The search ultimately took them back to the Temple of Souls, left in disarray after Cia had left it behind. The plants had wilted and died and dying vines wrapped tightly around the various statues and columns, no longer kept alive by the magic Cia had. Outside of the main temple, there wasn't any signs of anyone being there. It was left largely the same aside from the dying and over-grown plants. But Lana assured them that Baptiste was here and he was opening another gate - they just had to find him before he caused too much trouble.
The small handful of soldiers they had brought with them kept close as Lana and Cia took the lead, leading them through the winding halls of the temple in search of Baptiste, who was still nowhere to be seen. Even though Cia had thought he would be in the main room, where she had trapped Link and forced him to fight a handful of Dark Links, he wasn't there, so that meant that he could reasonably be anywhere in the temple or the garden - it was a large area to cover with such a small group of people. But, they all agreed it would be better not to split up; they still didn't know what Baptiste wanted to do with the Gates of Time, and they didn't know what he could do with his magic, so they didn't want to be caught off guard by him.
One by one, they were able to eliminate various rooms; he wasn't in the garden since all three rooms were empty, and the rooms on the main floor of the temple were empty as well, leaving just three on the top floor. Running around such a large area had taken its tole on everyone in the group, so it was a stroke of luck that the next room they went to explore had exactly who they were looking for.
In one of the western rooms, Baptiste was standing with his back to the group of soldiers, another Gate already opening wide in front of him. Magic blew his hair and clothes back, kicking up dust and blowing it into Lana and Cia's eyes. Even over the audible rush of wind and magic, it seemed he was able to hear them arrive and turned around, flashing them a wide grin and throwing both arms out to his sides. "So you found me!" he shouted with a laugh, still barely audible over the howling wind and his magic.
Lana held one hand in front of her face to block the harsh winds and the dust, squinting her eyes to see Baptiste against the pulsing light of the Gate behind him. "Baptiste, you have to stop!" she shouted, trying to take a few steps forward against the wind. "This is dangerous - you could destroy Hyrule!" she continued, still trying to move forward.
With each step closer she took, the wind only got stronger and it got harder to move, and soon she was just walking in place. But Baptiste was still standing strong, his arms out. "Why should I stop? This is beautiful! My magic - it's so much stronger than it ever has been - I don't want it to stop now!" he said with a loud laugh, throwing his head back and closing his eyes to relish in the feeling - in the bliss of his own magic. "I never thought being so powerful would be so amazing!"
Cia stepped foward this time, only managing to take a few steps past Lana before she was stopped by the wind as well. "Baptiste, listen to me! You're going down the same path I did - this isn't worth it! Close the Gate and come back - we can still purge the dark magic out of you!" she shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth so she could be heard over all the noise. The soft murmur and worried calls of the soldiers behind them were lost to the wind, and all Cia could hear now was the wind and the rush of magic going through her veins like burning hot blood; where had all this magic come from?
"You were just too weak to finish your goal!" Baptiste shouted, his words clearly striking a chord with Cia, as she took a small step back, her mouth hanging open a bit. "You weren't strong enough to keep this beauty going - you were too eager to do what someone said! Well, guess what? I'm acting on my own!" he said with another laugh. "And I'm going to do what you never could!" he thrust his arms above his head, another blast of magic making the Gate throb once again, the light becoming blinding and the wind even stronger.
Lana couldn't keep her footing anymore and stumbled back into the group of soldiers behind her. She was caught by one and pulled back behind the door and to the wall to protect her from the magic, Cia showing up beside her before long. The light was visible in the hall, leaving scorch marks on the stone floors and growing brighter by the second. With another rush of wind that nearly swept the entire group away, everything stopped.
The wind stopped blowing and the magic pulsing through her veins eventually faded away, leaving only her magic behind. And when Lana opened her eyes again, the glowing had stopped, though it had left a clear mark on the stone floor of the hall. Without saying anything, she pushed off the wall and ran back into the room, skidding to a halt. She stumbled forward as Cia ran into her, grabbing onto the other girl's arm as she looked around at the room.
The floors and walls were all burnt, magic still wafting from deep marks and scratches on the floor. A large oval was burnt into the back wall where the Gate had been open, though there wasn't a sign of it now. The Gate and Baptiste had both vanished, and Lana was willing to guess that he had gone through it - wherever it lead, he would be there now.
"Lana." Lana turned around to face Cia, who had a worried frown on her face. "Another Gate has been opened - I can feel it. It's been opened in the Valley of Seers - he's moving and he's moving fast. We need to get going and get the others!" she said, already starting to tug Lana towards the door.
Lana nodded dumbly after a moment, running after Cia when she got her footing. "Right! One of you!" she looked back over her shoulder at the soldiers running behind them. "Go and contact Princess Zelda! I'll open a few more gates at Hyrule Castle for them to get through; tell her to bring more soldiers!" she shouted and a few of them nodded.
