Path of Destruction
Part Five: Let the Good Times Roll...or Not
Miss Lara Croft placed her weapons back into their holsters. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened except that she had won.
Striking a flare she knelt down beside the body of the loser to examine it. Much to her surprise it turned out to be human. In fact, it was a man, and a very fit one at that. He bared a striking resemblance in form to a professional wrestler whose physic has yet to achieve the optimum status that the sport requires.
Even more curious was the garb that clothed him. He was dressed in a uniform that was worn by the ancient Roman guard nearly two thousand years ago.
"Well, where did you come from," she asked the corpse as she examined his sword. As bladed weapons go it was quite short and at the same time quiet heavy, very much like the ones used centuries before. The light from the flare reflected brightly off of the weapon as she twisted it around in her hand shooting back at her like a laser straight into her eyes.
It was so bright that she dropped the sword and flare both in favor of her now half blinded eye. At the same time she lost her balance and fell backward onto the cave floor. In the next several minutes Croft sat sprawled out on the ground blinking rapidly in an attempt to restore her vision to its previous condition. This task would have ultimately been achieved in s very short time with hardly any frustration at all had it not been for the fact that her flare's life span had just come to a crashing halt.
Lara didn't move at all. She sat perfectly still on the cold ground staring into the endless darkness that now surrounded her. It was as though the darkness was calling to her, asking her to join it for all eternity. For some reason, deep in her soul of, the young lady began to feel that this time it might turn out that way.
There was something extremely odd about everything around her. The seemingly indestructible wooden plank attached to the indoor aqueduct was, in its self, slightly unnerving but now there was a man lying dead in front of her that, to the best of her scientific knowledge, was from the time of Christ. The more she thought about it the more brain began to hurt and despite her truly logical mind she could not help feeling that it was all a bad omen.
All of these things had helped to move her into a near state of depression. Hoping to alleviate at least a little of the confusing situation that plagued her the explorer removed another flare from her backpack. "I wonder if I'd be happier as a dentist," she quipped to herself as the environment around her suddenly returned to sight.
Committing herself to the fact that sitting in front of a cadaver would get her no where in her quest Croft turned her attention to the wall just behind her. Upon it was fixed a small hand crank.
Without a second thought she firmly took hold of the handle that was stuck in the upright position and began to push it forward solidly. It jerked ever so slightly then came to sudden halt nearly sending its operator flying forward into sidewall.
Croft leaned forward to scrutinize mechanism for the cause of the sudden halt. The lack of usage of two centuries had taken its toll on the device. It was stuck fast in place by a large formation of sediment that had formed around the crank.
Once again she pushed forward on to the crank with all her might digging her feet into the ground for support. Accompanied by a small crackling sound the lever inched forward ever so slightly encouraging its operator to continue on. All of sudden the small crackling morphed into large explosive pop breaking the sediment into tiny pieces sending the crank handle forward like a bolt of lightning.
Lara, who was still attached to the device, followed it forward sending herself flying headlong into the adjacent wall. In turn, her head bounced firmly off of the stone splitting her forehead and causing her to discover the cavern floor yet again where a long sigh of frustration and relief passed from her lips.
Almost immediately there after she returned to her feet only to find that she hadn't moved the lever nearly as much as she had first believed. In fact, it had only shifted about a third of the way around.
Unaware of her injury the young lady took hold of the crank handle for the third time. As she pushed forward she could still feel a great deal of resistance but nothing like before. It was now within her power to operate the device in the manner of her choosing.
This was a fortunate circumstance as well for in the midst of her second revolution of the crank she felt a tickling sensation on the edge of her nose. It was only a small sensation at first and easily ignored but as time wore on it seemed to her that it was slowly moving down her face. Finally annoyed by its presence Croft reached up with a single digit to remove the sensation only to find that it was not was not what she first thought it was. Instead of feeling her own smooth skin her finger became incased in a warm flowing liquid. It oozed down onto her nail and around to the other side before dripping to the ground.
Lara dropped down to one knee to investigate the substance. What she saw in the light of the flare sent her into a momentary daze of confusion. On the rocks below her was a small red pool of blood. Immediately upon noticing it her head began to ache where her injury was. She could feel a slight dizziness taking hold of her.
