Hi everyone!
After a few months' absence, I'm back with this sequel, which follows on from my other two fanfictions, Beyond the Darkness and Lux Apocalypsis :)
I think this new story will be a bit different from the others, as I really wanted to play with the relationships between the different characters and explore them in a slightly different way, so this story will probably be a little different from the previous ones; I hope you enjoy this new adventure just as much, though, with its own universe which will be a bit different from that of AOD, as I think I've explored it in depth quite enough already in my previous stories.
Thanks in advance to anyone who might be curious enough to take a look at my work, and thanks as always (because it's never enough, in my opinion) to everyone who has shown me their support, in any way whatsoever, since I started publishing my fan fictions, with a special word for my friend, Elis Zelis.
Your support is really everything to me
Happy reading! :)
1- The Red Stone
SOSSUSVLEI, NAMIB DESERT, WEST NAMIBIA
The jeep's tires screeched as she hit the brake pedal, and the massive vehicle came to an immediate stop, raising a thick blanket of reddish dust. The landscape and the dunes disappeared from her field of vision for a moment, before the horizon finally cleared again and revealed the empty space that stood only a few feet in front of her.
She grabbed the paper map spread roughly on the top of the dashboard, and took a quick look at it. At first she seemed surprised, not understanding why the GPS had led her here. She traced with her fingertips the few hundred miles she had driven in the last two days, but all the information she had been given seemed right. So far, at least.
She folded the piece of paper and dropped it on the beside seat, before grabbing the small brown leather backpack that was there. She pulled the door handle and pushed it open. She was instantly seized by the suffocating heat, as if she were in a life-size oven. A new cloud of dust formed around her as she stepped down the car. The small backpack unconsciously found its place on her shoulders. She walked a few steps, and finally stopped. Hands on her hips, like a soldier standing at attention, she stood there and scanned the surroundings through her sunglasses.
The wind was hot, and quite unpleasant actually. She was used to extreme temperatures, from the hottest deserts in Africa to the scary ice on the other side of the world, yet she felt the sun's rays heating her skin dangerously. There was nothing but sand here, all around her. The rolling hollows of the dunes formed uniform mountains devoided of any human trace. There was not a living soul for miles around. But also in the middle of this almost infinite desert, there was this immense space even drier and more abandoned than the rest: a white and cracked earth, vestige of a river that once flowed here, dotted with trees still standing but now completely dried out.
She noticed there was something standing in the middle of this white expanse. Or probably, something had appeared in the middle of the dry lake. From where she stood, she could see perfectly the gigantic circle with geometric patterns that stood out in the irregular relief of the dry land. It was a giant fresco, like certain representations of deities close to nature, particularly dear to many African countries. Here, she unequivocally recognized the figure of the sun, with two almost hypnotic central circles that served as its eyes and which stood out among the lines of small regular triangles and other more straightforward rectangles. They seemed to be pointed at her, spying on her every move.
Unconsciously, she made a small movement of her head as if to nod to herself, then suddenly turned around and walked back to the jeep. She opened the car boot and carefully pulled out a long, solid gold spear. Its sharpened tip glinted in the sunlight. The few gems that hung from the end of some gold wires clinked with a light sound. The young woman held the object firmly in her hands despite its considerable weight. She then turned around and went back to the dune, which she began to walk down to the dry lake bottom. Without stopping, she then traced her way to the circle, under the overwhelming weight of the heat, much more stifling and suffocating than the one she had felt at the top of the dunes. The reflection of the sun's rays on the immaculate ground hit her directly, she was almost dazzled. Every step she took left a mark in the immaculate earth, which remained the only trace of life in this strange environment. She felt the blood pulsating violently in her veins and in her temples in particular, the spear became a little heavier in her hand.
