The City Entrance
Lara entered another small dark cave area that seemed utterly desolate until she saw the huge doorway to the right side of the room. Entry was denied because the door way was blocked by huge wooden gateway, but what Lara saw on the other side was beyond her wildest dreams. She could see large hallway with two balconies on either side of the room on top of two large slanted walls on either side of the large walkway. At the end of the walkway, Lara could see a large closed door with strange markings on them. She was unable to tell what they read since they were too far away.
"If only I brought a pair of binoculars." Lara said to herself. "Although, I do have the feeling that I could be looking at the entrance to Vilcabamba. I wonder what that map says."
Lara took out the old map and realized she had traveled its full extent! It was clearly not as big as she thought it was. Lara realized that she was now on the brink of travelling through unknown territory. But as she turned around and looked throughout the small area she was in, there seemed to be no other way to go. That was when Lara noticed a large gaping hole in the upper right ceiling corner on the far side of the room relative to where she was currently standing. She decided to go check it out.
"I bet I can climb this wall." Lara said. "All those years of rock climbing have sure paid off. I just hope that whatever's up there leads me to that large room with the door."
Lara walked over to the corner and climbed the wall until she reached the top where she pulled herself up into another dark alcove that led into a small dark hallway. She became skeptical about where she was going.
"I don't know whether this is the right path or not, but it never hurts to check it out." Lara said to herself, unsure if she could believe everything she said. She slowly and quietly walked down the small tunnel, being careful not to wake up any bats or other creatures that could be lurking. The sound of dripping water could be heard echoing through the small cave. Then, Lara began to see light at the end of the tunnel.
"This tunnel wasn't very long." Lara said. "I wonder where it leads."
Lara emerged into a giant snow-filled cave on a high ledge that extended to her right and continued forward until it abruptly ended. At the end of the ledge was a wooden bridge that extended across the cave and was connected to yet another ledge where stone brickwork and two giant Incan pillars had been carved out of the natural rock. At the end of the ledge was yet another wooden bridge which, like the previous one, extended across the room to another ledge with an opening leading to another strange, unexplored area. The natural skylight in the ceiling let in the continuing snowfall that was present before Lara reached the top of the mountain with Carlos. She could tell that she was once again below the clouds, even though she was inside a mountain.
Looking down to the ground below, Lara saw nothing of interest. Two wolves were seen in the corner sleeping soundly, but the last thing Lara wanted to do was to wake them up, for she had the utmost desire to not return home with a missing limb. Therefore, Lara quietly treaded along the ledge towards the first bridge in hopes of getting to the other side without any negative interference. As she reached the wooden bridge, she tested it to make sure it would not collapse beneath her. She stepped on it once and found it to be relatively stable. Then she took another step. Still stable… By the third step, Lara found herself walking quietly across the bridge with no issues. Then she reached the middle of the bridge and started hearing the rope break.
Oh, bloody hell! Lara thought to herself as the wooden panels began to "sink" below her feet. She tried dashing to the other side to carved ledge, but the bridge was quick to snap and break, causing Lara to fall to the ground below. By this point, the wolves had already awakened and they started dashing towards Lara with large teeth. She quickly got herself onto her feet and did not hesitate in pulling out her dual pistols. The wolves tried jumping at her with their snapping jaws, but Lara was able to quickly jump out of the way and shoot the wolves to their demise before they even had a chance to make her into a meal. Lara put her pistols away and sighed out of relief.
"That was a bit exciting." she said. "Now, to continue on my intended path…"
Lara walked through the snow over to side of the broken bridge next to the carved ledge and used the bridge as a ladder to climb up. After passing the intricate Incan stonework to her left, Lara started making her way across the more stable second bridge. She reached the other side and entered the doorway in the corner of the room and into an ancient hall with more Incan-style columns and followed it until she reached the centre of the hall, where a pit blocked the way. Ivy and other greenery, including a vine, was hanging from the ceiling where sunlight was now shining down from, revealing the pit to be a very dark and unforgiving place. However, that did not stop Lara from wondering what was down below, for she was determined to explore every little nook and cranny she could find to search for any clues or hints as to where to go next.
