Sweet Dreams

Chapter 4

When you jump from a 200 foot cliff, you really don't have that high of a chance to survive.

Nathen resurfaced. He was winded by the splash, and god did his body hurt. It felt like hitting a wall of brick, and yet somehow he had survived, so far.

God it hurt to swim, yet the adrenaline still pumping through his body made him do it. He found himself reaching a shore, and tiredly pulling himself up and staying there. There were rocks under his back, and he was lying against what felt like steps.

Wait, what?

Pushing his body up, Nathen found himself lying on what looked like an entrance to a once cobblestone building. It was eroded, of course, but it was still mostly in contact. At least from his perspective. The door was arched high, with what looked like serpent figures decorating the edges. He sighed heavily and lay back down. He'd go in, but he just needed a minute to close his eyes.

Just a minute.

.

..

...

"Nate!"

Nathen opened his eyes tiredly, staring up at the face staring down at him. It was Lara, and she seemed worried about him. Growling, he sighed.

"Well, good morning to you too,"

"Jesus I thought you were dead," She stated, leaning back and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Lara hadn't left the drop unscathed; she had gained a nasty looking wound on the top of her forehead, and a busted lip. However, in the time it took her to find her partner, they had both mostly clotted. The cut on her forehead still bled a small bit, but not enough to worry her. Nate groaned as he pushed himself up off the steps.

"What kind of an idea was it to jump off a 200 foot cliff?" he asked clearly aggravated as he wobbled on his feet.

"The only one we had at the time?" Lara replied beginning her trek up the stairs, taking out her journal. Nate followed her, remaining two steps behind her, admiring the building he had accidentally come across.

"I guess you're right," he admitted, "Where are we?"

"Some shrine, I'm guessing. Look at' the stone work," she whispered to herself, rubbing her fingers along the carvings of the dragon like creatures. Nate took out his own journal and sketched some of the figures down. They were defiantly of Chinese origin, but Nathen couldn't place where in Chinese history. He looked up to ask Lara, only to find that she was already inside the building.

"There are two paths," she said, turning and facing Nate, "I go left you go right?"

Nathen studied the two pathways before nodding, "Sure. Hey do you have a walkie-talkie?" he asked, revealing his own yellow and black one. Lara's eyes widened for a second, before she reached onto her belt and revealed one just like it. Nate flipped through the stations until he came to an unused one.

"Go to 14:7; we'll use that to keep in radio contact. If anything goes wrong, contact me," He said, starting his own long walk down the path. Lara tuned into said station, and went her own way, clipping the device back onto her hip.

Nathen clipped his walkie-talkie to his holster and continued on, squinting to see where he was going. It had gotten very dark very fast. He ran his hand along the wall until it bumped into what felt like wood. Most likely an old piece at that, as it felt like it was being held up y something. Picking it off the wall, he lit the top of it on fire. He squinted at the new warm glow but felt sweat drip down his temple as he realized what he was about to step off.

There was a gorge, going very far down just before him. Gulping, Nate looked around to see if there were any hand holes anywhere. He found a path, but it looked unstable and bits of it fell off in front of him. Mentally groaning, he put the piece of wood into his mouth and jumped up onto the ledge. The heat was a lot to handle.

Quickly shimmering across the ledge, he found that he already had to make a jump. Holding his breath and praying that it didn't instantly break, he heaved his weight across the gap, gripping the new concrete tightly as he waited for it to loosen and him to plummet to his death.

A crack came from beside him, and he opened an eye to see that the ledge he had jumped from had collapsed. "Holy shit," he mumbled, pulling himself along the path. After completing the fourth jump, he was surprised to be back on solid ground. Taking the piece of still burning wood from his mouth, he wiped the sweat from his face.

Thank God Lara hadn't had to do any of that.

How was Lara meant to do that?

Before her stood way too many traps meant to kill whoever was trying to get past; Hammers, saws, spikes and a very thin path to dodge all of it. Doing what she thought was the best idea; she dropped to her hands and scaled the side of it. She did so quickly, finding that the path was rapidly falling apart. Quickening her breath, Lara began to push herself along faster, her hands beginning to get sweaty and sore.

Lara pulled her body up onto the thin path, now through the worst of the traps. She could see the ledge at the other side. She took a running start, just like she did when she was trying to escape the Endurance. She creased her brow; Nate wasn't there to catch her this time.

She jumped.

Her hand found a ledge.

Holding on as she turned back around, she pulled herself up. Lara fell onto her back, her hand on her chest as she felt her heart beating. Her breath was quick, but she smiled as she took it in. Pulling herself off the ground, she continued her path into what looked like a chamber of sorts. She gasped in awe.

Continuing her path, she came across a thin path leading to what looked like an oak tree. Following the path, Lara took out her journal and sketched down a small image of the tree. As she got nearer it, she found an inscription in the wood's bark.

"The skies will crack, the light will turn into darkness, the crystal will break, and hell will become earth? What in the hell does that even mean?" Lara asked, writing down the inscription and trying to translate. Completely out of idea's, she plucked the Walkie-talkie off her hip and turned it on.

"Nate?"

"Yeah?" Nate responded, breathless.

"You sound out of breath. You alright?" Lara asked turning and beginning to pace in circles. Nate chuckled from the radio.

"Eh, had a close call with the terrain. What do ya need me for?"

"Well, Nathen Break, I found another riddle," She smiled, hearing Nate laugh once more from the other end.

"Nathen Break, ah hha, I like it. What does...? Holy crap... I...I gotta go,"

"What? What's wrong? Na—"

Nate knew he wasn't going to hear the end of cutting her off, but this, this was a little more important.

Armored skeletons were scattered everywhere, swords and shields abandoned, rusting on the floor. Blue gems were engraved into the wall and covered by rock roots. An engraving on a tree and several serpent creatures drinking its sap was on a stone slab before him. Leaning his torch further in, he found one of the body's holding a folder. He picked it up and opened it, finding a message written inside.

My men and I have made a terrible mistake. We have angered the goddesses. We stole the heart of the tree, and now the undead and trying to kill us all. I am the last one alive, and yet I know I will die. I can hear them crawling along the walls.

I know that this message will never be found, as my men destroyed the path in an effort to escape. However, if by any chance somebody is reading this is the future, please, get off this island. And may God be with you.

Nate felt his spine crawl; how was the 'undead' killing these men? And the heart of the tree? What did that mean?

Suddenly, there was a large, animal-like roar. Nathen jumped, looking around in alarm. That's when the radio beeped in.

"Oh god Nate, I'm in some seriously bad trouble over here!"