Chapter 4: Syria part 2

I don't own anything. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom and Tomb Raider belongs to Core Design, Crystal Dynamics, and I think Square Enix. The only thing I own is the changes made to the stories of the Tomb Raider games/comics and Resident Evil games/comics/CG movies, the Government branch S.P.E.L.L., the person that has taken over Kathrine Warren's life, and Rose Warren. This story also will be bloody, violent, and have cursing. It's rated T for Teen.

Country: Syria, State: Northwest Border of Syria, City: Lost City, Place: Prophet's Lost Tomb, Area: Main Tomb, Month: November, Day: Tuesday 14th, Year: 2000, Time: 12:57 EEST…

Once Lara got her breath back, she stood and lifted her glow stick. She whipped at her mouth and climbed the stairs, her eyes wide in wonder as she entered the main atrium. Lush green vines hung down from an opening overhead, trailing along the columns and what was left of the buildings. Along the walls of the massive cavern, where what appeared to be several levels of some kind of open-air walkway with columns separating arched entry points. In a few places there appeared to be what was left of what may have been a floor over her head. Now all that was left were some stone pathways that were about 3 to 4 feet long. She looked up to see an opening of where part of the top of the cavern had collapsed in and the sun was shining down on a large Gazebo like structure at the top of several stories of what may have been a building at some point. Now all that was left were 2 sets of broken stone steps. The whole top of the structure seemed to be leaning to left. To Lara it looked like it was going to fall over at any moment.

Forcing herself to look away from the wonder of the Gazebo, she could see random piles of rubble from the fallen structures. Tufts of plants struggled to grow in and around the cracks. She could hear water trickling down to form puddles along the floor. She saw that the source of most of the water was a huge waterfall in the back. Almost covering the back wall. The spray from the water floated along the air currents from the opening the roof. This drew her gaze back to the Gazebo and she could see that it was made of white marble and gold.

"Stunning…" Lara breathed, awe struck as she looking at the way the light set it aglow. "We made it, dad."

She looked around the room, a plan formulating as she took in the hanging wooden beams from fraying ropes, and the crumbling walkways that she could jump from one to another. Looking down she could see water pooled below, it was not too deep that she would have to swim, not that it mattered, but if she could raise the level, she might get high enough to climb the other side. She looked around plotting out the rout she was going to take and what needed to be done to make each part of the cavern accessible.

She jumped from her ledge and into the waters below. First things first, she needed to flood the area. To do that, she needed to rip some of the leaking wall open. With that done, she swam in the flooding waters to a new ledge and pulled herself up. She watched the water and it stopped rising just at the bottom of the ledge she was standing on. The water levels on each side of the wall must have equaled out.

She looked up and saw that the area she was in must have been a crypt. All around the area, was niches built into the stone. On many of them she could see skulls or other bones. Some were collapsed and just rubble. She looked up and the edges of the one in front of her could be used as a ladder. She jumped up and started to climb up the niches. At the top, she pulled herself up on to what was left of the flooring. She turned then ran and jumped from this edge for a wooden platform suspended on two ropes that ran up to a pully system attached to a flood gate. She stood up and walked to the center of the wooden platform to even out the weight distribution. Slowly it lowered, and the flood gate lifted, letting the water it was holding back to flood into the area. Just as the water rose up and reached the bottom of the gate the platform tipped so she jumped off and into the rising water.

She dropped right into the water and swam for another set of niches. She had to swim fast soon the water would begin to flood over the edge behind her and into the fist level. She would be pulled backward like going down a drain or over a waterfall. She pulled her self up onto a niche and began to climb. Two niches up she saw a box inside this one with the body of a monk. With one hand she carefully lifted the lid, inside she found another religious symbol. But this one was made of wood, cord, twigs, and smaller twigs.

"Another religious symbol, but this one is…" Lara muttered as she lifted the dry wooden object. "Simple and handmade…the Prophet must have drawn followers from every walk of life…" She sighed. "Looks like something Rose would make. She's becoming crafty like Sherry." She hummed as she wrapped the symbol up and put it into her pack.

