I do not own Uncharted or Tomb Raider. I only own the OCs and plot.
NOTE: I'm posting this at 3:30 AM because my sleep schedule is a mess but hey it happens. Anyways, chapter 10. Also, might be drawing a cover for this story so soon it might look all nice and pretty lol. Enjoy the read!
Being as silent as they could, they hid behind some trees and listened in on what was going on ahead of them.
"There's nothing here, White," Nadine growled. Her voice sounded frustrated, almost strained. There was a laugh that followed after. Lara peeked from her tree to see what was going on. There was a group of soldiers and equipment, Leo and Nadine were in the middle of it all, but in general, Nadine was right. Nothing looked to be there.
Leo laughed. "There has to be something here, we're just being too close minded," he explained, looking around the area. His attention focused on the rock that clung onto the side of a slope hill, squinting before he had walked over to it. Nadine, who crossed her arms, simply watched him. Her patience had always been thin, and that didn't change now. Leo gestured towards the rock, which was oddly shaped compared to the rest of the slope. Knocking on it, he listened to see if there was any difference between it and the others.
Nadine was confused. She huffed, "What is it that you're doing exactly."
"Give me something to knock this down with."
"What?" Nadine asked, glaring at him. Though, she looked to one of her men and nodded. "Give him something." The soldier grabbed a pickaxe and tossed it to Leo.
Leo quickly smashed it into the rock, in which it crumbled under the force. After cleaning up the area, there was an entrance that lead into the hill. "Looks like someone made some fake rock to cover this up, huh?" he smirked, tossing the pickaxe back to the soldier. Nadine, surprised, stood where she was with wide eyes. Leo took notice. "It sounded hollow," he explained, gesturing for the soldiers to go in. "We'll follow after you."
As soldiers ran in, Nadine walked over to Leo. "I have to hand it to you," she murmured, not wanting to admit to what she was going to say. "You surprise me sometimes."
"Is that a good thing, Ross?"
"I'd say it is."
"I feel honored," he replied, a smile coming across his lips. "How good is it that you're surprised?"
"Don't push it," Nadine spat in return. She walked off after the soldiers then, leaving Leo to watch her go. He was left with a vile smirk on his face before he himself walked behind her. When that portion of soldiers had walked away, only a select few were left in their place.
Lara looked over to Nate and Sully. She grabbed her bow and an arrow, aiming at one of the soldier's heads. With the pair watching, Lara made sure the soldier was out of sight from the others before she had let loose. The arrow quickly made its way into the man's head, making him fall down to his death. "There's only a few of them… I'll get the ones on the right," she whispered.
"Do we gotta do it stealthily?" Nate asked, joking.
"I think that's preferred," Sully uttered, slapping the back of Nate's head before he gestured for the younger to follow him. After give a little "ow," Nate walked with his friend. They found themselves behind a metal crate.
Nate gripped onto his knife, though he soon let it go, telling Sully to deal with the soldier on the other end. When Sully had crouched over to where he was told, Nate looked up to see a female Shoreline soldier leaning on the crate he was hiding behind.
"Am I the only one who feels like this is just some wild goose chase?" she asked her fellow coworkers.
"No. I think most of us do," one soldier replied.
Sighing, the woman shook her head. "This better actually lead us to something…" she whispered to herself. Another soldier heard that, and he gave a playful "amen" in return. After their conversation died down, Nate peeked to see the others' backs were turned. He grabbed at the woman and snapped her neck, hiding her behind the crate with him. Wincing, he perked up when he saw a few more soldiers fall almost like dominoes. She's really good with that bow, he thought. He jumped over the crate and quickly scampered over to an area of tall grass. His eyes caught sight of Sully, who had taken out two soldiers and basically cleared out their side.
Sully squatted down behind a crate. Nate saw one more soldier, who was taking cover himself. He realized the soldier had taken notice of his coworkers dropping like flies. Lara, however, didn't see the last soldier from her view. She stepped out from behind her tree and into the sights of the other. When the soldier had popped up from behind his cover to shoot at her, Nate launched himself forward and tackled him in midshot.
