-The Lost City Of Mystiaja
"Oh My..." Lara and Ayesha gasped, as they looked on in shock awe of what they were seeing in front of their eyes. Speechless at the mere underground sight, that either should have crushed or collapsed on its own due to wear and tear from age. What they just saw was a huge underground sphere dome, and within this stood decaying buildings, ruins of old and what was left of a lost forgotten city. They were standing on the cliff of this amazing discovery...
"Wow! I would never have guessed, now this could be one tale that could be true from what we are seeing now!" Ayesha excitedly said, as she was flickering through her GPS device.
"What's that Ayesha, what have you found out!?" Lara went over to Ayesha's side, intrigued to know what her partner found out. Ayesha began to explain her reaction...
"Apparently, there was a myth or tale that has been told down through the generations of a city that had been buried by a storm from the mountains. As the story tells on here, there once was a city called Mystiaja, which thrived with glory and peace, basically the people roamed and lived free peaceful lives. However one day out of nowhere, the dark clouds began to form over the city, covering the whole city, and from that aggressive thunder began to strike. But not only did the thunder hit upon the city, but also the mountains of the Himalayas too, which of course this city was near to. There came a powerful blow upon the rocky mountainside, and too many pieces of huge rock began to fall on the city, they were to be doomed! Now there lived an old strange magician who wasn't native to the city and had the ability of summoning creatures upon the hilltop, he used to pray in the temple here and kept good relations with the local people of the city. Obviously not wanting to see his beloved city go to obliteration, he used all his might, power and even in the process of sacrificing himself, he summoned a mythical eternal beast to create a barrier around the city. Many people of the city witnessed this act and as the beast grew they saw the old wizard beginning to perish away, until finally he disappeared out of sight and light shone around the city. As the huge boulders from the mountain nearly fell on the city, the barrier was fully formed and shielded the city from oblivion. From this selfless act, the summoned guardian succeeded in protecting the city from chaos and destruction."
"So what was the outcome of all this? I'm guessing what we see ahead of us" Lara added in.
"Ah yes indeed, the barrier that had formed around the city though protective, had a serious flaw. The boulders piled on the barrier; one by one they sealed the city into eternal darkness, never to see light again. The barrier faded, the guardian remained and hid, whilst the structure of the boulders held tightly, not allowing anything to escape nor come through. In essence, all the people of the city were buried alive, sealed in darkness for many years. Some say, that the wizard whom summoned this beast, is actually the beast itself, protecting it for an eternity as long as it lives and the city still stands..." Ayesha was cut short when something strange occurred.
Just then, Ayesha's GPS device screen began to fuzz out of control and thereafter three seconds completely switched off, she was not able to turn it on again.
"What just happened? Why did the GPS suddenly turn off!?" exclaimed Ayesha, as she kept bashing it with her palm.
"Hmm, didn't Tom say before that the drill machines above stopped working as they got deeper underground? So it can't be a coincidence... I believe this ruin has some sort of presence that jams electronic equipment. Oh blast, this also means that we can't contact Tom by radio" Lara said and Ayesha got her radio out.
"I'll give it a try; you never know it could still work for a while"...
"Tom can you hear us, over"...
"...Just...Barely..."
"Tom, we've found an incredible discovery, the lost city of Mystiaja, over"
"...Say...That...Again...Discovered...What?"
"The lost city of Mystiaja, over"
"..." There was no more reply from Tom as the radio stopped responding.
"Great, now the radio is gone, we can't call for support if we encounter anything down there" Ayesha waved her hands in disbelief of their luck with the gadgetry, however Lara shrugged it off.
"Well, we made it this far, let's carry on, see what we find down there" Lara stated, knowing they didn't need the aid of gadgets. She made it through many adventures without them, and this one wouldn't be any different. Furthermore they were equipped with weapons if they were to encounter anything, so it didn't matter.
"Right on!" Ayesha positively said agreeing with Lara, as if she read her mind. They left the GPS device and the radios up on the cliff surface, as they intended to go back the way they came in if all goes well. They got out the ropes given to them by Tom, attached their full round hooks into the rock, wrapped the rope in the loop and begun to carefully rappel down the cliff.
The two ladies managed to get down to the city grounds with no trouble. It felt like a ghost city, the smell wasn't pleasant, and all they had were the brightness of their torches. There certainly was a chill about it, even though no one had been there for centuries, but as Lara and Ayesha walked through the dusty streets, they felt the history behind it. They passed through what seemed to be a market, as a few stalls were still standing, though they had seen better days. If there were any fruit or vegetables that were sold back then, nature had of course taken action and they had biodegraded away. Nothing was there...
Other buildings were unidentifiable due to them being unrecognisable at this time. If either Lara or Ayesha had spoken a word, their voice would echo and bounce of the ancient walls in the area around them. Nothing lived down there, only the foul air around them, and they knew it was inhabitable. The only lead they had was the knowledge of knowing a material of some sorts had dwelled down here and the source was somewhere. After an hour or two, both Lara and Ayesha began to doubt if they would find anything in the ghastly dead city at all.
