While Johanna had been reluctant in letting go of Desmond, the familiar face of Raymond was probably enough for the girl to permit being put down and wrapped in a towel before Desmond, Elaine and Emmy left to find Professor Layton and Luke, as well as the Azran girl. Plus, there may have been an incentive involving a promise of brioche.
"Are you sure they could be somewhere around here?" Emmy asked as they went through the woods, carefully scanning for any movement.
"I can't deny, I could be wrong," Desmond admitted. "But I'm certain they are at least not too far from us."
"What if they moved to try and find you and Johanna, or us?" asked Elaine after she looked behind a thick bush.
"… Then this may take longer than expected. Though if that is the case, they might simple go into town and assume we're there and might go to the Bostonius and wait for us."
"That's only if they actually do what you think they will."
"Yes, I suppose that is true. But we still have to find the girl and she may have wandered elsewhere." Desmond grimaced a bit as a thought came to mind. "Maybe even towards Targent."
"I feel she'll know better than to go to them… Again," Elaine commented, before a sight of brown some distance ahead caught her eyes. "I think that's them up ahead."
"Professor! Luke!" Running ahead, Emmy was the first to reach the two. Luke was rubbing his head as he cringed. His fall likely far from soft, but appeared to be about the worse of any damage done. "I was worried you might have had it this time. Are you both alright?"
"We are unhurt, thank goodness. But I'm afraid I can't speak for the girl…"
"I'm sure we'll find 'er. She might still be dazed from 'er sleep so she couldn't 'ave gone too far," Elaine pointed out.
"You're right, though it was quite a fall. We did pick an interesting place to land though," Desmond commented as he adjusted his glasses.
"Oh? Do you know where we are?" asked Layton.
"I do," Desmond confirmed. "We're on the edge of Lake Kodh, or Siren Lake, as the locals call it."
"Siren Lake?" Elaine frowned, her knowledge on Greek mythology rising up a little. "Siren? As in those Greek myths of femme fatales who cause ship wrecks?"
"In a way, yes. Supposedly, this place is home to malevolent spirits who draw in the living and feed on their despair," explained Desmond. "Of course, it's all superstition. I believe it arose due to the unusually high number of airships that crash into the lake. The surrounding forest has also experienced more than its fair share of crash landings."
"It doesn't exactly sound like a great place for a young girl to be on her own," said Emmy. "We should really start looking for her." The Professor was quick to agree.
"Yes. Let's waste no further time."
"We'll need a great deal of luck if we're to find her in a forest so large," Desmond muttered as he looked around. What the trees lacked in thickness, they made up for in numbers and ivy growing on them. But with the forest colours consisting of green and brown (and maybe a little yellow), it could be easy to spot the girl here since her dress would stand out sharply here.
"Well, she could have wandered into town," Luke pointed out. "She might be looking for help there."
"'E does 'ave a point. I think if most people were lost in a forest, they would go to the nearest source of civilization," Elaine agreed.
"I suppose so." Desmond nodded, though he seemed a little sceptic. "It can't be any worse than trying to find her out here."
It was a logically decision. Unless the girl wanted to avoid people, there was a good chance she came to the town or at least went through it. Hopefully the worst thing the girl would run into would perhaps be culture shock, and not any more of those Targent soldiers. Such as the ones that they were currently hiding from as they hid behind the wall of an abandoned boat rental shop. Though in all honesty, these two didn't look like too much of a threat.
"Oi, Rook. What're you looking so moody for?"
"Oh, it's you. I thought we left you behind in Froenburg."
"Hah! I'm just some sort of clown to you, aren't I, Rook?"
Elaine already had a clear image of who was the brains of this duo and who was the more… Well, certainly not stupid or daft. Too much of an exaggeration and a bit cruel to think of. More along the lines of not fully thinking things through more like.
"Well, at least it sounds like they 'aven't found the girl yet," Elaine noted as the soldiers wandered in a different direction.
"I suppose we should be thankful for small mercies," Emmy sighed as she folded her arms.
"But who exactly were those bozos anyway?" Luke asked, looking back at the long gone duo with an annoyed look.
"They belong to Targent," Desmond answered, keeping his tone neutral. "A secret organization bent on unlocking the power of the Azran."
Desmond had never truly mentioned too much on Targent up to know, so Elane listened closely. An evil organization bent on unlocking power of an ancient civilization? Sounded like something from some old spy film or novel. But if the girl had somehow caused Targent's ship to malfunction, a power that may have been accidental if Elaine was to guess, then a full portion of such power in that groups' hands was extremely worrying. And then there was their technology. Far more advanced then what the level of such was for the present day. The world may be doomed if Targent got such power.
They had to get the girl. They key to Azran Legacy.
They just had to find her first. A task that all of them knew was not going to be easy. They had asked locals for help, and while they did give some assistance, they kept pointing them in the wrong direction. Unintentially of course. Even going up to one of the highest hills around didn't give them any better chance of spotting her.
Though having spotted Targent's ship, which still had yet to leave, they knew they still had time to find the girl and leave this place.
Coming back down the hill, they spotted a muscular man who looked white as a ghost as he quaked in his shoes.
"Wa-wa-war…"
"Sir, are you okay?" Luke asked in concern. "What war?"
"Not wa-war. Water! The girl! She was walking on water!"
"I beg your pardon?" Professor Layton asked, a slightly sceptic look on his face and Elaine was sure a similar look was on her own.