Lara staggered back, a bullet zipping past her. Surprised, her grip on her bow tightened. Nate wrestled with the soldier behind cover, unknown to Lara. He grabbed onto the gun and managed to get it out of the soldier's hands, tossing it to the side. In return, the soldier gripped onto the Nate's face. Nate clasped his left hand onto the soldier's arm, trying to pull him off with no avail. His right hand snatched at one of the handguns in his holster, pulling it out and aiming it poorly. Half of his vision was gone due to the soldier's hand covering one of his eyes.
Sully peeked from his cover and got to his feet in seeing the situation. As soon as he went to run over, he came to a halt in hearing the gun sound off. Nate stumbled to his feet and gritted his teeth, wiping off some blood that had splattered onto him from the sudden headshot. Lara perked, seeing the two of them and running over. She put her bow back on her back and she pursed her lips, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Nate replied, eyeing the assault rifle he had tossed away earlier. He walked over and grabbed it then, strapping it onto his back. "Let's go."
She nodded, frowning in response. The three stepped into the entrance, Lara and Nate turned on their body flashlights considering they knew it would get dark later on. Sully huffed. "Well, I wish I got the memo," he murmured to himself.
"Just stick with us. You'll be fine," Nate said in reply.
As the three walked deeper into the side of the hill, they noticed there was a pathway that led forward. Assuming that's where the soldiers went, they stopped for a moment. Lara gave a sigh, her eyes looking over the rock to her side. She could see a crack that led up to the ceiling of the cave-like hallway. She grabbed her trusty pickaxe and started to work at the rock. Nate perked up and looked over to see what she was doing, though his eyes widened in seeing she had opened up a new pathway.
The new pathway lead down to a staircase. Lara gestured for the two to follow her down. "Better to not get caught, right?" she joked dryly.
The three started down the staircase then. Walking rather slow due to the steepness of the stairs, they began to look around to see what was ahead of them. When they were given no real hints, Nate sighed and shook his head. "I'm still tryna figure out why our buddy Ponce had a royal orb," he said aloud, as the thought still struck him as strange.
"Maybe this whole thing actually is related to Prester John," Lara reasoned, considering that was the only way any of it would make sense.
Taking in that idea, Nate seemed to agree. "Yeah," he murmured, though he had nothing else to add. The trio made it down the staircase and were met by a large, open room. In the middle of the room sat what looked to be concrete slab of sorts. Ancient drawings wrapped around it, and murals painted the walls.
Lara stopped in her tracks. "Oh, God," she whispered. She knew exactly what this was. "This is a tomb."
"A tomb? You're tellin' me those coordinates led us to a grave?" Sully piped out, raising a brow.
The woman stepped forward, making her way to the centerpiece of the room. "Apparently," she simply responded. She started to pushed at the cover then, though it was much too heavy to move it herself. "Nate, come help me with this."
Nate began to help her. Though it felt like the thing barely budged, they eventually slid the cover off enough that they were able to look inside. Nate covered his mouth and recoiled, "Oh, Jesus," he groaned, jumping back. A rather large spider had crawled out, a few other bugs seemed to have used the grave as their hang out. "Lara, I do not want to raid a tomb today."
Sully looked over to see an old torch on the wall. He got his matches out of his pocket, lit one, and then let the torch be engulfed in flames. Putting his matches away, he grabbed the handle of the torch so he could have a light source himself. "You kids have fun with that. I'll look around the rest of the room for anything," he told them.
Lara looked into the grave to see a skeleton with golden accents. "Looks to be… some kind of royalty," she mused.
"Prester?"
"No. The wardrobe's too feminine."
"Then- who the hell is that?" Nate asked, confused. Lara shrugged. She was just as confused as Nate. She sighed and looked at the sarcophagus more closely. There had to be something telling them who this was. Her fingertips traced along the side before she noticed that something had been etched into it. She crouched down and hoped she would be able to read it.
She squinted before figuring out what the inscription said. "'Here lies Queen Abella John, the former Queen of Belia. Born in 700, she died bravely in protecting her people. Now, her people will return their gratitude and fulfill her last wish. The Queen that was once'… ah, it's a little rubbed off… let's see… mm… oh- 'Rest in peace, our beautiful queen, you will not be forgotten. 700 to-'… this can't be right," Lara said under her breath, suddenly dumbfounded.
