I rocked up at Lara's house the next day dressed in just some cargo shorts and a singlet top. She let me in and I was amazed to find the entire lobby covered in crates.
'What happened?'
'I'm having some more things put into storage. They haven't picked them up yet. Anyway,' she smiled, 'they are perfect training for an area that I think is one of your weakest.'
I looked at the crates. They were three sizes. The smallest came up to my knees, the medium sized ones came up to around my waist, and the tallest ones came up over my head.
'And how are we going to get to the gym?'
'We have to climb over these crates.'
'You're kidding.'
'No. Let's go.'
'You know I can't vault up.'
'Precisely. That's why we're doing it.'
I started with the smallest crate. That was easy, but the medium sized was a little difficult. Eventually, I hoisted myself up, put my knees on the crate and climbed up. Now I knew why Lara sometimes needed knee pads on the hard rock.
The tallest crate posed the greatest challenge. I could hold onto it, but I just couldn't pull myself up. I let go a couple of times and fell back on the floor. Lara suggested I take a small run so the momentum would get me up. That failed. Eventually, Lara had to push my legs up.
When we finally made it to the gym and I jumped off the crate, Lara spoke to me.
'We've really gotta work on the big rocks, cos they are the ones you come across most often. Anyway, when we're finished, we can work on that again. Let's do the exercises.'
The first one was completely useless. It was demonstrating simply how to walk to the edge of ledges.
'I know how to walk, Lara.'
'I know Hermione, but you've got to be careful.'
I jumped off the platform and onto the next exercise. It was what we called a standing jump, which means that you stand at the edge of the ledge and jump and grab the other ledge. This would mean I would have to try to hoist myself up again.
I did as Lara instructed. I walked to the edge and stopped.
'What now?' I asked, even though I knew perfectly well what to do. Well, Lara told me to approach it as if I knew nothing about it.
'You know what to do, Hermione.'
'No I don't.'
Lara sighed. 'Yes, I know, you're bringing my words back to haunt me. Well, I will humour you. Okay, jump forward. You probably won't land on the ledge, so reach out and grab the edge.'
I got ready to jump. I bent my knees and jumped forward. I knew I wouldn't land, so I reached out to grab the ledge. I grabbed it and because I did, my body slammed into the side of the platform, including my face. As soon as I hit the side, I heard a sickening crack, and then I could feel warm liquid running down my mouth and chin. I could taste it on my lips and also in my throat.
I also hit my head and I was dizzy, so I let go and fell to the floor. Within a couple of seconds, I was out cold.
I woke up and I was asleep in Lara's bed. My nose was hurting like hell and I couldn't breathe through it either.
I sat up too quickly, and my head was sore. I was extremely groggy, and my head was hurting badly. I put my hand to my forehead and felt the rising painful lump on my head.
I lay back down in Lara's extremely comfortable bed. I looked down at myself and gasped. There was an extremely large blood stain covering my top. Just then, Lara walked in.
'Hermione, are you alright? I was so worried about you. Come on, we've got to get you to hospital.'
'What?'
'Come on, let's go.'
Lara drove me to hospital where I had x-rays taken. I can't remember much of this, since I was so groggy. Anyway, I remember the doctor saying I had a severe concussion and my nose was broken in three places. It was scary. When it had set, he said, I would have to have plastic surgery to repair the damage. Plus, I had to wear this extremely ugly brace for three weeks. He said I must have hit it extremely hard to inflict this kind of damage.
As we were leaving to take me home, I asked Lara how she doesn't break her nose whenever she grabs a ledge.
'I turn my head to the side,' she smiled. 'I learnt it the hard way, like you.'
'That's real assurance, Lara. Anyway, how can I grab without breaking anything?'
'Just turn your head to the side or up. Never put it down. Or, after you grab, quickly bring your knees up so your feet hit the wall and stop your body flying into it.'
'But there's still a very big possibility that I won't get my feet up in time so I'll just hit my knees.'
Lara shrugged. 'Yeah, there is that too. Forget I said that. Listen, come round my place tomorrow night and we'll talk. No training though.'
I nodded. 'Okay. Sounds good.'
I turned up at Lara's place the next evening. It was cold outside, so I just wore my beloved fake leather jacket, a pullover and some jeans.
Lara served up dinner in her study/trophy room. It was absolutely covered in artefacts from Lara's previous conquests, including the Dagger of Xian, the four Antarctic/Polynesian artefacts, the Italian Philosopher's Stone, plus many others including the Spear of Destiny.
The one that caught my eye was very unusual. It was sort of circular, and it had strange knob things on it. It looked as if it was able to come apart, in maybe three pieces.
What it was made of was unusual also. I took alchemy in my senior years at high school, and I had never seen a material like it. It looked to be very thin, but it obviously must be strong, managing to survive Lara's perilous journeys. It also seemed to shimmer in different colours in the light, like oil after a rainstorm.
Lara noted my interest. She smiled. 'Ah, I though that would catch your interest. That's my favourite artefact. That's the Atlantean Scion.'
I almost choked on my dinner. 'What? Did you say Atlantean? As in Atlantis?'
I was fascinated by the legend of the ancient mythical lost continent.
Lara smiled. 'Yes, Atlantis exists. At least, it did ten years ago. A very interesting journey.'
'Tell me the story,' I begged.
Lara sighed. 'It's very long, but I know you'll enjoy it, Hermione. Some aspects I'm not quite sure of, so I've had to guess.
