Tomb Raider: The Prophecy

Adapted By Josh14Raider

Disclaimer: This is based on the storyline of the Game Boy Advance game with the same title. I do not own any of the characters, they belong to their respectable owners. This is just for entertainment reading.

- Introduction (Lara's Home)

A ray of sunshine glinted upon the silver tray, which was situated on top of a table set up nearby some well kept gardens. Explorer and adventurer Lara Croft and her faithful butler Winston, were enjoying each other's company just outside her mansion. It had been a beautiful day so far, as both admired the scenery and their cups of tea Winston had made earlier.

"So what do you plan on doing today Lara?" Winston asked her, his voice full of warmth and friendliness.

"Oh, I don't know, I'll have to think about it... I haven't got any planned adventures to prepare for yet, nor any schedules for a while." Lara replied, taking the final sip of her cup of sweet tea and placing it back onto the tray.

"Mmmm, thank you for the cup of tea Winston, it was lovely as usual." Lara praised her old companion.

"No problem Lara, I've known for a long time how you like your cups of tea being made. I'll just pop this tray back into the kitchen, while you think of what you might like to do today." Winston responded, and he picked up the tray, and then walked away towards the mansion.

It was during this moment, Lara had drawn up an imaginary check list in her mind, and for each entry she remembered that she had done recently, it got ticked off. Minutes passed and Winston came back, sitting beside Lara, ready for what she would do for the day.

"Have you decided what the plan is for today?" Winston wondered, looking at Lara's facial expression for the answer.

"Yes... but it might be a bit boring, the only thing I haven't done for a long time is sorted through some of my old books in the library. But you never know what we might find in there!" Lara told Winston, he nodded with agreement.

"Fair enough Lara, at least it's better than doing absolutely nothing. I will gladly help out if you want?" Winston offered along with a cheery smile.

"Of course you can Winston. It would be a delight having some assistance." They both left the table and entered the mansion, making their way to the top of the staircase. The mezzanine to the right side led them into the entertainment room, where Lara's valued musical instruments were placed. Inside was a grand piano and a harp, both of which Lara was very fond off. In her spare time she would compose pieces of music utilising both instruments, sometimes even Winston joins in! Furthermore a TV Home Cinema had also been set up here, along with a computer desktop plugged in, acting as a media centre hub. Through the entertainment room was a minuscule corridor with some stairs, leading up to Lara's library.

It had been a while since Lara did a full sort out of her collection of books and manuscripts. Lara and Winston decided to organise each section of her library from A-Z. They both worked on one section each, and created two piles for reorganisation. Where one pile is for keeping, whilst the other pile was for rechecking one final time, before recycling the items if they were not useful anymore.

Time moved on quickly, and jointly Lara and Winston had already covered almost half of the library's contents. But just before Lara was about to go ahead towards the next section of her shelves, she stumbled across a unique ancient book. Having been stopped in her tracks, Lara further examined her discovery. The book cover was made out of a brown coloured leather-like material, with an iron emblem in the middle carved in the letter 'E'. Also the iron metal parts covered the edges on the front and back of the book. Lara had never seen a book of this calibre before, not even in her own collection. She guessed that it was one of the books her father left behind, since she didn't even knew it had existed until that very day!

Opening up the thin pages of the book, Lara pondered on what the full name/title of the literature work. The answer popped right up on the second page. The title, once deciphered read: The Prophecy of the Tome of Ezekiel.

"Winston! Have a look here, I've found something very interesting!' an excited Lara shouted to Winston.

Winston hurried along to Lara's side, and scanned the book she held in her hands. He tried to read the passage on the page, but struggled to read what the script had said. He knew by this time, Lara knew what the text had spoken off.

"What does it say Lara?" Winston asked her.

"It reads of a certain prophecy of the Tome of Ezekiel, I've only been able to decipher this passage at the moment. Actually, I might hold off the library sort out, and decrypt this language to read further on, if that's okay with you Winston?"

"Yeah, sure Lara, there isn't much left to do now, so you go on ahead." reassured Winston, knowing it was one of Lara's favourite things to do. Finding out new discoveries, unravelling old mysteries and uncovering hidden secrets, this was what Lara had thrived for. She had a passion to research, and to be completely surprised by what she may have stumbled across. She took the newly discovered book to a nearby desk, and got herself a chair to sit upon. With a pen and a piece of paper, she began to decipher each line on the page. She also had begun to write out each passage that she had deciphered onto the blank piece of paper in English.

Hours must have passed like minutes for Lara. Once she had completed deciphering one section of the medieval book, the whole day had gone by promptly, and already it was starting to darken up outside. Lara looked over to the library bookshelves, expecting to see Winston finishing off, but he wasn't there. She walked over, examining the now uncluttered tidily stacked books. Winston had made an excellent job finishing off the reorganising. A note was left on top of a pile of books, written to inform Lara to check over them when she had the time. Lara assumed that Winston must have been preparing something for her, so she exited her library and headed downstairs.

A strong scent of sweet gingerly chilli, and nearly readily made basmati rice was coming from the kitchen.

"Ah there you are Lara, you ready for a bite to eat?" Winston said looking towards Lara's direction as she entered the kitchen.

"Starved Winston, what you cooking up?" wondered Lara.

"I'm doing one of my specialities, a spicy piping hot curry!"

"Cool, I'm looking forward to It." a keen Lara stated, she certainly was looking forward to the dish.

"Good to hear, it won't be long now." reassured Winston, preparing things for serving.

Both sat in the dining room and began tucking in the Jalfrezi curry. After finishing off the meal, Lara explained to Winston what she was able to decipher of the heavily encrypted Tome of Ezekiel. The new discovery intrigued Lara greatly, as she informed Winston on where her next adventure will take place.

"...Wolf's Fang Peak?"

"Yeah, this book dates back to the 13th century. This is what the scholar who wrote this called the area. I've done a bit of further research, and all the clues in the book have led me to believe that this is located high up in the Swedish mountains."

"What has made you want to take on this adventure Lara?" Winston asked her.

"The Tome of Ezekiel speaks of a mystical stone hidden somewhere in the icy heart of the mountain. This stone contains what the scholar wrote as 'Real Magic', and it is known as The Black Stone of Eternal Melancholy. I've encountered as you know, some unnatural journeys involving magic, like a few years back with that cursed sword during my visit to Jane in New York." Lara answered.

"I remember you telling me, but why would you want to get involved in that sort of thing again?" a worried Winston questioned.

"Because it was that particular phrase that got me hooked up, 'Real Magic', besides I don't think there would be any other third party interested, as this must be the only source explaining the existence of this artefact. Also it has been long forgotten and from what I've deciphered of this script, this stone shouldn't have any sort of curse." Lara added, raring to get ready for another breathtaking adventure.

"Okay Lara, I will start preparing your weaponry and equipment, have you set your destination date yet?"