Nathan

Staring down the barrel of another gun was becoming the beginning of every other chapter in the story of my life. Hans Christian Anderson was often troubled by how to start a story and leaned on Charles Perrault who wrote on more than one occasion 'once upon a time…' I found myself relating to his writings in my fairy tale. 'Once upon a time Nathan Drake was looking down the barrel of a gun.'

Is Charlotte going to fire that thing or not?

Sam and I waited for Chloe to answer with bated breath. Chloe didn't like the idea of eenie meenie miney mo'ing our lives – they were in her hands.

"Dontcha ya think we need them both? They each have their own traits and usefulnesses – is that a word?"

"No, it isn't a word." Charlotte moved the gun to Sam, staring into his eyes. "Soldiers come in all shapes and sizes. What does it mean to be a soldier?"

"To be heroic and courageous enough to die for something." Sam said so eloquently.

"Huh, you are not afraid to die Samuel? Hmmm why?"

"I'm already dead." Sam said looking away from the gun.

"Sam! Come on, no one needs to die – you need us to find the fragments." I noticed a soldier shaking a little. "…hey pal what's wrong?"

"Anatoly, what's wrong with you?" Charlotte could see he was shaking too, with his finger so close to the trigger, there was no telling what was going to happen.

"Nothing ma'am, I just don't like being in tight spaces." His thick Russian accent sounded less intimidating as the scaredness filtered throughout his words – he was trembling.

"What tight space-

Look at the size of this place!"

Charlotte spread her hands out, showing the vastness of the cave, some of the other soldiers began laughing and poking fun at him in Russian.

"Our predecessors built these homes to house the nonpareil guard. They stored pillaged spoils of war and constructed historic battle plans – waiting to attack above."

"Looks like Fisher has set up camp here too." Barrels of fuel, crates of weapons and other provisions seemed to be scattered around the cave. That insignia of Fisher Enterprises had burnt a hole in my memory – it was so out of place in this historical settlement.

"I-It's just. We could be trapped." Anatoly was really looking worried.

"Hey pal, we aint trapped, what are you afraid of?" Sam was wondering the same thing.

"Zombies." Anatoly said.

We all had to chuckle about that. Charlotte walked up to him; she was a mite smaller but had that intimidating stance. "I haven't got time for this," she drew another gun from the mercenary and put the gun at his head. One pointing at us the other at Anatoly. "Pull yourself together or you'll be deemed expendable."

"Yes, ma'am." Anatoly stood to attention.

Charlotte turned back to us, replacing the mercenary's sidearm, pointing the gun once again at me and Sam.

"So, brothers Drake, what do you know that I don't?" She said wholeheartedly. "You look like you have more to tell, about this tale, but I think you've run out of stories. Your mother would be so disappointed. What is there more to say?"

Err, I was kindda stuck. This was one of those types of quests where the answers were found by finding clues, asking questions and bit of luck along the way.

"Hey guys can we take a minute to open our eyes and look at what we have here." I reminded them of what we were looking at. "We're in a Viking city underneath the earth. Isn't that incredible?" I don't think everyone was as excited as me. We were standing in a sea of Viking architecture, mostly small hovels and cabin'esque buildings built from wood and dirt. Some of the buildings showed the owner may have been wealthy. The large hamlet was lit up by high-rise fires circling the walls above. It felt a little eerie and lost in time. I looked over towards the back of the cave and could see an unusual church peeking through the darkness. If I didn't know better, I'd say it was Byzantine.

"Nate, we can take pictures, and visit the gift shop later. Can we focus on the present?" Chloe was more concerned about the gun toting psycho chick holding us at gunpoint. I could see Anatoly shaking even more, as though it was his first ever skirmish. He began looking around frantically – moving his head like a fly buzzing around a room.

There was something not quite right with him.

Sam had taken a few moments to say something. He didn't notice Anatoly.

"You need us to decipher the scripture in the temple, mom gave us the answer on her deathbed – right Nathan?"

I thought 'my god Sam' what are you playing at? He knew very well I didn't see her, and the way he tells it – she didn't even know who she was by the final moments of her life – Charlotte was never gonna fall for that.

