Tomb Raider: Legend Of The Nightmare Stone
Adapted By Josh14Raider
Disclaimer: This is based on the storyline of the Game Boy colour game "Tomb Raider". I do not own any of the characters, they belong to their respectable owners. This is just for entertainment reading.
-Introduction
Professor Igor Bowmane was pacing up and down along the black and white glossy tiled floor, waiting for his old friend and colleague. He is a professor and an expert in the field of archaeology, who is currently working in the ancient artefacts department at the University of Moscow. Though little is known about his character and personality, many people do know at the university about his love for researching and exploring old records and manuscripts. Most of his time is spent within the Pushkin Library of Antiquities situated within the city of Moscow. It was there that he had made an important and a very freighting discovery.
A couple of weeks ago, the professor was searching through the library's collection of old records and scripts, this time for specific ones about the Aztecs for a lecture to his students. Since these particular files haven't been touched for years, most likely forgotten about by the different library clerks throughout the library's history, they had been in a fragmented and unstructured state. The professor had decided that while he was looking for these records, he would tidy and sort out the state these records were in. This therefore meant looking through each one and ordering them in a date ascending way.
As he was processing through these records and reading every one of them, he had stumbled upon one which caught his full recognition and attention. This particular manuscript was very different to the ones he had just previously read through and filed. As not only it contained a rare tale he'd never heard of before, but it also told of a mystical ancient artefact that he had never known to have existed.
Suspicious of the discovered manuscript, the professor intensity read through his findings, each line filled him with a mixture of anxiety and fear. After finishing reading through the ancient manuscript, he thought to himself the need to take immediate action upon this finding was crucial. Because of his good nature to explore and passion for archaeology, the professor had made many friends during his lifetime and due to this new discovery he decided to contact two old acquaintances.
One named Illiat, who has a brilliant mind towards the study of ancient artefacts' of this calibre was the professor's first contact, he also is bit of a camping fanatic and lives in Peru. The professor's second contact, Lara Croft, is a well known reputable English female adventurer and archaeologist. They have been friends and had shared experiences with each other for the past few years.
He first phoned Illiat, to let him know of his newly discovered findings. Illiat was intrigued and interested to the point where he wanted to meet and discuss with the professor on the whereabouts this artefact may be held and hidden. Next the professor tried to contact Lara, but was left on the answering machine, to which he thought she might be on another journey or some sort, so he left a message for her when she got back.
A week later Illiat had arrived from Peru. He immediately met up with the professor at the library. They both got stuck down into a research team, and looked through the many directories in the library for any topic relating to the discovered manuscript and its origins. It wasn't until a few days later during a meeting together that another manuscript was discovered. This time around, the new script informed on where and when the artefact was last seen, and the properties of its mystical power.
It was during this time that Illiat became wary and cautious. He now had to visit the Pushkin Library with the professor more often, because of the continuous new discoveries. Illiat had a feeling that they were both being spied on by other interested parties of the manuscripts, whom may have discovered it long before the professor did and just waiting to make their move. He decided to warn the professor about his suspicions, to which the professor agreed with and they both made an agreement to meet up with each other in more discrete places, other than the Pushkin Library of Antiquities. By this time, Lara had been in contact with the professor and was going to schedule to arrive within days to Moscow, to further discuss the findings with them both and what course of action to take to pursue it.
Though all this changed two days before Lara was scheduled to arrive. Because of the research the professor and Illiat have been long conducting for, they had finally discovered the actual scripts which described the final whereabouts of the artefact. It was in an old journal dated after the previous script they found earlier. This was also around the time where Illiat's fears of there being a different party interested in the artefact were in fact true. He had learned that a spy had accidentally dropped a camera nearby a bus stop close to the library. The memory card that was used for storage in the camera had contained pictures of the Pushkin Library of Antiquities from every angle, and snapshots of both the professor and Illiat individually at different times.
Due to this incident and being unsure of the third party's motives, Illiat decided it was best not to wait for Lara at the airport. His decision was to travel straight away to the location and camp out there. Waiting for her arrival once the professor would debrief her on what has happened. Illiat told his plan to the professor. He was very motivated that this plan was for best. The professor although reluctant, since he wanted Illiat to wait with him for Lara, was in the end swayed and went along with Illiat's plan. It was then settled. The professor would wait and meet up with Lara at the Pushkin Library of Antiquities to debrief her on the situation. While Illiat will take the earliest flight to the supposed location of the artefact and camp out near the site, waiting for Lara's arrival and then would explore the area with her.
Professor Igor Bowmane was pacing up and down along the black and white glossy tiled floor, waiting for his old friend and colleague to arrive. It wasn't until he sat back down into his leather chair that Lara had finally appeared, and stepped into the huge Pushkin Library of Antiquities. She had just recovered from a recent adventure and once Lara got home, she had found the professor's message on her answering machine about the manuscript that he had just discovered. After a week of rest, she had booked a flight to Moscow to visit and meet up with the professor to discuss his new findings. She approached the professor, who was sitting at a nearby desk, smiling and looking upon at his old friend.
"Ah Lara, my old friend, so good to see you again, I'm glad you could make it" said the professor peacefully.
"It's good to see you too, professor" she said, as they both shook hands to greet each other. "Now, let's get down to business, what have you found?" Lara had asked. She looked down onto the desk and observed the manuscripts that were spread out on the desk.
"The reason why I have called you here, Lara is regarding an ancient artefact" began the professor. "The artefact in question is described here in these manuscripts, have a good look at this". The professor pointed to what looked like a man holding a crystal on the manuscript.
