The location of the last Azran egg, like the other locations, had its own great uniqueness. It was surrounded by somewhat austere looking walls, surrounded by a grim looking forest. Even if Aurora was not with them to sense the egg, the architecture of this ancient looking city seemed to suggest Azran origin.
The city itself was called Mosinnia, which according the legend had a phoenix. A legendary firebird that shall never have its life extinguished.
"It… looks kinda depressing here," Johanna commented when they walked through the city streets. "Depressing and empty."
"Perhaps. But with any luck, it won't be long until we have the egg in our possession," Desmond said.
"In a way, these streets remind me a little of London," Luke remarked as he looked at some of the taller buildings. "They're much quitter, though. How sure are we that the egg is here again?"
"'In the city of Mosinnia seeps the eternal phoenix'," Desmond quoted. "Or so the legend goes. Where there's a bird, there's probably an egg."
"Do you think the phoenix legend might be connected to the Azran Riders of the Sky?" Elaine asked. Maybe the connection wasn't too strong, but that didn't necessarily mean it was impossible for there to be a connection.
"It's not the most scientific theory, but given that the town is enclosed in Azran walls, I'd say it has some merit."
"But where do we even start?" Johanna questioned. "There doesn't appear to be anyone around to help us."
"Perhaps the city's residents are all indoors," Professor Layton suggested. It was a bit of an optimistic thought considering the time of day, but it could have been a time of rest or something similar. Though if that was the case, they might not get help straight away. But that didn't stop them from knocking on the first door they came across after deciding to find someone to ask.
"Excuse me! Is anybody there?" Luke asked as he knocked loudly on the wooden door. They waited, but no response came.
"Hmm… There doesn't appear to be anyone home," observed the Professor with a small frown.
"Well… There 'as to be someone in this city," Elaine noted as she looked around her. "If it was completely abandoned, it would be in a less appealing condition. I would think so at least."
"Granted, there is something not quite right here," he agreed before suggesting, "Let's keep moving."
Continuing to move through the streets, it just seemed completely devoid of life apart from the few crows that flew from building to building. Not exactly something to lighten the mood of this place. Reaching the centre of the city, they saw that there was some sign around her. The lit fires that stood on either side of an elegant, golden phoenix statue. There's no such thing as fire that can burn without fuel and survive weather conditions after all.
"Do you think it's part of the legend?" Emmy asked Desmond, enquiring about the statue.
"I very much doubt it," Desmond replied. "In the eyes of the Azran, even the purest gold was of little worth."
While that was true, it didn't make the statue any less impressive. It just seemed to make the phoenix look more proud in Elaine's point of view.
But with a cry of help, from a young boy by the sounds of it, they at least knew that there were some people in the city at least. Though this one was in need of some sort of aid so they rushed back to one of their earlier standing points.
They saw Bishop and Rook (surprise, surprise), though they were being confronted by a tanned boy wearing what looked like a type of white headwrap. What made this scenario strange was that this boy (who seemed around the same physical age of Aurora) was actually asking the mismatched duo for help.
"I thought old people were supposed to be nice! Why won't you help me?" Johanna faintly giggled at that, as well as the reactions of both them.
"Rook, did you hear that?! He called us old! Where we come from, that's a crime, you know!" Rook had his lips together tightly before snapping,
"Zip it, Bishop! Boy, let me make something very clear. I'm a perfectly eligible bachelor and I don't like being talked down to." He looked a bit uncomfortable then. "Er… but that's none of your business! You're treading on thin ice, brat. Out of our way before you regret!"
It didn't take much longer for Bishop to get distracted by the golden phoenix statue, and run off towards it with Rook following not too far behind, leaving the disgruntled boy alone.
"Hmph. This is why I don't trust grown-ups." Looking upon the group however, he looked like some determination in him was renewed and he ran over to them before saying quite rapidly,
"You came from outside the city, didn't you?! Please, I really need your help! Everything's gone wrong and I've-."
"Slow down," Professor Layton spoke calmly. "What is your name young man?"
"Ah, sorry," he apologised. "My name's Umid."
After quick introductions, Umid began to explain the problem that had caused him to be desperate enough to look to Bishop and Rook. There was something incredibly wrong with the adults of the city apparently.
"One morning my mum wouldn't wake up. I shook her and shook her, but… I couldn't get more than a few mumbles out of her. And the other grown-ups are exactly the same! They're all just lying there, sleeping and have been for a whole week."
"A whole week?" a surprised sound Professor asked. "How bizarre. So every adult in the city is currently in a sort of coma?"
"I know it's hard to believe, but please, come to my house. You can see for yourself!"
They allowed Umid to lead them to his home. The inside of it had a warm, homely feeling inside and in a bed they found a dark haired woman sleeping peacefully in the bed. Not a care or concern etched on her face, making her look entirely serene.
