"A noble, brave and exceedingly intelligent man, Alister Fletcher will be sorely missed by all."

Upon the closing statement from Reverend Lawson, a long, dark, wooden coffin was lowered into the ground. A crystal tear fell delicately from the brown eyes of a spectator and splattered from her face to the coffin. Her expression was solemn and her eyes were now closed. In the winter breeze, strands of dark hair licked at her face and danced playfully, sticking to her wet cheeks. Church bells echoed throughout what seemed like miles; it was a beautiful occasion.

"You okay, Lara?" The soft, familiar voice of her friend brought a meek smile to her face.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Zip," she dried her wet eyes with a tissue from her friend.

"He would've liked this. With all the birds, the snow..." Zip trailed off, swallowing back his emotions.

"Yeah." Lara paused and stared blankly into the coffin, "I wonder how many people have coffins as long as that," the observation came out as a whisper. Zip chuckled as tears rolled from his eyes, "Zip, you're crying," Lara was slightly shocked.

"Yeah," he croaked, his voice went squeaky, "I'm gonna miss the guy..." He sniffed loudly and masked his tears with laughter, "tall coffin for a tall guy, right? What was he, six foot or something?"

"Six foot four I think."

They stood together in silence, fixated on the tomb encasing their former friend. Men filled the hole with soil, both wished it was just as easy to fill the voids in their hearts. Lara and Zip wept as they threw a trinket into the ground in union. Alister Fletcher would defend himself from the beasts in the underworld with Excalibur.

"Because he learned to believe," Lara said confidently, bowing her head in respect as Zip said the final words; "Rest in peace dude."



***



The crackle of the large, warm fire in Croft Manor was comfort to Lara and Zip. Both sat in silence on cream sofas as day turned to night and the fire turned to ashes. Neither one moved until dawn cracked through stained glass windows and threw an array of colours and shapes on tearstained cheeks.

Zip sighed, reliving the events of nights before, not wishing to remember but unable to forget. He didn't really want to forget. He crossed the room and walked through a large glass door, pushed a bundle of screwed up sticky-notes off his desk and sat at his computer. He turned on the machine and noticed a slightly burned note stuck to the side of the screen scrawled in angry black ink.

"Stop putting used CDs in the blank CD tower!"

He chuckled to himself. Alister was the type to get flustered at the simplest of things. Something that, ironically enough he would miss greatly. To pay respect he took the first CD off the tower and inserted it to the computer. Blank. He took the second CD. Blank. Seventy-six CDs and 3 cups of coffee later, Zip had disposed of the majority of the stack. Lara had since awoken and was sitting on the desk reading some of Alisters notes.

"Zip, did Alister ever show you these? He seems to know twice the amount of what I do about Mjolnir and he never even saw it!" She thrusted some papers with diagrams onto the desk.

"Hey, I never knew he could draw," Zip inspected the pictures, "pretty damned good. And accurate," he pointed to the blue flecks drawn with highlighter pens, "I think I know where my highlighters went missing," Lara chuckled.

"You boys will never learn how to share,"

"Nope. Where do you think he's hidden them?"

"I have no idea. Why don't you look around while I make another fire? It's getting pretty cold."

"Hm.. Make sure you don't burn the house down like last time," Zip mumbled, referring to an explosion that recently devastated the house.

"That wasn't me, Zip. I thought we sorted that one out," Lara set to work on a fire while Zip searched through the Tech Centre. Without any luck, he decided to hunt elsewhere.

"Lara, I'm going to look in the library. You okay down here?"

"Of course I am, Zip. A little solitude never bothered me. In fact, I find it rather beneficial," Lara said with a smile. She was nose-deep in a book about some civilization Zip had never heard of before. He continued upstairs to the library contemplating where his friend could have hidden his highlighters. As he walked through the door, he took in the surroundings. The library had been thoroughly damaged by the explosion. A good part of the manor was wrecked but the library seemed to have taken the least destruction. The floorboards were blackened and most of the bookshelves to his left were burned beyond repair; however it wasn't Lara's wish to renovate. She wanted to keep Alister's favourite room alive as it was, however disfigured.