Reaching into her backpack she removed a small first aid kit while at the same time positioning herself once again over the body of the dead centurion. His armor shone bright in the glow of the flare creating a very imperfect yet effective mirror. Through the fuzzy image she could make out a long but shallow gash on her forehead running from the to of her bangs on the left to just over her right eye. Steadily, she wiped off the blood that had accumulated over the wound and applied some disinfectant.
"That ought to do it," she told herself. Returning to the hand crank Croft continued the arduous task of rolling the crank over and over. With each revolution there came a faint scraping sound nearly akin to someone running their fingernails over a blackboard. This continued on for nearly five minutes until the crank suddenly stopped and again refused to move. Far above the scraping sound had been replaced by another noise, running water.
Curiosity peaked the adventurer dashed vivaciously back to the empty riverbed where she had first encountered the Roman who had attacked her. She half expected the trip to be a wild goose chase but at the moment it was the only logical thing she could think of to do.
To her surprise the waterway was now diverted into its original path. She was on the right track now. Without hesitation the explorer moved expeditiously along the bank following the rivers new course. Before long she came to the end of the line where it disappeared into a small space in the rock wall.
Not to be deterred Lara Croft bent down in exploration of the gap through which the river flowed. To her fortune the waterline stood just below the top of the area leaving nearly an inch for breathing. It was enough to convince her that it led somewhere that she needed to be. With that she hastily hopped into the water and dropped to her knees.
For the second time the icy water flooded around the young lady chilling her to her bones. It didn't make a lot of difference to her, however, since she had her mind on exploring the watery cave. Creeping along on her hands and knees she moved inside.
What was more was that the tunnel was man made. There was no mystery this time; man had defiantly constructed the tunnel. The walls and ceiling were smooth and the path that the tunnel took seemed to anything less than natural.
There was, for a long while, nothing more that was particularly special about the passage; it was simply a small, long, corridor filled nearly to the top with ice-like water that flowed over the explorer's shoulders nearly up to her chin. It moved along ahead of he for quiet a while in a fairly straight direction although it seemed to be making a slight veering off to the left and upward.
As she splashed further along into the tunnel she noticed the water line slowly beginning to rise. What was once around her shoulders was now dripping off the bottom of her chin. It didn't worry in the least for she could always turn back although the possibility wasn't very likely. Rarely had there ever been a situation in all her travels that had caused her to retreat from a situation for fear of her life. Further more, such cases usually resulted in a return to situation after the fact to complete the quest.
Croft had been moving along steadily now for a while and was just beginning to notice for the first time that the watery passage had been taking her ever so slightly into a circular route. It was a detail that may have gone on unnoticed quiet a bit longer had she not stopped to study what she perceived to be a number of strange markings on the wall.
Much to her dismay, however, these markings turned out to be nothing more than a few stray bits of mud stuck the side. She rubbed her eyes vigorously with one hand trying to get them to refocus while at the same time muttering intelligibly to herself about eyeglasses.
As she looked up once again she seemed to notice the direction that she was facing seemed to be a tiny bit different than what she had remembered it being upon entering the hole. Her suspicions were confirmed all the more with the consultation of a compass a golden compass which she removed from the front hip pocket of her shorts.
The shiny metal gleamed brilliantly as she pulled it out of the muddy water. Not only the gold but the clear liquid that slipped off of the object and fell back into the stream glared brightly like river of pure radiance making its way toward an ocean of sunlight.
It had been a gift from an old friend after they had shared a particularly difficult adventure together. They had become lost deep in the mountains of Peru and would still be there today had Lara not remembered how to construct a homemade compass.
Opening the direction finder she stared at the direction finder with a fixed interest as the needle bobbed this was and that. When it finally came to rest the indicator pointed directly toward the large red N at the top of the compass. She had made nearly a quarter turn. Where was this passage heading?
Just then, far off in front of her came the sound of a low rumbling. It echoed distinctively through the small space bouncing here and there like a rubber ball before entering the young lady's delicately trained ear.
As soon as she heard it Croft started crawling again, this time at twice the pace that she had been moving at before. While sloshing through the water she attempted to calculate, in her mind, how far off the noise was. Regrettably, however, the intense splashing created by the explorer's haste muffled the sound beyond any reasonable point of auditory sensation. Thusly, she found herself, once again, simply following the long passage in hopes of discovering something new.
