Chapter 14
She had made it to the upper part of the third pole, the hidden blades resting above her, waiting for her body to climb another foot, waiting to take off her head. She glanced to her right, toward the second pole. It stood no more than 7 feet away. It was time to put her mind and body to work, it was time to reach the top without being killed.
She stretched her arm toward the second perch as far as she could, closing the gap to 5 feet. She placed her right foot upon the side of the pole she was holding onto, steadying her foothold, and preparing herself to leap.
She closed her eyes as her stomach pulsated with agony. She forced them to open as she gritted her teeth, ready to make the jump.
She pulled herself back, building force before shoving her foot into the pole, and launching herself through the air.
She felt her hands graze the metal of the second cylinder. She clenched her fingers together, creating a grip upon the pole as her body slammed into it. She wrapped her arms around the structure, holding tightly with relief, relief that she hadn't fallen once again. Lara steadied her body as it slightly shook from the impact, and the loss of blood. She clenched her stomach as red streamed down the pole she was wrapped around. She had to hurry.
The platform was directly above her. All she had to do was climb, and everything would be over with. She started for it, lifting her hands and finding her grips, pulling her feet upward and digging them into the rusted metal of the structure she had come to hate.
The placement was coming closer as she inched upward. Her left foot found it's hold and pushed her forward, then the right. The right!
Lara desperately clawed upward as her foot fell from under her, slipping on the blood her own wounds had left upon the pole. Her grip failed and she felt herself sliding down, sliding toward the middle of the pole. The middle! The blades!
Her left hand tried helplessly to find its support, tried desperately to slow her decent; it failed as it too met the vacant blood. Lara felt herself scream as she fell further toward the cylinder's middle, toward her death.
Her loose hand reached out, desperately searching for a way to help her, directing her body toward the first cylinder. Lara shoved her right foot into the pole, forgetting her hold, forcing herself outward immediately. She lunged.
Her face cringed with the thought of upcoming pain as she felt her left foot gently tap against the second pole, activating the blades as she flew through the air.
Lara felt the flesh of her left inner thigh rip apart as her lower body was caught between the slicing blades of the mechanism behind her. She cried in agony as her right arm wrapped around the cold metal of the first pole, and she swung around it to the opposite side, barely keeping her grip.
She felt dizzy and fatigued, steadying herself as not to fall again. She rested her forehead into the rusted metal, and breathed, hating herself for almost fucking up and getting herself killed. She stayed still for a moment, collecting the consciousness and strength that remained inside. She saw the platform. It was right there. No obstacles stood in her way.
She had to do this, do it for the world, for Kurtis. She had to forget about the pain she was in and how tired her body felt. "It's almost over." she told herself. Lara forced herself upward slowly advancing toward the top.
The blood from her newly opened thigh poured down the beam to the water below.
She then felt her hand grip the warmth of stone, no longer the cruel metal that plagued her body, but the platform she had almost died trying to reach. She pulled herself up, gripping her waist and thigh as the pain became unbearable. She wanted to rest. She wanted to stop and close her eyes, even though she knew it meant bleeding out, it meant death.
She stood, gathering her strength, not knowing what to expect when she pulled the lever at the end of the platform she had tried so hard to reach. She walked forward, steadying her steps as she neared the wooden lever.
Her hands graced it's presence. She pulled it down.
A noise sounded below her, and she cautiously looked toward it. She sighed with relief at the vision before her. The poles had receded, and the heavy stone throne had sunk back into the wall.
Lara wanted to smile as she dove into the water, the acidic feeling preventing her from going unconscious. She was thankful, even though it hurt like hell. She quickly swam to the side and pulled herself back onto the small ledge.
She crept to the newly formed passage where the throne had once sat, and slowly entered.
Lara found herself in a small, unspectacular stone room, and wasn't surprised when two knights greeted her. She stared forward as the object she had came for met her eyes. It was almost over.
The ancient map was lying on a raised platform in the center of the room, only inches off of the stone floor.
Lara eyed the monsters, holding their swords upright and waiting for her to enter. Knowing of her enemy's inability to die, she decided to conserve ammo and her remaining energy. Lara quickly sprinted into the room, sliding to the floor to avoid the deadly strikes of the knight's sword, now passing swiftly over her head. She thrust her arm out, feeling the animal skin of the map against her hand. She grabbed the scroll and quickly stuffed the object into her backpack Lara lifted to a stand, spinning herself toward the exit as she rose. She watched the knights with steady eyes, waiting for the moment she could get through their defenses, their decayed bodies now blocking her way out of the tight quarters.
Both knights raised their swords, ready to kill the intruder, ready to kill her.
Lara rushed forward. She quickly lifted her left foot, knowing that it was too weak to support her, and connected it with the knight on her left's chest, knocking it to the floor. She quickly lowered her body to a crouch as the remaining knight swept its sword toward her. The blade swiftly passed over her head.
She rapidly rose to her feet and raced out of the small room, the knight's slowness keeping it from another strike.
Something was wrong.