Nate leaned over a bit, his hand placing on her upper back. He squinted, but he couldn't read the language. It was out of his territory. "Isn't 700 a little out of our time range?" he asked.
"It is… but it says her death date is 1522."
"That's a year after Ponce de Leon," Nate remarked.
Lara nodded, the warmth of Nate's hand feeling odd, though she didn't push him away. "Well, yeah… that's the thing. She would have been over 800 years old when she died," she reminded him. The math didn't add up. Nate patted her back and cackled.
"We're looking for the Fountain of Youth here. This is telling us the thing's pretty legit," Nate laughed more, in which Lara got to her feet and smiled softly. The thought hit her and she realized he was right.
She pushed him playfully on the chest, "Oh, my God… you're right!" She slapped a hand on her forehead and rolled her eyes, "I'm a dumba-"
"Hey, kids," Sully interrupted. "I think I got something you'd wanna see."
The two looked over to where Sully was. He was standing behind what looked to be similar to a podium. After they walked over, they noticed some old papers scattered across the podium and the floor surrounding it. Lara grabbed one of the papers, "That's odd."
"What?" Nate questioned.
"The inscription was in Malay, but these are in Spanish, I think."
Nate grabbed the paper from her and read a few sentences. "Uh, Lara?" He smirked, holding the paper up with a chuckle. "These are from our good old friend Ponce de Leon."
Sully grinned. "You're kidding me. They said most of his documents were gone, didn't they?"
"Yeah, well… looks like we found where they went," Nate retorted. He walked in front of the podium and grabbed the papers that sat upon it, stacking them up and straightening them as well. Lara started picking up the other papers on the floor. "The one you handed me says something about the queen-... which speaking of that… what the hell is Belia?"
Lara poked her head up. By then she had gathered all the papers and stood up, giving Nate the rest of them. When he took them from her, their hands touched for a brief moment. They both took notice. Nate took his hand away quickly and fumbled with the papers.
"I have no idea," Lara admitted, rubbing her arms. "I've never heard of it."
"Well, was it here?" Sully asked.
"Couldn't have been," Nate sighed. He put his hand up and said he would carry on with the reading. He hoped something would be figured out there. He shifted paper after paper when he didn't see anything useful, though he finally found something that seemed to be in their favor. Roughly translating the Old Spanish, he began, "'I only met Queen Abella but a few days prior but I can tell she is one of the most selfless people to roam mother earth. She gave up her kingdom and home to save her people. She gave up her marriage.
"'She has offered my crew shelter and food. After we arrived here we asked her what was of the fountain. We believed this was where it would be, but we were sadly mistaken. Queen Abella explained that-'... it's ripped off," Nate groaned. He shifted over to some other papers before finding something similar to what he was reading about. "Crap, it's barely- okay. 'King Prester John is looking for her. She is the only one who holds the key to the fountain. She told me to turn back and forget this journey, and that is too dangerous. We will go back at sunrise, under her wishes. I hope she survives.'"
Sully gripped his torch tighter. "What in the sam hell was going on here?"
Lara started to bite at her thumbnail as she thought. Her question was the same as Sully's; what did happen here? There was a queen of a kingdom they never heard of who held the key to the Fountain of Youth. King Prester John was after her. She perked then. "She was his wife," she told them. "The inscription said Abella John."
"Oh, shit, it did," Nate agreed. He set the papers on the podium. "So… what? Why would she take this key or whatever?"
Sully leaned on the wall now. He listened to the two of them talk.
"Do you think Ponce de Leon would have written it down?" she asked.
"I'm not reading any more of those. There's like 70 pages," Nate laughed, waving his hand to suggest that was a no go.
Lara nodded, giggling. "Yeah, I guess I wouldn't want to read anymore either."
Sully smiled.
"Well, guess we gotta figure it out ourselves," Nate told her.
