- Royal Tombs Part 2
The reaper gazed at Lara with it's lit up red eyes within the eye sockets of its head skull and out of the blue, something began to form within the palm of its right skeletal hand. It looked like some form of energy, but Lara was not taking any chances. She had guessed it was another form of a guardian, along with the mummies and skeleton warriors she had encountered so far. Then on the spur of the moment, there was an ear popping sound as the reaper had cast an enchantment heading towards Lara!
Just out of the corner of her eye, she just managed to miss the attack by ducking. Having seen enough of this new enemy, Lara hastily rolled to the left, missing out the angle of the reaper's attack range and drew her pistols ready to fire.
The reaper was slow, and Lara used that as her advantage as a way to methodize a way of engaging the reaper. She began to fire on the reaper. It was standing ever so still, not reacting at all to the bullets firing from the dual pistols. It took around 10 bullets to the hunched skeleton body of the reaper to finally react to Lara's attacks. The magical reaper set out 4 wisps of magic energy balls whizzing in Lara's direction, following her every move she made!
Lara had to react fast. The room she was in is huge, so to dodge these new attacks, she would have to be cunning and aerobatic about it. Rapidly the first ball was at her tail, so in response just as it was about to hit her, Lara cart wheeled to her left and the ball vanished into the ground. The next 3 energy balls were not far behind, and these were aimed directly at her. On course though, an idea began to form for Lara. She ran towards the wall of the room, on the double, as the wisps of the magic energy were closing in right behind her. She then ran upwards on the wall as much as was capable and back flipped.
Just as she was hopping backwards, Lara saw the three energy balls evaporating into the wall she had jumped off upon. She landed safely and speedily redrew her pistols to assault the reaper once more, doubling the pace of her firing, as she moved closer towards the still-reaper. Finally the reaper began to shake and tremble and all of a sudden began to fade away, similar to dissolving into thin air. The gloomy reaper was gone, Lara was out of breath and speechless from the encounter.
She came to after a few moments of recovery, and stood in front of the vast skeleton statue. In the centre was the chest and head, also it looked like it was holding something at the ribcage. The outer rim of the centre skeletal body was similar to a star shape, and all was decorated with a dark emerald green. In the middle was a hole. Next to it was a carved symbol of the same skull that is on the skeleton key. Lara grabbed the skeleton key out of her backpack, inserted it into the hole and turned it ninety degrees to the right.
She was met with the resounding sound of a 'click', and as expected the ribcage of the statue opened up, revealing a wooden stick. Lara picked up the wooden stick and examined it. The item had more quality then a normal wooden stick, it was more like part of a staff with the way it was, 'maybe a segment of a staff?' The segment was sizeable to fit into her backpack. It was time to move on from the statue and Lara further looked around in the statue room, seeing if there was a passage to advance head on. There, to the far right was a small archway which had leaded Lara to the next room in her adventure.
Lara entered through the small archway, and immediately she spotted a pile of bones a few yards away, 'Oh great, here we go again!' She inputted new clips for her pistols and prepared herself for the whirlwind of magic, bringing the skeleton warrior and sprit back to life. She stepped forward, instantaneously her expectations came true, and she pointed her pistols in the direction of the newly formed skeleton warrior. This time around though, it was a bit more difficult to manoeuvre around for her. Because it was in a narrow corridor- style passage, Lara would have to react more quickly to the warrior's upcoming attacks.
With the sword in hand, the skeleton glanced at Lara with hollow black eyeholes and begun to charge at her, ready to take a swipe and cut up Lara into pieces. She certainly wasn't going to let that happen, and with both pistols she began to swing bullet fire at the skeleton's body. Each bullet that was fired, it had begun to take effect on the skeletal body of the guardian. A few seconds later, a whisk of smoke engulfed the skeleton, as it seemed to have taken too much damage that it can handle from Lara's pistols. It was only moments before it vanished into thin air, just like the previous guardians.
Lara pressed onwards, and had come across another slanted slope. She slid downwards and was met with a different change in colour tone in the ever changing surroundings. Instead of the bricks being a purple and green tone, they had changed into a glazing yellow brick with red flooring. Also the flame bowls still lit brightly had constantly remained the same as before.
The slope had escorted Lara to a lower level, and straight away two large snakes spotted her and slithered towards her with fangs at the ready to bite her. "Hiiissssss"! Having to rapidly react to this, Lara drew her pistols and a bullet in each one of the snakes had stopped them in their tracks. She withdrawn her pistols and viewed the level she was at. There was nothing of interest, except for what looked like stairs, but they were recessed, so she was unable to climb up on them. 'There must be some kind of switch to retract the stairs' and indeed there it was.
