I just wrote this, my own interpretation of what happened after Egypt, and before AOD. Reviews and flamers are welcome :) Do let me know how it was :)

Through the Portals of Darkness

21/03/02

A symbol imprinted on the palm of a hand , a shard-like made of crystal, piercing blue eyes –

Lara turned about in her sleep, clutching the white pillows with an iron-like grip. She was falling, falling …

"Client, called -", a painting of a holy icon, blood, "Obscura Paintings" … "Noooo! Ugh! Uhhmmm.." von Croy toppled over, Penetrating blue eyes. blood drawn up in a satanic symbol, those blue eyes again. A clink of metal! "You're not ready yet" whispered Putai in her mind – She was falling again…

"NO!" Lara awoke with a start. She paused briefly as she took in the serene and quite atmosphere of here bedroom in Croft Manor. She was panting and sweating heavily, her ribs ached a little. She still needed more rest, but at the rate of how fast her recurring nightmares were growing, Lara Croft, perhaps for the first time in her life, was afraid to fall asleep again.

'Who are you? What is this place?! Why have you taken me here?' demanded Lara, lying in a half sitting half lying position. There was immense pain in her midriff, which indicated at least a few broken ribs and probably a collapsed lung. The desert winds blew wildly around here, scattering sand everywhere. Lara had to squint her eyes to see clearly who was standing before her.

It was a woman, in perhaps her mid-fifties. Bronze in color, with braided hair elaborately decorated with multi-colored beads, wearing a red desert robe. Lara had never seen her before.

'I,' began the woman, 'am Horus' servant on this planet. I've been waiting here, all this time to find you. Lara Croft, savior of the World.'

'Why? I'm not going back to tomb raiding again! I almost died in there!' replied Lara hotly. 'I'm tired of losing people close to me, I'm tired of having the weight of solitude upon my shoulders all the time! I'm not going back! Whoever you are, tell Horus he'd find someone else!'

'My name, is Putai, and I have been ordered to give you this Amulet, a true gift from the gods who have waited for someone like you to save their creation from greed and destruction of this world. You cannot escape your fate, Lara. You have to accept this – we have been waiting centuries for you.'

'Centuries?!' Lara gave a cold, humorless laugh. 'I don't think so! It's time I started thinking about my seemingly useless life too, everyone believed to be relying on me for their survival. I MAKE my own fate, Putai. I'm done with this!'

The winds howled louder, and the sun began to sink below the desert horizon. Putai's expression was unreadable. A golden light erupted from her hand, and the Amulet floated towards Lara. Lara retorted, but the heavenly power was too strong – either that, or she was simply too weak. It tied itself around her neck, and the heavenly light spread across her body, healing her insides. She screamed with pain, as the dislocated ribs cracked back into place, and her lung where it belonged.

'Lara, my child,' said Putai, now walking towards her and crouching next to her. 'You are not ready yet. You are destined to destroy the Fallen Ones. No one can change destiny. You need time to recover, and the Amulet will help. You are not strong enough yet. You have to overcome your own personal demons first. But you will be, in time.'

Lara looked up at the red skies, with the inky blue night taking over the reddish glow of the sky. Oddly, it looked calming…

'I will see you again, when you will be ready, child,' whispered Putai. 'Take care.' She softly patted Lara's cheek, and then vanished into thin air…

Lara was stirring her tea absent-mindedly, as she recalled her experience in the desert with Putai, the very first time she met the Shaman. 'Why did she say I was not ready? And are those dreams connected to her in anyway?' The more she thought about it, the more she felt frustrated as her questions couldn't be answered by thinking – only Putai had the answers to her questions, and when she was going to meet her again, Lara could not tell.

'She expects me to go back to tomb raiding, but that's not gonna happen. Not after what von Croy did to me back in Egypt… But what does she mean by the Fallen Ones? And is THAT related to my dreams? All I know, is that they are not some random images I keep on seeing… I'm sure it was von Croy's voice there – "Obstra Paintings" or something like that. But why the hell would Werner come back for me after all that. Surely he'd have some self respect … But is he in any danger?' Lara pondered over the possibilities, there was no chance. And if he WAS in danger, then why should she care? He left her to die all alone, made her suffer the consequences of HIS mistakes – so why should she even think and waste precious life over him… But that was the question, her life wasn't so precious anymore…

Lara scowled as she took a sip of her now cold tea. "Great, just what I needed," she muttered angrily to herself. "Thinking about Werner and I lost my tea!" She angrily got up, and stomped towards the library, to keep herself busy with finding the answers she knew she wouldn't get.

