Vertigo
Lara found herself standing near the top of an enormous towering hall with a domed ceiling that had intricate carved square patterns. Portions of the ceiling had since eroded away, allowing the sun's rays to shine down and illuminate Lara's surroundings. The walls of the room were very ancient and breath-taking with their intricate brickwork and carved arch designs. Looking down, she could see that the room was comprised of six levels (including the very bottom), each made up of surrounding walkways and staircases. In the centre of the towering hall was a broken square "U" shaped landing that rested on top of a large central structure composed of many tall square-shaped supporting columns with many portions missing and placed almost randomly on each level. On each of the six levels of the tall room, there was a square-shaped landing. It was amazing that entire structure was still standing, considering how unstable everything looked. It almost reminded Lara of a stack of Jenga blocks that were about to fall over. The floors on each of the landings, as well as the outside walkways, had the same lattice floor design on them. From her height inside the giant room, it made Lara dizzy just by simply glancing down to the very bottom. She was careful not to lose her footing.
"This place is just incredible!" Lara said. "I wonder what's at the bottom of this room. Surely there has to be something down there!"
Glancing around the top level, Lara saw the platform she stood on lead to a small staircase to her left leading down to a small walkway that ended before reaching the corner of the room. At the end of the small walkway were two Doric columns that supported the lower part of the ceiling above. On the left side of the room, there was a large doorway on top of a raised platform that was complemented by a Doric pillar on either side of it. Above the doorway was a large silver-coloured plaque that had a Greek inscription carved into it:
Ο Ποσειδώνας
Lara looked at the inscription and found that it translated to the name of a particular Greek entity. It was Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea and creator of earthquakes. According to the Greek myth of creation, Poseidon was one of the six children of Cronus and Rhea. In most accounts he is swallowed by Cronus at birth but later saved, with his other brothers and sisters, by Zeus. However Lara knew that in some versions of the story, he, like his brother Zeus, did not share the fate of his other brother and sisters who were eaten by Cronus. He was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have given birth to a colt, which she gave to Cronus to devour. Poseidon was also one of three gods that "divided the power of the world". The other two gods in question were Zeus and Hades. While Poseidon became ruler of the sea, Zeus became the ruler of the sky, and Hades became the ruler of the Underworld. Altogether, the three gods had control over the Earth and Mount Olympus.
"Hmm. That's interesting." Lara said. "It looks as though the Greeks dedicated a portion of this place to Poseidon. It's almost surprising that the Romans never changed it to Neptune. I wonder if they even knew that all of this was down here. I would imagine they may have, but I could be wrong."
On the right side of the room, Lara could see a platform jutting out from the wall that looked like part of walkway that had since collapsed due to the elements. There was a staircase connected to the platform that seemed to lead to another walkway right below where Lara was standing. There was only one way to there, and that was to jump across to the central landing and then across to the platform to the right. Taking a deep breath, Lara backed away from the edge of the platform she was on and then did a running jump to the U-shaped square landing. After making the dangerous jump, Lara hopped over to the nearby platform on the right side and walked down the staircase to the fifth level. Suddenly, Lara heard a squeaking sound, followed by what sounded like the flapping of wings. She turned around and saw a group of three bats making their way towards her.
"Great!" Lara said. "I thought I saw the last of them in Peru. I guess they like it here too!"
She took out her pistols and fired at the flying mammals, killing all three of them effortlessly. As they fell, Lara watched and began to realize how tall the room was. The last thing she wanted to do was fall to the ground below!
"I'm glad that I'm not a bat!" Lara said as she reached the end of the walkway, which was blocked by a wall of stone. The fifth level was not as interesting as the top level when it came to adjoining areas. In the central "tower" there were only two columns supporting the landing above, both were on the far side of the room relative to where Lara stood. The central landing on the fifth level retained much of its original square layout except for a large square hole in the centre which opened up to the fourth landing below. There was, however, one interesting surprise Lara was able to notice. Hiding on the right side of the left column structure in the central tower was a greyish lever switch with two unlit torches hanging next to it. Lara could sense another mystery on her hands.
"I wonder what the significance of that lever switch is." Lara said. "Maybe I should wait to find out. I still have an entire room to explore. I want to know what's at the bottom."