She glanced at the corner end of the level and saw the hidden switch concealed in the shadows. Lara strolled along to it and pulled down along its old rusty handle. Promptly, the recessed ladder retracted its steps mechanically, Lara stared up where the ladder went, it was a very long descant up, 'well got to start somewhere' and so to began her climb upwards.
It took a few minutes until Lara reached the top of the ladder. There was no ledge to be found through, so while on top of the ladder holding on tightly to the steps, she scanned around. Behind her was the ledge that she had been looking for. Lowering herself on the ladder, she jumped and back somersaulted onto the ledge. Glad, she had made it successfully on the ledge without any problems. She carried on jogging on the landing and came across a different designed opened doorway. Lara peered through it, there was an enormous room standing in front of her, and it was filled with four main pillars supporting the massive architecture.
These pillars were aligned perfectly like the edges of a normal square, and strangely had handles on them 'maybe part of another puzzle'. Lara examined the room even further. At the end of the room were two massive doors, but they were locked and had no keyhole or switch nearby it. There had also been a carved diagram on the wall, maybe showing some sort of clue on how to solve the puzzle. The picture showed a diagram of the pillars themselves, and what looked like directions on how to use them next to it. However, she also saw that the way to solve the puzzle was worn away unable to be seen, 'Blast!'
Lara also spotted a trapdoor in the middle of the four standing pillars, and was wary of it as it could have lead into another spike pit, or something much worse. Lara approached the pillars and scanned the detail of them. To her surprise they were all the same except for the positioning of them.
She decided that she will try and move them all in different directions, so she took hold of the handle connected to the First Left Pillar, and moved it in one semi-circle to the right. Nothing happened, Lara had a good think about it 'Maybe when the pillar reaches its correct position alignment, it will give out some sort of sound?' To test her theory, Lara grabbed hold of the same pillar she had been turning, and started to move to her right again. This time turning in one revolution keeping her ears in check for any sort of sound, as she turned the pillar slowly.
"Click", it was certainly quieter than she had expected, but that satisfying sound had just confirmed her theory to be true. Happy with herself, Lara moved onto the Second Left Pillar and started to move that to her right direction, using the same method as before. "Click", another contented sound, confirming the position of the pillar and Lara moved quickly onto the First Right Pillar in the complex. There was a difference though in this pillar and no doubt in the Second Right Pillar too, they moved in the left direction this time.
'Shouldn't make much difference' and Lara pushed the handle of the pillar, moving it to the left. She did two whole revolutions until she realized something was not right. 'Why can't I hear any click?" This started to worry Lara, and so she decided to go at a slower pace this time, making each turn ever so more precise. "CLUNK"! Instead of it being a small sound this time, the pillar had sunken into a hole, to what seemed to be a particular alignment deeper underground.
'Now that was precision work'. It had exhausted Lara, the amount of concentration she had to do to get it in the correct position. She moved onto the Second Right Pillar, the final one. Same method as before, Lara had to concentrate even further for the right side pillars compared to the left. She only moved it a couple of centimetres, and precipitously the Second Right Pillar already aligned in its correct position, with a resounding "CLUNK"!
With all the pillars properly realigned into their suitable locations, one of the locked doors had swung open slowly, while the trapdoor in the centre of the pillars had flung open too. Lara's first chosen choice was to explore the room pass the locked doors, and so she strutted over there and began to take in the sights of the newly opened hall.
The arrangement of the hall was simplistic. Straight away in the middle was an altar with a hole in the middle of its carvings. It was sealed tightly though, so Lara couldn't see what secrets may have been held in there. Beside the altar were two lit flame stands and at the corner of the hall was another doorway, but had been concealed and there was no keyhole or switch within the area. Stuck with what can be done, Lara backtracked to the trapdoor which had to be yet studied. She came over and using her flashlight, since it had been a little dark within, shone the light at every corner.
There had been a ladder which Lara could climb down and from what she could see. There was no immediate danger for her. Without hesitation she got onto the ladder and began climbing downwards. The descant wasn't long and Lara was standing on a platform in a chamber filled with a lot of different landings. Below was a long way away, 'no doubt the bottom of this chamber also holds the key to the hole in the altar'. Lara began to jump to the next platform along, and kept looking out for the next one to jump onto next, until she got closer to the bottom.
It was about the third platform away from the bottom, when Lara saw the inevitable, another trap. But this time it hadn't been a spike pit, it was something worse. 'Rolling Spindles, what next'! These were razor sharp spindles that rolled upon the ground, moving continuously right and left by both deep slopes at the ends of each corner. Lara stared at them, one wrong move and she would be cut up in half. She eyed out for any concealed passage or some sort, and... She found it!
