The emptiness of the sanctuary seemed to become greater and greater when Elaine walked. She considered going back to Descole and waiting for him to wake up before walking through, but she felt it best to go. Besides, he was still hurt. If fighting became an option, he may not be in the best condition. Even with rest. Well, Elaine assumed so at least. She wasn't exactly a doctor, now was she?
Steps echoing, she came to what appeared to be an Azran styled elevator. It shouldn't have surprised Elaine, but it still seemed a bit out of place for the sanctuary. A spiral staircase would have felt more in tune, but who was she to judge?
Stepping inside, she looked to the lever, and pulled down. It was the only option she had here, so it saved her from having to take a wild guess and possibly be wrong.
Moving down, Elaine only had the sound of the stone elevator moving against the stone of the structure.
"Not the most pleasant sound to 'ear now," Elaine mumbled to herself. "Still. At least the Azran didn't put crappy music in these things."
A just came, and Elaine nearly stumbled foreword. Regardless of it though, the elevator was still moving. Elaine glanced around nervously.
"I… Desole?" Elaine said weakly. Something was wrong. Why else would that jolt have happened?
She hoped no one was hurt.
"Come on, come on. Faster," Elaine muttered as she waited for the elevator to stop. Hoping from one foot to the other as she prepared herself to leg it as fast as she could, she felt very impatient for the final stop. Had the Professor and Luke been too late? What of Aurora? And despite her betrayal, Elaine didn't want anything to happen to Emmy. Bronev? Well… Right now, in Elaine's current state of mind, he could rot for all she cared.
Finally, the final stop. Elaine belted out, her sandals slapping hard on the stone floor, echoing out. Had Elaine more time, she would have stopped to look at the hall she had entered. It seemed a little church-like in a way. Rows, and rows of columns with a shining floor. There was a bit more jolting, and it caused Elaine to stumble once or twice but she refused to stop running.
Soon after that, she ran through a room with a single pathway and a dark chasm on either side. It felt like some sort of puzzle/trap had been here, but that didn't…
Elaine slowed to a stop to look behind her. Was that a little blood on the ground? That only strengthen Elaine's resolution to reach the others.
The last and final chamber. There were five grey stones standing in alcoves, two on both sides of the room and one up ahead. In the centre was some kind of tall box, with a pointed prism on top. Purple light emitting from it, changing to a slight red-ish as they each hit the grey stones. Standing in the box was a coffin that would show only the head.
In this case Aurora, in her emissary state.
"Aurora!" Elaine cried, running towards her. She noticed a dagger sticking into it, looking as though it was trying to stab her heart. Trying to keep her rising fear from overflowing, Elaine pulled it out and threw it to the ground before pulling the coffin open.
"Aurora! What 'appened?! Where is everyone?!" Elaine was so panicked she had to focus so much on keeping herself from speaking nothing but her native French, which ended up with her words ending up a bit jumbled. But Aurora seemed to understand her still. Seeing her so expressionless unnerved Elaine.
"The fool showed the greed men are capable of."
Damn… Damn, Bronev.
"The others are about to watch the beginning of mans' fall."
Elaine stared at Aurora, backing away from the girl. Everything inside her felt dry. No saliva would be able to wet them though. Turning towards the only other archway out of here, Elaine ran out towards that direction, prepared for the worst.
Blue skies were the first thing she saw. Well, she saw Bronev first along with Emmy, facing this sight. But she ran past them until she was on the edge of the platform. Only then did she let herself realise that they were flying. Elaine knew that it was the entire sanctuary, and if Elaine had been some to view this… wonder, in a way to see all its glory, she would have seen how much it resembled an arc, with oars.
Elaine shuck as she glanced down to the mountains and forests below, as well as Froenburg. When would it happen? When…
"Elaine!" she looked to her side and saw the Professor and Luke. "Where's-?"
"'E passed out. 'E was tired so I went 'ere alone," Elaine explained quickly. "Aurora, she-."
"I already know, and I'm just as nervous as you are." The Professor looked down below, some anxiety on his face. "And there's certainly no prize."
Elaine looked down, and saw groups… No, swarms of flying, humanoid things coming out from the bottom of the sanctuary. What were they? They…
Were they mans' destruction?
Elaine noticed now that there were no soldiers with them. Remembering the blood from not too long ago, Elaine found herself feeling some disillusionment from the Azran. The peaceful society that appeared to have existed on Ambrosia, the creators of the beautiful Garden of Healing, the geniuses of the Vault of Akbadain… It all seemed like only a display of power and greatness of what once was.
Elaine briefly heard Bronev question what they were, but their purpose seemed absolutely clear as they flew over Targents military copters and tanks. The swarm shot several purple beams down on them, and the next thing Elaine knew, she was seeing explosions happen down below, with dark and light grey smoke.