Lara jumped to the central platform and carefully dropped down the hole to the fourth floor. She landed at the top of a staircase that lead down to a small "bridge" to another doorway. The plaque above the closed entrance was a stony brown and had another inscription set into it that was different from the previous one that Lara encountered:
Άτλας
This one was easier for Lara to translate. It was yet another important figure from Greek mythology: Atlas, the primordial Titan who held up the celestial sphere, and also the titan of astronomy and navigation. Atlas was the son of the Titan Iapetus and the Oceanid Asia or Klyménē (Κλυμένη). Although associated with various places, he became commonly identified with the Atlas Mountains in northwest Africa (Modern-day Morocco and Algeria). According to the legend, Atlas and his brother Menoetius sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. When the Titans were defeated, many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia (the Earth) and hold up Uranus (the Heavens) on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. Thus, he was Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas," and became a doublet of Coeus, the embodiment of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve.
"Wow! I never expected the Greeks to dedicate anything to any of the Titans." Lara said. "This place just keeps getting more interesting the farther down I go." She looked straight and to her left to one of the two column structures holding up the two higher levels of the tower up (the other column was behind Lara and diagonal to the one she was looking at) and saw another lever switch with two unlit torches next to it (one on either side).
"Another one…" Lara said. "I wonder what this one opens. I think they might have something to do with opening up the doorways inside this room. I'll test that idea later once I find out what's at the very bottom of this room."
Looking around the fourth floor, Lara saw a couple of narrow ledges, one on the left side of the room and one directly opposite to the Atlas doorway. But they did not lead anywhere, for they had square wall sections on either of them with intricate arch designs carved into them. On the right side of the room, there was another, much larger platform that was connected to a staircase leading down to the third level to the front side of the tall room. Lara hopped across the small gap between the platform and the demolished landing she was standing on and started walking down the ancient stairway to the third floor. She was now halfway towards the very bottom of the room. Looking up, Lara saw that she was indeed making some heavy progress.
"It's almost hard to believe that I've come this far." Lara said as she made to the corner of the room. "It won't be as easy going back up though."
Lara hopped over another small gap to a small platform that stood directly across of the central tower and right next to a wall that blocked her view of what looked like another door entrance right below the Atlas door above. She made a longer leap across to the third floor landing (which was in much better condition) and walked around one of the two column structures, being careful not to fall down a nearby hole leading down to the second level. Across another bridge walkway was a third doorway with a white-coloured plaque. As suspected, Lara was able to spot yet another inscription of a significant figure from Greek mythology:
Ήφαιστος
Translated, the inscription read Hephaestus. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, the king and queen of the gods. He was the Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with anvil and twenty bellows that worked at his bidding. Hephaestus crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, and almost any finely-wrought metalwork imbued with powers that appears in Greek myth is said to have been forged by Hephaestus. He designed Hermes' winged helmet and sandals, the Aegis breastplate, Aphrodite's famed girdle, Agamemnon's staff of office, Achilles' armour, Heracles' bronze clappers, Helios' chariot, the shoulder of Pelops, and Eros' bow and arrows. In later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the help of the chthonic Cyclopes—among them his assistants in the forge, Brontes, Steropes and Pyracmon. Hephaestus' Roman equivalent is Vulcan.
"I can only imagine what's on the other side of that door!" Lara said. "Just thinking about it gives me butterflies in my stomach."
Lara turned away from the doorway and dropped down the small hole in the third level landing down to the second floor. Here, the walls were different. Instead of the intricate carvings and brickwork, Lara was surprised to see much of it fade over to larger brickwork and Doric pillar carvings similar to the ones near the entrance of St. Francis' Folly. Looking down, Lara saw that the bottom floor opened up into another room with a medium height ceiling and walls with intricate brickwork and floors with the beautiful lattice designs on them. It was separated from the tall room by a row of six Doric pillars on the right side of a curved archway in the lower ceiling. On the left side of the arch was one single solitary Doric pillar. It was still unclear what was in that area, but as far as Lara could tell, it lead somewhere important. It was right when Lara started looking for a way to the bottom when she found a fourth doorway in the corner of the tall room right above the opening to the room below. It was also next to a small platform that lead to a broken stairway that used to make its way to the landing Lara was standing on. The plaque above the doorway was somewhat orange in colour and had an inscription:
σπάθη
This was the hardest one for Lara to translate. After a moment of examining it, she was able to read it as Damocles. Damocles is a figure featured in a single moral anecdote commonly referred to as "the Sword of Damocles", which was a late addition to classical Greek culture. The figure belongs properly to legend rather than Greek myth. Lara began scratching her head.