Zip started to plan a course of action. It would take hours for him to search the bookshelves, so he started off small. The desk drawers were empty besides two pink paperclips. He pocketed these to put away later. As expected, nothing was under the desk or hidden in the cracks of the floorboards (why would a highlighter fit down there anyway?). He traversed the room and climbed to the next floor. He briefly scanned the shelves on the landing, not expecting to find his precious pens. As he entered the study, Zip noticed a chilly breeze seeping in through the open window. He tugged the window shut and a large chunk of ice propelled itself into the room and landed neatly on the carpet. Zip sighed and picked up the ice. As his fingers brushed the carpet he noticed an unfamiliar lump below. He quickly disposed of the ice and rolled back the rug. What he had felt was the hinge to what looked like a trapdoor. With shaking hands, he slipped his fingernails into the cracks in the floorboard and tried to lift it open. No such luck; it must've been locked from the inside. Curious, he decided to seek out help.

"Hey, Lara, did you know there was a secret door thingy in the study floor?"

"No... The only secret doors I'm aware of are made up of moving book cases and pressure pad locks."

"Oh. Well I think I've found something up there, but it's locked. Can I borrow a crowbar?"

"You can't surely expect your highlighters to be in a secret cubby hole? And you most certainly may not vandalise my house with a crowbar! Honestly, Zip, there are times when subtlety is the better option," Lara said with a giggle. She put down her book and walked over to Zip, "well? Are you going to show me your findings?" Zip rolled his eyes and set off to find his discovery.

"Curious. You would expect after being in posession of this house for so long I would have noticed something like this," Lara traced the lines of the door with her fingers, "But then again, I think my parents laid these rugs down before I was even born. Chances are this is the first time it's ever been rolled back."

"I wouldn't be so certain, I have a feeling Alister knew about it,"

"Don't get your hopes up too much, Zip," Lara knew her friend would have informed her of the secret compartment's existence if he had knowledge. They crouched together in silence for a few minutes before Lara extracted a credit card from her wallet and inserted it into the cracks in the floor. "Damn," she lost grip of the card and it was sent tumbling into the compartment. It fell for a few more seconds than they both expected before clunking on what sounded like something metal.

"That sounded like something interesting," Zip said, putting his face close to the crack.

"It did indeed... I wonder what's keeping it closed,"

"Hey, if we can get some light here then I might be able to see," before Zip finished his sentence Lara had held a miniature torch up to where Zip was peering in,

"Perfect. Hey, it looks like someone's glued it shut or something... Take a look, there's something over there," Zip pointed to a corner and Lara took a look,

"Oh yes, I see. I reckon it was sealed all the way around once, but the fire must have melted it... I'm pretty sure I could slice through what's left though," ever the well-equipped explorer, Lara took a penknife from her pocket and dragged the blade through the sticky substance. With a little leverage, the door lifted to reveal a small square hole about a metre deep. Both could see a petite metal box at the bottom with the letters "A.F." engraved in fancy script on the lock. "A.F... What could that mean?" Lara pondered,

"Alister Fletcher," Zip said quietly

"Zip, you can't be sure that-"

"No, I'm sure. Who else could it be?" Lara knew he was right, "let's open it and see," he said as he reached in to the hole and took out the box, "damn, it needs a key."

"Alister used to wear a key on a necklace, didn't he?" Lara said thoughtfully

"No, not that I remember, it was just a chain wasn't it?"

"No, no, I mean when he left the house. Whenever we went on holiday or left the grounds he would put the key on the chain," Zip thought for a second before his face lit up,

"Oh yes! He did! I remember that time when I teased him about it when we went to Scotland... Man, he hated that," Lara mumbled her disapproval and took the box from him. She brushed some ash from the lid,

"If it's supposed to be opened by a key that was so important to him, I think it would be best not to pry. We'll keep this in a safe place. Roll back the carpet please, Zip, I wouldn't want Winston to do his back in clearing up after us." Zip groaned and did as he was told. He was sure there was more to that box than Lara could see. Grudgingly, he plodded back down the stairs and noticed Lara had left the box on Alister's desk. He quickly checked the room to see if Lara was still there and walked over. Delicately, he picked up the box and inspected the lock. It wouldn't hurt to try and unlock it. He reached into his pocket and grabbed for one of the pink paperclips he found earlier, uncurled it, and inserted it into the lock. Zip was a master of all things criminalé and found picking the lock quite easy. With a satisfying click the box opened and he carefully lifted the lid.



***



"Zip! I don't believe it! Or do I?" Lara was stood at the doorway with her arms folded and a twisted look on her face.

"Why are you looking at me like that? And I haven't seen anything yet. If I close the box now, no harm is done," Zip demonstrated his lid closing skills, bringing a crooked smile to his friend's face,

"Actually, I'm too intrigued to let you stop. Tell me what's inside,"

"Well..." Zip fumbled with the contents of the box, "It's just paper. Like that ancient Egyptian stuff with some more of his drawings. And there's this," he held up a necklace with a tooth hanging from it, "and a map."

