Three Days Later

The day was crisp and clear, the sun high in the sky and Nate trailed behind Sully and Mia with Gansukh out in front, leading them on a route that descended down the Altai Mountains until they exited exactly where they had entered. Their snow-dusted rental car still hidden where they left it a week ago.

Gansukh pointed to the car and said something, Nate nodded assuming he was asking if that was their car, as if there would be other cars just around the corner. Gansukh smiled and Nate held out his hand, thanking him for everything he had done for them. Gansukh shook it and then gave him a bone-crushing hug. Nate silently complained as his bandaged ribs protested, and then he did the same to Sully and Mia. He waved and, adjusting his pack, disappeared back into the Altai Mountains.

"Well that was a hell of a ride" Sully said. His face was bruised but otherwise he was his normal self, complaining about the trek down the mountain. He turned back towards the mountain where Gansukh had disappeared looking forlorn, "Shame about the treasure though."

Nate chuckled, he wasn't concerned about Sully, he seemed to have recovered fully after spending the night at the nomad village. Whatever they put in their suutei tsai seemed to have cleared his head, Nate's as well. He thought back to when he arrived at the village and how, after drinking the tea his own desires for the Crown Jewels seemed to reset. Though it was a close call in the end and it almost cost him his life. Now he no longer heard those voices in his head.

"No point crying over spilt milk" he said.

"There is a lot of point crying over 24 karat spilt milk" Sully grumbled. "I don't have any money left over from the Kamehameha job."

He adjusted the animal skin pack the nomads had given him, filled with food, water and a sleeping bag for the trek that had taken them two nights. After they escaped the destroyed city, Gansukh led them back to his village where they were tended to and fed enough food that Nate felt like he would explode. While there was still an enormous language barrier, when he asked Gansukh why he had come back Nate got the impression it was because he saved his life from the Ezemshsen back at the old village.

They approached the car, dusting off the dormant snow.

"Who has the keys?" Sully asked.

Nate checked his pockets, but they were empty except for the scrap of paper he found in the throne room. The note he had forgotten about until now. He looked pleadingly at Mia but she just shrugged.

Oh shit

"Guess we walk. Can't be too far to the nearest town" he said half-heartedly.

Sully stuck one of his cigars in his mouth and lit it, "Lead on."

They began walking towards the road.

"Where did you even find a cigar here of all places?" Mia eventually asked Sully.

Pulling the cigar out of his mouth he said with a smile, "I never travel anywhere without them."

"Is that true?" Mia asked.

But Nate wasn't really listening, he was reading the note he found.

"Nate?"

He looked up, "What? Oh, yeah, always has the smelly things with him. First thing in his suitcase."

"What have you got there, kid?" Sully asked.

He showed them the page, "It's Cook's last diary entry."

"No kidding? What does it say?"

Nate read:

I fear I have made a grave mistake creating this city. What was intended to be a beginning has turned everyone against me. I have killed everyone but my closest servants, that will prevent more of those creatures from appearing. They can't turn into them if they are dead.

But despite the grace I have given my servants they still betrayed me. I found one searching my possessions in my room. He claimed he was cleaning but I ran him through and withdrew to my throne where I know the Crown Jewels, and myself, will be safe. The rest of the servants and whoever else may remain can fend for themselves against those vile creatures.

As I sit here I think about all I have done, my journey, the departure of my dear friend Charles Clerke and I realise I have never written down what happened once I found the Crown Jewels. In brief moments I wonder if Charles was right. He tried to tell me to forget the search but I was ordered to do so and to disobey my King is tantamount to treason.

Though, in the end, I disobeyed the King anyway. I found the Jewels here where the Mongol - Batu Khan - hid them, his skeletal body sitting on this very throne wearing the Crown Jewels like the savage thought he was some regal king.

I decided not to return to the King. Instead I saw potential in this remote area to build my own city and reign as my own King. I had the Crown Jewels, I had an existing city, dilapidated and primitive, yes, but a city nonetheless and one I could easily fix up over the years. Which I did. The materials were brought in, labourers hired with the gold I discovered in this throne room and soon people were brought over. There were not many, but it was a mixture of the local nomads and the English and if all went according to plan a thriving, self-sustaining city would be the result.