In a last ditch attempt to hold onto everything she knew of the Azran since she first saw the glyphs and felt the need to study the, to be able to translate all their secrets, she wanted to believe that like the symbol in Hoogland and the one that had briefly stopped Bronev outside the Sanctuary, they were simply destroying anything posed as a threat to the sanctuary.
It got worse when they reached Froenburg. Smoke began to rise from the town, the faint glimmer of burning fire was a speck from where they were at the moment, but they were steadily rising.
Elaine felt sick as she walked away from the edge. This… This could be real. It had to be a weird dream. Had she drunk some of Descole's tea again? She could have sworn the last time gave her an odd dream the following night.
"No… What does it mean?" Elaine looked to Bronev, giving him a disbelieving look as he removed his glasses, showing red eyes similar to Descole's. "Why is this happening?"
"Well, allow me to take a guess. First, it means you've started what may as well be considered the apocalypse!" Elaine spat as she approached him. "And as for why it's 'appening, well that's obvious enough. It's 'appening because of you! You… You…" Elaine was shimmering with rage as she searched for the perfect words. Trying hard to keep her words from shaking.
"You… You murderous… self satisfying, greedy, 'orrible man!" Elaine finished, sharply back handing his across the face before she could stop herself. He looked briefly stunned by that(and honestly, Elaine was a little stunned herself since she hadn't actually intended on that to happen. Even if she didn't show it), but seeing Aurora, her emissary subconscious in control still, walk outside to join them, she held back on releasing the rest of her rage for the time being.
"Worthless fools… driven by greed and lust for power… You have released a hail of destruction upon the world. Your people will suffer the same fate as the Azran."
"This was their fate…?" Elaine mumbled, looking back to the destruction briefly.
"You… You're…" Bronev gritted his teeth as he stared at Aurora, who looked at him with judging eyes.
"I am the voice of the Azran people."
"Wait… What do you mean?" Bronev asked quickly. "You say we will suffer the same fate as the Azran. Talk!"
"Very well," Aurora nodded. "You shall know everything.
"Aeons ago, before you people came into the world, we lived and thrived. We were the Azran. We were masters of technology and science. There was no puzzle we could not solve.
"With every success, our arrogance grew. In time, we came to view ourselves as gods. We regarded menial tasks as something beneath us. And so we designed a new race, artificial beings of great strength. They were tireless, impervious to pain, unaffected by temperature.
"These golems would forge our metal, carry our burdens, harvest our crops. But they were more than just machines. We had built them with the ability to think and reason. They even exhibited emotion. Verily, in our folly and greed. We had created a fully sentient race. As time passed, the golems began to reflect on their condition, and to think of themselves as Azran people.
"They wished to be freed, but we refused, and eventually, the golems rebelled. The rebellion was devastating. Our civilisation fell, destroyed by its own creations.
"The few remaining leaders rallied their strength for one last endeavour. As their final act, they sealed the great Azran sanctuary, along with the golems, deep in solid ice.
"And left a lone guardian to watch over it."
"What?" Bronev questioned, an angered look taking over his face. "So what we have really awakened is…"
"The golems," Aurora filled in. "The Azran people's greatest mistake. The victims of one atrocity… and the perpetrators of another."
Anger left Bronev's face, realisation showing itself. He… He actually seemed like a broken man then.
"Everything I have been searching for these past decades… It was a lit… a trick! I sacrificed everything for this!" Anger returned. "I cared nothing for money or fame. I was just a scholar of archaeology. I lost my children, my wife…" His voice choked briefly. "I threw my whole life away to solve the greatest puzzle in modern history!
"To gain superior knowledge and power that could change the world!" A slightly faraway look came to the man's face. "That was her one wish… Rachel's wish…"
"Your… wife's?" Emmy asked hesitantly, as Aurora slowly returned to her normal conscious. Nearly stumbling before she was caught by Professor Layton and Elaine.
"She was dying… The doctor's couldn't cure her pneumonia… She couldn't be saved," Bronev choked. "She kept assuring me that it wasn't my fault I dragged her into it all. She said I would fulfil our dream! Finding the Azran legacy to make the world a better place!" Bronev dropped to his knees.
"Rachel… All my searching, all the things I've done, and it's all been for this?"
Elaine didn't look at him, looking to the beginnings of the destruction of her world with a solemn look, ignoring the single tear that came down from her eyes. The world would die. Their families would die. How long until the golems decided to kill them? Not too long she bet. Maybe they'll last a few days at most. Weeks if they were lucky. Unless there was nothing to eat here, then they would die of starvation. Well, unless they took the easy way out and stepped over the ledge.
"Please tell us, Aurora," the Professor asked the girl. "What should we do?"
"I…" Aurora didn't look certain. Maybe even reluctant. "… Come with me, Professor." Aurora walked back inside to the chamber. Elaine followed on, as did they others. What had any of them to lose at this stage?
