Prologue

The year is 1945. Just outside of Los Alamos, New Mexico, an unsuspecting rattlesnake slithered its way towards a nearby boulder when suddenly, a giant flash of white light was seen out in the desert, followed by a large shockwave and thunderous boom that rocked the atmosphere for miles. It was a nuclear bomb, one of many explosions that had been scheduled for testing by the local military. As the mushroom cloud rose higher into the air, a large circular metallic object with strange markings on it fell out of the sky, landing just a thousand yards away from the explosion.

Meanwhile, inside the large crater, where the radiation levels were deadly, another circular object started to spark under unknown circumstances. Then, it raised itself above the crater floor, revealing a large cylindrical formation of crystalline ice, in which was a strange figure that was trapped inside. Slowly but surely, the ice started to melt and the figure was able to free itself at last. When the local authorities tried to recover the strange objects, there was not trace of anything unusual to report. As a result, all seemed to be forgotten and no one spoke of it again.

Calcutta, India. 1996

Inside the large, spacious and luxurious lobby of the Calcutta International Hotel, there were many people wandering in and out and around the room talking to each other and greeting one another in a busy manner, just like the millions of others in the large city. In the middle of the room next to small table with a beautiful lamp, there was but a solitary lounge chair covered with expensive Indian red silk where a woman sat by herself reading the November issue of National Geographic. She was slim-built and had brown eyes and brown hair that she fixed into a French braid. She was wearing brown khaki shorts and a light blue shirt. That woman was none other than Lara Croft, the world-renowned British archeologist and adventurer. As she examined the magazine in front of her, Lara saw the title and could not help but laugh: Lara Croft: Aristocratic Adventurer or Tomb Thief?

As the daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, Lara was raised to be an aristocrat from birth. After attending finishing school at the age of twenty-one, her marriage into wealth seemed assured, but on her way home from a skiing trip, her chartered plane had crashed deep in the heart of the Himalayas. The only survivor, Lara learned how to depend on her wits to stay alive in hostile conditions a world away from her sheltered upbringing. After two weeks of travelling through harsh and snowy terrain, she walked into the village of Tokakeriby. By then, her experiences had a profound effect on her. Unable to stand the claustrophobic and suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, Lara realized that she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone. Over the eight following years she acquired an intimate knowledge of ancient civilizations across the globe and it was then that Lara's family soon disowned her. Lara had since turned to writing to fund her trips. Famed for discovering several ancient sites of profound archeological interest, Lara made a name for herself by publishing travel books and detailed journals of her exploits. Recently, Lara returned to the Himalayas on a hunting trip when she became the first person to shoot and kill a live yeti. The world media was quick to spread Lara's story to the world public, so it ended up as a secondary story headline on this month's issue of National Geographic with the title, Yeti: Myth No More!.

As Lara sits quietly reading the magazine, she noticed a man walking up to the small table in front of her. He had dirty blonde hair and was wearing a red shirt, a brown vest, blue, and brown boots. Lara looked up and saw Larson Conway, one of her most bitter enemies. He was a former Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, having served several years in Special Operations. His career as a Marine ended abruptly when he was dishonourably discharged after he had a violent disagreement with a commanding officer, the details of which were never made public. After serving time in a military prison, Larson used his military experience to good effect, serving as a freelance Private Military Contractor and gaining a favourable reputation across the globe. In 1995, Larson met up with Pierre Du Pont, another archaeologist, and eventually met Lara in Rome after their searches for the famed Philosopher's Stone intervened with each other. Lara emerged victorious after being chased around the city by both Pierre and Larson and fighting strange mythological creatures in previously unknown underground caverns underneath the Roman Coliseum, all of which got international attention.

Lara glared at Larson with renewed anger.

"Oh, it's you." she said bitterly to him. Larson ignored her crudeness and threw another magazine on the table on it read the headline, LARA CROFT STAMPS OUT BIGFOOT!.

