Disclaimer: Tomb Raider is the property of Edios, I do not own it in any way. I wasn't too sure with this chapter, but I hope you all like it and please let me know what you think. Enjoy.
Tomb Raider: After Life.
Chapter 3 - The First Element.
24 hours later, Lara and Natalya were inside a hotel suite overlooking Venice, Italy, checking through the large weapons case. Lara pulled out her pistols while Natalya examined the UZI automatics. "Alright, according to Michael, Luca's studio was somewhere around here." Said Lara.
"Yes, but what he was studying back then was considered ungodly, so he needed a secure place to work without fear of being discovered and…worse. Father has all these maps and records from the era he knew Luca and Leonardo, and the studio was underground." Said Natalya, holding up a map and pointing to where the studio had been.
"So if we find out what's here now, we may find a way to get down to the studio." Said Lara.
Lara took the map from Natalya and went to the table to lay it down. "Pass me the map please." Said Lara as Natalya put the map in her hand.
Lara placed the map over the other one and began moving it around until she made a match. "Here, the streets match perfectly. The studio is under here." Said Lara, pointing to the spot on the map.
"The
"But it begs the question of how he got in and out to meet with Leonardo and your father."
Natalya went over to the guide book, and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. "Look at this building here, it leads directly out onto the bridge. You could easily fit a tunnel leading from under here all the way under the canal right down to the studio." Said Natalya.
"Good thinking, Luca would've been able to slip in and out of there easily."
"Now all we have to do is figure out how he got in and out."
"The let's not waste more time."
Lara put on her jacket and put her pistols in her back-pack as Natalya put the UZI's in her shoulder holsters and attached the Glaives to her belt before she put on her trench coat. She took the map and followed Lara out the door and down to the lobby where a black convertible was waiting. "Your father knows how to look after you." Said Lara.
Ponte di Rialto, known in English as The Rialto Bridge. Can't get more secluded than underwater." Said Natalya.
"Mother always said if you do something, do it in style. Though I get the feeling this will attract a little unwanted attention." Said Natalya, getting into the driver's seat.
"It might not be a bad thing, if people keep looking at this, they won't notice what we're up to."
Natalya smirked as she started the engine and drove away from the hotel…but they didn't notice someone watching them begin to follow them.
~~~In New York.~~~
It was late evening in New York as Antonia sat working. As she was typing up a report, James Rutland walked into the office. "I thought you were on your way to South America?" Asked Antonia.
"It appears your next applicant is on the move again. My men checked out her place and guess what they found. Tracking equipment." Said Rutland.
"Really, well this is an interesting development. I wonder who she was tracking."
"Us."
"What?"
"More specifically, you and your activities. The men went after her but she was just getting on to a plane heading for…Venice, Italy."
"That's where Tihocan must've sent Lara and Natalya. Pacioli's studio must still be there, along with his notes and equipment."
"If my math is right, she should've arrived a little while after they did. If she goes after them, she could mess up everything."
"It's too late for you to go and speak to her, but I can use my mother's business connections to have the right people keep an eye on the situation. Once they have her location, head after her and make sure she doesn't interfere."
"You talk as if you know what she's after."
"Anything Lara Croft has set out to find, that witch has been close behind her…Excalibur and Thor's Hammer being very good examples. We need to intercept her and get her on our side before she messes anything else up like she did in Hellhiem."
Antonia went straight to the phone as Rutland looked in on Natla. "That woman truly is indestructible, how could she survive that without becoming a thrall right away." Said Rutland.
"Thank
"And what about him in there. You gave your word that you wouldn't experiment on him until they brought the elixir."
"He's served his purpose for the moment, there's no harm in letting him rest until we have what we want. Besides, when the new healthy cells are finished growing, we can begin again. Besides, once our new ally is ready, we can have him keep an eye on Croft and Tihocan while we make the preparations for the temple."
"You found it?"
"All we need is to confirm it's authentic but if it is the real thing, then Atlantis will rise again."
"And what's in it for me in all this? I've done a damn lot for this operation."
"And I brought you back from the dead, so you've already been paid for your service. But don't worry, you've proven yourself to be a very useful ally. I'll see to it your rewarded handsomely."
James smirked as he left the room as Antonia got through to her contact in Italy and began speaking to him in Italian.