Lara did not pause when she finally reached the circle, and walked on it until she reached its center, between the two eyes of the drawing. She easily found the spot where she was supposed to insert the spear, exactly where she had been told. After a quick look at the different patterns around her - she didn't notice anything unusual, at first sight - she grabbed the heavy golden object with both hands, and let its head slide into the tiny hole provided for it, just like a key that would fit into the lock made for it. After a few seconds during which nothing happened, the young woman finally turned the object on itself. The sand and dirt crunched, before the weapon locked again with a sharp snap.
So far, so good
But before she could react, the earth began to shake violently beneath her feet with a loud rumbling sound. She was taken by surprise and lost her balance slightly as the pattern under her feet suddenly began to pivot and spin on itself, like the mechanism of a giant wheel. The salt and white earth around cracked for several feet around her, and it was with quite some amazement that she noticed the spear was slowly disappearing into the ground, or more precisely, that the ground was slowly sucking it in as the giant pattern continued to spin. She pulled herself together and rushed to grab the spear with both hands. She struggled to pull the weapon out, but soon had to face the fact the ground had already partially engulfed it, and that the object was now too far down to be removed.
Lara let out an annoyed grunt: no one had told her about this possibility. But her brain quickly focused on something else when she felt herself losing her balance again. Under her feet, the earth was literally tearing apart and the ground around cracked all over again. She wanted to take a few steps back to get some momentum and jump out of the way, but the block of earth she was standing on suddenly fell away and collapsed on itself. There was another jolt, and the ground opened wide before her. She lost her balance completely, and toppled over into the void with the other piles of earth that were smashing against each other with resounding noises.
She felt the dust and sand pouring down on her in huge quantities, and thought for a split second that she was going to be buried alive. Her feet suddenly found themselves in the void, and the unpleasant sensation that gripped her heart made her realize that she was falling. She raised an arm above her head to protect herself from another block that fell on her. When the cloud of dust cleared, she saw somewhere beneath her a moving shape with a bright color between the pieces of stone that tipped with her: water.
She had just enough time to take a deep breath before she hit and sank forcefully into the liquid. She suddenly found herself submerged and felt herself sinking to the depths. Around her, everything was extremely blurred, she heard the noise of the rocks to break before ending up engulfed by water. The young woman furiously flapped her legs to get out of there, guided by the only light of the opening which she had just created, and that she hardly saw in the moving water. The force of the waves caused by the collapse slowed her down slightly, but she held on: she kept her eyes pointed towards the surface. After a final burst of speed, her head broke through the water, she finally found the open air in a deep breath. Turning around, she realised the landslide was over. The waves from the rocks made her drift slightly, she did a few fathoms to get closer to one of the walls, and clung to a protruding rock.
After a few minutes, all finally became quiet again and the waters finally stopped bubbling. The adventuress then discovered that she was now probably in an underground lake, hidden several feet below ground in a huge cavity dug by time. The water was strangely clear and blue but also strangely warm. But there didn't seem to be any shoreline around. Above her head, perhaps a hundred feet away, the collapse had left a gigantic irregular hole, which cut into the blue sky outside like a giant eye.
She felt a strange tingling in her shoulder, and she suddenly realised that a deep gash ran across her upper arm. It wasn't a pretty sight, but at least it wasn't anything serious. Gritting her teeth and hoping to find a place a little further away where she could land and heal this wound, she took the time to think.
At first glance, she was stuck here, in this sort of cave. There was only water and again no solid ground anywhere. She saw no opening, no hidden door anywhere either, at least on the surface. And then, she no longer had the spear, which seemed to have disappeared completely by now, swallowed up by the still murky waters. If she believed the information she had been given, there had to be something else here, undoubtedly hidden somewhere at the bottom of these waters.
Her first instinct was to dive to determine the depth of the place. It was not very deep, at least not for her. But it was deep enough that it was hard to make out the bottom and the rocks that had just come off the ceiling, as well as the plants that had grown over time. She spent some time underwater, groping and pacing the irregular terrain of the lake bottom. She held on as long as possible before finally coming up for air.
She returned to the rock to catch her breath, then took another deep breath, and resumed her submarine research. She probed the other side of the lake this time, taking care to move some plants or rocks that could have made her miss something. She was quietly finishing her tour when her eye was drawn to something. Along the wall, green plants spread out vertically, undulating to the rhythm of the water's movements. And there seemed to be something underneath.
