Chapter 3 - British Nightmare
"Steven King once wrote that nightmares exist outside of logic and there's little fun to be had in explanations. They're antithetical to the poetry of fear. In a horror story the victim keeps asking why, but there can be no explanation and there shouldn't be one. The unanswered mystery is what stays with us the longest and is what we'll remember in the end."
21-11-2015
Croft Manor, Surrey, England
After leaving Syria, Lara returned to England and immediately visited the Croft Manor in Surrey. It provided a better base of operation to gather her father's nearly endless research documents and academic books. They were extremely useful in analysing Lara's finding in Syria and planning for the upcoming expedition to Mount Kamen of Russian Siberia. It was currently afternoon but the sky was pitch black as violent rainstorm, thunder and lightning raged outside the Croft Manor. Lara wore her favourite Leather Jacket outfit and sat in her father's study to do research regarding Mount Kamen's geography. Ana was going to visit her tonight and she could not wait to share her groundbreaking discovery with her dear Aunty. However, Lara slowly grew tired from non-stop reading and note taking - eventually fell asleep in her father's comfortable leather armchair…
Lara abruptly woke up as she suddenly felt a chill down her spine. Croft Manor's interior atmosphere suddenly became extremely uncanny. All light sources extinguished with a screen of thick mist covering the windows and flowed all over the place. The visibility was low and the room temperature dropped rapidly. The air was filled with a stale and rotten smell.
"What the hell is going on?", Lara mumbled and stood up from the leather armchair; only to find she suddenly had a left shoulder flashlight, thigh pistol holster with Webley Mk. VI .455 top-break revolver, waist ammo pouches with Prideaux Loaders, and a scabbard with Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife. Lara saw a piece of unfamiliar letter on the wooden office table which strangely drew all her attention. She read it and immediately heard a demonic voice resembling her bastard uncle Atlas de Mornay speaking into her head:
"Lara, It is unfortunate that you have forced my hand in this matter, but so be it... I will never allow you to make this Manor your home again. If you stay, you will perish like your pathetic father… like my poor ruined sister. I will grind the Croft name to dust and leave it utterly destroyed... forgotten for all time. It is too late for you now."
Just as she finished reading and hearing voices, the study's door was barged open and revealed a horde of zombie-like undead creatures. Their bodies were rotten and disfigured; eyes were glowing like will-o'-the-wisp; and speaking unintelligible gibberish in a low satanic voice. Their bloody hands carried various melee weapons like axe, hammer, crowbar and machete. Some were also equipped with helmets and shields. They slowly marched towards Lara with murderous intent, ready to quarter her into gorey pieces.
"This is a nightmare... it can't be real…", Lara trembly mumbled as she pulled out the Webley Mk. VI from the thigh pistol holster. It had been quite some time since she felt genuine fear. However, she quickly composed herself and let the furious inner animal take full control of her sociopathic mentality. Croft Manor was her home since birth - her rightful family inheritance and property. Who the fuck do these half-naked undead faggots think they were? Their trespassing would not go unpunished and that cuckold Atlas would pay for his crimes. As adrenaline rushed into Lara's soul, the bloodlust went out of control. Lara started her killing spree by precisely blasting the zombies in the head. The huge .455 Webley cartridge easily exploded rotten skulls like watermelon in close range.
For zombies with bulletproof helmets, Lara shot them right in the chest to burst sternums, ribs, lungs and hearts. For undead abomination with shields, she would put a bullet in their legs to cripple them; then pulled out her Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife to lunge forward, either slit their throat aorta or stabbed deep into the brain right through the eye sockets. After every 6 powerful shots, Lara instinctively pushed the cylinder release to break-open the top frame and the extractor instantly ejected the brass cases, letting them free fall on the ground. She slickly grabbed a fresh Prideaux Loader from the waist ammo pouch and swiftly pushed it into the cylinder, before closing the frame and shooting the undead horde again.
Eventually, the horde attacking the study was decimated and Lara's Webley Mk. VI had gone down to only 5 bullets. There was no more ammunition reserve but it did not stop her determination to kick every single undead bastard out of her Manor. NO ONE could mess with her property. Yet, as Lara carefully walked through the zombie corpse-filled corridor, she found a fully loaded Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 2 and a huge bag of .303 British stripper clips being conveniently placed on a visible wooden table. The sheer luck and coincidence were beyond supernatural.
"Am I operating on the shifting logic and subconsciousness of a dream?", Lara mumbled in confusion but gladly equipped the newly found weapons and ammunition. They were more than enough to clean the Croft Manor from undead filth room by room and wall by wall.