Thankful that the Yoga was keeping her limber to reach over her shoulder like this. She reached another floor and pulled her self up. Dusting off her hands she looked around when she heard the water behind her start to spill over in the bottom. More water was coming in, she figured it would take a little while for the water to reach were she was now and start flooding this level or even out again.

As she walked and climbed around the rubble, looking for the right way up to the center piece of the room. She stopped when she found scroll. This one appeared to be a scroll that was going to be sent back to the before mentioned bishop, this one from the knight.

My Lord,

What you say is impossible. I myself drove a spear into the Prophet's heart. I saw him die.

Doubtless his people have propped another man up in the slain Prophet's robe to continue his lies. They are broken, discredited, and exiled. We will head south and put the rest of his people to the sword, but the Prophet is dead.

This, I swear.

Lara frowned at that. 'A Knight of Trinity followed the trail with the intent of wiping out the rest of the Prophet's followers. They wanted no evidence to remain...' She shook her head and rolled up the scroll, tucking it into her pack.

She started climbing what looked like the crumbling side of a building. She pulled herself up at what looked like a doorway and carefully moved into the darker area. She saw the spike trap this time so she was able to avoid the trigger and move to the other side of the room. She heard an explosion very close by, and crouched ready to jump or run, her first thought being that she set off a trap. She looked up as dust fell indicating that Trinity's explosives were the cause.

"That's it!" She heard the rough voice of the man from before yell, though it was a little muffled. "We're almost through!"

"All right, set the final charges…prepare to breach!" Called the soft youthful male voice.

Lara shook her head. "Damn!" She cursed. "They're almost inside!"

She was about to leave the small room on this ledge, but spotted another scroll. She'd nearly missed it. She walked over and picked it up gently before reading. This one was also from the knight.

My Lord,

I ride at the head a small army of the faithful, armed and ready, and I have good news: we have located the Tomb of the Prophet. We were attacked by madmen upon the road, wearing the Prophet's livery, but they were easily bested.

We allowed one to flee, and followed him back to the Oasis. Whether the Prophet escaped death, or whether another now wears his mantle, it does not matter. All will perish inside, and it will become a Tomb at last.

'They found the Prophet's followers, and planned to kill them all... What was so dangerous about the Prophet?' Lara thought as she rolled up the scroll and tucked it away.

Lara could see the tops of two columns that looked stable, they were not too far apart and she could jump from one to the next to get to the other side of what must have been a large room. As she made the first running leap, she landed with her hips smacking into the edge of the column but she had enough forward momentum to lean forward and pull her legs up.

'That going to leave a bruise.' She thought.

She leapt for the next one and misjudged a little, this time she caught the edge with her hands and had to pull herself up on top of it. The edge of the flooring was not that far away and she just made a small jump to it. Dusting off a bit she saw a tunnel to her right.

She took a glow stick and tossed it down to the tunnel. As it flew she could see where the floor was giving way over a spike trap. Taking it at a run, she took a running leap over the pit. She continued at a slow trot to the end of the tunnel. As she came out of the tunnel she was in another large chamber. She could hear water trickling out of the wall some place ahead of her. She lifted her glow stick from her belt and looked around. She could see another wooden platform suspended from a pully system. She looked around the ledge she was standing on and spotted another scroll. She kneeled to it and opened to read. This one was yet another one from the Trinity knight.

My Lord,

The last remnants of the Prophet's followers have barricaded themselves inside his Tomb. We have made camp at the entrance, and we are preparing to break through their barricades. I saw the man claiming to be the Prophet, before they sealed the gates, and I admit, he bears a striking resemblance. But it could not be.

No matter. They will all be dead before sunrise. The Order of Trinity will see that his heresy ends here.

'They were confident that they could end the Prophet's influence, but clearly it didn't go as they had planned...' She thought as she looked around her.

Other than the explosives of current day Trinity, the damage around her was of not just time, but a big battle. And strangely, it seemed that the Prophet's side might have won. With depleted numbers, but maybe they won.

She tucked the scroll away and stood. She had a hunch that this pallet was once used to raise and lower the flood gate just like the other one. She could see the gate in the gloom to the left side, but her glow stick was finally starting to fade, and she could not quite see where the ropes led to along the wooden wall. She didn't want to start a new stick yet, she only had a handful left. Looking down she knelt and looked around to see there was deep water blow. All the walls looked smooth. No niches or hand holds until higher up. She could use her climbing axe but the stone looked so old it might just crumble and cause more damage and probably bury her under rubble. She had no choice but to try the pully system.

