As you can see I've become quite a bit more active. I've been really inspired lately so I've been writing a lot lately, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you all think of this story so far. (Whoever is reading this lol).
Chapter 9: The Witch
Lara climbed up a very tall jungle tree and looked from her perch. She saw nearly the entire rain forest and one thing that stuck out from it; the crumbling pillar of the ruins. She smiled at them and made her way over. There was broken up stone path that led directly to the entrance of these ruins. Along the sides were crumbling pillars that looked to be of some significance in the past, but are reduced to ancient rubble now. Nature was taking this place back over and it was pretty obvious that this place had not been touched by man in a long time. Vines overtook some of the columns and walls of the ruins. Grass grew very tall where it could and very tropical flowers grew around the bases of the ruins themselves. Lara couldn't help, but sigh at the sight of such a beautiful site.
She made her way to the entrance and stared down into the darkness. Although the beauty of the ruins was breathtaking, the inside of the halls was dark, damp, and unwelcoming. Vianca appeared besides Lara and stared down into the darkness with her. She looked over at Lara with a nervous look.
"Lara, I don't know about this one," She said as she stared down. "This is a worse feeling than the one I got at the last ruin. I don't like it." Lara looked at her and then back down at the ruins.
"At that place we found a few secrets that involved what you went through. If you are getting the same sort of feeling here, then we are on the right track," Lara said as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be ok. I'm here with you. You are not alone and I won't let anything happen to you." Vianca looked down for a second and then nodded softly.
"Alright, let's go," She said in a very hesitant voice. Lara walked down into the ruins with Vianca by her side. They walked for a while before coming into a giant octagonal room. It had stone bricks in the walls, which some were coming out of place leaving gaps in the wall. The floor was made out of one giant stone slab, which was cracked and damaged over the years. There seemed to murals on the walls, each one mainly containing a dark figure. One of these murals caught Vianca's attention. The dark figure was standing in front of a girl in blue. She was appearing to be stabbed directly in the chest and green glow was around her. She placed a hand on her chest and then looked back up at the mural.
"Vianca, over here," Lara called, snapping Vianca out of her trance. Vianca walked over to Lara, who was standing next to a bunch of dusty broken bookshelves. "I think I've found something." She held up a broken necklace that had a green gem. The gem itself was shattered and was wrapped by leather wrappings.
"That's the necklace that the girl mentioned in the journal," Vianca said as she saw it. "Why was this happening? I want to know what made her do this to people." Vianca looked away from the sight, which caused her to notice something. She saw a couple of paintings on the wall, some of which worn and torn, but the frames still hung on the wall. Vianca walked over to them as Lara continued to search through things. She walked over to one of kingly looking man. There was something off about this painting. She grabbed it's edge and lightly pulled on it. It opened up to the side like a door and another room was on the other side.
"Lara, I found something," Lara looked and smiled at her. She jogged over to her and seemed quite pleased with what she had found.
"Are you sure you're not a tomb raider yourself?" Lara asked as she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Usually, I find all the secrets, but you are find them way faster than me." Vianca giggled at the comment and they both walked into the room.
The room itself was dark, but once Lara turned on her flashlight, Vianca was scared out of her mind. The room was had a skeleton of man, who looked to be of some sort of royalty lying on some sort of table and a bit further was a girl hanging up by her arms in a very ancient dress with a stab wound to the heart obviously depicted by her attire. The room was littered with all sorts of phials of weird liquids and odd tools. Vianca backed herself into a corner and wanted to forget everything she just saw.
"That….that….witch," Vianca said as she stared down. "Why is she doing this? Why did she do it to me, to any of these people? Who is she?" Static came from Lara's earpiece and she raised her hand up to it.
"Which one of you is trying to talk?" Lara asked as she listened carefully.
"Lara comfort, Vianca. She is having a breakdown again," Alister said with a very worried voice. Lara looked over at Vianca and notices it. She quickly is by her side trying to calm her down.
"Hey hey, Vianca, it's alright," Lara said as she pulled her into a sort of embrace. "I'm right here, it's ok. I'm not going to let this happen to anyone else. We'll catch this witch before she can do anything else. I promise." Vianca looked at her and then back at the seen before her. She eventually nodded and Lara let go of her. Vianca straightened herself up and looked away sheepishly.
"I'm sorry….I guess this stuff just gets to me…" She said as she looked down. Lara placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly and smiled.
"It's ok, this kind of stuff make us all uneasy. They just affect you a slightly different way than me due to well….you know," Lara said. "I promise you, I won't rest until we get this woman. I will get you your answer, Vianca." Vianca smiled at her slightly and nodded at her.
"Ok, again I'm sorry," Vianca said as she looked back at the scene. "Let's keep going." They searched around the room finding another phial of that black liquid, which Vianca stayed away from. Lara still picked it up and put it her bag.
"I rather me have it than the witch considering the effect it has on you," Lara said as she continued to search. Vianca smiled, but still didn't like the liquid. She opened an old wooden door and looked into the next room. She had an odd feeling coming from that room, but she still managed to push herself through to go in. Lara ended up following in after her and at first they see nothing. Vianca takes a step further into the room and the torches along the wall ignited all at the same time, causing both Lara and Vianca to jump. They see shelves with phial of liquids and other objects, but one thing that caught Lara's eye was an ornate looking knife sitting on a pedestal. They walked up to it, but Vianca stopped and refused to get any closer to it. "Vianca, what's wrong?"
"That knife…." Vianca said quietly, but loud enough to be heard. She just stared at the knife as if she was looking into fear itself. As if fear had manifested itself into a ugly scary creature and was staring down at her. She knew what that knife was….she knew exactly what that knife was. "That's….the knife that she…." Lara looked back at the knife and sees what she meant. She remembered the knife. This was the knife that killed her, her murder weapon. Lara took the handle and picked it up, causing Vianca to take step away. Lara put the knife in her bag and then turned to Vianca.
"She will never use this knife again. I won't allow her to use it on anyone else," Lara said as she stared at Vianca. "I promised you that no one else would be hurt like this." Vianca looked down at and smile somewhat. She turned around and looked around.
"Lara...we should go…" Vianca said as she backed up a bit. Lara looked around confused. "There's someone here." Lara looked around a bit for some sort of hiding place. She saw a closet and went over to it quickly. She opened it and sees there is just enough room for Lara to fit in comfortably.
"Vianca, go into the amulet, I'll hide here," Lara said as she got into the closet. Vianca nodded and disappeared into the amulet. Lara waited in the closet with and listened. She heard someone walk into the room. The sound of heels was very distinct then a sound of distress came from a very feminine voice.
"Where is it!?" The woman said as the sound of the footsteps sounded a slightly bit further. "Who took my knife!?" Lara's eyes widened at the sound of those words. That was the witch, in the room with her.