A/N: The heart is close, and you want it just as badly as our heroes and villains. Oh, the thought of that power makes you drool. Don't forget to wipe your keyboard.
This chapter is dedicated to CORE Design, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Interactive and Squire Enix for creating and continuing the Tomb Raider series for 18 years. Fun games, good times, and whoever developed the exploding Lara cheats clearly didn't have enough to do.
Chapter Seven: Swords Dance, Round One
Lara sensed it, felt it, knew it and could predict every last amount of it before it even began. She had knocked down dozens of enemies, and now her spiritual sense was so attuned, she could sense a cat shedding. With this new sense of awareness, she knew where the next humanoid was going to appear, what their first attack was going to be and if they were armed or not. In one fast movement, before the being had time to raise its fist to strike, Lara had turned, stuck several fast blows to its ribs which smashed like kindling, and she then double-chopped the jaw and dislocated it. With one final move, the head was twisted backwards and the thing was dead on the ground.
"It is… done." The gravelly voice said in an absolute monotone.
"You could be happy for me," Lara muttered.
"It is done," said the whispering voice. It had matured from a young girl to a teenage voice. Clearly her intuition, although sharp, had only been on a low level for human capability. Now it had matured into something stronger and more open. She wondered what it would be like to have the voice of an old woman advising her. How enhanced would she be?
"The gift… of the… Underworld spirits… Has been earned." The gravelly voice said. Lara, still standing in darkness with the small amount of light around her, couldn't see anything. There was a sudden crack of thunder and Lara felt like her head was going to explode. A blast of electric energy hit her in the middle of her forehead, and Lara felt like her head was going to split in two. She wrestled to take the pain while whatever happened, happened. The pain started to ease, and Lara could hear something else.
"Lara. Lara, can you hear me? Lara come in." It was Zip's voice, and it was stirring her into consciousness.
"Zip?" she asked in a dry whisper. The pain had shrunk down to a headache that was part in parcel with being unconscious.
"Lara? Are you alright?" Zip asked, panicked.
"I think so," Lara answered, her throat dry and her head aching like all hell. She slowly sat up and looked down at herself. She was disappointed to find she was still wounded, but the cuts had at least been sealed, were cleaned and all blood stains had been cleaned as well. Lara took a swig of water from her canteen and then steadied herself into a sitting position.
"How long have I been out?" Lara asked.
"Phew. I thought we were losing you. About ten minutes. Your vitals were low for a while, so the best we could hope was to draw you back to consciousness."
"I'll be alright. I needed to be unconscious to receive my next gift. It might have been ten minutes here, but it has been hours in my head." Lara felt her head levelling. She took a bite of the food she had taken from the camp.
"So what is this new gift?" Alister asked.
"Apparently I now have a much higher sense of intuition and sensing. And I got a wonderful headache to go with it at no extra charge."
"Well take a minute Lara. The next challenges of Hades won't be easy."
"I think they might be now, Zip, since my intuition has been boosted." Lara stood with the help of the altar and once she was steady, took a walk around the room, avoiding the dead bodies, to get her body back in gear. Once she was ready, she went over to what was now an open door and looked through. The door led to a small platform which overlooked a sea of spikes about two feet long. From the platform was a balance beam, and the beams were being guarded by swinging axes that were close together and above the beam. Beyond that, fire could be seen.
"No way!" Zip groaned.
"Way!" Lara answered with a determined smile on her face. "We need to convince Hades we are worthy, and these tests replicate some form of the Underworld, or what some might consider Hell." Lara looked at the swinging blades and fire and her mind quickly calculated what she had to do.
"Do you need any help, since you clearly won't be talked out of this?" Zip asked.
"Just some quiet. I need to concentrate. "
"Good luck." The earpiece gave the soft pop of being turned off, and Lara looked again. She counted in her head some of the movements, and then ran across the beam. It wasn't the most stable of beams and it wobbled a little under her feet, but Lara was able to keep her balance easily. As she got near the swinging blades, which were like double-edged axes, Lara jumped and landed on top of the nearest one. She pulled back on the chain like she was about to swing a rope and sure enough, the axe began to swing out with her. It moved in a loop and wrapped itself around the next two swinging blades. Lara jumped from one axe to the other before they got entangled and impassable, and grabbed hold of the chain holding the fourth one in place. She was over the half mark with only three to go.
