Chapter 5: Angel Vail
Lara climbed up one of the broken spires that reached for the sky. She stood up and stared over the ruins of an ancient temple. It to be about 100 years old at least and was obviously in ruins. She found a way down and began to walk down the broken path to the temple itself. The temple was perched on top of the a mountain pass and the locals often said that it was cursed. Lara placed a finger on her ear piece.
"Ok, I'm here. Are these the ruins Zip?" Lara asked as she waited for a response.
"Yeah, thats the Temple of Zinhaku of Japan. It's a very old temple and has been abandoned for literally centuries," Zip said in his usual calm tone. "It's said that a tribe of natives use to worship here, but then suddenly up and vanished. The fun part is that to this day, no one has figured out what has happened to them."
"That would explain why the surrounding villages think that this place is cursed. That kind of legend would've scared anyone away from these ruins," Lara said as she continued to walk towards the temple's entrance.
"Anyone except you," Zip added with a bit of a chuckle. Lara laughed a bit as well and looked at the entrance to the temple. The gem of the amulet began to glow somewhat.
"I don't know how I feel about this, Lara," Vianca's voice said in a nervous tone. Lara looked down at the amulet with a bit of a surprised look.
"I didn't expect you to be able to talk to me, considering that you said you only could speak with Alister," Lara said as she continued to look at the amulet.
"Hey, I can talk to you can't I...hm curious," Vianca said with the same confused tone. "I guess I can only speak to whoever has the amulet. This is strange but I guess good in your case." Lara smiled down at the amulet and the looked at the entrance.
"Well then, let's get into this temple," Lara said. "I know you don't know if this is a good idea, Vianca, but if we are to find anything out then we have to go to places that can lead us to answers." Vianca was silent, but knew she was right. Lara went into the ruins, unknowing of what lied inside.
It looked like a simple walk through, but Lara knew better than that. She picked up a small rock and tossed it forward a bit. It landed a bit away and a couple spears came down on it and made a loud clang-like noise.
"Oh my," Vianca said as she sees the spikes come up. "I'll try to keep an eye out for traps. I don't know how I was able to see the dangers before so I'll try to let you know." Lara nodded and proceeded forward through the ruins.
After awhile of traps and Vianca's warning of dangers. Lara came to a chamber that caught her interest. It was a large circular room with murals on the ceilings with odd language in each one.
"Alister, can you translate this?" Lara asked as she looked at each mural.
"It's in the ancient writing of the native people here. It says something of a prophecy," He answered. "It says a dark one will rise in great power in the arts of the shadows of forbidden practice. They will use those around them to gain more power. They would sacrifice that of fair and royal blood in order to gain power far greater than they imagine. The world would be in their evil clutches." The amulet around Lara's neck glowed that green and Vianca appeared near. She wasn't looking at the murals but at something else in the room.
"What is it, Vianca?" Lara asked as she looked at her spirit friend. Vianca pointed toward the center of the room. Lara looked and sees what she is staring at. There was a three rectangle tables in the middle of the room. The ones on the left and right seemed to have some sort of medieval equipment on them. It was the center one that she was interested in. The center had a skeleton on it. Vianca walked up to the skeleton and looked at it. The skeleton itself was wearing torn and aged royal like clothes.
This is how my father died. Lying on a stone table with a stab wound into the heart," Vianca said in a sorrowful voice, as she traced the area of the cloth where the knife obviously went through. "Then it was my turn." Lara walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's alright, Vianca. We'll set this right," Lara said reassuringly. "We just need to figure out what exactly went on here." Vianca stiffened and looked towards Lara but not quite at her. Lara looked confused. Vianca's eyes widened as she realizes what was happening.
"Lara!" She yelled and went in front of her with her arms out forward. A green like vail or field came over the two as multiple gunshots are heard.
"Who is shooting at us?" Lara said as she got out her pistols. Vianca looked forward to see men in some sort of black clothes.
"They all have black clothes and are carrying those guns Alister talked about," Vianca said as she kept the protecting field up. Lara got ready to jump over the table for cover.
"Vianca, when I tell you to, go back into the amulet," Lara instructed. Knowing that she could not disagree with her, Vianca nodded and awaited for Lara's command. Lara took a deep breath. "Now!" Lara began to run and Vianca disappeared into the amulet. Lara dove over the table and hid behind the stone for cover for the shots being shot at her.
She shot back a couple times, being able to kill a couple. Vianca reappeared right behind Lara to bring up a smaller version of the protective shield to block some bullets coming at her from behind. Lara smiled a bit seeing that this would be a little easier than her normal encounters.
After a while Lara stood there breathing a little heavy after the long fight. Vianca stood near her looking around at the mayhem. Lara put her guns away and placed a hand on Vianca's shoulder, causing her to look at Lara.
"I know that this isn't an easy sight to look at, but it was either us or them," Lara said. Vianca nodded slowly to agree. Something in one of the men's hands caught Vianca's eye, which she pointed out to Lara.
"He has something on him," She said as she pointed to the dead man on the stone ground. Lara looked and sees it too. She walked over and grabbed the paper in the man's hand. "What does it say?" Lara began to read the note aloud.
"This is a direct order from the boss. She wants the one in the tomb dead, no exceptions. She will have an ancient artifact with her. The artifact has to be retrieved unharmed at all costs.
Signed D"
"They were sent to kill you, Lara," Zip said. "I'm mean like hitman style."
"We have bigger problems than that, Zip," Lara said. "They weren't just after me. They said something about an artifact. I think they are referring to the amulet, or should I say Vianca." Vianca looked down at the men again, noticing this was most likely caused because of her.
"I….I didn't want," Vianca said as she looked away. "I didn't want anyone to get hurt like this…." Vianca continued to look down at her feet. Lara looked at her and sees the sorrow in her eyes. Lara walked over to her and got her to look up at her.
"Hey, it'll be ok," Lara said, she placed a finger to her ear piece. "Zip, Alister, we need to figure out what happened here and quick. No doubt there will be more of them within the next few hours if they don't hear back from this group."
"Right," They both said. Lara got to work uncover what was going on with the room. Vianca went over to a wall to stay out of the way, but still near enough to Lara that she didn't get pulled straight back due to the amulet. She looked at the wall as Lara continued to work. She could tell something was off about the placements of the bricks. It had a different pattern than the rest of the room. She began to feel about the wall trying to find something. She found a small brick that was loose. She smiled a bit and tried pulling out, but it didn't budge. Then, she pushed it and a loud rumbling was heard. Lara turned around and sees a secret stone door entrance opening up before her. Vianca standing in the middle of it. She turned around and smiled.
"I found something," She said proud of herself. Lara smiled and walked over to her.
"Good job, Vianca," Lara said. "Now, there are probably going to be traps and dangers up ahead. I'll probably be busy solving the puzzles to them. You'll guard my back?" Vianca nodded and they both walked down the stairs into the rest of the ruins.