Alas, my dreams were quickly dissolved. Those creatures seemed endless, and I soon discovered why and that was the end of the dream, not even 10 years passed when I set off on this journey and it will all come to an end soon.

These creatures, Ezemshsen the locals called them, were the remnants of the Mongols Batu Khan brought here. Hundreds of years old and desperate to get to the Crown Jewels. They may be immortal, their desire powering them on, but the Jewels cursed them to this life, and they would never stop until they achieved their goals. This was their fate, and soon to be the fate of those who still live.

I realise in my haste to get here I brought no food and no water. I hear them banging on the door. There is no doubt that it is those accursed creatures, but they will never get in. The secret to the door is far too elaborate for them to open.

The Crown Jewels are sitting in a pile in front of me and I have come to realise I have never worn them. A King who has never worn a crown is utterly preposterous. If I am to die here, then I shall die wearing my treasures...

King James Cook

April 30, 1789

Nate put down the letter, "That's it" he said.

Sully let out a breath, "So he just sat on his throne until he died?"

Nate nodded, "Looks like it".

"That's rough."

"And I suspect the same would have happened to Miraç Khanoğlu or Kelvin Spence if they had sole possession of the Crown Jewels, "Mia said. "Or..."

Nate looked at her, "Or one of us" he finished for her.

She nodded.

"I only would have died because of Nate" Sully said smugly.

"Hey, I told you to go" Nate shot back.

"I was well on my way."

Nate scoffed, "You said you weren't leaving."

"That was just for final comfort. I had one foot out of the door."

Nate grinned, "You were gonna die with me, I saw tears and if that's not a true partnership then I don't know what is."

Sully snorted but said nothing, though underneath his push broom moustache there was the hint of a smile.

Nate turned to Mia, "You might be right," he admitted.

Sully squeezed between them and clapped them on the shoulders, "All's well that ends well" he said happily. "Though some treasure would have been nice. Even a single coin."

"You still have the Solidus," Mia reminded him.

"Great" he grumbled. "Five hundred bucks. That'll set me up for one night."

"I'll drink to that," Mia said taking a swig of her waterskin. She replaced the cap and then asked, "So, what's next for Nathan Drake and Victor Sullivan?"

The two treasure hunters looked at each other and then shrugged in unison, "First things first" Nate said handing Cook's final letter to Mia. "This belongs to you. With everything else we collected along the journey that should prove everything that happened from the day King John decided to steal them for himself.

"You should be able to at least verify the city in the mountains. Plus, you have Cook's diary."

Mia took the page, carefully folded it and put it in Cook's diary, "Thanks."

"Then we clear our names" Sully said.

"Should be easy enough with Mia's testimony and a long trail of Khanoğlu's dead mercenaries from Poland to Mongolia."

"And after that it's a cold beer in a warm place" Sully said.

"Like Hawaii?" Mia said playfully.

Sully held up his hands, "Ahh maybe somewhere non-extradition, just until everything is sorted. I hear Vanuatu is nice this time of year."

Mia laughed and then asked, "What about you Nate? Beach and Beers?"

"Maybe" he said. His hand subconsciously went to the ring tethered around his neck and he fingered the cool metal and thought about Captain Cook and Miraç Khanoğlu and all the others who had come into possession of the Crown Jewels and the all-consuming obsession they had with finding and keeping them for themselves. He wondered if his own adventuring was a similar obsession. Could he stop? Did he want to stop?

He immediately knew the answer to the latter, it was a resounding no. He was young, he travelled the world following in the footsteps of great, and not-so-great men, uncovering long lost secrets, conspiracies and, of course, treasure. That was a life others could only dream of. Sure, it was dangerous but that just added to the thrill of it all.

But whether he would stop when the time came? Well he'd need a pretty big reason to stop. He would just have to wait until the time came and decide then.

A cold wind blew, and he turned up the collar on his jacket and together the three of them walked along the road, waiting for the next passer-by to pick them up.