"Can't do that again," Lara thought as she looked at the mess of tangled chain and axes behind her. She'd simply have to jump from chain to chain and try to slow the last one down. Lara timed her movements, and then moved onto the fifth chain. This one swung a little more quickly than the other two, clearly designed to catch the unprepared off guard. With one more chain to jump, Lara was about to make the move when she looked up. The last one was weighted. If she disrupted the balance, the axe would fall and possibly chop the beam in half, making the path impassable. She'd have to time her next jump to land on the beam and not fall. Lara watched and waited, and when she saw her moment, jumped clear of the chain, past the sixth one and did a roll in the air to land in a crouch on the beam. She moved forward quickly as the sixth axe came forward to make its next pass, and she avoided the slice.
"Next!" Lara offered as she looked ahead. Fire was not the only thing in her path, as a spiked log was rolling back and forth along the same path as the beam. It was too tall to jump and too low to the beam to go under. Risking holding on, with it potentially slicing your fingers off was also fatalistic. The run was a test of willpower and a bit of a faith. Somewhere past the continuous bursts of flame there had to be a turnoff to avoid the bladed log in time. There was only one way to find out.
XXX
The Challenge of Zeus
Edwy and Ernest looked down the pit they had just crossed. The challenge had been a tough one, and the other men had not survived. Two had fallen to their deaths, and another was a pile of ash that was slowly been spread by a breeze from somewhere unseen. Ahead was another room.
"Beyond this room is the final challenge of Zeus," Edwy said. "This is the Room of Thunder." Edwy knew the three challenges they had to face from the inscription at the beginning of their path. This was the third. Inside the room were several tiles, each of which was marked with different letter from the Greek alphabet. The walls also had the tiles. Each one was large enough for one person to stand on. In the middle of the roof was a dome of some sort. It glowed blue with lightening. It suddenly burst forth with energy and charged a number of the squares. At the same time, a visage of Zeus appeared.
"This room is designed to test your knowledge. The puzzle is simple: get to the other side as I guide you. Just be sure not to get hurt. First, follow the path of my wife." The visage, a full body of Zeus, stood watching with arms crossed. Edwy looked at the tiles below him. The answer was clearly Hera. He started walking on the tiles that spelled her name.
"How do I cross?" Ernest asked.
"You will have to wait here, or Zeus will let you cross as well." Edwy said in a half interested voice as he tried to focus on which tiles he had available to him.
"I cannot read Greek." Ernest snapped.
"Then I guess you're stuck," Edwy snapped back. He reached the last letter and looked at Zeus.
"Follow the path of my daughter with no mother."
"Who?" Ernest asked, scratching his head.
"Athena," Edwy answered. He got half way through her name then stopped. No tiles near him were the next letter. He looked around him for a moment. The letter after was available, it was the next step, but there was still one missing. He looked at the wall he was next to. The letter was there. He pressed it. It sank into the wall and Edwy quickly jumped to the next letter.
"Follow the path of the golden apple," Zeus riddled.
"Huh?" Ernest asked, looking dumber than most hired muscle tended to.
"Aphrodite. She was given the golden apple by Paris." Edwy explained. He took the steps, being careful not to take an electric step which was before him, and reached the end of the room.
"Excellent. Now let's go," Zeus yelled in a battle cry. His image leapt forward and collided with Edwy, sending them crashing through the wall and into a large open space designed for a battle. Zeus held up a fist which had a gauntlet on it, and his free hand crackled with thunder.
"My pleasure," Edwy said, a little winded, but still capable. He drew his sword and pointed it at Zeus.
"So Ares sent you. I am not surprised at the foolishness of Ares. Even after being cursed into darkness for many ages, he has still found a puppet to free himself." Zeus threw a bolt of lightning, but Edwy held up the sword, which deflected the attack into a wall. Zeus was about to launch another attack when a scream of absolute pain reached their ears. Both turned to see Ernest being electrocuted in the previous room.
"Idiot," they said in unison before turning to face each other again. Zeus, now completely returned to his human state, leapt forward, bringing the gauntlet down to strike into Edwy, who blocked with his sword. The impact was a much heavier force than expected and Edwy went skidding for a few feet and he felt the vibrations shaking through his body. Zeus was already following through with another punch, but Edwy blocked the attack before it could hit him. Again, he was pushed back.
"Enough of this," he growled. He launched a flurry of swipes at Zeus, but he was fast for an elderly looking man. Edwy even charged the sword and sent out a ripple of fire, but Zeus blasted it away with a lightning bolt. It almost seemed like a stalemate. Both of them could attack and defend or dodge as much as they wanted, but the physical and magical capabilities were simply even.