Lara took another flare from her bag and lit it as climbed down the rocky wall to the ground below. The other flare had since burned out after the fall into snow after the collapse of the first bridge, but it did not matter until now. Lara had a very limited supply, only four flares remaining out of a starting supply of six. After carefully manoeuvring her way down a rocky wall, she reached the bottom of the pit and started walking around, seeing if there was anything interesting she could find. Then, all of a sudden, Lara heard heavy footsteps behind her. She immediately turned around, but saw nothing. She started breathing more heavily as the footsteps returned. They were getting louder the closer they came. Then all of a sudden, there came a loud, unforgiving roar that almost scared Lara to death as she tried focusing her attention on the she was exploring. She moved the flare towards the source of the loud roar and saw a large brown bear looking straight at her.
Oh, God! Lara thought as the bear started standing on its hind legs, getting ready for an attack. Lara took out her pistols and started shooting at the deadly creature, knowing that it would more than likely take one hit to kill the large beast. The bear kept roaring in pain as it charged after Lara, but she continued shooting the creature. After ten shots, the bear had given up its pursuit and collapsed onto the cold ground dead. Lara reloaded her pistols and picked up her flare from the ground and continued her search in the deep dark pit for anything of interest. Turning around towards the general direction she came, Lara discovered yet another passageway.
"Hmm…" Lara said. "I have a feeling this just might be the way to get into that large hall I saw earlier."
Lara followed the dark passage for less then fifteen seconds before re-emerging into the snow-filled cave with the two wooden bridges. Lara knew then that she had to retrace her steps. After climbing back up the broken bridge and running across the second bridge for the second time, she emerged back into the hallway the ivy ceiling skylight.
"How am I going to get across?" Lara asked herself as she surveyed the carved walls to her left and right, seeing if she could shimmy sideways across the pit. Unfortunately, the stony bricks were smoothed out and too slick for Lara to climb on. Then, she observed the vine hanging from the ceiling and had a second idea.
"Here it goes." Lara said as she stood back from the edge to get a running start towards the vine. After situating herself, Lara ran to the edge of the pit and jumped towards the vine, grabbing it while in midair. She then shifted her body weight to make the vine swing farther towards the other side, where two groups of columns lined up the sides of a staircase leading downward towards another area. When the vine was swinging far enough for Lara to reach, she jumped off and landed on both feet and started making her way down the mysterious staircase and through another small doorway.
Lara discovered that the stairs extended even further and the turned right into another large cavern filled with shrubs, ivy and other greenery, a stark contrast from the snow she had seen earlier. Just beyond the stairway facing forward, Lara saw a balcony with two columns and a small ledge jutting out of the wall just to the right of it. To her right was the large cavern where another high balcony was seen against the far wall. The once perfect stairway leading up to the top had since crumbled away due to years of battling the elements. Lara could also see a large gap was also present where the top of the staircase once met the top of the walkway. But importantly, there was a large stone door at the top that was closed tight. It was obvious that the door lead somewhere, but Lara did not have the slightest idea of where it might go.
"There has to a way to open that door." Lara said to herself. "Maybe if I take look over here first, I could find something."
She walked down the stairway and then onto the near balcony before walking over to the wall and to the edge where she readied herself for a small jump to the tiny ledge which housed another doorway. After a successful standing jump, Lara followed the small passage and came to a dead end in a small dark room. However, she was mesmerized by the sight of a large ancient Peruvian calendar that has retained itself even after centuries of abuse from Mother Nature.
"This is incredible." Lara said to herself as she examined the ancient inscriptions on the wall. "This place is richer in history than I had originally anticipated. I'm not even in the City of Vilcabamba yet! How could anyone miss all of this?"
After examining the ancient calendar, Lara re-emerged onto the tiny ledge overlooking the ivy cave and decided to take the easy way down by dropping to the ground below. But that was a mistake. Lurking below were two more hungry wolves that started growling through their teeth as they saw Lara get back on her feet. Wasting no time, Lara took out her pistols and started shooting at the vicious creatures as they charged toward her. Once they were dead, Lara looked back towards the first staircase and saw a large hole underneath filled with ivy that she did not notice earlier, but there was nothing of interest for her to find there, so she continued towards the broken staircase at the far end of the cave.
After climbing onto the jagged ledge, Lara focused her attention on the carved wall, which was covered with thick slabs of green ivy and noticed something sticking up from underneath one of the vines. She moved the plant out of the way and found, to her surprise, another lever switch.
"Could this open the door across that gap?" Lara asked herself. "I mean, what else could it do? The worst it could do would be nothing… This has to be it."