Lara stared at the pool before her, ready to make her escape. Her brows lined downward with confusion as she looked upon the water. Its level had lowered dramatically, so much that Lara could see the outer edges of the tunnel she had entered through on the opposite wall.
She didn't hesitate, but quickly dove into the pool as the water level continued to rapidly drop. She instantly swam toward the passage before her, and was forced to pull herself into the tunnel as the water level fell below it.
Lara started forward, crawling through the now empty tunnel.
Its dryness came as a relief however. "At least now I don't have to worry about drowning." She blindly crawled through, the bare rocks tearing her already injured body to pieces.
Darkness was all around her, but she didn't have time for flares. She had to get to Kurtis. The water hadn't left the previous room for nothing. It was the final defensive plan; the entire place would be flooded.
She continued through the passage for what seemed an eternity, gripping the walls and trying to find her way. The tunnel eventually curved sharply upward, and Lara was forced to scale the ridged wall.
There it was! The familiar red light shining through a hole above her. She climbed into the room where her nightmare had started, and quickly ran back up the passage that she and Kurtis had entered through.
She heard gunfire and was temporarily scared before smiling in relief as she saw her companion up ahead.
He looked startled, and quickly jumped backward as a ball of fire rolled past his head. Lara rushed into the room to find three of the undead soldiers threatening the man, flaming swords in their hands.
A knight charged him and Kurtis quickly drew back. He didn't noticed the one behind him, quickly honing in on his position, preparing for its target's fiery end.
Lara angrily unleashed her weapons, directing the barrels toward the gruesome creature. Its body fell apart before her eyes as she pulled the triggers. The rate of fire tearing away the creatures limbs and leaving it defenseless.
Kurtis heard gunshots and quickly spun himself around, only to be greeted by another creature, ready to set him ablaze. He watch with disbelieving eyes as the creature's body was ripped apart, and fell to the floor.
Kurtis turned toward Lara with a smile, which instantly faded as his eyes fixed upon her. He saw her left leg, completely enveloped with blood, blood he prayed wasn't hers.
"Would you mind if we left now!" Lara shouted above the roar of the oncoming flames of another undead knight. Her sarcasm hid her pain.
Kurtis looked at her with the same satire. He lifted his arm. "Just waiting for you."
Lara felt her body suddenly lift from the ground as Kurtis directed his hand toward her, his telepathy moving her toward one of the ancient wooden beams that supported the room's second floor. She held onto it as Kurtis fired shots from his Boran X into the remaining knight, forcing away it's sword and stopping it from unleashing hell in a ball of fire.
Lara watched as he closed his eyes and lowered his hands toward the ground. His body began to rise as his thought transference began once again. A second later, he joined her on the rickety support.
"We've gotta get out of here before those bastards fry us." Kurtis spoke as he gave Lara a nudge to a higher beam, staring at her bleeding stomach and forearm.
Lara spun back toward him, recalling the previous room "No, we have to get out of here before the water comes." She helped him up to her level by dropping her hand off of the side.
"Water?" Kurtis asked with confusion, as he gripped her gloved hand.
One of the many wooden doors on the floor above them burst from its hinges, and unleashed a pressurized wall upon them. The water flew from the doorway with tremendous force, and the companions were almost thrown from the beam support to the floor below.
"Water." Lara said pointing upward. She tried to smile, but the pain that seared through her body wouldn't allow it.
They steadied themselves and continued their ascent, tightening there grips upon the wooden beams, and their grips on one another.
Another door suddenly broke away above them, pouring more water down, and slowing their progress. Kurtis leaned down and grabbed Lara's arm. He hurled her up to the beam he was on, and instantly heard a cruel cracking sound below them. The wood supporting them began to split and bend, as Lara and Kurtis quickly stood to their feet.
The companions jumped in unison to the beam adjacent to the one that had failed.. Lara grabbed hold of Kurtis as he lost his balance, and helped him up to the next floor.
At least three more doors had burst away, and Kurtis saw that the water was only two floors below them now, and rising fast. They had to get out quick, before this chamber would become their tomb.
"The waters coming in to fast. We'll never make it out!" He informed Lara, shouting.
"We can try." she returned, her voice literally screaming to be heard over the rushing sounds of the water.
"I need you to do something" Kurtis spoke loudly. "I'll lift you up. Look for a way out."
The water rushed around their knees, devouring the beam they were hoisted upon.
"And what are you supposed to do?" Lara asked, with un-wanted sincerity. "Drown?"
"I can't lift us both. It'll be easier for you."
Lara noticed him grasping his stomach wound with blood covered hands as he prepared to lift her, the water weakening his bandage.
She didn't want to leave him, but before she could protest her body quickly raised into the air. Her form was forced through two surging waterfalls, until she finally felt her feet plant firmly upon on the room's highest beam, right below the ceiling.
Lara quickly searched the stone surrounding her, looking for an opening or crack that would serve as an escape from their soon to be fate of drowning. She saw nothing. The domed ceiling was solid. She desperately searched once again as closed doors, barely holding the pressure behind them, surrounded her.
