Death Raids A Heart

Pt. IV

While Roth provided her cover fire, Lara climbed across the bridge until her cover was blown after nearly falling to her death. With bullets raining down on her, Lara sprinted across rooftops before using her axe to climb up a wall through a cave until she could hear Mathias preaching to his followers - those who believed in him or those who only followed him to survive.

"My brothers, listen to me now: out in the world, we were nothing. But here... here, we are the Solarii, the Sun Queen's children. She brought us here for a reason. I know you want your freedom. I know you want to escape this place. But to do so, we must release our Queen. Like us, she is a prisoner. If we can free her, we free ourselves! This girl, she carries the blood of this land. She could be the key. The Ritual of Flames will show us the truth! Himiko, you are the first and the last. Speak to us now!" Mathias raised his voice in proclamation.

In an attempt to kill Mathias then and there, Lara shot the man holding the torch before failing to hit Mathias himself, only to get captured as she felt scared having to watch her best friend die as a sacrifice. A strong breeze snuffed out the fire, sparing Sam but also left Lara captured. Fortunately, her escape restored her the element of surprise as she dove into a pool of blood. Working her way through the caves, Lara found herself in a pit of sorts. Bodies littered and survivors who'd gone insane didn't worry her of the danger they posed.

Three guards entered the room Lara was in. Silently, she disposed of them separately before moving on through the catacombs. Relief filled her upon the reunion with her friends. After freeing them, Lara the chaos she caused sent the entire palace into madness. The discovery of Himiko's tomb made her wonder why Mathias was so intrigued by it. Her confidence in saving Samantha was high, but only there did she realise the trap she put herself in in saving her. With a turret being fired at her, Lara scrambled to take out the gunner, only his size and stature caused her to lose her upper hand as he pointed a gun down at her.

"I'm going to kill you, child." The man taunted as his finger itched on the trigger.

"HEY! Pick on someone your own size, asshole!" A voice barked at the man, distracting him from Lara to the man charging towards him.

"David!" Lara exclaimed in relief as she watched them fight.

Tackling the man, they both rolled off the floor down to her level where this time David with-held his upper hand and beat the man to death before turning his attention to Lara. Both arrived into a tight hug, this time Lara was most relieved to see him back in her care as they both fought their way through the savages pursing Samantha. At a tower, one man manned a light while another manned a turret that they combined to blur their vision. David drew the attention of the man on the turret so Lara could climb up to get close to both men before she surprised them with the grenade launcher she brought.

As the two ran across a bridge, the palace rose up in flames as men pursued both Lara and David when parts of the bridge got bombarded by cannons. Fighting their way through burning buildings, the duo arrived on the roof of a building before Lara attempted to contact Roth. Fortunately, the helicopter saved them both, only for the storm to worsen, causing the helicopter to crash-land. Pinned under metal, Roth struggled to free himself whereas David was the only other person conscious of what happened as the two men struggled to find themselves.

"Lara? Lara!" Roth yelled.

Noticing the still woman lying with her back to Roth, David got up and checked on her by rolling her onto her back and performed CPR in an attempt to revive her. Comfort was brought to them when Lara awoke, wheezing an inhale following a cough as David dragged her away from the helicopter which exploded, knocking the two back as Roth did fine escaping on his own. Lara coughed as if smoke were in her lungs, ambushers coming to kill them. Drawing his dual pistols, Roth fired at the men while David dragged Lara for cover. A man with a tomahawk lunged his weapon at Lara, David bravely shielding his body with hers when Roth threw himself in the line of fire.