"What's a man gotta do to get that kind of attention from ya?" Larson asked intently. Lara looked up at him again.

"It's hard to say exactly, but you seem to be doing fine." she said.

"Well, great." Larson said, pulling out a mini laptop from his vest. "Though the truth is it ain't me that wants you."

"Oh?" Lara said, puzzled looking at the small computer.

"No, Miss Jacqueline Natla does, from Natla Technologies." Larson said opening and booting the computer. The screen then displayed an image of a blonde-haired woman in a business suit sitting at a large desk, Natla herself. "You know, creator of all things bright and beautiful."

Larson broke out laughing, which irritated Natla on the other end of the connection.

"Seal it, Larson!" she shouted. Larson immediately stood back and calmed himself down to avoid any further consequences. Natla then turned towards Lara, who was still puzzled by Larson's seemingly random offer.

"Feast your eyes on this Lara." she said, throwing huge stacks of money into the air and making them float to the ground. "How does that make your wallet rumble?"

Lara immediately understood Natla's intentions. She was asking the archaeologist to find something of rarity and value in some unknown distant land. Lara dropped her magazine on the floor and stood up.

"I'm sorry, I only play for sport." Lara said. "I think you've been mislead on what motivates me to find valuable and precious artefacts. I don't do these kinds of things for money."

"Well, then you'll like a big park." Natla said. "In this case, it would be Peru."

"Huh?"

Lara watched as the screen changed from webcam to a mini slide show of the snowy Andes Mountains.

"Vast mountain ranges to cover, shear walls of ice." Natla said through the computer speaker. "Rocky crags, savage winds, and then there's this little trinket…"

The screen changed again, this time it was black and displayed a computer 3-D model of a mysterious and circular object. It had three smaller circular objects along the outer edge; all were equidistant from one another.

"This here is a computer model of a legendary and agled artifact of mystical powers buried in the unfound Tomb of Qualopec." Natla said. "That's my interest…"

"I think I've heard of this before." Lara said. "Wasn't Qualopec one of the legendary rulers of the lost continent of Atlantis?"

"You would be right." Natla said.

"So, you managed to find the City of Vilcabamba?" Lara asked. "That's impressive!"

"Indeed it is." Natla said. "All I want you to do is find this artifact, the Scion, as it's called in the legends, and in return I will gladly fund any future trips you might be thinking of going on."

"If you insist," Lara said, "but I can easily fund my own trips with my writing skills. You don't have to go out of your way to pay me a load sum of cash."

"Just think of it as a reward for everything that you've accomplished in the last few years." Natla said. "Is that a deal?"

"I guess." Lara said.

"Good." Natla said. "If you wish, you could leave tomorrow. Are you busy tomorrow?"

"Well, I still have to get back to England and suit myself up. I'm still on vacation." Lara said. "But yes, I can leave tomorrow."

"Great! I'll be looking forward to seeing you sometime then." Natla said. "Good luck!"

"Thanks." Lara Croft said as the computer screen went blank. Larson closed the computer and picked it up.

"I never thought you'd accept the offer!" Larson said. "You must be feeling really bad about happened in Rome last year."

"Don't get any funny ideas." Lara said. "This better not be a hoax!"

"Lara, you can trust me! Natla is not the one for lying to people like you!" Larson pleaded.

"If you say so…" Lara said as she walked towards the staircase up to her hotel room. Larson watched as she closed the behind her. The bait has been set…

Ah! There's nothing quite like a trip down memory lane! Here is where Lara's adventure starts to unfold...

Lara's biography was actually the biography featured inside the game booklet for the first Tomb Raider and Larson Conway's biography was from Tomb Raider Anniversary. However, this story is mainly inspired (if not fully inspired!) from the very first Tomb Raider game. The beginning dialogue between Lara and Larson is very much the same, except for the fact I did add some additional dialogue to enhance it.

Next stop, Croft Manor! :)

saturn95