Chapter 10 - Archaic Exaltation

25-9-2013

Yamatai

As the duo walked towards a huge Cliffside Bunker; engineer Alex tried his best explaining what were radios, walkie-talkies, smartphones, television, films, plastics, cars, aeroplanes, ironclad ships and various modern common objects to Lara. She nearly fainted from sheer shock when she learned that there were international space travels and Humans already landed on the Moon back in 1969. The Countess was absolutely fascinated and felt like living in a fantasy world.

She found odd familiarity when engineer Alex showed her his salvaged Beretta 92SB semi-automatic pistol. She already knew Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta back in her timeline. Lara always wanted to purchase a pair of custom wheellock pistols from this famous firearms manufacturing company but never got the chance due to her adventure with Uncle Roth. Knowing that Beretta continued to flourish after 432 years was astonishing and directly witnessing its futuristic weapon design was absolutely captivating. The only misfortune was that Lara could not touch it due to the lack of physical body. She was sure the Samantha of her timeline would kill to have such an opportunity.

The duo eventually reached outside the huge Cliffside Bunker. Lara suddenly asked engineer Alex, "Have you killed anyone before?"

"Um… I don't know. I shot severe rounds while fleeing from the cultists but I did not have a chance to check if any were fatal."

"Then you must prepare soon. Bloodshed is inevitable."

"You make it sound like a piece of cake. It is kinda… disturbing… ya know?"

"... Yea… Sometimes it really scares me just how easy it is for me to take a life… without any remorse or shame", Lara warned engineer Alex, "Once you claim your first blood, you will never be the same."

Her companion swallowed hard and pulled out her Beretta 92SB. He mumbled, "I don't know if I can actually shoot people in the face… I don't wanna hurt other people…"

"No one ever does, Alex. But the Solarii Brotherhood is a gang of rapists and murderers. They will not hesitate to kill you. As for the other Lara, you know what they want to do."

Lara's words sent a chill down engineer Alex's spine. He took a deep breath and sighed deeply, "Guess these unfortunate circumstances left me no choice…"

"Such is life. Anyway, stay behind me. Since I don't have a physical body, I can't fight in combat but I can assist you as a spotter and decoy. Remember, don't hesitate to pull the trigger if needed."

Engineer Alex nodded and the duo stealthy ventured into the Cliffside Bunker, only to see all Solarii cultists were massacred. Arrows and bullet wounds were precisely stuck in either chests or heads. Lara counted a total of 20 corpses from the various corridors and the main hall. They were still warm and their blood stains were fresh.

"Sweet baby Jesus… It is a bloodbath. Who in their right mind can do this?"

"Um… I think it is from Lara."

Lara raised an eyebrow and engineer Alex immediately corrected himself, "I mean the Lara of the current timeline. I saw her fight like having a killing spree before, literally Hawkeye on steroids and Jason Voorhees incarnate."

"Hawkeye? Steroids? Jason Voorhees?… What are they- Nevermind…", Lara just sighed about their 5 centuries of cultural gap and decided to stay on track, "I mean no offence but... it is seriously a problem if the other me really fight like this."

"What do you mean?"

"There is a big difference between me and your Lara regarding killing, which is our profession. I kill because it is a part of my job. Even as a secretary, I am still a privateer with 3 years of active combat experience. However, the other me is merely a university undergraduate – a normal civilian with no prior military training. Yet, she can somehow kill with such ruthless efficiency that surpass any professional soldiers. This is beyond Human and there is definitely something very wrong with her."

"Don't worry, I can fix her."

"Umm... You are not concrened? She can be unhinged with violent tendencies-"

"Men enjoy mentally unstable women more, study says.", engineer Alex firmly explained.

The Countess was about to disagree but suddenly realised that she was being a hypocrite. Archaeologist Lara may be subconsciously a spree killer but at least she killed for having no other choice. She was on her journey to film a documentary, never expecting to be hunted by Solarii cultists. On the contrary, Countess Lara killed because she freely chose to do so. She volunteered to become a morally grey privateer instead of living a peaceful life. She was thrilled by dangerous adventures and exotic riches in the dark corners of the Earth. She also witnessed numerous atrocities committed by her fellow crew of Endurance but did nothing to stop them. The Countess might not be as brutal in combat but her motives were actually less justifiable than her alternate self. In a certain way, they were just as violent. Perhaps engineer Alex was right, men did enjoy mentally unstable women more and that was why Alferes Alexander was so attracted to her.

"Hey, Lara? Are you ok?", engineer Alex asked as he was worried by Lara's sudden dead silence.

"Oh yea, I am fine.", she quickly pointed at a corpse which had its right eye socket penetrated by an arrow, "It just reminds me of those Trained Bands back home."

"Trained Bands?"

"Yea, part-time militia companies. Some poorest lads actually still use crappy Medieval longbows while the rest are raising hell with calivers and muskets."

