Into the Abyss

Lara slowly walked into the darkness until her eyes started readjusting to the lighting. There was no sound inside the cave, except for the wind blowing outside just behind the closed door. Looking down at the snowy ground, Lara could see paw prints that were made by the wolves that caused havoc just minutes ago. She decided to retrace their steps, but in reverse.

This place is creepy! Lara thought as she walked further down the tall spacious tunnel. For a moment, she thought she could hear more howling echoing from ahead, but no wolves were seen, thankfully. Lara knew, or at least thought she knew, that the further she ventured the closer she would be to finding Qualopec's tomb, for she was determined to find it, despite her current situation. Lara pulled out her compass to see which way she was going. It read north.

"Well." she said to herself. I sure hope this is the right way! It's impossible to tell just by looking at a compass."

Lara put her compass away and continued walking down the cave, which seemed to slope downward until it flattened out just a little further along. The ground was still covered with snow and ice and bits of rock that chipped from the cave wall after years of weathering and erosion from the elements. Just ahead, Lara was able to see better thanks to a small skylight that let in just a little sunlight from outside. However, the darkness remained prominent and Lara continued moving forward, not sure where she was headed to as the cave started to narrow slightly. That was when Lara noticed nothing strange in the walls.

"What are those holes doing there?" she asked herself. "They shouldn't be there."

Lara took another step forward and the ground suddenly sank beneath her by a few centimeters. Lara looked and saw something poking out from each of the holes and quickly ducked as darts flew out at her from both directions. She ran past the darts and continued down the down the cave as her heart raced from the sudden surprise.

That was too close! Lara thought. There could've been poison in those darts! I'm just glad I didn't get punctured!

Lara continued forward and then made a right turn as the cave suddenly shifted in that direction. Looking ahead, Lara could see a large empty cave area just beyond a rocky oval-shaped opening. Just before the opening was another cave branching out to the left that seemed to lead up to a much darker area. Lara decided to explore the large open cave first to see if she could find anything valuable. The lighting in the room was just as bleak as the previous area, if not a little more. Looking around, there was not much to see except a large rock structure that stood in the northeastern corner of the room that rest next to a dark hole in the wall. Lara decided to go check it out.

"Hmm...This rock seems a little steep for me to step on." Lara said as she contemplated another possible way to make it into the small dark room. She tried jumping and grabbing the ledge, but it was too high for her to reach. She then walked to the far side of the rock structure and climbed on top of it and tried jumping into the room from there. This time, Lara was successful and was able to pull herself into the dark room. She rounded the corner and found a skeleton that looked as though it belonged to another explorer that had gotten lost a while ago. She examined the body and found something in the skeleton's hand that looked like a rolled up piece of paper. Lara picked it up and unrolled it, only to discover that it was not just any piece of paper; it was an old map that seemed to indicate the location of the City of Vilcabamba. Unfortunately, Lara was unable to discern any of the writing that was present, for it had since been worn away and yellowed with age. Still, she decided to keep it just in case.

"Hopefully this map becomes useful later." Lara said. "It least it shows me where I'm going."

Lara climbed out of the small dark room and walked back towards the other cave that branched to the north. She climbed up into another cave passage that was much darker and mysterious than the previous one. Suddenly, a flapping noise was heard echoing through the cave and Lara drew her pistols out of fear. It sounded like wings. Suddenly, Lara was attacked by swarm of three bats that let out ear-piercing screeching sounds. She jumped sideways and aimed her pistols at the flying nuances before firing.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

With three successful shots, Lara watched the bats plop to the ground in front of her. Her heart was once again racing with adrenaline. Although Lara told herself that she was safe from danger, something in the back of her mind was beginning to tell her that things were going to get much worse. Still, Lara was determined enough to keep moving forward.

Continuing from where she left off, Lara then made a left into another cave that was filled with bright snow that had fallen from outside. To the right was another small dark alcove that seemed to be hiding some sort of secret. Once again, the ledge was too high for Lara to simply jump and grab. The only other way she was able to get up was by climbing the wall. So, she climbed the wall and pulled herself into the dark room where she found the carcass of another unlucky explorer.

"What is it with all these dead bodies?" Lara asked herself. "What did they die from?"

Lara searched and found another map that looked identical to the previous map she collected. It was in a slighter better condition and even had a date printed on it.

"August, nineteen forty-five." Lara read to herself. "This person has been dead for over fifty years. How intriguing..."

