Broken Paradise

Their group continued into the warmer climate of tropical trees and waterfalls. Although his initial thought was how beautiful this place was, his next thought was that there was something wrong here. It was so empty, abandoned, left behind. Proof of a civilization no longer alive existed by every ruined and overgrown road or building. It felt haunted.

Vines were encroaching over everything, with strange blue crystals growing on them at random intervals. Fossilized resin in the oddest places. Weird.

After his purposeful comment to Flynn about his journal, he'd finished his sketch and returned it to his pouch. The man himself had taken to giving him the cold shoulder, walking ahead with Navarro, avoiding any conversation or glances. Nate had tried to poke the bear so to speak, but he wouldn't give. Well, he'd wanted the guy to shut up and now he had what he wanted. Huh, but this silence wasn't making the journey as fun.

They traveled on a long, broken and cracked road. Quiet surrounded them and Nathan began feeling like it was a little too quiet. This place still felt wrong, eerie even. Were they being watched?

"We're not alone."

Nathan swung around along with everyone else to look at his bodyguard standing close behind him. The man's expression was inscrutable as usual with the scarf over most of his face, but his eyes were visible and searching the areas above them. He took that to mean an attack would come from above and drew his gun.

Good assumption. A large arrow shot into the back of a mercenary only a few yards from him. He fired blindly in the direction the arrow came and an angry roar echoed throughout the expansive area below. Tall and muscular men in various forms of primitive garb and armor jumped down from above, golden crossbows in their hands. They were bound to be more guardians, minus the frightening costumes meant to scare potential visitors away as the first line of defense. These guardians were liable to be pissed at the invasion into their protected territory.

Gunfire from the soldiers broke out as more arrows rained down on the group. This is what they got for bringing so many people in here at once. Impossible to miss them. Another soldier went down and then another, but the latter of the two struck, released a live grenade from his grasp as he fell. It rolled toward Nathan.

"Oh no, no, no!"

He dove into a somersault away from the immediate danger and it exploded a second later. Clambering to his feet, he flinched and moved back as machine gun fire rapidly fired from two soldiers close enough to deafen him. Spinning toward the other direction, he watched a guardian land amidst them, swinging arms and fists wild.

Nathan fired a few rounds into its chest but the shots didn't faze it. The bullets only seemed to alert the animalistic man to his presence, and it focused on attacking him. He turned tail to run and find a better way to take it down.

His gaze happened to catch Flynn's as he began running. The man was standing nearby with his magnum poised to fire at the guardian attacking Nathan. He slid along the ground to avoid a broad sweep of powerful arms and brought his gun up to fire more bullets. It just didn't do the damage he needed and the gun was knocked from his grasp. A hand tore him off the ground by the neck and he flailed.

He managed to gain sight of Flynn again, seeking his help out of this tight spot. The man remained where he was and then lowered his gun, looking Nathan straight in the eyes as he did. He turned and jogged away. Son of a bitch! Why'd he expect anything different from the scum-bag?

The guardian's fist squeezed tight. Too tight. He feared his neck was going to break from the pressure. He thrashed, refusing to accept he was about to die.

His bodyguard appeared behind the wild man throttling him and a blade flashed in the light, sweeping back and forth across its back. With a howl, the guardian dropped him and spun to the bigger threat, who promptly stabbed him in the throat with the combat knife. Him, it, finally fell in a spray of blood.

The mercenary pulled him to his feet. "There we go."

Nathan got his breath back and took in the situation. Machine gun fire felled a final assailant and everything grew calm once more. He could see the bodies of at least seven mercenaries from where he was positioned. Plenty remained standing. Flynn and Navarro were still alive. Too bad.

"Gather weapons and ammunition as needed!" Navarro called out, then added, "Move on!"

Rubbing his neck, he followed his bodyguard along the path. The remaining walk was uneventful, and they passed into an expansive courtyard. As they went onward, he took in more of the glowing blue growths scattered about and more broken up stone ground. Nature had also taken over this part of the lost city.

