The Plot Thickens

Lara admired the beautiful and mountainous Greek terrain as the helicopter closed in her target. Far out along the eastern horizon, Lara could see the sparkling Aegean Sea under the light of the morning sun, which gave the clouds vibrant shades of orange and pink. The mountains featured patches of green vegetation and trees as well as barren patches of light brown rock which had an orange cast under the morning illumination. Somewhere hidden among the cliffs, Pierre was down there looking for the Tomb of Tihocan as well as the second piece of the Scion and Lara knew that she had no time to waste if she wanted to get it before him. Even so, Lara was beginning to question whether or not Pierre had already found the Scion or if he was still in the process of digging to find its hidden location. Either way, Lara hoped that her trip to Greece would not end in vain, for she had already managed to just barely get away with the first piece back in Peru. In preparation for what she might encounter, Lara reloaded her pistols and shotgun with fresh cases of ammo, which to her judgment would last for the remainder of the day if highly used. Lara also had the first piece of the Scion in her backpack to see how each of the pieces would connect to each other. The indentation in the second outside nodule had caught her attention, for it might be the key to connecting the two pieces together. She also packed some flares, a full canteen of water, and a large sandwich to satisfy her hunger for later.

After a few more minutes of flying, Lara could see St. Francis' Folly come into view on top of a tall and rather barren jagged cliff that loomed over a small inlet of water that made its way from the nearby sea. There were a few trees surrounding the ancient site, just like she had imagined from the video. The only thing that was different was the presence of a recently made fire pit right in front of the temple entrance. Pierre was obviously there recently.

"This is your cue to jump, Lara." said the helicopter pilot. "Are you ready?"

"Ready whenever you are." Lara said as she checked her parachute to make sure there were no flaws in it. Once the pilot gave the okay signal, Lara counted to three before she jumped out of the helicopter and started hurtling towards the ground at an accelerating pace. After about three seconds, Lara pulled the parachute cord and was started to slowly glide towards the side of the cliff below St. Francis' Folly. After about a minute of gliding, Lara grabbed the side of the cliff and detached her parachute before she started climbing the side of the cliff to the top.

"I guess we could've came in a little closer." Lara said. "Oh well, I'm pretty sure I can make it up this rock wall with no problems."

Lara grabbed the next rock and felt it loosen with her grip. Panicking, Lara jumped over to the next rock and barely saved herself from a nasty fall. Her heart was beating at a rapid pace. "I guess this isn't as easy as I anticipated. I should probably be more careful."

Lara followed her own advice as she slowly but surely made her way up the side of the cliff. The chopping sound of the helicopter had since disappeared into the distance and Lara was all by herself…for now anyway. As she climbed higher, her arms began to ache as their strength started to diminish under the force of gravity.

"Good thing I packed extra food in my bag!" Lara said. "I will need it to keep myself going throughout the day. Hopefully Pierre doesn't decide to interfere in this adventure!"

Finally, as her arms started giving away, Lara was able to pull herself onto the landing up above and admire the large ancient temple that is St. Francis' Folly. Erected thousands of years ago in classical Greece, the temple was a place where the ancient Greeks would pay their tributes to the gods and offer sacrifices for possible rewards in return. This remained in place until the Greek civilization fell and the Roman Empire took hold much of Europe. During this time, the Romans used it as a hiding ground for which they could seek refuge in the event of battle against another body of power. It was also rumoured that the Romans eventually added onto the structure, forming new buildings and other structures below, as well as around it. This possibility intrigued Lara, so she decided to look into it while she searched for the Scion as well. After the fall of Rome, St. Francis' Folly remained abandoned for hundreds of years during the Middle Ages until a group of Greek orthodox monks rediscovered the sight in the 14-1500's and used it as their place of worship in honour of St. Francis. After the beginning of the Renaissance, the temple was abandoned once again and has remained so ever since. Since historians thought it never made sense for medieval monks to use a classical Greek temple as their place of worship and prayer, they unanimously named the site 'St. Francis' Folly'. No one really knows what the temple was initially named, because any inscription that was once engraved on the front of the building has since been wiped out by thousands of years of rainfall and erosion. Not only that, but most of the ancient records that were once kept were destroyed hundreds of years ago as well, some which may have been present in the now lost Great Library of Alexandria. Parts of the roof have since caved in, leaving the inside of the building vulnerable to environmental damage. Luckily, the collapsing of the rook only occurred two centuries ago, so the damage should not be as great as it is on the outside.

Walking up to the front entrance of the ancient temple, Lara felt the cool morning breeze blow through her braided ponytail and listened to the rustling of the multi-coloured leaves in the trees. She then stumbled across the small fire pit Pierre had made presumably the night before and kneeled down to reach for an empty can of beans that was laying on the ground. Lara sighed.

"Pierre…" she said. "You litterbug."

Tossing empty can into the fire pit, Lara went up to the faded wooden double doors leading into the temple and used one of the rusted metal rings to pull them open. For being hundreds of years old, the doors of St. Francis' Folly were much stable and not falling off of their hinges. And, to Lara's surprise, the wood on the other side of the door was in well-kept condition. She walked inside and closed the doors behind her, which slammed with a loud echoing THUD and started looking around with renewed interest. Her quest for lost knowledge had reached a new level.

Hello, everyone! I am happy to say that the Greek chapters are finally underway and I am excited to share my interpretation of the events that unfolded here in the actual game (both original and remake) in the coming chapters! I have a lot of great things planned for the near future.

The history of St. Francis' Folly was never really explained in either of the games so I went ahead and created my own history for it with references to real history to make it more believable. In the chapter, I made a reference to the destruction of the Great Library of Alexandria when I explained why there was little documentation on the Greek temple. This is ironic, considering that Lara discovers a hidden portion of the library in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation when she searched for the Armor of Horus.

The next chapter will start off inside St. Francis' Folly, where her search for the second piece of the Scion will begin. And, just like in Peru, she won't be the only one searching for it...

saturn95