17- Of Monster And Man
Lara took a step forward and took another look around. The temperature in the room had suddenly dropped several degrees, she couldn't hold back a shiver. Beside her she felt Kurtis stir. Before he had time to speak, and guessing the question that was burning his lips, she placed a finger over her own mouth to tell him to stay quiet. She had to stay focused.
I should have known it. The structure of the sanctuary, the region's history, the sacred and divine land of Mount Athos... Everything suggested we were in a labyrinth…
And so I imagine what we're looking for is somewhere here?, she heard Kurtis asking mentally.
"It is very likely," she replied aloud. "But we'll have to cross the maze in any case."
When she looked down, her eyes fell on a large slab with a pattern. She knelt down: it was a pair of wings with large, long feathers.
"Unfortunately, if it's what I think it is, I'm not sure we'll appreciate what's waiting for us inside."
"I'm getting used to all this monster stuff," Kurtis replied confidently.
Lara gave him a disapproval look.
"Guess it can't be worse than a T REX," he interrupted her before she could protest. "So, what do we do now?"
Lara sighed.
"I don't think we have much of a choice," she answered in a sour voice.
They watched each other carefully, before the mercenary checked his magazine, and nodded to the young woman to indicate he was ready. Lara took out a torch and stuck it in one of the straps of her backpack, so that she had both hands free for her firearms. The chirugai went ahead slowly, guiding them with its golden light. The two adventurers began to advance through the gigantic labyrinth, holding their steps to make as little noise as possible.
The alleys were relatively wide, and Lara and Kurtis were surprised to discover the labyrinth they had just entered had been built right into the heart of the mountain, hidden in a cavern whose ceiling they could not even make out. The impression of immensity and infinity was accentuated by the surrounding darkness. The stone around them was strangely black, as it would have been from an ancient volcano.
They reached the first intersection: an alley on their right, another on their left. Before they entered the nearest one, Lara approached one of the walls and took out a red marker pen from her backpack. She drew a big arrow indicating the direction they were coming from.
Clever girl
I have no breadcrumb trail with me, I hope this will do the trick
I'm fine with the modern method, replied the mercenary.
After this short pause, they took the corridor to the left by mutual agreement. They walked for a while along the walls, constantly on the look out. They followed the alleyway which then went to the right. The young woman marked the wall with another arrow, and couldn't help glancing back, but she couldn't see anything in the darkness. She hurried up to join Kurtis who had already moved away. She came unconsciously right up to him, her shoulder brushing against his. The mercenary couldn't help but give her a slightly surprised look at this sudden closeness, but didn't say anything as he felt a small spark of satisfaction light up inside him.
But suddenly, the adventuress grabbed him to make him stop. The mercenary felt his heart skip a beat, taken by surprise. He was about to protest when he realized from the expression that had frozen on the young woman's face she had spotted something. Without a word, he saw her crouch down and observe the ground with the light of her torch. Lara grabbed a pebble, and threw it forward. It bounced and rolled for several feet before coming to a stop. Silence fell again, but the two adventurers did not move an inch.
There was a sudden sharp snap, and stakes literally came out of the ground a few feet from them. Their sharp points appeared out of the darkness, pointing dangerously in their direction. A few more steps and they would have been impaled on them. Kurtis glanced at Lara, who slowly got to her feet and resumed her walk without a word. She went forward and crossed the stakes' line, and Kurtis stepped up to catch up.
"A steep and dangerous mountain, a cursed shrine, obviously riddled with death traps, and a secret treasure no one has ever seen. Everything I love in short," Lara said in a ironic whisper.
The young man answered with the same cynical smirk.
These are your specialty, Kurtis stated mentally.
The chirugai went ahead and took the lead, as if to show them the way. They resumed their walk in silence and followed the flying disc down several successive aisles. On a regular basis Lara stopped to mark their way at all the intersections they went through, though after a while she began to doubt the effectiveness of her system. As they kept walking and went deeper and deeper into the darkness and the maze, she couldn't imagine a way out. She didn't even know what to expect, or if what she feared to find out here was really there, waiting for them in the shadows. But except for a few traps in their way, they seemed to be absolutely alone down here. Beside her, Kurtis walked cautiously too, also more focused than ever.
After yet another intersection, they entered another long, endless alley, still moving slowly in the unknown. The high black stone walls were surprisingly regular and monotonous, which gradually made them lose all sense of time.
As they continued forward, they entered a new alley, but as Kurtis was about to step forward, Lara stopped him short. At first glance, the alley they were in was no different from the ones they had just walked down, but the mercenary knew the adventuress had spotted something further ahead.
Do you think you can send the chirugai for a reconnaissance?
The flying weapon complied, and went flying down the alley with a soft whistle. For a few seconds, nothing happened. But as it turned to go back, several series of loud 'pschits' sounded all around them, and the chirugai was hit by something. Lara and Kurtis suddenly saw shapes speeding past before them, crossing the alley from one side to the other.
Wooden darts, several inches long and undoubtedly poisoned as the adventuress deduced, passed from one wall to the other without interruption and blocked their path. After another wary glance to check the surroundings and the alley, Lara walked confidently towards the trap, closely followed by the mercenary.