She took a breath and ran then jumped from the edge to the top of the pallet. It started lowering as soon as she landed. She turned and gasped as the water that came out from this gate was right next to the pallet. A torrent of water hit her, knocking her off and into the pooling water under her. She started to swim as fast as she could for the side wall she could climb up, but the water was draining from somewhere and the level dropped so quickly she didn't make it to the hand holds she had spotted.

She swam over to a small ramp, then ran up the wet sandy expanse, to where she was before. "I've got to raise the water…but how…" She looked around and sighed. She took off her pack and took out another glow stick. She cracked it to get it going then she used a bit of cord to tie to together with the other one. As she put the pack on she held them up and then she could really see into the dark corners a little more.

She spotted a leaking wall on the other side of the room where the trickling sound came from. She looked to the pallet, if she kept moving she could jump to the other side from it before the gate opened and pushed her off. She took off at a sprint, jumped, landed, then took two fast steps to jump again to the other side before the water could hit her fully. She slow jogged over to the leaking wall. She pulled her axe, and as before, slammed it into the wall. It only took one good swing to break the wall open. Lara hopped back as the water flooded out and raised the water level.

She turned around and saw a second pallet hanging at an odd angle as one of the ropes had broken and the remaining one was tangled up in the pully above it. She switched her axe, and attached the glow stick to a clip on her belt, then took out one of her pistols. She took aim at this second pallet and fired at it's joint. It fell into the water and floated just in below her. She looked to it and jumped onto the still attached pallet. The water flooded out as the pallet lowered. This wave of water pushed the downed floating platform of wood passed her, the water also slammed into her as before, sending her into the water below. As the gate closed she swam over to the floating wood platform.

Lara climbed up on top and slowly stood up, not wanting to lose her balance. She squeezed water from her hair before jumping from the wood to what looked like a crumbled column that had a slightly sloped flat surface. She would not slide off it, just be a bit tipped to the left. She was high enough now to see another flat toped column with chips along the side she could use as handholds to get to the top. She leaped and managed to grab the largest of the cracks. She slowly made her way up the column and pulled her self up onto the top. She was on the other side of the where the water would come out, raising her glow sticks she could now see that just before the pully was a cross beam. The ropes from the pallet attached to it and then another set ran up to the pully. She nodded in thought. If she could hold on to that, the water wouldn't be able to push her off or away. She backed up and then did a short running jump.

She grunted as she grabbed the bar and the whole pallet and beam started to lower from her weight. This time, when the wooden gate lifted and the water flooded out, Lara was free and clear of it hitting her. However, that didn't last long as the whole system kept lowering and soon her feet and then her legs were flying out behind her as the torrent of water gushed out of the gate. With in seconds the water was beating at her torso. The water flow was far too strong, and she lost her grip on the bar. She let out a yell as she fell into the water and the rushing current pushed her away and then over the wall she had planned to climb up onto. She screamed as the waterfall pushed her into the main room again. She sunk under the water, twisting, and spinning as a current pulled her into main area.

She grabbed the sunken wall of the main tomb's gazebo as she was being pushed passed it. Fighting the pressure of the water she pulled herself up and reached for the edge of a floor. She surfaced and coughed a bit as she climbed onto the side of the structure. The water was draining below her as she hung out there for a moment, coughing out the water she had up her nose. After gaining her breath back, she started climbing up to the top. She pulled herself to her feet on the blue, gold, and stone mosaic floor. She stared at the stone sarcophagus. It had the carving of a man on the lid, looking like the man from a few of the murals.

"…Found you!" She breathed as she approached.

She paused by its side for a few moments. Taking in the beautiful mosaic tiles and interact details of the stone. She then leaned on the edge of the stone lid and pushed. It was heavy, but still yielded to her strength. But her eyes widened as dust fell inside the rectangular hole. Nothing. No gold, no jewels, and most importantly, no body.

