Cobra's Indigo Scale, a tomb raider fanfic

A/N: This is my very first Tomb Raider fic! The civilization was totally made up by me.

Cobra's Indigo Scale ©

By: Lady Lara Croft

Lara's boots connected with the ground as dust encircled her footprints. It's too quiet, she thought. It must be a trap. Her hands rested on her Wilkes & Hawkes Black Demons .32s that snuggled tightly in her holsters, ready to rain terror if anything out of the ordinary tried to stop her. She was inside the Cobra Temple, always looking for something that could be hers. A broken pillar laid five feet ahead of her.

Her eyes surveyed her surrounding extensively, up, down and sideways. Beyond the broken pillar was a pathway no wider than five feet. On both sides of it laid ruins of the temple. The only option of destination was to follow the pathway that lead to a darker passage. No sign of movement, she guessed. She walked past the fallen pillar when suddenly a beast of some mythical creature leaped on the pillar she had just passed. She spun to see her opponent with her Black Demons drawn.

The beast looked liked a much larger version of a hyena. It was gray, with black spots and thick, dark trail of hair ran down its spine. Its size was that of a hippo. It had two canine fangs that glistened on the side of its mouth. It must have been four inches long. It growled and looked at her with its fierce eyes, ready to rip her heart out. Within a moment it leaped into the air. Lara's Black Demons fired in unison. Several bullets landed on the beast's legs but took no damage. She ran past it, its jaws missing her by inches. It ran after her. She made a left turn on a junction; the beast was hot on her trail growling as loud as it could. She fired her pistols as she looked back.

Lara, you need a plan to take that animal down. You can't just run forever, it echoed in her head. She holstered her guns as she reached a wide-open area in the middle of the temple. For the moment she out ran the beast. She studied her surrounding. Rubbles of the temple rested over at the far-left corner. There were alcoves around the second floor, however she found no stairs. A rope was tied on a hook that connected to the ceiling. Perfect, was her only thought.

She climbed quickly on the piled rubble, untied the knotted rope and gripped it tightly with her hands. She swung herself across the open area and landed on the upper alcove opposite the lower entrance. She waited for the beast to reveal itself. Then she heard its growl. She looked down from the edge of the alcove, with the rope on her hand. The snout of the beast entered the area followed by the rest of its body. It was looking for her. It could sense that she was nearby. It circled the area sniffing the air.

Lara swung outside, flipped her legs up, twisted her right foot with the rope and crossed her left leg for security. She hung upside down, her braids swayed in front of her face. The beast jumped up trying to snatch Lara but a great distance was between them. She pulled out her Black Demons and pulled the trigger several times. The beast was relentless, still jumping in the air. She fired again but this time it dodged the raining bullets. She released the magazines and slid in new ones that connected on her holsters.

Timing Lara, timing, she thought. It started jumping again. This time she would wait for it to reach its vertex of the jump before she would release her little friends. When it did, Lara discharged single bullets from each pistol that met the beast's eyes. She had made it blind. Blood oozed out as it staggered all over the place. She holstered her guns and flipped downwards.

As soon as she landed, the beast's head was alerted in her direction. It might be blind but its sense of smell and hearing was still there. Lara took a step back, the beast charged for her but she was too quick for it. She reached down on the side of her boot, pulled out a knife and hurled it to the beast. It landed between its eyes letting out a shrill cry before crashing to the ground.

She walked over to it and retrieved her knife. She wiped its blood on its fur and stood up returning the knife in its rightful place. She walked out of the area, backtracked to the junction and made a right turn. She hopped over more rubble and walked past the fallen pillar she had seen earlier. Upon arriving near the dark passageway, she saw something engraved atop the entrance.

It said: Dare you not to seek death. Proceed and may the keen eyes of the Cobra bestow a curse upon you. For what you seek, you will never find. Only sorrow and demise will present itself. Walk into this passage and find that your life had been wasted. This I warn you. Lara only raised a brow. "Whoever wrote that needs to do better next time. I find nothing dangerous here," she remarked taking out a flare from her backpack.

The entrance of the passage was lit, and a lever was attached on the left side. Without hesitation she pulled it and stepped back. She heard a great thud. She looked on the left and saw a boulder headed straight for her! It picked up speed and she started running through the passage, but the boulder wasn't her only problem.