The adventuress felt her lungs shrink in her chest and begin to burn brightly, her throat tightened. Fighting the urge to go back up, she approached and pushed the seaweed to one side, and to her great surprise, discovered a piece of wood, or more exactly, a kind of lever. Comforted by this discovery, she went back up to the surface to catch her breath, before diving back down almost immediately. When she arrived at the level of the plants, she pulled them out one by one in a hurry to free the lever. After a quick examination, she positioned her two feet against the wall, on each side of the piece of wood. She grabbed it with both hands, and pulled it towards her with force - at least as much as she could get underwater.
Several long seconds passed as she pulled with all her might to make it move, before it finally began to slowly lower itself. She heard the wood scrape against the rock with a muffled, yet unpleasant sound and saw pieces of plant material being torn off and pulled up. The lever had been submerged for centuries, and thus blocked by the effect of the water, but with a little luck it would work, and open what it was supposed to open.
Then suddenly, the piece of wood gave way completely and came down in one fell swoop. Taken by surprise, Lara tilted slightly to the side, carried away by the momentum. When it was completely down, she heard a "clac" sound which resounded in a rather strange way around her. Pushing on her arms, she spun around to turn around, on her guard. The water remained murky around her, but it seemed that something had appeared at the other end of the lake. But she was especially struck by the shapes she suddenly saw bobbing in the water and waving in her direction. She only saw what it was at the very last moment, when a long and gigantic mouth opened right in front of her, revealing small sharp teeth.
Of course
She had just enough time to flap her arms and shift to the side, dodging the huge jaw that was about to close on her. The mouth of the reptile slammed with force only a few inches of her, its yellow pupils fixed on her like a missile which locks its target. The young woman kicked it to push it away and make it deflect, but the technique only allowed her to gain a few seconds. She took advantage of the scaly beast's moment of confusion to hurry up to the surface: she had to get some air.
She folded her legs and pushed off the rocky ground to propel herself upward and gain speed. She swam hard, still pushing upward, but she knew the beast was literally on her heels. She could feel the tip of its snout brushing against her foot, and she also knew it wouldn't wait long before spreading its mouth and closing it on her.
She deviated abruptly to one side, hoping to take the beast by surprise and gain a few more feet on it. As she had hoped, it did not have the reflex to react instantly, which allowed her to outrun it slightly. She could finally see the lake's surface, but she felt another sudden movement in the water: this time there were two crocodiles chasing her.
She suddenly stopped dead in the water and turned around. Not surprisingly, she found herself almost face to face with the first reptile, which opened its mouth wide again to grab her. The young woman twisted and pulled a large hunting knife from her backpack. She bent down to avoid the sharp teeth and when the opportunity came up, she planted it without hesitation in the beast's throat. She felt the handle of the weapon vibrate and scrape against something as it sank into the flesh. A cloud of blood appeared and blurred her vision, she immediately freed the knife before it got stuck in the now lifeless body of the crocodile. She kicked it away and flapped her legs to finally reach the surface. The air rushed into her lungs in a rather unpleasant sensation, but nevertheless of true deliverance.
She knew she shouldn't waste time, at least another beast was around. And just as she was about to dive again, there was a movement not far away. She saw out of the corner of her eye the head of another reptile emerge into the open as well, and slide towards her at full speed. Its eyes were wide open and its jaw was already ajar. The young woman concentrated, and did not let it out of her sight. She would have only a fraction of a second to react. She waited until the very last moment without moving, and when the crocodile was on her, she dived again. As she had foreseen, the animal, caught in its momentum, continued on its way. And as she had calculated, she found herself under it. She dodged a clumsy paw it gave to try to correct its trajectory, and grabbed firmly the knife. The blade pierced the beast's side, which was taken of a kind of convulsion. She managed to avoid the headbutt that it threw to defend itself, but did not see the tail that stirred the water and hit her from the other side. Besides the violence of the blow, the scales scratched her skin, hot blood escaped from the wound and beaded around her. She let out a silent grunt, which scattered in large air bubbles.