Lara took the map and climbed out of the dark alcove and exited the bright cave and continued down the other cave where she had not yet ventured. It continued for another fifteen meters or so before the cave ended and made an abrupt left turn. Lara also noticed something else that was peculiar: Scattered all over the ground were fragments of what appeared to be the remains of crafted ancient Inca stone bricks that perhaps used to form a kind of "archway" over the westbound cave. Lara raised an eyebrow at the brick fragments and pulled out the map.

"According to this map, it seems as though I'm not very far into the cave." she said to herself. "But already I can see evidence of a civilization...I must be on the right track then. I just wish there was light in this cave for me to see well! What's this?"

Lara walked over to where the next cave started and was able to discern a dark object on the dark. She found that it was another body. However, there was something different about it compared to the other two she discovered so far.

"This person died fairly recently." Lara said to herself as she began searching the body for any useful survival items. She searched through the rucksack on the dead body and found a pack of standard flares.

"Finally!" Lara said in a relieved tone of voice. "Just what I needed."

Lara took one of the flares from the bundle and stored the rest in her bag, illuminating her surroundings with the flare she carried in her hand in a bright reddish-pink glow. To Lara's surprise, the shirt on the dead body carried the logo for Natla Technologies on it. She was unable to see it before when the cave was dark, but now she was beginning to have strange suspicions.

"When did this happen, I wonder?" Lara said. "How odd..."

New thoughts were racing through Lara's mind. She did not know what to make of the body of the former Natla employee. It was obvious that the person was frozen to death from being exposed to the cold temperatures for far too long. However, Lara had a hard time understanding why one of Natla's employees would be lying dead inside a cavern that is usually blocked off from the outside world by a set of double doors made of stone carved from the mountain. The more she thought about, the more eerie and frightening the cave became. It was overwhelmingly quiet.

Continuing from where she left off, Lara continued down the cave to her left and emerged into a large dark cavern where a single large pillar of rock stood. She was standing from a ledge that overlooked the whole cavern. Still holding the flare, Lara carefully climbed down the rocky to the floor below and started making her way to the other side of the cavern where the ground was lower. She looked around and was surprised to see green ivy climbing the walls of the cave walls. After seeing nothing but snow for a while, the sight of greenery was a welcoming sight for the archaeologist However, there was something else that was even more surprising. Looking down at the ground, Lara saw a gaping hole where the ivy appeared to be growing from. She stooped down and shined the light from her flare into it and saw that it was not that deep and contained a small downward stairway leading to a small hallway where the walls had been constructed by an ancient Inca society many years ago. Lara eagerly climbed down into the hole and followed the ancient tunnel.

"I must be getting closer to the ancient city." Lara said to herself. "Natla isn't going to know what to do when she sees all of this."

Lara reached the end of the hall and was surprised to see an intricately carved stone door that blocked access to what lay in the next area. She tried pushing it open, but it was tightly bound.

"How am I supposed to get through this door?" Lara asked herself. "There has to be a way in."

Lara searched the door for any clues, but did not seem to find anything that would help her. She was about to turn around when she noticed something unusual on the right wall inside the small square-shaped doorway.

Is that a lever switch? Lara thought. How odd.

Lara grabbed hold of the switch and tried pulling it downwards. Suddenly she heard a clicking sound and the door miraculously started opening before her eyes. Lara gasped and drew her pistols when a swarm of screeching bats flew out from behind the door and down the small hall up into the cavern where she had come from. Lara put her pistols away as the adrenaline in her body began to die down. She walked through the doorway and was surprised at what she saw next.

This chapter illustrates and expands upon the first section of the 'Caves' level from the original Tomb Raider game.

Lara has just begun her journey through the caves which are embedded deep within the Andes Mountains. Already, she has made a few interesting discoveries. So far, Lara has found the skeletal remains of two previous explorers that found themselves trapped inside the cave over fifty years ago, each bearing similar maps of the cave system.

Lara also discovered the remains of a third body, which turned out to be the remains of an ex-employee from Natla Technologies that found him/herself trapped inside the mountain at a much more recent date. She was able to scavenge a pack of flares from the corpse to help her see in the dark. Now, Lara is beginning to dive into the workings an ancient Inca society that has been undisturbed for hundreds of years. Little does she know that the real danger is yet to come. See you in the next chapter ;)

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