- Deep Within North Sea Waters

A few hours went by quickly since Lara and Kurtis set off from the harbour. They were on track to the first out of eight co-ordinates that were marked in the area of the North Sea on the map. The first site was now within range and proximity. Already wearing their wetsuits, Kurtis and Lara picked up their air-canisters and placed them on their backs. They had also brought four spare canisters just in case for backup.

"You ready?" Kurtis quizzed Lara whilst putting his goggles on and standing on the edge of the speedboat raring to dive into the sea.

"Let's go!" Lara enthusiastically replied.

"One...Two...Three!"

SPLASH!

They both plunged into the seawater. At first it was freezing cold as expected, but they soon got used to the temperature. Turning on their torch lights, Lara and Kurtis began their descant to the sea-floor. It was quite difficult to see with it being murky and dark underwater so long distance visibility was poor, but thanks to the light from their torches they could examine things better at close to mid range.

As Lara and Kurtis delved deeper, apart from the variety of wildlife living underwater and the remains of a small cargo ship from many years ago, there seemed to be nothing indicating that the third artefact was where they were currently. They reached the floor and went their separate ways to look around the area. After a thorough search resulting in nothing interesting nor any clue found, Kurtis and Lara decided to move on to the next site.

Back on the ship and speeding along to their next co-ordinated destination, Kurtis asked a question out of the blue to Lara.

"So what would you do if we were to find the last artefact at one of these locations?"

"Well with the artefact in hand, we would obviously return back to Professor Bowmane and Jane and together plan what our next move will be to stop Eric Copper and save Ayesha along the way."

"Fair enough...now say if you were given a choice of either using it against Eric Copper or try to find a way to destroy it, what would you do?"

"Hmmmm, I'd say we try to destroy it. To be honest I think it would do us more harm than good to try and use the artefact for our own purposes. Also this will prevent Eric to get his hands on it too and in turn use the power of all three artefacts against us."

"It won't be an easy process to destroy it though, even trying to end the existence of all three relics will be a difficult task." Kurtis doubted, but Lara was more reassuring.

"I know, but remember there is a very high chance that this could be a dangerous living creature desperate to be released to the world, no doubt it wants to cause chaos. There must be a way of destroying all three of them, it's just finding the answer."

"Yeah you're right."

"Why did you ask me that question anyway?" Lara curiously asked him.

"I was just wondering what your answer would be."

"Okay, now it's my turn to ask you something. What do you plan to do once this is all over?"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure really. Probably see if I can discover something else new from the Lux Veritatis archives but...In the back of my mind I would like to take a nice break somewhere without having to worry about anything. How about you Lara?"

"I dunno, I haven't planned that far ahead yet. Obviously I would go back home and see Winston making sure he's okay, but that's it so far...Looks like we're getting close to the next set of co-ordinates, so let's concentrate on getting the artefact and saving Ayesha from Eric Copper along the way."

"Good idea."

They reached their next co-ordinated zone and stopped the boat. This time around as they were getting ready for another scuba dive into the sea, something in Lara's gut instinct told her that this area was indeed where the third artefact was. It was a strange feeling indeed, something she had never felt before.

Lara and Kurtis dived once again into the North Sea. Similar to before it was quite misty and dark, so the duo had to use their torches to light the way. However what wasn't the same was the presence of a bigger vessel that was wrecked and laying on the seabed. Marine life was passing them by as they swam further down to get a closer view. It became apparent that there was a larger area of the fallen ship to explore than expected. Passing through a gap within the rocky layers that had strangely formed on top of it like a cocoon, Lara and Kurtis paused for a moment to observe the wreckage of the fallen ship.

'What could have brought this ship down?' Lara thought to herself. She glanced over to Kurtis who too had a confused expression about him. She pointed down at the ship and Kurtis seeing her gesture nodded and they delved deeper underwater.

As they got closer to the debris of the vessel, the answer as to how this ship sank was revealed. Terrible huge holes had been made on both the starboard and port sides, looking like it had been nastily bitten or chewed through instead of looking like it had been fired upon by a couple of cannon balls. The duo entered the fallen ship through one of these ravaged openings to have a good inspection of what was inside.

Inside the place had an eerie and gloomy atmosphere about it, thanks to the darkness and decay that has happened to the forgotten ship over the years. Even though the wooden interior was now home to a few sea creatures like starfish and clawed lobsters, it seemed like nothing was taken or stolen from the ship like the cannon ammo or any other resource like plates or cutlery. So the mystery still remained, what did bring this vessel down?

Kurtis and Lara continued exploring the majority of the ship including the deck, starboard and port sides but nothing of interest or value was there, so the Captain's Quarters was all that was left to search through. The double door leading to the room was locked and barricaded. Both Lara and Kurtis grabbed hold of joist above the framework and gave a good kick at the doorway.

At an instant the weak hinges of the door broke away and as the air bubbles came out it soon revealed the deceased captain's room. A large rounded table was situated in the center with a broken glass goblet on top, along with some papers and maps that were scattered upon the surface. Chests of drawers were installed at both sides of the space and they had been forcefully wide opened, most of the contents that had been in them were on the messy floor. A wide glass window was at the end of the Captain's Quarters overseeing the view of the underwater landscape. Covered skeletons of the captain and two of his crew were laying on the floor, and on the spur of moment Kurtis and Lara saw something glinting in his hands...There it was.

'The Final Artefact!'

As Kurtis picked up the artefact from the skeletal palms of the fallen captain, in that split second Lara saw something big with seven gill slits and a pectoral fin swim by the window. They were not alone...

'What was that!?' She got out the spear gun and immediately Kurtis looked over to Lara's direction. He knew she saw something out there that could be a dangerous threat. Together they swam out of the cabin, weapons in hand ready to face their new adversary.