Chrono X Angel, Book 6: Branching Paths

Chapter 4

"Uh... Elisabeth?"

Hyoka was staring at the daydreaming Dhampir with a look of concern. Had she fallen asleep with her eyes open?

"Ah, apologies Ms. Kagari," said Elisabeth with a small yawn, "Iris, do you have everything?"

The dragon grunted, hoisting a duffle bag over her shoulder and tossing another the Dhampir's way. The trio carefully slinked out of the room, mixing into the crowd of people evacuating the hotel. Once outside, Hyoka guided them back to the hotel her and Junji were staying at. To say Hyoka's husband was somewhat concerned with the situation once brought up to speed would be an understatement, but he managed to keep his cool for Hyoka's sake.

"So... what do we do?" Asked the Yuki Onna, concern creeping into her tone, "If they get the last key... well that's it right? Game over? Ahrimanes is loose?"

Elisabeth nodded, cursing herself for handing off the Air key back in Paris. It had been the height of hubris to think a situation like this would not occur before Usoko was ready. A fully powered Ahrimanes would mean the end of the world. Pure destruction unleashed, with no one able to stand against it.

"I... might be able to help," said Iris reluctantly, "I might not have a connection to him anymore, but I'm still Ahrimanes' daughter. He put a lot of his power in me, so I might be able to... sense it? Or at the very least, give a general direction? It's a stretch, I know, but it's something."

"We'll need more than a direction, but it would at least give us a start," sighed Elisabeth, "Alright Iris, give it a try..."

The Dhampir was still eyeing Iris warily, and she could definitely feel it. She hoped that maybe she could win their trust back if she could just... do something to help. Steeling herself, Iris closed her eyes and began to focus on detecting any sympathetic energies to her own. At first, nothing stood out. The large concentration of humans in the area made it difficult to "see" further. Taking a chance, Iris shifted into her dragon form in hopes it would strengthen her abilities. A second passed, then two, beads of sweat began forming on the scales of her face. Then, like seeing a distant lit match on a moonless night, she could feel it. It was like her own energy in reverse, an odd sensation but one that made sense when she gave it thought. To have sealed her father away, the energies would have needed to be equal and opposite. In her mind's eye, Iris could almost make out some structures... a stone city, on a hillside... old, very old, and... east of their location. North and east. She relayed this to the others, and Hyoka's face lit up in shock.

"Macchu Picchu!?" She yelped in disbelief. Immediately she searched for images of the city on her phone, and showed them to Iris who nodded.

"Yes, that's definitely the place I saw," she sighed, physically and mentally exhausted now, "We should hurry..."

Hyoka nodded, calling Modred immediately to request a plane. GARDNA might not have a large presence in Peru, but it did in neighboring Brazil. It would take a few hours to mobilize, but they would have their ride. Hyoka kept to herself that Elisabeth and Iris were with her, as she did not want to lie and disappoint Sarah. Soon enough the trio were airborne. Hyoka told Junji he needed to stay behind, which of course he understood. Like before, there wasn't much he could do in this situation. Internally he was lamenting this fact, and made a vow to himself to get stronger so he could someday help Hyoka somehow.

It took longer for the group to wait on the plane than it did to actually fly to their destination in Cuzco, laughed Hyoka to herself as she debarked the plane and stepped on to the dirt runway. In the distance she could see the mountains where their destination lay: Macchu Picchu. Of course, none of them knew exactly where in the ancient city they were going, only that the final Key rested there. In her mind, the Yuki Onna had visions of spike traps, swinging from vines, rolling boulders and fedora-wearing archeologists, and it made her giggle. Elisabeth explained that while the key would probably be secreted away somewhere, there would not be any swashbuckling adventures to retrieve it. Just smash a wall in the right spot and Bob's your uncle. That made Hyoka a little disheartened, but she pushed on regardless. Before their expedition, the trio took a moment to stock up on a few supplies, food and such. Hyoka could produce drinkable water without any fuss, but even Iris's impressive powers could not manifest food from the ether, and so they split up to get a few things. After an hour or so, Elisabeth and Iris had met back up in the Plaza de Armas.