That was when the real trouble began. The flare that she had been carrying suddenly came to the conclusion that it's services were no longer required and without so much as a bye or leave allowed its light to fade into oblivion. Normally, this would be no trouble at all. The spelunker would merely reach back and procure a replacement from her trusty backpack. Things this time, however, were far from anything that could be labeled as normal. The fact was that upon searching her bag no replacement could be found.
The explorer bit down on her lower lip attempting to manufacture a clue concerning her next course of action. Her thought process, however, was continually disconnected by the nagging thought that she had misplaced her equipment. It was obvious to her that she had supplied herself with more than enough flares and yet she could not dissuade herself from the reality of her predicament.
There was, of course, the lighter that she was carrying in her pocket but being underwater the wick would be too wet to ignite. Nonetheless she removed it from its watery inhabitation and stuck it between her teeth to dry.
Now, she began to worry. There was no where to go and nothing to do. Turning around would be fruitless for the cave she had come through first as black as where she was. Nor would proceeding forward be of any use, she reasoned, for fear that she may miss something.
Even so, this was this was the direction in which she chose to moved. There was no real rhyme or reason for this resolution other than the fact that she needed to decide a course of action and to her going forward was almost always infinitely preferable to retreating especially when her situation would not change either way. It was, therefore, concluded that she should head in the direction in which she had been going to begin with.
She moved swiftly and diligently down the dark passage toward the sound that had caught her attention moments before. She only hoped that once she located the source of it that she would know what to do with it.
It wasn't very long before she got a chance to consider the matter. As she worked her way through the dark corridor the sound grew louder in her ears. However, there was a new element now. The rumbling was now augmented by a great deal of loud splashing.
With one hand pressed up against the wall for guidance Croft pulled herself around a sharp corner. To her surprise the darkness suddenly seemed to be slightly dimmer than before. There was still no light to speak of and she was still engulfed by a total blackness yet the air around her was definitely different.
Slightly confused by the sudden diffusion of nothingness the explorer backed up to compare the previous corridor to the one she now occupied. It can not be said that this truly proved anything for certain to her for, some time ago her eyes had begun to play tricks on her. In fact, had she not spent the entire time crawling on her hands and knees her entire perspective would have been long gone.
Although she was enveloped in darkness Croft could see, at least she thought she could see through the dim gloom, the shadow of something moving in front of her. The young lady found herself in the midst of the noise she had been perusing for so long.
Even so, she was still too blinded to make any sort of positive identification. Instead, she was forced to rely on her remaining four senses. These narrowed themselves down quickly to touch and hearing as the other two proved to completely useless even before an attempt was made to use them.
The sense of hearing, as you already know had been in use since the last flare went out and was now proving to issue no new information at all leaving only one option, touch. She reached out with one hand toward the shadow that she thought she saw.
All of a sudden she felt something. It moved upward passing by her hand. Through the wet exterior the explorer could feel its wooden structure as it slid past and then was gone. A moment later it returned and again vanished just as quickly as before.
Lara pulled her hand back from the contraption to ponder the sensation that she had just received. What could it be? Thinking back on her childhood she remembered a poem about a group of blind men trying to figure out an elephant. It now held a new meaning for her.
Nearly in desperation she resorted back to the soaked lighter that was still suspended in her mouth. Removing it from the orifice where it had been kept the blind woman rapidly struck the wick hoping for a miracle. Alas, there was none. She was officially stranded inside a sea of black nothingness her path blocked by a mysterious contraption.
In her frustration the explorer reached for her gun. It was merely an instinctive action but once her hand was on the weapon a nearly ingenious idea penetrated her cranium. Without thinking she drew the pistol and fired it into the hallway behind her. The resulting flash of light that filled the corridor burned the lady's eyes nearly to the point of causing her blindness to carry over into the light.
Croft immediately threw her free hand over her eyes. "That was stupid," she chastised through the lighter that was still clinched between her teeth. Still, she could not deny that the plan had a certain merit. To that end she went in search of something to protect her vision; her sunglasses.
Setting them in place she discharged a second round from her 9 millimeter this time in the direction of the strange mechanism in front of her. Although it was only a very short flash and her spectacles impaired her vision it was enough to allow Lara to identify the device before her.
It was a water wheel. Propelled by some unknown source it scooped up water in several large bucket like containers that extended out from the center of the device. From there it hauled the water up and over to the opposite side where it redeposited the river onto a small ledge that stood slightly above the level that she was on.
