"Petty Greeks and Slavs tear like dogs at the carcass of their false Eastern Roman Empire. We Catholics shall restore the rightful Latin Imperial legitimacy from their anarchical lies. Deus vult!"

Chapter 1 - Siberian Wilderness

Mount Kamen, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation

The horrifying experience in Yamatai back in 2013 taught Lara Croft that tank tops were useless in any adventure. Although it made you look smoking hot and whatnot, its practicality was nonexistent. It offered no protection from hypothermia, sunburn, cuts and frictions. The latter 2 permanently scarred her originally smooth arms. Unlike most women, Lara wore them with pride as they were the testimony of her being an ass kicking battle hardened warrior. Awkwardly, these scars caused Lara much unwanted attention as many people assumed them to be the result of self-harm. Lara tried to ignore them at first but eventually grew tired after numerous annoying suicide prevention talk invitations. She thus only wore long sleeve clothes when going out ever since early 2014. Her favourite overfit was always a black leather jacket over a grey hoodie, blue jeans and brown boots.

The encounter with Trinity troops in Syria back on 17-11-2015 gave Lara a brutal reality check. A simple grey henley, khaki jeans and brown boots; a utility belt for a pistol holster and a few magazines; Remington Model 1911 R1 Enhanced and a pair of ice axes; were simply no match with any well equipped elite special forces. Compound bow and arrows might look awesome but they could not penetrate Kevlar, so as any pistols using .45 ACP cartridges. Skilled soldiers worked as coordinated squads with excellent environmental awareness, they watched each other's back and were very difficult to be ambushed. With common sense and logic, Lara realised that she was literally signing her own death warrant if she was going to fight against Trinity with her usual adventure attire. Therefore, when Lara successfully took full control of the Croft Manor and entire family inheritance back from her uncle Atlas de Mornay on 17-12-2015, she immediately used the dark web to purchase weapons and equipment to upgrade her loadout. Lara decided to go all "Moscow Third Rome" style since she was going to Mount Kamen of Krasnoyarsk Krai. She bought a SR-3MP with suppressor, 30-round magazines, holographic hybrid sights and infrared (IR) laser sight; a MP-443 Grach; plenty of armour-piercing bullets and RGN hand grenades; a 6KH4 bayonet; a 1PN138 with head mount; and a full set of "Siberian Ranger" outfit. The latter costume was further upgraded with extra thick cold resistant fabrics, additional pouches on waist and torso to maximise equipment capacity (including ammunition, compass, flashlight, water bottle, radio and iPhone 6s Plus). There was also a small cut-resistant backpack to store binoculars, medkit, rations, leather notebook, cash and backup batteries.

When Jonah Maiava joined Lara's Siberian expedition, she doubled her order to equip her loyal companion without charge. Jonah nearly had a heart attack when he learned about their insanely high cost but Lara did not even blink. 50 million GBP of Croft inheritance was no laughing matter, particularly when it did not even count the land and building structure cost of Croft Manor. Lara then paid smugglers handsomely to transfer all the equipment to Norilsk - one of the worst and most depressing closed cities on Earth; proceeded to collect them on 22-12-2015 after bribing local officials to enter the restricted city. Jonah was speechless regarding his friend's absurd financial status. For the first time in his stoic life, he appreciated the power of money.

The duo eventually reached the uncharted sections of Mount Kamen on 27-12-2015 at 4 PM. Unfortunately, just when Lara was finally able to take a glimpse of a minor Kitezh ruin, an avalanche came out of nowhere and separated the duo. Turns out money could not buy safety from natural disasters. Despite being caught in the avalanching snow and falling off into the depths of the mountainous valley, Lara miraculously survived without any severe injuries and her equipment was also surprisingly well intact. Rugged but reliable, such was the unbreakable nature of Russian products. Lara tried to contact Jonah through but the radio suffered from severe signal disruptions. She asked Jonah to leave her behind and let her continue the expedition on her own. Lara then proceeded to gather some wood to build a bonfire, as well as mixing larger branches with deer hide to construct a makeshift tent. By 9:00 PM, Lara sat by the bonfire and was eating a mince sausage with biscuits from her "Russian Special Forces 24 Hour Mountain Ration". They were actually very delicious as the former tasted like spam while the latter had a very buttery flavour. There was definitely no chance in hell that the Russian Armed Forces would ever feed their soldiers rotten or dog food as rations to save money (right?). After finishing the meal, Lara went to rest in her tent since the snow storm was too huge/cold for her to explore around. She quickly fell asleep due to the exhaustion suffering from the day's mountain climbing and avalanche.