He contemplated numerous questions. Where did the guardians live? What did they subsist off of? Why stay here to guard a stone? What did it mean to them?

Soldiers behind him began to fan out, searching the area for threats. Nathan continued to trail his babysitter and in effect, Navarro, Flynn, and a couple dozen other soldiers. They shifted their direction to the left and came upon a wide door or gate. The gate had two wheels on either side attached to counterweights.

On Navarro's order, two soldiers stepped forward and operated the wheels to open the gate. A half dozen soldiers swept on ahead of them, through the doorway. There was a ledge to drop off of, and then a somewhat wavy path ahead. Nathan got nervous at the narrower pathway and kept his eyes moving to watch his surroundings.

Nothing happened. There was no attack by any bulky, near invincible guardians of the city. The narrow passage eventually opened into a wide area with huge stairs before them. The stairs led to a tall door. It looked like they were getting somewhere.

He smiled in anticipation of finding the stone.

"Daddy's got the gun. What are you smiling at, Drake?"

His smile faded. He would like nothing more than to be rid of this asshole. Nate thought about what he said, patting his holster and feeling nothing but air. He recalled losing his gun in the sudden fight earlier. Well that was careless.

"I can't believe Lazarevic didn't kill you," he sneered.

Flynn gave him a smug smile in return. "Big words coming from a captive. How do you know what's going to happen once we get the..stone? Navarro might decide he doesn't need you anymore."

"Yeah, whatever, asswipe," he muttered, annoyed.

"Drake, Flynn, there's a cart in the way. Move it."

He'd kind of forgotten the many other soldiers and Navarro standing around on the stairs and landing below. Every one of them was waiting with Navarro standing at the top of the stairs, an impatient glare fixed on him. His first instinct was to tell him what he could do with his command, but he knew it would be unwise in his current predicament. Navarro had a lot of guns backing him.

He walked the rest of the way up the stairs and examined the wooden cart partially blocking the door. Crouching, he pushed with his back to move the thing. It was heavy, and when it didn't move much with his best efforts, his bodyguard came up to help push beside him. Together they removed the obstacle from the doorway.

Straightening upright, his hands went to his hips as he turned around. "Thanks for the help, Flynn."

"Don't mention it," the man retorted easily.

He countered immediately, unwilling to let him be. "You know, you and Chloe really are perfect for each other. All snark and practicality. Too bad she dumped your ass."

On his left, Navarro fumed. "Oh you have got to be kidding."

The man looked from Nate to Flynn, fingers tapping along the holstered shotgun. Hopefully he was doing that subconsciously, and not wishfully. Then again, neither way sounded good for him.

"Fine," Navarro began. "Flynn, you're the older man. Act like an adult and treat the boy like a boy, since he insists on acting like one."

Flynn hesitated and looked to the leader, who was busy scowling at Nate, before approaching him and the door. Nathan watched the man's gaze sweep longingly over to the doorway. Turning away from it, he faced Nate, gave Navarro one final check, and grabbed his arm.

He'd been expecting a punch, not a grab, so he stumbled off-kilter. As he sought to regain his precious balance, Flynn socked him across the jaw and then swept a leg behind his knees. Nate's legs went out from under him and he barely managed to catch himself on his knees. He tried to stand up and Flynn hit him in the face again.

Nathan's head whipped to the side. When he jerked it back, it was in time to catch the heel of a shoe against the side of his forehead. He rolled away and up, prepared to deal some damage of his own. Assault rifles moved to aim level at his chest. Unable to fight, he lowered his fists, but Flynn seemed to have lost his taste for hurting him.

He stared at Flynn's back moving away from him, to the big door of the building. Something warm trickled along the side of his head and he touched the spot on his right temple where there was a stinging pain. His fingers came away with a little blood. Great.

"You were not saved," a voice murmured in his ear.