When looking just right, there had been a collapsible single tile just to the left of the spindle pit where the second spindle had been rolling. 'If I put all my weight onto that floor, it should collapse and reveal another passage...hopefully'. Lara had to time it just right, or face the consequence of being sliced in half by one of the rolling spindles! She got onto the last platform just above the ground and waited, until the second spindle had gone passed the collapsible tile.
Heading to the right direction, furthest away from the spindles, Lara made her move. Hurried, she jumped down onto the spindle pit, and sprinted across to the tile. Initially she thought that when she had step foot on it, it would collapse automatically, but it didn't! Fearful for her life, as the oncoming second spindle was gaining ground towards her direction fast, she jumped and stamped the tile as hard as she could.
Astonishment had filled Lara, as the last stamp had made her fall through the hole when the tile had broke and collapsed with the added extra weight. Her life was saved from the clutches of the spindles, and to her amazement on the ground there was a key. 'This must be the key for the altar above'! The hole she was in was small enough to peer through, so that she can see the positions of the two spindles that were stopping her from reaching the first platform above. Lara had timed it perfectly, while the two spindles were at opposite ends, she elevated herself onto the ground and made a run towards the first platform. She had made it. 'Phew! It really is all in a day's work'! Lara began to retrace her way back upwards and back into the altar hall, where she would insert her new finding into it.
A turn to the right with the key and Lara listened closely for a 'click', saying it had been unlocked, but as she was doing this, something sinister came to mind. Just as she was turning the key, Lara hadn't noticed that two whirlwinds happened at either side of the hall, and two new skeleton warriors were formed. They approached Lara slowly and carefully, not giving away their position, then as they were only a few meters away, they readied their swords to a similar style of an execution.
At the corner of her eye, Lara saw she was being ambushed. In a catch of breath, she tripled back flipped near the edge of the hall and drew her pistols ready to duel. There was two of them, 'This will be difficult if they worked as a team', and one warrior whom was wearing armour began to pursue Lara. The other was the same as the previous ones Lara had faced before, so her battle plan was to first attack the un-armoured skeleton warrior. Once it had fallen, she would next find a way to best the other armoured warrior. Lara had to keep moving, as the skeleton warrior with the armour was more ecstatic to attack Lara whatever the cost.
With both pistols aimed at the defenceless skeleton warrior, she began firing at the warrior's body while continuously manoeuvring around the hall. After a few shots, the first skeleton warrior disappeared in a wisp of smoke. 'Now for the final one', her focus had changed to the other guardian. Lara swiftly learned on how armoured skeleton warrior did its movements, and what weaknesses had been unknowingly presented to her. Analysing didn't take long, when Lara saw a weak point in its armour. Behind the warrior, right where the spinal cord was connected to the neck and head. But how was she going to get behind it, this warrior was quicker than the past enemies, and for sure if Lara had the opportunity, she would have to make it count.
What could she do, 'I know' as a scheme formulated in a matter of seconds. Lara sprinted towards the large doorway in between the altar and pillar rooms, and hid herself next to the opened door. Her plan was to wait for the skeleton warrior to come through. While it is looking for her, Lara would come out with her pistols at the ready to fire at the skeleton's spinal cord. Moments passed, and the skeleton finally appeared through the doorway, scanning the room for Lara. Unknown to the warrior however, it was going to be ambushed. 3...2...1... BANG!
An effective hit! The armoured skeleton warrior evaporated into thin air with a wisp of smoke. With the guardian now gone, Lara withdrew her pistols and retried opening the altar. Click! The altar made that well-known unlocks sound, and Lara shoved the top of the altar up. Another staff segment was revealed inside. Lara picked it up and stored it into her backpack. Unexpectedly the sound of a door opening happened within the hall. Wondering what surprises await for her next, Lara proceeded through the newly opened passageway.
A long winding corridor had made Lara wonder, for how long she had been in the temple complex, and how much further until she reached the snake guardian. The environment of the surroundings had now changed back into a mixture of purple and green glazed bricks. Lara had finally reached the end of the corridor, seeing a ladder leading downwards. She stepped onto it and started to climb down, 'it seems I get going further and further underground at this rate'. She had arrived at the end of the ladder and proceeded onwards through a large doorway.
There was a massive room that stood with unseen architecture. At the two sides of the room, there were two gigantic mirrors, showing the reflection of the room itself and strange enough the flooring too. Also the flooring was styled as a checkerboard, so there were two primary colours, which were a white sort of porcelain style tile, and a shiny dark diamond black tile mixed together. On the other side of the room were another pair of two medium doors, the same as the ones she was about to pass. It certainly was impressive, but Lara had suspicions, 'It's the perfect place to set some nasty traps'.
It was then Lara spotted an inscription written on the wall, it was in the language of the ancient Aztecs. As luck would have it, Lara had basic understanding of some forms of the language, and she was capable of making out some of what it had said. The statement had said the following. 'To those who wish to bypass the room, the mirror is the...key of reflection...Reward comes to those who step on the right floor... Death comes to those who step on the wrong one'.
