AN: Alright, this is something that I have been having a lot of thought about. This is a story that I have been planning and typing (and re-typing) on and off. The most familiar I am with the Tomb Raider franchise is my neighbor and friend would play it on our Playstation. That was the classic version at that. I will try to stay loyal to the current version as well as take some liberties to make things fit the story that I am doing. Well, here we go.
Chapter One: The Sword of Souls
The Sword of Souls is a really powerful and mystical weapon. It was created during a type of great conflict, and lives were being taken by the moment. Then, three sages with the names of Belmont, Helsing, and Falcone created a sword that would use the death to its advantage. Of course, Helsing was seduced by the power that the sword possessed. When he tried to take the sword for himself, he instantly was dead the moment he touched it. What he failed to noticed was that Falcone placed a curse on the blade, a curse that meant that only those of his (Falcone) bloodline would be able to possess the blade.
Falcone and Belmont instantly realized their mistake in creating such a blade, and sent it deep into obscurity, never to be brought out to the light of the human world again. That is where it laid...
...until now...
PRESENT DAY
"Jesus, this fucking heat." William Belmont said, removing his pith helmet and running his wrist across his brow to wipe off the sweat. He was walking through the desert, properly prepared of course, and got to a cliff to watch over the road in front of him. It wasn't really a road, just a path that any one could drive an all terrain vehicle through.
He hated being in the desert, especially this one. Plain and simple, if the heat wasn't enough to kill you, it would be the random scavengers and bandits around here that would do you in.
"Now, where in the hell am I?" William asked himself, as he pulled out a map and a marker to find out just where he was, and where he has been. He took a step back from the ledge, and stared at the map in an attempt to get some type of bearing on his location.
As he was about to get his current location, he snapped his head around to see a jeep chasing another jeep. William thought that they were only following one another, until someone in the chasing jeep began to shoot at the other jeep, and as the result of the gunfire, a tire was hit on the fleeing jeep, and it flipped over. William crouched down, and took out the binoculars he brought with him, along with other weapons, to watch what was happening. Three guys, who he assumed were bandits or criminals, climbed out of the car, and approached the other jeep. A guy was trying to get out of the flipped jeep, but he didn't get far before he was shot in the head by the lead guy in the chasing jeep. The two others pulled a young woman out of the jeep, and held her before the other guy.
"Well, this isn't going to end well..." William said, grabbing his sniper rifle, and aiming carefully. As he focused the scope on the head goon in charge, William stopped and stared at the guy.
"That can't be..." William said, looking through his scope once again. Now the guy was armed, and pointed the gun at the female.
William didn't waste anytime, and he took out the guy that was aiming the pistol. That caused the other guys that were holding the young woman to drop her, and she managed to get hold of a dropped pistol, and take out the other guys as well. The way she did that made William know that she could take care of herself, and the ease with she did that also told him that this was not her first time doing something like that.
"Well, she can take care of herself, and she is pretty handy with the steel as well. Better get down there and see who my new friend is." William said.
She heard rapid footsteps coming behind her and she turned with the pistol raised, and the guy, who had his red hair in a ponytail and glasses, stopped and raised his hands, dropping the sniper rifle that he had.
"Oh, I take it that you were the one that helped me." William heard the woman say to him in a British accent.
"I am." William said. He leaned down to pick up the rifle, but the woman kept the aim on him.
"I am not going to shoot you." William said. He figured that it would be best to keep the rifle there, at least until things got a little bit calmer.
"I'm William, and you are?"
"Lara." She said. " Lara Croft."
"The famous explorer. I knew that you looked familiar." William said with a smirk.
"How do you know me?" Lara asked him.
"I am an explorer, like you, so I had to visit London, and a bar that I went to while in London kept talking about you." William said.
"Just what are you doing out here in the desert?" Lara asked him.
"You heard of the Sword of Souls?" William asked Lara.
"I heard. It is a mystical sword from ancient times that grows powerful whenever death was connected to it." Lara said.
"Good, saves me the trouble of explaining the long, drawn out history of the thing." William said. "Problem is, is that we are not the only ones looking for it. A lot of bad people are looking for it, and by the look of things I am all too right."
