Strike him down!

Lara’s uneasiness grew by the second, she felt the creature lurking around her, creeping up against her. She could’ve sworn its cold hands were touching her skin, images of her pleasing the chief flashed before her eyes.

It was like pleasure and fear at the same time, she could almost feel both the chief and the creature inside her, her breath drew heavy and she was about to collapse yet again. But then her eyes opened wide as she felt a faint sense of comfort within her , it was the chief reaching out to her, she was sure of this.

She clenched the spear tight and with a swift strike she stabbed the chief that stood before her, blood drew from his chest as the look on his face changed. A look of certain disappointment and disbelief, as he dissipated into a cloud of smoke, only to reappear again as the creature from before.

She saw through its guise, even though it changed into something she cared for, something dear to hear, she still felt it’s dark, cold heart. For all its power it still wasn’t able to hide its true nature, unable to trick her into its illusion.

The creature growled again and the pillars cracked, floor had started to shake and its hand swiftly reached for Lara’s throat. She wasn’t able to dodge it this time and it lifted her off the floor, holding her by her throat. Her body was shaking all over when the creature pulled her towards itself, she could feel the **** cold coming from its body, as if she was near a glacier.

Its eyes shone a bright red as it launched her across the room, against the wall at the far end. Her vision got blurry and she struggled to get up, but then she saw a mirror leaning against the altar.
A plan formed inside her mind as she switched between looking at the creature and the mirror, she believed the mirror must have a purpose. Unsure if her newfound plan would work, she decided to take her luck with the mirror anyway.

The beast hurled itself at her, but Lara quickly grabbed the mirror and pointed it at the creature. It stopped dead in its tracks. As she carefully looked around to see its reflection, she saw the creature in a different way. It was a much clearer pale fog, its body now seemed no bigger then a boy, but what caught her eye the most was the staff inside its chest, glowing a velvet blue.

Lara knew what she had to do and she had to be quick about it, her hand reached inside the creature. It felt like thousands of small needles being punctured inside her arm, it felt like being frozen. But the painful experience didn’t stop her from keeping at it, she cried out in pain as she barely and with a lot of effort wrapped her fingers around the staff.

She pulled it out with all her might as the creature screamed in pain and vanished into dark mist as it slowly disappeared inside the floor.

Lara collapsed and grabbed her shoulder dropping the staff and trying to get her mind off the immense pain. There was no visible damage besides being a bit red from the cold but that didn’t make the pain any more bearable.

The whole room flashed a bright blue light and she felt herself getting lighter, floating through the air as if carried by the wind. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a more familiar setting, it was outside the temple. Same door, same temple as before but it was shut tight and all the gem stones were gone. It was as if she never left this spot, as if she had never entered the temple, or at least that’s how it felt to her.

But the fatigue she felt inside her suggested otherwise, the pain was still present in her arm and she felt feverish. It got worse by the minute, she started panting and finally she collapsed passing out yet again.

When she came to, she found herself lying inside the chiefs home, it was good to finally feel the safety of his presence, the warmth she always got by only being close to him. Only now she wasn’t sure if it was the fever playing tricks on her or her own mind failing her, but when his hand touched her all the doubts disappeared.