Chapter 1 Caves

The expanse of the cave was rather wide, and a long path too. It extended deep into darkness. In the thin layer of snow on the ground she saw the prints of the wolves paws also going deep into the cavern. Lara exhaled, her breath puffing in front of her, and she began walking forward, the crunching of snow amplified in the quiet, immense cavern. Up ahead the cave took a jagged right.

She slowed to a stop. Carvings were on each side of the stone walls. She examined them from her standpoint. They showed the ancient Peruvians living everyday life. On each side it showed about four men with blow dart guns, spaced evenly to the end of the cave.

She took a closer look, and noticed the blow dart actually extended out from the wall. She took a step forward, but the sound of rushing wind stopped her. She jumped back as a poisonous dart collided with the wall, missing her by inches. This started a chain reaction, and the cavern was filled with the sound of the darts, each of the four guns shooting darts in a timed rhythm.

She waited and moved accordingly until she was safely pass the ancient trap. It looked like the cave came to a dead end, but up on the left were several rocks she could climb to continue further up. She vaulted up, gripping the rock tightly. At the top she brushed her knee's off and continued on down.

She heard several high pitched squeaks and drew a pistol. She saw coming out of the darkness the huge Vampire Bats. She fired several shots, hearing the wet splats as the bullets hit the large, flying mammals. She heard the lifeless bodies hit the ground, and stepped past them.

The cave continued forward roughly ten feet until it finally came to a drop off. The opening was made of carved ornate stone, covered in mossy green vegetation. At the bottom was a wooden switch protruding from the mouth of an unknown beast. Beside it was a dark onyx colored stone door. She grasped the switch with both hands and pulled downward.

The door opened with a hallowed stone scraping sound. Inside there was still a light snow on the ground. She heard several deep squeaks come from a dark corner in the room, and looked over to see two more bats swoop from their dark alcove. She ducked as they sped off into the cavern she had come from. In here, the rocks ascended to a whole in the ceiling in the far left corner, and to her right was a bamboo made door that was fairly large but unable to be opened.

She scaled up the rocks, using her altheticism to pull herself up onto the next level. Ahead was a winding path, the walls were all ancient and ornate. She ran her fingers along the carvings as she walked, admiring them. Finally the path opened up into a gigantic room, still covered in snow. There were two wooden bridges in this room connecting both sides together.

The one closest to her was broken, lying in several wooden piles at the bottom. At the very far end of the room was a lighted opening. Down below she saw a couple of the wild wolves laying on the ground, motionless aside from the slow rising and falling of their sides. Lara lowered herself down from the stone platform and landed with a muted thud onto the ground below.

She cast a worried glance in the wolf's direction, but it was still sleeping thankfully. She walked carefully past the first wolf and underneath the first bridge. She looked over and saw another smaller wolf sleeping as well, and at her stomach were three wolf pups. Behind them was the torso of a rotten mummy. She cringed her nose, but continued on to the next bridge.

It was way to high to jump up on, but some of the stones were broken away on the pillar of the bridge, and she used them as handholds to pull herself up. About halfway, one of the weaker stones broke away and she landed roughly on her bottom. She froze as she heard a growl from the dormant wolves. She stood up slowly and turned around.

The male wolf was now standing, its eyes locked on Lara. She stepped back until she was pressed against the bridge, and then slowly drew one of her pistols. It gave a menacing bark, and then darted toward her. She cried out and dove to the side as the wolf crashed into the pillar.

Lara fired several shots into the animal, and it fell down in dying spasms. Now the mother and her pups were awake. Lara ran back to the pillar and pulled herself up. She made it far enough up until the wolf couldn't reach her, but felt it nipping at her heals. The pups were howling out as she finally made it to the top. She looked down to see them starting shredding the remains of the male's body. It reminded her of how nature really worked.

She crossed the bridge and entered the doorway. Inside, thousands of snaky green tendrils of moss, vines, and vegetation hung from the ceiling. It was a real sight. She crouched down a bit to avoid being thwarted with the vegetation. At the end it cleared up, and there was a large triangular doorway. There were large steps going down, and they opened up the large room.

At the far end on a raised platform was a large set of stone double doors. She stepped down off the steps, taking in the piercing silence when suddenly another much larger wolf ran around from the corner and pounced on Lara. She fell back, and the creature's face was inches from hers, snapping and snarling vehemently. She quickly placed her foot in the animal's groin and vaulted it into the air, sending it flying behind her. She did a backward roll and was immediately on her feet. She sprinted over to the platform with the doors, jumping midway to grab the ledge.

She quickly pulled herself up onto the cold ledge and looked down to see the wolf still trying to regain its balance. She smiled, and turned to face the doors. They were very large, and covered in many ancient markings. At the bottom were three stone buttons, with unreadable inscriptions underneath. She pushed each of them in. The doors opened outward, slowly.

She took several steps back and breathed in the stale air of an unexplored area. She smiled and started up the dark path. It turned left with more stairs leading to the top. Halfway up she heard three consecutive clicks and then the stairway exploded in flying darts. She ducked down, raising her hands above her head. She darted up the remaining steps and dive rolled at the top.

She stood up, dusting herself off. She looked around. It looked like a dead end. She frowned, trying to take in every detail of the room. It raised up a little in the back, but as she neared it the floor crumbled and immediately broke away. She was only in the air a few seconds, and landed on her feet.

She stepped down of the bluish colored rocks and looked down over the edge of where she was standing. She was on the other side of the bamboo door she had admired earlier.

She slid down the angled wall and landed with a thud at the bottom. Opposite of the bamboo door was a long open pathway, which she could glimpse opened up into an expansive room. Above the archway was an ancient inscription that read

City of Vilcabamba

She smiled at her luck, and continued slowly down the darkened pathway.