Sully shifted, stumbling away from the wall when he felt something move. "Goddamn it," he muttered, his eyes looking over at the wall to see what it was. The wall was decorated with a golden strip that ran across from each side. It had words, and looking at it more closely one could see that the strip was made up of sliding blocks that could be moved and rearranged. Some blocks were blank.
Nate quickly turned to see Sully being in awe. "What is it, Sully?" he asked.
"I think I might have accidentally found some kinda… I don't know? Clue?" Sully laughed, not really sure. He shook his head and pointed at the golden strip for the others to see.
Lara tilted her head. "Well, this is in Malay," she thought aloud. She started to read the strip. "'Queen of Belia, who was willing to sacrifice her everything and spill blood to protect her people. Queen of Belia, who forgave the moon.'" She confused herself in reading that.
Nate raised a brow. "What? Do we move the blank blocks?"
"And what? Make a new sentence? What would we even do?" Lara sighed, trying to figure it out.
Sully grabbed onto one of the blank blocks. "Let's just try something, huh?" he suggested. He pushed the block over "Queen of" in the first sentence, and the trio heard a small rumble. To their side, they could see a door crack open. "Well, I'll be damned. Didn't think that would work."
They all cracked a laugh at that. Lara grabbed onto a blank block and shifted it lazily, placing it to cover up the "her everything." The door only nudged itself into a crack. Nate grabbed his journal and turned to a blank page in return to their actions. He squinted and quickly scribbled down the strip and the work they had done so far. "Lara," Nate called out, smiling to her. "Come over here."
She did as he asked. "What is it?"
"Could you give me a key here?" he pointed at the page. He had jotted down every word from the script to the side. He gave Lara his small charcoal pencil. The woman happily agreed, writing down the words swiftly before handing him his journal back. "Thanks."
Nate looked back and forth from his journal to the wall. He wrote out what the wall said so far. Belia, who was willing to sacrifice and spill blood to protect her people. Queen of Belia, who forgave the moon. "Remember those old puzzles where you would have to rearrange the letters to make new words? That's what this reminds me of," Nate stated.
"What? Is this an ancient brain teaser?" Lara asked teasingly.
"Something like that. I used to be really good at those, ya know."
"Brain teasers?"
"Yeah. I remember a good one from when I was a kid." He marked out some words on his journal. "Move a blank between the 'l' in 'Belia' and 's' in 'was.' First sentence," he told Sully. Sully did so. The door cracked open more.
Lara crossed her arms, "Well, what was it?"
"It can't be seen, can't be felt, can't be heard and can't be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills, and empty holes it fills. It comes first and follows after, ends life and kills laughter. What is it?"
Lara scrunched her face up. She didn't really have an answer. She started to think on it.
Nate looked at his journal. Be willing to sacrifice and spill blood to protect her people. Belia, who forgave the moon. "Move one between 'a' in 'and' and 'l' in 'spill,'" Nate guessed. Sully did so. The door cracked again. He looked to Lara. "I haven't heard an answer."
"It's because my answer is stupid."
"No, what is it."
"Some… type of gas? I don't know."
"Keep guessing," Nate replied. He tapped his pencil against the page. Be willing to sacrifice blood to protect her people. Belia, who forgave the moon. "Um… try moving one over 'forgave.'" Sully did so. The door didn't crack.
Sully pursed his lips. "Wrong one."
Nate groaned, "Damn." He scratched at his head and suggested a new take. "'Move some to cover up 'to protect her people.'" After the block moved, the door moved some as well. He perked up with a grin. His eyes went back to his journal and he bit his lip, taking a complete new guess here. "Cover up 'Belia' and 'gave' in 'forgave."
The elder went with it. After doing so, the door rumbled and opened up completely. Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon.
Lara gave a pleasant gasp when seeing the doors open. Nate put his journal away. "See? I told you I was good at these things," he told the woman. Though, as the trio began to walk towards the new opening, he elbowed her. "Gave up on the riddle?"
"N-no," Lara replied, almost flustered. She put her hand up in response. "I'll get it eventually. Just not right now." She began to walk ahead of him.
"Just tell me when you give up, British Biscuit."
Lara rolled her eyes with a smile. She stopped and ducked down since the entrance had a rock that stuck out. "Nate, be careful," she warned him.