"It looks like some kind of crystal" suggested Lara.
"Indeed, this crystal stone holds within it a most evil presence... a spirit if you will" the professor stated. Lara took another look at the manuscript, gazing down into the fascinating drawn picture.
"Spirit"! "What do you mean?" Lara questioned. Again she glanced more closely at the picture on the manuscript. She saw that the crystal, this man was holding had a lot different power symbols drawn surrounding it.
The professor then began telling Lara the tale that he discovered during his research efforts. "Over a thousand years ago, in Central America, reined an evil king, named Quaxet. He ruled over the Inca, Aztec and Mayan peoples for a time. Quaxet sacrificed thousands of his own people as offerings to an evil god who demanded blood to feed its spirit. For over 40 years his reign of terror continued until the high priests of each tribe joined together to plot and defeat him. They killed Quaxet, and condemned his sprit to the crystal stone, known as the Nightmare Stone. The stone was sealed inside an obelisk. This obelisk was then buried within the walls of a vast temple". Both Lara and the professor looked at each other, as a sight pause was set between them.
"Where is this temple?" wondered Lara. The professor handed over a picture of Illiat to Lara and a copy of a map. Lara examined the photo of Illiat, he looked like a mid thirties man, short jet black hair with circular glasses.
"It has just been discovered, deep in the rainforests of the Amazon. A friend of mine, Illiat led an expedition to find it. He will meet you at the base site beside the temple. Illiat was going to meet you at the airport but, because he fears that other interested parties will try to get in first he will meet you at the site instead. Be careful Lara". She stood up, and understood well what she had just been told.
"I will professor and thanks" said Lara. She turned away from the professor and left the heavily polished library, all ready for another adventure.
Over the past few days Lara prepared her flight and gear for the journey and adventure she was about to embark. She packed in her backpack with the following items for her inventory:
Sunglasses
A torch
The copy of a map of the route Illiat took for exploring the rainforest site to find the temple, given to her by the professor
Her signature 9mm pistols
A large first aid kit
A handful of flares with a lighter
Some dynamite (just in case she may need it)
Lara boarded her flight to America and thought about what the professor had told her in Moscow. About the evil king Quaxet, the Nightmare Stone which contains his living sprit and also Illiat, if he had already started exploring the temple structure or anxiously is waiting for her arrival. Just then Lara nodded off asleep. It had been over 2 hours until she heard the pilot of the plane announcing that they were ready to land in South America. After leaving the airport, she called a taxi to drop her off at a village nearby the rainforest. Once Lara had arrived at the village, she can explore within the rainforest using the map route to the whereabouts of where the temple site is located.
Since being dropped off in the local village by the taxi, Lara wasted no time and headed straight to the entrance of the rainforest. Surrounded by canopies, trees and vegetation, Lara made her way through the crowded rainforest. Utilising the map guide that Illiat had left for her, she would find out where he would have set up camp to wait for her. Following the route was very mysterious for Lara, since not only was it further than she had expected, but as she got nearer to the temple site, it became more difficult to track where she was in relation to the map. Furthermore, it did not help Lara with the increasing amount of different species of wildlife, the ever increasing quantity of green vegetation and the hot temperature as she delved further into the rainforest.
'Where is it?' she thought to herself, as she kept going, looking from right to left and checking the map to give her some clue to where she was within the rainforest. It wasn't until later, right into the afternoon that she had found an open area, whilst continuously searching deeper into the depths of the rainforest. This new found area was exactly what she had just been looking for.
Lara stepped forward from the overcrowded forest and scanned the area. She mainly saw two major standout objects. A vast built up temple which stood a few metres away in front of her, and moreover to the right of it was what looked like a deserted campsite. There was nothing else major, but Lara noticed that the surface of the land was very flat too, which was peculiar after travelling through the rainforest. Also there was no vegetation surrounding the temple itself and the ground was very dry, which was very strange since it is situated within near the very heart of the rainforest.
It was silent, the only thing Lara can smell in the air was the smoke from the burned out fireplace near the camp. Lara walked over to the campsite, hoping that Illiat may be inside the tent, "Illiat!'', "Illiat!" There was no reply. Lara searched through the camp. She looked around it but found no sign of Illiat or anybody for that matter, she was alone. Again, Lara walked around the campsite and the green tent, looking for any clue to show reason why Illiat wasn't there. She then suddenly stumbled across circular broken glasses on the cracked dry floor, 'Oh no, Illiat! What's happened to you?' a fast thought passed Lara.
Unsure of what had happened to him, she quickly drew her pistols and looked around again, just in case she was being spied on, but nothing had changed in her surroundings. She then stared at the temple complex. Since Illiat cannot be seen anywhere and thought maybe he would have been taken by an unknown party in the temple. As she walked up the uneven layered stone stairs to the entrance of the temple, she thought to herself what kind of assailant could have taken Illiat, or whether it had been a group of some sort. These thoughts disappeared when she had reached upon on top of the stairs, straight in front of her was the entrance to the temple, inside it was pitch black, nothing can be seen.
The darkness had crept out Lara a bit, but she remembered that she had packed a flashlight in her backpack, so it would be easier to see once inside to explore. She reached for her backpack, took out her flashlight and turned it on, with the newly shining beam pointed at the unwelcoming entrance. It had shone brightly enough to make out a path that Lara can walk through onwards. Taking a deep breath Lara started her descant inside the temple, holding onto the flashlight tightly. 'Hang on Illiat, I'm coming!' and she disappeared into the darkness.