"This doesn't seem right." she said. "Why would they have a 'shrine' for Damocles if he didn't play a part in Greek mythology? Even Atlas was questionable, simply because he was a Titan and not a god. I guess there's another reason why this place should be called St. Francis' Folly! Nothing seems to be making any sense right now."
Just before she decided to continue her descent, Lara explored the second level landing and spotted another lever switch on one of the columns. Though her curiosity was trying to tell her to see what it does, Lara refrained from her urge and continued looking for a route to the bottom of the room. Looking around, Lara saw walkways stretching almost all the way around the entire second floor. She decided to jump over to the walkway opposite from the Damocles doorway, where a large gap opened up to an incomplete and eroded set of stairs leading down to ground below. As on every other level below the top floor, there was only two square columns supporting the above landings. The bottom supports were placed diagonally to each other, with one being closer to Lara than then other. Looking at the closer of the two central columns, Lara saw another lever switch, the last one as far as Lara could judge. So far, she counted four switches, as well as four closed doors leading to different areas. Could it be that the four switches are used to open the four doors throughout the towering room? This possibility seemed very remote to Lara, but after everything else she had seen so far, it was hard to deny it. The other thing that stood out to Lara was small opening in the corner of the room into a dark passageway that lead to some unknown location, but it was something she was particularly interested in.
Lara looked over towards the adjoining smaller room on the other side of the grand archway lined with pillars. It was much darker since the light of the sun was not shining directly into that area, but Lara was still able to see what was in the room. Looking straight through the archway, she saw a tall door with four large rusted metallic braces in front of it that looked as though they were preventing access to the area beyond it. Lara's suspicions were confirmed with the sight of four large keyholes to the right of the door.
"Hmm." she said. "I wonder where the keys are. Hopefully they weren't lost thousands of years ago in some violent historical event."
Then, Lara's thoughts began wandering back to the four locked doors. There were four switched scattered throughout the area and four keyholes for four different keys next to a door with four metal barricades in front of it. In the little time Lara thought about it, she realized that there could only be one possible explanation. The four keys must be hidden behind each of the four locked doors inside the towering room. Therefore, the four switches must be the key to getting through each doorway. Lara walked over to the switch on the central column by the staircase and pulled the lever switch. Lara gasped when all of a sudden, the torches on the walls miraculously lit themselves and the loud sound of an opening door was heard echoing from high above. Lara smiled.
"I guess my theory was correct." she said. "It looks like I need to go back up and see which door opened up."
Lara is now exploring the infamous tall room with the room adjoining rooms pertaining to a significant entity in Greek mythology and/or legendry. This was one of my favorite areas in both Tomb Raider and Tomb Raider Anniversary and I am glad to have finally reached this part of Lara's adventure. For this particular section, it may or may not be obvious that it was inspired from the original Tomb Raider. The names above each of the doors stayed true to Tomb Raider Anniversary for one main reason: not all of the entity names in the original Tomb Raider pertained to Greek mythology. Had this portion been fully inspired from the original, Poseidon would have been replaced with Neptune, which is a Roman god, and Hephaestus would have been switched out with Thor, who is a god from Norse mythology! Also, I made it so that the names above each of the doors were written in Greek in order to make it more realistic and also have Lara reveal her intelligence in translating different languages. The translations I got for each of the names should be correct, but I can't be too sure. If any of them are incorrect, I would greatly appreciate it if you told me, that way I can go back and fix it. I tend to be very picky when it comes to those kinds of things :)
*UPDATE* It has come to my attention that the translation for Damocles was a faulty translation. The error has since been corrected. Thank you Smitty91 for pointing it out! :)
So far, Lara has made it to the very bottom where the door with the four keyholes is located. She now has to find each of the four keys inside each of the four locked rooms in order to unlock the metal braces that are blocking it. One of the doors has already opened, but which one? Stay tuned to find out.
saturn95