This presented an opportunity that the treasure hunter could not resist. Even if should have it is doubtful that she would not have. The fact was her that her choices were down to staying where she was or taking the risk that she was now considering.
It took her only a moment to realize this and only a second moment to move into position next to the water wheel. Standing up on her legs as far as she could the spelunker reached into the area in the front of her. She stretched upward as far as she could, searching for any sort of obstruction that would hinder her progress.
Finding nothing of interested she removed the lighter from her mouth and prepared to act. As soon as she felt next container pass over her hand she firmly took hold of it and pulled herself inside.
Up through the darkness she went, up and over the water device. A moment later she felt herself turning sideways until, at last, she was released into the custody of the Earth's gravity sending her rolling out of the container and on to the ledge amidst a great deal of water.
Almost immediately upon hitting solid ground Croft threw herself into a summersault sending her forward out the constant flowing of water and ending with her standing on her feet. She did not, at first, realize that she was standing up and had her legs not started to tingle from the sudden influx of blood rushing into them it is very likely that it would have been a extraordinarily long time before she figured it out.
Even so, it was not to this that she paying attention for far off in front of her the pitch blackness that still surrounded her was pierced by a very small pinhole of light. It mesmerized her. To actually see real light again seemed like a dream. She could scarcely believe her eyes. It seemed to jump around and dance in front of her like a Russian ballerina almost calling to her.
For a moment she thought she began to wonder if she was still alive. She was no stranger to the stories of those who had nearly left their mortal visage in favor of a more spiritual existence. Stories about see lights and long tunnels and having their life flash before their eyes.
It is very possible that had she took enough time to reflect thoroughly on the situation all of this would have extend to her a very philosophical state of mind changing both her religious ideals and her perception of her life and its work. As it was, however, the loud noise emanating from behind her proved to be more than sufficient to wake her from any such trance before she arrived anywhere near the state of any one such as Plato or Socrates.
All of that having passed through her head Miss Lara Croft decided that it was high time to get herself back on the trail of the artifact. With a diligent heart filled with unceasing determination she stepped forward toward the far off light not realizing, because she was still in a state of near total darkness, that she was stepping onto a very steep and slippery slope.
To be continued...
Part Five: Let the Good Times Roll...or Not
Miss Lara Croft placed her weapons back into their holsters. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened except that she had won.
Striking a flare she knelt down beside the body of the loser to examine it. Much to her surprise it turned out to be human. In fact, it was a man, and a very fit one at that. He bared a striking resemblance in form to a professional wrestler whose physic has yet to achieve the optimum status that the sport requires.
Even more curious was the garb that clothed him. He was dressed in a uniform that was worn by the ancient Roman guard nearly two thousand years ago.
"Well, where did you come from," she asked the corpse as she examined his sword. As bladed weapons go it was quite short and at the same time quiet heavy, very much like the ones used centuries before. The light from the flare reflected brightly off of the weapon as she twisted it around in her hand shooting back at her like a laser straight into her eyes.
It was so bright that she dropped the sword and flare both in favor of her now half blinded eye. At the same time she lost her balance and fell backward onto the cave floor. In the next several minutes Croft sat sprawled out on the ground blinking rapidly in an attempt to restore her vision to its previous condition. This task would have ultimately been achieved in s very short time with hardly any frustration at all had it not been for the fact that her flare's life span had just come to a crashing halt.
Lara didn't move at all. She sat perfectly still on the cold ground staring into the endless darkness that now surrounded her. It was as though the darkness was calling to her, asking her to join it for all eternity. For some reason, deep in her soul of, the young lady began to feel that this time it might turn out that way.
There was something extremely odd about everything around her. The seemingly indestructible wooden plank attached to the indoor aqueduct was, in its self, slightly unnerving but now there was a man lying dead in front of her that, to the best of her scientific knowledge, was from the time of Christ. The more she thought about it the more brain began to hurt and despite her truly logical mind she could not help feeling that it was all a bad omen.
All of these things had helped to move her into a near state of depression. Hoping to alleviate at least a little of the confusing situation that plagued her the explorer removed another flare from her backpack. "I wonder if I'd be happier as a dentist," she quipped to herself as the environment around her suddenly returned to sight.
Committing herself to the fact that sitting in front of a cadaver would get her no where in her quest Croft turned her attention to the wall just behind her. Upon it was fixed a small hand crank.
