Disclaimer: The characters from Tomb Raider movies or games aren't mine.
Doorway of Mist
She glanced over her shoulder a few times before was loudly ordered not to. They walked through the crater and up its wall in a certain formation - Lara was in the middle of it and had Karel's boys on her both sides as well as in front and back. Karel himself walked a step or two behind of them as if he were afraid of Lara. He never laid his eyes on her, not once, like he thought a caged animal could still bite. She knew she wouldn't just scratch if the chance came - she would hunt down and kill her cager. She would never give up without a fight for that was the only way she knew how to do it and be proud of. Perhaps that was what made Karel aware. He knew that a tiger would never loose its claws, it could hide them for a while but they'd always be present, just hidden from sight.
It surprised her that the entrance to the Halls wasn't inside the crater for she had believed it to be there. Instead, against all of her expections, Karel's men led her away from the crater and a small way down the mountain side. The evidence of the volcano not erupting recently could be seen - the layer of lava rock was covered in dust and it was smooth from the years of erosion. Time definately had left its mark on the ground eating it away slowly during the days of its existence. Even to the ground it was merciless.
What waited her behind the next turn was something she hadn't expected and it caught her of guard. Before she could stop herself she had sighed as the scene in front of her woke up the archaelogist inside of her. It was like an itch needing to be scratched but her arms weren't long enough to reach the place. It was utterly unattainable, like a place of safety in a nightmare - you run and run but the distance between you and the place always remains the same. To Lara the distance was far too great and, at the moment, it felt like her feet were glued to the ground. She could've sworn that over a hundred people were digging at something that looked remotely like a doorway without an actual door. Two torches still stood by the door like the molten lava hadn't affected them. What made the atmosphere even more eerie was the fact that the torches were lit with light black flames.
She stood still not believing her eyes. How could something made of wood that's been buried under burning rock still exist like nothing on this earth had touched it? It was against all the rules of nature and physics but on the other hand, Lara had seen those rules broken before. Dead had come to life, creatures that should've seized to exists thrived in secret valleys and a dead priest of the god Horus had come to play senet with her just to be beaten by a simple mortal. In this world no laws of nature and physics had a handhold, they were only a lie made up to fool the feeble minds of mortal beings. There was more to this world than they knew of and she had used almost her entire life to dwell in its secrets while the others kept on living their lives. At least now she knew she wasn't the only one - there had been the Lux Veritatis, an organization that had met its end when all but one of its members had been destroyed. Were there other same kind of secreted groups that fought the evil to assure that most of the humans were given a chance to lead a normal life?
"Isn't that strange, Ms.Croft?" Karel's voice made her freeze like all of her limbs had suffered from paralyzation at the same time. No one else had ever had the same power over her and that power wasn't used for good. It was meant to unleash an evil thousands of years old upon this world and this time she was the only one between Karel and the power a being like him should never have.
"Isn't what strange?"
"This" Karel came standing next to her and pointed the digging site. "All the talk of immortality being unnatural, not meant for human beings and a creation of evil."
Lara felt and urge to stare at him trying to get his point but the simple thought of looking at him made her feel nauseous. "And...?"
"Still so many" He signaled to his work force. "Still so many humans are ready to help something they despise just to gain the gift of not having to die"
As much as she wanted to decline that she had to admit he had a point. Of all the phobias the necrophobia was probably the most usual. Not knowing if anything lied beyond death people were ready to follow anyone who gave promises of their names going down in history or prolonged time to walk the sands of this earth.If one wanted to have followers it was easier to make promises that concerned faith, not trust. With enough provocation and promises people were ready to do anything for their leaders even if the creature they were obeying was as far from human being as the nephilim were. History was filled of examples of people taking advantage of the gullibility of the human mind - a creation which was said to be incomparable to animals. But animals learned from their mistakes while humans had a tendency to repeat them.
"Move" Lara recognized the voice behind her. Didn't that man ever learn to speak properly? There seemed to be less than ten words in his vocabulary.
She obeyed all the same. What good could she be if the man behind her fired a bullet in her skull? Surely Karel needed her for something, otherwise she wouldn't be alive anymore. She would lie on the ground next to Konstantin and his wife, already growing stiff because of rigor mortis. Instead of it, she still stood on her own two feet waiting for what Karel had chose to be her part.
Karel's workforce stopped working as the last piece of lava stone rolled of the door. Lara started walking when Karel's little helper nudged her to the back of her head with a gun. Since she had no intention to loose the valuable matter inside her skull she obeyed. They stopped in front of the doorway which looked like it had been sealed with mysterious mist and when she tried to reach through it her fingers could only touch the surface of something cold she couldn't see. There was a door, after all.
"You probably wonder how I knew where one could enter the Halls?" When Karel got no response from Lara he continued. "Surely you didn't think that no nephilim knew of the existance of this place? After all, it was our own who hid it in the first place" There was malice so obvious in his voice that even the people who had helped him took a step back. At least they had some common sense left in their bought little minds.
If Lara would've been holding something she was sure she would've dropped the object after hearing those words. Karel had known entire time? Then what had he needed her for and who had told him about it? Had it been Konstantin? That wasn't possible since he didn't know where the Halls were. Who? Who had let Karel know about something that should never have been brought into existence?
