53.- The Sleeper
The moment Croft uses Eckhardt's Sanglyph an exchange occurs, for the slave Karel must comply with his master's wish. The beam of light connecting the Sleeper and Karel, is just a transference of the soul into an empty vessel. But a vessel so small that it can't contain the Sleeper. So the flesh decays. But the reach of the soul becomes stronger. Von Hahn, Croft, Gunderson, Trent… He controls their fate.
Until one falls and makes the mistake of opening the gate. It's Trent's mistake. And now, he must go to the only person that can grant him a proper body: Jacqueline Natla. Their goals coincide, so that's the most powerful alliance. But he underestimated Natla's abilities. She has gone beyond granting him a physical form. She has freed him from the need of a body in the first place. Evolution of a Nephilim into a Half-Angel.
AT LAST, I AM FREE! AND I HAVE BEEN GIVEN A NEW GENERATION OF SLAVES!
The Sleeper is now awake. Resistance is futile. Yet it exists. It exists in the form of former allies, like the Triumvirate of Atlantis, and it exists in the form of Lara Croft, who has grinded against all odds. Who has resisted the temptation of the blood sign. Who now opens the Seal of Noah to fulfill God's eternal work that the Great Flood washed away all evil from the Creation in the times of Noah. And now, Lara bears witness to Prophet Noah's message, as an earthquake changes the configuration of the Lost Dominion, so it can be flooded by the waters.
"Time to escape," she thinks. But the now awake Sleeper offers resistance. The feeling she had when in front of Gabriel - probably - invades her. But also the feeling of all those screams, all those souls that have been sacrificed on his name. Lara recognizes the scream Werner of Von Croy amongst them. And then she can see at the angel, and recognises that the Sleeper is a fallen angel, an angel of darkness.
And thus, she lets the Periapt Shards finish the work. Each Shard provokes a scream of pain from the Sleeper. "So even angels can be hurt," Lara thinks. But humans can be hurt as well, and she's running out of breath.