LARA CROFT AND THE TOMB OF THE GODS ===================================== PROLOGUE ---------------- Droplets of sweat ran down Lara's face as she put her hands on top of the outcropping rock above her. She was thousands of feet high on a mountain on a desolate Greek island. The island was the most barren and rocky place Lara had ever been to. The island was fairly small, and basically the only thing on it was the gigantic mountain Lara was climbing. Near the peak was rumoured to be a Tomb devoted to the Greek Gods that the Ancient Greeks had built centuries ago. Legend said that the reason it was near to the top was so it was nearer to the skies, and therefore closer to the Gods in the heavens. Lara lifted herself up on a rocky ledge, and looked at her surroundings. Below her was a huge drop, and although the mist prevented her from seeing much above her, she knew she couldn't be too far from the top. Lara caught her breath, and started climbing once more. She had learned of the Tomb from local legend and years ago an expedition had been held to find the Tomb. The explorers had never returned home from the Mountain. Lara looked at her watch. It was early afternoon, she had set off at dawn to get a good start and to avoid the dark. Surely it must be near - that's if it even existed. Lara did, however, firmly believe that she was right and that the Tomb existed. When she climbed through another large patch of mist, and climbed up onto a large ledge, she knew she was right. Lara stood up, and walked towards the entrance. It was a small doorway that led into a dark tunnel. Lara smiled, and took a step forward, into the Tomb. ONE - ENTRY ------------------- Lara shone her flash light over the rocky, battered walls. The wind howled outside as she walked further into the Tomb, ever cautious of any dangers she might encounter. She heard howling again - it must be the wind, she thought. Fear was not an option. Lara had researched a lot about Greek mythology lately, and although she wasn't exactly ready to see Gorgons and Minotaurs, she had still packed her twin Uzis for protection, and a newly ordered grappling gun. If she hadn't packed any firepower on her previous exploits, she would have been dead now for sure. The passage turned a corner, and as Lara turned she saw many pinpoint holes in the walls where bright, thin beams of light came out of one hole, and went into another on the opposite side. She stopped, first to marvel at the light, and then suddenly her instincts came back to her. Light doesn't just come in like that. It's purposely been built for some reason, she thought. Lara picked up a large stone from the rough, rocky floor, and held it carefully into the path of one of the rays of light. The stone started to smoke, the light was burning it. Lara quickly withdrew the stone and examined it. The heat had burned right through it! The heat is so intense it burns right through rock, she thought. What would it do to human flesh? Lara looked again at the light, and put the rock down. It was the only way through she could think of, there were too many of the light beams to carefully step through avoiding them. Lara took a few steps back, sprinted and dived through the beam. She fell to the floor in pain as smoke started to rise from her body. There were holes right through her clothes where the light had burned through, but lucky enough it didn't have time to penetrate past her clothes and burn her skin too badly. Lara was just about to stand when she looked up. Two inches from her face, a male corpse stared at her. She screamed briefly in shock, and sat up, staring at the body. It had burned holes right through it, and the horrific expression of pain on it's face was terrifying. The light had singed right through the man's skull, and through the brain. Lara picked herself up, and stepped over the corpse. TWO - THE CHAMBER ------------------------------- Lara continued walking down the passage and soon came to a wide flight of steps, and at the top, the passage continued, although this time, much wider. As she reached the top, she saw a row of statues of the Gods on each side next to the walls. At the end of the passage, straight ahead of her were two large pillars, and a larger statue of Zeus next to it on the right. Lara smiled, and headed forward. As she stepped forward, she set off a trip wire, and the whole floor folded down, two flaps falling down to the side like a trapdoor. Lara fell, and as she looked down to the large drop below her saw a large bed of spikes, and two more dead bodies impaled on them, looking up at her, waiting for her to join them… She grabbed her grappling gun, and fired as she fell. She stopped with a jolt as the hook grabbed onto something, and she looked down. She was literally millimetres away from the spikes, and swung through the air, hand still firmly held onto the gun. Lara pressed the trigger, sending her back up to the top, all the time looking down to the unfortunate victims of the Ancient Greek's trap. When she reached the top, and put her feet back on firm ground, she unhooked the grappling hook on the end of the wire from the gun, tightly clutched to the arm of Athene, the Goddess of war and wisdom. Lara holstered her grappling gun, and watched as the floor reformed itself. She never realised that the Greeks had so much knowledge as to be able to assemble complex traps, and that most of the people who encountered them didn't live to tell the tale. Whatever is at the end of this Tomb, must be pretty important as to have all those traps, thought Lara. She walked over to the stone statue of Zeus, and reminded herself to be more aware of