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden close proximity and speech. He peeked at the mercenary with his peripheral vision, acutely aware Navarro and the rest of the mercenaries were moving into the building behind Flynn. When the man said nothing more, he tried to ask for clarification in the most sophisticated manner he knew how.

"Uh... What?"

"See, Mr. Drake. Truly see."

What was this cryptic nonsense? Ever since they first met, the guy hardly strung words together for him. When he did bother, it was generally short and sweet. He might prefer the silence to complete confusion. His bodyguard started to walk past to go inside as well and he blurted out his next thought.

"Where were you when Flynn was knocking me around, protector?"

He was ignored and left standing alone outside. There was opportunity to run away now. He was confident he could sneak his way out of this place and far from these people. But he knew he wouldn't. The Cintamani Stone had to be close now.

"What the hell am I doing?" he muttered to himself, and walked inside the door to whatever lay beyond. "Here we go."

/

He wanted this to be over. It was harder to keep up a facade when traveling with a man who knew him more intimately than most. Nathan Drake was a threat to his ongoing health. He strongly desired to be rid of his presence. Death would be the most permanent method of making him go away.

Flynn didn't enjoy killing, but he approved of the act for insurance purposes. During their brief period traveling into Shambhala, Drake had proven he was an enemy no matter their history before Flynn's double-cross. He'd rubbed his knowledge of the journal in his face, in Navarro's face. Partner or not, the hourglass was beginning to drain on his time left with Lazarevic's replacement.

None of them were friends, all of them were thieves. There was no trust among their party. This would surely end in blood and death. He just didn't know who would be paying the price.

The large door had taken them into a large room, torches of blue fire lit everywhere. They'd walked in on a balcony, stairs leading down on both sides. Scanning this new place, he took in doors on the left and right side of the room, short stairs leading to the doors. Far across on the other side, was yet another door with winding staircases identical to the one they stood upon. Flynn guessed this would be the door they wanted to go through.

An explosion of blue fire burst from the ground in front of him when he stepped off the last step of the winding staircase. He managed to buck himself backwards onto higher steps as the flames licked at his heels.

"Son of a bitch!"

They were under attack. More guardians poured into the expansive room behind the first arrival. The bulky and deadly assailants wielded crossbows like the ones outside, and this time, there were those among them bearing slingshots of blue resin that exploded into blue flame upon impact. A battle broke out within the entirety of the room, but Flynn ducked behind the wall of the staircase and reached to touch the remains of what had been thrown at him.

"Is this..." he murmured.

It had to be from the tree, the extremely special tree he was searching to find. The sap itself was explosive. How bizarre. Would gathering some of this up be enough to appease the woman? He couldn't risk it with these people. The small sample bottle was replaced in his jacket pocket. He'd need a sample straight from the tree itself to be certain of its validity. Chances were good she would obtain knowledge of the truth of Shambhala to confirm his proof. He had to continue on.

There was no need for him to join this fight. He waited while the soldiers and Navarro fought against the crazed and brutal guardians trying to keep the trespassers from reaching their destination. The tree, the sap itself, had to be how these men had become so strong, so immune to injury.

He heard a scuffing noise higher up on the staircase and looked to see Drake hovering at the top, using the stairs as a barrier much like himself. The mercenary Navarro assigned to monitor the captive thief remained with him, laying low as well. When he peeked over the side of the stairs to see how the soldiers were faring with the fight, he saw the guardians were winning. Well that simply wouldn't work in his favor.

Flynn abandoned cover and fired a few carefully aimed shots at a guardian overwhelming a pistol wielding soldier. The assailant howled and ran for him at the same time a second guardian locked him down as its next target. One of these crazies was scary enough to handle.

"Uh oh."

He shot to his feet and ran for the other side of the stairs. It required he pass Drake and the mercenary beside him. He slowed long enough to give them fair warning. It wasn't like he was a completely heartless guy.

"Run! Run!"

They must have, judging by the sound of footsteps slapping the stone floor behind him. Blue flame exploded too close for comfort. The three of them high-tailed it to the base of the left staircase before he risked a look over the shoulder.

