Third Trial!

Lara was abruptly awoken as something wrapped tightly around her legs, pulling her back. She shook her head gasping as she looked back. There was nothing on her legs but she still felt it’s presence, it was pulling her with great speed towards the pool of water, from which she emerged before.

A great sense of fear overcame her as the images of beastly creatures from before flashed before her eyes, Wild growls echoed through the room, taunting her. But Lara wasn’t planning to go out without the fight, fighting it with all her might.
But it was to no avail, she was already waist deep into the water, her fingers clenched tightly around the rocks sticking out from the floor. Her fingers slipped slowly from their grip and finally her arms were bound as well.

She inhaled as much air as she could before whatever was pulling her finally submerged her underwater. Struggling seemed futile, the air was escaping her mouth the more she did it, soon she would be left with no oxygen if this kept up. And the more she struggled, the tighter the grip got around her.

Lara relaxed her muscles and leaned back, she felt a scales touching her body, her eyes closed and she felt the grip loosening. She felt like being dragged with enormous speed through the water, the grip released and she felt air once again filling her nostrils.

She was once again above the surface, gasping for air, keeping herself afloat as she looked around. It was dark, she could barely make out the hallway that was in front of her. In the distance she saw a shiny object, it wasn’t possible to make out it’s shape from this distance, but she was sure that it was probably her next destination.

Lara moved towards the object slowly and carefully, she didn’t want to risk activating a possible trap or worse, falling to her ****. But the more she approached it, the farther it seemed to get, it seemed like an endless journey.

She stopped and took a step back leaning against the wall, that’s when she got a glimpse of something. Were her eyes deceiving her? She wondered to herself. It was as if the object got nearer, she took another step back and it moved towards her, and another and another. The object was getting closer the more she moved back, until a candle stick with a lit candle floated in front of her.

When Lara took the candle the light illuminated the whole place and before her was a treasury filled with gold to the brim and an pedestal with a chalice on top of it. It was truly a marvellous thing to behold, made of gold and decorated with countless gemstones, some of the kind she had never seen before.

The chalice itself was filled with various jewellery emitting an enchanted glow and for a second a thought had crossed her mind. The same thought she had each time she saw a desirable object, the archaeologist in her admired it and the collector in her desired it.

She wrapped her hand around it, carefully listening for any clicks or movements signalling a trap being present. The silence confirmed that there was none but she still felt the uneasiness of how convenient it all seemed. Against her better judgment she lifted it off the pedestal.

It was never a problem for her on her previous adventures to take what she desired, for the first time she felt guilt for doing something like this. It just didn’t feel right to her, she just couldn’t shake off the feeling of something bad about to happen, but her hands held the chalice tightly.

Just a gaze at it seemed to slowly melt the guilt away, as if it was calling out to her, feeding the desire inside her to take it with her.

The wall started shaking, moving apart, but before she could rejoice the room emitted a bright light. Before her stood the guardians she had met in the village, the same ones she got very well acquainted with in the past few hours.
Yet she couldn't shake the feeling off that hey were different somehow, it felt like them but yet not at the same time, as if a sense of disapproval hung about them. Something more sinister, like she was in trouble.

Part of her wanted that chalice badly, pulling her towards the door and another just wanted to put the chalice back on the pedestal. She needed to decide fast, which part of herself she should trust.
The guardians approached her with an expressionless look in their eyes, all moving at the same pace.