"And now, Ms.Croft, the key"
She could only stare at him. What key? How could she have the key to this door of mist? Where would she have gotten one?
"The sun medallion, Ms, Croft. Hand it to me! NOW!"
The sun medallion. The one they had dug up from Konstantin's friend's grave, the one he had wanted to be buried with him. Had he understood its power or was the reason so simple that he wanted it to stop killing every ten years? Taking a life on that exact same hour once in every decade?
She did absolutely nothing for she wasn't going to be the reason that drove mankind into slavery, into serving something that was a mistake in evolution, a vengeance against the angels and human women. There were some borders in this world that were not to be crossed and some things that were so evil they should never have been.
"It seems that I was wrong about the common sense" Karel grinned and an evil glint could be seen in his eyes. A spirit so wrong and crooked mocked Lara from inside its very human looking disquise. But that was all it was - a disquise, and Lara had seen beyond it. She had seen the wolf in sheep's clothing. Under his skin lived nothing but evil, no sing of angels or humans, just the crossbreed that had inherited the worst from both races.
Karel nodded to one of his men who pushed Lara on her knees and tore the backpack from her hand eagerly opening it. Once he found the medallion he handed it to Karel.
"So..." Karel kept a small pause. "This little thing is all I've needed to pierce the mist all these years" He fingered the medallion. "They thought to be clever to hide the key and between themselves they decided who was to guard it. They only forgot one simple thing" He grinned again and laughed. "You shouldn't keep things that aren't yours to have. They might have some unwanted side-effects."
Unwanted side-effects? The deaths? Side-effects? If that medallion didn't belong to the ones who had hidden the scales then whose was it? If it had the power to kill it couldn't be made by a human hand and she didn't believe the nephilim had powers like that, at least as far as she knew. The only choice that was left was that it wasn't done by anything from this world. It had been found, one more of the things that should've stayed hidden for the rest of eternity.
Karel ran his fingers on the invisible door and soon began to smile as he found the hole where the key fit. "Bring Ms.Croft"
Despite of her resistance Karel's men managed to raise her on her feet again and walked her to the door.
"Now, now. Behave." Karel said grabbing her wrist and forcing her to hold the medallion. If she wasn't held at gunpoint she would've fought her way to freedom but at the moment all of her exits were closed. The nephilim had a firm hold of her wrist and guided her hand toward the invisible keyhole in the invisible door. As the medallion made a connection with the cold mist a dark shadow swept over Lara's hand and before she knew it, Karel had let go.
Doorway of Mist
She glanced over her shoulder a few times before was loudly ordered not to. They walked through the crater and up its wall in a certain formation - Lara was in the middle of it and had Karel's boys on her both sides as well as in front and back. Karel himself walked a step or two behind of them as if he were afraid of Lara. He never laid his eyes on her, not once, like he thought a caged animal could still bite. She knew she wouldn't just scratch if the chance came - she would hunt down and kill her cager. She would never give up without a fight for that was the only way she knew how to do it and be proud of. Perhaps that was what made Karel aware. He knew that a tiger would never loose its claws, it could hide them for a while but they'd always be present, just hidden from sight.
It surprised her that the entrance to the Halls wasn't inside the crater for she had believed it to be there. Instead, against all of her expections, Karel's men led her away from the crater and a small way down the mountain side. The evidence of the volcano not erupting recently could be seen - the layer of lava rock was covered in dust and it was smooth from the years of erosion. Time definately had left its mark on the ground eating it away slowly during the days of its existence. Even to the ground it was merciless.
What waited her behind the next turn was something she hadn't expected and it caught her of guard. Before she could stop herself she had sighed as the scene in front of her woke up the archaelogist inside of her. It was like an itch needing to be scratched but her arms weren't long enough to reach the place. It was utterly unattainable, like a place of safety in a nightmare - you run and run but the distance between you and the place always remains the same. To Lara the distance was far too great and, at the moment, it felt like her feet were glued to the ground. She could've sworn that over a hundred people were digging at something that looked remotely like a doorway without an actual door. Two torches still stood by the door like the molten lava hadn't affected them. What made the atmosphere even more eerie was the fact that the torches were lit with light black flames.
She stood still not believing her eyes. How could something made of wood that's been buried under burning rock still exist like nothing on this earth had touched it? It was against all the rules of nature and physics but on the other hand, Lara had seen those rules broken before. Dead had come to life, creatures that should've seized to exists thrived in secret valleys and a dead priest of the god Horus had come to play senet with her just to be beaten by a simple mortal. In this world no laws of nature and physics had a handhold, they were only a lie made up to fool the feeble minds of mortal beings. There was more to this world than they knew of and she had used almost her entire life to dwell in its secrets while the others kept on living their lives. At least now she knew she wasn't the only one - there had been the Lux Veritatis, an organization that had met its end when all but one of its members had been destroyed. Were there other same kind of secreted groups that fought the evil to assure that most of the humans were given a chance to lead a normal life?