Unfortunately, several doors in the Manor were locked and Lara had to find the Master Key to unlock all rooms first. She eventually located it in her father's bedroom and proceeded to purge the main hall, library, cellar, atelier, lesser bedrooms and the gallery with ruthless efficiency. Lara operated her Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 2 with close range Mad Minute technique and mowed down hordes of zombies with ease. None could survive the rapid suppression of the full powered .303 British rimmed tapered rifle cartridge, even obliterated and exploded the 3 so-called "Skulls of Rage" - big floating skulls with horns and will-o'-the-wisp.
"Good... you're closer to witnessing the power of my hatred! Confront me now… I await you at the grand hall.", the demonic voice of Atlas demanded angrily. Lara of course would not keep her gormless uncle waiting and was ready to evict him out of her Manor. She quickly searched various rooms for spare ammunition before arriving at the main hall again for the final showdown. A gargantuan Skulls of Rage immediately emerged/summoned from the lower hall ground and floated to the middle of the room. It was no doubt the nightmarish incarnation of the leeching Atlas de Mornay - a greedy and merciless arsehole.
"You wanna get nuts?! Let's get nuts!", Lara shouted her battle cry and rapidly fired into the gargantuan Skulls of Rage with her Lee-Enfield rifle. The storms of mighty .303 British cartridges greatly damaged Atlas's demonic incarnation. He screamed angrily, "You think you can harm me… but my rage becomes a shield! My guardians will destroy you… Come then... let me embrace you myself!"
A green energy shield suddenly appeared and surrounded Atlas's Skull manifestation as impenetrable protection. Meanwhile, hordes of zombies emerged from the nasty thick black mist from various corridors. There were even swarms of fast-moving undead dogs and suicide grenade-bombers. Lara used "kiting" tactics to keep minimum distance from the abominations while blasting them into oblivion with Lee-Enfield Mad Minute technique. However, Lara herself also suffered from severe stab, slash, bite and shrapnel wounds, as well as various degrees of burns and concussion. Luckily, the Skull's energy shield abruptly went down as the protection was seemingly temporary. Atlas roared, "No! My anger is my protection! You can wound me, but my hatred will always return!"
Lara endured severe pain and blood lost, reloaded her 2 final 5-rounds .303 British stripper clips into the Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 2, and unleashed all the metallic fury into the gargantuan Skulls of Rage.
"No! Nooo!", Atlas screamed in horror as his demonic incarnation was shattered piece by piece with each large calibre bullet, ultimately chain-exploded and left nothing but ash. Lara was totally exhausted from excessive combat and severe injuries. She dropped the Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk 2 and sat on the floor to enjoy a moment of peace. Suddenly, 4 zombies jumped on her outta nowhere. 2 pinned her all-fours on the ground while the other 2 cleaved open her belly with axes and violently pulled out her intestines, feasting them on the spot savagely like spotted hyena. Lara's blood and flesh were splattered everywhere as she screamed in hellish agony, "NOOO! AHHH! GET OFF MEEE! BACK OFF! AHHH! NOOOOO!-"
"-Lara! Calm down! Calm down!", Lara abruptly opened her eyes due to the familar Croatian accent voice and saw none other than Aunty Ana. She put her comforting hands on Lara's shoulder and looked at her worriedly.
"What the?- What happened? What is going on? When did you arrive?", Lara asked and looked around nervously, only to find the study was completely normal. She was healthy, the room was warm and comfortable. It felt like all the previous battles for survival, bloodshed against undead trespassers, pain from injuries and agony of death just never happened in the first place.
"You were having a nightmare. You hysterically screamed and struggled like having epilepsy. I actually arrived at the manor 15 minutes ago and called you via phone several times. However, you never answered so I searched you room by room and the rest is history.", Ana carefully put her warming hands on Lara's cheeks and forehead, "Oh dear… those are cold sweat from extreme shock. Come on, let's get you some medicine-"
"No, I am fine."
"Are you serious? You look like hell and that is definitely not ok-"
"I said I am fine."
Ana sighed in disapproval but did not argue further, "Alright then… If you insist, then I won't force you. Would you like to talk about the dream?"
Lara nodded and told her about the nightmarish adventure. Ana was horrified and tightly hugged Lara as comfort. She then took out a letter and carefully explained, "I don't want to be provocative… your leeching uncle Atlas actually just sent you an urgent letter. I know the situation has uncanny resemblance to your nightmare but you should really take a look."
Lara accepted the letter and read it:
"FINAL NOTICE - TO LARA CROFT, CURRENT TENANT OF PREMISES:
This is to serve your final notice for the purpose of terminating your ownership of Croft Manor. You are required to immediately vacate and surrender possession of said Manor to Atlas de Mornay - executor of estates.