"Empty!" She asked in shock. "It's empty." She pushed away from the lid, slamming her hand onto the edge of the sarcophagus leaning down as she looked into the empty inner coffin, lowering her head in defeat. "No, no. What did I miss?" She wondered out loud.

She pushed away and started pacing. She kicked a pillar in frustration. If she had called Kat about this, there was a chance she would know about it. She could've told her. Warned her she'd find an empty tomb. But she hadn't thought about it at the time. Maybe she had missed something though. The only place she could go for more clues was her family manor. But she—

"Hey, it's down here!" A male voice shouted, jarring her from her thoughts.

Lara stopped moving and looked up at the ceiling. Men from Trinity were lined up at the small windows above that let in sunlight. There were a lot of them. Too many to try and fight head on, yet. She needed to do something though. She needed somewhere to hide. She then looked to the empty sarcophagus. It was her only choice.

She jumped into it and pulled the lid shut over herself. She took out one of her pistols and got it ready, turning the safety off and waiting. The men from Trinity repelled on rope lines down to the tomb's floor. Only one man turned around without pulling out his weapons. He was tall and armored up. His head was unprotected though, unlike the others with masks covering the lower faces and radio headsets on. His hair was cut short and blonde and was clearly the leader.

"Set the charges!" He ordered loudly and firmly, ignoring the beauty of the ancient structure he was in.

His men moved around the upper walls and started putting the blinking bombs into place. The commander was handed the detonator as he walked toward the sarcophagus Lara was hidden in. He opened the cover on the detonator and hit one of the buttons to link it to the charges. He then hooked it to his belt. He paused by the stone tomb, taking it in.

"The Prophet's tomb…" He began calmly in a gruff deep voice, sounding proud to be before it and to have found it. "After all this time."

"And the artifact?" Asked one of his men who was guarding him.

"Inside. God willing." The Commander said as he took off one of his combat gloves.

This reviled a fresh hole in his hand. From one side to the other, it was red with dried blood, the edges yellow-red as if it was suffering an infection. He ran his hand on the lid of the sarcophagus. Feeling the tiles on it, but he was looking for a different feeling. Something to tell him what was within.

"Open it." He ordered as he stepped away, turning his back to it. "Carefully. It could be extremely dangerous."

Two of his men walked over to the sarcophagus and pushed the lid open. Lara stood and took aim at the unprotected head of their commander. He turned around as his men yelled and backed up from her. He growled at her seeing her beat up form. He had hoped she was dead but was partly glade she wasn't.

"Who the hell are you?" Lara asked with a glare.

The commander smiled as he walked toward her. "You're a smart woman." He complimented as he put his hands out to lower his men's weapons. "I suspect you already know." He said walking up close, so Lara' gun was five inches from his chest.

Lara's upper lip curled in disgust. "Trinity." She gritted as he got too close to her, pressing his chest to her gun muzzle.

"Where is the artifact?" He asked.

She leaned forward, her eyes spotting the detonator but making sure he didn't see she saw. "I don't know what you're talking about." She stated honestly.

"Don't play games with me!" He snarled leaning forward and making her lean back. "You led us to this place."

Lara looked at his chest as she sneakily pick-pocketed the detonator. She then looked up seeing he was only watching her face, his mistake. She raised her gun away from him, in a gesture of 'I'm not gonna kill you'. "Look, it was empty when I got here." She informed him. "There was no body, and defiantly no artifact."

He looked at her then down at the sarcophagus. Seeing she was right. It was empty. He looked at Lara. One thing Trinity didn't know about was that the pack on Lara's back had a 'bigger on the inside' enchantment. So, to him, he saw there was no where she could hide what they were looking for. He turned away from her and walked a few feet away.

He looked up at the set charges then at the sky that was visible through the holes. He watched the blue sky as if looking for a sign. Then he turned around and drew his combat knife, ready to kill her. his men raised their weapon's, the threat that if she tried to fight the knife kill, she'd still die but by gunfire instead. Lara backed up in the tomb and raised up the liberated detonator switch.

She didn't even hesitate. She closed her hand into a tight fist on the main trigger, arming every laid-out charge. Upon seeing that, the commander's eyes widened then looked to his belt. Finding it empty of the switch that the British brunette now held. He looked at Lara. He saw it then. Something that he should've prepped for. Resolve. He knew she would detonate them.