~"Hello
Mjolnir for that. Mother used it's power to shield herself but Jörmungandr's poison was already taking affect. Stopping all her bodily functions was the only way to stop the animation process. And once we have the elixir, she'll be healed and then we'll proceed to the final phase."Marino."~ She said.
~"Ah, Lady Antonia, to what do I owe this pleasure?"~
The Rialto Bridge."The outside isn't bad either, great view of the buildings and canal from the bridge." Said Lara.
Lara and Natalya had split up and were speaking through earpieces much like the ones Lara had spoken to Zip and Alister through. Natalya was in the building next to the bridge, which had been turned into a café and gift shop, while Lara was on the bridge using the tourists as cover. "But it leaves us a problem, we still don't know how Luca got in and out without being noticed." Said Natalya.
"There's nothing on the walls or on the floor…nothing that your father might have left to show you the way?" Asked Lara.
"You assume that my father did this himself…Luca might be the one to have left some clues. Though I agree that Dad leaving the clues might have been the easier option."
"That'll be the reason Luca will have done the clues."
"Even if there is something here, it's not like I can see anything. There are people all over and the walls are covered with posters and fake artwork. We're not gonna be able to do anything during the day even if we do find the way in."
"Don't sound so defeatist. The way in is around here some…"
Lara stopped in mid-sentence as her hand went over something on the bridge edge. "Natalya, I think I've found something." Said Lara.
"What is it?" Asked Natalya.
"A Pentagram, here I'm matching our camera views."
Natalya saw the video on her camera change to what Lara was seeing. It wasn't big enough to notice unless you were actually looking for it but it was defiantly a small carving of a pentagram. "A star inside a pentagon. That must be what Luca was describing to Leonardo in his letters." Said Natalya.
"I thought traditional pentagrams had circles around the star?" Said Lara.
"They do. Pentagrams are used to show the connection between the Earth and the Elements.
"So why a Pentagon around the Star instead of a circle?"
"I'm not sure, but it has to have something to do with the way the elements for the elixir were distilled. Maybe we'll find out more when we get down there."
Lara looked around the area where the Pentagram was and found another little carving on the inside of an arch at the bottom of the right side of the bridge. "I found another one, it's at the bottom of the bridge in front of where you are." Said Lara.
"I found one too." Said Natalya.
"Where?"
"I took a look upwards. This building must've been a church at some point because there's what looks have been a bell tower up there. And guess what's carved into the top of it."
Always with 5 points, one pointing upward. The upward point of the star is representative of the unknown 5th element. The other four points all represent an element; earth, air, fire, and water. Some believed to wear a pentagram necklace or other form of jewellery is to say you feel the connection with the elements and respect the earth.""A pentagram."
"It's small, but it's there. But I think it's upside down, the top point is pointing to the floor. But there's nothing…Ok, now I feel stupid."
"What is it?"
"It was under my feet the entire time, a pentagram that stretches out to where the tables are."
"Brilliant, where does the main point go to."
"The wall behind the cash register, right underneath the rope. It has to be a pully system, Luca lowered the bell and went through."
A hand tapped her shoulder and Natalya turned to see Lara now in the room with her. "We'll have to wait until it's closed before we can try anything, but at least it gives us time to become better prepared." Said Lara.
"Joseph said he packed terrain gear in the convertible before it was loaded on to the plane. There might be something in there we can use. I don't like the idea of doing this with the grapples because we don't know what's been done to that tower in the 500 years since Luca was here." Said Natalya.
"Wise move, let's go back to the hotel and look through that equipment and we can plan our next move from there."
Natalya nodded in agreement but just as they were turning to leave, a man walked into the room. They didn't think anything of it until 2 more walked in and all 3 of them pulled guns on them. Lara and Natalya dove for cover as the men began firing at them, Lara making it behind the souvenir stand and Natalya making it behind a nook in the wall. People ran screaming around the men and out anyway they could as the men focused their fire on Lara and Natalya.
As Lara laid flat on the floor to avoid the bullets, one passed through the wall of the nook and straight through Natalya's arm, making her yell in pain and grab her arm. "Cease Fire!" Someone ordered.
The attack stopped as the ring leader walked into the room, her heels clicking as she moved. "Come on out Lara, it's time to end this." She called.