Lara sat in a high-class business room in London. She was dressed in her usual black leather jacket over a grey hoodie, blue jeans and brown boots. An insurance agent in a black suit sat opposite her across the table. He said in a heavy Liverpool accent, "Miss Croft, your premium insurance includes protection from various natural disasters like avalanches. According to the policy, you can claim 2 million GBP."

"Really!? I know that investing in Prudential plc is the correct choice all along!"

"No. In fact, you have chosen poorly."

"Huh? Excuse me?"

"Do you have any idea how your crazy adventures have cost us?! Our company will be bankrupt if you keep doing this nonstop!"

"Em… I-"

"First shipwreck and now this? Avalanche!? How in the bloody hell do you survive all these? Are you immortal?"

"Emm… just luck… I guess?"

"Yea, your luck is so bad that you can claim insurance in nearly every situation possible!"

"Look mate, you know that all my encounters are legit and there is no insurance fraud."

"No shite, and that's why you must be stopped. Not only for our company's financial interest but also the greater good of the entire insurance business sector."

"Oi! What are you gonna do, tab me?"

"No.", the Prudential plc insurance agent pulled out a Webley Mk VI from his suit and shot Lara right in the centre of her forehead, blowing the brains out and spilled the bloody pulp all over the room.

Lara instantly awoke from her nightmare and sat up, hitting her head hard on the wooden tent dome in the process. She chuckled while touching the sore spot, "Damn… That's one hell of a dream."

She looked at her watch. It was 1:00 AM on 28-12-2015 and the snowstorm had generally stopped. Just when Lara was going to sleep again, a loud explosion blasted from not far away. Suppressed weapon shots also became crystal clear under night of the silent Siberian wilderness.

"Bloody hell, can't a lady get some beauty sleep?", Lara mumbled as she extinguished the remaining bonfire and destroyed the makeshift tent to erase tracking evidence. She equipped her backpack; put on the head mount and attached the 1PN138 night vision monocular to her right eye; armed with custom SR-3MP on her hands, Lara cautiously and stealthily navigated towards the sound of the skirmish.

"Bravo Six, going dark.", Lara whispered to lighten the mood but instantly regretted, "Shite, that is cringe. Do I need a cigar now?"

Lara eventually arrived at the scene by carefully avoiding several VS-DAFM 7 claymore mines. She was so glad that she had a night vision monocular or she would never notice those traps and got blasted into the oblivion. She was not ready to meet Jesus Christ at the age of 23. Lara proceeded to hide and stay prone in nearby brushes to observe the target situation. It was a small Trinity patrol rally point with a bonfire, a small antenna, a combat-net radio transceiver and a rugged military laptop. There were 2 soldiers and all equipped the same as she last encountered them in Syria. The only difference was that they now wore snow camouflage uniforms and balaclavas. It seemed they just massacred… bears and a huge pack of wolves with suppressed VHS-D2 CT and VHS-BG.

'I understand that fear stems from lack of firepower but blasing animals with 40 mm grenades is a bit overkill. Not that I don't appreciate it though. These wankers just save me a hell of time and bullets.'

Lara's attention then quickly drew to the electronic equipment.

'I need to get that radio and laptop if I want to plan my next move properly. I have already lost the initiative.'

After making sure there were no other patrols nearby, Lara switched her custom SR-3MP from safe to full-automatic.

'Alright, I can do this. Shoot to kill.'

With rapid succession, she fired 4 shots to the first soldier's eyes and 5 shots to the second soldier's cheek. Subsonic 9×39mm armour piercing bullets completely penetrated and obliterated their frontal skull in close range. Lara instantly rushed to the patrol rally point; hid the corpses to the nearby brushes and grabbed a combat radio from the one with missing jaw; returned to the site, took the combat-net radio transceiver, rugged military laptop and sprinted as far and as quickly as possible.

Lara then found a safe spot in an abandoned cave at 2:00 AM. She took off the 1PN138 night vision monocular and head mount, set up a bonfire and started to examine the expensive military electronic equipment that she had just robbed away. The connected combat-net radio transceiver and combat radio were already connected to the main Trinity operation channel. Their audio communications were in Ecclesiastical Latin. Conversations implied that Trinity had already occupied most old Soviet Installations in Mount Kamen within the last 24 hours. They turned all those facilities into their operation bases but strangely faced no opposition or even human presence at all. The Trinity command chain was getting paranoid minute by minute regarding any potential ambushes. Their only casualties were the 2 soldiers that Lara had killed. However, other patrols mistook their cause of death as "violent animal attacks". It is because their corpses were feasted and torn into unrecognisable shreds by other nearby bears and wolf packs.