"Lying is not a trait of a true soldier. Unless your mother's mind detreated, she was never going to make sense to anyone."

See, what did I tell you?!

"Enough games, you're no use to me anymore – pity, you are still kindda cute."

"Is that an incestuous comment?" Chloe whispered smiling.

A surprised voice could be heard echoing in the cave. That deep south voice could only be one man.

"There is one trait of a soldier that is seldom ignored." Jasper's voice could be heard as he arrived surrounded by heavy armoured men and women ready to protect him. "That my dear is loyalty."

To say we were surprised to see Jasper was kind of an understatement. He appeared through the darkness still looking old on the outside, but he didn't seem to need the wheelchair.

"Steady everyone – let's not do anything we might regret." He said calmly, motioning for Charlotte's men to drop their guns. "What are you doing child?"

"My god sir, how is this possible? Are you alright?" She looked as dumbfounded as the rest of us. "Y-You can walk!"

"My child, there's an old axiom, 'not everything is what it seems.' I can explain, but I believe Samuel can tell you how this is possible, right Samuel?" Jasper walked to Charlotte lowering her weapon. She let him take the gun off her. I stood looking at Sam, his cavalier look began to worry me.

"Sam whatever you're thinking, don't, whatever it is." I whispered, worried how this was going to go down. Sam stopped looking at the gun and answered how Jasper was able to walk around.

"He was faking it," Sam looked down at Charlotte – he had a smug look on his face. "You're pretty stupid for a smart woman." Sam retorted.

Jasper smiled.

"She pulled me out of the wreckage, my legs were broken, I was near death – save for Charlotte, I would not be here today." All the mercenaries were pointing their guns at us – they looked like a death squad. Bombs and bullets couldn't break that exterior shell – we were dead if we didn't do something.

There were many uncertain things happening here. It was true they didn't need us, but we needed them more. We opened the door to the city; we found the connection to the jewels. Which still didn't make any sense to me. Why leave a clue to a trinket that moves around the world. The slave trader statues didn't sit right with me.

"You planted those ciphers, didn't you?" I stared into Jasper's eyes.

"Mr Drake, you should never keep an eye on just the magician's hands, everything you can see on him is part of the deception. It's the confusion that warrants the magic."

Was that a YES? I really didn't know.

"You came for the girl?" Jasper shouted to a female mercenary, "Daria! Bring her in!"

Daria entered the circle with the little Romanian girl. I remember seeing her in that tunnel, scared but wearing different clothes. Her boyish clothing was that of a skater boy. Her angelic face reminded me of a once sweet and innocent Cassie. I felt the urge to get her back more than ever. Hoping this little girl would be the key to doing so. Jasper took a coin out of his right jacket pocket. It was the same Byzantine coin Sam had. He started turning it around in his hand.

"My people believe that eons ago omnipotent beings from the stars came together in what one would call a contest." Jasper began walking around the girl. "Each day a round – each round a feat. One entity stood out above all. Forging Fish and Fowl on the sixth. But this wasn't enough – the entity couldn't stop there – thus superior creatures were made on the seventh. Far more intelligent than the Flora and Fauna created the day before."

"Huh, another convoluted story of creation. Doesn't this class as blasphemy?" Chloe said.

"After the contest was over the beings couldn't decide on what to do with their creations. Anthropomorphising them gave them purpose – but where to keep such animals?"

"In a garden of perpetuality?" Charlotte concluded.

"But like all caged creatures – there's a need to break out and explore the surroundings. Although the garden was vast – there were boundaries, it was a prison, albeit quite a wonderous one."

It was certainly an interesting story – one I hadn't heard of before. We listened as Jasper continued. "Our Mother made a way for her children to escape. She realised she was the key to all this. Her tears of blood forged a keystone to open a lock to the Garden's Gate. Once the captives were free – the gods were killed or exiled."

I listened but couldn't help wonder who Jasper was – he seemed to know more than anyone else. "Mr Miracle Guy, who are you?" I asked.

"It is my duty to return the stone, seal the garden and restore the order of things."

"How did the stone leave the garden?" Sam asked.