Lara's head shot up as she realised who it was and she cringed. "I haven't got all day Lara, come out and face me. And you may as well come out Ms. Tihocan, I know you're there too." She said.
Natalya took her hand away from her arm and watched as the wound healed itself. "I haven't got all day ladies. Lara, throw out your weapons and come out." She ordered.
Lara rolled her eyes as she threw out her pistols and got up off the floor. Natalya realising that they thought she was unarmed, came out of hiding, still holding her arm. Before them stood a white blonde haired woman, her skin almost as pale as her dressed in a black suit and black fur coat, and a deep purple skull amulet around her throat. "Well hello Amanda, always lovely to see you." Lara said sarcastically.
"And you Lara. And we have a new face this time, it's nice to meet you Natalya Tihocan." Said Amanda.
"Wish I could say the same. For future reference, shooting someone in the arm isn't the best way to make a first impression." Snapped Natalya, motioning to her arm.
"I'll keep that in mind. For now, just behave yourself and you'll leave here with your life."
"And who are you to order me around?"
"Amanda Evert. Now, both of you walk to the centre of the room and stand still, my men here will make sure Lara hasn't got any surprises up her sleeve. Just to be safe, frisk the Tihocan woman too."
Lara and Natalya walked to the centre of the room and turned their backs to them. "And what happens next?" Asked Lara.
"For Natalya, it depends on whether or not she behaves. You however, are going to come with me and we'll settle our score once and for all." Said Amanda.
As the men began moving towards them, Natalya turned to Lara. "We can't let her do this! We have to get down to Luca's studio now!" She hissed.
"What do you want me to do, she's got my weapons?! You don't know her Natalya, she'll kill us without a second thought!" Whispered Lara.
"Since when did that stop you?"
"Since I got a new implant that's keeping me alive!"
"That's not good enough Lara, and don't use the IH as an excuse. That was designed so warriors could keep fighting, not hinder them! We don't have time to play her games, Kurtis's life is at stake!"
"I know that, but can you see any other way out of this?"
"As a matter of fact…"
As the men neared them, Natalya spun around and fired a beam of ice from her fingers. Amanda and the remaining men jumped back before the beam hit them, but the ones that were hit were frozen to the ground with only their heads above the ice. "What the hell!?" Shouted Lara.
"Be amazed later, studio now!" Snapped Natalya.
"We don't have any other option! Grapple the tower!"
She and Lara grabbed their grapple guns and fired the them towards the roof. They attached to the beam that would have held the bell, and attached them to their belts before pressing the motors on the guns. Before Amanda could regain her wits, Lara and Natalya were pulled up to the ceiling and came face to face with the rope. Natalya pulled out the UZI and began firing at Amanda and the men to buy them more time. They both grabbed the ropes with one hand and the grapples with the other. "Ready?" Asked Lara.
"As I'll ever be." Said Natalya.
They unattached the grapple hooks and quickly took hold of the rope as they dropped. They watched for anything that would open, but the closer they got to the floor, the closer they were getting to the men and Amanda. They let go of the rope and landed on the floor, and looked up in time to see Amanda with her fist raised, enshrouded in black smoke. Lara looked around to see a door open behind them, but it was beginning to slide closed. "Natalya, Run!" Shouted Lara as they both made a mad dash for the door.
Amanda threw a energy beam at them as they slide to the ground and under the door just as it was about to close. Amanda screamed in frustration as her beam hit the wall and it crumbled to the ground, preventing them from going after the girls. She spun around to face her men, but was shocked when she found them all the ground with a group of Italian mercenaries with guns to their heads. "What the hell do you bastards want? Can't you see I'm busy?!" Shrieked Amanda, powering up another attack.
But before she could launch it, a dart hit her in the neck. Amanda reached up and pulled it out as quickly as she could, but the substance was already in her system. She fell to her knees as someone sauntered in holding the gun that fired the dart.
~"Wrap her up boys and get her on the plane as fast as you can. Lady Antonia wants her in New York as soon as possible."~ Said the leader.
~"And what about the rest of them?"~ Asked one of the mercenaries.