The peek caused him to trip and he lost his footing. He went down, spinning to try and keep the guardians in sight at the same time. Falling on his rear, Drake and the mercenary stuttered to a halt just before him, uncertain what their move was to be. His eyes dropped to the source of his fall.

He let out a devious laugh, swiping the SAS-12 shotgun into his hands with glee. "Now we're talking."

Four shells into the nearest one, an archer coming at him with its bare hands instead of the crossbow slung over its back. He wondered if it was maybe for the creepy pleasure of using hands for killing. He forgot the thought nearly as quick as he had it when the powerful gun clicked empty. Uh oh.

His eyes trailed along the floor to where the archer had fallen. He stole the already loaded crossbow from its corpse and took aim at the guardian threatening to throw another resin bomb from far too close a distance. Flynn fired and hit his opponent in the chest, felling it. One hit with their own weapon and they fell!

He called out this information to anyone within earshot. Some soldiers did nothing to change their current fighting tactics, others went into motion to confiscate weapons from fallen foes. In a matter of a single minute, the odds shifted and it was the guardians losing the battle. Another few minutes and two dozen mercenaries were left standing, no guardians remained.

Navarro led the way out of the sudden graveyard. They'd made it. They came into a temple with light filtering in brightly from outside. The room was a circular shape with columns, and at the center a fake tree had been built to hold an enormous stone in place. The stone was more of the hardened blue sap, fossilized resin.

"It's not a sapphire..." Drake murmured.

The man approached the big stone, staring at it in curiosity and wonder. Navarro did much the same, studying the stone from the other side of the room, where the opening in the wall let the most sunlight in. His look was one more calculating and weighted.

Drake pointed at the stone and turned away from it, eyes scanning over the room. "It's amber."

Flynn watched him and knew he was about to give the game away. He'd been afraid with Drake's journal Navarro might figure out too much about the lost city, so he'd kept it a secret. He was feeling rather moronic for not foreseeing Drake himself would be able to pull together what was actually in Shambhala once he was there, staring the truth in the face.

"The treasure isn't a stone at all," Drake realized out loud.

The man wandered over to the opening in the wall and stared out at the humongous overarching tree directly below. He laughed and shook his head. His arm came up to point over to the tree.

"It's there. The treasure is that tree. Aw... Of course! Those guardians must have been drinking the strange blue sap. It's why their teeth are black. They get their power from the tree sap!"

He seemed incredibly proud of this discovery. Flynn stared at him bitterly. He'd figured out the truth about what lay inside Shambhala ages ago. He located a sample container for this very reason. Everyone was always looking at Nathan Drake like he was such an amazing history buff and treasure finder. None of them even looked at him.

Flynn felt eyes on him. Someone was looking at him now...

He glanced behind to find Luka and Damir near the doorway, staring at him. They smirked when their stare was noticed and he frowned. Certainly not the attention he desired. Turning back, he knew who to face and fear came into him. Navarro was inspecting him in suspicion. Had he worn his prior knowledge on him when he walked in and gave no reaction to Drake's unearthing of the true treasure of Shambhala?

"What do you make of this, Flynn? Do you agree there is no stone of value here?"

Navarro was testing him, except he wasn't really testing him. He already believed Flynn had been keeping key information from him. When this was over he'd have to run to avoid retaliation. That was unless his "partner" changed his mind about treating him like a lesser being later, in favor of killing him now.

"Well done, Sherlock," he remarked to Drake, giving up caring that his tone gave away he'd already known what they'd find.

Drake definitely picked up on it and he was surprised. He looked at Flynn a little puzzled and amazed, before frowning and turning to the amber stone.