"Come on," Zeus said with a wicked glint in his eye. "Do you honestly think you will earn my favour if you stand there?" Zeus levitated into the air and let out a flurry of lightning in all directions. Where the bolts hit the stone floor there raised a Zeus copy. Some had gauntlets, some had thunder in their grasp while others simply stood with their arms crossed, looking scornfully at Edwy.
"You have got to be kidding me," Edwy muttered.
"Kratos got past this when I pulled this stunt on him. Let us see you do better," one of the Zeus's, possibly the original one, gloated. Edwy swung out with another ripple of fire that cut through a number of the Zeus's before he got hit in the back by a lightning bolt which sent him staggering. Edwy turned in time to block another attack.
"I come with more tricks than fire," Edwy said as he sheathed his sword, bowed slightly and turned invisible. A Zeus blasted the point he had been standing, but Edwy wasn't there anymore. All the remaining Zeus clones looked around, trying to find some sign of the lost target. One Zeus suddenly made a weird choking sound and his head twisted oddly on its own and then fell to the floor with a broken neck. He disappeared a moment later.
"Guess that one wasn't correct," Edwy said, his voice slightly echoed by the large space of stone. A Zeus attacked a spot near the body, but clearly missed. He was tripped then a gush of blood spurted from his face, and he ceased to move. He too disappeared after a moment.
"Show yourself!" Demanded a Zeus.
"Why? This gift, from the Sisters of Grey to Perseus to me is quite a useful one. I'll even bet a god gave the helmet to the sisters first," Edwy explained, before another Zeus got rammed into a nearby wall for a few seconds and then dropped to the floor. "Nope, not him either." Only three Zeus's remained.
"Foolish wimp. Do you think that I can be outdone by this?" A Zeus asked.
"Well, since you put it that way…" Edwy answered. He reappeared suddenly and drove his sword deep into the Zeus who spoke, and he didn't fade away, but the other two did. "I guess I can rely on you being the real Zeus." Edwy drove his blade a little deeper into Zeus who coughed and let out a little laugh.
"Then I guess we should end this," Zeus offered. He thrust a hand forward and grabbed Edwy by the head and poured as much thunder into him before the sword was driven deeper into his torso. Zeus, in an incredible amount of pain, released Edwy, who let go of the sword and let Zeus fall to the ground. Edwy held his head in pain, but then started to laugh. It was soft at first, but became louder and more maniacal as it went. He held up a hand and held a bolt of lightning. Zeus had bestowed his favour. It had nearly cost him his brain and his sanity, but it had been worth it. Zeus withdrew the sword from his torso and stood as if nothing had happened. His torso showed no markings from the attack.
"You have no idea what remains for you," Zeus muttered, and then turned away.
"What about what I give him?" a voice asked. Zeus turned to see Ares standing, a mere faint visage of his former self, beside Edwy.
"My child, if only you hadn't let your jealousy overrun you, nor let your pet Kratos run wild across the world. This could all have been very different." Zeus sighed and shook his head. "When I was restored upon the astral, I saw what had happened and the whole chain of events from start to finish. The turning points and where things could have been. The main point was when you betrayed Kratos and then left him seeking your blood." Zeus looked at Ares with a mix of apology and disappointment.
"Well then, father, you had better understand that the world is going to change, and that I will be the one bestowing things to others." Ares smiled as he patted Edwy. He seemed more to be patting the area rather than Edwy himself. "I plan to have this man aide me in ruling the world. A God to be feared and respected. The chaos that will rain from the sky, rise from the earth and flood everything will be like nothing anyone has ever seen."
"You are a fool, Ares. How can you do that if you do not have the heart?" Zeus demanded.
"But I almost have the heart, and the puppets of Athena and Edwy have opened more than half the doors for Edwy to walk right in and take it." Ares smiled maliciously. "I thought it was rather amusing when I saw Lara Croft taking on the challenge of Jason. She could have done well with me if she was corruptible."
"Your puppet will fail Ares. His power is not enough to control the heart." Zeus summoned a lightning bolt, but Edwy was faster and he blasted Zeus off his feet with a bolt of his own. Edwy then turned and walked off without another word as the visage of Ares faded. Zeus sighed. He prayed his daughter had chosen well enough in Lara, because the cycle was coming to a bloody ending.
xxx
The Challenge of Hades
Lara had been running for a long time. The physical challenge of Hades had been completed, and now she had this last test before her. She was outrunning several things, not to mention the amount of jumps, turns and dives she had to make. She had gone over blades, under spikes and through closing doors. She even outran a boulder with several comments on movie clichés in her head. There was no way to tell how much longer the path in front of her would continue. This passage was lacking obstacles, but Lara only used it to slow her pace until she would come to the next corner.