"A map? Of where?"

"I have no idea, you're the geographical one," he handed the flimsy paper map to Lara who scanned it briefly.

"It depicts all the places I've been to while he's lived here. Japan, Ghana, Thailand - even Jan Mayen! He's pinpointed every location!"

"Hey, he wrote stuff about them too. There's a load of numbers and stuff about vegetables or something," he passed more papers to her,

"That's vegetation, Zip. Like the plants"

"Ohhh..." Zip pretended to know what she was talking about,

"And those aren't just numbers, they're coordinates. Perhaps he thought they would be useful for something. But why would he hide them from us?" Neither one had an answer. "Hey, I haven't been here before," Lara pointed to a red cross inked on the border between Algeria and Niger, "I assume that's why it's red. But why is it there?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just the tech guy... I could Google it for you,"

"Perhaps you could,"

"Lara, I was kidding. Google 'aint gonna know about Alister's last thoughts,"

"I'm aware of that Zip," Lara said flatly, "I mean that you could research the coordinates... They look about 20 latitude and 6 longitude. Perhaps we could find a landmark or something of interest there,"

"Woah, that's a lot of weird stuff Lara, you're gonna have to write that down somewhere,"

"Here, take the paper," Lara handed Zip the map and it's accompanying coordinate graph, "the first number is latitude,"

"Uh- still don't understand,"

"It's like a graph for maths. latitude is X, longitude is Y, get it?"

After a few minutes of bickering, Zip retreated to the tech centre to research the location while Lara continued to examine the box. After having inspected all that it contained, she'd come little further to a conclusive answer. Slightly irritated, she put the tooth necklace around her neck and sank into Alister's half-melted office chair. It was odd; she hadn't remembered being in the library without Alister's presence since his death. She noticed a charred book left out on the desk, no doubt the last book he was reading. Lara picked up the book and sniffed the pages. It smelled faintly of Alister's cologne. Upset, she drew the book towards her head and it collided with a smack. Blackened paper danced to the floor. Angrily, she whacked herself with the book several times as tears rolled down her cheeks. She drew a loud, hysterical breath, curled up in the chair and cried sorrowfully into her knees.



***



It was nine days before the two found any substantial evidence to prove Alister's mysterious cross even remotely useful. Lara had decided the cross lay just on the edge of Algeria in the Province of Tamanrasset. Neither were entirely sure what lay there, or exactly where the coordinates lead to but both understood that whatever it was had some significance to the late Alister Fletcher. According to what Zip had found, just south of their coordinates was an abandoned gold mine. Lara wasn't sure how the mine connected to Alister, but beyond that there was a scarcity of locations to inspect.

"So you thinking of going there?"

"I don't know Zip... I just wonder. This cross could mean anything from 'I read about this place in a book' to 'this is the source of the apocolypse' or something..." she trailed off, deep in thought.

"Well, there's only one way to find out really,"

"Yes, I know but I hate that I don't know what I'm looking for. Usually I'd at least have a rough idea,"

"But you take risks all the time! C'mon, Lara we gotta do it. For Alister?" Lara sighed as if to give in to Zip's pleas, "is that a yes? Well?" Lara chuckled

"Look how excited you're getting! Alright, okay, we'll go,"

"We?"

"Yes, I want you to come with me," Zip looked at her blankly,

"Lara, I need to stay here to help you, I work best behind this thing," he banged on the computer screen,

"You can take the laptop. Come on, Zip, let's do it for Alister!"

"You can be a bitch sometimes, you know that?"

"Watch your language," Lara got up and headed for the door, "well? Aren't we going to pack? I'll arrange for us to leave for Africa tonight."

Lara remained true to her word. By ten O'clock that night the two were soaring in the air at 40,000 feet on the way to Aguenar Airport for a sharp 2am arrival. Due to the time, when the jet touched down on Algerian soil both were fast asleep and remained so until 9am local time. Lara thanked the pilot and lead the way from where the jet was parked into the terminal. It was simple to navigate, but the two stayed close to eachother. After a short time sorting out customs and transport, Lara and Zip were able to drive through Tamanrasset to their heart's content. Their vehicle was a shiny dark blue Land Rover, perfect for driving through the desert landscape, though not so perfect for being inconspicuous.

"Right, let's get going then," Lara said with an air of hopefulness,

"Sure thing. Lara, you seen the laptop charger anywhere?" Zip was frantically searching through his luggage,

"No, I thought you had it?"