"I'm telling you! She walked straight across the surface. From the shore to the middle of the lake!"
"That… can't actually be possible. Could it?" Elaine wondered out loud, looking towards the waters. She only noticed now how further out into the lake there was a misty fog. It reminded a little of a horror film she had seen in her college years, except it was set in a swamp rather than a forest and small fishing community. The Professor tilted his head to the side and hummed to himself.
"Let me see…" He walked out towards the water. Stopping briefly to look down on it. Looking very carefully for… something. He then moved out and to the disbelief of most of the group, he actually appeared to be standing on water.
"How are you doing that Professor?!" Luke gawked. Eyes wide in shock and a little excitement.
"There's ice in the water," he explained. "Ice shelves thick enough to stand on and covered by the water just enough to not be seen. Combined it just gives the illusion of walking on water."
"So, there must be something out there she's looking for, oui?" Elaine asked as she looked hesitantly towards the water. Maybe the ice could have held the girl's weight, but would it hold the rest of them all together?
"It appears so. We just have to step carefully and we should hopefully find her," Professor Layton explained before helping Luke and Emmy onto the ice. Desmond had offered a hand, but she just grabbed onto his shoulder as she stepped on.
"Merci, but I don't need a 'and," she told him with a cheerful smile.
"Just be careful not to slip, won't you? We don't want you to have another sprained ankle," Desmond had spoken the first part with an equally cheerful smile, though the later had been said more quietly so only Elaine heard. She scoffed lightly but proceeded with the rest of the group to move forward.
They found the girl. Her back was to them and she stood silently on the ice. Then, she held her arms out and spoke. She actually sounded older than she did (and also as though there were more then one person speaking), and she spoke in actual Azran. Ahead of her, it appeared as though a small whirlpool was starting. But the water appeared to be going down further and further until it became a waterfall surrounding an ancient structure, hidden by the lake for who knows how long. It looked to have been made of yellow stone originally, but it appeared to be mostly covered in algae now, with some of the stone browning lightly.
It was an amazing sight. Elaine's archaeologist side was squealing lightly in excitement for a moment before they put their focus back on the girl, who had already moved to descend down the steps leading down towards the monument. The group followed quickly. Prepared for whatever this structure hid.
The inside appeared as though they were inside some large, sphere. Empty except for a pathway that led towards the centre of the room that had an unusually looking archway, where the girl stood.
"I never would have imagined this," Desmond said, looking amazed as they stepped inside. "I think these ruins are… responding to the girl."
"Then no doubt this is Azran," Elaine said as he looked up to the ceiling where some of the structure stuck downwards. "Do you think this structure may be the explanation for those plane crashes you mentioned?"
"It wouldn't be too far off that it would have some kind of magnetic field. An unfortunate side effect of course."
The girl had a noticeable blue glow around her body as she held her hands towards the archway. Elaine could just barely hear her, but the girl's current voice made it difficult to properly understand her. Then the walls of the domes began to glow with bluish green, starting near the top centre and going down in strange, seemingly pointless lines and symbols. Small waterfalls then began coming down from the ceiling as well. The girl turned to look to them. Her glowing eyes looked glazed, as though under hypnosis or in a trance.
"How on earth did you do that?" Professor Layton asked, almost not high enough to hear.
"I am the emissary of the Azran people, Aurora," she spoke. Her voice sounding full of authority. "The time has come for the power of my people to be passed on." Elaine heard Desmond gasp beside her, and she nervously bit her lower lip. Unsure what exactly Desmond was thinking.
"Our legacy to the world we left behind, if you wish to know our secrets… and your motives are pure… then all will be revealed. This dome will show you the way. Find the locations of the Azran keys. Prove you are worthy of our power."
After that, the glow faded, her eyes looking less glazed though she seemed to be temporally dazed as she nearly fell back before Professor Layton ran to catch her and help ease her to the ground. Aurora blinked, focus returning to her eyes.
"I… What…? Where am I?" Her voice sounded normal now of a girl physically her age, though that didn't make up for how confused she must have been.
"So, you're not aware…?" the Professor asked in concern.
"You said your name was Aurora. Is that correct?" Elaine asked.
"Aurora?" she sounded it out, frowning. "I… I don't know."
"Do you remember being trapped in the ice?" asked Desmond. The girl just frowned, no clear sign of memory.
"Me? Trapped in… ice?" Aurora questioned. She confused as she shuck her head lightly.
"You claimed to be the Emissary of the Azran," Layton explained. Maybe bringing these things up to her now wasn't the best plan. But maybe one of them could trigger a memory. "Is it possible you were sent by the Azran people as their messenger?"
"A messenger? No, I… I don't know!" she sound a little scared as she said this.
There was no doubt that this poor girl had lost most of, if not all, her memories. Her role as messenger perhaps being on a subconscious level. But there was still the matter of how exactly they were going to solve the Azran's puzzle. However, after discussing briefly discussing the myth of the Great Riders of the Sky, and Aurora reading a story of them off the walls, they managed to get some footing on the situation.
The lines were meant to be a map of the entire world. And marked on the map, after solving that riddle, were the places they would find where to get these Azran keys or 'eggs'.
Everything seemed to be clearer than earlier at least. They would just need to make a return back to England and take a few days off to sort a few things out. But Elaine while they had made their way out of the Azran structure, Elaine glanced to Desmond with a questioning look.
What does Desmond have in mind for the Azran's power?