"Isn't that strange, Ms.Croft?" Karel's voice made her freeze like all of her limbs had suffered from paralyzation at the same time. No one else had ever had the same power over her and that power wasn't used for good. It was meant to unleash an evil thousands of years old upon this world and this time she was the only one between Karel and the power a being like him should never have.
"Isn't what strange?"
"This" Karel came standing next to her and pointed the digging site. "All the talk of immortality being unnatural, not meant for human beings and a creation of evil."
Lara felt and urge to stare at him trying to get his point but the simple thought of looking at him made her feel nauseous. "And...?"
"Still so many" He signaled to his work force. "Still so many humans are ready to help something they despise just to gain the gift of not having to die"
As much as she wanted to decline that she had to admit he had a point. Of all the phobias the necrophobia was probably the most usual. Not knowing if anything lied beyond death people were ready to follow anyone who gave promises of their names going down in history or prolonged time to walk the sands of this earth.If one wanted to have followers it was easier to make promises that concerned faith, not trust. With enough provocation and promises people were ready to do anything for their leaders even if the creature they were obeying was as far from human being as the nephilim were. History was filled of examples of people taking advantage of the gullibility of the human mind - a creation which was said to be incomparable to animals. But animals learned from their mistakes while humans had a tendency to repeat them.
"Move" Lara recognized the voice behind her. Didn't that man ever learn to speak properly? There seemed to be less than ten words in his vocabulary.
She obeyed all the same. What good could she be if the man behind her fired a bullet in her skull? Surely Karel needed her for something, otherwise she wouldn't be alive anymore. She would lie on the ground next to Konstantin and his wife, already growing stiff because of rigor mortis. Instead of it, she still stood on her own two feet waiting for what Karel had chose to be her part.
Karel's workforce stopped working as the last piece of lava stone rolled of the door. Lara started walking when Karel's little helper nudged her to the back of her head with a gun. Since she had no intention to loose the valuable matter inside her skull she obeyed. They stopped in front of the doorway which looked like it had been sealed with mysterious mist and when she tried to reach through it her fingers could only touch the surface of something cold she couldn't see. There was a door, after all.
"You probably wonder how I knew where one could enter the Halls?" When Karel got no response from Lara he continued. "Surely you didn't think that no nephilim knew of the existance of this place? After all, it was our own who hid it in the first place" There was malice so obvious in his voice that even the people who had helped him took a step back. At least they had some common sense left in their bought little minds.
If Lara would've been holding something she was sure she would've dropped the object after hearing those words. Karel had known entire time? Then what had he needed her for and who had told him about it? Had it been Konstantin? That wasn't possible since he didn't know where the Halls were. Who? Who had let Karel know about something that should never have been brought into existence?
"And now, Ms.Croft, the key"
She could only stare at him. What key? How could she have the key to this door of mist? Where would she have gotten one?
"The sun medallion, Ms, Croft. Hand it to me! NOW!"
The sun medallion. The one they had dug up from Konstantin's friend's grave, the one he had wanted to be buried with him. Had he understood its power or was the reason so simple that he wanted it to stop killing every ten years? Taking a life on that exact same hour once in every decade?
She did absolutely nothing for she wasn't going to be the reason that drove mankind into slavery, into serving something that was a mistake in evolution, a vengeance against the angels and human women. There were some borders in this world that were not to be crossed and some things that were so evil they should never have been.
"It seems that I was wrong about the common sense" Karel grinned and an evil glint could be seen in his eyes. A spirit so wrong and crooked mocked Lara from inside its very human looking disquise. But that was all it was - a disquise, and Lara had seen beyond it. She had seen the wolf in sheep's clothing. Under his skin lived nothing but evil, no sing of angels or humans, just the crossbreed that had inherited the worst from both races.
Karel nodded to one of his men who pushed Lara on her knees and tore the backpack from her hand eagerly opening it. Once he found the medallion he handed it to Karel.
"So..." Karel kept a small pause. "This little thing is all I've needed to pierce the mist all these years" He fingered the medallion. "They thought to be clever to hide the key and between themselves they decided who was to guard it. They only forgot one simple thing" He grinned again and laughed. "You shouldn't keep things that aren't yours to have. They might have some unwanted side-effects."
Unwanted side-effects? The deaths? Side-effects? If that medallion didn't belong to the ones who had hidden the scales then whose was it? If it had the power to kill it couldn't be made by a human hand and she didn't believe the nephilim had powers like that, at least as far as she knew. The only choice that was left was that it wasn't done by anything from this world. It had been found, one more of the things that should've stayed hidden for the rest of eternity.
Karel ran his fingers on the invisible door and soon began to smile as he found the hole where the key fit. "Bring Ms.Croft"
Despite of her resistance Karel's men managed to raise her on her feet again and walked her to the door.
"Now, now. Behave." Karel said grabbing her wrist and forcing her to hold the medallion. If she wasn't held at gunpoint she would've fought her way to freedom but at the moment all of her exits were closed. The nephilim had a firm hold of her wrist and guided her hand toward the invisible keyhole in the invisible door. As the medallion made a connection with the cold mist a dark shadow swept over Lara's hand and before she knew it, Karel had let go.