"Any idea how far?" Alister asked.
"Can't be too far. I've been counting doors. We've passed nine. One more I think, three at most." Lara answered, just as she reached the next turn. Her inner voice, now loud and clear in her head, needed less than a second to look at and sum up what had to be done. The floor opened up over a pit of spikes and a door at the far end that was slowly closing. Lara threw her magnetic grapple which caught into a leaver at the other side of the door. Lara stepped back and used a short run-up to stretch the chord, then used the reflex and a jump to slingshot herself across the gap. She recalled the grapple and dove under the closing door, rolled and started running again.
"Blades next," Lara said, more to herself. She had seen the indentations in the wall, and was not disappointed when they could be heard grating on the stone behind her. Lara picked up her pace and went straight toward the next door, which was larger and more decorated than the last ones. A grinding above her caught her attention. The roof, which was lower than the other rooms, had started to collapse onto her. The mechanism, loud and clear, ticked out her remaining seconds.
"Better move," Zip offered.
"On it," Lara answered. With a burst of effort, Lara made a jump at the anticipated blades coming out of the wall and did another forward roll to land and keep moving. There were no more blades, but the roof was sinking fast.
"GO LARA!" Alister cheered over the headpiece. Lara put in her last bit of strength as the roof came close to her head. With a forward dive, Lara went under the door and into a large room. The stone door closed and there was no sign of how close Lara had been to a thinning out.
Looking about, Lara was in a chamber with statues of Hades and Persephone. Persephone was gorgeous but she looked deadly. A statue of Hades came to life.
"Well done, Lara, you have earned the favour of the Underworld. To pass such a physical test of my own design tells me how worthy you are. I grant you the power to call upon me should you ever be in the Underworld. I will always answer your call." The statue went quiet again.
"What sort of prize is that?" Zip demanded.
"One he feels I will probably need." Lara stood and went behind the statue to where a door was clearly marked. She opened it and stepped through. She found herself in the opening passage of the challenge, right before the decorated corridor of Hades life. Lara walked out towards the middle point between the three paths. A bridge had been raised and it was made of three different metals, each distinctly different.
"Looks like all the others have completed parts of their challenge," Lara mused. She took out her sword. "The question is, are they here?"
"I thought you might want some entertainment while we waited on Edwy," Prentiss said from the shadows of the Poseidon path. He appeared with his sword raised.
"Just the man I wanted to see. How was your challenge?" Lara asked politely but with the undertone of contempt.
"I have the trident head of Poseidon, and it is staying with me. If you want it, you'll have to come and get it." He pointed his sword at Lara.
"No guns?" Lara asked.
"No guns," Prentiss agreed.
The two of them circled each other in the open area for a moment, then Prentiss launched into an attack, his sword fast and furious at Lara, who blocked with some amount of ease, but she was still worn from her tremendous run. While Prentiss swiped at her continuously, Lara waited for an opening to appear. When it did, Lara counter-attacked, but Prentiss jumped away with a flurry of feathers and movement.
"Well, that's a neat trick," Lara muttered.
"See what else I've learned," Prentiss offered. He held up a hand and it swirled with energy. He pointed it at Lara and a stream of water shot at her at a rapid pace. Lara raised a shield from the Golden Fleece, and the beam struck into it harmlessly. When Prentiss ended the attack and saw Lara was unharmed, he swooped down for another attack. Lara, however, had stored the power of the attack and fired back at Prentiss. Not expecting this, Prentiss was caught with a blast of gold in the face and sent flying back the way he came before landing in a sprawl on the floor.
"I know a few neat tricks too, you know?" Lara said in a patronising tone. Prentiss, in a fury, took up his sword and charged Lara. She was again on the defensive while Prentiss pummelled her continuously with sword swipes. Lara was backing up slowly, and soon she would reach the end of the ground. After that, it was a drop to the lower part of the temple, which was a long way down.
"You need a way out of this, Lara," Zip said, as he had the reverse camera on.
"I know, just tell me when I'm close," Lara said.
"You're close to death, Lara," Prentiss fumed. He swung out with such force that Lara took a stumbling step backward and found she was indeed close to the edge.
"You're close," Zip said unhelpfully.