"Uh, I thought I did, but now I kinda don't." He looked at her with an apologetic expression, "sorry..." He said, shamefaced. Lara inhaled and exhaled loudly,

"It's fine, Zip, just make sure your phone is working, it'll be fine,"

"You just said 'fine' twice in the same sentence, you're mad aren't you?" Lara ignored him and got into the driver's seat. Zip slammed the boot shut and hopped into the passenger side, "I really am so-" Lara held up a hand to silence him.

"It's fine. Like I said, a little solitude never bothered me,"

"In fact you find it rather beneficial," Zip finished her sentence

"Exactly," Lara said with a smile as they sped off to their destination.



***



"Well, I don't see no gold mine," Zip said, scouring the desert dunes

"I very much doubt you would Zip, didn't you say it was abandoned in the 1800's?"

"Honestly Lara, after all these years I would've expected you to know my short term memory is pretty awful," Lara shot him a cold look, "I don't remember. Sorry," he mumbled.

"Anyway," Lara moved the topic forward, "the coordinates could be trying to lead us anywhere between here and a 50 mile radius. That's rather useful," she said sarcastically.

"Hold on, the laptop still has some juice, if I can connect the sat nav into the system I should be able to use the historical landmark function to scan for this mine,"

"Fabulous. I'll be over here," Lara gestured toward a small area where four ancient huts stood. It looked like an old village of sorts. The majority of the buildings were made up of sandstone and mud, each one built to a prescise rectangular shape. Lara examined the closest hut and realised the shutters on the window were made of wood, quite possibly a modern addition. She traversed round to the door. Wrought Iron. That was odd, another modern addition - though considerably damaged. She peered through the iron bars

"It's a shrine!" she exclaimed. She heard Zip yell something from the distance and waved her phone at him before moving the iron door and entering the shrine. It was a very small room to say the least; Lara had to cock her neck slightly to avoid the ceiling. In the centre of the room there was a short wooden table that had taken heavy damage over the years. Lara imagined that it would take very little for it to topple into a thousand pieces. Carefully, she navigated the room to find candles scattered on the floor, probably knocked over by a storm raging through the ineffective door. Sand had gathered in the corners of the room and there was an unpleasant smell lingering in the air. She noticed a box in the far left corner and inspected it. There were some carvings in a language she didn't understand - probably a tribal language. Delicately, she opened the box. As the lid elevated Lara realised where the foul odour was coming from. Startled, she let the lid close with a thud and took a sharp step backwards, hitting her head on the ceiling as she did so.

"You. What are you doing here?" A deep, stern voice with a thick Arabian accent boomed through the shrine. Lara swivelled round to find herself partially blinded by sunlight streaming through the doorway, perfectly outlining the figure of her discoverer.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I was intruding," Lara wished she could make out his face,

"You realise this is a shrine?" He took a step towards her, she could see his face was masked with black cloth from his nose down. All she could see of his face were two big brown eyes.

"I... I didn't expect there to be... Remains in here," she gestured lightly to the box, choosing her actions carefully. He narrowed his eyes and looked from the box and back to Lara several times before being satisfied with her story.

"You American?" he asked with a slightly more friendly tone,

"British, actually," she breezed. This question was nothing new to her, she recalled two Russian men asking her the exact same question back in Kazhakstan a few years ago, "are you a local?"

"I protect these shrines. I am the one to make sure people do not steal from the graves of ancient wise men such as this man," he nodded to the box. Lara winced at the thought of what lay in there. "It is my job, as it was my father's and his father's."

"Oh my," Lara came to realise how awkward she felt talking to the masked man, "are there many grave robbers?"

"No."His response was stern. Lara twitched uncomfortably. Silence didn't usually bother her but this time it was excruciatingly troublesome.

"Then it can't be a very interesting job," she chuckled uneasily with her response. He remained serious faced (well, as far as she could see)

"No. There are many men that come here. Many try to enter the Shrine of Tamrannah"

"Excuse me? I didn't quite catch that... The Shrine of who?"

"Tamrannah," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes, "descendents of Tamrannah's tribe believe he was the one to name Tamanrasset, but locals remain ignorant of him. It is better that way. So they don't pry." He spoke with a mysterious tone. Lara found herself both intrigued and intimidated.

"What's in the Shrine of Tamrannah?"

"I cannot tell you. Please, leave. Return to the village now." He stood away from the door to let her pass. As both exited the shrine Lara spoke:

"I can't leave here yet. I have to find something." She gazed dreamily towards the sand dunes as the wind gently picked up her hair. The heat was troublesome.

