CHAPTER 11
Groaning in exhaustion, Survivor Lara gradually opened her eyes and found herself on the ground outside a maze close to a sundial. It seemed to be night time, with a full moon shining in the sky.
Looking around, she saw Core Lara and Jonah on the ground next to where she had been unconscious, thanks to the dimensional trip from her world to this one. She crouched down and gently prodded her allies awake.
Taking time to look around at their new surroundings, the trio could only guess that this was the Earth 2 they had overhead Slizer mention, before he had left Survivor Lara and Jonah's home realm mere moments earlier as they followed in pursuit.
Core Lara commented on how extravagant this area seemed to be, guessing that only someone as rich and with similar tastes as her, would build a setup like this.
'Then this must be the home of our counterpart from Earth 2', Survivor Lara theorised in excitement.
'Woah, hang on there. Remember how much I freaked out when we first met?,' Core Lara said. 'Imagine that times 100, especially for a version of us who is still grieving over the loss of a loved one. Best we sneak around and find out how things work around here first.'
'Sounds like a solid plan to me.' Jonah said, as they snuck along the lawn to the wooden door, putting their ears to it in order to ensure no-one was awake on the other side.
Knowing the coast was clear, Survivor Lara carefully opened the door as Jonah and her older counterpart followed, while Core Lara gently closed the door again, as if they were never there.
Moving down the corridor, the group noticed a diverging staircase that led down somewhere. And wanting to know as much about this version of Lara Croft as they could, moved down the stairs as quickly as they could, without making too much noise.
To their surprise, there were a lot of artifacts on display which especially rang a bell for Core Lara, reminding her a lot of her first ever adventure from 1996 with T-Rex and raptor head busts on the walls, giving it away the most.
So, it seems this Lara has experienced a lot of the same adventures as I have mainly, Core Lara thought to herself. How much so, she could only guess.
Catching a glance at Survivor Lara and Jonah(who couldn't help but stare in amazement at the fact actual dinosaurs still existed on this world), Core Lara moved her head in understanding as she said to them, 'Amazing, isn't it? On my world, dinosaurs seem to be a regular occurrence still, in spite of history books stating otherwise. Just knowing there is plenty of secrets left to find despite thorough documentation, makes life seem so worthwhile, doesn't it?'
Survivor Lara responded in kind, saying, 'You have no idea how incredible it is to see an actual dinosaur in the flesh, literally. I'd give anything for this kind of fantastical adventure back home.'
Jonah turned to look at his best friend and said in a jokey way, 'Really? Himiko, the Divine Source and Mayan gods weren't enough of a thrill for ya? Geez Lara, you're a hard one to please.'
Both Laras responded at the same time albeit unintentionally, 'Well when you're someone like me who craves a sense of adventure, it's hard to get excited at the same old thing...'. They paused and realizing what they'd done, let out a good laugh at their uncanny timing with Jonah joining in on it as tears of joy poured from their eyes.
Gradually calming themselves down, their happy thoughts quickly changed to that of fearful concern as they heard footsteps coming down the steps.
'Who's there?' an old male voice shouted. 'Show yourselves!'
'Yeah. Or you will be shot on sight with no regrets.' a younger black-sounding male voice said in kind.
As the Laras and Jonah hid by hugging the vacant walls that were close to the exit out of the artifact room(Core Lara on the right wall, Survivor Lara and Jonah on the left), they waited for their chance to strike.
Seeing a lantern-styled illumination across the ground, the three adventurers hopped out of cover, armed with their respective weapons of choice.
'Winston?' Survivor Lara said.
'Zip?' Core Lara said.
'Oh boy, so much for keeping a low profile.' Jonah said, as he visibly facepalmed.
