Into the Unknown

After suddenly hearing sounds coming from behind, Lara turned her head to look back into the area she came, but did not see what caused the noise. She suspected that Pierre was trying to sneak up on her, but was somewhat at ease when her suspicions were proven false. Even so, Lara could not help but wonder whether or not he was indeed following her. Nevertheless, she did not let these thoughts go to her head, so she decided to refocus her thoughts on the Scion, as well as the Tomb of Tihocan.

Walking through another open doorway down the small hallway, Lara emerged into a natural cave with a jagged ceiling and roughed out rocky walls. The middle of the left side of the cave was blocked off by a huge wall of rock. The right side went further and seemed to round itself around a corner beyond the rock wall. A pool of water dominated the medium-sized cave, and it seemed to make its way around the corner as well. Walking over to the other side of the cavern by the large rocks and boulders blocking off what was once an open pathway, Lara looked across the water and straight ahead and saw an open crack through the rocks jutting out of the ceiling and saw something that caught her eye.

"Is that another building structure I see?" she asked herself as she tried to make out other details. "I guess I'll have to get a closer look."

Lara was about to jump into the water when she caught sight of something that she never expected to see in Greece. Swimming in the water on her side of the medium-sized pond was a hungry crocodile that would undoubtedly kill her if she tried swimming away from it. But it was the only way she would have a chance of knowing what was on the other side of the jagged rocks. Realizing this, Lara sighed and took a deep breath before jumping into the cool water. The crocodile sensed Lara's movements in the water and immediately turned around to catch up to her as she started swimming faster to reach the ledge on the other side of the huge rocks jutting down from the ceiling. Just as the crocodile snapped its jaw, Lara had already climbed out of the water and was standing on the other side of the small cavern.

"That was close!" she said, watching as the reptile swam in the other direction as if to say 'I give up'. Lara turned around and was dumbfounded at the next sight. She had emerged into a much larger cavern where the sun was making its way through large cracks in the ceiling. However, the real spectacle was the large building structure that reached all the way to the top of the cave. There were three storeys of the large building structure, each level marked by a thick balcony held up by a row of Doric pillars. One of the pillars on the ground had since lost its top half, which was now laying on its side on the gravel. Much of the stone had also been laced with ivy that took advantage of the little light that made its way down into the cave. To Lara, the architecture of the large building almost reminded her of the outside of a large ancient amphitheatre. Looking over the right side of the giant cavern, she saw that the building ended next to a large rocky wall where large boulders created large natural platforms. Looking closer, Lara could see an opening in the wall up by the third level balcony that seemed to lead into the large building, or at least to the other side of it. Either way, Lara wanted to know where it would lead her, for she was determined to find a way to the second piece of the Scion.

"That looks like it might lead somewhere important." Lara said. "I need to get up to the top level balcony somehow. There has to be a way."

The left side of the cavern extended farther out from Lara's current position. Just like on the right side, the walls of the cave were jumbled, through a little more smoothed out on the right due to years of water erosion from the cracks in the ceiling. The cave also continued around the corner of the large building structure. However, the doorway at the bottom of the large building seemed to catch Lara's attention more than anything. She walked over to the large building across the gravel and went through the doorway to emerge into a smaller room with two staircases on either side. There were two Doric pillars supporting the roof of the small room. The walls were smoothed out and had carved patterns going across the bottom, while ceiling had square patterns similar to the ones on the domed ceiling of St. Francis' Folly's huge 'basement'.

"I'm beginning to think this is an amphitheatre." Lara said as she glanced up each of the two staircases. She started up the one on the right and was dismayed when she found that the passage was completely blocked off by large boulders and gravel, perhaps due to the violent impact of an earthquake that shook Greece many years ago, causing parts of the building to collapse. Re-emerging into the small entry room, Lara started her way up staircase on the left side of the room. Making a right turn up the small passage, she was glad to find that nothing was blocking the way until she made another right turn and found a heavy metal gate. As per usual, it seemed, the gate was unable to move. Looking past the metal bars, Lara saw that the hall levelled out and was connected to a larger stairway leading left into a brightly illuminated area. This peaked Lara's interest.

"What is this place?" she asked. "Am I anywhere close to Tihocan's Tomb? Something tells me I'm not…Although, I am curious to what lies beyond this gate. I have to find out one way or another, and I think I know how. I need to reach that opening near the top balcony."

Going back down the stairway to the small entering room and back out the doorway into the large cavern, Lara proceeded to her right and walked over to the other side of the large building structure just around the corner. She gasped when she was suddenly greeted by the sight of a hungry male lion that wasted no time in trying to attack her. Lara quickly pulled out her pistols and side-jumped away from the attack before firing at the large golden cat. Her heart was pounding from the sudden surprise.

"Where did all of these lions come from?" Lara asked. "More importantly, where's Pierre? I haven't seen him in a while. Oh well. As long he's not a nuisance, I should be alright. Meanwhile, I think I found my way up to the two upper levels of the outside of this building. Looks like I'll have to do a little rock-climbing."

