For I have granted you the wisdom of the Olden Ones. Use it in the toughest of your battles.

I awoke to my father's voice echoing in the depths of my mind. I could clearly feel his presence and his energy flowing through me.

Ever since his murder, the remnants of his vital energy had been following me in my quest of vengeance, like a guardian angel. Occasionally, he would communicate with me.

I got a hold on to his diary and quickly scribbled the words onto an empty page, wondering about the meaning behind them. The Olden Ones were a select few of the Lux Veritatis that were able to leave some of their vital energy behind after death. "The toughest of your battles" however… I wasn't as sure about what that meant. Was he referring to a potential battle with Karel?

I lost my train of thought to the sound of floorboards creaking. Lara's familiar voice followed right after. "You're up already?"

I let out a light chuckle. "The Legion really did do a number on my sleep schedule." I briefly paused. "Let's not hang around for too long. We don't know how much time we'll spend in the facility."

A strange sense of uneasiness surrounded me as we stood outside of the Strahov.

Since infancy, I had been hearing stories about this place; those that would put any horror novelist to shame. I also had been a close follower of its history.

This mind bogglingly massive facility was built under Eckhardt's order to serve as the Cabal's headquarters, and his personal playground. Most of the time his playthings were, as you may have guessed, randoms. Just people that happen to be unlucky enough to cross his dirty, blood stained path.

Unlike the Monstrum killings, he didn't instantly end their lives and got on with it. Instead, he ran a number of experiments on these people, turning them into mindless beasts.

As horrific the murders were, the former outcome was a lot more merciful for these souls. Yet it was clear as day Eckhardt was the farthest man from mercy. All he seeked was destruction and agony.

I couldn't even begin to fathom the pain he put my father and the rest of the Lux Veritatis through before their inevitable end.

My thoughts cleared as we began marching further.

We stood before the main door; the one the Cabal members once used. The card reader's light was dead.

"The door's not locked. We can get in this way." she mumbled.

I stepped forward, placing both hands on the steel door and shifting my gaze at Lara. "Help me with this." I called out, swooning my head to the side. She stopped alongside me without a word. We then both pushed with all our power. The door opened just enough to let us through.

I gestured to the now open door while I caught my breath. "Ladies first."

"I'm flattered." she said with an unimpressed voice, eyes narrowing as she walked past me. The disgustingly dry air inside crashed against me just while I began to follow her with reluctant footsteps.

The place, which was bustling with guards and other ill-tempered men during my first entry, was now completely obsolete. All of the security equipment seemed lifeless.

And I knew damn well what that meant.

"Ah, shit… Not this again…" I mumbled, letting out a sharp exhale. I turned to Lara. "The power must be down. We should head to the Sanitarium first." I said with a low voice.

The initial section was quite simple to get through, with nothing to block our way.

Then, we got to that part of our venture.

Dread filled me to the brim as we headed to the elevator shaft leading to the Sanitarium.

I would forget my own name, before I could forget this hellish spot.

But if you were to ask me what the most memorable bit of this place was for me, I'd say the stench. The smell of mold radiating from the walls, mixed with the unsightly aroma of rotting flesh, burned the inside of my nostrils with every breath I drew, like a silent torture.

I would rather spend a decade in the Legion, than come back here.

But we had no choice; no power meant no potential information. I let out a sharp exhale as I began walking down the hall to get to the elevator shaft.

I shot Lara a quick glance. "I'll take the lead from here." I said, my eyes narrowing. She nodded in agreement.

The loud breathing and efforting of the inmates echoed in the distance, twisting the knot in my stomach further. I could see their slouched silhouettes lurking in the dimly lit ward. Their feet dragged along the grime-caked floor, creating a disgusting cacophony.

Two of them stood in the main hallway. We exchanged a glance. Lara swooned her head in their direction and raised her brows. I slightly nodded.

"And… now." she mouthed.

I grabbed one by the shoulder, careless of its enraged hissing. I reached for the Chirugai and held it tight. The disk's blades shot out, their metallic pinging ripping through the air. I then jabbed the blade into the creature's neck, tar-like blood gushing out of the open cut. It let out a screech and attempted to break free from me, its arms flailing wildly. It finally went limp and fell to the floor. I removed the Chirugai and swiftly wiped the weapon clean. A gunshot blasted beside me; one that would definitely make my ears horrendously ring if I wasn't accustomed to it. I turned my head to look in its direction. Another lifeless inmate fell to my feet, bleeding profusely from the head.

"Way to save bullets…" Lara mumbled, scanning the motionless being I had slain. "Let's keep moving. I don't want to stick around here any longer." Her nose scrunched. "Lately I've seen enough nasty things to last me a lifetime anyway."

"Consider yourself lucky." I teased, the corners of my lips curling into a slight smile. "Imagine having to come here for a second time, just cause some lady couldn't be bothered with taking a longer route around."

She shot me an infuriated glare. "I'm not just 'some lady', am I?"

"Right…" I said under my breath. "You're not, and you know it."

"That's better…" she scoffed.

We continued walking, our steps steady.

After a seemingly endless maze of suffocating hallways and lots of vent dwelling, we managed to get to the breaker.

My gaze fell on the Proto Nephilim's rotting corpse. "Bastard…" I said under my breath.

Lara drew closer and looked over my shoulder. "Is that what our friend Eckhardt was all fussy about?"

"Indeed it is." I said. Boaz's horrified screams as the pod devoured her rang in my mind. Other visuals followed soon after.

I had just made my way to the Biodome when I had heard the commotion coming from the catwalks up top. Ever increasing footsteps. Rising voices. I had swiftly hid behind a set of railings near me to listen in. Boaz's booming, yet unsure blabbering rang louder than everybody else.