They took a break and sat down at one of the fallen slabs that were lying on the sooty floor. Drinking the bottled water, Ayesha looked down on the floor taking in whist Lara still scanned around the area that they were in. No colours were present in the city. A single colour was all that was there and that was a dull grey, with no single trace of a clue to lead them where they want to be. However their fortunes changed when everything seemed to be lost. By some kind of miracle, Lara randomly shone her light onto the ground, and there came a sign.
"Ayesha! Look! A trail of leaking liquid, I wonder if it's the same material as the ones we seen on the photographs" Lara took a closer look, and indeed it was to her delight. In response she gave two thumbs up at Ayesha.
"Ah ha, some breadcrumbs to lead the way! Let's follow it!" Ayesha happily said, being glad to hear good news at last.
Following the trail of pouring liquid, Lara and Ayesha found themselves stumbled across something grand. At long last, they found not only where the source of liquid came from, but also a peculiar looking shrine-like building still upstanding compared to what's left from the rest of the city.
"I say that this is must be 'the temple' at which this magician must have prayed in thousands of years ago" Ayesha theorized as she continuously gazed at the rich structure.
"Ha, hey I was about to say that too!" Lara laughed, wrapping her arm round Ayesha's shoulders with Ayesha doing the same to her as well.
"What are we waiting for! Let's see what's inside!"
"Wanna race?" Ayesha asked, raring for some competition against Lara.
"You're on!"
"Ready...Set...GO!"
With anticipation of what they were to see inside, both Lara and Ayesha took off in a run against each other. A burst of energy filled Lara as she went as fast as she can. Ayesha was a good sprinter, but she was no match for Lara's experience she'd gained over the years with sprinting her way out of danger, and built up fitness stamina. She reached the vast doors first, and smashed them open with little effort thanks to her speed. Only a couple of seconds behind her, Ayesha came running in, exhausted and breathing fast.
"Phew! You're good Lara, but maybe one day I'll beat you!"
"Hehe, until that day comes, you better get practising!"
"I will once we have finished our business here"
As soon as they swiftly recovered from their race, Lara and Ayesha studied the interior hall of the temple, taking note of the abnormal mystic objects placed on stands. A medium sized gold/stone fountain covered in dust was situated right in the centre, still operating correctly, but there was a crack in the stone pool. This crack was the cause of how the whole mystery began, as liquid was still pouring out of it and leading out into the abandoned city.
It didn't take long for the duo to discover a valuable artefact on top of the fountain. It was covered all in a crystal-like substance, but it didn't seem to be crystal. For sure it was the source of power to the fountain and the reason as to why the liquid looks strange and unique. Ayesha got out a woven cloth from her backpack, luckily it was big enough to wrap around the mysterious treasure, and she took the artefact from the fountain very cautiously. Lara was in deep thought as she watched Ayesha taking the artefact from the golden fountain and putting it into her rucksack. At that precise moment the water stopped running from the fountain, and she couldn't hold her silence any longer...
"Ayesha, I've been thinking about that story you were telling, with the magician..."
"Yeah"
"Sometimes in myths there is a lie which hides the actual truth. As we journeyed through here, it's been growing on me, and now seeing this artefact, I can't repress it from my mind."
"Do tell Lara" A curious Ayesha said, interested to hear what Lara had been thinking of during their trip to the temple.
"Okay, what if I said that the magician in the story had an ulterior motive, let's say that instead of protecting the people of the city, he was in actual fact defending this temple and the treasure from any sort of damage. So as the rumours suggested, he himself turned into this beast he'd summoned to create the barrier to protect the temple from total annihilation. I think that the beast itself is the guardian of this artefact on the fountain." Lara explained to Ayesha, and as she did, Ayesha nodded her head.
"Do you know I think you may be right, looking at this treasure, it seems off that this precious artefact is still here I wonder..."Ayesha's sentence was soon cut off by an outburst outdoors.
All of a sudden, a horrific cry came from outside, piercing both Lara and Ayesha's ears as they had to use their hands to protect them.
"RRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW WWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
"What in the name was that?" Ayesha cried out, as they looked towards the doors of the temple.
"I dunno, but we'll find out one way or another..." Lara replied, believing what they were about to encounter was the guardian of the temple. It had awoken from its sleep knowing there were intruders in the city.
Lara drew her dual signature pistols, while Ayesha drew out her .45 calibre pistol. They made sure that they were reloaded and ready for firing, and finally turned to each other.
"On the count of three Ayesha, we'll face this monster... are you okay?" Lara asked worryingly, seeing her friend and partner trembling a bit.
"Yeah just a bit frightened, I didn't at all expect that outcry, and I'm scared as to what it could be out there!" Ayesha answered, looking down on the floor, taking deep breaths. Lara put her hand softly upon her shoulder.
"Don't worry, I am too, but we'll face it together!" Lara confidently said, reassuring and lifting Ayesha's sprits up.
"Yeah, you're right Lara, okay let's do this!" Ayesha said, happy to know Lara was by her side.
"1...2...3!" and with that Lara and Ayesha ran straight through the temple doors, ready for some action.