Without a second thought she firmly took hold of the handle that was stuck in the upright position and began to push it forward solidly. It jerked ever so slightly then came to sudden halt nearly sending its operator flying forward into sidewall.
Croft leaned forward to scrutinize mechanism for the cause of the sudden halt. The lack of usage of two centuries had taken its toll on the device. It was stuck fast in place by a large formation of sediment that had formed around the crank.
Once again she pushed forward on to the crank with all her might digging her feet into the ground for support. Accompanied by a small crackling sound the lever inched forward ever so slightly encouraging its operator to continue on. All of sudden the small crackling morphed into large explosive pop breaking the sediment into tiny pieces sending the crank handle forward like a bolt of lightning.
Lara, who was still attached to the device, followed it forward sending herself flying headlong into the adjacent wall. In turn, her head bounced firmly off of the stone splitting her forehead and causing her to discover the cavern floor yet again where a long sigh of frustration and relief passed from her lips.
Almost immediately there after she returned to her feet only to find that she hadn't moved the lever nearly as much as she had first believed. In fact, it had only shifted about a third of the way around.
Unaware of her injury the young lady took hold of the crank handle for the third time. As she pushed forward she could still feel a great deal of resistance but nothing like before. It was now within her power to operate the device in the manner of her choosing.
This was a fortunate circumstance as well for in the midst of her second revolution of the crank she felt a tickling sensation on the edge of her nose. It was only a small sensation at first and easily ignored but as time wore on it seemed to her that it was slowly moving down her face. Finally annoyed by its presence Croft reached up with a single digit to remove the sensation only to find that it was not was not what she first thought it was. Instead of feeling her own smooth skin her finger became incased in a warm flowing liquid. It oozed down onto her nail and around to the other side before dripping to the ground.
Lara dropped down to one knee to investigate the substance. What she saw in the light of the flare sent her into a momentary daze of confusion. On the rocks below her was a small red pool of blood. Immediately upon noticing it her head began to ache where her injury was. She could feel a slight dizziness taking hold of her.
Reaching into her backpack she removed a small first aid kit while at the same time positioning herself once again over the body of the dead centurion. His armor shone bright in the glow of the flare creating a very imperfect yet effective mirror. Through the fuzzy image she could make out a long but shallow gash on her forehead running from the to of her bangs on the left to just over her right eye. Steadily, she wiped off the blood that had accumulated over the wound and applied some disinfectant.
"That ought to do it," she told herself. Returning to the hand crank Croft continued the arduous task of rolling the crank over and over. With each revolution there came a faint scraping sound nearly akin to someone running their fingernails over a blackboard. This continued on for nearly five minutes until the crank suddenly stopped and again refused to move. Far above the scraping sound had been replaced by another noise, running water.
Curiosity peaked the adventurer dashed vivaciously back to the empty riverbed where she had first encountered the Roman who had attacked her. She half expected the trip to be a wild goose chase but at the moment it was the only logical thing she could think of to do.
To her surprise the waterway was now diverted into its original path. She was on the right track now. Without hesitation the explorer moved expeditiously along the bank following the rivers new course. Before long she came to the end of the line where it disappeared into a small space in the rock wall.
Not to be deterred Lara Croft bent down in exploration of the gap through which the river flowed. To her fortune the waterline stood just below the top of the area leaving nearly an inch for breathing. It was enough to convince her that it led somewhere that she needed to be. With that she hastily hopped into the water and dropped to her knees.
For the second time the icy water flooded around the young lady chilling her to her bones. It didn't make a lot of difference to her, however, since she had her mind on exploring the watery cave. Creeping along on her hands and knees she moved inside.
What was more was that the tunnel was man made. There was no mystery this time; man had defiantly constructed the tunnel. The walls and ceiling were smooth and the path that the tunnel took seemed to anything less than natural.
There was, for a long while, nothing more that was particularly special about the passage; it was simply a small, long, corridor filled nearly to the top with ice-like water that flowed over the explorer's shoulders nearly up to her chin. It moved along ahead of he for quiet a while in a fairly straight direction although it seemed to be making a slight veering off to the left and upward.
As she splashed further along into the tunnel she noticed the water line slowly beginning to rise. What was once around her shoulders was now dripping off the bottom of her chin. It didn't worry in the least for she could always turn back although the possibility wasn't very likely. Rarely had there ever been a situation in all her travels that had caused her to retreat from a situation for fear of her life. Further more, such cases usually resulted in a return to situation after the fact to complete the quest.