~"Them too…I'm sure she'll find a use for them. Rapidamente, the sooner she gets them, the sooner we get the rest of our money."~
Amanda lost consciousness as the men came over and grabbed her, taking her and her men out of the building and into the waiting cars.
~~~Down Below.~~~
Lara and Natalya hadn't expected what happened next. The moment they'd slid under the door, Lara and Natalya had immediately continued sliding down a stone slope. They struggled but managed to get to their feet while sliding down, thankfully seeing a light at the bottom of the slope. But danger was lurking in every nook and cranny. When they were a quarter of the way down, something came at them. Lara spotted it first. "Natalya, jump now!" She shouted.
They both managed to jump over the on coming weapon, a huge swing axe, and continued sliding down. Then they had to duck when they came to a set of spikes that jutted out from the sides of the walls, then having to leap over a pit that spit fire after they made it across, before having to slide on their backs again to get under another trap, this time a wall of fire spit out of the walls.
In front of them next was a huge pit, with spiky pillars rising out of it. Natalya spotted it first, a pole stretching across the top of the pit. "Lara! Jump for the pole!" Called Natalya, and when they were near the end, they jumped as high as they could, grabbing the pole and swinging around so they were crouched on top.
As they figured out the next part, they heard a loud rumbling behind them. Lara looked back but Natalya had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. "Do I want to look back?" She asked quickly.
"No, just go!" Shouted Lara, as they fired their grapples on to the conveniently placed metal ring on the roof.
As they swung across the spiky pit, the rumbling behind them got louder. The rumbling was a huge bolder rushing towards them, and Lara and Natalya swung towards the ledge that led to another tunnel. The moment they landed on the ledge, Lara and Natalya ran as fast as they could down the tunnel before the boulder hit them, crushing the ledge and the opening to the tunnel.
Lara and Natalya kept running until the came to the end of the tunnel, a cloud of dust following after them through what was left of the tunnel. While trying to catch their breath, the 2 of them turned on their lamps attached to their back straps. When Lara turned it on Natalya, who had taken off her now ruined coat so Lara could see another wound on her thigh and a burn on her shoulder in the process of healing. "Alright, explain yourself. What the hell was all that back there and what's going on with you now?" Demanded Lara.
"I could ask the same of you! Who was that demonic maniac up there?!" Asked Natalya, holding on her shoulder.
"An old friend and more recently, a very deadly enemy."
"That part I got, I meant…"
"No, that's all I'm saying. Now answer my question."
"I'm part Atlantian remember, I've inherited certain special powers from my ancestors. I can heal small injuries and harness the powers of Water. Ice is just frozen water so it's easy to manipulate into beams like the attack I used upstairs." Started Natalya, as she examined the now healed injuries.
"And you couldn't use it while we were travelling through the fire?"
"The air was too hot, it would've just turned to steam. Besides, I try not to depend on my powers too much. If I do, I might end up in a situation where they're useless and not know what to do. This way all my bases are covered and the pain of these injuries will remind me to be more careful in the future."
They walked to the edge of the ledge and looked down into a pit, but it was so dark they couldn't make out if Luca's studio was down there or not. "Guess we can't go any further until we light the place up a little. See anyway of doing that Lara?" Asked Natalya.
Lara looked around with her torch, until she saw 2 torches on the wall where they came in. Reaching into her backpack, Lara pulled out 2 flares and threw 1 to Natalya. "You have a torch on your backpack and you still carry flares?" Asked Natalya, walking over to the unlit torch on her side.
"Like you said, cover all bases." Said Lara.
Lara lit her torch with the flare, but as she did that, all the torches lit around her side of the room, leading to another set of torches on the other side of the carven. Natalya lit hers and the same happened to her side, revealing a set of stairs on both sides leading down to the ground below. And in the centre of the pit, was a small bungalow in the centre of a giant pentagram. "Oh that view is magnificent." Lara said in awe.
"It's beautiful from up here. And aren't you glad you're alive to see it?" Asked Natalya.
"Oh yes, but it doesn't look fully lit just yet. We must've not done this mechanism properly."
As if on cue, the lights went back out. "You just had to say it, didn't you?" Quipped Natalya.
"Yes, but aren't you glad we found this out before we went down the stairs." Asked Lara, throwing another flare to Natalya.
"What do you think? Flare up on the count of 3?"