"The device controlling both the mechanisms in this ruin and the golms, is that prism." Aurora looked up to the prism. "If we could just stop those beams of light.
"Stop the beams…? 'Ow?" Elaine asked quickly. If they could save the world, she would do it.
"We need to step on the pedestals in the alcoves around this room," Aurora explained, all at the same time."
"And there are five pedestals," Professor Layton said as he did a quick check.
"Professor! Please, let me help," a shamefaced Emmy asked. The Professor looked surprised by this.
"Emmy?"
"There are enough of us, so let's do it," Elaine said. Luke quickly joined in.
"Yes! Let's do this together Professor!"
"Let me think about this."
"One last puzzle," Emmy asked with a faint but somewhat forced smile. "For old time's sake?"
"We don't 'ave much time to think, Professeur," Elaine said grimly. The Professor closed his eyes. He knew that Elaine was right. He looked to Bronev.
"Bronev, we need you too! If we do not stop all five light beams, the entire human race is doomed!" Bronev didn't respond. He had come, but his head was held low.
"Wait!" Everyone looked back to Aurora. "If you do this, if you step into the beams of light, you will die!"
Elaine felt her face ashen. They would… Die? Elaine almost wanted to give a weak chuckle at this cruel joke. No matter what, everyone in this room would still die. The only living ones left would be Aurora and… And Descole…
It was hard to tell what hurt more. Knowing she could take part in stopping this and be able to prevent his likely death, as well as Johanna? Not to mention her family? Her mother, her father, Philippe, Madeline… All of her family. Yet, she would never see them again in this life. She would… She would never get that… That wonder dream with Descole, even if it was only brought up such a short time ago. She would never find more archaeological relics or buildings of interest. She would… She would never be able to have a chance to call Johanna a daughter, let alone have a baby.
It could have been worse. She could have been forced to cut her womb out, forever denying that wish.
"Luke!" Elaine broke away from her thoughts and looked to see Luke approaching one of the pedestals.
"… It's the only way to save everyone." The young boy turned to look back to them. No once of fear in his eyes. "Professor, I have to do it!"
With that, Luke ran towards his chosen pedestal. He had his mind made up. Elaine swallowed and forced her legs to move swiftly towards a pedestal as everyone else did the same. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die here, likely never to be found… Well, Descole might.
They would die regardless anyway. At least this way would be more epic and heroic. That thought brought a hollow smile to her face. It wasn't much, but the thought would give tiny amount. The stronger amount from knowing that everyone she loved would live.
On the pedestal. Elaine took a deep breath before she held her hand into the light, giving a sharp gasp of pain and nearly drawing her hand back. That pain… That agonizing sensation… Indescribable. And if it had just been her hand.
Elaine's lower lip quivered, but after another deep breath, she forced herself into the entire beam. He back to the stone behind her. She gritted her teeth, trying to imagine she was numb in hopes that would take effect as a few whines of pain escaped her throat. Her knees nearly buckling from strain.
With Bronev's hesitance, Aurora attempted to stand in one beam. But it deflected her away. Their only hope was Bronev now, and Elaine's faith in the man was nearly non-existent. Nearly due to the slight pity she felt for him since he did feel the pain of losing his family. But it would never make her like him. Not that it mattered now though.
She could faintly hear the Professor's yells to the man, but she couldn't bring herself to focus on them. But, whatever the Professor said, it got Bronev moving towards the last pedestal at least. It just nearly made Elaine smile. Just nearly.
She must have started to hallucinate from the pain. She could have sworn she heard a faint pair of footsteps approaching her from the side at a slow pace.
He was just a step from the light now. Then hopefully this agony would be over and-
Elaine suddenly felt herself hit a wall, before falling to the floor on her back. Twitching and cringing from the pain she just experienced. Shutting her eyes tightly. The shock making her a bit uncertain what was happening now.
Was… Was that seriously what death was meant to be? Hitting a wall and crumbling to the floor? Maybe suffering an after effect of your death?
Cries… She heard everyone's cries. Was she rehearing their deaths? If so, where was her voice? All she could make out were the Professor's, Luke's, Emmy's, Bronev's and D…
Still in pain, Elaine forced her body to move against the pain. She moved onto her side, forcing her eyes open. Her vision was a little blurred, but she could make out Descole's trousers.
"N-no," Elaine rasped quietly, trying to pull herself over. "Y-you 'ave Johanna…" She tried reaching a shaking hand out, thinking she could drag him out and take her spot again. But before her fingers could even brush against the beam, it faded.
Elaine's shaking slowly stopped from being one of pain, but of disbelief as she heard the others, one by one, collapse and fall. Descole being no exception. All of them were the same now.
Still. Unmoving. Not breathing.
"D-Desmond? Descole?"