Lara, It is unfortunate that you have forced my hand in this matter, but so be it. As you know, your parents appointed me executor of the estate in the event of their absence. Since your mother disappeared, her death was never technically declared. And given the circumstances surrounding your father's death, it's no surprise that he never drafted a formal last will and testament to account for this circumstance. Unfortunately, you have no legal claims to the estate. I'm willing to negotiate a modest monthly stipend from your trust, but only if you leave the manor by weeks' end. Don't fight me on this, Lara. Your mother wouldn't want that.
Sincerely,
Atlas"
"Fucking hell…"
"What does it say?", Ana asked and Lara handed her the letter. She read it and frowned hard, "Heartless but totally legitimate in the English Common Law."
"There has to be a will… or some kind of evidence of what happened to Mom in the Manor… Somewhere."
"Maybe it is locked in his safe.", Ana suggested and pointed at the huge safe at the corner of the study.
"Yea… but we need to find a note that can give us clues to the combination first."
The duo proceeded to search the Manor's study, main hall, library, cellar, atelier, various bedrooms and gallery while reminiscing about their past together. Lara suddenly realised the romantic relationship development between her father and Ana was exactly as cliché as those copy and paste South Korean Manhwa - an innocent pretty young woman (Ana) melted the heart of a grumpy single-father millionaire (Richard) and (nearly) became the stepmother of the young child (Lara).
The duo then discovered that the death of Lara's mother caused Richard's obsession with immortality. He and Uncle Roth actually found her body and brought it home to conduct numerous satanic pagan resurrection rituals but all failed miserably. Ana was severely disturbed and outraged by the news, harshly condemning Richard's crimes of committing heresy, witchcraft and blasphemy.
The conversation between the duo suddenly became very awkward as Lara wholeheartedly supported her father's action. There was nothing nobler than saving your loved ones, no matter how uncanny or ruthless the method may seem. Not even death could do a family apart. This was why Lara was determined to find the Divine Source. It was the only way to save Ana or even resurrect father, mother and Uncle Roth. Luckily, the duo understood their polar opposite ethic viewpoints and quickly dropped the topic to prevent a hostile quarrel.
After finding all the clues, the duo returned to the study, opened Richard's safe but found no will. Instead, they discovered a piece of paper which led them to a secret passage and unlocked a hidden Secret Lab. It was full of Richard's astonishing research and the duo ultimately found the final clue, leading them to the hidden underground Croft Family Crypt. The duo quickly discovered the marvellous marble sarcophagus of Lara's mother and her note:
"My Dearest Lara,
It is difficult to write this, knowing these may only ever be words on a page to you. I wonder if you will remember my voice. Will you remember the way we used to play and laugh? Will you remember me comforting you when you were sad? Know that I'm still with you Lara... my energy, my love, it's within you. It always will be. Use that energy to pursue your passions in life. Never let others determine your journey. You become who you are through your choices, through the love you give and promises you keep. I hope you are happy. That you are loved and successful in whatever it is you choose to do. I am proud of you, my darling. Remember me.
With all my love,
Your mother."
Lara could not help but cry in tears of sorrow as she read the letter. Ana thus tightly hugged her to provide emotional support, "It's ok Lara… Your mother and father loved you so much... You three would always be connected."
"... And… what about you?", Lara sobbed and asked with great uncertainty. Aunty Ana was like a mother to her but in the end, she was just a substitute - an outsider who could never replace Amelia Croft no matter how loving she was. Lara felt extremely bad for Ana as tonight's event put her in a very awkward situation.
Ana understood the sad implication but still sincerely smiled while tightening her hug with Lara, "You ARE my daughter. That's enough for me."
Croft Manor, Surrey, England
On the next day, Ana contacted a famous London barrister who specialised in aristocratic inheritance to come over to the Croft Manor in Surrey. The snobbish but professional English Common Law practitioner swiftly began to verify Amelia Croft's tomb. The process was very fast as it only took a week to legally declare her death and fully transfer all Croft family inheritance to Lara only. It also rendered Atlas de Mornay's claim for the Croft Manor null and void. However, the bastard uncle still sent her a letter of "familial reconciliation", shamelessly asking her to contact him if she required assistance running the estate. Lara simply threw it into the burning stove without sparing a second glance. That cuckold could eat shit and die for all she cared.
Lara also formally relocated from the crappy East London apartment to the shabby Croft Manor but did not refurbish it at once because she currently had more urgent business to deal with - planning the expedition to Mount Kamen of Krasnoyarsk Krai in the Russian Federation to locate Kitezh and the Divine Source.
Footnotes
- This chapter is based on the DLC of Lara's Nightmare and Blood Ties but with heavy reference to Alan Wake and Alan Wake's American Nightmare.