She ran to get momentum and jumped quite easily over the spikes that kept crossing the path. Kurtis waited until she was on the other side before taking his turn. He, however, preferred to cross from below: he crouched and lay down on the ground before crawling under the darts.
"Well, this one was pretty easy," he said in a confident voice as he stood up.
Lara gave him a murderous look.
"We have to stay on our g-"
Suddenly there was a huge crack somewhere above their heads. Before they could react, something tumbled from the ceiling and fell into the alley they were standing in. There was a huge, resounding crash, and the ground suddenly began to shake all around them. They heard an unpleasant scraping sound against the walls around them, the sound of stone rubbing against stone. When they turned around to see what was going on, they saw a huge ball of stone, as wide as the labyrinth corridor, hurtling towards them.
They didn't take time to think and started running.
"It's been a while since I haven't seen that kind of trap!", Lara shouted as they went deeper and deeper into the darkness, followed closely by the ball.
They ran a little faster as they heard the ball gain speed behind them. But suddenly, in front of them, a hole appeared in the ground. Another relatively wide pit. They could barely see the other side. The two adventurers exchanged a brief glance, but they realized they had no choice but to jump anyway.
They felt the coldness of the stone behind coming dangerously close to them. They gained momentum, and prepared to jump. They took off from the ground and both of them shot into the air as the giant stone ball came at them and suddenly toppled into the void.
Lara and Kurtis hung in the air for a moment, inwardly praying for the other side not to be too far. The mercenary landed in a roll on the ground, and let himself roll before losing speed. Lara, however, had not jumped far enough. She saw the ledge coming towards her at full speed, but she already knew she would not land on the ground. She hit the edge hard and felt herself fell backwards into the void. Just as she thought she was going to fall forever, Kurtis appeared above her and grabbed her hand.
"Hold on!", he shouted through clenched teeth.
Lara held out her second hand and a grunt escaped Kurtis as he pulled up to lift her up. Lara managed to recover and pushed the wall with her feet to climb up. After several seconds of effort, the mercenary managed to pull her up onto solid ground, where they both dropped to all fours, out of breath. They heard the huge ball falling at the bottom of the pit, far way in the distance. They took a quick look at one another before standing up.
"It will take us ages to get to the other side of the labyrinth if we keep goin' like this, " Kurtis stated ironically as he took a look at the pit and void behind them.
"Actually I think it is the point of all those traps here," Lara replied very seriously.
They turned round and resumed their walk in the dark alley they had just reached. They wandered in the labyrinth for another few hours, always in the look out. They followed countless corridors without ever feeling like they were making progress and getting anywhere, but they knew they had to keep going.
They walked into another endless corridor, and the adventuress suddenly stopped walking as the mercenary stopped dead in his tracks too beside her. A few feet ahead, the ground had a strange shape, it looked much darker, and seemed to be falling away, even if they could not see it clearly yet. As they got closer, they discovered a hole several feet deep. A pit. But a much larger one than the one they had just escaped. As if it had guessed its master's thought, the chirugai plugged into the air. It took several seconds before it reached the bottom, which stood maybe a hundred feet below them. Kurtis seemed to make out some upright stakes, and some kind of white and grey spots, perhaps the remains of previous daredevils who had ventured here before them.
The flying disc flew upwards at full speed and went back to its master. A terrible feeling of vertigo overcame the adventurers as they gazed at the almost endless hole before them, they felt disillusioned for a moment.
"Maybe we can jump to the other side," Lara muttered, but she didn't seem convinced of her own proposal.
She tried to shine the light on the other side, but only the dark pit could be seen in front of them. Kurtis headed for the nearest beside wall.
"Don't think we can climb either," he said, stroking the completely smooth stone. "We gotta turn back."
Lara shook her head in frustration, but she could only face the obvious. She felt stronger since the injection Miranda Svendsen had given her, but she certainly wouldn't have the strength to jump that far, and neither would Kurtis.
Suddenly they heard a thud somewhere behind them, as if something had scraped the stone floor. The ground vibrated slightly under their feet. The two adventurers turned around and drew their weapons. The noise stopped, silence fell again. They just waited for something to happen, frozen in their position. They watched for the slightest movement, the slightest shape that would appear out of the darkness. But nothing moved.
"What was that?", the mercenary murmured.
Lara shook her head in confusion, even though she knew Kurtis couldn't see her from where he stood. She couldn't say why or how it was possible, but at that very moment she felt the young man's heartbeat, which was racing at the same rate as hers. They slowly resumed their walk, and took slow steps up the path that had led them there. But after only a few feet, they found themselves facing a smooth black wall. They had reached a dead end.
"What the...?", they exclaimed in one voice.
They stopped dead in their tracks, and just stood in front of the wall. Then the American stepped forward and watched the stone standing before them.
"Did we go the wrong way?", he said with a look of complete bewilderment.
Lara shook her head again. She took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. She stood there for a moment with her arms still raised, her fingers massaging her hair like a stress reliever. Then she let her arms fall limply down, and turned her light to the side wall. After a few seconds, a red arrow she had drawn with her marker earlier eventually appeared on the stone. It clearly indicated the direction they were coming from, but which was now blocked by the wall that had appeared out of nowhere.