Jasper smiled and took a gun from a mercenary pointing it in a threatening manner at the little girl. "Many have tried to find the stone. If it wasn't for one man, we wouldn't be in this mess. But NO! He fucked it all up for everyone. His meddling caused the stone to crack and parts of it broke off. He then stupidly started to put it together in the hope he could find the garden. My ancestors found the stone, but the fragments were already scattered. I hope for all our sakes that their power is all used up."

I didn't have to think twice to who that man may have been.

Jasper continued. "A group of Nomads created a village to house the children who were descendants of our Mother. It is said that when they come of age. They're marked as a rite of passage. The skin just cracks and forms – is it painful Alexandra?"

Jasper brought the girl towards him. Alexandra didn't comment.

"Alexandra here is one of these children," he began stroking her hair, "but they are many, and we are few. I cannot kill them all." He eerily smiled, "but I can try."

She needed rescuing from this madman. For the first time in a long time, I had no idea how, without Charlie, Elena or Sully's help, just how we were gonna get out of this one alive. Think Nate! Think!

-My prayers were answered, the sound of Anatoly's machine gun could be compared to someone typing a telegram ferociously on a typewriter – hundreds of bullets flew across the room. He had pointed his gun and started shooting at nothing.

"Aaaargggh," he shouted angrily. He had completely lost his mind.

"Jesus Christ Anatoly, what are you shooting at?" Charlotte shouted, as Sam reached for Alexandra. Another soldier began to get scared and began shooting at the ceiling.

"Aaaargh bats, they're everywhere…" His machine gun fire broke away some of the timber ceiling…as the heavy wood and dirt fell, smacking him on the head. His addled body spun and fired on the soldiers causing them to fire back.

We all hit the ground so as not to get shot.

Mercenaries fell at our feet and a grenade from a distracted soldier rolled towards me. Without thinking too hard about it, I rolled it into the centre, pushing Alexandra, Chloe and Sam pointing at them to run towards the building closest to us as I showed them the pin I pulled out.

I found some 92Fs pistols. The confusion in the room, sent the soldiers into a tailspin, as I watched Charlotte and Jasper run for cover.

"SAM, CATCH!" I threw one of the guns to Sam. "Now let's get the hell outta here." I shouted to Chloe and Sam, holding Alexandra as tight as I could. We ran faster and faster to the other houses; it was an unbelievable site inside. I couldn't focus on this…I needed to close the doors behind. I pointed at the weapons crates with the insignia I had seen too many times stamped on them. Of course, Fisher enterprises. I thought. They'll have weapons lying around – these homicidal mercenaries for hire always do - wherever I go.

"Nate, what the hell happened back there?" Chloe was panicking. "With Anatoly?"

The soldiers began swarming the hamlet. "We needed to split up," we couldn't stay here – we had to keep moving.

The vibrations from the explosion had shaken the ceiling, rocks began falling in the way of our path as we ran through the small derelict wood and timber houses. The overgrown weeds crawled along the buildings. If there was fauna there had to be a water source, I thought. The vines led to the dome shaped church in the distance. I could see now it was Byzantine.

We could see the soldiers searching within the city. Listening to the radio chatter between the team leader and their subordinates. They kicked the weathered timber frames and pulled apart the rooms looking for us. Destroying the excavation equipment left by Fisher and his team.

"NATE LOOK OUT!" Chloe screamed. I gently threw Alexandra towards Chloe diving from the stream of bullets from the brutes mounted Gatlin gun that ripped through the buildings. It pulled them down like a house of cards.

"NATHAN - YOU OKAY?" Sam shouted in the distance.

"YEAH!" We need to take care of the terminator; we need to draw his fire – and get him near that barrel. I pointed out towards the barrel of fuel just waiting to be used as a bomb. Another deluge of bullets plummeted into a structure near me.

"N-N-NATH – AN, HE'S SHOOTING AT US!" Sam cried out.

"YEAH I KINDDA CAN SEE THAT!"

I took another look at the soldiers on the west and east sides. Their vision was hampered by the foggy debris that was circulating in the cave. This was it. No guts no glory, or my guts are gonna be all over the floor.

