Journal entry no 23

Ok, where do I start? I suppose an apology is in order, I meant to be doing daily updates but that kinda fell on the way side thanks to the crazy few weeks I've been having. You'd honestly not believe what I've been through. I'm still trying to get my head around it. But I think the best way to understand it, is to go back to the very beginning.

Back to Paraiso and the peculiar artefact that awaited me in a secret chamber…

~Paraiso, Peru~

17 year old Lara Croft approached a fair sized hole in the crumbling stone wall. She carefully clambered through into the room beyond. Situated on one of the walls was some sort of writing. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes and groan when an annoying voice piped up "Is it safe?"

"Yes, Lewis. Its safe. No monsters and no reanimated mummies to eat your brains", Lara replied. She heard a thud and turned around to see Lewis Hawthorn sprawled out on the ground. The brunette sighed. Why oh why did she agree to take this pompous prick to what's potentially the resting place of the last Queen Of Tiwanaku? Oh, right. It's because his father wanted his stuck up son to see more of the world, become 'well-travelled'. Though why Robert Hawthorn thought sending his son to a tomb in Peru was going to put Lewis on the path to well-travellness, she'd never know.

Lara walked over to Lewis and hauled him to his feet. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Am I alright?" he repeated in a higher tone "No I'm not alright! Look at the state on me. I'm filthy".

"I did warn you that might happen", Lara said, none too sympathetic. She walked over to the wall with the writing. "Interesting", she murmured as she scanned the text. Lara took out her video camera, shaking her head as Lewis' complaints about his clothes reached her ears. She did her best to block it out as she turned the camera on and pointed it at the wall. She pressed record. "This tells the story of the last Queen of Tiwanaku. Her father was king, but she was lost and raised by a warrior. She became queen after a shaman named Tunupa discovered her royal heritage…"

"Tunupa is another name for Viracocha, their god of creation", Lewis piped up.

"That's correct", Lara confirmed "you did some research then?"

"Oh, not me. One of my tutors did", Lewis replied.

"Of course they did. Silly me to think you'd ever even consider coming prepared on this trip", Lara remarked. Lewis opened his mouth to argue when she just shushed him. The boy, folded his arms indignantly. Lara couldn't help get a little thrill of putting him in his place. "The shaman brought her to Lake Titicaca where she borrowed his staff, an object of great power", she continued "She led her people into an ear of peace. After many years of wise and just rule, there was some sort of power struggle. She died shortly thereafter, and she was carried off in a boat to Paradise".

"You know that sounds awfully like that story, the one where the boy pulls a sword from a rock", Lewis stated.

"It does resemble the King Arthur myth", Lara agreed "many cultures share similar legends".

"Yeah, well I don't really care about that", Lewis said bluntly "I just want to find out if the Queen is really buried here and then get out as fast as possible".

"As you wish", Lara said. She was about to straighten up when she noticed a bit of text obscured by dirt. She rubbed it away to reveal some rather different letters. The brunette frowned. There was something almost familiar about it…

"Well, what does it say?" Lewis demanded.

"I don't know", Lara replied "I mean it seems familiar, like I've seen it before but I can't read it".

"Now you've established that, can we get moving?" Lewis asked, getting impatient.

"Just a second", Lara said pointing her camera at the new writing so she could inspect it further later.

"Are you done?" Lewis asked as she put the camera away and straightened up.

"I am now. Lets go see if she's here then", the teenager said.

"Finally!" Lewis mock cheered. Lara just ignored it and moved around the wall to the section behind it. She and Lewis followed the path to a set of stone steps. The pair ascended up them and at the very top was a large chamber. In the middle of the chamber was a stone sarcophagus. "Well, is it her?" the snobby boy asked.

"Give me a moment", Lara said crouching down to study the glyphs on one side "yes I believe it is", she said pulling out her camcorder to document the findings. "That's the Queen and her journey to the throne", Lara said to herself, ignoring the complaint from Lewis "and on this side is the shaman with his staff. Though it looks a lot like a sword and it appears to be set into a dais. Perhaps their version of the sword in the stone" she frowned as she spotted the weird symbols from before "more of these strange symbols" Lara lightly ran a finger over them and felt a slightly raised section. She pressed it and a part of the wall slid back.

"Congratulations you found a secret door", Lewis said sarcastically, slowly clapping his hands together.

"How about you sit down and shut up?" Lara shot back, standing up and facing him, hands on hips. "otherwise I'm going to leave you here".

"You wouldn't dare", Lewis said.

"Keep yammering away and you'll find out that I would dare", Lara informed him. The pair stared at each other in a silent battle wills until Lewis sighed and plonked himself down on a nearby rock. Satisfied that she'd won, Lara approached the now open section of the wall and peered inside.

It appeared to be empty, save for a sword which looked similar to the one that was on the sarcophagus. Lara entered the room, stopping in front of the altar. She took a second or two to check it over to make sure it wasn't booby trapped before picking up the sword. It was much surprising lighter than she would've figured. Suddenly the symbols on the blade turned blue and before her eyes it shifted, slowly morphing into a talisman, the size of a saucer.

"Well…that's not something you see every day", Lara muttered shrugging off her pack back and sliding the talisman inside. She wasn't one to like the pilfering of artefacts but this particular warranted further study.

"Did you find anything?" Lewis asked watching her come out of the secret room.

"I'm afraid not. Whatever was there had been taken long ago", Lara replied.

"So…now you've explored…can you we go?" Lewis tentatively questioned.

"Yeah, we can go", Lara replied. Lewis stood up, rather pleased he could now leave this damn place and go get a nice hot shower. He was utterly filthy! How Lara could walk about with mud spattered all over her, he'd never know.