Vilcabamba

Lara approached another set of large stone double doors that opened as the other set of double doors closed behind her. She walked forward and entered into a small cave area that opened up into a larger central area with a pool in the middle. The area was being illuminated by bright sunshine that was making its way from a skylight above the water, revealing the stony walls of buildings that once belonged to a busy ancient community. The ground was covered with extensive greenery, such as ivy, ferns, grass. There were also a few hallways that seemed to lead to a dark passageway that went all the way around the perimeter of the building structures. The hallway to the very left had two tall Incan statues resting on either side of its entrance, which seemed to hint at some token of importance. But before she decided to run down and investigate, Lara scanned the area she was in and starred over to the right and saw another passageway that followed behind the stone building that was now in front of her. She decided to follow the dark passageway.

"I can't believe I actually found this place!" Lara said as she slowly walked and admired all of the stone architecture. "I still don't understand why this place went so long without being discovered…I would think that this place would be easy to find, considering how quickly it took me to get through that cave. But then again, I am a tomb raider. Not every archaeologist has that kind of title!"

As Lara continued walking, she suddenly heard the unforgiving sound of wolves growling behind her. She looked back and saw four of them charging at her with the same fierce expressions.

You know, I'm really not in the mood for this right now! Lara thought as she drew her pistols. I don't have the bullets or time to deal with you wretched animals!

The wolves continued charging, but once again Lara had the upper advantage as she pounded them bullets from her dual pistols. Once they were dead, Lara continued where she left off and emerged into another open cave area with an open ivy ceiling. Two beautifully decorated square Incan columns depicted a person on each side surrounded the skylight at the upper left and lower right corners relative to where Lara was standing. There was another wolf waiting inside for Lara, but she was no longer afraid of these kinds of dangers. The wolf's first instinct was to charge at Lara, but she charged back and unleashed a torrent of gunfire until the animal was lying on the ground dead. Lara walked across the uneven gravel, where stone used to take its place, and examined the ancient columns.

"These columns are in superb condition for their age." Lara said. "I wish I had a camera with enough film so that I could have shots of everything I've seen so far! This is just too amazing!"

Lara admired the structures for a few more moments, and then turned her attention to the left wall, where two doorways were seen. The one on the left led to the large central plaza with the pool of water in the middle. The door on the right continued down another dark hallway, which led behind another ancient stone building. Lara decided to take the door to her right and continue along the outside perimeter of the small underground city. Just a little ways away was another hallway branching to the left, which led back to the central plaza. But Lara continued down the dark path to a small dark corner that continued to the left down another hallway. She heard the flapping wings of two bats as they were seen flying near the ceiling of the dark hallway. Lara was not going to waste her bullets on them, so she continued towards the end of the hallway until she heard another growling sound.

"Oh, shit!" Lara said under her own breath as another wolf started running at her almost out of nowhere. She took out her right pistol and took the wolf out in one deadly shot to the head.

"If there are any more bloody wolves in this place…" Lara said somewhat angrily as she put her weapon away. "I will personally make sure that this place is devoid of them by the time I'm done here."

Lara continued down the hall to her left and walked past a small brick doorway into a tiny green area filled with ivy next to a slightly larger hallway leading back to the central area. Looking down the hall, Lara saw some intricate Incan skull carvings in the stonework as well as a couple of overlooking openings a few feet up that led inside each of the two small buildings that formed the hallway. She also saw a closed door which lead inside the left building and next to it was a lever switch. Lara wanted to check it out, but she decided to continue exploring the perimeter of the ancient city to see what else she could find. It was not very long before Lara reached another hallway that branched to the central plaza from the hallway she was in. It was the grand hallway that caught her attention not too long ago. Lara could now definitely tell the hallway led somewhere important from the central plaza as she observed the beautiful skull carvings that ran along the bottom of each side. The middle part of the ceiling was higher and had ivy hanging down and sunlight shining down as well, illuminating the avenue of skulls which would otherwise sit in perpetual darkness.

Lara turned to her right and saw another closed door, but something was different here. The door had a silver keyhole just to the right of it. Lara tried pushing and pulling the stone door open, but the locking mechanism held on tight.

"Hmm…" Lara said to herself, contemplating what she thought earlier. "This surely leads somewhere important, alright. Perhaps Qualopec's Tomb? It looks as though the only way I'm going to get through that door is if I find the key that unlocks it. But where could that be?"

Lara looked down the hall towards the centre of the city where the pool of water was located and began to think. There were two places that Lara could think of where the key could be hidden. It was either inside that one building that had the door with the switch, or it was somewhere underwater at the bottom of the pool after somebody quite possibly threw it in there centuries ago. She decided to go in the water first.

Before Lara headed into the central plaza, she continued down the hallway where she had left off exploring the rest of the perimeter. A few more bats were heard flying near the rocky ceiling as well as inside a small cave to Lara's right. She walked up a small flight of stairs and continued down the hall to the left until she ended up back at the small cave area near the entrance of Vilcabamba.

"Well, that was very interesting!" Lara said. "Now I can finally check out the middle area of the city. That key has to around here somewhere."

Lara walked through the large opening and started walking down a small set of stairs when she saw another door that lead inside the building just to her left. It was sealed shut, just like the other two, but Lara focused her attention to the pool of water at the centre of the large open room filled with overgrown plants, that is until she saw two doorways in the wall to the right leading into what appeared to be an old farm or stable that is no longer in use. Lara decided to investigate.

"This must've been where they used to keep livestock." Lara said as she examined the small stable. She looked around to see if there was a key lying around somewhere inside the small animal stalls, but she was unable to find anything. She even jumped up and climbed on top of the wooden ceiling of the stable to see if there was a key hidden up there. Nothing.

"Well, that was certainly a waste of time." Lara said as jumped back down to the ground. Suddenly, she gasped as a large brown bear stormed its way inside the stable and swiped at Lara without warning. The bear was able to cut Lara's arm with its paw, but Lara was able to run back out into the open to pull out her pistols as the bear started charging after her again. She was able to pound the bear with a few bullets to the head as she performed a sideways somersault to avoid the coming onslaught. Amazingly, the bear fell to the ground after four successful shots. Lara reloaded her pistols before putting them back in the holsters, and then stopped to take a look at the damage that had been done.

"Damn! That bear has sharp claws!" Lara said as she examined the cut on her left arm, where blood was already slowly beginning to drip. "I guess it could've been worse."

Lara reached into her backpack and grabbed one of the small health packs she was carrying with her and grabbed a medicated wipe to rid herself of any possible infection. After that, she grabbed a large bandage with a gauze pad and applied it to the wound to protect it from any further infection that could find its way in. Once that was taken care of, Lara was able to continue where she had left off and walked over to pool of water. She dipped her hand into the water and found the water to be quite chilly, but that did not stop her from seeing what was at the bottom. In fact, Lara could see what looked like underwater passageways that lead somewhere else deep in the watery depths. With her curiosity sparked, Lara had no choice but to see for herself where the water would take her, even though the water was cold to the touch.

"Well, here I go." Lara said as she neared the edge of the pool. After a few moments, Lara grabbed a huge gulp of oxygen and jumped into the cold water and started swimming down the dark underwater passageway to see where it would lead.

So far, Lara Croft has explored the perimeter of the ancient city and has discovered the door with the silver keyhole next to it, which obviously leads to somewhere important. But first, Lara has to find the key. Now she about to swim her way through an underwater passageway to see where it will take her. She hopes that in doing so, she'll find what she's looking for...

This will the first of up to three chapters that will cover The City of Vilcabamba. Keep your eyes open, as I may have another chapter up and running very soon! See you then ;)

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