"What must you find?" The strange man straightened up, looking down on Lara from an impressive height. She guessed he and Alister would've stood about the same, only he was far more muscular,

"a gold mine. As far as I know it was abandoned in the eighteen hundreds," out of the corner of her eye she saw him pull down the mask covering his face.

"No such thing has existed here. All that stands on these holy grounds are shrines,"

"Oh... Would there be anything similar? Any kind of shaft or tunnel?" He looked at her with an angry gaze,

"No. And you should not go looking for one." The anger in his voice said it all. Lara knew that there must be something of interest to her nearby.

"Listen," she took a pace away from him, planning her words, "my friend lead us here to find that shaft. We don't know why and we don't know where it is," she swivelled around stirring the sand beneath her feet, "but you do." Both locked eyes and fixed on eachother for awhile, unsure as to whether to trust the other.

"And your friend. He is with you?" His eyes narrowed again

"He's dead," Lara whispered. Her eyes fell to the ground for a moment.

"Alister. Alister Fletcher." Lara looked up, shocked to hear the man knew her friend,

"Yes, how did you-"

"He came here. His work has guided us to find the truth behind the Tamrannah tribe." He became quiet, "I'm sorry to hear he is dead." They exchanged awkward glances. "He told me of you. And your friend. He told me you are an explorer, yes?"

"Somewhat. I'm an archaeologist."

"I see," the awkward silences were beginning to agonize both of them. "My name is Muhafiz"

"Lara," she held out her hand for him to shake. He looked at it distrustingly before shaking it lightly. "So would you mind if I could see what Alister's been up to? Perhaps I could help you to finish his work,"

"Alister was very smart. Not many would understand. Even I do not understand his work fully,"

"Well you could at least let me try," Lara had become slightly impatient, and wasn't too impressed about being undermined by him. Similarly, Muhafiz wasn't happy with Lara's tone of voice, the tension between the two melted into simmering bubbles of infuriation. It took what felt like hours before Muhafiz decided to show Lara the shrine.



***



By the time Lara had been allowed into the Shrine of Tamrannah night was upon them. Muhafiz had lit a torch on the wall of the tiny place and Lara was examining some of Alister's drawings placed on a table in the centre of the room, similar to the one she entered earlier.

"Hey, Muhafiz, were these Alister's?" She held up a blue and yellow highlighter pen for him to see.

"Yes, they were. You may take them if you like,"

"Thanks," she pocketed them to give back to Zip later and returned to Alister's work. The drawings depicted a map of the ancient village of Tamran. There were far more shrines than those that stood today and Tamrannah's was the centre piece. According to what Alister believed, tunnels ran beneath all the shrines (or, as they were back when they were in use, houses) connecting them so the elderly, women and children could hide from any hostile tribes. However no such tunnels had been found. Muhafiz explained how destroying the sacred village would be disrespectful, and the likelihood of them having caved in was practically verified. Difficult to accept as it was, Lara decided the caves were obsolete.

Suddenly, it dawned on Lara that Zip was alone in the car and it was creeping up to midnight. Hastily, she grabbed her phone from her backpack and checked for messages. There were four, it must've been left on silent.

"B careful. Man following u. Dont think u heard me"

"U ok? Been in there awhile. Cant get sat nav 2 work"

"Feel free 2 txt me back n e time"

"If u need me call. Will b sleeping"

Lara despised how Zip abbreviated words in text messages but felt bad for him all the same. She decided not to wake him, but made sure the phone was no longer on silent just in case before replacing it back in her bag.

"What is this?" Muhafiz said with suspicion, pointing to her bag. Lara peered over at the contents of her backpack.

"Ah- while this does look suspicious," she extracted the gun, "it's not loaded," she pulled back the slide to reveal the empty chamber and looked at him with wide, innocent eyes.

"Do not wave that thing around here. These are sacred grounds and such things do not belong here." Muhafiz's devotion to the 'sacred grounds' was becoming tiresome. Lara dispensed the gun back into her bag and stood up. This shrine was larger than the one before and she - unlike Muhafiz - was able to stand comfortably. Though the majority of the room was taken up by the table, there was still enough space for a small altar at the back of the room which, like the box in the previous shrine, was littered with enscriptions in a foreign language. Rather than a box in this room, the remains of Tamrannah were nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Muhafiz," He responded with a grunt, "where are the remains of Tamrannah?" He looked up from Alister's drawings with interest.

