Final Trial?

Lara fought the urge to take the chalice and run as fast as her legs would take her, but her better judgement finally had taken the best of her, and so she put it back on the pedestal. The guardians one by one vanished into thin air, as if they were never there.

She took a minute to breathe before she entered the opening in the wall, another long hallway was before her, but this one was well lit for a change.
At the end as this pattern seemed to repeat itself, she found herself inside a large room without any visible way out.

Floor tiles made out of solid gold, golden pillars reaching high up to the ceiling. A chandelier that existed mostly out of diamonds and a few candles was providing sufficient light to illuminate the whole room. And there it was a relic floating above the altar, she recognized it all too well, the staff of Xzolotecl. But what was it doing here? Was this another test? She couldn’t help but wonder.

Before long, she found herself standing in front of the staff, she only needed to reach above her and it was hers. But if this was her final test, she knew this wouldn’t be that easy. Her fingers wrapped around the staff hesitantly, but as soon as they did the staff vanished from her sight.

Lara heard a loud growl behind her, it was unnerving to say the least. When she turned around her eyes were greeted by the sight of a huge monstrosity. A shadowy figure shaped like a giant man but unrecognizable beyond that. It’s body consisted only of dark fog, wearing something that resembled a dark hooded cloak.

It instilled great fear within her, she never felt so afraid in her life If the evil had a physical form then this was it, she was frozen with fear as it looked at her with it’s bright glowing eyes. She backed off slowly, her body was shaking all over and she couldn’t help it.

The room was icy cold as if it was well below zero degrees Celsius, it was obvious to her that the immense cold came from the creature itself.

‘’This isn’t real..this isn’t…Lara snap out of it’’ She tried to say but even though her mouth moved, the words simply fell silent, unable to leave her throat. The creature approached her reaching with it’s long fingers towards her, a sinister laugh filled the room.

Lara’s heart calmed a bit when she heard a familiar voice inside her head, it was a voice she recognized all too well. The chief spoke to her words of comfort and encouragement, giving her a boost in confidence however small it seemed to be.

‘’My dear, a long road awaits you ahead, but I have faith in you that you can complete this final task. If you manage to do so, you shall be yet again that much closer to your goal’’ The chiefs voice echoed though her head.

‘’Remember that a clouded mind and a sound judgement can never see eye to eye’’ Were his final words before the voice inside Lara's head fell silent once again.

She was finally able to move, it’s arm was close to her face but she managed to dodge it in the nick of time. She saw something vaguely shimmering on the wall behind the altar, something she didn’t see before, it was translucent and barely visible with a tiny bit of green shimmer.

Her hand reached for it, and a spear materialized in her hand, she felt a surge of power. Though the creature was still as intimidating as ever, she felt the urge to fight back. It grew by the second inside her as she plunged the spear forward, only to fly right through the creature.

‘’Why did I think this was a good idea?’’ Lara wondered as the creature materialized behind her.

But as she was about to strike it again, the creature vanished before her eyes and she heard that familiar voice once again.

‘’Well done Lara, you have passed the test as you took up arms against the evil of this temple, now let us go so we can prepare for the ritual’’ The chief who was now standing behind her spoke.

Lara sighed in relief and turned around slowly lowering her weapon but even though she was relieved that sense of uneasiness never left her. Even now it was still present, mocking her, her mind telling her that something wasn’t right, it was way too easy for a final test.

The warmth she always felt when the chief was around was very distant, the comfort of safety was far from present

She closed her eyes as her heart pounded like crazy, reaching her hand towards the chiefs extended hand, waiting to take her outside to safety.