A New Adventure Begins...But with Consequences

Lara and Carlos continued into the high mountains and watched as the clouds began to roll in from the other side. As they climbed over large boulders and rocky obstacles, Lara could not help but think of what Natla said to her back in India. She was right alright. The mountains were indeed vast. She also noticed large piles of snow along the trail as the temperature began to drop and the wind started picking up tremendously. Her alpaca cloak flew gracefully in the cold icy wind, exposing Lara to extreme cold. But Lara did not seem to be affected by it at all.

"Aren't you cold back there?!" Carlos called from ahead of Lara.

"No Carlos, I'm fine!" Lara called back. "I'm used to it!"

"We're almost to the entrance!" Carlos called out. "We just have to make it past another mountain ridge and make our way up from there! It's not as difficult as it sounds!"

"Don't worry about it!" Lara called back. "I'm pretty sure I can handle it!"

Carlos chuckled as they both continued up the mountain side. As they continued climbing higher and higher, the clouds started to cover the sun and fog started to blur their visibility. The ground beneath them was becoming really icy and snowy making their navigation much more difficult. Soon, Lara felt the first snowflake land on her hand as snow started falling from the battleship-grey sky.

"It's starting to snow!" Lara said.

"Yep!" Carlos said. "But where we're going, we'll be above the clouds!"

"Will it be hard to breathe?!" Lara asked.

"Oh, don't worry, Miss Croft!" Carlos called back. "We won't be that high up in the mountains. The clouds are just really low. Once we reach the city entrance, I think we have nothing to worry about, except maybe finding ourselves falling off the mountain cliff. But neither of us is dumb enough to do that!"

"That's very true!" Lara replied. Don't know if I can say the same for Larson though…Oh well. If only I knew exactly what Larson was up to, IF he's up to anything.

Lara thought for another moment as she continued walking behind Carlos.

Why was Larson so insistent of not climbing the mountain with us? Something just doesn't add up. Could he be trying to kill me? Wait a second…if Larson really wanted to kill me, he would've done that in Rome! Unless…

Lara's thoughts started to race.

The snow was now blasting both Lara and Carlos as the winds became ever worse. They had just passed over the mountain ridge and were now climbing ever higher up another mountain, where the snow was no longer patchy and they were walking through a large ice cap. Lara's cheeks were now a rosy red as her face tried to keep warm and she could feel goose bumps developing all over her body.

It's a little chillier than I imagined! Lara thought to herself. At least it isn't too cold out here!

Lara and Carlos continued higher for a few more minutes when the fog started to get brighter. As they got higher up the hill, then sun started peeking through and the fog started to clear, revealing the beautiful sky in all its glory. Lara put on her round sunglasses to keep the sun from shining in her eyes and also to keep the bright white snow from blinding her.

"We're almost there!" Carlos shouted from up ahead. "Just a few more steps and we'll be there!"

Standing near the edge of a cliff, Lara admired the spectacular vista of the white Andes poking out from the thick clouds just below. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold and it reminded her of her journeys through the Himalayas. The temperature had also risen since they both exited the fog bank, though the wind was still strong and snow was still falling from the sky.

"Lara! Over here!" Carlos called out. "We're here!"

Lara walked over to Carlos, who seemed to be looking at the side of another tall mountain. Lara looked closer and saw that he was actually looking at a large stone door that had been carved out of the very stone that made the mountain itself. There were three strange symbols above the door: a bird, a sun, and a face.

"Wow!" Lara said. "Who would've known that the door was hiding in plain sight?"

"Probably the people that built the city, which to my knowledge is behind that large door." Carlos said. "We haven't found a way to open it yet."

"Are you sure that the city of Vilcabamba is behind that door?" Lara said. "I'm starting to become a little sceptical."

"All the evidence that we've gathered over the years points us here." Carlos said. "I don't see why it wouldn't be here."

"Hmm…" Lara said, looking back up to the strange-looking Incan symbols. "There has to be a way to open this door."

Suddenly, she had an idea.

"Those symbols seem to be the key." Lara said. "Something tells me that the secret to opening the door is hidden up there."

"Really?" Carlos said. "What makes you think that?"

"I'm not sure." Lara said. "Has anyone else been able to climb up there to get a closer look?"

"No." Carlos said.

"May I see your rope and grapple hook?" Lara asked. "I think I'm going to check it out."

