Croft Manor
Lara Croft drove her blue motorcycle through the expansive and serene English countryside towards her humble abode. It was still just after noon and the sky was dark and grey. When Lara arrived in London that morning, the city was enveloped in a large bank of fog and there was a small drizzle of rain. Luckily the rain did not last very long, otherwise Lara would have found it rather difficult getting back home on her motorcycle. However, the fog persisted and limited Lara's scope of sight.
I knew I should've stayed in India! Lara thought to herself. At least the weather there is nice and warm! Oh well, at least I have a fireplace.
Although she had the option to stay another night in Calcutta, Lara decided that it would be best if she left during the evening instead of the following morning. Apart from being annoyed by Larson, she wanted to have enough time to get all of her belongings together and to see if the delivery men have helped put some of her belongings into storage. When Lara left a few days ago, the main foyer of her mansion was piled with dozens of wooden crates, all of which contained precious and valuable relics from her travels around the world. She hoped that by now that all of the crates would be out of the way so that she could use the downstairs halls without climbing over the crates.
Lara stopped her motorcycle as soon as she pulled in front of the brick wall perimeter that surrounded her mansion and walked over to the gate and entered the code to open it. When the large front gate stood ajar, Lara hopped back onto her motorcycle and pulled into the lovely driveway leading to the front door of her mansion. Made largely of reddish brick and standing over a hundred feet tall, the exterior of Lara's house was nonetheless impressive. Just above the front entrance was a large and beautiful window that looked into the main foyer and also many other windows, each looking into a different room of the house. Lara's front garden boasted a large, beautiful fish fountain that poured water from its mouth. During the summer, when Lara was not busy reading in her study, she would sometimes go outside and lie next to the pouring water and fall asleep for an hour or two. She would even go outside during a clear night and gaze up at the stars with a telescope and listen to the relaxing water. But now, as autumn progressed, the leaves on the trees have since started withering away and the cold weather made it difficult to keep the water in the fountain flowing.
Lara's garden also boasted a giant hedge maze in which she would get herself lost whenever she was not busy doing archeology. Lara even went so far as to install a secret passage underneath the maze which would take her to a secluded and private area where she would relax and sometimes throw a party with some good friends. Parties at the Croft Manor were very rare, only because Lara was always travelling; but they were always fun. Along the backside of the mansion was another beautiful tree-filled garden where Lara was considering installing a custom-built assault course for her to practice her gymnastics. Still, she enjoyed the beautiful scenery that it offered.
"I wonder if Winston is home." Lara said to herself as she walked in the front door and slipped her shoes off. The overhead chandelier was turned on, but to her dismay, there were still crates lying across the foyer piled on top of each other.
"Blasted crates!" Lara said. "Looks like I'm going to have to unpack these myself. Great!"
Suddenly, Lara turned to her left and saw something that was not present before. Standing just next to the front door was the Ark of the Covenant, Lara's most recent discovery. It was widely known from the Bible that this legendary wooden chest had carried the original Ten Commandments. Now, it was in standing in Lara's mansion undisturbed, just as it had been for millennia deep underground in the Middle East.
"I was wondering when this would arrive." Lara said as she examined the Biblical chest. "This really was quite a find!"
Lara could not help but admire it for a few more moments before she decided to go up the grand staircase to the music room. Inside was a large piano and harp inside, where Lara would often practice her musical talents. But she was not in the mood for playing any instruments. She turned left and walked up another small set of stairs and entered the study. This is where Lara would spend most of her time working when she was not travelling. Unlike the Spartan walls of the music room, which were white and cold-looking, the study had wooden brown walls with many paintings hanging from them. Looking around, one might think they were in a college dormitory at Oxford. Inside the room was a large bookshelf containing volumes upon volumes of old books about mythology and ancient civilizations dating as far back as the 1800's all the way up to the current year (1996). There were also two large reading tables and a large fireplace, complete with a rack of fire utilities and a stack of dry chopped wood. Lara took a few blocks of wood and kindling and threw them into the fire place. She then took a lighter from one of the drawers inside one of the reading tables and started the burning process. A few minutes later, Lara had a nice and comfortable fire to relax by.
"Maybe I'll slip into something more comfortable." Lara said to herself.
After a quick change into a pair of expensive gym clothes, Lara went back up to the study and started searching through her bookshelf and found a book about ancient mythological legends. She turned the pages until she came across the Legend of Atlantis.
"This is it!" Lara said. "I knew I've seen this before."
Lara read the legend over and over again. Each time she read it, she was becoming more excited about the trip to Peru. Natla's words kept ringing through her head like a bell, taunting her with ever-growing anticipation of the days to come. She knew that in that time frame, the existence of Qualopec's tomb and the Scion of Atlantis would more than likely become her next great discovery. As time went by, the fire started to dwindle away and the sky outside casted an orange light into the room as the late afternoon sun started to poke through the stubborn clouds. Lara decided to stand up and stretch, after which she decided to take a leisurely break in her gym downstairs.
"It's sure quiet in here." Lara said as she made her way down the stairs. "Winston is probably not back from town yet. He did say he was going to prepare supper tonight. I wonder what it will be."
Lara stepped onto the cold blue-and-white checkered floor and started climbing over the giant wooden crates, being careful not to get any splinters in her bare feet. After making her way around the wooden obstacles, Lara was finally able to step into the left hallway leading to her personal gymnasium, which at one time used to be the ballroom. Inside the giant room were three windows on the far wall that looked into the back garden. There were also wooden ramps and blocks which Lara would practice her jumping skills. She started walking up the ramp labeled "1" and stopped at the white line before jumping down onto the second ramp, labeled "2".