The beast got furiously agitated, and the adventuress lost contact with the knife's handle which finally slipped from her fingers. The crocodile contorted itself in all directions, trying to get rid of the weapon that was slicing its flesh, leaving a large trail of blood behind as it disappeared in a whirlwind of bubbles.
The young woman did not try to catch it, and took the direction of the surface with a powerful movement of legs. But no sooner had her head emerged from the water than she saw the crocodile's movement back towards her. Its battered body undulated gently on the surface of the water, and despite its obvious state of weakness, it seemed determined to try to get its prey until the last moment. Without thinking, driven by its pure instinct, the animal gained speed and opened its mouth wide from which a deep growl escaped. The adventuress wedged herself against the rocky wall she felt behind her and prepared to counterattack. She remained focused on it until the very last second, when she caught the nervous movement that indicated that the beast was about to close its jaws. As the reptile's muscles tightened and it lunged forward, she pushed herself backwards as much as she could to free her leg, and struck the animal in the muzzle.
In her effort, she let out a scream; the beast's head went backwards, before falling on the surface of the water in a small "splash" sound. The crocodile twisted in all directions trying to get up, but she stopped it with a second kick. The reptile's body stiffened and fell limply before coming to a final rest. She pushed it back with the tip of her foot and the corpse drifted slightly, pushed by the small movements of the water.
Lara straightened up with a loud grunt, her head stretched upwards to keep contact with the open air. Her side hurt like hell, and she winced as she reached up to hold onto the wall. Glancing down, she saw a few drops of blood seeping from her shirt where the reptile's tail had lacerated it. It wasn't very deep, but she would definitely have to take a few moments to take care of it all once she was dry.
The water around her had become calm again, and she took a moment to regain her composure and control her ragged breathing. On the surface, except for the two crocodile bodies floating nearby, there was nothing. However, when she looked down at the bottom of the water, she could make out a shape. The few flashes of sunlight that appeared through the huge hole in the ceiling drew new shapes down into the cave, but on closer inspection - and she was sure it was not an effect of the sun or her imagination - something had literally opened up at the bottom of the water, at the foot of one of the walls.
An opening
It was exactly what she needed.
She stood still for a few more seconds, watching for the slightest movement that might indicate that another reptile -or maybe something else for that matter- might be around. But the way was clear.
Refocusing her thoughts and strength, she took a deep breath, and dove in. She swam directly to what she had seen, stroking her way to the bottom of the lake. The sun's rays swept over the area for a brief moment, before disappearing again completely. It was much darker on this side of the cave anyway, but there was still enough light to make out the portal that was gradually taking shape in front of her. In a few more fathoms, she suddenly found herself facing a large round opening, which went directly into the stone, and which looked like a kind of tunnel. She approached to take a look, holding on with one hand to the stone wall. Beneath her, a round gate stone seemed to have sunk into the ground, leaving open this small gallery.
She pushed off her feet and climbed back up for air once more, before descending again. This time, she entered the tunnel. It was quite wide, so it was easy for her to move forward into the first few feet. As a precaution, and because the darkness became a little thicker and oppressive, she took out a small torch to light her way. The small object put in light thousands of drawings all around her: pictograms representative of the language of the region, but also drawings of animals and men mixed with one another and strewn with warm colors. Scenes of hunting, but also of fight appeared under her eyes. She followed the relief of the stone with her fingertips, letting herself be guided. She crossed several walls of slimy algae. And then suddenly, the passage became wider.
She found herself floating in another huge, and also under water room. At first glance, she did not see any beast approaching like a fury -but she was not worried about that, as she thought she had already faced all that was left alive in those waters, and which had probably woken up when the portal opened. Turning the torch from one side to the other, she noticed there was only this immense cavity of water, much more imposing and much darker than the previous one. In the middle of this one was a gigantic rock, which seemed to emerge from the depths of the earth and to rise towards the surface in a compact and threatening block.