Lara was barely able to pull the switch, but it brought her good luck when she saw the door on the other side of the balcony open up before her eyes.
"Now I'm getting somewhere." Lara said as she jumped the gap and made her way through the ancient doorway. Suddenly, she heard the door move again and saw that the door was closing behind her. There was no way out, Lara knew, but she did not care. Whatever was at the end of this dark hallway, Lara somehow knew that it would take her somewhere else. She started walking up the stairway cautiously. She began to suspect something dangerous lurking ahead as the hallway continued forward before abruptly turning right and became darker.
"AH!" Lara shrieked as darts suddenly started coming out of the walls. Luckily, Lara's fast reflexes did not let her down as she was able to run to the top of the stairway without getting hit by any projectiles.
"That was really close!" Lara said as she finally reached the top of the stairway and entered a dark room that looked like it did not lead anywhere. In fact, there were no other doorways visible. Lara was now beginning to think that there was no other way out. Then, she took a step forward and felt the ground beneath her crack. Then, Lara felt her left foot fall through, which ultimately caused the rest of the floor beneath her to collapse. She fell for just a moment and landed on her back into another strange area. Lara hard a hard time getting up from her fall, for she felt bruises all over her body where she hit the ground. However, she was able to recover from her minor injuries and get back on her feet. She looked around and found herself on a large low-ceilinged balcony lined with columns and was connected to a larger hall with a much higher ceiling. Lara went to the edge of the balcony and was surprised to see that she was in the very same hall that she had seen earlier, but could not access because of the large wooden gate. Looking down, Lara could see the large stone door to her left and to the right was the wooden gate where she looked in not too long ago. Looking straight across at the other balcony, Lara saw that it was structured almost exactly the same way as the one she was standing in, except for the addition of a small passageway that was attached on the left.
"How in the world am I supposed to open that large door?" Lara asked herself as she pondered the possibility of another lever switch embedded somewhere in the large hall. She looked around the balcony, but did not seem to find any answers to this mystery. Then, she walked over to the right side of the balcony and saw that there was an open ledge on the other side, where the side had been eroded away.
"Should I make this jump?" Lara began to question as she debated on whether it was really necessary to jump to the other side or not. Eventually, she managed to get over her doubt and jump across to the other side where a wolf was waiting for her.
"Oh, give me a break!" Lara said drawing her weapons and firing at the creature before it could do any harm. She ran down the balcony towards the small passageway at the end and saw another wolf coming at her with large teeth. After killing the creature, Lara was able to walk into the small passageway and search for a way to open the large stone door in the hall below. She suspected there to be a lever switch of some sort that would do the job. As she approached the end of the small passageway, Lara was thrilled when she found another lever switch that seemed to be attached to some rope mechanism.
Could this be the switch that opens the door? Lara thought as she rested her hand on the ancient switch. There's only one way to find out.
On the count of three, Lara pulled the heavy switch and watched the rope pulleys move. A large heavy thud from the large hall entrance area was heard moments later, which meant that Lara's suspicions were correct.
"I am brilliant." Lara said. She re-emerged into the main hall with the large stone doors ajar and darts being shot from each of the two slanted walls that lined each balcony. Lara slid down the wall ran down the middle towards the large entrance, being careful not to get hit by the deadly darts. After finally making it past the traps, she entered the large doorway and continued down the passage ahead of her which looked rather foreboding.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the wooden gate, Larson was watching all of the events happen before his eyes and was dumbfounded by what Lara has done to open the door. He knew that he was going to have to do a lot better if he wanted to beat her to the Scion. If all else fails, there was only one thing he could do to get his revenge…kill her.
"That girl has got some wit." Larson said as he watched Lara enter through the large double doors. "She would've been a nice add-on in the American military, too bad women aren't allowed to serve… But then again, she would probably make all of us look real bad."
Lara is now about to enter the City of Vilcabamba, and Larson seems to be right on her tail...It seems as though he is trying to get back at Lara for everything that has happened between them by getting to the Scion before her. So far, Lara is prevailing in her efforts by a long shot, though she doesn't know this.
These events are based on the second part of the Caves level (with my own little twists added in, of course!). The next chapter will mark the beginning part of the second level of Tomb Raider, The City of Vilcabamba. Sorry for such a long wait...I'll be sure to get back as often as possible. Stay tuned!
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