"How is that possible?", Kurtis asked, pushing back with all his might the idea that was slowly growing inside him.
His lost gaze locked onto the young woman's.
"The labyrinth is moving," Lara murmured.
The young woman's eyes rose to the top of the wall that now stood before them.
"I knew the classic labyrinth system. But I guess this one has an extra protection system. I don't know how-"
"Okay," said Kurtis, running a hand through his hair, as he did whenever he got stressed. "So basically, you're saying this labyrinth has some kind of magical powers and its walls move to trap us, or better yet, to push us into traps?"
Lara shrugged and raised her arms in helplessness.
"Well, I don't know, actually," she grumbled. "And why does this surprise you so much, mister demons ass-kicker?"
"I dunno, I guess it's not really what I expected when coming here."
"That's not what I expected either," the Englishwoman answered abruptly. "I just hope your Agio Oros buddies didn't rush us here to get rid of us."
The mercenary looked down and took a deep breath to calm himself, hands on his hips.
"Okay," he repeated mechanically. "We have to keep going, we have no choice anyway."
Lara crossed her arms against her chest and lifted her chin.
"Yes, right. And how are we supposed to cross the ravine now?", she asked, full of defiance.
The young man stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly turned around and walked away. The adventuress saw him returning to the edge of the pit. Exasperated, she could not help but roll her eyes and sigh loudly, but she followed him. They found themselves once again trapped on the edge of the void. Kurtis seemed to think for a moment, staring into the void, then looked up. His eyes suddenly lit up.
"What is it?", asked the adventuress.
But the young man ignored her. He walked towards the wall beside them, before turning around and stepping back. Hands on his hips, he observed something high up.
"If we can't get through the bottom, we might be able to get through the top," he finally replied, now glancing down at the young woman.
Lara came to stand next to him, before looking up. The wall was particularly high, it would be difficult to reach its top, which they could not even see.
"If I give you a boost, it should be all right, I suppose."
Lara looked down at him, her eyes round with surprise.
"You can't be serious."
"And why not?"
"How are you going to climb?"
The mercenary handed the young woman a rope.
"In the good old way. I only have psychic superpowers, remember?", he said ironically.
They stared at each other for several seconds. Then, resigned, and finding no other solution that suited her, the young woman grabbed the rope and put it over her shoulder. They returned to the wall, the mercenary knelt down and offered her his hands. Lara placed her foot on them.
"Ready?", he asked.
She nodded. In one motion, Lara pushed on the young man's hands and jumped, while Kurtis gave her a powerful push. She rose into the air. He stretched out his arm. The Englishwoman felt a force pushing her a little harder and sending her higher in the air. She had no trouble reaching the top of the wall, on which she landed softly. When she turned around and leaned over, she could hardly make out Kurtis below.
"I'll throw you the rope," she shouted.
But as she did so, everything around them began to crumble. She felt the stone vibrate dangerously beneath her. Then they heard the same unpleasant, creaking sound echoing not far from them. The same scraping sound, that of one stone rubbing another, that of a stone moving heavily. The difference was that this time the noise did not stop. Somewhere, a wall had started to move and did not stop.
At first Lara saw absolutely nothing from where she was. She even thought that it was just walls that had moved further into the labyrinth. But something caught her attention. She suddenly realised that the movement was coming from the wall of the alley they were in with Kurtis. The one that had blocked their path, and was now moving in the mercenary's direction. Lara's heart leapt in her chest. Feeling her sudden rise in stress, the young man turned his head and finally understood where the noise was coming from.
"Of course, it had to be me...", he joked bitterly.
The huge black wall was moving towards him at a relatively fast speed. He had to react quickly, otherwise he would end up being thrown into the pit. Lara finally threw him the rope, which he grabbed quickly and started to rappel back up without wasting time.
He glanced at the approaching wall. Now that he was hanging on to the rope, all he had to do was climb back up to join the adventuress. At least, that's what he told himself, until another sound echoed against the surrounding walls. There was an unpleasant crunching sound, and the American discovered to his horror that something had appeared on the wall coming towards him. A multitude of grey, shiny spots, long and sharp. Swords, dotting every inch of the wall.
"It's time to get busy!", he said, his eyes trained on the sharp blades that would soon be upon him.
"I'm doing my best!", Lara shouted from above.
Kurtis tried to step up and pull himself up a little faster, but the smooth wall didn't give him a good grip. His feet were slipping, he was treading water. Lara gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on the rope she was holding at arm's length. She let out a loud grunt as she pulled the mercenary up.
"I didn't notice it until now, but I think you've put on weight, Trent," she hissed between her clenched jaws.
"I heard that!", she heard from below.
She grabbed another piece of rope and pulled with all her might, screaming. Her arm muscles were stretched to the limit.
"How exactly am I supposed to take it?"
"In the wrong way!", she shouted, as if it could free herself from the superhuman effort she was making.