"They've been lost for centuries,"

"Hold on a minute..." Lara began to pace, "you're telling me that you guard this shrine with your life, and the bones which you are trying to protect... are lost?" She was baffled. Muhafiz stood up and bore down on her, a certain darkness flooded his eyes, she felt an overwhelming stream of fear drown her confidence and douse her in enchantment. "There's much more to it. You... You people do not understand." He walked to the window and stared into the blackness. "This land has been mine to protect since the day I was born. Many men have died to defend themselves from enemy tribes and grave robbers. Much gold and many ancient scrolls have been stolen by the selfish. People take what isn't theirs. They have no respect for the dead." As he finished speaking, his voice dropped and became dark. He sounded to Lara like a prophet, she found herself compelled by his voice and felt somewhat guilty. He would loathe her if he knew all the treasures and ancient artefacts she had 'acquired' over the years. Unsure of what to say, Lara crossed the room to the altar. She traced the incriptions with her fingers. They had been preserved beautifully, she felt the urge to photograph them. Towards the left of the altar, Lara noticed something on the base. It looked like a crack, but judging by the condition of the object and the shape of the line it seemed intentional. Carefully, she pushed on the base. Solid. She moved her hands above the crack and pushed on the altar itself. She felt it was loose from the base.

"Muhafiz, did you know this is loose?" He turned away from the window and walked to the discovery,

"No. It must be damage. Please, do not touch this."

"No, see, this can't be damage. The odds of damage this prescise and in just this one area are incredibly slim. Impossible, in fact." Ignoring his request, she pushed the altar with force. Muhafiz began to protest but ceased when he saw the opening beneath. Lara expected for rubble to fall or dust to escape but there wasn't a sound besides the graze of marble on stone and the heavy breathing of two bewildered explorers.



***



"It's dark down there," before Muhafiz finished his sentence Lara had whipped her mini torch from her pocket. She placed the torch between her teeth and began to prepare herself for adventure. "What's this?" Muhafiz exclaimed, eyeing her holsters,

"Hrrr hheed hoo hee herharrrd hor hadhendhuuurrrr..." Muhafiz looked at her with a puzzled expression and took the torch from her mouth, "Sorry. I said we need to be prepared for adventure, anything could be down there," Lara tightened the buckle around her waist and reached into the bag for her pistols. She could see Muhafiz was about to protest, "Don't tell me to put these away, trust me it's better to be safe than sorry."

Both stared down into the pit. By the light of Lara's torch they could see a crudely formed staircase made of precariously placed blocks of rubble and mud. They felt a sense of impending doom as the smell of rotting flesh rose from the opening, Lara felt her face screw up in disgust. "Well. Ladies first I suppose," she said with a false sense of optimism. Lara stepped down into the tunnel making sure to keep herself balanced. Muhafiz took his homemade torch from the wall and followed Lara closely. By the light of their torches they could see the tunnel was an impressive length with several forks and twists. The beams of light faded into blackness to their left and curved around to their right. From what could be seen the tunnel was pretty sturdy. There was minimal damage, bar a considerable pile of rubble down the left tunnel. A cold breeze ran through the shaft, howling eerilie as it went. Both were thankful for eachother's company.

"Which way?" Lara asked excitedly

"I don't know. I would guess this tunnel would lead to the other shrines," Muhafiz gestured to the right, "but I'm not sure."

"Right," Lara tightened her ponytail, "left it is then."

Slowly, Lara began to creep through the tunnel, her left hand hovering over a pistol and her right weilding the torch. Muhafiz came after, swinging the fire in his hand from left to right and back again with caution. A few metres down the tunnel and the stairs were blackness. Lara noticed her torch was dimming, but pressed on anyway. Something down here must have been of importance to Alister. Completely absorbed in speculation, Lara was unaware of her surroundings, suddenly in a daze of excitement and determination.

"Hey, Lara," she was shocked to hear her name being called. It took longer than usual for her to react,

"Uh... Yes?"

"I think we should look here,"

"Excuse me? Where?"

"Here," Muhafiz waved his torch to the left, revealing an opening in the tunnel. Shocked that he hadn't noticed this, Lara's mouth fell open. She peered into the room. By the dim light she could just about make out it was a circular room with basic furnishings inside. Gently, Muhafiz moved Lara's jaw back into place and chucked her on the chin. She looked at him with astonishment and he chuckled to himself. Still in shock, Lara stood helplessly at the doorway while Muhafiz entered the room. She watched him move around transferring the fire of his torch to light up the room. With the six torches ablaze the two had a clearer view of their surroundings. They were stood inside a small living area with two perfectly crafted sofas made from mud and rocks. In the centre of the room there was a woven carpet strewn with crude children's toys and strange looking objects. "Look," Muhafiz pointed to the ground where black trails were splattered towards the door,

"Looks like there was a struggle," Lara suggested quietly,

"You think it is blood?"