When they were in the garden again, Lana and Cia made quick work of opening a gate of their own; much less dangerous than the one Baptiste had opened, mind you. She ushered the soldiers through, making sure to leave one behind before opening a gate for him. "Tell her what happened and where we're going; we'll wait for you all there." She got a nod and a salute from the soldier before he ran through the gate.
When the gate was closed and gone, Lana looked over at Cia, who nodded and lead the way through their gate, which closed with a flash of light behind them, leaving the garden empty once again.
With a flash of light and a flourish of magic, a portal opened in the empty courtyard once again. The soldier stumbled out and looked around wildly before sprinting into the castle, not bothering to check if the gate closed behind him. With a few sloppy turns down the halls, he found himself at the meeting room and pushed the doors open quickly, taking a few deep breaths as the people in the room all turned to look at him.
"What news do you have for us?" Impa asked while Agatha stepped forward to help him into the room. "Did you stop Baptiste from opening another gate?" she continued, everyone else waiting silently for his answer.
The soldier shook his head, taking a few more breaths before straightening and saluting. "No, ma'am! Baptiste managed to get away again." that sentence alone got a bad reaction from everyone in the room, ranging from gasps to uncomfortable shifting in their seats. "And Miss Lana and Miss Cia are both worried about his magical abilities; he left scorch marks in the floor from the magic he used to open and control the gates. Miss Cia said that he was opening another gate in the Valley of Seers and insisted that you all come along in case he's there with an army!" he said quickly, not dropping his stiff stance as he waited for an answer.
Zelda looked over at Link and Impa with a worried frown before looking around at the other people in the room, all of whom looked equally upset by the not so good news. "Of course, we'll go," she said with a nod, standing up slowly. "Have Lana and Cia opened a gate for us?" she asked, and the soldier nodded. "Impa, go and rally a few more troops for us. I'll take the others through the gate to see if we can figure out anything beforehand," she said, and Impa nodded.
With that, everyone began to move at once. Impa and the soldier went to gather more soldiers to fight while the rest of the group - Zelda, Link, Agatha, Ruto, Darunia, and Midna - made their way out to the gate in the courtyard, not hesitating before stepping through, each already equipped with their weapons of choice.
When they stepped into the Valley of Seers, there was already a Gate opened at the peak, but just as the soldier said they would be, Lana and Cia were waiting with the soldiers at the base of the temple, Lana pacing back and forth while Cia was talking quietly with the troops she had with her. "Lana! Cia!" Zelda called, jogging up to the two of them. "Have you figured out anything new?" she asked, looking between them with a frown.
Both of them shook their head. "We haven't yet - but this Gate isn't nearly as powerful or dangerous as the last one he opened was," Cia explained, getting another nod in agreement from Lana. "With all of you here, we should get up to the peak of the temple and see what the gate may be letting through; maybe we can close it while we're up there," she said, already turning around to lead the way up.
Zelda nodded, letting her take the lead. "I'm sure you two will figure something out!" Proxi chimed in, circling around the group before vanishing into Link's hat once again.
"Have we figured out who Baptiste is yet?" Midna asked, running up towards the front of the group on the back of her shadow wolf. "It's hard figuring out how to fight an enemy if you know nothing about them," she pointed out.
Lana shook her head. "We haven't figured out anything about him other than he has outrageous magical abilities - I haven't seen any Hylian with magic that powerful," she said, speaking over her shoulder so the others could hear her say it. "If we don't stop him, I'm afraid what kind of damage he could do, opening gates like this all over the place!"
Almost as soon as she finished speaking, they reached the peak. Another gate was opened at the back of the room, but there was no sign of Baptiste. It was empty aside from the gate; and more bad news was about to come. "More Gates have been opened!" Cia said, sounding as frantic as Lana usually would. "There's one at the Great Deku Tree, one at the Temple of The Sacred Sword, and another in Gerudo Valley!"
Zelda scowled and looked between Link and Impa. "Then we need to split up. Link and I will go through this Gate and see what's behind it. Impa, Darunia, and Ruto can go through the Gate at the Great Deku Tree. Agatha and Lana can go through the one in the Temple of the Sacred Sword, and Cia and Midna can go through the one in Gerudo Valley," she said, getting a nod from each member of the group. "I wish you all the best of luck; hopefully it won't be anything that causes permanent damage to any places that the Gates open to."
With that, Cia and Lana opened gates for the others to pass through and they split into the groups Zelda gave them. Link steeled his nerves for whatever was waiting on the other side of this Gate; hopefully it would be somewhere that he knew and recognized, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up. Only one way to find out, though.
He had to keep going.