"The woman in bed would be your mother, I presume?" Desmond asked the concerned boy as he knelt down by the bed and felt her neck and wrist for a pulse.
"Yeah. It seems like she's been like this for ages… I don't know what to do…"
"Well, her pulse is steady and her breathing seems normal. I don't believe she's in any immediate danger." Desmond stood back up. "You don't know what caused her to end up in this state?"
"If I did, I wouldn't be asking you! She doesn't respond to a single thing I say. No one can do anything. I just… I can't handle this anymore."
"A most curious phenomenon," remarked Professor Layton as he held a hand to his chin.
"The only thing I can think of is… Well, it's an old Mosinnian legend. The story foes that, long ago, a mighty phoenix with healing powers swooped down on Mosinnia and made it her home. She would slumber for months, even years at a time, but when she was awoken, tears of joy would stream from her eyes.
"Those tears were said to cure any illness. The people of the city collected the tears and used them to heal the sick. So… if I can find the phoenix and wake her up, maybe her tears will help the grown-ups wake up too!"
While it was an interesting legend, Elaine wasn't entirely sure it would be task easy to accomplish. To be fair, if music could rise a city from the water, there could be merit to Umid's story. Not to mention that legends had some truth mixed in them as well, so there was still a chance that such a phoenix did exist. And as the boy said, there didn't seem to be much choice, and there wasn't really a reason not to help him with this problem. They would possibly find the Azran egg in the process anyway.
Walking outside, it was a bit heart wrenching to actually see a few of the poor children. Though one of them was actually kind enough to give them a lead to go one. The little boy mentioned seeing a phoenix near a hill, so that was their first stop. They just had to go through the woods. While they did have a slightly grim appearance at first, they weren't so bad after quickly getting use to them. However, they would probably still be creepy at night, regardless.
Arriving at the top of the hill, which gave a view of the entire city below, they found what looked like some sort of cistern, made of the same material as the city walls.
"There are almost identical to Azran ruins," Desmond commented as he examined the stones of the building.
"Then that likely means that Mosinnia and the Azran are connected," Elaine said.
"Could it be that the phoenix is hidden within?" Aurora asked as she looked at the thick wooden doors.
"I very much doubt that," Desmond replied dryly.
"Umm… Aren't you overthinking things a bit? This is just an old cistern?" Umid explained to them.
"Oh! Could that be the phoenix?" Johanna asked as she pointed up to a tree, towards an eagle-like bird with red and white feathers.
"Maybe it is," Luke joined in, before the bird squawked down at them sharply at the two children, flapping its wings in a threatening manner.
"Oh, sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you!" Luke said quickly. "We came here hoping to see the phoenix. Is that you?" The bird gave another squawk, though less sharp this time and tilting it's head to the side. "Oh… But you've been here a long time, haven't you?" The bird stopped flapping its wings as it responded. "Ah, so you're waiting for her. And you say she sparkles? That sounds mystical enough."
"That must be the phoenix we're looking for then," Johanna said. "Could you ask when she might be back, please?"
"Sure. Do you know when she might be back?" Luke enquired the bird. "We'd really like to meet her too!" More squawking came, and Luke frowned at what he heard. "Well, I don't think we'll be able to wait that long! But how do you know she's nearby?" After the next few bird cries, Luke looked impressed. "Whoa, you must have a keen sense of smell!" The bird gestured its head towards the cistern and Luke frowned. "You think she's inside there? That doesn't sound very likely. I think that's… a sluice gate." The bird gave a confused sound. "Oh, you know! It's like a door for water, and…" Luke shuck his head to himself. "Never mind, it's not important. It was nice to meet you, Adler."
"How does it look, Luke?" Emmy asked him.
"Well, Adler here isn't the phoenix," Luke began to explain. "But there is a much bigger bird around here, and it sparkles all over!"
"An even bigger bird? But how do we go about looking for it?!
The bird, Adler, had apparently spotted the bird once when he had looked towards the city. Likely the clues they wanted were back in there. They just had to find them, and then hopefully get all of the adults awoken and find the egg. And even if this quest itself didn't lead directly to the egg, could still look for it afterwards. Bringing back the children's parents was currently more important now.
I just want to make a quick note here. Once again, thank you all for the many reviews. It brings me joy to read them.
Secondly, I've unfortunately had to take down the picture of Johanna from my Deviantart account. It turned out that the person who did the base had used someone else's drawing (also on Deviantart) without their permission to create the base. The original artist of the drawing sent me a message about this case and after doing a check just to make sure, I complied to their request remove it as they politely asked, out of respect.
Also, I plan to try and get to the one hundredth chapter tonight since I've been able to do three in a row lately, so I hope you'll enjoy it :)