The tomb raider clambered upon the rock, turning around and taking one final look at the ruined room. The lake in the middle was still as peaceful as before, light dancing on its surface, just as happy to see her go as she herself was. The whole place was devastated, debris littering the floor, denting it on a number of places. Her eyes fell on one particular pile of rocks and all of a sudden she felt weak in the knees, her face growing pale, the glow in her eyes dimming. She swallowed hard and looked away, trying to compose herself. Denying that this experience had shaken her to the core would be cowardly and childish because there was no way she could hide her emotions and try to just dismiss them. There would be no point in that either, because she had to remember, it was to remind herself that even she, the best in her line of work, wasn't invincible.
Lara Croft approached the pile slowly, concentrating all of her will power to take another step forward, then another. The look on her face made it clear that going near it was the last thing she wanted to do right at this moment but she knew she had to. "7..., 8..., 9..., 10..., 11..." she counted, forcing herself to concentrate on the steps, knowing it was the only thing keeping her from tearing out of this wretched place."12." she stopped in front of the pile and kneeled down, taking her backpack off and putting it in front of her. She examined its contents and took out the most necessary items: the remainder of the disinfectant and the flares, a few spare clips for her magnums, a compass, two broken credit cards and one whole, and her GPRS device, which she wasn't sure whether still worked or not. Surprised, but nonetheless thankful, she pulled out a half- eaten candy bar that had melted and smeared across the walls of her backpack, taking a bite out of it and grimacing. She ate the rest of it fast, looking ill, her stomach rebelling against the spoilt food, even though it knew it was the only one she had left.
The woman got up and started climbing the mount of stones, holding her breath unconsciously. She stopped when she reached the top, sighed and knelt down, placing her backpack among the rubble. She caressed the worn- out leather lovingly, her hand trembling as she traced the surface. A lone tear escaped her eye and she wiped it away, gazing at her companion throughout all the years of adventuring. "How many years has it been now, ten, fifteen?" she couldn't remember, but she knew that her trusty backpack had been with her on all of her journeys "Peru, Antarctica, China, Tibet, The South Pacific, Atlantis, oh, Atlantis..."
"Rest in peace, Lara Croft, your journey may have finished, but mine has just begun" she thought, looking at her backpack as she stood up and turned to the opening in the ceiling.
Feeling a bit naked without the comforting weight on her back, the tomb raider walked to the stone block next to the wall, trying to reach the top. A low grunt filled the air and a moment later a face hidden behind a multitude of tangled locks of hair showed above the edge of the rock. Her arms trembled as she clambered up, tired muscled fighting to comply with the task. She finally managed to hoist herself on top, leaving bloody fingerprints on the edge. Panting hard she looked up, determination to get out of this pyramid strong within her, lighting a sparkle in her eyes.
The sun outside had started to set when, breathing heavily and covered in grime, Lara Croft finally emerged on solid ground. She could feel lactic acid building up in her muscles, but she was too tired to get up and keep moving. Lying on the floor face down, she let herself relax for a moment. Then, groaning, she staggered up, forcing her bruised body to function once more. She had barely made a few shaky steps when her legs gave way and she collided with a nearby wall, a pleading moan full of pain filling the room. The cool stone scraped against her cheek with each breath while she tried to muster up the remainder of her strength to move once again, putting one foot in front of the other.
The tattered body of a woman slowly progressed down the dark holes of the pyramid. Even though it was obvious that her condition was critical, there was an aura of a fighter surrounding her, leaving no doubt in any observer's mind that she would not stop as long as there was a breath in her body. She was one that would not give up easily.
* * *
"From what I remember, the lower level had an exit to the north- northwest" she thought, checking the compass briefly to make sure that she was moving in the right direction. It seemed to her that she'd been walking for at least three hours but she knew better than to trust herself in her current state. She'd been longing for a rest for quite some time now, but never allowed herself to even slow down, knowing that she was already treading on pathetically slow. Looking up, she was greeted by the same boring surroundings: a low limestone ceiling with patches of mould lining the cracks, bare narrow walls that kept going on forever, disturbed by the occasional left or right turn, barely opening up into another lonesome chamber that proved nothing of interest to the archaelogist in Lara. She sighed and kept moving, glancing around from time to time, just so she wouldn't miss anything that might prove helpful.