Kurtis could now clearly see the blades of the long swords coming at him. They were only a few feet away, but he didn't want to think about it. He reached out and grabbed the rope much higher, trying to pull himself up by the strength of his arms. His muscles protested in pain, and the rope burned his hands, but he gritted his teeth. He preferred that to being impaled, or worse, pushed off the edge and impaled after a fall of a hundred feet.
He looked up. At last he could see Lara, standing firmly on her two slightly spread legs and gripping the rope like a savage. She screamed again as she pulled him up. He wanted to help her and push at the same time to relieve her, but his feet slipped against the smooth wall. He sighed in frustration. He had almost reached the top, he shouldn't flinch now. The vibrations in the stone intensified, and he realized the wall of swords was almost upon him. He saw one of the blades slowly approaching his head.
The mercenary stopped thinking. In a desperate move, he managed to climb a few more inches, but it was still not enough. Lara pulled again, he climbed up a little more. Then he felt something in his side. A sort of pressure, as if someone had put his finger there and was pressing harder and harder. However, the uncomfortable feeling was soon replaced by a sharp, piercing pain. A blade was piercing his shirt and would soon be cutting into his flesh in earnest.
"Damn it!", he yelled.
He was almost at the top. He reached out, but his fingers slipped. He was only a few inches short of reaching the top of the wall. The razor-sharp sword kept digging into his side, he had to react quickly before the pain overwhelmed him. Glancing up again, he met Lara's unsettled gaze. Then he had an idea. Something that might work, but that left him no room for error. He would only get one shot at it.
Under one of his feet, he felt a sword, which he could lean on. He felt the pressure of several blades against his leg, which pushed him to act.
"Don't let go!", he shouted to Lara who was watching him without being able to move from her position.
The mercenary turned his head to focus on the point he had to reach, folded his legs, and gave a powerful impulse. He took off from the wall. As he had hoped, the momentum he gained caused a pendulum effect. He got away from the wall of swords, and the top of the wall he was trying to reach got closer. He stretched his legs and then folded them up quickly to gain a little more speed. The edge of the wall was now within his reach. He unfolded his legs and grabbed the wall's edge with them, contracting his muscles as hard as he could. For a second he thought he was going to fall backwards, and the image of him crashing into the blades came to his mind, but he held on. Drawing on his strength, Kurtis managed to grab the edge with a hand. Lara let go of the rope and rushed to help him. After a final grunt, which they let out in unison, Kurtis finally found solid ground. They both collapsed backwards and lay there for a moment, breathing heavily. Below them, the wall finally stopped with a loud crack, and silence fell.
Lara glanced at the mercenary lying next to her, still breathless.
"It's kind of silly to have telekinetic powers, but not be able to use them on yourself, don't you think?"
Kurtis glared at her. After giving him a cynical smile as he would have done himself in such situation, the young woman slowly stood up, and helped him to his feet. The young man checked his chest and ribs, which had narrowly escaped the trap's sharp blades. His shirt was torn on one side, a little blood flew from his slightly slashed skin underneath. His hands were badly scratched and blistered, but it was no big deal, he thought.
"Are you okay?", the young woman asked.
The mercenary shook his head, before reaching for his canteen for a drink of water. The two adventurers glanced down at the wall of swords that had stopped exactly at the edge of the pit. Then, they took the time to observe the surroundings. From where they were, they had a rather global view of the rest of the labyrinth, they could see quite clearly the layout of the maze and its numerous alleys. That's when they realised just how huge the place was: below them lay perhaps miles of alleys and traps, organised in a very precise circular shape. A little further on, perhaps a hundred metres ahead, the space seemed sparse, like a sort of clearing in the middle of those high black stone walls. They deduced this was the centre of the structure. They turned their heads towards one another at the same moment and exchanged a glance. They did not need to speak to understand each other.
After packing up the rope, they resumed their walk, following the edge of the walls carefully. They kept going like this for quite a moment, progressing as far as they could while they were safe up here. On the way they saw several pits similar to the one they had just escaped from, as well as many other dead ends filled with traps too. Several times they heard creaking noises in the maze structure, the walls kept moving, as if they sensed their presence. The two adventurers exchanged a look full of misunderstandings, still on the spot.
After a while, however, Lara, who was walking ahead and leading the way, realised the wall they were standing on had come to a stop. If they kept going and if they kept on following it, they would move away from the central part of the maze, and find themselves stuck much further away anyway. And if they went back down now, they would have to cross one or two alleys before they could reach the centre of the labyrinth. The young woman wasn't exactly thrilled at the idea, but they were stuck either way. They had to get back down at some point. Kurtis walked past her and took the lead before she could even react.
"I'll help you down. Hopefully there's no another trap waiting for us... I'm gettin' tired of all this shit."
After a final check at the alley down below, Lara approached the ledge, crouched down and let herself fall, holding on with her hands. She let herself fall and let Kurtis break her fall. The mercenary joined her after a few seconds.
The darkness was deeper and kind of thicker down here, but they didn't have far to go to reach the centre of the structure. The two adventurers glanced around and drew their weapons, although they were aware that bullets would not be of much help against stone walls. After a joint nod, they started walking without a word. Barely ahead of them, the chirugai had appeared again, and was trying to guide them.