Later that night

Lara was breathing spastically, and her forehead was slick with sweat. She was living it through all over again, falling in darkness, screaming: Don't leave me! Don't …

"Aaaargh!" Blood. Blood everywhere. On the walls, on the floor. A dirty symbol was drawn in the crimson blood… Split! Organs were being cut savagely… "The Light of Truth needs a Keeper! The servant of Horus who holds the Amulet must find the presenter of the Light! The Fallen Ones should never walk the face of Earth!" echoed Putai's voice… Piercing azure orbs… "Eckhardt murdered him… He failed…" A symbol burned into a palm. "You're close child … You'll be strong soon…"

"AAARGH!" Lara screamed, waking up from the horrible nightmare again. She broke down and cried loudly in her pillow. Gasping for breath and hiccoughing as she let all her tensions she had harbored inside of her soul for so long flow freely. "I don't want to go back!" she said chokingly to herself, as she rocked herself to a troubled sleep.

26.03.02

A knock interrupted her from an English classic that Lara was reading. "Come in!" Lara said without looking up. Winston opened the door and walked towards Lara.

"Lady Croft, you have a phone call," he said in his usual polite manner.

"No calls right now, Winston. Only disturb me at some emergency," Lara replied, annoyed.

"But Milady, it's from Werner von Croy; wishing to speak to you in the matter of important business."

Lara looked up, shocked. Winston was holding the cordless with him. Lara felt all the emotions bubble inside of her at that moment; fear, anger, anxiety, relief (though she never wanted to admit that) and confusion. "He's on hold," continued Winston. "And he's been calling since the past couple of days, Milady. I thought perhaps now you would have forgiven him-"

"Forgiven him?!" Lara asked, shocked and in full fury mode. "Forgiven him? For what? Leaving me to die! To suffer his mistakes! To take care of HIS problems?! Honestly, Jeeves, I never expected this from you!" Lara retorted angrily. "Tell him he'll never see me again! And leave!"

Winston looked quite hurt, but he knew partly it was his fault. "Yes, Milady," and with a small bow, he left the room.

Lara looked at the closed door, and then angrily threw the fat classic over to the other side of the room in her rage. She got up, and kicked the table; punched the book stacks till her knuckles started bleeding – after exhausting herself, she curled up in a corner, and let her tears take over her fragile form… "I hate you…" she whispered, keeping von Croy's old face in mind. "From the bottom of my heart."

7.04.02

'Putai! Finally! What's going on?!' asked Lara – knowing Putai would finally provide her with the answers she sought from this dream.

'You are strong now Lara, my child. You can defeat the Black Angels. Find the last of the Light of Truth, and you will find your way to salvation!'

'What do you mean? Who is the last member? What is the Light of Truth?'

'An order to prevent something that shouldn't have happened. Horus is glad that you have overcome your personal demons! The Amulet helped!'

'How did the Amulet work? How DOES the Amulet work?'

'My child, time is short. The Amulet helped you reveal a part of you that you never thought existed. The part that is scared; scared of dying, scared of losing. The tears that fell from your eyes are proof that now you have raided a part of your own self that you should have known from the beginning.'

'But – am I the only one?' Lara asked, desperately.

'The last member and you are destined to destroy what should never have been made! This is the last time I am seeing you, my child. After this, trust in the Amulet, and find the last member. You shall be in safe hands. Goodbye, Lara, my work has been finished.' Putai smiled and held Lara in her arms.

'Goodbye Putai'

A round metallic object with blades floated about – it rushed towards the person with those blue eyes. "Justice!" he claimed…

8.04.02

Lara checked the mail box, to find around four letters from Werner himself. Sighing with defeat, she cut open one, and read it's contents.

Dearest Lara,

I am sorry with what happened at Egypt, truly. I swear to everything I've ever known that I did try to do everything I can to find you. But I'm not writing to reopen your wounds.

Lara, there is terror on the streets of Paris, and I think I may know who is responsible. I am conducting a research on the five Obscura Paintings, for a client. They are very unpopular with history. Fifteenth century images, holy images painted on wood with some sort of a special metallic code-like thing in the interior. I think that these are related to the terror in Paris. Please help me, I think this is quite deeper than it sounds.

I would eagerly await your return.

Werner.

Lara paused. Werner had her answers. Those painted holy images, Obscura Paintings he called them, were definitely connected to those dreams. Lara checked the back cover of the envelope for the return address, and noted it down. "Winston!" she called as she wrote down the address.

"Yes, Milady?"

"Pack my stuff, and book the nearest flight to Paris," a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "It's time I paid Werner a visit."