Croft had been moving along steadily now for a while and was just beginning to notice for the first time that the watery passage had been taking her ever so slightly into a circular route. It was a detail that may have gone on unnoticed quiet a bit longer had she not stopped to study what she perceived to be a number of strange markings on the wall.
Much to her dismay, however, these markings turned out to be nothing more than a few stray bits of mud stuck the side. She rubbed her eyes vigorously with one hand trying to get them to refocus while at the same time muttering intelligibly to herself about eyeglasses.
As she looked up once again she seemed to notice the direction that she was facing seemed to be a tiny bit different than what she had remembered it being upon entering the hole. Her suspicions were confirmed all the more with the consultation of a compass a golden compass which she removed from the front hip pocket of her shorts.
The shiny metal gleamed brilliantly as she pulled it out of the muddy water. Not only the gold but the clear liquid that slipped off of the object and fell back into the stream glared brightly like river of pure radiance making its way toward an ocean of sunlight.
It had been a gift from an old friend after they had shared a particularly difficult adventure together. They had become lost deep in the mountains of Peru and would still be there today had Lara not remembered how to construct a homemade compass.
Opening the direction finder she stared at the direction finder with a fixed interest as the needle bobbed this was and that. When it finally came to rest the indicator pointed directly toward the large red N at the top of the compass. She had made nearly a quarter turn. Where was this passage heading?
Just then, far off in front of her came the sound of a low rumbling. It echoed distinctively through the small space bouncing here and there like a rubber ball before entering the young lady's delicately trained ear.
As soon as she heard it Croft started crawling again, this time at twice the pace that she had been moving at before. While sloshing through the water she attempted to calculate, in her mind, how far off the noise was. Regrettably, however, the intense splashing created by the explorer's haste muffled the sound beyond any reasonable point of auditory sensation. Thusly, she found herself, once again, simply following the long passage in hopes of discovering something new.
That was when the real trouble began. The flare that she had been carrying suddenly came to the conclusion that it's services were no longer required and without so much as a bye or leave allowed its light to fade into oblivion. Normally, this would be no trouble at all. The spelunker would merely reach back and procure a replacement from her trusty backpack. Things this time, however, were far from anything that could be labeled as normal. The fact was that upon searching her bag no replacement could be found.
The explorer bit down on her lower lip attempting to manufacture a clue concerning her next course of action. Her thought process, however, was continually disconnected by the nagging thought that she had misplaced her equipment. It was obvious to her that she had supplied herself with more than enough flares and yet she could not dissuade herself from the reality of her predicament.
There was, of course, the lighter that she was carrying in her pocket but being underwater the wick would be too wet to ignite. Nonetheless she removed it from its watery inhabitation and stuck it between her teeth to dry.
Now, she began to worry. There was no where to go and nothing to do. Turning around would be fruitless for the cave she had come through first as black as where she was. Nor would proceeding forward be of any use, she reasoned, for fear that she may miss something.
Even so, this was this was the direction in which she chose to moved. There was no real rhyme or reason for this resolution other than the fact that she needed to decide a course of action and to her going forward was almost always infinitely preferable to retreating especially when her situation would not change either way. It was, therefore, concluded that she should head in the direction in which she had been going to begin with.
She moved swiftly and diligently down the dark passage toward the sound that had caught her attention moments before. She only hoped that once she located the source of it that she would know what to do with it.
It wasn't very long before she got a chance to consider the matter. As she worked her way through the dark corridor the sound grew louder in her ears. However, there was a new element now. The rumbling was now augmented by a great deal of loud splashing.
With one hand pressed up against the wall for guidance Croft pulled herself around a sharp corner. To her surprise the darkness suddenly seemed to be slightly dimmer than before. There was still no light to speak of and she was still engulfed by a total blackness yet the air around her was definitely different.
Slightly confused by the sudden diffusion of nothingness the explorer backed up to compare the previous corridor to the one she now occupied. It can not be said that this truly proved anything for certain to her for, some time ago her eyes had begun to play tricks on her. In fact, had she not spent the entire time crawling on her hands and knees her entire perspective would have been long gone.