The young woman slowly flapped her legs and used her arms to move upward toward the surface, which she could see several feet above her head. The beam of the torch swept over the few rocks covered with moss and aquatic plants, and what looked like a bank appeared above her. When she finally got her head out of the water, she discovered a huge cave, bathed in a strange pink and golden light. This latter, like that of a fire or a lighthouse, came from the center of the cave.
After a short second of hesitation, but mostly observation, Lara approached slowly until her feet were in contact with the rock. She had managed to get back to dry land, which formed a kind of small flat island lost in the middle of this water-filled cave. She stabilized herself and managed to stand upright, she just had to follow the gentle slope of the rock to get out of the water.
Walking carefully, she got out slowly, looking at the strange object that was floating in the air several feet away. She guessed a big stone of dark red color which seemed to be suspended in the air. Around it gravitated in an incessant and almost hypnotic movement golden rings, which laced each other without ever meeting. Their reflections literally danced on the walls, which gave to the place a fairy-like and unreal aspect.
She took a quick glance to one side and then the other: she detected nothing suspicious. Aside from the stone and its strange rings, the cave looked empty. Even so, her fingers had slid to her holsters, ready to grab her firearms if needed. She knew this kind of environment all too well.
Her eyes did not leave the stone as she moved cautiously forward, cushioning each of her steps like a panther advancing toward its target, gauging the ground beneath her feet and her ears on constant alert. The rock on which she stood was strangely flat and empty, as if it had been exactly designed to accommodate the stone and its strange protection. She stopped a few inches from the first rings, her eye on the lookout. The structure was much more imposing when seen up close. She felt the metal of the rings stirring the air as they continued to turn on themselves in their repetitive and continuous movement. The stone itself was much larger than she had imagined, the size of an ostrich egg perhaps. The golden reflections gave it a majestic and even more precious aspect. Its deep red color had been tinted with much more marked and irregular reliefs, like the veins of a palpitating heart.
Instinctively, the young woman reached out her hand. The moment it came into contact with the magnetic field that seemed to be generated by the movement of the rings, the whole mechanism stopped moving. The stone and the metal discs suddenly froze in space. She felt a kind of resistance, like a tickle against her fingers, but she reached the gem without difficulty. She put her hand on it, noticing its strangely warm touch. For the next few seconds, she stood still, watching for any trap to close on her. But nothing happened.
She reached out with her other hand and grabbed the stone. She pulled it toward her; she felt a slight vibration, as if the magnetic field was trying to hold it back, before it gave way completely and let go. However, no sooner had she pulled the object out of its invisible protective field than the rings vibrated and turned completely black, as if they had been eaten away by flames. Their surface cracked with an unpleasant noise, and before she could react, they all exploded at once and their dust scattered in the air. The adventuress had just enough time to raise her arm and turn away slightly to protect herself. She felt a powerful blast push her, and the thousands of tiny pellets sting her skin.
And all of a sudden, only the reddish light of the stone remained in the cave. The silence settled for a very short second, before something moved in the water. The young woman felt the ground vibrate strangely under her feet, a wave of echo formed and spread on the surface of the lake. Then suddenly, the water rose in a compact block, before falling down in cascade in a resounding sound. A gigantic form, dripping with water, appeared in front of her. The first thing she saw were its huge, meter-wide legs that landed heavily on the flat surface of the rock. The beast pulled itself out of the water revealing its torso and then its gigantic mouth. It escaped a hoarse and furious cry as its two small red eyes focused on the young woman.
Lara immediately recognized the creature by its fine and long body, of that of the snakes, but whose head raised more of that of the crocodiles with its long thick snout.