"Poor bastards.", Lara mumbled as she almost felt bad for them. She then checked the laptop and read various files. The sea of Ecclesiastical Latin documents were enough to make Lara's eyes bleed but she endured the language difficulties. They were common knowledge among low-ranking Trinity members like basic history, Catholic prayer guides; mission debriefings, tips and maps. Lara skimmed most of them until she saw a file named "Secret Interpersonal Relations Guide To Trinity Command Hierarchy" caught her attention. She opened it with the expectation of a highly classified document:

The Order Of Holy Trinity is a very complex Catholic military organisation with a long history and tradition. Many new recruits may find difficulties in dealing with the most exalted senior inner circle officials. While not everyone is pleasant to interact with, you should never be stressed as they are still your brothers/sisters in arms.

Magister Magnus Pedro Dominguez

Pedro is from Cusco, Republic of Peru. He is the Grand Master and Arch-Archaeologist of our Order. He is an incredibly wise, cunning and charismatic leader. As a walking encyclopaedia, he welcomes any questions and discussions. Pedro loves promoting people according to their knowledge but martial prowess. Therefore, you should always try to start an academic conversation and debate with him. Pedro is quite invested in indigenous South American paganism, so you know what to do when you see him next time.

Magnus Commendator Rourke Hernandez

Rourke is from Austin, Texas, United States of America. He is the Deputy Grand Master of our Order and a former Colonel of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta (1st SFOD-D) with flawless mission records. Rourke is brutal, taunting and manipulative but extremely efficient. I suggest keeping him close but not too close. Rourke is a genius all-round strategist and tactician of modern warfare. He commands both the "Protectores Domestici" and "Scholae Palatinae". The former is an elite mechanised infantry and armoured division filled with "Juggernaut" heavy troopers, SPz "Ulan", MTPz "Pandur" and Leopard 2A4. The latter is an aviation and aerial division filled with Eurocopter Tiger and Eurofighter Typhoon. Rourke and Pedro do not always see eye to eye but are actually close allies with great mutual respect.

Summus Marescalcus Konstantin Banadinović

Konstantin is from Dubrovnik, Republic of Croatia. He is the Chief Marshal of our Order and is the older brother of Ana. He commands the "Legio Comitatenses"- standard light infantry division filled with both new recruits and seasoned veterans. You should always ask him if you have any questions regarding field operations or want to volunteer for any specific deployment positions. Konstantin is the most zealous and passionate Catholic that I have ever seen. Despite being too serious with no sense of humour, Konstantin is a good man by heart and deeply cares for his troops.

Summus Thesaurarius Ana Banadinović

Ana is also from Dubrovnik, Republic of Croatia. She is the Chief Treasurer and Administrator of our Order. She is also the younger sister of Konstantin. She was once the most skilled spy, assassin and infiltrator of the Order but stepped down to administrative office after failing to assassinate Richard Croft. I am not surprised because under the bossy manner, Ana is actually very compassionate and kind-hearted. If you or your family have any financial difficulties, please report to her for further assistance.

This was clearly just a simple but popular life hacks article among the low-ranking Trinity members. However, it struck Lara like a Tsar Bomba. Trinity were religious fanatics but not heartless monsters. They had families and friends. They had struggles, hardships and emotions just like any normal human being. Unlike the insane primitive Solarii Brotherhood in Yamatai, the Order Of The Holy Trinity was a truly legitimate Roman Catholic military organisation. Apart from the over-the-top arsenal, it was surprisingly normal. It also took great care of its members and their households like an ethical charity. Lara suddenly felt extremely awful about killing the 2 Trinity soldiers hours ago. Although the organisation murdered her dear father Richard Croft and must be destroyed, not every member was guilty of the crime, particularly not the 2 squaddies who only served in conventional frontlines to perform patrol and sentry duties. They did not deserve to be dehumanised or suffered from such horrific tragedy. Perhaps a pacifist route was an option?

However, the strong sense of remorse quickly turned into pure rage as soon as Lara saw Ana's name and 4k upper body portrait photograph on the document. She wore a blue full dress uniform with Sam Browne belt; aiguillette on the left shoulder and chest; a set of colourful medal ribbons on the right chest. The Croft family was betrayed and deceived all along by the woman who they sincerely considered as family.

"ANA! YOU TREACHEROUS CUNT! FUCKING SNAKE THAT PLAYED US LIKE A DAMN FIDDLE!", Lara shouted hysterical fury, barely restrained herself from throwing the rugged military laptop to the cave walls.