"We're trapped!" Lara called down to him "There's no way ou-"
Her words were halted as the ceiling beside her was suddenly became embedded with fissures and violently began to crack apart. Large pieces of stone instantly gave way at as the ceiling began to collapse, and a stream of pressurized water rained down upon her. It devoured the beam where Lara stood, and threw her to the depths. She felt her body falling, waiting for a paralyzing impact with a wooden beam.
Before she hit the extent of her fall, her body suddenly stopped midair.
Kurtis slowly lowered her down to him by dropping his hand, then wrapped his arms around her, as if to guard her from the falling rocks from above, though both knew that his effort would've been useless had one of the giant stones found its way toward them.
Lara felt strange as he held her. She didn't want him to let go.
Kurtis glanced at the newly formed hole at the top of the chamber and stared with realization."That's our way out!" He cried, pointing to the crevice. He smiled "Are you ready for a swim?"
Lara admired that he could still show a smile, even in their current situation. She looked to the ceiling. His plan might actually work, it had to. The water quickly rushed in around them, slowly pushing them to the top of the chamber until they could literally touch the ceiling. They gasped for air at the last second, and their bodies were forced into the newly formed crevice, now rapidly filling with water.
Lara lit her last remaining flare as darkness consumed them, the water dispersing the once lighted torches that graced every hallway. She turned to Kurtis, trying to keep him close as the faint light glared upon there dampened faces.
The ridged corridor that the fissure had created was narrow and jagged. Stones struck out at them like teeth greedily waiting for blood, while others fell from the water enveloped ceiling, hoping to crush them. The path continued forward as Kurtis and Lara hurriedly kicked their feet, both praying that the tunnel would soon find its end, and hopefully that that end wouldn't be filled with water.
The tunnel abruptly shifted downward, Lara and Kurtis's fears of death becoming more evident with every foot they swam deeper.
Lara rushed forward as a wall conformed in the distance. Her fear of a dead-end left as she spotted a wooden surface in the chamber's lower right corner, a door.
Lara hurriedly rushed toward it, her feet pushing readily before her. They connected hard with the door, but nothing happened. She was too weak, something she never imagined she would be in her entire life.
Kurtis quickly forced her aside and propelled his own weight against the door. He pulled Lara through as the passage swung slowly outward on it's hinges.
Kurtis cursed in his mind at what he saw. They had emerged from one of the many symboled doors in the great hall with the letter puzzle, but no oxygen greeted them, just the same deadly abyss of water. Lara and Kurtis forced themselves to continue forward, both using the last remaining air that filled their lungs.
They moved their bodies rapidly throughout the passage, quickly maneuvering between the huge blades that had nearly taken there lives the first time they had seen this room. The giant pendulums and spikes slowly swayed back and forth throughout the water, rendered harmless by the suffocating environment around them.
Lara noticed that Kurtis was slowing down. The bandage around his stomach was soaked and barely hanging on. The water burned like acid on her wounds, she couldn't imagine the pain he was feeling. The companions carefully made there way through the remaining traps, and back through the doorway they had used to enter earlier.
They swam through the thin granite room, and eventually reappeared at the gigantic iron doors with Kurtis's tattoo marking their exterior. He quickly lifted his shirt, revealing the black Lux Veritatis brand. The door glowed bright red once again and slowly began to crease opened, the immense pressure of water never faulting the ancient Lux Veritatis sorcery.
Lara could feel her lungs ready to explode, she estimated 15 seconds in her mind, and then it would be over, she would pass out, then drown. She suddenly felt her body being pulled forward, rushed into the empty entrance room by eager water, wanting nothing more than to consume more space and suffocate more lives.
Kurtis quickly swam upward, toward the gaping hole at the mouth of the cavern. His legs kicked fiercely, never faltering until he met the surface, his lungs gasping with joy as air hit his face. He jerked Lara's arm toward him, bringing her head above as well. They both coughed loudly as the air reentered their throats. Breathing was painful, as the strain of desperate lungs had seemed to bruise their chests. Kurtis forced himself upon the water's sandy edge, bending his elbows and pulling himself upward. He turned around, grabbing Lara's arms and helping her out beside him.
Kurtis laid himself upon the wet earth, now soaked from the escaping water of the Lux Veritatis tomb. Lara did the same.
Something was wrong. She hadn't felt so weak in all her life, other than in Egypt. She felt her throat protrude as water ran up her windpipe, no doubt swallowed during their escape. Her legs were numb, the blood washed off by the never-ending cleansing, and her joints felt weak, as though she couldn't stand. She winced as she stretched herself out, hoping to rid her body of the pain.
She looked to Kurtis, no longer visible but a blurred image that slowly grew darker. Lara shook her head, trying to stall the dizziness. It didn't work.
She suddenly fell forward as the world went black.
A/N: Ok, I've worked really hard for the past week editing a bunch, and a lot of you have been talking about a sequel, which I WILL do eventually, but now my time is being consumed by an Advent Rising fanfic I'm trying to write which will take a while. But I'll definitely finish this one soon, then I can start on the sequel. Man I wish the new game dealt with AOD, but oh well.