Although she was enveloped in darkness Croft could see, at least she thought she could see through the dim gloom, the shadow of something moving in front of her. The young lady found herself in the midst of the noise she had been perusing for so long.
Even so, she was still too blinded to make any sort of positive identification. Instead, she was forced to rely on her remaining four senses. These narrowed themselves down quickly to touch and hearing as the other two proved to completely useless even before an attempt was made to use them.
The sense of hearing, as you already know had been in use since the last flare went out and was now proving to issue no new information at all leaving only one option, touch. She reached out with one hand toward the shadow that she thought she saw.
All of a sudden she felt something. It moved upward passing by her hand. Through the wet exterior the explorer could feel its wooden structure as it slid past and then was gone. A moment later it returned and again vanished just as quickly as before.
Lara pulled her hand back from the contraption to ponder the sensation that she had just received. What could it be? Thinking back on her childhood she remembered a poem about a group of blind men trying to figure out an elephant. It now held a new meaning for her.
Nearly in desperation she resorted back to the soaked lighter that was still suspended in her mouth. Removing it from the orifice where it had been kept the blind woman rapidly struck the wick hoping for a miracle. Alas, there was none. She was officially stranded inside a sea of black nothingness her path blocked by a mysterious contraption.
In her frustration the explorer reached for her gun. It was merely an instinctive action but once her hand was on the weapon a nearly ingenious idea penetrated her cranium. Without thinking she drew the pistol and fired it into the hallway behind her. The resulting flash of light that filled the corridor burned the lady's eyes nearly to the point of causing her blindness to carry over into the light.
Croft immediately threw her free hand over her eyes. "That was stupid," she chastised through the lighter that was still clinched between her teeth. Still, she could not deny that the plan had a certain merit. To that end she went in search of something to protect her vision; her sunglasses.
Setting them in place she discharged a second round from her 9 millimeter this time in the direction of the strange mechanism in front of her. Although it was only a very short flash and her spectacles impaired her vision it was enough to allow Lara to identify the device before her.
It was a water wheel. Propelled by some unknown source it scooped up water in several large bucket like containers that extended out from the center of the device. From there it hauled the water up and over to the opposite side where it redeposited the river onto a small ledge that stood slightly above the level that she was on.
This presented an opportunity that the treasure hunter could not resist. Even if should have it is doubtful that she would not have. The fact was her that her choices were down to staying where she was or taking the risk that she was now considering.
It took her only a moment to realize this and only a second moment to move into position next to the water wheel. Standing up on her legs as far as she could the spelunker reached into the area in the front of her. She stretched upward as far as she could, searching for any sort of obstruction that would hinder her progress.
Finding nothing of interested she removed the lighter from her mouth and prepared to act. As soon as she felt next container pass over her hand she firmly took hold of it and pulled herself inside.
Up through the darkness she went, up and over the water device. A moment later she felt herself turning sideways until, at last, she was released into the custody of the Earth's gravity sending her rolling out of the container and on to the ledge amidst a great deal of water.
Almost immediately upon hitting solid ground Croft threw herself into a summersault sending her forward out the constant flowing of water and ending with her standing on her feet. She did not, at first, realize that she was standing up and had her legs not started to tingle from the sudden influx of blood rushing into them it is very likely that it would have been a extraordinarily long time before she figured it out.
Even so, it was not to this that she paying attention for far off in front of her the pitch blackness that still surrounded her was pierced by a very small pinhole of light. It mesmerized her. To actually see real light again seemed like a dream. She could scarcely believe her eyes. It seemed to jump around and dance in front of her like a Russian ballerina almost calling to her.
For a moment she thought she began to wonder if she was still alive. She was no stranger to the stories of those who had nearly left their mortal visage in favor of a more spiritual existence. Stories about see lights and long tunnels and having their life flash before their eyes.
It is very possible that had she took enough time to reflect thoroughly on the situation all of this would have extend to her a very philosophical state of mind changing both her religious ideals and her perception of her life and its work. As it was, however, the loud noise emanating from behind her proved to be more than sufficient to wake her from any such trance before she arrived anywhere near the state of any one such as Plato or Socrates.
All of that having passed through her head Miss Lara Croft decided that it was high time to get herself back on the trail of the artifact. With a diligent heart filled with unceasing determination she stepped forward toward the far off light not realizing, because she was still in a state of near total darkness, that she was stepping onto a very steep and slippery slope.
To be continued...