"I have a confession, Meister Eckhardt. I didn't destroy the Proto Nephilim."

A dreadful pause. My heart had began thumping in my chest as questions began popping up in my head endlessly. What was this so-called "Proto" thing supposed to be? Why had Eckhardt ordered to kill it?

More arguing I couldn't hear clearly arose in between the Cabal members. In a minute, something was happening; something so violently exposed.

The scientist's desperate screeches were ripping through the air.

"No! Please! Meister Eckhardt!"

Lara's voice brought me back to the present. "So, here we are."

I made my way to the breaker and with great effort, pulled it down. In a matter of seconds, a low hum signalled the Strahov coming alive.

As we made our way to the exit, a narrow hallway in the wards caught my attention; one I must have missed while exploring. No light reached it, making it impossible to see what hid at the other end.

A pair of yellowish shimmers appeared in the hall. My stare was locked to the darkness that laid before us just while I raised the Boran.

Then another appeared.

Then another.

Like stars in the night sky, they pierced through the black, more materializing every passing second. My heart felt like it was going to jump right out of my chest.

I turned to Lara and held out a hand in front of her, with my palm hovering near her chest. We started inching further and further back as growls echoed from the distance.

And a second later, the horde of inmates struck.

We turned and flew. I was diverting all my power to my legs. The Chirugai unhooked itself from my belt, the blades unwinding. Lara managed to shoot down a couple.

"There's too many! We can't kill them all!" I shouted.

I then noticed something. We had just gone through a door frame.

I stuck my hand out and pointed my palm at the steel door. I focused and let the energy flow through my chest, my arm, and finally, out my hand. The door swung shut with a thunderous bang just when the inmates got to it. The horde crashed into it at full speed. I could hear them panting and scraping wildly, but their efforts were to no avail.

I came to a stop and hunched over, trying to catch my breath. Lactic burns shot from my legs and spread to my torso. I raised my head and looked around.

Lara had vanished.

My anxiety rose with every passing second, my breathing quickening.

Will you let her end up the way she did?

I felt my usually calm demeanor rapidly slip from me. For a moment, I felt like I had become someone else. I tried to silence my thoughts to think clearer, but I was drowning in them. The world started spinning soon after.

Just a few seconds. Just a simple distraction. That's all it took.

My eye finally fell on her familiar figure, shrouded in the darkness.

I bolted to her direction, trying to make sense of what had happened to me just a moment ago.

Anger rose within me. How could I let something so laughably insignificant wreck me like this? Especially when I had spent my entire life training myself to have the calmness of a monk, no matter what I would face?

"There you are…" she teased.

I shot her a glance. "Just… Never do that again."

"Do what?" She arched a brow.

"Vanish unannounced." I mumbled through my sharp breaths. "You never know what's out there."

Her brows furrowed. She jabbed a finger into the center of my chest.

"Calm down, jumpy." She pointed at her holsters. "I can fend myself just fine."

Lara then met my gaze. "Y'know, if it wasn't for you, we'd still be running."

I managed to flash a half smile. "Are you impressed?"

"Oh, shut up." A soft laughter escaped her; a kind so melodic it would bring the toughest of men down to his knees.

A kind, painfully familiar to me.

Our next stop was the meeting room.

Pretty much all the space inside was taken up by the circular table right at the center. Seats surrounded it, the spaces between them perfectly even. A small desk was tucked at one of the corners, with a computer on top. A massive map of Anatolia adorned one of the walls. A circle marked a spot near central Turkey.

"This must be where they found the Sleeper…" Lara mumbled.

I drew closer to the table. Something caught my eye.

A newspaper. My eyes widened upon reading the date.

"This is yesterday's issue…" I murmured. "The Strahov is supposed to be abandoned. Why is this here, then?"

Lara leaned in and looked over my shoulder. "Somebody must have put it there."

"Somebody who wants us to find it." I mumbled. "Somebody who knew we would be coming here."

A headline caught my attention.

"She is not The Monstrum…" I read it out loud. "Is this about you?"

…The suspect, who was previously identified as world renowned British archaeologist Lara Amelia Croft by the French police, had been sighted leaving one of the crime scenes after reports of gunshots from a Parisian apartment. In the last two weeks, at least five eyewitnesses were said to have visited local police stations and reported to the officials what they saw that night. "I had seen a strange looking man leave the apartment before she did." one eyewitness stated. "She was obviously scared for her life. I just can't see how anybody would mistake her for The Monstrum." the other claimed, according to the federal sources.

The French police have released a statement, saying that Croft most likely did not commit the murders, according to the newly found evidence. The identity of the man that left the crime scene remains unknown. The deputies also warned Parisians to pay close attention to any anomaly around them.

"This wave of the killings is seemingly over, as there hasn't been a new murder in nearly three weeks." reported the chief detective of the investigation. "We still advise the general public to be cautious, and to report anything unusual. We are looking into finding the man seen by the bystanders, with great care."

"...Bystanders?" Lara said with a barely audible voice. "There was no one there that night."

My brows furrowed. "...Are you sure?"

"I am." she said, her voice growing louder. "There was no one there. I know what I saw."

"Then how is this possible, Lara?" I asked, pointing at the paper.

Realization struck me soon after.

"I can't believe this shit…" I muttered. "Karel covered it up for you…"

Lara arched a brow. "What do you mean?"

"He went to the police station in different forms and told them he saw you. But why?" I said.

As the tension in the air rose every passing second, and questions outweighed the answers inside my head, I knew I was heading towards a battle that would take the most out of me.

Chapter End Notes: Feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!