They followed the alley they were in, and after several minutes of walking, they turned off and found themselves in a large, wide alley that led directly into the heart of the labyrinth. But as they went along, everything around them began to shake, the walls vibrated dangerously, and the floor began to tremble. The same friction echoed all around them. Another wall was moving, this time nearby. They realized with horror that a wall was rising in front of them, and was going to block their way to the centre of the labyrinth. Without even looking at each other, the two adventurers started to run at full speed. The chirugai was leading the way, and slipped between the moving stone and the wall. They had to be quick, before they were trapped and couldn't reach the other side, or were even crushed. They only had a few seconds to get through, after that it would be too late.
Lara was the first to rush through the walls. She felt the adrenaline run through her body as she felt the proximity of the stone to her skin on either side of her. She knew Kurtis was on her heels, but the timing was short. She got out, and Kurtis managed to get out just as his shoulders were about to be caught between the two walls. They had barely escaped the trap. The wall continued to slide and collided with the other wall, closing the passageway behind them for good.
The two adventurers stopped running and caught their breath, both bent double, leaning forward, hands on their knees.
"That was close...", Kurtis breathed, looking up at the young woman.
Lara looked at the wall that had just closed behind them, then turned to the other side. At the end of the alley was the heart of the labyrinth, they were only a few feet away. She straightened up, and barely recovered from her emotions and pretty sure of herself, walked away.
"I wonder-"
She was interrupted by Kurtis, who had suddenly lunged at her and slammed her against the wall. She could not contain a cry of surprise as the mercenary pressed his body against hers, pushing with all his might to block her. She tried to protest and struggle, but he held her tightly, so tightly that it almost hurt. Then she heard a shrill hiss, and over the mercenary's shoulder she saw a huge blade come out of the opposite wall and cross the space where they had been just seconds before. A gigantic circular blade, like a saw, split the air, and she realised that if Kurtis hadn't been here, she would have ended up disembowelled or simply cut in half.
They stood still for several seconds. The adventuress could feel Kurtis's warm breath against her ear, and the heat of his cheek against hers. Behind them, the killing blade finally stopped, and there was silence again. Kurtis moved and straightened slightly, and turned his head to one side and then the other, keeping unconsciously his body pressed against hers.
"That was close, again. Tell me where your head was?"
When she looked up at him, Lara already knew Kurtis was staring at her with his destabilizing azure eyes. She just looked into them as she stayed silent, and a terribly contradictory feeling came over her. For a moment they breathed in unison, and she felt the mercenary's heartbeat drumming hard against her own chest. His arms went around her and held her tight. She couldn't help but appreciate the muscular curves of his body, which fit her own perfectly. She swallowed with difficulty when she realized how close their faces were at that moment. An unpleasant tension formed between their lips, which were clearly longing for breaking the wall of ice that had risen between them. At that very moment, if they had just followed their instinct, they knew they would have literally jumped on each other and torn off their respective clothes, and would have had sex right here, on the cold ground.
Fighting the feeling with all their might and beyond all human reason, Kurtis and Lara shook their heads in unison and finally pulled themselves together. Kurtis suddenly pulled away from the young woman reluctantly. The warmth of his body was immediately replaced by emptiness and coldness as he turned his back on her, preferring to avoid her gaze. Each on their own, their hearts still throbbing, they took up their weapons, and got back into a defensive position, their eyes riveted on what awaited them in the centre of the labyrinth.
They resumed their walk and stepped forward slowly. Gradually, the light from their lamps outlined the immense contours of a circular, uncluttered space. The ceiling was high above their heads, in a slightly rounded shape reminiscent of a dome. All the aisles of the labyrinth converged on this spot. The floor was uneven under their feet. When they looked down, they realised that this was due to the countless symbols that were scattered on the floor: thousands of symbols engraved in each of the slabs that made up the stone floor. Right in the centre, as on the main door of the sanctuary, had been carved a small rounded place, like a central point to this immense puzzle. Lara knelt down to take a closer look, before exchanging a wary glance with the mercenary, her thoughts still a little bit confused as she met his confused look too.
"What d'you think it is?", he asked as he obviously tried to act like nothing had happened before.
Lara cleared her throat and pouted.
"Maybe some kind of mechanism to open something. Maybe we need to insert a key here," she said, pointing to the small hole in front of them.
As she straightened up, a new, loud rumble began to echo around them. The ground came alive beneath their feet, the walls around them shook furiously. In the distance, they heard a new scraping noise, the walls of the labyrinth were moving again. But this time there was something else. Something alive, moving with heavy steps through the darkness.
A terrible, terrifying growl echoed somewhere before them. The grunt of an extremely large, powerful and dangerous animal that was slowly approaching and coming towards them.
Another beastly growl sounded a few feet away. The two adventurers exchanged a worried look, even though they knew it was already too late to run away. They grabbed their weapons a little more firmly and got into position to attack. They could see nothing, but they could now distinctly hear the thing's breath searching for its preys. Lara felt a wave of apprehension wash over her. She struggled with all her might against the idea that was making its way into her. Her little inner voice was screaming at her that it couldn't be that, yet she knew all too well that anything was possible as long as she set foot in a sanctuary that had been abandoned for centuries.
