Welcome to my fan novel based on the first Tomb Raider game and Tomb Raider Anniversary. Both are great games and I have been having the urge lately to make a fan novel based on both games. As Miley Cyrus puts it, it's the "best of both worlds" or so I'm trying to make it. In this, I incorporated events, lines, etc from both games into one story. I openly accept criticism and ideas but please make them sensible, I only ask for no flaming (omg it suxxors, etc.) but for creative criticism whether if it is good or bad. I openly accept and love comments. I hope everyone enjoys the ride and will stick with me to the very end!

Ranshiin

Prologue: Outside the Caves

Lara and her guide slowly made their way up the mountain over broken bridges and up wrecked ladders. Sticking to the culture of South America, she wore a brown cloak with ancient symbols on them on top of her usual dress of a bluish grey top with brown shorts, her trusty pistols at her side, sunglasses over her eyes, and, on her back, her familiar backpack that she found back at the age of sixteen. After a bout of climbing and wondering around, they saw the doors up ahead in front of them. Before continuing, Lara pulled out her father's journal to read a passage from it.

Vilcabamba continues to elude us and my insistence that we press on in spite of these failures has morale low. I suspect Jenkins to be the author of this sedition. He simply refuses to accept the possibility that Atlantis is the foundation upon which all known civilizations were built. Increasingly, I find it is Lara alone who remains untainted by academic dogma and open minded enough to see this truth.

Closing the journal with a sigh and replacing it back into her backpack, Lara and her companion continued up to the doors. The snow was still softly falling and the cold was getting to Lara but because of her training and self-discipline she didn't let it show and refused to complain about it. Finally arriving at the entrance, both of them looked up to look at the magnificence of the carvings and symbols. At the same time, Lara thought back to what started all of this…

Lara was sitting in a beautiful room, reading her fathers journal with her legs crossed. A man, dressed in a red shirt, blue pants, a cowboy belt, and a brown vest walked up to her and threw down a magazine in front of her.

"What's a man gotta do to get that kinda attention from ya?" he asked her in a southern accent.

"It's hard to say exactly but you seem to be doing fine," she said curtly, not looking up from her book.

"Sounds like fun, but I'm only here to make an introduction. Lara Croft, meet Jacqueline Natla of Natla Technologies," he said, placing a computer screen in front of her and pressing a button.

"Seal it Larson," she said to him bluntly.

"Ma'am...," he said quietly and backed off a few steps.

"Good afternoon Ms. Croft, my research department has recently turned its focus to the study of ancient artifacts and I'm lead to believe that with the right incentive, you're just the woman to find them for me," she said to her from her office.

"I'm sorry, I only play for sport," Lara responded, brushing off the introduction as just another greedy person wanting her to do their dirty work.

"Then you'll like a big park. Peru. Vast mountain ranges to cover. Sheer walls of ice, rocky crags, savage winds, and there's this little trinket, an age old artifact of mystical powers buried in the unfound Tomb of Qualopec. Which is precisely why I've come to you Ms. Croft. This is a game you've played before. With your father," Natla said, regaining Lara's attention as she leaned forward and listened to the businesswoman's words.

"You both spent years searching for the Scion of Atlantis. All you needed was the location of Qualopec's tomb," she continued.

"You found Vilcabamba?!" Lara asked her excitedly, feeling her heartbeat rising at the thought of her father's research actually being right and coming into use.

"How quickly can you get to Peru? You could leave tomorrow. Are you busy tomorrow?" she asked with a smile, knowing that she had Lara's complete interest.

Lara gave her own smile, ready to leave at that moment to search for the artifact that had escaped her grasp for years.

Lara gave a shake of her head and threw up her grapple hook. It hooked onto the small ledge above the door and she pulled on it a few times to ensure that it would hold. After making sure it was all safe, Lara climbed up the rope and pulled up onto the ledge. She noticed that the circular part of one of the symbols was a button and she pressed it. The doors below her slowly opened as she looked on. Darkness was all the guide could see as he gazed in but then, yellow orbs appeared out of nowhere. Out of curiosity, he looked harder but then a look of shock appeared on his face as the owners of the orbs appeared into view. Four wolves came charging out of the door at him and he ran in fear with a scream.

Lara immediately threw off her cloak and leapt off the ledge, her pistols were quickly drawn and firing at the wolves. Two wolves were down as soon as she hit the ground with a grunt. She quickly fired at a wolf running at her from the right and killed it before she was knocked down by a wolf behind her. Pinned to the ground on her back, Lara struggled with the snarling wolf as it snapped at her throat. Without a second thought, Lara pressed a pistol to its stomach and pulled the trigger. It gave a small whine and she easily pushed the corpse off of her.

Without missing a beat, she quickly ran to her guide and checked his pulse. It wasn't to be found. She gave a sigh and a small look of sadness before realizing that if she was to continue, she couldn't linger. She walked into the caves and watched on as the doors slowly closed behind her. The caves were now completely dark and she took off her sunglasses and looked ahead with a small smile.

Her adventure was about to begin.