It begins like this... once upon a time, thousands of years ago, Atlantis was in its prime. It had three rulers, Natla, Qualopec, and Tihocan...'
'What happened?'
'I'm having some more things put into storage. They haven't picked them up yet. Anyway,' she smiled, 'they are perfect training for an area that I think is one of your weakest.'
I looked at the crates. They were three sizes. The smallest came up to my knees, the medium sized ones came up to around my waist, and the tallest ones came up over my head.
'And how are we going to get to the gym?'
'We have to climb over these crates.'
'You're kidding.'
'No. Let's go.'
'You know I can't vault up.'
'Precisely. That's why we're doing it.'
I started with the smallest crate. That was easy, but the medium sized was a little difficult. Eventually, I hoisted myself up, put my knees on the crate and climbed up. Now I knew why Lara sometimes needed knee pads on the hard rock.
The tallest crate posed the greatest challenge. I could hold onto it, but I just couldn't pull myself up. I let go a couple of times and fell back on the floor. Lara suggested I take a small run so the momentum would get me up. That failed. Eventually, Lara had to push my legs up.
When we finally made it to the gym and I jumped off the crate, Lara spoke to me.
'We've really gotta work on the big rocks, cos they are the ones you come across most often. Anyway, when we're finished, we can work on that again. Let's do the exercises.'
The first one was completely useless. It was demonstrating simply how to walk to the edge of ledges.
'I know how to walk, Lara.'
'I know Hermione, but you've got to be careful.'
I jumped off the platform and onto the next exercise. It was what we called a standing jump, which means that you stand at the edge of the ledge and jump and grab the other ledge. This would mean I would have to try to hoist myself up again.
I did as Lara instructed. I walked to the edge and stopped.
'What now?' I asked, even though I knew perfectly well what to do. Well, Lara told me to approach it as if I knew nothing about it.
'You know what to do, Hermione.'
'No I don't.'
Lara sighed. 'Yes, I know, you're bringing my words back to haunt me. Well, I will humour you. Okay, jump forward. You probably won't land on the ledge, so reach out and grab the edge.'
I got ready to jump. I bent my knees and jumped forward. I knew I wouldn't land, so I reached out to grab the ledge. I grabbed it and because I did, my body slammed into the side of the platform, including my face. As soon as I hit the side, I heard a sickening crack, and then I could feel warm liquid running down my mouth and chin. I could taste it on my lips and also in my throat.
I also hit my head and I was dizzy, so I let go and fell to the floor. Within a couple of seconds, I was out cold.
I woke up and I was asleep in Lara's bed. My nose was hurting like hell and I couldn't breathe through it either.
I sat up too quickly, and my head was sore. I was extremely groggy, and my head was hurting badly. I put my hand to my forehead and felt the rising painful lump on my head.
I lay back down in Lara's extremely comfortable bed. I looked down at myself and gasped. There was an extremely large blood stain covering my top. Just then, Lara walked in.
'Hermione, are you alright? I was so worried about you. Come on, we've got to get you to hospital.'
'What?'
'Come on, let's go.'
Lara drove me to hospital where I had x-rays taken. I can't remember much of this, since I was so groggy. Anyway, I remember the doctor saying I had a severe concussion and my nose was broken in three places. It was scary. When it had set, he said, I would have to have plastic surgery to repair the damage. Plus, I had to wear this extremely ugly brace for three weeks. He said I must have hit it extremely hard to inflict this kind of damage.
As we were leaving to take me home, I asked Lara how she doesn't break her nose whenever she grabs a ledge.
'I turn my head to the side,' she smiled. 'I learnt it the hard way, like you.'
'That's real assurance, Lara. Anyway, how can I grab without breaking anything?'
'Just turn your head to the side or up. Never put it down. Or, after you grab, quickly bring your knees up so your feet hit the wall and stop your body flying into it.'
'But there's still a very big possibility that I won't get my feet up in time so I'll just hit my knees.'
Lara shrugged. 'Yeah, there is that too. Forget I said that. Listen, come round my place tomorrow night and we'll talk. No training though.'
I nodded. 'Okay. Sounds good.'
I turned up at Lara's place the next evening. It was cold outside, so I just wore my beloved fake leather jacket, a pullover and some jeans.
Lara served up dinner in her study/trophy room. It was absolutely covered in artefacts from Lara's previous conquests, including the Dagger of Xian, the four Antarctic/Polynesian artefacts, the Italian Philosopher's Stone, plus many others including the Spear of Destiny.
The one that caught my eye was very unusual. It was sort of circular, and it had strange knob things on it. It looked as if it was able to come apart, in maybe three pieces.
What it was made of was unusual also. I took alchemy in my senior years at high school, and I had never seen a material like it. It looked to be very thin, but it obviously must be strong, managing to survive Lara's perilous journeys. It also seemed to shimmer in different colours in the light, like oil after a rainstorm.
Lara noted my interest. She smiled. 'Ah, I though that would catch your interest. That's my favourite artefact. That's the Atlantean Scion.'
I almost choked on my dinner. 'What? Did you say Atlantean? As in Atlantis?'
I was fascinated by the legend of the ancient mythical lost continent.
Lara smiled. 'Yes, Atlantis exists. At least, it did ten years ago. A very interesting journey.'
'Tell me the story,' I begged.
Lara sighed. 'It's very long, but I know you'll enjoy it, Hermione. Some aspects I'm not quite sure of, so I've had to guess.
It begins like this... once upon a time, thousands of years ago, Atlantis was in its prime. It had three rulers, Natla, Qualopec, and Tihocan...'