"Then it is time to finish this," Lara responded, facing Prentiss again. Lara knew what she had to do, and hoped that her advanced intuition would get her there. Prentiss raised his sword and brought it down in an arch from left to right. Lara quickly blocked the attack and stepped under Prentiss's open arm. Stepping quickly behind Prentiss, Lara kicked back and Prentiss went sailing over the edge. He had enough time to twist and catch the edge with one hand, and it was the hand Lara needed. Lara focused quickly and froze Prentiss on the spot. With his form unyielding, she opened the small compartment on his hand and took the small trident head. It was rather pretty to look at. Lara felt a rush of power go through her. She knew what the trident head could do for her. For now, she had to dispose of Prentiss, so she waited a few minutes while Prentiss unfroze. When he did, he looked at her in astonishment, as she seemed to have teleported back a few feet. She held up the trident head in its shrunken state and shook it lightly. Prentiss looked at his hand and saw that she had robbed him somehow.
"You'll pay for this, you bitch!" Prentiss snarled. He tried to climb up, but he suddenly felt exhausted. The trident must have been sustaining his energy. He tried to summon his wings, but that too made him feel weak. With a last effort, they appeared. He gave Lara a dark smile as he dropped off the cliff in an aerial dive. Lara, expecting nothing less, aimed her pistols and fired. Her shots hit home and Prentiss, in his last few moments of life, could no longer feel his wings, or anything else below the shoulders.
"Now that wasn't nice," came a voice. Lara turned and pointed her guns at Edwy, who stood with his sword in his left hand.
"Well, it was either him falling or me decapitated." Lara looked around Edwy, towards the entrance to the Zeus doorway and then at the bridge. "Where is your muscular companion?"
"If you mean Ernest, he's presently attending the Zeus barbeque. But he is of no more use to me. The path to the heart is open, and you and I are going to compete for the power to shape the world."
"You could just drop me here, or I could do the same to you," Lara answered, taking aim.
"I think we can do things in competition. No attacking each other until we face the final challenge. Deal?"
Lara cocked an eyebrow at the extended hand. "Agreed, but I am not shaking your hand. Things are shocking enough." Lara strolled past Edwy and over to the bridge. As she began to cross, Edwy caught up.
"You know I'm going to win, don't you Lara?" Edwy asked her.
"So many people say that, so few are correct. And even when they are it doesn't stick."
"What if I make it stick?" Edwy asked.
"You can try. Von Croy thought he'd made it stick a few times, and here I am."
"Too true" Edwy answered, and they continued in silence. At the other end of the bridge, there was a large and well decorated door. On each side was a large pressure pad. Edwy and Lara took one pad each and stepped on it. Their weight made the pads sink a little into the ground, but it was not enough to open the door.
"We appear to be missing something," Lara said.
"I could have told you that," Edwy snapped. "What are we missing?" In response to his question, a roar was heard from above them. Both looked up and dodged to the side in time before two Cyclops landed on the pads. They then stepped off and the doors, although open for a moment, closed quickly.
"Now what? They're clearly not going onto the pads willingly." Edwy looked at the two advancing giants.
"Just lure them close enough and then I will either hamstring them or you can electrocute it to death and the corpse will be the weight," Lara answered as she watched the Cyclops approach. "We need to work as a team."
"Whatever," Edwy remarked as he jumped to one side to avoid a club hitting him. He danced to one side and baited the Cyclops to follow. The giant turned slowly, following the man that danced about. The Cyclops grew more furious as it tried again and again to hit the little man. Edwy backed around the giant slowly but surely, doing his best not to be obvious. Finally, the Cyclops grew impatient and tried to stampede him. Edwy cleverly dodged to one side, and the Cyclops charged straight past him and ran into the wall near the panel. Edwy raised his arms and sent forth a large charge of electricity, hitting the Cyclops directly. It let out a roar as it felt the pain of the magical assault. After a moment, its small brain was fried and it fell with a loud crash onto the pressure pad. It worked, as the doors opened a little, but not enough for either him or Lara to slip through. He turned to look at Lara, who was slowly baiting her Cyclops back onto the pressure pad. Lara stepped up onto the pad, but the Cyclops stopped following her. Lara continued to back up until she was past the pad.
"Edwy, a little help?" Lara asked. Edwy nodded and shot a quick spark into the Cyclops' arse. The beast lurched forward with fright and stood squarely on the pad, and then didn't move at all. It dawned on Edwy that Lara had the ability to freeze targets, but he didn't know where she had obtained it. It must have been something given to her by Rhea or Gaia. In either case, the door was opened and the two of them went into the room beyond.
XXX
A/N: It is about to happen. Our very next update shall see it through. Someone is going to retrieve the heart of Kratos. Lara will face her toughest challenge yet, and the true plots of our villains will be revealed. All in the next chapter!
