feelings', when you realize something is about to happen, but you don't know what or whe..."

That was the exact moment in which the ground under him collapsed and he disappeared without a scream, and without completing his phrase. Everyone rushed, screaming : "FRANK!" They heard a quick : "Featherdrop!", then just heavy breathing. "Frank! Are you alright?" Dante asked worriedly. A quite irritated voice answered : "Yes, I'm alright, but next time I would like a little warning, and..." His protest ended abruptly, and after a second his voice came, suddenly serious : "Guys... you better get all the stuff and get here at once." The four looked at each other, then Cherit said : "Coming!", and he disappeared in the dark opening. Puzzled, the others retrieved their backpacks and followed him, landing with magical grace.

They were in an enormous cave; light went in by the hole Frank had accidentally stepped over; the black water of a lake creeped over the place, and it was very cold and wet. They shivered.

"What's the matter? What did you see?" said Zhalia, more and more puzzled. Frank, a few feet far, merely pointed, his face expressionless, to a human figure laid on a altar-shaped rock. The dim light revealed a tremendously hollow face, a wild hair that coupled with a haggard beard, his clothing was torn to pieces and worn out; there were faint traces of what looked like dried blood. But under all that, what they could see took out all the air in their lungs.

Because that figure was still identifiable as the one and only long-lost Seeker of the Huntik Foundation, Eathon Lambert.

Here we go, another chapter! Sorry for the delay, I've got quite a lousy year, so forgive me!