"Worth a try. Ready…1."
"2."
"3."
They lit the flares together, and the torches all around the room lit up once more, but instead of it being just around the outer edge, the torches flew upwards as well, lighting up the entire cavern like a giant chandelier. "Now that's a view." Said Natalya, taking out her field camera to get a video.
"Absolutely breath taking. Oh you can tell Leonardo had a hand in this, only he could have created this masterpiece." Said Lara.
"Give Luca some credit Lara, he was the only one who could've done the seal around the house." Said Natalya.
Lara walked to the edge and looked over. "Look, there's something written around the edge of the Pentagram." Said Lara, taking out her own camera.
"What? Is it Italian?" Asked Natalya.
"Yes, but my Italian is a little rusty. Can you make it out?"
Natalya zoomed in on the writing. "Travellers, your quest for this enchanted elixir begins here. When the ring of the heir Atlantis unlocks the seal, the element of Earth will be yours." Natalya read out loud.
"Ring of the Heir? Does that mean Tihocan's ring?" Asked Lara.
"No. Dad isn't the heir of Atlantis, he's the King. I'm the heir of Atlantis. That must mean the Earth element is inside"
"So when it says ring of the heir, it means your ring?"
Natalya looked at the band on her ring finger. It was a very elegant ring, a band made of yellow gold with a circle of blue diamonds and a beautiful emerald set into it. "Let's give it a try. C'mon, before something else happens." Said Natalya, heading down the stairs.
Lara went down after her, wondering what was the story of that ring. It was a long trek down to the bottom of the pit, especially because they were on their guard for any more traps. When they reached the floor, they took note of the barred doorway that the top point of the pentagram pointed too as they made their way to the door of the house. But they were that busy keeping an eye out for an attack from the sides, they didn't notice the pentagram begin to glow as they walked over the lines. Natalya kept watch as Lara examined the door. "There's no handle, but it looks like a ring can be put here." Said Lara.
"I don't like this, it seems too easy." Said Natalya.
"What do you mean?"
"Feels like we're missing something…something that made that door open!"
Lara shot to her feet as Natalya aimed her guns at the doors. "We must have activated another trap when we touched the pentagram!" Said Lara, pulling out her pistols.
"I thought Luca wanted someone to find his elixir? So far, everything he's put down here…" Started Natalya, before the looming figure appeared at the doorway.
"…Has tried to kill us." She finished as they looked upwards at the enemy that easily towered over them.
They watched in terror as 2 10ft Stone Golems came out of the cage, and eyed them up before they roared in unison and charged towards them. Lara and Natalya quickly dove to the sides and ran to the edge of the room to avoid the attacks, the monsters were quick, dashing their way before they hit the house.
Lara avoided another attack by the golem again and circled it, firing her weapons in an attempt to penetrate it's armour. But the bullets were just bouncing off it's skin and the golem swung it's arm around again, making Lara duck down to avoid it. Lara kicked out at the golem's ankle, but the golem didn't even budge while Lara felt like her foot was broken. She rolled away as the golem tried to stomp on her.
On the other side of the room, Natalya wasn't faring much better. Running alongside the room as the Golem ran after her. Natalya didn't have a chance to attack with her ice beams, she was using all her focus on avoiding the the spiked rocks it was throwing at her. She barely avoided another onslaught but fell to the ground, landing on her front and hitting her jaw hard. Natalya turned on to her back in time to the golem stop in front of her and raise it's foot to crush her. But before it attacked, Natalya rolled to her left at the last moment, causing the golem to hit something else buried in the ground.
But as the golem reared back, a flash of yellow caught Natalya's eye.
She turned to the beast, who had fallen to the floor and was writhing around in agony. Lara stopped firing at her golem to see it do the same. "Natalya, what happened to it?!" Lara called over.
"I don't know! It hit something in the ground and then they recoiled, like their hurting!" Cried Natalya.
"Well find whatever it was and destroy it before yours wakes up!"
Natalya didn't waste any time, and fired an ice beam at the golem, freezing it to buy herself more time. She turned back to the ground and quickly wiped away the dust from the area the golem had punched, to reveal a giant yellow stone, now with a gaping crack in it from the salamander's teeth. Natalya looked over to see Lara, to find the other golem had regained it's senses and was attacking Lara again.