"C'mon. I always am," he replied, looking at Sully with a mocking look. When he turned back around, his head hit the rock and he gripped onto his head, grunting in pain. "Ow! I did not see that."
Sully, who ducked and didn't get his head, chuckled. Lara laughed as well, giving him a "I told you so" smirk before she turned back around to lead them into the new room. Nate rubbed at his head, gritting his teeth as he walked with Sully. "Did you see that? She just-"
"Oh, I saw it alright," Sully smirked, patting Nate's back. "I think she's gettin' back at ya for that riddle." Snorting, Nate took his hand from his head. His eyes went forward to look at Lara again, tracing up her legs before focusing on her behind. When Sully caught him in the act, he leaned forward and gripped onto the younger's shoulder tightly. "Ya know, normally it's you getting onto me about that. Ain't this a change, kid?" he whispered.
The torch light shined on Sully's face to reveal a mischievous grin. Nate gave a heavy sigh. "I'm not doing anything," he defended himself.
"Oh, so you're not checking out the lovely lady?"
Nate gave him a tight lipped smile. He tried to think of what to say, but was at a loss for words. He gave up, whining like a teenager almost. "Okay, fine. I was," he admitted, realizing he couldn't talk himself out of it. "Now, drop it."
Sully twitched his nose. He couldn't help but chuckle. "Alright, kid. Whatever you say."
The new entrance had took the group to a "room-before-the-room" situation. The new floor they stepped onto was built up of various platforms, some being hung by ropes and levelled to be in line with the rest of the ground. Looking up, the trio could see there were levers to pull a few feet above on makeshift platforms of clay that protruded from the walls. The levers looked to be what would open the door to the next big room. On the bright side, there were only two of them.
Nate, looking to their sides to see what they could do, noticed some of the ropes that connected to the floor platforms. "Sully, Lara can get the levers and we can pull the ropes," he suggested. He walked over to the rope area and Sully followed after him. He grabbed onto one, nodding to Lara. "Whenever you're ready, Miss England."
Lara laughed a bit, getting onto the platform. She made a gesture for them to pull. When the men began to do so, they noticed that other platforms lifted with it as well, though all at different levels. Lara stood where she was, watching the other platforms as she was elevated up. "They really liked little brain puzzles," she mused, shaking her head. Figuring out where she needed to go, she jumped onto a few other platforms before reaching the area where the lever was. Playfully, she waved down to the boys below. "Watch and learn, huh?"
"What exactly are you teaching us?" Sully called out in response.
Lara grabbed onto the edge of the clay platform and lifted herself up into a handstand, after balancing for a moment, she soon found herself back on her feet, grabbing onto the lever. Below, both men's eyes were wide.
"Well, I definitely can't do that," Nate murmured.
"I think it looks better on her than it would ever look on you," Sully teased in response.
A few more platforms later, Lara managed to get the other lever before making her way back down. Twin doors on the other side of the room opened to reveal what looked to be walls of gold. When she reached the ground again, she tilted her head. Sully and Nate walked over beside her. "I wasn't expecting a golden room after all this," Lara admitted, starting to walk forward with the trio. Though, as soon as her and Nate's feet stepped into the new area, they found themselves falling through the old, wooden floor. Both of their combined weights seemed to make the weak point finally break.
Sully jumped back, looking down to see if they were okay. Luckily, they had only fallen a few inches below, even though most of the flooring had cracked and gave in beneath them. However, Sully found himself snickering at their position. Lara had fallen on top of Nate, and when she shifted to move, he let out a wince.
"That's my-" he hissed, not being able to finish the sentence. Lara perked up and noticed she was kneeing his groin. She gritted her teeth awkwardly and stood up finally, offering her hand to the other, who took it lazily. Standing back up, he adjusted himself and looked down at the floor. "Wood floor built above a perfectly fine stone one," he huffed. "Yeah, makes sense."
"Might have hid stuff under it," Sully reminded him, stepping to the side of the broken flooring so he wouldn't trip.
After the two climbed out, Lara nodded in response to Sully, though she patted Nate's shoulder. "Sorry, by the way," she laughed. "I didn't mean to hurt your 'friend.'"