Walking up to the tall rocky platform over by the far wall, Lara grabbed one of the small rocks poking out from the wall and started climbing upwards to the uneven platform above. Though it was not a terribly high climb, Lara was still able to find herself standing high enough above the ground to reach the second level of the large building structure, whatever it might be. Without giving herself space to gain momentum, Lara jumped from the rocks and landed clean onto the second storey walkway balcony of the large amphitheatre-styled building.

"I guess that wasn't so difficult." she said. "How am I going to get to the top level?"

The answer was staring Lara in the face. Not too far from where she stood was a large chunk of the balcony from the third storey that had since fallen due to excessive erosion or earthquakes. From there, she would be able to use the large chunk of carved stone as a booster to help her reach the edge of the top balcony. Lara did not hesitate. She stepped onto the large rectangular brick and jumped upwards to catch the ledge and to pull herself onto the high ledge. The walkway was narrow and Lara was now very high above the ground, so she hugged the wall to stay balanced. Creeping past a couple of Doric pillars, she rounded the corner of the building and looked down towards the ground and saw the small lake which she emerged from. The lonely crocodile was still swimming around looking for its next meal, but Lara did not feel sorry the creature. She had no reason to. Refocusing her attention on the walkway, Lara was quick to see that there was a wide gap up ahead. She approached with caution and when the time was just right, she made a daring jump across and was barely able to grab the other side.

"That was slightly nerve-wracking!" Lara said as she carefully pulled herself back up onto the ledge. "At least I'm almost to that opening behind the tall cliffs."

It was not long at all before Lara reached the end of the walkway and jumped across the rocky platforms just across the way. Looking past the opening in the wall, she could see another open dark pathway all the way on the other side of the towering platforms of rock. All of a sudden, Lara saw something move inside the far opening. When the dark silhouette stepped into the dim sunlight, Lara saw that it was Pierre.

"Damn! He found another way to get here!" she said quietly. "I don't want him to see me here!"

Lara quickly dropped behind the nearby rocks and landed inside the small passageway just before Pierre got a chance to see her. She sighed out of relief.

"Well, that was scary while it lasted!" Lara said. "Now, let's see where this high passage takes me."

She walked through the opening and found herself in another cave that was much smaller and had a large pit in the middle. Looking over to the other side, Lara was barely able to make out an upward-sloping ramp that lead to small dark passageway to the left. It seemed to be leading into the giant building. But somehow, Lara had to figure out how she would get across the deep pit, for it was much too large for her to simply jump across. She studied her environment for about a minute until she spotted what looked like a large crack in the left wall. Then out of nowhere, Lara was beginning to have a flashback to the time she went along with her mentor on that fateful trip to Cambodia. She could hear Von Croy's voice in her head.

A useful crack, rendered by the hand of time. Invisible to the untrained eye.

As suddenly as the flashback came, it then disappeared. It was now clear as to what Lara had to do to reach the other side. She had to shimmy across. With her eyes trained, Lara went over to the left wall and jumped up to grab the seemingly invisible crack and then started to shimmy over to the other side of the cavern.

Thank you, Werner. Lara thought in her head as she reached the halfway point, her strength beginning to deteriorate and her stomach starting to make weird noises. However, the last bit of strength was just enough for her to safely drop onto the other side of the cave.

"I honestly didn't think that I would be having flashbacks to my school days while on this trip." Lara said. "It sure helped me, though it's not helping my stomach at all that much. Maybe I should eat my sandwich soon, that way I'm not starving anymore."

As much as Lara wanted to stop and eat her packed lunch, she was desperate to find out what was inside that dark passageway. She walked up into the cramped space and carefully felt her way around the dark for the path when she then spotted a bright hole in the floor that seemed to lead back down into an area she had previously explored. She dropped down and was surprised to see that she was now on the other side of the metal gate by the stairway she climbed earlier. The thing that troubled Lara was the fact that the gate was now open. Did Pierre manage to open it? If so, how?

"I don't think that's a good sign." Lara said. "I better be careful."

Turning to her right, she saw the large and brightly illuminated staircase and looked up to see it leading up to a large open area with an open ceiling. Walking up the staircase, the next thing Lara saw as reached the top made her jaw drop. It was perhaps one of the most awe-inspiring and beautiful things that she encountered in her travels, and also one of the largest pieces of ancient architecture she had ever uncovered. She was lost for words as she started glancing around at the enormous interior of the Greek coliseum…

Hey everyone! It's been a rather long waiting period, but the next chapter is finally up and running! Lara is now inside the infamous Greek coliseum, which I think (along with St. Francis' Folly and others) was one of the most incredible levels in the original game as far as the overall environment is concerned. My favorite moment is when Lara first enters and the music starts playing in the background. For me, it really set the mood for how I felt when I got to this part of the game (so many great memories!), which is why I decided to end this chapter at that very moment.

For anyone who is interested, I created a poll on my profile page that involves the possibility of starting another Tomb Raider story in the future. I created it simply because I knew about the poll option, but I never thought about giving it shot before (in other words, I did it out of boredom). If you would like to cast a vote, go for it! The poll will stay open for a while, so there's no rush.

On that note, now is a good time to save my progress :) I will see you guys in the next chapter!

saturn95