"The people protecting this place, the guardians of the tree, must be doing it for a reason. The dagger was taken far away from here, the key to this city, because Marco Polo saw what happened when people got that kind of power. The temple in Borneo was carrying barrels of the stuff, Flynn. And they tore each other apart in their greed to have it all for themselves. It explains why a guy like Lazarevic was searching for Shambhala. He must have known about the tree's power. Did you-"

The mercenary ordered to play the role of his guard shoved him. Drake lost what he was saying and his train of thought at the push. He looked at the guy cluelessly. Flynn was pretty sure the man had been shutting him up. Why would he try to help him with Navarro? He was one of his hired guns.

"What happens to a person with that much power?" Drake questioned, turning his concerned and thoughtful stare to Navarro.

"Navarro!"

One of the soldiers waiting outside the room came rushing in. He gained full attention from everyone in the room, Drake's question forgotten. Not by Flynn though. What would she do with the sample he was to bring to her? He shouldn't bring it to her. She had too much power as it was. Right now she operated in the shadows, but with what essentially was an immortality serum, she might come out into the light. That would be bad for everyone.

The soldier approached Navarro, speaking low in his ear. Their hushed tones were too difficult to hear.

Drake must have seen his thoughtful uncertainty regarding the tree, because he brought up a secondary question, directed to him alone.

"What happens to the world when a person has that much power?"

He frowned, annoyed Drake could see into his lack of conviction. They were enemies, so it made it sad Nate was the closest thing to a friend he had in this place. He didn't like that feeling so he course corrected in the manner he knew how: Disagreement.

"A man is just a man, no matter how much power he thinks he has. Men can be stopped, killed."

Flynn turned away at the contemptuous look he received for his trouble. Ah, good. Such an easy man to alienate because Drake's thoughts primarily focused on things in relation to him. Was he seriously trying to rationalize his own absurd behavior? Good lord he was messed up in the head.

"Gentlemen, we have a visitor. Seems I didn't quite finish the job with our war lord."

Everything going on his head vanished as a cold chill swept through him. Navarro couldn't be saying what he thought he was saying. He'd seen the man shot through the skull. No, he corrected, he saw a man on the floor bleeding from the head. And Navarro had pulled the trigger from an odd angle, without full view of his target. It seemed impossible, but it was plausible.

As far as he was aware, no one checked for a pulse, no one even returned to the train car where he'd died. They hadn't felt the sentiment to bury their own former leader. Son of a bitch...

"Draaaake!"

He jogged to the window as Drake did, to see with his own eyes. Zoran Lazarevic was walking across the bridge they'd all come into the city on. It was a fair distance from them, but he was out in the open and in full view. With the bright sunlight shining down, Flynn could make out dried blood covering half of his head and the side of his face and neck. His hands were extended upward as he spoke out to the air around him, searching for only one man.

"Draaaake! Come out, you coward!"

"What's he want me for? You shot him!" he protested to an unsympathetic Navarro.

"He didn't see me. He must think you did it."

"I didn't."

"Why don't you go convince him of that?" Navarro suggested with a smug grin.

"I suggest we avoid the man," Flynn suggested in turn. "On account he was crazy before someone shot him in the head and left him unconscious and bleeding for days on the floor of a train. Now he's bound to be even more psychotic."

"Oh no..."

He glanced Drake's way before searching out the wall opening to see what he was seeing. There was Lazarevic... What was he missing? Where...?

His eyes pinned down a blonde woman in an orange jacket standing just outside the entrance to Shambhala. He'd seen her before, with Nate and Chloe. The reporter with the friend Lazarevic killed in such a cold-blooded manner it disturbed him. Flynn saw the war criminal kill his own men over petty crimes or mistakes, deeming them traitors and fools. But this man had been pure civilian. He'd nothing to do with anything.

"Shit!"

The curse drawn from the go-lucky guy became clear as to why it happened. Two more people were right behind the blonde woman as they entered the lost city. He recognized them both. Victor Sullivan and Chloe. Sullivan must have come looking for Nate, and Chloe... Probably the same reason. He felt a tightness in his stomach, like he might be sick. It must be nice to have people care enough to look for you anywhere.