TOMB RAIDER
It
Takes
Time
Introduction
"Lara's last journey leads her to another journey. This journey is one she has never handled before, and one she will never forget."
CHAPTER ONE "The Green Jem"
It was the beginning of September. Lara new it was a little late, around 7pm at least, it was still light out and hot. Lara could feel the sun on her tan skin, she enjoyed the warmth, but that wasn't the reason she was there.
She had gone on a mission to retrieve a jem from the jewel thieves in India. It contained a special power and any one who got a hold of it could gain it; the exact power was unknown. The only thing known about the special jem was that it was very powerful, and who'd else want it but India's jewel thieves. The jewel thieves were a group of greedy men who wanted to call the jem's power theirs.
The jem was supposed to be in a temple in the Indian jungles. There were a few temples in the jungles but the problem was no one had a clue which temple it was hidden in. Lara, being the first tomb raider on the scene as always, found the other temples but they each didn't have the jem, even after a thorough search. She checked and double-checked each temple, nothing but jewel thieves, and meny had hidden rooms around what seemed like every corner.
Lara was in one of the most confusing temples she had been in so far. The temple had shifting rooms and markings all over it, Lara had trouble figuring out if she had searched every inch. The young woman searched each part what seemed like seven times at least. The markings didn't help her at all either, even after translating them correctly. It wasn't long before Lara found that the temple had trapped her.
"Trapped" Lara whispered to herself in her crisp British accent as she brushed her long chestnut brown hair out of her face. She looked around for the jewel thieves through her brown eyes.
"There she is get her!" one of them yelled.
The temple was gloomy making Lara's khaki colored clothing even more noticeable. It wasn't long before the jewel thieves surrounded her. She was outnumbered, being outnumbered never stopped Lara. She took out her gun to shoot them but the thieves seemed to have some kind of resistance to the bullets they hadn't been harmed, it didn't matter how good her aim was and, she had run out of ammo.
"Shit!" Lara yelled as she fiddled with the gun and slipped it back into her holster.
"No ammo?" Another thief teased, then laughed at Lara.
Lara looked as if she was ready to kill, her eyes narrowed.
"Fine, laugh your life away blokes, but that isn't the only weapon I have." Lara said slyly and crossed her arms.
"What other weapon could you possibly have?" The thief said as he wiped sweat off his dark face and threw his hands into the air.
The crooks started closing in on Lara.
"Just watch." She ordered as she uncrossed her arms.
As the thieves came closer Lara jolted after the closest one and attacked him, after the blow he was knocked to the ground. The thieves swiftly ran towards Lara, two grabbed her wrists. Lara struggled to get out of their grip. That same second, Lara noticed the floor open slowly.
"What the hell?" She thought as the floor reviled a much darker room underneath it.
The Tomb Raider kicked them in the legs and knocked them away from her, running from them towards the crack in the floor and stopped. The thieves laughed thinking the young woman wouldn't jump down. She squatted at the edge, Lara glanced back at the laughing group. Being the risk taker she is Lara jumped through the floor.
"That woman's crazy! Is she TRYING to commit suicide?" One of the jewel thieves said.
After jumping, the crack had closed up. The room had magically lit up it really wasn't that deep. Lara landed twisting her ankle a bit. She ignored the pain and looked around. The room was quite small with stone walls and a wood floor. The walls seemed smooth and the floor felt bumpy underneath her brown boots. There were boxes all over the room. Some were larger than the others were but each one was the same worn away dull brown color.
"I'm certain I haven't been here before." Lara said to herself dryly as she looked around again.
She walked forward a little bit. Not long later a bright green jem flew toward Lara so quickly that when it hit her in the stomach she fell down onto the ground. The jem transferred some kind of bright green power to Lara, mostly where it hit. Lara couldn't get up. She kept struggling but the tiny jem wouldn't let her. When it was finished it turned dull and light and fell to the ground, Lara was able to sit up.
"This jem sure is strong." Lara said gasping for breath, she picked the jem from the floor, placed it in the pocket of her khaki shorts along with her cell phone, and stood up.
The floor beneath her moved Lara fell down again. When it finally stopped, she stood up. Lara looked up the floor above and it started to open again. Lara jumped onto a nearby hill of boxes, they were not steady she could feel them shifting underneath her. She jumped and just caught the edge of the floor above; the boxes fell, causing a loud racket. She pulled herself up to the floor above her right before it closed up.
Lara looked ahead of her there was a door, it was wide open, and she could see outside of the temple. She looked around cautiously, then went for the white arched door.
"This is strange," she said to herself.
She noticed that somehow the thieves weren't nearby.
"Hmm" She thought as she stepped out of the temple and stopped.
It was a bad Idea to stand there because the very next second, she was shot. She gasped, slowly the scenery went foggy, Lara fell, and everything went black.
When Lara's consciousness returned she found herself in a dark room strapped to a wall by metal straps two across her ankles, one across her waist, and two across her arms. She could feel the tight straps cutting into her arms She turned to her right and saw a jewel thief guard by the wooden door with stone steps leading down. Lara had to see if the jem was still in her pocket. Lara felt it; her cell phone was in the pocket but not the jem. Lara looked back at the brute-like guard; there the jem was in his hand.