Poisoned darts shot out from the walls as she too picked up speed. If that wasn't enough, the floor gave away as she passed it revealing deadly spikes on the ground. Now this is what I call fun! She thought. It seemed for a moment that she had left the boulder way back in the passage. She kept running until she saw a faint light at the opposite end of the passage as she dodged the poisoned darts. She screeched to a halt at the end of the passage.

There was a gap of fifteen feet between her and the ledge on the opposite side. She knew she had to get there and she was going to clear the gap. Rumbling sounded from the inside of the passage. The boulder was almost there! She took a couple of steps back and ran with momentum and leaped into the air with great distance. Her hands clutched the ledge. With all her strength she hoisted herself up. She walked through another passage.

While walking, she had accidentally walked into a trapdoor on the floor which led to a tunneled slope. Bats brushed past her leaving some faint scratches on her arm. "Bugger," she muttered. After half a minute of sliding she rolled outside losing a bit of balance. She glanced at the ill-lighted place and gasped. There were human bones all over the place. She was in a lair.

Hiss…hiss…hiss. Something moved. Two yellow eyes peered from the darkness across her. She saw it come out. It was a cobra but it had been modified that was larger than her. It towered over her and hissed once more. It's tail had lethal spikes, ready to crush her. Lara checked her Black Demons and reloaded it with more clips.

"Let's tango," she said. The cobra slithered to her left and she sidestepped to the right. It swung its spiked tail towards her; she dodged it to the right and fired her pistols. The tail swung across and she did a back flip at once and fired again. This time the Cobra attacked her and rolled forwards triggering her Black Demons. The bullets met with the Cobra's arched body above her. She sensed it had felt the bullets. She quickly drew more magazines from her backpack and released a heavy load of bullets.

The reptile curled its head and looked at her upside down. Lara guessed it was going to wrap its slender body and crush her to death. She had to find a way out before it was too late. She holstered her guns and looked around for something useful. Beyond the Cobra's tail was a climbable wall. She took the risk of being smashed by its spiked tail as she raced past it. She climbed quickly without looking back.

The Cobra followed her trail upward. It started rising as well, a few feet beside her. Its eyes were now leveled to her head. Almost there Lara, keep going, she thought. She climbed for fifty feet dodging its sharp fangs as it struck. She dangled by one hand, grunting to pull herself up. The Cobra struck again. Ugh…uugh, she strained heavily. The Cobra struck for the fourth time and its fang slashed Lara's leg skin.

"Aah!" she cried out in pain. She knew its venom had been extracted with her blood. She only had half an hour before her respiratory system fails. Lara had to find an antidote as well. She managed to keep going as blood trickled down her leg.

She reached the top and found an opening. She vaulted herself up painfully, found no time to fix herself up, and saw the Cobra slashing the climbable wall from the bottom. She gazed up and surprisingly a spiked ceiling revealed itself. Two ropes across held it. She also noticed that the tip of the spikes held something, it looked like darts! She felt around on the wall for anything to push or pull. Her fingers stuck on a slit in between the wall. Her nimble fingers followed the outline-it was a square, no-a moveable block. She readied herself and pushed it back hard. It moved five feet inside. There were two levers; one to the left and one to the right.

She fiddled with the right lever and heard a quick swishing sound outside. She turned around and witnessed that the spiked ceiling released a wave of lethal darts. The Cobra winced. Then she took out one of her Black Demon and aimed for the first rope. Bullseye! The spiked ceiling tilted. Then she aimed for the second rope and it fell victim to her bullet. The next thing she knew the Cobra lay dead on the floor.

The spiked ceiling had gone through the Cobra. She climbed down quickly and the reptile glowed. She had no time to lose. She walked over to the head and took her knife out. She looked around the head and found one bluish scale, it was the Indigo Scale. She yanked it out with the knife and headed out to look for an antidote.

………………………………………………….

Lara held the scale on her palm and recalled what motivated her for her adventure.

Long ago, the very first civilization started in the Matorili Isles. Zaleum once ruled the Cobrannas Empire ruthlessly. He murdered those that opposed him. Anyone who left the Isle will forever be condemned in the afterlife with bitter reward. Just like succeeding empires, he was polytheistic but he worshipped one of the most important deities, which was Cobra.