"Yes." Carlos said. "You're the expert, after all."

"Thank you." Lara replied.

Carlos handed her the rope, followed by the large grapple that would be used to climb the mountain with. Lara tied a knot around the hook and through it high into the air for it to catch the edge of the small platform just above the door. Once the rope was secure, Lara started climbing up the mountain.

"Be careful up there!" Carlos called from down below.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" Lara called back as she neared the three symbols above the large set of double doors. Lara examined the bird symbol, but found nothing peculiar about it. Still holding on to the rope, Lara reached out and examined the sun symbol, but it too did not show anything unusual.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?!" Carlos asked.

"No." Lara called back. "All I know is that there is a way to open this door."

"I should've brought some explosives!" Carlos said sarcastically.

Lara laughed.

"You know, that would ruin some valuable archaeological history!" Lara said.

"Hey, at least I'm not the one that raids tombs for a living!" Carlos said.

Lara laughed again. "Touché."

As Lara reached over towards the face symbol, she noticed strange about the round mouth piece. Barely being able to reach, Lara touched the mouth and surprised that it was able to be pushed into the wall. A loud click was heard and the mountain started to shake.

"What's going on?!" Carlos asked.

"I don't know!" Lara replied. "I think I found the switch to open the door!"

Sure enough, the giant stone doors started to open, revealing a dark cave on the other side. Carlos looked up and down the scene with utter amazement. He could not believe that Lara had opened the door.

"You opened the door, Miss Croft!" Carlos shouted. "You did it!"

Suddenly, an unforgiving howling sound was heard coming from the dark cave Carlos looked and saw three sets of glowing yellow eyes coming straight at him.

"Is everything alright down there?" Lara asked from above as she continued dangling from the rope. "Carlos?"

Carlos watched as three wolves emerged from the dark and started charging at him with hungry eyes. He screamed in terror as one of the wolves jumped at him with snapping jaws. Lara looked down and her eyes widened as she saw the horror developing before her eyes.

"HELP! HELP!" Carlos shouted from below as a wolf grabbed him by the arm and pulled him to the ground.

"CARLOS!" she shouted. Quickly, she took out a small knife and cut the rope that kept her dangling from the mountain. As she fell, the alpaca skin that kept her warm flew off and Lara quickly drew her pistols and started firing at the wolves in a blaze of gunfire.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

One wolf fell dead as Lara finally landed on the ground with a slightly injured ankle. She fired at the other two wolves but kept missing. She became furious.

"Come on, you bloody wolves! DIE ALREADY!" she shouted.

Finally, after two more shots, the other two wolves met their fate and Lara put her pistols back in her holsters. She ran over to Carlos's bloody body and listened to his final words.

"My…time…is…short." Carlos said. "I can't…carry on…any…longer…You must find Qualopec's tomb…before…"

"Before what?" Lara asked.

"Before…"

As Carlos tried to finish his sentence, he took his final breath and fell silent. Carlos was dead.

"Damn…" Lara uttered under her own breath as fought the tears that were developing in her eyes. Feeling guilty for what had just happened, she took the alpaca skin that she wore and used it to cover his body in a ceremonial manner.

"Rest in peace." she whispered, wiping the tears from her face.

After paying her respects to Carlos, Lara got back onto her feet and starred into the dark cave just beyond the double doors. Walking slowly into the cave she suddenly noticed that it was getting much darker. She quickly turned around.

BANG!

The door had closed behind her, sealing her inside the dark, cold cave. Lara took off her sunglasses and raised an eyebrow.

Well, here we go. Lara said to herself as she slowly started walking into the dark abyss ahead of her...

And so begins the first of Lara's classic globetrotting adventures!

I'm glad I am finally able to work on this story again! I've been having too much homework lately, plus my Mario story has been recieving too much attention, so I figured I'd catch up a little on updating this story.

Many of you are probably familiar with this famous cutscene at the start of the game just before Lara enters the caves. I decided to make it a little more dramatic by adding the dialogue after the wolf battle. Carlos was trying to tell Lara something important, but he died before he was able to finish. What was he trying to tell Lara? No one knows.

Now, Lara is trapped inside a dark mountain cave with nowhere else to go but forward. There's no turning back now for our beloved female British archaeologist...stay tuned for the next chapter! It's bound to get more interesting! :)

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