The tremors came closer, heavier and heavier, and more and more aggressive, then stopped for a moment. Suddenly, a few feet ahead and quite high up, two red flickers appeared in the dark. Eyes. There was a moment of hesitation, during which no one dared to move. Lara and Kurtis did not dare to look at each other, holding both their breath, their weapons pointed at the void in front of them.
Suddenly the huge beast moved and charged at them. The chirugai reacted at the same time and charged straight at it too, trying to stop it. It twirled dangerously, and in its light appeared the beast they had to face. A monster several feet tall, with an impressive and unreal build. Its legs and hooves scraped the ground as it ran at them. Its huge head swung forward to point its horns at them. The two adventurers barely had time to react and dodge before the beast was upon them. Kurtis rolled to the ground as he narrowly dodged the impaling horn. Lara ducked and rolled to avoid being crushed by the animal's legs as it ran at full speed.
The giant bull roared in anger as it realised it had missed its targets. Kurtis's flying disc suddenly plunged towards it in a whistling sound, and tried to hurt him. It ricocheted off the beast's back and onto its thick hide without even making a dent. The human bull straightened up and turned its huge head towards the two adventurers. Fire seemed to burn deep in its mad pupils, a stream of slobber dripped from its huge mouth, as if the animal was suffering from rabies. Its nostrils opened and closed in a frantic rhythm as it raged.
It suddenly turned around and charged again, head down. The two adventurers fired at the same time, while the chirugai continued to attack from behind. When the monster got too close, Lara jumped to one side and Kurtis to the other, before running and joining each other up a little further on. They went into the opposite direction the monster was, and took advantage of the fact it had been carried away by its own momentum and slowed down by its heavy build. As they ran away, they heard it straightening up.
"I know I didn't pay much attention in history class, but I don't remember it being this big!", Kurtis shouted over the roar the Minotaur had just let out.
They didn't know where they were running to, they could hardly see anything in the darkness. Suddenly, they came face to face with a wall. They ran along and followed it for a while, hoping to find an opening into which they could run and take shelter. But after a few minutes, they had to face the facts: all the labyrinth's paths and alleys had disappeared, replaced by completely smooth walls. Lara let out a frustrated grunt as she realized the centre of the labyrinth had closed in around them and was now imprisoning them. They were trapped in an arena, and had no escape but to face the monster.
Behind them they heard the beast roar again and run towards them. The ground shook with every heavy step it took. The Minotaur suddenly appeared behind them and hit the wall with force. The impact was so powerful that both adventurers lost their balance and fell to the ground. Lara turned around, still lying down, and fired a burst of bullets. Kurtis was the first to get to his feet and fired back, trying to aim for the beast's head. A few bullets ricocheted off its horns, some pierced its ears, but the monster didn't even seem to react. Its anger was only strengthened, and it let out a loud roar. It then threw one of its powerful, muscular forearms in their direction. Its hooked claws whistled through the air as it lowered its arm towards them. Lara grabbed Kurtis by the leg and pulled. The young man, at first surprised, finally let himself fall backwards, and hit the ground as the monster's paw mowed through the place where he was standing a few seconds before. The claws scraped the wall right above them with an unpleasant noise, dust and small pieces of wall fell down on them.
Without waiting, Kurtis rolled to the side and stood up, grabbing Lara by one arm to help her up too. They staggered back to their feet, both panting. They started running away again, Kurtis tried to fire, but his bullets barely wounded the monster. They ran headlong into the dark, but again found themselves pinned against the wall at the other end of the arena. They turned to face the bull, which was already coming towards them. Its heavy legs shook the stones and ground once more, and his piercing red eyes suddenly appeared in front of them.
Lara and Kurtis fired at the same time. The bullets finally pierced the Minotaur's skin one by one in little spurts of blood. The adventurers both shuddered as the animal let out a frightening and loud roar. Just as the Minotaur was about to strike them with its horns, Lara and Kurtis each ran in different directions to escape the beast. Without even consulting each other, they ran before abruptly turning around to shoot the beast from behind. They tried to aim at its legs this time. It howled a little louder, and fell to its knees. Before it straightened up, Lara and Kurtis resumed their course and joined up a little further on. Above them they heard the chirugai hiss and strike the Minotaur several times.
But as they set off again in the opposite direction to the monster, Kurtis suddenly stopped and turned around, Boran X brandished in front of him.
"What are you doing?!"
"We can't keep going like that, he's gonna wear us out!"
Carried away by her momentum, Lara didn't have time to stop and return to the mercenary. The Minotaur was already reappearing in front of them. It was shaking its head and its horns in all directions, hoping to pierce its enemies. Its steps were fast and powerful, it was gaining speed. The mercenary remained impassive in front of the monster that was coming straight at him, holding his position and his weapon firmly. He took a deep breath and pulled the trigger just as the bull's head came into range. Unfortunately, the bullet lost itself against one of the horns. Out of the corner of his eye, the young man saw Lara jump out of the shadows and pounce on him. He let out a cry of pain as the horn that narrowly impaled him grazed his arm, and they both fell to the ground. As Kurtis stood up, he quickly grabbed the young woman and pulled her towards him before she was crushed by one of the beast's huge hooves.