Nate cackled in response. "My 'friend'?" he shook his head before elbowing her. "You're fine." He looked behind them and down below since what Sully had said made him wonder if there really was anything. To his surprise, he saw a few pieces of paper scattered across the floor below. He picked one of them up and made a face. "Crap," he muttered, considering he couldn't read it. He handed it to Lara. "Your turn to read."
She took it from his hands and looked it over. After reading it, her eyes went back up to the other. "This is a goodbye letter to the queen," she said, setting the paper down. "This must've been an offering room of some sort."
"I guess the gold theme makes more sense now," Sully told them.
Nate stepped a little ahead of the others. Looking forward, he saw what looked like a compact mirror sticking out of the wall, seemingly apart of the room. That wasn't what it was at all (or at least Nate assumed it wasn't), and that made him grow in curiosity.
Lara turned to look over the design of the room with Sully. The centerpiece of the room seemed to be the large pillar that was decorated in golden beads and beautifully carved depictions of the queen. "She must have been an amazing queen," she thought, especially with how many offerings of respect there were scattered across the room.
"But of Belia? I've never heard of it," Sully muttered.
"Yeah… that… that I'm still confused on."
Nate hadn't been focusing on them. He opened up the object only to reveal a simple needle inside, one that stuck out. The edges of the inside were hollowed out, seeming to be carved out to hold a liquid of some sorts. "What?" he whispered out, trying to figure out what it was. Trying to find something in his memory, he groaned in annoyance.
Lara looked over. "What is it, Nate?" she asked.
"Nothing," he replied in habit. He kept his mind focused on their recent clues, but nothing was coming to him.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah." He wasn't. Yet somehow, that instance gave him a spark. Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon. He stuck his index finger out and looked at it for a minute in reluctance. "Here's to hoping I don't get diseases," he joked to himself, pricking his finger on the needle. His blood dripped down the needle and dripped into the carved out pieces of the contraption. In doing so, he could hear the slightest noise of clicking. He saw that his prick only covered the one half of the "pool" for the blood. He cleared his throat and turned, looking to the others as he rubbed at his finger. "Hey… come here."
Lara and Sully looked between each other before walking over.
"What is it?" Lara asked, though she then saw the bloody needle beside him. "Don't tell me you pricked your finger-"
"We have to."
"What?"
"'Be willing to sacrifice blood for the moon.' They want us to give blood," Nate explained. Sighing when he saw how the two looked at him like he was crazy, he gave them a pouty face. For a grown man, his puppy eyes seemed to work as if he were still a tiny child.
Lara gave a groan. "Fine," she huffed. She got in front of the object and pricked her finger on it, snatching her hand away in habit and giving out a small "ow." Her blood dripped down into the pool, seeming to be the missing piece needed.
Sully sighed in relief. "Thank God. I don't know what's been on that thing," he joked to them.
Lara nodded, "Tell me about it." Though, looking up, she saw the pillar in the middle of the room start to move. She realized the width and size of it must have been for more than just aesthetic purposes. It began to slowly open up, soon revealing a new item to the group: a golden staff.
Nate slowly made his way over to it with the others. He reached out for it, and when he held a firm grasp, he looked it over in awe. "So, what's the reason for hiding this thing?" he wondered.
Lara admired it for a moment before noticing the engravings on it. She perked up, standing on Nate's other side and gripping onto his shoulder almost to peek over it. "'If the queen's spirit is ever to rise again, this will be her guide to find her people.' How would a staff guide anyone?" she uttered, confused.
"Has to be something else." Nate turned the staff, his eyes tracing every edge. The tip of the staff held what looked to be an eyeglass of sorts, something to look out of. Finding this odd, Nate took his attention to the staff's body itself. There were grooves on the upper area, as if some kind of ring were supposed to be attached to it. "There's definitely something else. Something we don't got."
Lara scrunched her face up. "Probably the way Trinity went," she sighed.
"Yeah. I'm putting my bets on that."
A/N: I hope you guys are liking the small shoutouts to the games, including some direct dialogue and like in this chapter a fun little name drop. It's always fun to try and incorporate those in!