She did not have time to put the stone back in her bag. The enormous creature, even with its imposing size, was of an aberrant speed. Its heavy legs advanced towards her, she saw the animal's mouth open a little wider and get ready to close on her. Guided only by the stone's light, the adventuress dove forward and rolled to dodge the jawbone that slammed forcefully right over her head. She steadied herself without difficulty, but was immediately destabilized by the gigantic tail that came down on her and that hissed through the air. She rolled into a ball to protect herself, but it was already too late: the animal's tail hit her head on, she was thrown on the side violently. Her fingers let go of the red stone, which fell to the ground with a thud and rolled away. It bounced several times against the hard and wet ground before stopping.
She stood up as quickly as she could, and grabbed her weapons. She could see the stone out of the corner of her eye, but it was out of reach for the moment. The priority was anyway to find a way to escape from this mythical creature, which looked like it was going to have a serious fight. She was no stranger to this kind of creatures - at least by size -, and she had heard about this creature, but a corner of her mind was surprised to find it here, as it was supposed to hide in the meanders of the Zambeze river, several hundred miles away from here.
"Global warming is not good for anyone obviously," she could not help but comment aloud.
In response, the creature opened its mouth once more and howled in frustration at having missed its target. It charged again, leaning on its thick paws whose claws scraped the stone with force. This time, the young woman got into position: still crouching, she pointed her two 9mm guns straight at the animal's skull, and pulled the trigger. The detonations caused blinding flashes of light and a deafening noise, which covered the animal's howl. The first bullets ricocheted off its thick, hard skin and went to plant themselves in the rocky walls all around them. Its crazy eyes, enlarged by the thirst to kill, met hers for a short second. The young woman stayed in position until the last moment, when she saw the small razor-sharp teeth and its slimy tongue coming a little too close to her head. She then aimed directly into the animal's mouth, and fired into its palate. She saw the bullets pierce its flesh, black blood gushed from the wounds. The beast recoiled, and turned its mouth away with a snarl.
Even though the beast retreated slightly and gave her a short second to maneuver, the young woman did not stop firing. She had to take advantage of the fact she had just given herself to weaken it as much as possible and hope to be able to reach the exit. In view of the size of the creature, it seemed to her more than obvious that it would be suicidal to keep on facing it while hoping to be able to leave there in one piece. She had to find the means to make diversion to escape.
One of the bullets got into one of its nostrils and blew it out, spilling bits of flesh into the air. Another one went straight into its eye. The globe disappeared in an explosion of blood, the beast shook its head and let out a terrible scream, which echoed powerfully in the cavity. The ground shook beneath their feet as the wounded creature staggered backwards. In the light of the gunfire, rage flashed across its pain-twisted face.
Lara seized the opportunity. She sheathed her pistols, and turned around at full speed. She pushed hard on her legs to gain momentum, and ran headlong toward the red stone, which had become stuck in a hollow in the rock beyond. Behind her, she felt the beast moving again. At the sound of its paws rubbing against the rock, she imagined without difficulty its enormous body sliding as it tried to catch up with her. She heard its raucous breath and the snap of its jaw. She then threw herself forward, her arm stretched out in front of her.
She fell heavily to the ground, but the momentum and wetness on the stone allowed her to slide several feet. But just as her fingers were about to close on the gemstone, she saw one of the monster's huge paws pass over her and crash down just inches from her shoulder. The force of the impact lifted her off the ground, the stone moved and rolled. She saw it bounce helplessly and disappear in a sonorous "splash" over the natural rock platform. The young woman could not hold back a sigh of frustration, which was quickly interrupted by the shrill cry of the creature right behind her. Putting aside the stone for a moment, she rolled onto her back to face it and drew. But the creature was much faster: no sooner had she pointed her weapons at it and pulled the trigger than the monster split the air with its long tail. She rolled to the side to dodge the first blow; the scales of the huge limb hit the ground with an unpleasant sound.
The beast was now out of itself, caught up in a furious and destructive madness. It released its heavy tail and threw its big clawed paw forward; the young woman rolled forward this time to avoid being crushed. She felt its huge body move to try to keep up with her and not lose sight of her; it seemed to be holding on, determined to crush her. Despite its imposing size, it was relatively agile and responsive. The adventuress fired as long as she had a bit of leeway; the beast let out another loud growl before throwing its paw again in the direction of its prey.