Natalya made to run to Lara but her feet were taken out from under her. She fell, but quickly turned to see the golem crawling towards her, the ice melting around it the more power it regained. Natalya scooted back towards the yellow stone, pulling out one of the Glaives on the way and retracting the blades. She turned and jumped before the golem could strike and struck the stone with all her strength, making another huge crack.
Lara was backed up against the wall with her golem ready to punch when it recoiled in pain once more. Natalya struck the yellow stone again with such force, she buried her fist and the Glaive into it. She activated the Glaive's power and it shattered the rest of the stone, before returning to her hand. The Golems both writhed in agony as Lara and Natalya ran to the centre of the room in front of the house, both ready for another attack. But they needn't have worried, for right before their eyes, the Golems crumbled into rubble.
Natalya released a sigh of relief and returned the Glaive to her belt. "Well, that was fun. How 'bout you Lara, enjoy that?" Asked Natalya.
But to her surprise, Lara looked ready to faint. "Lara!" She asked, quickly catching Lara before she fell to the ground.
"I…I'm fine." Lara gasped, completely out of breath.
"Lara, you're clearly not fine. This was too much way too soon."
"Hey, this was bound to happen, it always does on these kinds of journeys."
"Yeah, but you weren't practically on life support before. I should've helped you."
"You tried remember, but last time I checked…Fire always wins against ice in a fight, you had enough on your plate."
"Let's get inside, I'll check out your heart before we do anything else."
Natalya took off her ring and placed it in the slot. The door handle glowed for a moment before the door creaked open. Natalya put Lara's arm around her shoulder and took her weight before helping her inside, grabbing her ring on the way and shutting the door. She sat Lara down on the cot bed in the corner, before opening her pack and pulling out a small case. "When we get back up, you are on bed rest until we find out where we're going next. 4 days after major surgery is not enough time to heal for this kind of adventure. I'm a doctor, I should know that."
Natalya took out her flask of water and cloth and handed them to Lara. "That needs to be cleaned regularly. We'll use the surgical spirit when we get back to the hotel but for now, that will do." Said Natalya.
"Natalya, stop. My exhaustion isn't your fault. We're here for a reason…for your brother. Now, look for anything that might look like somewhere Luca might've hid the Earth element." Said Lara, dampening the cloth and began wiping clean the IH.
~~~Back in New York.~~~
Antonia strutted into her office and switched the light on in Kurtis's cell, waking the injured man from his less than peaceful slumber. "What do you want?" He snapped, his voice raspy.
"To give you an update on what's happening. Lara Croft has gone after the Elixir…with your sister." She said, an evil smile on her face as Kurtis turned to her.
"What?!"
Kurtis wrapped the blanket over his body and crawled closer to the glass, making Antonia as he winced in pain caused from his still healing wounds. "That's right, right now they're in Italy looking for the first ingredient. You were all the incentive I needed to convince little Natalya to go after it to save her big brother's life. And since my man almost killed Lara, she's basically on a life support machine that your dear step-daddy created…the hope of living fully again was enough to get Lara to go." She laughed.
"You bitch! If you do anything to her or to Lara, I swear I'll…" Kurtis started, getting to his knees in an attempt to face her.
"You'll what Trent? What can you possibly do to me in there? You don't have your precious gun, or your Glaive and your far-see abilities are useless against me and my power!"
Kurtis finally managed to stand face to face with Antonia. "Try me Antonia…try to hurt Natalya or Lara and see what I do!" He snarled, getting eye to eye with her.
"Now see, I understand the protectiveness for your baby sister, but why Lara? She left you to die, stole your weapon and continued on with her life…barely gave you a second thought after Turkey. Why do you care what happens to her?"
Kurtis turned away and limped back to the centre of the cell. "Like I'd give you the time of day…my reasons are my own when it comes to Lara. I'm warning you Antonia, if anything happens to them…" Kurtis warned, turning back to face her.
"Oh please, they're getting what I want and I'm personally taking care of any threat towards them. I'm a reasonable woman Kurtis." Antonia said innocently.
"When it suits you…what happens after they bring it to you?"
"Oh, nothing bad…they might even be apart of what's going to happen. The thing is Kurtis, it's my mother that wants to hurt Lara…I want to hurt Tihocan and Natalya."