Slightly stunned, they both had just enough time to roll to the side to avoid the fist that crashed into the ground in front of them. Lara managed to get to her feet and fired again. Beside her, Kurtis stood up again, his arm now bleeding. As she concentrated on aiming at the Minotaur's head, she suddenly saw Kurtis running straight ahead towards the monster who was slowly getting up and which was obviously slowed down by its imposing stance. The mercenary got as close as possible, before giving a powerful impulse. He took off from the ground. He leaned on one of the Minotaur's legs, then on its giant tail to climb onto its back. As he gained momentum, his foot slipped against the animal's skin and hair, but he barely caught himself. The monster then began to shake itself in sharp movements to get rid of the prey that was bothering it. Kurtis almost slipped and fell backwards several times, but he held on tight. Lara tried to distract the beast as much as she could, but she hoped Kurtis would not try anything stupid. Her bullets pierced the bull's skin in several places, and it struggled a little from the pain. Angry cries escaped from its wide open mouth. It threw its head backwards, hoping to impale Kurtis with its horn, but the young man bent down several times to avoid the blows.
Lara changed her strategy. She started moving again and ran in all directions to force the animal to focus on her, while continuing to fire in large bursts at it. Her face twisted as she concentrated on aiming at strategic points. Kurtis had to work harder to keep his balance on the beast, but at least he had a few seconds to act now. He pushed on his legs and climbed up to the monster's shoulder, on which he leaned to jump. He grabbed an ear and reached the head. He sat down between the horns and blocked the Minotaur's head between his legs. With a quick and precise movement, he then grabbed one of its periapt shards. But as he lowered it to strike the bull, the latter gave a violent headbutt to the side. The mercenary, unsettled, thrust the black blade where he could, into its snout.
The Minotaur struggled and bellowed ferociously. The mercenary held on, but he was slipping badly, he would fall down at any second. In a last effort, Kurtis tore his shard from the animal's flesh, which screamed in pain, and raised and lowered it once more. This time the blade went straight into one of the bull's eyes, which burst with a resounding 'plop'.
The beast suddenly gave a so powerful headbutt that the mercenary was literally thrown into the air, and landed heavily on the ground a little further away with a grunt of pain. But Lara did not have time to reach him. The monster, mad with rage, was now charging at her. Its footsteps shook the walls all around her again. As she ran to escape, the young woman suddenly found herself trapped. When she turned around, she found herself facing the huge beast whose mouth was wide open and ready to close on her. She felt its hot breath on her and its putrid smell, drops of slime fell on her. She fired without hesitation. The bullets embedded themselves in the beast's arms, and in its snout. One last bullet went straight into its still-valid eye and blew it out. The Minotaur recoiled at first, shaking its head in sharp movements, moving its arms to get rid of the shard still stuck in his eye, and to obviously try to get rid of the pain it felt through its head. The mythological monster seemed to weaken, its breathing suddenly becoming jerky.
For a brief moment, Lara thought the beast would retreat, perhaps even fall to the ground. But it finally seemed to pull itself together and charged straight ahead, and picked up speed. The Minotaur began to roar at the same time as the young woman screamed as she fired at it. The chirugai, in a heroic effort, whistled and dashed between the young woman and the beast, as if it had tried to interpose itself. Its blades passed within a few inches of the young woman's face, and neatly cut off a piece of the animal's tongue. Lara then saw the flying weapon come up and seriously cut one of its ears.
Lara suddenly fell down on her back. She let out a cry of surprise as she was literally dragged along under the Minotaur, as if pulled by an invisible force. She passed between the beast's legs and slid on the ground for several feet, before finally finding herself free, just behind the monster, which feathered itself in the wall against which she had been standing a few seconds before. The shock was so violent the adventuress suddenly thought the ground was opening up beneath them once more. There was a huge cloud of dust. She saw the animal's tail whip through the air above her, and rolled to the side to dodge it.
When she managed to stand up, she saw Kurtis still lying on the ground some feet away, his bloody arm still outstretched in front of him. Once again, his mental strength had saved her. She ran towards him. She grabbed him by the arm to help him up, the young man let out a grunt of pain. Lara glanced desperately behind them to watch the Minotaur who was slowly getting back on its feet too. She felt Kurtis cling to her and finally get to his feet.
In front of them, the huge monster rose again from the dust and darkness. It raised its snout and sniffed the air to locate its prey. Blood dripped from its thick black fur, its two eye sockets were now two festering wounds. Even if it could no longer see them, the two adventurers knew it could still hear them and that it was still dangerous. The animal seemed to stagger, and dragged its leg as it positioned itself to charge at its prey once more.
Lara tried to catch her breath, Kurtis was panting beside her. Maybe he was right after all, maybe they couldn't go on and on like that, they wouldn't last long.
The beast took a step towards them, as if to challenge them. The two adventurers then noticed one of its horns had broken off, no doubt when it had hit the wall. The broken piece lay on the ground in a pile of gravel and dust, not far from its paws. Lara and Kurtis exchanged a look.