He believed he was given the power, will and strength through the Cobra's Indigo Scale. Cobra was the deity of Darkness. One day Cobra decided to plunge the Empire into complete darkness and destroy it. However, he gave Zaleum an option to live another life if he agreed to give up his own life for Cobra. Zaleum accepted the offer but deceived his deity.

Zaleum went to the Mountain of Helkenian and dipped the Indigo Scale into the Gloomy Waters. The water had the power to imprison any deity, if any object from the deity was dipped in. Zaleum returned the day he was to give up his life to Cobra. When Cobra appeared, Zaleum uttered magical incantations and held out the indigo scale. Cobra was imprisoned forever but promised to whoever would release him will give the bearer the power to make life or take life. Zaleum was assassinated after he hid the Indigo Scale in the Southern Mountains of Mantorili Isle.

Centuries passed, the indigo scale attached itself into the scales of many cobras to breed hate, malice, and vengeance. The new cobras grew bigger, and the one at the Ophidian Temple lived, waiting for anyone worthy of its power. Many men have tried to release him by taking out the Indigo Scale first from the Cobra, but they met death with its lethal venom. None of them was able to find an antidote. But what they didn't know was a vial had been well hidden somewhere else in the Temple.

After Zaleum's death and Cobra's imprisonment, Cyrix, the eternal deity and brother of Cobra, made the White Vial-the antidote. His reason for making the antidote was that if and when his brother was released in the future, Cobra would use the White Vial to gain his strength and power. And so he hid it well inside the Temple, reserved for his brother. If ever a man use the White Vial, he will have eternal life.

It was only two weeks ago that Lara heard from the Englishman William Briley sought raiders from all over the world in an attempt to release Cobra. Lara knew better of the offer. She went on her own five days after the news to take the Indigo Scale and keep it. Not because she wanted the power, but she wanted the world safe, and for another thrilling adventure.

She pocketed the Indigo Scale and thought about where the White Vial could be found. If it grants a person eternal life, then I presume if a person was poisoned, it would be able to counter it, thus not making the person receive eternal life rather be granted the power of healing, she thought. Fifteen minutes had passed since the Cobra had struck her. If she could not find it within another fifteen minutes, the Ophidian Temple would forever be her tomb.

She journeyed some minute passing several hallways on her left and right side. She reached the last hallway that was very much different from the previous ones- it was another passageway. Atop the entrance was another engraving but found no time to read it. She ventured through when all of a sudden a heavy sheet of block barricaded her from the entrance. She lit a flare and found that she had been trapped. There was no turning back. She kept limping as she tried running. She passed by three switches that were on each side of the wall.

She kept running, she only had ten minutes left. Her right boot triggered a trap- her eyes caught a glimpse of a spiked wall approaching her. The switches! She thought. Perhaps the switches would save her. She went back to the switches and tried several combinations. When she hit the right one, a hatch overhead disclosed. Aha! Just as I thought, she pondered. She propped herself up leaving the deadly wall, then the hatch below her closed once more. She was in a little, brown-specked cell-like room. It started ascending quite fast. Five more minutes until her death. Her wound had started swelling.

The cell stopped abruptly. A door opened and she walked out; right in front of her was a pedestal in the middle of a bigger room that held the White Vial. It was in a clear, fancy shaped bottle. She ran over to it and oddly enough there were no traps. She broke the top off and drank the fluid. A surge of energy ran through her body, but she was still alive. After that, the place started shaking vigorously. Another door revealed itself not far from her left side. She sprinted to it dodging the falling ceiling.

"A zip line!" she exclaimed, then paused, "I'm out of this place." She thought about how fortunate she had chosen the last hallway as she hung on the zip line. She bet the other raiders would have entered all the other hallways but the last one.

……………………………………………

She emerged in the blazing sun and found her Rubicon Jeep. She ran to it, ignited the engine and sped off as the Ophidian Temple collapsed to the ground. She contacted Bryce.

"How are you Lara? Had a nice trip?"

"Smashing. I've never felt so much alive. I'm coming home," she replied smiling. Over the phone she heard Hillary taking the phone away from Bryce.

"You are most definitely not coming here. We've sent all your accessories in Mexico."

"Why not Hillary? I was planning on going to a nice little resort," she answered sarcastically speeding down the dusty road.

"Because the Aztec gods are on the verge of an oblivious battle."

Lara smiled at the information. She would pass up the resort this time. Something better had presented itself.