"Why? What did they ever do to you? None of us even knew you."
"Oh you'll find out…for now, I'm going back to my latest project…Get some rest, you're going to need it."
"That would work so much better if you didn't keep waking me up every hour to gloat."
Antonia smirked sarcastically at him before leaving Kurtis with his thoughts. "Those 2 know what they're doing, and if psycho bitch is planning anything, they'll know well before I do." Thought Kurtis, before laying down to rest with the hope that he would be saved soon.
~~~Back in Venice.~~~
Natalya looked around the room, for anything that might give them a hint as to where they were. The thing was, this was only a tiny one room shack, with only a basin for washing, a cabinet, a fireplace and table for cooking and eating and a bed for sleeping. Natalya went over to the cabinet and opened the doors, the shelf was empty save for a package wrapped in cloth. She took it out and went over to the table as Lara finished up and came to join her.
Natalya unwrapped the cloth to reveal a leather diary. She blew the dust away to reveal a pentagram printed into the leather. "This must be the journal where he kept his notes." Said Lara, taking the journal and opening it
"What does the first entry say?" Asked Natalya, listening in as she went over to the fireplace.
The process starts with the simplest of elements. These must be distilled, one by one, multiple time. The mystery of it's core energy must be attained and once obtained, it must be quickly used to condense a new element.
The passion of Fire and the restraint of Earth should be a duality enough to spin the formulae into reaction.
"What did he mean by that?" Asked Natalya.
"I'm not sure…but I figured out why he used a pentagon instead of a circle while he was creating the elixir. Look, he drew a diagram. Each point of the star touches the Pentagon." Said Lara, looking over the diagram.
"I think I understand now. The number 5 was significant in this process.
"And in many cultures, the number 5 is considered to be a number of power. It must've been to give the Alchemic pattern more power."
The number 5 has always been regarded as mystical and magical, yet essentially 'human'. We have five fingers and toes on each limb extremity. We have five senses; sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. We have five stages or initiations in our lives; birth, adolescence, coitus, parenthood and death.""So it makes sense to use it in this kind of experiment. The 5 basic elements on the points of the star and pentagon…"
"And the sub elements on the lines of the star and pentagon, creating a continuous flow of energy until you get The Elixir of Life."
"You're good for a beginner."
"Thank you…but we still don't know where they are."
Just then, Natalya spotted another pentagram on the fireplace back. "Lara, I found another Pentagram." She said, reaching in to touch it.
"Wait! Don't touch it!" Cried Lara, but it was too late.
The moment she touched it, Natalya was hit in the chest by a white beam of light that sent her flying back into the table. Lara dove out of the way as Natalya went through it, her chest now smouldering as the beam went through the skin. Lara dropped the journal and dropped to Natalya's side as she began convulsing. Thankfully, the beam stopped and Natalya stopped shaking, trying to catch her breath as smoke rose from her body. "What the hell just hit me?" Snapped Natalya, sitting up and holding her chest where the beam had hit her.
"I have no idea. I did try to tell you." Said Lara.
"But how did you know?"
"It was out of the corner of my eye, the pentagram started glowing the closer you got to it. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just a little frazzled, both figuratively and literally. C'mon, let's get those things and get out of here. I've had all I can stand of this place."
"It's only going to get harder from here on out."
Lara helped Natalya to her feet and they went over to the fireplace to have another look. The fireplace back had fallen open and revealed a compartment, and inside was a small wooden chest. "I know it's gonna get harder, but I'll keep going. I wouldn't do it for anybody else but my family." Said Natalya, taking hold of the chest and carefully pulling it out.
They brushed the dust off the top of the chest, and revealed the initials…LP. Lara used the butt of her pistol to break the lock on the front of the chest. Inside was a square shaped object wrapped in cloth. Lara reached for it and unwrapped the cloth to reveal a beautiful yellow stone, encasing something far more precious. "This is magnificent. The method to create it must've have been amazing to perform." Lara said in awe.
Lara placed the Earth element in Natalya's hand. "C'mon, let's figure out how to get out of here…we're obviously not going back the way we came." Said Lara, grabbing her pack on her way to the door.
But as Natalya got up, the stone began glowing in her hands. "Lara." Natalya called.