"SAM, WHEN I SAY FIRE - SHOOT THE BARREL." I looked at Sam. This is a bad idea. I took a deep breath and hurtled towards the Gatlin gun mounted brute who slowly turned firing in a circular pattern. The dive was right on the money, my body rolled past the barrel he stood nearby. Getting up I threw myself into a broken building's wall. "OH SHIT! NOW SAM!"

KABOOM

The blast exploded in front of the soldier, causing him to blow backwards. A ton of rocks rained on him from above. The ceiling started to collapse as I ran through a partly broken wall. An old disused London green tram came crashing on to the buildings squashing some of Charlotte and Jasper's goons.

"Woah, Shit." I brushed myself down. Pulling splinters out of my leg and coughing out dust. The destruction had made a clear blockade, it would slow them down. But we weren't getting out that way either. I re-joined with the rest of the guys.

"Nate, are you okay? What the hell happened?" Chloe asked, staring at my fresh cuts, bruises and torn shirt.

"Looks like they tried to catch the tram," Sam said smiling.

"Really…Sam, you took that…from me." My breath was struggling to be caught up, I could see Alexandra smiling, she reminded me of Cassie smiling if I ever came out with a quip or some off colour joke.

"Boys, let's just find a way out of here, shall we?" Chloe was right, now wasn't the time for levity. We walked over towards the church. Opening the doors, we could see where the water was coming from, the whole place was flooded.

"Shit."

We carefully stepped into the water. Alexandra was scared. I put her on my shoulders. We slowly walked through the algae infested water dropping down the floor.

"Huh, Zombies…where did that come from." Sam said, thinking about Anatoly's outburst.

SWISH SWOOSH the sound of the water could be heard lapping at our knees as we got closer to the middle.

"I think it was the gas, we need to keep focused. Whatever you're scared of, get rid of it."

"Nate, what gas? What are you talking about?" Chloe look confused, but alert – which was a good thing. We hadn't much time, if what I thought was right, we needed to get out of here. As we walked through the church's hall, we spotted a room to the side full of bodies. I put Alexandra on a floating piece of debris, making sure she couldn't see what we could see – the horrific site of mutilated bodies was not an unusual site for me – or Chloe or Sam.

"Look at that?" Sam pointed out the damage inflicted on one another. They had all been placed here but their deaths were of a different method. Each to their own devices. I had to explain to the guys what I believed had happened here. Chloe, Sam, Alexandra, Me - needed to clear our heads.

"Their deepest darkest fears came alive in their minds – and it's what killed them." I said.

"Is that what happened to Anatoly?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

We flung the doors open to the altar room.

"Nate, what are you afraid of?" Chloe asked, as I lifted Alexandra up on the stone altar. Picking debris out of her hair.

"Losing my daughter." I began having vivid visions of me looking for her in darkness. The dream I had about downing consumed my thoughts - I shook my head.

"And clowns." Sam said smiling.

"Clowns, huh what, I'm not afraid of them."

Chloe pointed to Sam, "I bet you're afraid of your sister. She looked pretty pissed back there."

"She's not my sister…" Their banter was interrupted by Alexandra.

"We're trapped in here, there's nowhere to go."

There had to be a way out of here I thought, all the signs pointed to a source of oxygen, if this was sealed we'd be dead by now. I was feeling a little dizzy, but that was most likely from the large amount of limestone dust I inhaled.

The dust couldn't help me stop thinking about Jasper. For a man of a hundred he sure looked fit and able after seeing him out of that wheelchair.

"Sam, he said you knew how he could walk…what did he mean by that?" I whispered to Sam wondering what he knew that I didn't.

Sam evaded the question.

He turned his attention to Alexandra.

"Alexandra, you're one half of a map to the Garden of Eden, aren't you?"

"Mister, I don't know what I am." She stood up on the altar, walking around. "All I know is that my brother is missing, he took him from me, killed Elder Izza and razed the village."

Chloe calmed her, Alexandra began telling us the story of what happened to her village, describing Redd Fisher and Matvey in detail. It was as though she had an eidetic memory. Recalling exactly what happened and what she last saw. This articulate and very smart young girl needed protecting. If there was more like her, I needed to know at least one of them was safe.

