Day 18. Mischief
Shamanic Lara Croft heads to the desert in search of the blue phoenix. Her victory against the Thunderbird had given her insight, and such an inner eye leads her into the mirage in the desert. Her eyes shine crystal blue, yet she cannot see anything in the horizon. Only the squealing of birds of prey, distant children of the Thunderbird, yet not less ominous. A long howl is heard in the middle of this sunny day. Sweat drops run Lara's face.
A distant image of a coyote is seen, and then it changes to the image of a queen of the sun. "Sam?" Lara asks. She'd swear her best friend is standing in the distance. A disappointing laugh is heard. And then… the cursed words. "No one leaves," it resounds in the sky as thunder abounds in the horizon. This is her rite of passage, her test… from a child to a tomb raider. Would she be able to sacrifice her best friend for the truth? "Stop it!" she cries, in full belief that it cannot be but an illusion. Yet illusions are meant to be broken.
And so she wanders through the desert, taunted by the image of her best friend lost to the Queen of the Rising Sun, Himiko… And so she falters, until the night allows her to come at peace with the idea that her friend might be long gone now. That her adventure is not motivated by the will to save her friend but the need to face her own shadow, like when she had to restore the sun.
And the night is followed by howling. "Oh shit!" she cries, as she turns on a torch. This is her only hope of staying alive against the coyote herd. She is soon ambushed and bitten in the arm. A few axe blows later, she frees herself. A quick flare lets her light the area, while she draws her double 9mm. With flips and goodwill she tries to kill the herd before she bleeds out. One by one, coyotes fall. She has succeeded, and heals herself before the birds of prey decide to eat her as well.
Luck follows Croft, as she is able to see the tracks of the coyotes. She follows them into a den, deep in a desert cave. The cave depicts them… "The Masked Ones, and the legendary bird," she says. "I'm getting closer." And heck she does. Deep into the cave, stands a totem pole, one of a coyote, a man, and a bird. "Thunderbird again?" she asks. She gets close to the totem, in search of answers, but she's shrouded in mystery again, as the floor below her cedes, and she's devoured by the cave sands.