Lara turned around in time to see the stone glow brighter. The stone then showed them an image, The Earth stone rose before them to show their location in Venice, all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, and the stone change from the square Earth stone, to the Triangular stone with fire blazing inside it, with an image of the boarder between American and Canada. It was a quick process and it was soon over, and when it was, the stone's glow died down. "Did you see that?" Asked Natalya.
"Yes, it showed us the location of the next stone. That one had to be the Fire stone, the other element Luca used to start the process."
"I think I know where that was, that was the boarder between America and Canada. Specifically between Minnesota and Ontario…"
"At least we know where we're going next."
Lara picked up her pack and put the journal inside it as they both made their way out of the house. They'd done the first hard part, now all that was left was to get above ground and to the airport. As they looked around, they realised there was only one other doorway, the cage where the golems had come from. They both made their way towards it and turned their torches back on.
They walked to the end, but couldn't find another way to go. "Alright then, we'll just have to dig through the way we came and make our way back up." Said Lara.
Just as she turned around, she had to duck as a trap door above her flew open and nearly knocked her head off. "Or we could go up this way." Said Natalya, her hand still on the button she's found to open the trap door.
Lara looked up and could see a ladder leading up to the surface. Natalya came over and the 2 of them fired their grappling hooks into the tunnel and they attached on to the rungs of the ladder. Carefully, they began climbing up the ladder. It took an hour and a half to get up to the surface again, with Natalya having to open up the hatch that hid the tunnel from the world. When they got out, they realised they were on the other side of the Rialto Bridge, across from where they originally started. "Oh this isn't right, we could've just gone down this way?!" Gasped Natalya, still trying to catch her breath.
"And met those golems first with no way out to kill them. Trust me, we did this the right way. Now, let's get back to the hotel and get ready. We can rest on the way to Ontario." Said Lara, as they crossed the bridge to get back to the car.
As Natalya got back into the drivers seat, she turned to ask Lara a question. "Lara…that thing that hit me earlier. I can't see what it did but I know it's left something on me. You've been looking at it ever since the stone glowed." Started Natalya.
"Don't read too much into it love." Said Lara.
"That's not what I mean. That beam marked me didn't it?"
"…Yes, it marked you with a pentagram like Luca's."
"Well, I guess there are worse things to get as a tattoo."
"Natalya, it glowed when the Earth stone did, and there's something else. On the east point of the mark, a yellow dot."
"What?"
"I don't know what it means yet, but you can take a better look at the hotel."
"I need to talk to my father, he might know more about this."
Lara buckled up and Natalya started the car, before speeding back to the hotel.
~"A business proposition, you have a new project in the works in Milan, correct?"~
~"Yes, that's correct."~
~"Well, you do this little job for me and I'll give you $1,000,000 in financial backing."~
~"That's a very generous offer Ms. Natla, but it makes me wonder how big the job is for such a large payment."~
~"I have a project of my own going on in Venice and someone is going to screw it up for the sake of a vendetta. Lara Croft and Natalya Tihocan are looking for something for me and my enemy is after Croft. If she interferes and kills either of them, she'll have ruined everything."~
~"So, do you want her eliminated?"~
~"No, not for now anyway. She's needed later for my plans…collect her in Venice and have her shipped to my main headquarters. She owes me something and I'm going to make sure I get it. Can you do that Marino?"~
~"With ease Antonia, I'll have my men in Venice on this round the clock. I'm guessing if I find one, I'll later find all 3?"~
~"Most likely. I'm sending you their personal info and pictures of them that should help your men. Plus I'll send you half of what I've promised now, you get the other half when I get her."~
~"A fair bargain. As always, it's a pleasure to do business with you Ms. Natla."~
The line went dead and Antonia sat down and sighed. "Men, they are so easy to use when money is involved." She said to herself, before opening a file on her computer.
The file contained blueprints of a temple and a picture of a stone carving. "Don't worry Mother, I'll give you back everything she took from you." Said Antonia, before she continued working.
~~~Back in Venice.~~~
Natalya walked through the building, holding her field camera and getting a round house shot of the building inside. "Lara, it's beautiful in here. I can see why Luca picked this place to work." Said Natalya, as she walked around the building next to the