traps. That last one was too close. Through the archway with the pillars and the statue was another small flight of steps leading to a large wide chamber. On the far wall was a large, beautiful flowing waterfall, the sound of the water like music to Lara's ears. To the right of the waterfall was a large stone statue of Poseidon, the God of the Oceans. Left of the waterfall was a large, and terrifying skull with a wide open mouth, intended as an entrance. Next to the skull was a statue of Pluto, the God of the Underworld. Lara walked down the steps and into the chamber, thinking all the time that there would be traps somewhere. There was nothing on the ground or walls that she could spot that looked out of place or suspicious. Lara was just finishing checking for traps when she heard the familiar sound of two wolves growling, and then saw them leaping out of the waterfall. They were quickly followed by four more, in quick succession. Lara instinctively reached for her holsters and drew her Uzis. She managed to let off a round of fire before she had to dodge the oncoming wolves. She jumped high into the air, and let them pass under her feet. When she landed, she rolled to face them again. She had wounded one before, and now she would take more out before they could do her any harm. Lara back-flipped to get further away from them, simultaneously letting out another round of gun fire. Three wolves dropped, including the one that she had wounded before. Now the other three snarled at her and walked slowly towards her, surrounding her completely. She jumped over them, and twirled in the air, finishing them off as she landed. Lara put her Uzis back in their holsters and looked at the carnage around her. Her aim and shooting was getting excellent, it had taken her no time at all to finish those six wolves off. She stepped over the bodies of the wolves, and dived into the pool of water in front of the waterfall. It was just a small pond with the same rocky walls, and when she swam under the force of the waterfall and came up the other side, she saw a doorway, this time with ornate engravings around it showing Poseidon and that this was his domain. She held onto the side of the pool and carefully lifted herself out. After the first doorway was a large door with a lever placed next to it. Lara knew this was the perfect opportunity to spring a trap, and so pulled the lever and stood back, waiting before entering the room beyond. As the door lifted, arrows flew through the air, meaning to catch anyone trying to enter the room. Lara waited for any more traps to operate, and when nothing more happened, carefully peered into the room now open to her. It was a fairly small room but contained a statue of an arm coming from the wall and holding a beautiful, and still incredibly sharp golden forked trident. Poseidon's Trident, though Lara, smiling. She had found possibly the most incredible treasure she had ever discovered. Lara stepped forward, and without thinking, still in amazement of her find, lifted the trident from the outstretched arm. No sooner had she done so than she started to regret it. The walls started to creak, and small drops of water started to seep out of the cracks. Bad idea… she thought. She then remembered as the earth started shaking that legend said that Poseidon had the immortal power of creating earthquakes and controlling the waves and all water. Lara gripped the trident tightly, and began sprinting back the way she came. She dived through the waterfall, and landed in a neat roll as she came out the other side. She then ran across the room, giving no time to explore Pluto's skull. Just as she went up the steps and swung across the huge pit of spikes using her grappling gun had the water started erupting from Poseidon's chamber. Lara landed safely back on the other side, and holstered her grappling gun before sprinting off down the passage again. She could hear the force of the water as it crashed down the tunnels behind her, and into the pit. The earth shook even harder, and she found it difficult to keep on her feet. She kept running, and came to the light trap. She sprinted even harder, and shoulder first, jumped through the trap. As she came out the other side, she carried on running, although she was in a great deal of pain. Lara saw the doorway, and behind her the water rushed around a corner. She ran, and as she came to the edge of the large rocky ledge, jumped down, and grabbed onto her climbing ropes as the water erupted out of the tunnel and crashed down around her, completely soaking her. Even with the force of the water, she held on tightly, and when it was over, she got up back onto the ledge, made sure the Trident was all right, and climbed back down, ready to go home with her new treasure. EPILOGUE --------------- Henry Gerring passed the envelope to Lara and smiled, his monocle slightly moving as he did so. "Well done, Miss Croft," he said. "Call me Lara, please," she said, smiling back at him. The Trident stood in a display cabinet in the Ancient Greek section of the Metropolitan Museum of Natural History. Lara knew Henry quite well, he had worked at the museum for a good few years, and looked after a lot of the exhibitions. Although he was a little older than most of Lara's other friends, they still knew and respected each other well. Lara stood thinking of what she went through to get the Trident of Poseidon. She was interrupted by a question. "Was it hard getting it?" asked Chris. Lara thought for a moment, she had faced six hungry, ferocious wolves, two deadly traps, a huge flood and an earthquake. "No, it was a piece of cake," she said with a smile.