"Aren't longbows supposed to have a high rate of fire and armour piercing capability?"

"Definitely not. Longbows are clunky to carry, tiresome to use and the arrows are heavy. They can easily penetrate chainmail and jack of plate but are completely useless against plate armour.", Lara points at her Sacra Umbra, "Meanwhile, a full rifle can always punch a hole."

Engineer Alex nodded in agreement and started to loot the Solarii cultists' corpses under Lara's resourceful instruction. He eventually scavenged a ragged but functional Type 100 Submachine Gun with 10 rounds remaining, 3 full 30-round detachable curved box magazines, a Type 30 bayonet and a pair of officer binoculars. Lara was fascinated by th equipment and how engineer Alex operated the complex looking gun with professional efficiency despite claiming to have no prior experience. He explained that he was just mimicking the "reload animation" from one of his all time favourite video games "Call of Duty: World at War". Lara had no idea what he was talking about but decided to stay quiet. Engineer Alex's voice was already hoarse from constantly answering her trivial questions and definitely needed some rest.

The duo eventually reached the top balcony of the Cliffside Bunker, facing directly at the wreckage of research vessel Endurance under the beautiful sunset. Lara was astonished by its sheer size and futuristic design. It was tall and completely made of metal. It was very simplistic and lacked artistic decoration except the white and blue paint. Lara suddenly realised something, "Wait… Alex, if the other me massacred all the bunker's cultists, then she is likely inside the Endurance already and is now collecting the tools."

"Crap… Guess we spend too much time chatting."

"I am sorry, Alex. If there is anything that I can repay-"

"It is fine, Lara.", engineer Alex abruptly interrupted and he was definitely not fine. He looked defeated and forced a smile on his face, "Let's see if there is any pathway to the ship. We can rendezvous with her, as well as salvage more resources."

With that said, he took out his newly obtained officer binoculars and observed the surroundings of the research vessel Endurance's wreckage. Lara felt extremely bad for engineer Alex. It was her unforeseen arrival and constant question that completely disrupted his courting plan. Lara tried to apologise again but engineer Alex suddenly shouted aloud, "HOLY SHIT!"

"What happened?"

"It's Lara on the ship! She is fighting multiple cultists! We need to help her, NOW!", engineer Alex exclaimed and instinctively rushed to the dead end of the cliff, "Shit! Shit! Shit! How do I get on the ship?!"

"I have a suggestion but you may not like it.", Lara pointed at the zip line cable which attracted both the shipwreck and the cliff's abandoned iron tower frame, "You can grab a bar as a handle and slide to the ship."

"What about you?", engineer Alex asked as he picked up a rusted iron bar on the floor.

Lara effortlessly jumped on the zip line cable, with her untouchable feet "contacting" the surface like a ballet dancer. She assured him with an energetic smile, "I am a quasi-spirit, don't worry about me."

Engineer Alex looked at Lara, then the distant shipwreck and finally the iron bar on his hands. He paused for a felt seconds and uttering, "Fuck it, we ball!"

He jumped up on the zip line and used the rusted iron bar as a handle to slide to the prow of Endurance in high speed, with Lara running on the cable top over him with matching speed.

Engineer Alex tried his best not to scream but failed miserably. As they reached closer, Lara saw that her alternate self had already killed 2 cultists with a strange longbow (Compound Bow) and arrows. She was currently in fierce combat against a towering and bearded giant with makeshift plate armour.

Unfortunately, she had no time to observe the combat as Alex was going to slide directly into the metal pole. She warned aloud, "Let loose! Brace for impact!"

Engineer Alex immediately followed her instruction and fell on the closet wooden crate. Lara immediately jumped next to him, "Are you ok, lad?"

"Yea… I will live.", he grunted in pain, "At least no bone fractures…"

Lara instinctively wanted to help engineer Alex up, only to have her hand directly pass through him.

"Still, thanks either way.", he reassured Lara and slowly got himself up, "How is the other you doing?"

The duo turned their heads to search for archaeologist Lara, only to see her being punched in the chest by the bearded giant. She was knocked out cold instantly and fell all fours on the metal ground back-head first flatly.

"You little rat… You're the bitch who killed Vladimir!", the giant roared as he straddled on the unconscious archaeologist Lara and started to unbuckle his pants, "I am going to avenge him and teach you little whore a lesson!"

"Shit! He is going to rape him!", engineer Alex was absolutely horrified. He unsigned his Type 100 Submachine Gun, aimed at the giant and was about to shoot.

"No! Can't risk friendly fire! I will distract him and you shoot by my signal.", Lara jumped down from the wooden crate and gave engineer Alex no chance to object. She rushed 4 meters behind the giant and furiously shouted, "Hoi! Dickhead! Leave the lass alone! Your fight is with me!"