"Where do you think Jamal is now Alexandra?" Chloe asked.

"I don't know, but without me, he'll be afraid. But he has a way of protecting himself. Maybe Redd Fisher doesn't need us both."

"Alex, was Jasper right about your markings?" Chloe had checked Alexandra for wounds and looked at the crudeness of the outline on her back. It was a good question, it looked like she had been branded. This was no birth defect or insignia this was a hand drawn brand.

"I don't know."

Sam walked near her, "Alexandra what did Jasper say, that you are part of an ancestral bloodline, that predates Naturalistic intelligence? If I'm right – the heliotrope that set the logical mathematical intelligent beings, outside of the garden has the power of invisibility, healing, preservation of youth. Any exposure to it – can have unnatural effects."

"If you say so mister."

"Sam, what are you getting at?" I asked.

He began surmising why Jasper can preserve his life. Although life runs out – the stone apparently curtails the inevitable biological countdown by at least half the time. Although Jasper has the epidermis of a 100-year-old man, the rest of his organic makeup is most likely that of a fifty-year-old.

"The cells in his body regrew, forging regenerative tissue – nothing short of a miracle." Sam was too excited by all of this – he truly believed what he was saying." Jasper may not have found the stone, but he certainly had been in contact with it. The jewels have these abilities – I'm certain of it – just one will save me."

"What do you mean will save you?" I asked.

"Nothing, forget it!"

"Sam, what's going on?"

Hearing Sam explain his condition made my stomach turn, it felt as though I had what he had – reliving what he felt when he first knew. And I was the last to know. It seems Cassie knows about this too. She's pretty good at keepin' secrets.

"Sam, I'm so sorry." Chloe began to form a tear.

"Hey, I'm not dead yet, besides me and Fisher have got something in common - we find this stone and we're well again." He lit a cigarette, joking about the stick not being responsible for his death.

"Wait Sam, so this is your fault – all of this – you planted the clue in this mystery on my daughter – didn't you?" Sam looked at the ground. "Oh! Good one Sam, just great."

I should have known really, good one Nate.

"Nathan, you wanted this too. You didn't have to pick up the trail, did you?"

"Boys, we can settle this later, we have one half of the map – where's the other?" Chloe acted as the intermediary. Hearing Sam's prognosis was frightening, but so was deceit and Sam Drake had done that to me enough times.

"Isn't it obvious, Redd Fisher has it - him – but why? He doesn't have all three fragments – does he?" Sam and I couldn't help but wonder. There was no way he was going to find the Garden of Eden without Alexandra.

"Oh shit, Charlotte's probably given him this half of the map. Think about it! You just need the outline – don't you?" I asked Alexandra if anyone had seen her markings, if someone had touched her. She said no, but she could have been asleep – my god this is not good.

"So, Redd Fisher is going to the Garden of Eden then not Sao Paulo?" Chloe asked, putting the points of the pattern together.

None of this was making any sense.

Sam told us what he knew about the fragments, the cities and the scripture to be invoked in the temple in Sweden. On one hand there were the maps – on the other there were the jewels – smack bang in the middle of this was the Stone of Eve – the key to the Garden of Eden.

"If you need the stone to gain access to the Garden," I was speculating, trying to understand where in his mind Redd Fisher was going. "…the stone let humans leave the garden – and it lets you return – the stone is in this Viking city – it always was. Protected by the Varangians."

"Let's look around and see if there's a clue to its whereabouts."

We began trudging through the water again, checking the different rooms inside the one place that didn't belong in this place. I remembered my mom's notes – she wrote about a vault.

"We need to find the vault." I shouted over to Sam. Chloe had stayed with Alexandra.

"What vault?"

"I think Fisher was here – with mom – he's had the higher step on us each time."

Sam was stating the less obvious. "Remember the parchment in the Colston statue – they each pointed to another statue – another place to find something – we're in the UK, the next one is Sao Paulo – find that statue we find something - the last jewel, maybe."

"Guys, what if the clues don't point to jewels but something else." I held that pensive face. "Think about it the fragments are from the Stone, this isn't about their location it's about the slave traders."