"Yeah, I managed to track the sword to a location, but I get the feeling that there are more of these guys out there." Lara said.
William walked over to one of the scavengers dead bodies, and turned it over. "They are wearing matching clothes, and the tattoos are the same as well."
"Great. Now what am I going to do?" Lara asked.
"I can help you, if you wish." William said, which got a questionable look from Lara.
"I will be a gentleman, I promise." William said quickly.
"Fine. Let's go, but if you try anything, I will shoot you without question." Lara said sternly.
"I know you will." William said, smirking as they walked away.
"So, what's your last name?" Lara asked him as they continued to walk through the desert. William's reaction caught Lara off guard a little bit. He stopped walking, and through his head back and moaned irritably.
"Belmont. It's Belmont." William said, taking off his glasses and wiping his brow. He took a swig from his canteen, and offered it to Lara, who politely declined.
"Where are you from?" Lara asked him again.
"New York City." William said. "By ways of Romania. I moved to New York because I became bored living in Romania, and my work brought me to New York so much, I decided to live out there to save some money."
"And yet here you are, out here in the desert." Lara laughed lightly.
"Still, though. I am saving way more money by living in the states." William said.
Lara looked around, and then decided to change the subject back to the matter at hand, so to speak.
"So, what else did you find out about the sword?" Lara asked him.
"Literally? Besides what I told you earlier, three sages created the blade because there home country was at a terrible war, and they made the sword in an attempt to end all of the conflict." William said.
"Seeing as how the sword is in this desert somewhere, I take it that things did not go to plan?" Lara questioned.
"It didn't." William answered. "They had to hide the sword out of reach from the general public so no one would be able to use the weapon for their own evil purposes. Which brings up the question that anybody would ask, how in the hell did it get out here in the desert?"
"My guess would be that someone hid it out here for that reason, or so that they could get it later." Lara chimed in. "That, or they put it in a place that they could only get it for themselves."
William could only nod, and he took a look around the desert. Lara looked at him, and noticed that he had a very apprehensive look on his face.
"What's wrong?" Lara asked him.
"It's...Alright, look." William said, looking at her. "I got this bad feeling that someone really evil and corrupt is out here and that weapon is something that would make them feel really unstoppable. If that weapon gets into their possession, a lot of innocent people are going to be in trouble."
"Well, then. That is one more reason that we should find it." Lara said, wiping her forehead, and continuing her walk with a little more determination.
William watched her walk ahead of him, and he could only shake his head. He then rushed to keep up with her, knowing that this was not going to be an easy trek, or fun confrontation that was waiting ahead for them.
As they were walking ahead, William took a glance back behind them, and then he saw something black. Whatever it was, it was only there for a second, if that. If Lara saw that, she would have been wondering what it was. William wasn't bothered, because he knew exactly who it was. Turning and heading to catch up with Lara, he could only smirk in a small way.
Across the desert, near a dirt encompassed road, a camp is sitting there. All of the occupants are no longer of this world. What happened? It would have been apparent that a gun battle took place. Multiple bullet holes were worn on the nearby walls and boulders, and they were spread around erratically. Whoever, or whatever in this instance that was the target of those shots, had to be superhuman, or at the least alien like to avoid those shots like that.
A low growl shattered the silence of the campground area, and a very large wolf creature calmly walked around, sniffing the air, and looking around at the various bodies that covered the area.
"Shit, talk about overkill." A voice said, appearing at the side of the wolf creature. He wore a dark cloak that only shown his mouth, and it was clear that the desert heat did not bother him, or he didn't care about the high temperature.
"I take it that none of these are the guy we are looking for?" The voice said to the wolf.
The wolf creature shook his head no.
"Look, these are similar to the one's that were on that road earlier." The voice said to the wolf, further examining one of the bodies. "The guy we are looking for might not be here, but these guys, whoever they are, certainly are working for our guy."
The wolf growled in agreement.
The young man turned around, and suddenly, a light was shining on his forehead.
"There. Our boy is heading in the same direction as that Croft chick. Let's go."
He began to float, and took off flying in that direction. The massive wolf let out a triumphant roar, and began to follow suit, bounding after him with relative ease.