"That was easy." Lara said to herself as she walked up to the end of ramp "2" and observed the wooden block ahead of her. This was where she would perform a standing jump and grab the ledge of the block, which Lara had already mastered hundreds of times. She stood right at the white line and jumped for the wooden block, grabbing the ledge before falling back down to the ground.
"I'm getting better at this." Lara said to herself, pulling herself up and then jumping back down to ramp "3".
"This one I can do a running jump." Lara said as she walked to the white line. She then took a step back and ran to the edge before jumping at the last step. She landed squarely on the block next to ramp "4".
"Right, this is a really big one." Lara said, knowing that this jump required her to grab the ledge of the next block while performing a running jump. She managed well with these kinds of jumps, but every once in a while she would fail to reach the ledge and fall to the ground. Luckily, these kinds of incidents hardly happened with Lara. As she reached the edge of the ramp, she took a deep breath and took a step back before making a giant leap. Lara quickly reached for the wooden block and successfully grabbed the edge, pulling herself up.
"Nice." Lara said to herself. "I've definitely gotten better at this."
Lara jumped down and turned her attention towards to the far corner of the room over by the entrance to her indoor swimming pool. There was a ramp labeled "5" and above it was small gap which Lara must shimmy to the right to reach and pull up onto the high ledge at the end as part of her exercise routine. Lara did just that and was able to climb on top of the high ledge where her head almost touched the ceiling.
"I should probably get down now." she said.
Lara got onto her knees, facing away from the wall grabbing onto the edge of the platform and let herself hang down before dropping back to the floor.
"I think I'll go for a swim." Lara said.
From her indoor gymnasium, Lara stepped into her Greek-themed indoor swimming area. At the far end of the room was a giant statue of the Greek god of the Sea, Poseidon shining under the light that coming in through the transparent glass ceiling. It was enough to make any visitor envious.
"Maybe someday I'll get a diving board installed in this room." Lara said. "But for now, I guess this will have to do."
After taking a deep breath, Lara performed a swan dive and splashed into the refreshing water. After about half a minute of swimming underwater, Lara surfaced and caught her breath. She swam to the edge of the pool and climbed out, her clothes dripping wet. She looked and saw Winston, the butler, standing at the doorway.
"Winston, you're back!" Lara said.
"So are you, Miss Croft." he replied. "What on earth happened to you? You're dripping wet."
"I…uh…fell in." Lara said, slightly embarrassed.
"Well, what can I say?" Winston said. "Accidents happen, right?"
"Yes, indeed." Lara replied.
"By the way, Miss Croft, I did manage to go out of my way to find us large turkey for supper tonight." Winston said. "It may be more than a few hours before I actually serve it though."
"That's fine, Winston." Lara said. "I'm not in any rush whatsoever. I just need to get out of these wet clothes!"
"Might I fetch you a towel?" Winston asked. "Perhaps a little beans on toast for a little evening snack?"
"Yes, that would be wonderful." Lara said.
"I'll be back momentarily." Winston said.
A few minutes later, Winston returned with a dry towel for Lara to dry herself with. He also brought her a plate with beans on toast, which he placed next to Lara, who was sitting on a small bench.
"So, how was that trip to India?" Winston asked.
"It was great." Lara said. "That is, until I met up Larson Conway with an intriguing offer."
"An offer, you say?" Winston questioned. "What kind of offer?"
"He and Natla, CEO of Natla Technologies, hired me to retrieve an artefact called the Scion from an unfound tomb in Peru."
"I take it you're leaving first thing tomorrow?" Winston asked.
"Yes." Lara replied. "I wish I could stay, but this prospect is right up my alley and I can't say no to it."
"Do you need me to get your belongings together?" Winston asked.
"No, that's fine. I can get my stuff in order." Lara said. "But, thank you."
"The pleasure's all mine Miss Croft." Winston said. "By the way, the turkey is in the oven right now. It should be done cooking by nine o'clock this evening."
"Alright," Lara said. "In the meantime, I should put on a new pair of clothes and start repacking my belongings for my trip tomorrow. I'm going to need some climbing gear, and probably my dual pistols. You never know what can go wrong during a trip in the Andes Mountains."
"Well, be extremely carefully over there." Winston said. "I've always feared for your life ever since you survived that plane crash years ago. I don't want to see you die anytime soon."
"I'll be fine, Winston." Lara said, taking a bit of her toast. "Really, I will be."
"Oh, I believe you, Miss Croft." Winston said. "It just makes me nervous that one of your enemies is inviting you to Peru under suspicious circumstances."
"Larson won't be there." Lara said. "It's just going to be me there, along with a local guide."
"If you say so…" Winston replied. "I should probably go check on our supper. I'll let you get your things together."
"Alright, Winston," Lara said. "I'll do that after I finish eating this. It shouldn't take me too long."
With that said Winston left the room and headed for the kitchen. Lara finished her snack and headed up to her bedroom to put on some dry clothes and repack her suitcase. She then started to think about what Winston had told her and realized that something was not quite right with this picture. However, Lara was unable to put her finger on it.
This chapter definitely brings back memories from the first Tomb Raider, where Lara's house was featured as a training level for players to acquire basic game techniques. I did include everything that was featured in the game, including the familiar ramps and blocks that Lara would practice her jumping, her classic indoor swimming pool, as well as the Ark of the Covenant relic by the front door. But I also included extra material to add to the story plot, including Winston who did not make an appearance in the first game. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I can't wait until Lara's real adventure begins...again:)
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