The claws split the air, and the animal's paw crashed with a loud crash right in front of her, cutting off her path as she tried to retreat. She rolled backwards in a hurry, barely escaping the next blow. But she did not see the tail coming from the other side to hit her. She only saw a furtive movement out of the corner of her eye, but she didn't have time to react.
She felt a powerful jolt in her ribs and her feet lifted off the ground. She was propelled into the air; the force of the impact caused her to drop one of her pistols, which bounced several times on the wet rock before being lost somewhere in the darkness of the cave. She finally fell back into the murky waters.
She flapped her legs and arms to steady herself, it took her a few seconds to get used to the darkness under the water. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the red light shining a little lower down. The gem had fallen to the bottom of the lake, several feet away, but it was technically within reach. And lucky for her, the creature had thrown her to the side where she had entered. Above her, she guessed that the monster was moving again. She had to hurry.
She got back to her senses and swam at full speed to reach the red stone stranded between some aquatic plants. As she reached it, a powerful vibration and resonance told her that the amphibious creature had also dived. She put both feet on the ground, shed her backpack, and bent down to grab the stone. Despite the fact that her movements were greatly slowed down underwater, she managed to slip the stone into her bag, and immediately started moving again. As soon as she had closed her bag's pocket, she saw the head of the enormous creature appear. The only eye that remained fixed on her and in this strange silence, she had no difficulty to guess the cry of rage that escaped from its mouth already open and ready to swallow her.
The creature was extremely agile and fast underwater, the adventuress understood she would have no chance to escape it if she tried to move. Faced with the urgency of the situation, the only reflex she had was to bend in two and press herself against the stone wall. The animal's mouth and its sharp teeth brushed against her and hit the stone above her. She felt the cave wall shake against her. The creature's long tail was still over her head when she decided to lunge forward. She placed herself both feet against the wall and pushed with all her might to propel herself forward, toward the gap through which she had entered here. She swam at full speed, coordinating her arms and legs to gain speed. It was only a few fathoms away, but she had only a few seconds to get out of there.
She sensed from the movement of the water that the monster was on her trail, it would undoubtedly make its appearance in the following seconds. She did not turn around to check, this was definitely not the time to let herself be distracted. She swam straight into the small tunnel that opened in front of her just as the animal's jaws behind closed with a loud snap. Carried away by its impetus, it struck the rocky wall with force, which made everything tremble around them. There was a short moment of suspense, then suddenly the rock tore itself apart. Huge cracks appeared everywhere, zigzagging in all directions. There was a deep thud. When the young woman turned around this time, she saw that the monster had slipped its snout through the opening, struggling until the last moment to catch her. Its jaws opened and closed repeatedly in a frenzy as its huge head pushed the tunnel's entrance to try to get in. The rock crumbled a little more, but the beast was obviously stuck.
There was a new thud, the walls began to shake again. The adventuress wasted no time. She turned around, and swam back at full speed. Large blocks of stone were beginning to fall from the ceiling and collapse, and if she didn't move quickly, she would end up crushed and drowned here, which she obviously preferred to avoid.
The air was starting to run out of her lungs. She pushed a little harder on her arms and kicked her legs faster. She noticed a large stone coming at her, and she barely dodged it. Everything was collapsing with a terrifying noise. Fortunately, the exit of the tunnel was not far, she took support on the shaking wall and gave a push to propel herself forward. She felt the stones brush against her feet as she finally found herself back in the first cave. It took her a few more seconds to get back into the open air. She took a deep wheezing breath, followed by a coughing fit. But she didn't have time to fully recover. Now that she had her head above water, she realized that the entire site was collapsing in on itself. The cracks had spread all over the walls around, and it was a whole section of the cave that was now about to collapse on itself.
A deep sound, like some kind of mighty roar, rose from somewhere beneath her, from the depths of the earth and water. A huge boulder broke from the ceiling above her head, and smashed against the surface of the water. The lake began to shake in earnest, waves formed all around her. She had to move quickly now.