Do you think you have the strength to...?
The mercenary stared straight at her, before looking at the beast, which was obviously waiting for them to make a move to charge at them. He swallowed slowly and finally shook his head. Lara shook her head in unison with him. Despite the grime on his face, she could see a real determination.
Okay. I'll create a diversion
Lara let go of him and they separated. She drew her guns, and began to shoot. She ran away to draw the Minotaur towards her, who unsurprisingly started to move and follow her. Kurtis then took a deep breath, and looked at the piece of horn on the floor a little further away. He closed his eyes, and despite the commotion and screams around him, he tried to concentrate. He let the darkness and cold take hold of him as he delved into the recesses of his own mind. His body suddenly lightened, the pain in his injured arm slowly disappearing, replaced by a gentle warmth. He visualised the horn tip and reached out to grasp it mentally. He could feel his limbs and his whole body shaking as the piece of ivory rose from the ground. Somewhere in the distance he heard the adventuress scream again and the sound of her weapons firing without stopping. Drawing on his last bit of strength, Kurtis gave one last push, and finally lifted the horn off the ground.
The Minotaur may have been completely blind, but it was following her closely. Its heavy footsteps echoed in time with hers. She felt its claws brushing her. She jumped to the side, ran for several feet without stopping, then rolled and turned around. The monster stopped for a moment to sniff and find the trace of its prey. Then slowly, it turned around and headed towards where the adventuress was standing. But she was waiting for it.
The Minotaur seemed to realize it was on the right track and suddenly quickened its pace, ready to charge. Lara drew and aimed. It was now or never. If the only way out was to defeat this monster, they had to fight and seize the opportunity while it lasted. There was no way they were going to end up crushed and buried here forever. They had escaped death enough times to know their fight would not end here.
She couldn't hold back a scream as her fingers squeezed the triggers. Bullets flew in all directions, piercing the chest and head of the already weakened beast one by one. Drops of blood spurted out in the air, the beast roared louder and louder. When the adventuress was finally within reach, the beast raised a paw and mowed her down. Lara narrowly escaped the claws, but was thrown violently to the side. She felt her feet leave the ground, and before she could react, she hit the nearest wall, before falling back to the ground, stunned.
As the monster straightenned up, it was suddenly hit by its broken horn. The piece of ivory split the air with a loud hiss and went straight into its skull. The monstrous beast jerked and shook its head violently, as if trying to get rid of it. Its moans became hoarser, deeper, its breathing suddenly slowed, blood flowed in great quantities on its black fleece already strewn with bullet holes. Then, after a final roar of agony, the Minotaur toppled over and finally collapsed, forever inert and defeated.
Kurtis fell forward onto his knees and hands, gasping for breath. It took him several seconds to regain his senses, and for the whole place to become quiet around him again. His gaze fell on the huge inert mass that had collapsed in the middle of the arena, then stopped on Lara lying on the ground a little further away. He struggled to his feet and staggered to her. He dropped to his knees beside her, and noticed immediately blood on her forehead. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her towards him. She was still stunned, her eyes were half closed.
"Lara!", he said, stroking her hair and face.
Kurtis felt panic rise inside him as the adventuress didn't move. He held her more tightly and turned her face to him. Her head rolled to one side and she grunted. She blinked several times. She felt the mercenary's warm hand against her cheek. She winced. Her whole body ached, and her head was hurting like hell. She could feel blood flowing on her face. When she raised her hand to touch it, Kurtis gently stopped her. Lara's eyes gradually opened, and found themselves in those of the mercenary.
"Fair enough, that was worth a T Rex," the young man finally said.
Despite the circumstances, Lara could not hold back a smile, and the American gave her a charming smirk back. She stood up slowly, helped by the young man. They took a moment to take a look around. The huge carcass of the Minotaur formed an imprecise mass in the shadows not far away.
Even though her body protested greatly, Lara suddenly got to her feet and started to walk around the arena, limping. Kurtis, a bit surprised, tried to hobble after her.
"What is it?", he asked, frowning.
He followed Lara, who was walking with difficulty. Her panicked eyes looked in all directions without coming to a stop at any moment.
"Nothing. That's the problem...", she answered in a weak voice.
"What d'you mean?"
Lara walked all around the arena, but the walls around them remained smooth and closed. They were still trapped in the arena, there was no way out. The young woman approached the corpse of the Minotaur, somewhat suspicious. But the beast was dead.
"We have defeated the monster and nothing is happening," she explained to the mercenary who joined her.
"I don't understand."
She ran a hand through her hair, thinking quickly.
"This kind of ordeal is meant to deactivate protection systems. Or at least, in general. When you kill the boss, you access another part of the sanctuary, an object... or whatever. Anyway it's supposed to trigger something else, it's a global mechanism, you understand?"
The young man glanced around him, and could not help but notice the obvious in the silence that surrounded them. The arena was perfectly calm, and they were still stuck here.
"Nothing's happened," he said.
Lara shook her head in exasperation.
"Are you telling me it was all for nothing?"
Her gaze met that of the mercenary, who seemed just as distraught as she was. Lara felt doubt suddenly creep over her.