"Dammit!" Lara whispered.
"There has to be a way out of here." She thought.
Lara looked to her left, there she saw something sticking out of the wall near her mouth, it was a nail. She just hoped it would help. Lara glanced back at the guard, he wasn't looking. She put her mouth onto the nail and took it out. Lara fiddled with the lock, looking up every once in a while, unlocked her right arm and shook it out. She put her hand up to her mouth, took the nail from it, and unlocked her left arm. Her arms were free but, the lock created a clicking sound, the brute-like guard looked back at Lara, she stood flat againced the wall, and hid the nail in her tan hand. The guard looked away. Lara unlocked the waist strap then the ankle straps and was free within minutes. Lara quietly slipped across the dark wall as quietly as she could.
The guard looked back where Lara was supposed to be. Lara stepped in front of the guard when he turned around again, punched, and knocked him off his chair the jewel was released from his hand. Lara snatched it, slipped it in her pocket, and ran down the stone steps before the guard did.
Lara ran down the steps to get out of the room.
"She's excaped!" The guard yelled and the others chased the excaped tomb raider.
Lara ran out of the castle and into the Indian jungles. She got into a fighting position waiting for them to come after her. The thieves caught up with her. Lara used her fighting skills againced them she had defeated at least four at a time. A few were left when she decided to run. She noticed that the cuts on her arm had healed. Lara was amazed at what had just happened.
Lara flipped out her cell phone and called Bryce and Hillary to send the helicopter.
"Eagle, it's jungle cat the bird is finished with her nest." Lara said into the cell phone using code names in case anyone tapped into their calls.
"Ok jungle cat we will see it in a second." Bryce said.
Lara hung up and put the phone away she felt herself getting weaker not having anything to eat or drink in a while. When she had found a clear space Lara lit and threw a flare into the sky, so Bryce and Hillary knew where she was. Lara slowed down to catch her breath, the helicopter appeared soon and dropped the ladder. Lara jumped on the rope ladder, as she hung on the thief that teased her in the temple shot her in the arm.
The helicopter rose a bit and helped Lara up into it. Hillary gave Lara some water, she drank it, she felt a little bit refreshed.
There was a medic aboard the helicopter, she helped Hillary take care of Lara. When they looked at Lara's right shoulder it had been scraped badly, but before they could even touch it, her shoulder healed instantly without a trace of anything that happened to it. Hillary and the medic looked at the miracle in shock, Lara looked at it plainly.
"Lara do you still have the jem?" Hillary asked her.
Lara took the jem from her pocket and gave it to Hillary. Hillary's cell phone had rang he answered it. Lara heard what Hillary had said to whomever was on the other line.
"Hello"
"Yes"
"Yes"
"What?!"
"Oh really"
"When should she know?"
Lara knew the phone call was about either her or the medic, being the only two females on board. It was most likely about her, unless the medic's husband, child, or someone else she knew called, knowing Hillary's cell phone number.
"Alright"
"Uh huh"
"Ok"
Lara felt a bit queasy, she looked around for a barfbag.
"Could y-you get that for me?" She half ordered, half asked the medic.
The Medic gave her the bag and Lara vomited into it.
"Bye" Hillary said in the background.
"Yes"
"Bye"
"W-Who was t-that?" Lara asked weakly as the medic wiped her down.
"No one really" Hillary said quietly.
"It h-had to be s-someone." Lara said weakly.
"I'll tell you later, you had a long journey I think you should rest." Hillary said.
Lara obeyed, she lied down and closed her brown eyes.
Later that night, Bryce noticed he was almost out of fuel.
"Hillary," Bryce said.
Hillary looked toward the front of the helicopter.
"What?" he asked.
"We are going to have to make a stop in Italy, I'm low on fuel" Bryce explained.
"Alright" Hillary said.
Bryce made a stop in Rome to get fuel for the helicopter, Hillary, and the medic stayed with Lara.
Bryce came back after about an hour and started the helicopter up again. It was around 1:20 am.
After about five or six minutes Lara woke up. She felt a little better but was still weak. Hillary went over to Lara.
"You can keep this Lady Lara." Hillary said as he gave the jem to her.
Lara placed it in her pocket, and sighed.
Around 1:31am the jem in Lara's pocket started glowing green Lara took it out Hillary and the medic sat behind her wondering why this jem was glowing they look at it. The jem first turned emerald green, as it was in the temple before it hit her stomach, then a bull like figure flashed across it. After the bull a picture of a dagger piercing a hand was flashed, the sword left no mark, and last was a picture that looked like Lara as a little girl. After the jem showed the pictures, it turned dull again. The three stared in amazement. Then Lara put the jem back in her pocket.
A few minutes later Lara was home again.
"Well Lara we're back in Surrey." Bryce said as he landed.
She was very happy to be home. Lara looked at the Iron gate, the plants, the skill course, and the large house in the darkness. Hillary and the medic brought in everyone's things from the journey. She went into her bathroom vomited from dehydration, washed up, drank some water, put the jem in her night stand drawer, and lie down in her bed.
"I'll figure it out later." Lara said to herself before falling asleep.