After reading the inscription, Lara took a second glance at the mirror and immediately saw what was hidden underneath some of the tiled flooring... SPIKES! It had been a cunning trap. As it was designed to trick the weaker mind of those, who don't observe their environments carefully around them, and awarding those who have the patience and awareness. Lara studied both mirrors even further. They actually not only showed the placements of the spikes, but also revealed that some of the tiles had mechanical workings underneath them. 'I wonder what they are for'. Then it came to her, 'Of course, the door must be locked, therefore those must be pressurized floor switch workings and once all of them have been stepped on, it should unlock the door'.
Finally Lara checked the mirror for one last time. She saw that some of the tiles were just normal safe platforms for her to step on when she needed it. Using the mirrors, Lara had pictured the layout of the floor, and converted it into a grid diagram to see which order she would target the pressurized floor switches. She had planned her route and taken her first step onto a tile from the entrance. It was a safe platform, and Lara moved onwards towards the first pressurized tile that she was going to step upon. The sound of a sunken tile had filled the room, as Lara had placed her foot flat onto the first pressurized floor switch.
'Time to move onto the second', and Lara wasted no time to getting the second one with jumping over and avoiding the series of spiked booby traps around. "Tick"! The second pressurized floor tile had sunken a single centimetre within the ground. Lara had another look in the mirrors to refresh her memory of the layout of the room. She saw that two spike tiles were in front and to her left too. Lara hopped over the spiked tile in front of the second pressurized floor, and was standing on one of the safe platforms. Diagonal to where she was the third pressurized tile was in sight. Lara stepped in that direction and was met with another sink from the tile.
The next one was easier, as it was diagonally to the left, and Lara stepped over to the mechanical tile. She felt another sunken feeling as the tile lowered from Lara's weight. The following tile was at the other side of the room, utilising the safe platforms, Lara was able to make it to the fifth pressurized floor. Next she set about getting to both the sixth and seventh tiles, as they were about at opposite ends. 'There last one!' She got to the final seventh pressurized floor, after hop scotching downwards to the sixth pressure tile, and upwards to the last one. The concealed exit in the room had now been unlocked as Lara had heard it being nearest to it, and she began to make her way towards it.
Inside something was awaiting her arrival as Lara approached the room, she could sense the cold feeling, similar to the feeling of being watched as she entered. Lara drew her pistols and pointed at the figure, it had been a bit too dark to see at the moment, until Lara's eyesight readjusted to her surroundings. It took a few moments and then Lara saw another...reaper!
A similar one to the previous reaper, this one was wearing a velvet purple cloak but looked exactly the same as before, 'I hope this one is more challenging' Lara thought as she began to take aim. The reaper was beginning to create an energy ball ready to unleash it at her, but Lara was taking no chances. She got aim of vulnerable parts of the reaper, and then commenced to rapidly fire at it. Surprisingly after a few critical hits, the reaper started to tremble and shake freakishly, and out of the blue vanished out of sight. Pleased that it was unable to attack her, Lara withdrew her pistols, and then searched around the area for any secrets it may hold.
She came across another vast dirty gold statue, this time around it had been of an Aztec priest and it had its hands out holding something. Lara collected what the statue was holding, and it was the final piece of staff segment. Delighted, Lara took out the other two segments she had already gathered and connected them together, forming a carination of a staff.
Unknown for what she would use it for, Lara held it in one hand while re-exploring the room she was in. Lara had now noticed that when she had taken the segment off the statue's hands, a new doorway was opened. It had a ladder running down, so Lara began climbing downwards. When she reached the bottom the descant had lead her to a chamber. The chamber was decorated, as if it were of some importance like a shrine. In the centre of the chamber, there was a huge coffin with two statues next to it holding flame bowls. Lara walked over to the coffin and examined it. It was carved and decorated with some magnificence as if it held a very important secret. Lara tried to budge the opening, but it was sealed to tightly, there had been a pattern for something to be inserted to remove the seal.
Then she pulled the staff closer to her person, inserted one end into the opening and began to push using all her strength. Almost straight away, the seal had come off and fallen to the floor. Lara hoisted herself up onto the top of the newly opened coffin. Inside the interior of the coffin was a dead body of a skeleton. 'Maybe one of the 3 priests's who locked away Quaxet into the Nightmare Stone' Lara thought, as she remembered the conversation with the professor about the subject. The skeleton was holding something, and it was glinting, Lara picked up the object. It had been the second panel piece! Lara stashed away the panel piece into her backpack, and a new doorway had opened up showing Lara a new passageway. Cautious, she went through leaving behind the coffin of the fallen priest.