"I expect so," the thought was chilling. Terrified children and their mother's being dragged from their only sanctuary to a cruel and violent death by the enemy tribes. Both paused in this moment, captured in sorrow. "I think we should follow it," Lara's words came out as a whisper. With her torch pointed to the black stains, she followed the trail with a sense of unease. Neither one wished to see what awaited them in the next room. Both gasped as the beam of her torch fell over a harrowing sight. Just seconds after the image hit their emotions the torch died and left them with only the light of Muhafiz's smouldering flare to see by. Quickly, Lara retraced her steps to the previous room and grabbed a flickering torch, using the fire to bring light into this new area. The traditional light form reminded her of previous years of adventure, when batteries weren't a concern. With all torches ablaze it was a sorry sight. Towards the back wall, two charred skeletons lay, half in and half out of a fire place. On the overturned and crumbling sofa another corpse hung, mangled violently. In the centre of the room - neither one could bear the thought - two smaller skeletons lay together, one with a large dent in the skull. The floor was saturated with blood. Lara felt a shiver run through her spine. She exchanged a sickly glance with Muhafiz. It was clear from his screwed up face he did not wish to be here longer than it was necessary.

Carefully, Lara inched her way to the centre of the room, eyeing up a chest in the corner. Daintily, she hopped from pieces of rubble to navigate the room without stepping in ancient blood. When she got to the chest she realised that it had even more of those strange inscriptions she'd seen before. It seemed almost like deja-vu, the chest was identical to the altar in the shrine. After having taken a photo of the inscriptions to analyze later, she tried to open it. No such luck, it was locked. By the light of the fire Lara could see a small hole under the lid, it looked like a lock - but where was the key?

"Muhafiz," she noticed he had the cloth over his mouth again, "you wouldn't happen to have a key for this box, would you?" Muhafiz strided over to her carefully and kneeled next to box. He examined the lock only to shake his head and sigh.

"All that for nothing," he growled and exited the room as Lara looked on sympathetically. She knew he was deeply affected by the discovery. In the midst of Lara's train of thought, she suddenly remembered the necklace from Alister's box. With haste, she pulled it over her neck and inspected it. With a deep breath, she inserted the tooth charm into the hole in the box. It glided in with ease, carefully she twisted the necklace and heard the moving of gears followed by a loud clunk. Muhafiz overheard the sound and retreated back to Lara, a look of intense excitement had flooded his face - or, eyes, as far as Lara could see. The lid was heavy, it took the combined effort of both of them to open to see what was inside.

"There he is!" Muhafiz said with a muffled sense of wonder

"Tamrannah?"

"Yes,"

"How do you know that?" Lara asked. Muhafiz eased the stone lid shut and turned to her,

"Because no other box has a key. It makes sense he is here, because the tribe did not want him to be stolen," he paused for a few seconds, "I think that's why they died. To make sure he was not taken."

"Gosh. He must have been like a God to them,"

"Or they just loved him." There was something about the way he looked at her when he uttered the word 'loved' that sent butterflies through Lara's stomach. She laughed awkwardly and smiled to herself. "We should leave," he said quietly. Lara nodded in agreement and they exited the room. Muhafiz uttered a prayer before they made their way back down the hall.



***



Neither one spoke as they navigated the dark tunnel, it didn't seem necessary. There was absoloute silence bar their footsteps as shoes collided with the crunch of thick sand and rubble. With torches held high in the air, it was difficult to see what they were walking on. As they reached the centre of the tunnel, both forgot about the hazardous rubble scattered a few feet high above the ground. As Muhafiz and Lara both collided with the debris they let out loud, terrified exclaimations. The torches tumbled into the rubble and flames licked at the dry kindling. Quickly, Muhafiz grabbed Lara around the waist and pulled her away from the flames. Slightly dazed, Lara rested her head on his chest and allowed him to pick her up in order to carry her away from the fire. The blaze gave him enough light to see through the tunnel. With haste, he zipped into the first room and grabbed a flare from the wall. The corridor had become swelteringly hot and he felt beads of sweat form around his forehead. He yanked the mask from his face and looked back at the fiery obstruction. The only way to go was deeper into the tunnel, which could lead to anywhere. Or nowhere.