The perverted giant immediately halted his hands from tearing the unconscious archaeologist Lara's scandalous upper clothing (tank top), leaving her surprisingly unharmed. He re-buckled his pants, stood up, turned around and fixed his predatory gaze upon Lara, "Ah! Another little rat-"

He then abruptly paused in confusion and switched his rape target between archaeologist Lara and Countess Lara. He licked his lips like a feral dog and grinned evilly, "So you are trying to save your twin sister? Surrender yourself and I promise I won't kill her."

"Fine, I surrender.", Lara answered calmly. She unbuckled her untouchable weapon belt and slowly put it on the floor, then kicked it away sideways.

The giant was so sexually aroused that he did not notice Countess Lara had no shadow under the setting sun or that her weapons had no weight at all. He simply laughed like a depraved predator, "Aren't you a smart one? Your sister should learn more from you and everything will be easier. Now, turn around."

Countess Lara did so and put her hands up. With her peripheral vision, she saw that the giant slowly approached behind her and raised his fist, "Sweet dreams, my new toy."

The iron fist struck down and it directly passed through Countess Lara's head. The perverted giant jaw dropped and punched her again and again, only to have them all passing through Lara's body like thin air. She casually turned around and taunted him with a bored expression, "Are you done?"

"What are you?! Why can't you die?!"

"Sweet dreams, dickhead.", Lara answered with a murderous cold tone and a death glare. Her hands up gesture suddenly turned into a cutthroat. Before the giant could even respond, a storm of 822mm Nambu bullets erupted and penetrated the left skull of the giant. Blood shattered all over the place like an exploding watermelon and his towering body collapsed on all fours on the ground like the trash that he always was.

Countess Lara grinned with satisfaction as she protected the chastity of her alternate self. Her only regret was being unable to kill him personally due to the lack of a physical body. It would be a great pleasure to decapitate the dickhead and display his head from the highest spike on the Endurance. She was also greatly impressed by the shooting capability of Type 100 submachine gun and instantly understood that fully automatic firearms were the game changers for the future battlefield. Continuous suppressive fire and swift box magazine reload just rendered any mass infantry formation and munition armor useless. The Countess decided to ask engineer Alex about these advanced weapon mechanisms later. If she could bring these concepts back home, she might spark off a "firearm revolution".

Countess Lara then retrieved her quasi-spiritual weapon belt and reattached it to her waist. Meanwhile, engineer Alex jumped down from the elevated wooden crate and asked concernedly, "That was quite a stunt! Are you all right?"

"Better than ever, lad! Excellent shooting by the way.", the Countess gave him a big thumbs up and continued, "Let's go check the other me."

Engineer Alex nodded and rushed over to archaeologist Lara. He knelt down and carefully checked on her, "Thank God! She still has pulses, just unconscious. I don't see any signs of violation or severe injuries, except abrasions… and torn clothes…"

Countess Lara detailedly observed her alternate self and the whole experience was beyond uncanny. They were the exact duplicate of each other; sharing the same face, hairstyle, height, body frame and jade dragon necklace. They even share the same left kidney and calf wound positions. The two Laras could only be distinguished by their costumes, accessories and equipment:

Countess Lara was still armoured with Sacra Umbra and a black morion. She wore a carmine linen shirt with loose sleeves underneath, a pair of leather gloves, tight khaki breeches and dark brown knee-high leather cavalier boots. Her brown ponytail was tied with a huge silver-grey bow scrunchie. The Countess was fully equipped with a rapier on her left waist, a parrying dagger on the right, dual wheellock pistols in her twin-thigh holsters, ammunition waist-pouches at both front and back.

On the contrary, archaeologist Lara was just… weird. According to engineer Alex, her alternate self's inner layer was a "sports camisole" and the outer layer is a "tank top". Such trending fashion was called "layered shirts" and was very popular among teenage girls. Countess Lara did not know how to comment as such revealing clothing style was absolutely horrendous. How could a lady show so much skin around? Not even the cheapest East London whores would clad in such a scandalous way. The Countess just could not imagine the social moral degeneracy of this future timeline when dressing like a slut was somehow a social trend. She felt the obligation to lecture her alternate self about basic dressing code later.

For archaeologist Lara's remaining costume, she wore tight khaki pants and brown leather boots. Her ponytail was tied with a brown hair tie. 2 silver earrings were attached to her right ear and 1 on the left. Such an asymmetrical aesthetic greatly confused the Countess for it looked untidy but also re-inspired her interest in earrings. Perhaps she could ask her dear fiancé Alexander to buy her a pair as a dating gift when they returned to Portuguese Nagasaki. Furthermore, archaeologist Lara was equipped with a climbing axe on her left waist, ammunition waist-pouches, a walkie-talkie, a futuristic pistol (Remington Model 1911 R1 Enhanced) in her right thigh holsters, a back quiver with arrows and a strange longbow (Compound Bow).