While holding onto the surface with one hand, Lara reached into her small backpack to grab the grappling hook. She cocked it, then pointed it upward. She didn't have much time to aim, and it was no surprise when she saw the weapon's metal head approaching the edges of the ceiling's opening without catching it. It brushed against a piece of stone, a thin stream of dust scattered in the air as it rasped against it, before falling limply back into the water with its rope.
The young woman hurriedly rewound the rope and rearmed the grapple. There was another creak, the cave cracked and shook. Another block of stone, several feet wide, broke away. Huge chunks collapsed one after the other right next to her, raising a wave that pushed her against the wall. She hit the rock, but held on tightly to the grappling hook, which she managed to keep out of the water. She stabilised herself as best she could with her legs and looked up at the huge hole that opened to the outside. This was her last chance.
But she took a brief second to aim more accurately before pulling the trigger. The metal claws came off and deployed with a loud click. They shot straight up into the cave. And this time, they fixed themselves on the edge of the opening. All she had to do was pray that the block would hold.
A new section of wall gave way beneath the water, she felt the power of the whirlpool that was forming under her. Another wave pushed her to the side, the rope became dangerously tense but miraculously held on. She waited for the force of the water to bring her back in line with the rope, before pushing the button that triggered the traction system. For a fraction of a second, she thought the whole system was going to fail, but it did not. She was quickly pulled out of the water, just as the cave was literally bursting open. A tide of rocks and rubble suddenly mixed with the dark water in another resounding crash. The edges of the opening above her began to crumble in earnest, the grappling hook had not quite pulled her up when she was already reaching out to grab the ledge. It was not without some relief that she finally felt the air outside. Using her hand and the momentum the traction had given her, she pushed herself out of the cave in a small jump, and she landed nimbly on the dry desert floor. But no sooner had she set foot on the ground than she literally felt it collapse beneath her and fall away. Dropping her grappling hook behind her, she began to run.
In the distance, she could see the jeep that was still parked at the top of one of the huge dunes. She didn't take her eyes off it for a moment, concentrating on it to keep her on course. She avoided looking down at the huge cracks she felt forming with every step she took. For beneath her, the earth was rumbling and crumbling little by little. It was literally being torn apart. She did not see it, but the lake was collapsing on itself by whole block of several tens of feet. She could hear them clashing against each other and mixing with the underground water that was gushing out in places like the lava of an erupting volcano.
She felt herself lose her balance several times, but each time she barely recovered. She had to run a little faster, but she soon felt the ground give way under her, and she would soon fall into the void. The nearest dune was several feet away, but she had no choice. She had to jump or fall into the darkness and die buried alive.
She felt her feet lose contact with the ground. In a desperate move, she gave a powerful impulse and jumped.
She landed heavily in the hot sand and slid for a few feet before finally coming to a stop. She turned around, and could only see the huge hole and the pile of rocks and water that had now replaced the dry lake. Everything shook for a few more seconds, then the earth finally seemed to calm down. And just as strangely, silence gradually returned to the plain, until it settled completely. The light of the day still pierced in the distance far into the west, but with the setting sun, the dunes' shadows here gave the remains of the gigantic dried lake the air of a tomb. The wind blew again, and everything found its place, as if nothing had ever happened.
Lara contemplated for a moment this strange landscape, as if to watch that everything was now well and truly buried under the tons of earth, before turning around and going up the dune step by step. Once at the top, she got to the car. She dropped her completely wet bag on the bonnet, and took out the huge red stone she had retrieved from the shrine. Its color appeared even more vivid in the setting sun's rays.
She pouted with satisfaction.
It could have been worse
She nodded slowly as if to approve her own conclusion, then put the precious object back into her bag. She then unlocked the car, opened the door and sat behind the wheel. She put her bag next to her, on the passenger seat, before grabbing the sunglasses she had left on the dashboard. She put them on, and started the engine.
All she needed now was a good shower.