With cautious haste, Muhafiz ran with Lara in his arms. She stirred slightly with the movement and noticed the dim lights flooding from the rooms behind them. She heard the crackle of vicious fire and smelled the pungent odour of burning. All her senses warned her something was wrong but conciousness merely swept over her like a summer's breeze whistling through grass. She was helpless without Muhafiz. Stressed and frantic, Muhafiz widly navigated the tunnel, noticing more rubble as they pressed further towards the unknown. Within few heated seconds he realised they could no longer pass. Gazing at the tower of blockage he let out an exasperated sigh and sat, cradling Lara in his arms.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and kissed her on the forehead. She didn't stir.

Within minutes the fire had spread close enough to feel the flames move around them. Muhafiz noticed Lara's legs were reddened between white marks where his fingers clutched. He drew her closer with a hand around her waist and hugged her tightly. He heard a soft cry escape her lips. She complained about heat, something about Zip and an explosive object. Explosive object? Gunpowder?

"Mmm... Muh... Gren.... Bag... Keep way.. uh-," unable to comprehend any of her slurred words, Muhafiz slapped her gently on the cheek. Impatiently, he slapped her again with force, "wow - OH!" Lara awoke with a start.

Working quickly, she extracted a bottle of liquid from her backpack and began to draw a line of it along the floor reaching to the barrier where she sloshed it recklessly in vain. Muhafiz looked on with a puzzled expression.

"Lara, what is this?"

"Alcohol," she replied dryly

"What? You'll get us killed!"

"Yes, well that is a possibility," she said with slight hysteria in her voice, "but do we have anything better?" She pushed Muhafiz towards the opposite wall and sheilded him with her body. He placed a hand on her waist and the two watched the chaos ensue. The flames travelled violently down the path of alcohol billowing black smoke as it went. The barrier lit with a loud whoosing sound.

"Lara," Muhafiz had become impatient.

"Wait just a few more seconds..." Lara watched the fire carefully.

"LARA!"

"NOW!" She yelled, using the force of her entire body to knock the weakened blockage to the ground. She grabbed Muhafiz's hand and leapt over the debris, sprinting towards an opening leading to what she hoped was natural light.

"Lara! Lara! I think I see the sun!" Muhafiz was right, they were headed straight for the sunrise glowing over the Saharan desert. As they reached a halt they found themselves on a ledge overlooking the dunes from high up in a golden sandstone cliff. Clouds swirled in all sorts of beautiful shapes and patterns above, illuminated in pinks and purples and yellows from the sunrise. Lara drew in a breath, thankful for the fresh morning air. She turned to Muhafiz.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?" He looked confused

"For saving my life," she replied with a smile, "and for that kiss..." she said with a darker tone. Muhafiz's face flushed a bright red and she found herself chuckling. He coughed and covered his face with a fist.

"So..." he racked his brains for something less awkward to talk about, "why do you carry alcohol with you?"

"I'm an alcoholic." Lara replied flatly. She burst into laughter at seeing his shocked expression and brushed a rogue strand of hair from his face, "it's to disinfect injuries. Or in this case, to create a potentially deadly fire hazard." Amused, he grinned and gazed into her eyes. As blinding sunlight illuminated flushed cheeks he leaned in and gently kissed her. Both shared the same shade of beetroot and awkwardly exchanged a coy glance.

After watching the sun rise in all it's magnificent glory, the two travelled down the cliff and found their way to where Zip was still parked. Muhafiz walked her to where they first met where they said their goodbyes and exchanged another short kiss. As she made her way back to the truck she felt a sense of wellbeing she hadn't felt in a long time. She knew that the chances of seeing Muhafiz again were next to none, but also felt that somehow the hole in her heart had become shallower. The feeling rushed through her, filling her with a sense of happiness and a slight tingling in her stomach. She smiled and grinned at Zip.

"You okay, Lara? You seem..." he paused and looked her up and down, "happy."

"What are you implying, Zip?" She said with a cheeky smile.

"I dunno..." he mused, "you find anything?"

"Yes," Lara said triamphuntly. She extracted the highlighter pens from her pocket, "Da daa!" Zip smiled and took the pens gratefully.

"Anything else?" He asked gleefully.

"Yes," she replied with that same sense of wellbeing.

"Can I see it?"

"No, it's invisible," she continued to grin madly.

"Uhh...," Zip looked at her with an extremely confused expression.

"Just take me home, Zip," Lara said dreamily as she drifted away into a well deserved slumber.



THE END



NOTICE: This story is a work of fiction. Lara Croft, her likeness, and the Tomb Raider games are all copyright of EIDOS Interactive. There is no challenge to these copyrights intended by this story, as it is a non-sanctioned, unofficial work of the author's own. Entry for the 7th Village of Tokakeriby Tomb Raider Story Competition, 2012.