When the adrenaline died down, the explosive rage quickly turned into sorrow, confusion and depression. It hurt so bad, even worse than being impaled by rebar through the gut back in the coastal cave of Yamatai.

"Why Ana? Why do this? Why would you work for the Trinity?", Lara sobbed in despair as tears flowed down her cheeks, "Is this all a lie? A false act of kindness out of pity? Did dad mean nothing to you? Do I mean nothing to you?"

There was so much that Lara wanted to say and think but could not do it. The emotional damage was so high that it literally shell shocked her mind into a lobotomy limbo. There was no secret that Lara was very fond of Ana. Her father Richard first introduced Ana as his "girlfriend" to his daughter in 2000. The 8 years old Lara was still too young to truly understand the term. She innocently thought the then 21 years old Ana simply as her father's new research co-worker. Child Lara only knew that she was a kind-hearted, intelligent and charming lady who took excellent care of her, rivalling her own birth mother Amelia Croft. Ana was always present by Lara's side and spent a lot of time with her. She taught Lara painting, singing, dancing, Latin and Greek. When Richard became so obsessed with immortality to the point of negligence, Ana was there to support her. She oversaw child Lara's academics, extra-curricular activities; attended all her school performances and parental conferences. Ana was like a loving mother to her. As time moved on, Lara slowly understood the romantic relationship of her father and Ana. Her suspicion was confirmed when she climbed a tree outside the Croft Manor library and accidentally saw the duo kissing through the window. When they proceeded to strip, child Lara left the scene in a hurry. It was not in frustration but with joy because she was likely to get a loving stepmother if their relationship continued to bloom. With Conrad Roth as young Lara's cool uncle-like figure, nothing could go wrong?

When Richard Croft was assassinated by the Trinity under the staging of suicide in 2003, Lara became an orphan at the age of 11. His abysmal public reputation due to "ridiculous pseudoscientific immortality research" also made teenage Lara a rampant slanderous social bullying target in aristocratic private girls' schools. All these caused Lara severe depression but Ana was always there to comfort her, provide precious emotional support and help rebuild her strength in life. The bullies eventually stopped because they all mysteriously suffered from permanent facial scars while asleep in their highly secured manors. Ana was also the most enthusiastic attendant of her primary and secondary girls' school graduation ceremonies. Apart from sincerely concerning Lara's well-being after every dangerous (suicidal) adventure like a good mother, Ana also provided essential legal advice and financial support to Lara against her uncle Atlas de Mornay's claim on Croft property. She accompanied her to see a barrister in London's most elite law firm on 1-12-2015 regarding Amelia Croft's legal death and transition of inheritance to Lara. Just like butler Winston intended, Ana was literally Lara's ideal female role model.

Yet, it turned out that the guardian angel she looked upon so dearly was a senior trinity inner circle official. Lara was very conflicted. Her animal instinct was to kill Ana on spot for vengeance. The conscience suggested confronting her for answers first. Ana was a good person in heart and she must have a desperate reason for such a deceiving act. If she was truly evil, she could just get rid of child Lara right after Richard's death. Why would Ana spend so much time and effort to selflessly care about Lara when she did not even have any values before the 2013 Yamatai incident. Furthermore, even the bloody Trinity confirmed that Ana was too compassionate and did not assassinate Richard.

Lara just sighed sadly, "What an insane truth bomb on my arse… Part of me still can't believe all this mess…"

She then checked her watch and it was now 5:00 AM. Lara attached the Trinity combat radio to her left waist and extracted all the documents/files from the rugged military laptop to her USB. After that, she set her iPhone 6s Plus alarm clock to 8:00 and quickly fell asleep by the bonfire with the small backpack as a pillow. Lara was too mentally exhausted. Maybe a 3-hour nap could help clear her mind and set a better tactical/strategic plan on how to confront Ana, as well as finding the Divine Source.

Footnotes

1. Lara's favourite casual outfit is the in-game "Leather Jacket" but without any equipment.

2. Lara's outfit in Syria is the in-game fully upgraded "Gray Henley" (without the shotgun shell bandolier and arrow pouch).

3. Lara's "Siberian Ranger" outfit is based on the fully upgraded in-game variant (without the shotgun shell bandolier and arrow pouch). However, it is a lot bulkier due to extra thick fabrics, pouches and equipment. Wrists and fingers are also fully covered.

4. Ana's blue Trinity full dress uniform in the portrait photography is based on "Hunter's Array - Apex". While it has no weapons, equipment or pouches; it has aiguillette and medal ribbons.

5. "Blood Ties" event occurs on 29-11-2015 midnight.