After walking for what seemed another three hours to her, the passage reached an abrupt end. At first she thought that it was sealed shut, but after a more careful look she realised that the stones didn't follow the pattern of the rest of the hallway, and possibly the end of the hallway could be moved away by triggering some kind of a mechanism. She lit her last flare, cursing that she hadn't used them more wisely, and began examining the stone before her. The tomb raider couldn't notice any irregularities on the surface and pushing against its surface didn't help either. The flame flickered and her heart quickened its pace even more, knowing that in another twenty seconds or so she would be enveloped in darkness once again. She kneeled down, feeling the bottom of the stone and when it didn't budge, she raised herself on her tiptoes and stared at the top intently. Nothing seemed to catch her eye when suddenly her look darted back to a small incision right at the top. She had started lifting her hand toward it when her only source of light was spent, leaving her to total blackness. She cursed profusely and reached up, hoping that her mind's eye will guide her to the right direction.
She ignored all senses, putting all trust into her fingertips that felt about carefully, trying to find the narrow slit. All efforts proved futile and she cried out in frustration, banging the stone obstructing her way. The woman raised herself on her tiptoes once again and traced the ceiling. Her fingers stopped at a patch of stone, maybe five centimetres wide that seemed cooler to her than the other stone. She moved away her hand a bit and felt a pleasant breeze touching her mangled fingers. A faint smile formed on the woman's face as she reached into the opening and pushed, satisfied with the clicking sound that emanated from the opening. She cringed at the noise of stone grating against stone and looked excitedly as a part of the passage slowly moved out of the way, revealing a narrow stairway that led up. The steps were covered with a thin film of dust, the occasional shell of a dead scorpion littering the floor. Lara took in her surroundings, making sure that the stairway was her only choice and started climbing. The steps were uneven and she slid a few times, almost tumbling back to the base.
Dim light fell upon the figure of a lone adventuress, showing her previously toned body that was now badly bruised. She looked around carefully, hands on her holsters, making sure there were no threats lurking in the shadows and took a step forward. She was in a fairly spacious cavern that was empty but for the scorpions scampering around, not sensing her yet or indifferent to her presence. The interior was made of limestone, the floor hiding beneath a layer of sand that reached to her ankles.
Her eyes fell upon an opening no bigger than thirty centimetres in diameter at the far- left corner of the room. She advanced to it with powerful strides, not even stopping to wonder where the sudden burst of strength that had overcome her had come from. As the distance shortened, she realised that the opening was in a wall of boulders stacked one on top of the other. She pressed her palms to the rock surface and stuck her head out and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath of the fresh night air. The horizon had started to light up, orange shades pushing back the indigo sky.
The woman strained her body against the stone surface, pushing against the rocks as best as she could, feeling them move against her arms. Her back arched and she dug the soles of her boots in the sand, sinking almost to her calves as she struggled with the boulders. After a good fifteen minutes the rocks loosened and started tumbling down, the opening growing wider and wider before the smiling face of the tomb raider, until finally, it was big enough for her to pass through.
The sun was rising fast, its angry red rays assaulting the sky, piercing the nightly darkness and forcing it to give way to the dawn of a new day. The lonely figure of Lara Croft struggled out of the cavern into the cool desert, standing victorious, greeting the rising sun as a new world greeted her.
A flaming orange aura surrounded her as she slowly made her way through the dusty dunes of the Egyptian sands.
THE END
A/N
Thanks for putting up with me and my story. If you want to share something, go right ahead and write to virus_inside@abv.bg
A special thanks to all the people at The Village of Tokakeriby. If it wasn't for you and your comments and pointers, this story wouldn't have been written. You're the bestJ Thank youJ
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