"What do you mean Nathan?" Sam wasn't sure if I was right. "They had the location of the jewels."

I was certain why the jewels were so spread apart – what I didn't know is what caused them to be fragments in the first place and neither did Jasper. If the one in the Victoria Museum is the true jewel – then it stands to reason Dr. Knight had one too. The last on death Island – there was more thing, but I thought I'd keep that to myself for now.

"Sam we need to get to the Victoria and Albert Museum – we need Drake's jewel."

"I told you it's going to the new Maritime Museum in a couple of days. If we ever get out of here, we can look. And I hate to break it to you little brother, but there's no way we're gonna get to Sao Paulo without some mode of transport."

Sam made a good point.

"If we get out of here, I'm sure Charlie can make that happen for us."

"Erm boys, one question, how do we know the Edward Colston statue was the first clue and a follow up question – who left the clues?"

I thought hard, thinking back to the history books at St. Francis'.

"I know who planted them - that was the slave traders. Once they knew what they had and how dangerous it was – they were instructed to bury their secrets – hiding themselves from the protectors."

"Shit Sam, it's not the location of the jewels. It's their graves. We need to check Colston's grave in Bristol too – he lies in the All-Saints' Church. If I'm right, I would think Fisher has already got the jewel in Brazil and is on his way to England. With Cassie."

"Huh, so who placed the parchment in the Colston Statue?" Chloe couldn't get off this topic.

"Someone who was a descendant close to Sir Francis Drake – possibly within Da Silva's bloodline."

We could hear noises – it was Jasper's goons – they'd returned.

"Nate can you hear that?"

The voices were of the mercenaries –

"Search the church – they can't be far."

"Shit Nathan."

I checked my ammo, I was empty.

KKKKRRRRR "Red team you found anything." The sound of the radio was right outside the church wall.

"Negative, no sign of 'em, we're heading to the church."

"Copy that, we're heading to the meeting hall."

We started to hustle back towards the altar. The vault had to be here. We needed to get to higher ground.

"I'm sorry about this Alexandra, but we need you to be safe. I told Chloe what to do – and to hurry.

"Jesus, there's water everywhere." The solider had made it inside.

Sam and I had climbed on to the top of the rickety wooden rafters, as we watched the soldier wade through the water. Checking the rooms – shining his light and being ready to pull the trigger on his MP4 – more soldiers began entering the church. We looked at each other – "Fuck."

KKKKRRRRR "Red team give me a sit-rep."

"Nothing yet sir, we're checking the rooms."

We could see one of the soldiers looking in the room with all the dead bodies. At first he was startled by the pile of corpses.

"Jesus," he switched his radio to speak into his comms. "Sir…come in, they're dead."

"You've found them?" The leader said surprised.

"No sir, the villagers – looks like they…shit….I don't have any idea what happened."

"If they're not there meet us at the meeting hall, we've found the vault."

Sam looked at me, we needed to get to the vault. We watched some of the soldiers leave, but I distracted two more – throwing debris at them. They turned around shining their lights attached to their MP4's at the rafters. We hid around the crate on the damaged second floor.

"What was that?" The mercenaries looked at one another, signalling to investigate the noise. We threw some debris near the altar. As they got closer to us, we began to get ready.

"You ready to do this?" I asked Sam.

We both jumped off the rafters and landed on them, pulling their helmets off we started brutally punching them – as hard as we could – wearing them down before breaking their necks.

CRUNCH

They dropped into the water – face down. We decided the plan would be to wear their gear.

"How's your Russian?" Sam asked as I spoke back to him in Russian.

"How's yours?" I asked Sam, who completely messed up the simplest of phrases.

"You do know you just said it is a good day to wash your ostrich," I smiled at him, "you better let me do the talking." We walked towards the door and I could see Alexandra and Chloe clamber their way through the dead bodies – I didn't envy them having to go through that. I told them to follow the water source and find us a way out of here.

We joined the rest of the mercenaries as we walked towards the group heading for the meeting hall.

Thank you for reading this chapter. Next time we will head back to Cassie and Jamal and learn more about the mystery surrounding the Stone of Eve.