Tomb Raider: The Golden Seal

Chapter 9: The Manuscript

(...)

Vladimir Ivanoff smiled hopefully when he heard the police's sirens. "They have come to rescue me! Heeeey! Help! Here I am!"

But then the closet door burst into pieces inexplicably, and who appeared in front of him was not a policeman.

"No!" He yelled, terrified, as he shielded himself with his arms, "Noooo! Not you again!"

"Yeah, me again." Kurtis said and pulled him out. "You better start walking and keep your mouth shut, since nobody's coming to help you."

(...)

Ivanoff's apartment was a mess. Dusty bookcases, tables, and books lay forgotten since he'd spent most of his time at the castle. Forced at gunpoint, the professor led Lara and Kurtis there, and now they sat on comfortable couches, while their victim stared frightened at his kidnappers.

"What are you going to do with me?" Ivanoff stammered. He was already convinced that they were a pair of savages. Their current appearance didn't help improve his opinion: Kurtis was smeared with mud and Lara still had speckles of a stranger's blood on her face.

"We don't want to hurt you." Lara said. "We're just searching for information which you surely have."

"You expect me to help you?" He said. "You set fire to my castle and locked me up like a dog! You and that...that..." He said, pointing at Kurtis with a trembling finger, "that freak, who somehow reduced a door to splinters?"

"Well he's obviously not too afraid to speak." Kurtis said.

The professor shrank. Lara looked at Kurtis and thought Ivanoff was right. Kurtis was not an ordinary man. And it was too little what she knew about him.

"We didn't set fire to the castle." Lara continued. "Those were Marten Gunderson's mercenaries, the right hand to our rival, Joachim Karel."

"And you couldn't find another location for your skirmishes, could you?" The professor whimpered. "My beautiful castle!"

Lara looked at Kurtis again as she said to him: "We need him to trust us. Tell him everything."

"Can't wait." He agreed.

"Tell me what?"

Lara leaned towards Ivanoff and fixed her brown eyes on him. "After listening to this, you won't feel the same again."

(...)

Ivanoff couldn't believe his ears. It couldn't be real; they had to be kidding. "But..." he stammered, "but it is known that both Nephilim and Lux Veritatis are only a legend! They're not real. You're making fun of me, or those Karel and Eckhardt are doing so with you."

Kurtis breathed heavily, but Lara intervened before he exploded: "We're not joking, Ivanoff. Too many innocent people have died in a horrible way because of that legend, among them his father," she said pointing at Kurtis, "and my mentor, Professor Werner Von Croy."

"Seems that the psychopath you're talking about believes in this nonsense, but he only needs to be put in jail."

"Put him in jail?" Kurtis exploded. "Karel's a Nephilim! There are no bars able to stop him! Lara's the one who can end up in jail, if she's charged with that freak's atrocities!"

Ivanoff stared at him and then nodded, shocked. He meditated a moment in silence, and soon he said: "So, if this Karel wants to fulfil the prophecy, and for that he's chosen Miss Croft as his Amazon, who's supposed to be the Lux Veritatis who must prevent that?"

Kurtis felt surprised when he realized he didn't want to answer, even if answering meant teaching a lesson to that insufferable asshole. But Lara remained silent as she looked at him, waiting for his answer. "It's me." He said finally.

Ivanoff's jaw dropped while staring at him with a stupid look of disbelief. "Oh, please, no." He whispered, and dropped his head between his hands. "Not you."

Lara smiled discretely.

Kurtis pulled his jersey's sleeve up until showing his shoulder. There was a tattoo, a cross over a V, like a sharpened anchor. Lara had already seen that symbol when she had tended his wounds, and also in Von Croy's notebook: The Lux Veritatis sign. Not the typical tattoo of fairs and swap-meets.

"Then...that door's explosion..." Ivanoff stammered. "Are you a real Lux Veritatis? With supernatural powers and all that stuff?"

"What do you think, smartass?" Kurtis replied, covering his tattoo.

Lara took part again. "Now you know we're serious. We must find the True Option so that the balance tips in Kurtis' favour. We thought the tapestry would reveal the next step to us, as the Golden Seal had led us here, to Romania. But behind the tapestry there was only an empty compartment."

"And why do you think I know something about that?"

Kurtis and Lara had at that exact same moment the intense desire to strangle him. It was hard to convince him, that goddamn runt.

"You know the castle better than anyone. What was in that compartment?" And if you lie to me I'll beat your dirty face, added Lara in silence.

But Ivanoff sighed, and finally decided to cooperate. "There was a manuscript written by Loanna Von Skopf, prisoner and concubine of Vlad Tepes the Impaler."