"Get down!" The Commander yelled to his men and ran for some form of cover.

Lara dropped down into the sarcophagus and flicked the plastic cover open. Without any other hesitation, she pressed her thumb onto the red button. With a beep, the charges were activated. As one, the charges detonated and the ceiling caved in, and destroyed much of the surrounding structures and stairs. A few men were crushed, others got to cover, and others still just ran for it.

Lara jumped out of the sarcophagus and drew both her pistols. She ducked behind the sarcophagus for cover as the men attempted to mobilize. She gritted her teeth and then jumped to her feet, turning her guns on the two men she spotted. She squeezed her pistols, aiming both at one head each. Both men dropped as she fired a few more shots at center mass to be sure. She then stumbled as the whole place shook.

She came out fully from cover, holstering her guns and running for the exit. She jumped a gap and turned a corner, seeing a man ahead of her. He looked terrified but aimed his gun at her anyway. The ceiling collapsed on top of him before he ever pulled the trigger. More and more of the building was breaking and collapsing, dust filled the air and coated her mouth as she drew in breath. Centuries this area was untouched and a few explosions were the end of this beautiful hidden structure. Lara turned another corner and jumped to an overhanging bar for something that would've been decorative.

She swung her legs forward to propel her to the crumbling floor on the other side. Her hands grabbed the brick floor, but it fell apart and she hung there one armed for a second. She brought up her other hand and grabbed the edge to pull herself up and started running again. Not knowing where to go but just a general feel of what way. She turned left and into a short hallway, her heart pounding with each footfall. She yelped as the ground fell from under her, sending her sliding down the now sloping floor. She hit the ground but got up and kept running. She jumped a gap as water started pouring in with the falling old stones.

"Move, damnit, MOVE!" She yelled at herself as she ran and jumped onto some planks of wood sticking out of a wall then leapt onto a cracked pillar.

Finding hand holds she started climbing up. Water stared to rush into the area, the strength of it toppling the remains of buildings and washing them away some place deep in the mountain. She knew with one slip she would be swept away into the darkness, crushed under water and stone.

With a loud crack, the pillar broke somewhere at the base and it started tipping to the left. As it fell, she held on tight and road it until it hit two other pillars, the vibrations of the impacts nearly causing her to lose her grip and fall into the torrents of water. Once she stopped moving for a heartbeat, she climbed up on top of the leaning tower of marble and took off running and jumped to the next bit of flooring, it was slick with the water spray turning the sand and bits of stone to mud, she windmilled her arms to get her balance as she scanned ahead for her next move. She saw a pillar by some hand holds that would take her up higher. With the glowsticks bouncing on her hip the light bounced around like a strobe lighting off the marble and the water. She jumped from the top of the last pillar and started climbing up the hand holds. At the top she pulled her self up to see a long hallway with sunlight at the end. She started running again, toward the light. The water started bursting, pushing large stone blocks out of the way to violently crash them into the opposite wall. It was like canon fire going off behind her she didn't pause to look back, just kept running for the light and hopefully safety.

Bobbing and weaving as jets of water burst around the stone even with her she was running out of time. The walls were falling apart around her as she ran. Just as she was ten feet from the exit, the floor gave out. This didn't deter her. She jumped with a yell for the opening. She made it to solid ground outside. She was on top of a tower of some kind with huge arches massive columns at least four feet wide and deep. She took two steps and braced her back to the column on her right and prayed it was enough to stand up to the flood of water right behind her. With the roar of a freight train the Oasis water jetted out of the archways all around her. The whole tower quaked from the impacts of stone and water. Some of the larger stones chipped and broke off bits of the pillars around her and the one she was pressed up against.

She sighed as the pillar held up and the water started to slow down to just a stream that would not knock her feet from under her. She looked down and frowned as she saw a symbol carved into the floor. A four-point cross that was square in shape. "What's this?" She muttered as she panted in the humid hot air.

She looked away from it and out in front of her. Sinking to sit at the base of what was left of the pillars, soaked to the bone and tired from all the running. "Gods, I want a beer." She sighed.