Normally, the Countess would simply dismiss the idea of using bows and arrows in combat because it was incredibly obsolete even by late 16th Century Western European standards. However, her alternate self was not on a military expedition. She was stranded on a remote supernatural island without any logistical support and had to scavenge whatever she could find to survive. Using a bow was thus pragmatic since arrows could be retrieved to preserve ammunition. The quiet sound of arrow shots was also suitable for guerilla and infiltration tactics. Furthermore, the strange longbow (Compound Bow) looked really awesome and futuristic.

Alex then looted the cultists' corpses and scavenged a "rope ascender" from the giant creep's waist. He used it to pull a hanging crate and dropped it on the weakened deck, making a way to the cabins. Alex lifted archaeologist Lara up in a fireman's carry position, found her cabin and gently placed her on the lower bunk. The room was shared between archaeologist Lara and filmographer Samantha but was in complete disarray due to the shipwreck disaster. He quickly found a medical kit in a locker and applied emergency first aid on the still unconscious archaeologist Lara. Meanwhile, the Countess just silently stood at the door to provide overwatch in case any Solarii cultists appeared.

"YES! All done!", the Countess turned around and saw her alternate self being all patched up in the exact same way when she woke up and looked into the mirror of Padre Sebastião's minka months ago. Archaeologist Lara's lower left cheek was patched with cotton gauze. Her left forearm, upper right arm, ribs, left kidney and left calf were now heavily bandaged.

"She will re-awake soon. I am going to retrieve the boat fixing tools to save us some time. The longer we linger on the ship, the more likely the cultist will spot us. Would you like to help me look after yourself while I am gone?"

"What an oxymoron.", the Countess chuckled, "Ya got it, lad."

With that said, engineer Alex quickly left the cabin for his mission. Countess Lara finally took off her untouchable black morion and placed it on a table. She looked around and saw a piece of filmographer Samantha's diary note on the floor. Since her quasi-spiritual body could not pick up the paper, the Countess gently knelt down to read it,

"I suppose on some level I have Lara to thank for this job. She's always believed in me. The academics at college dismissed filmmaking as nonsense. They just saw me as this ditsy American troublemaker with a camera.

But you know what? Most people can use a little trouble in their lives. And deep down, I know Lara wanted to just cut loose sometimes. She just needed a little help unlocking her inner party girl.

We had so many awesome adventures together. That insane backpacking trip through Bulgaria, I was always dragging her out to clubs. And the hiking trip on the south face of Kilimanjaro; all Lara wanted to do was explore ruins, but who knew we'd run into so many cute guys? Certainly not Lara, haha!

I have a feeling this expedition is going to be one for the books. Lara with her notebook, me with my camera... another crazy adventure!"

The simple and joyful diary note gave a huge smile to the Countess. It was just so wholesome to know that her friendship with Samantha still continued in an alternate universe and selves. However, there seemed to be significant differences between filmographer Samantha and onna-musha Samantha despite both having sassy demeanors. The former was a thrill-seeking artist and a proactive socialiser. In contrast, the latter was a pious warrior and a hardcore firearm enthusiast.

As for the journey of archaeologist Lara and filmographer Samantha, the Countess had no idea where the so-called Mount Kilimanjaro was but she could imagine it was some kind of remote region in Africa. The Countess was also surprised that the alternate duo travelled to Bulgaria. In her reality, the nation was ironically a connotation of sorrow and horror as it was the brutal slaughterhouse of her French maternal ancestors. Several prestigious nobles of the De Mornay family participated in the disastrous 1396 Crusade of Nicopolis and 1444 Crusade of Varna against the vile Ottoman Turks. They were either killed in action or executed by dismemberment after capture. The family was utterly devastated by the news and blamed the Roman Papacy for their tragic death. When the Huguenots infiltrated the Catholic dominated Picardy, they exploited the familial grudge and easily corrupted the entire De Mornay family. With Countess Lara's newfound zeal, the regional name "Bulgaria" further signified her maternal family's lack of faith as it was the place where the seeds of heresy were sown.

The self-evaluation was abruptly cut short by a soft moan of discomfort from the lower bunk. Archaeologist Lara slowly awoke and sat up but was instantly greeted by her very own face, "Hello myself, you're finally awake. I mean you no harm-"

Archaeologist Lara was immediately freaked out by the uncanny encounter and pushed herself back against the walled corner. She pointed at the Countess in confusion and exclaimed in fear, "Who- Who are you… Me?"

"YES. I am your spirit from a mismatched timeline.", the Countess answered gracefully and found her alternate self's Modern Surrey accent English very pleasant to listen to. She then performed an elegant curtsy to the even more confused archaeologist and patiently continued, "Please make yourself comfortable because it's gonna take a while to explain…"