Attempting to escape

With a sharp cry, Lara met the gigantic, two-fingered hand lunged at her with her own clenched fist. Her knuckles bit into the clay, barely slowing the golem's movement. She jerked back just in time to avoid being seized. "God, she thought. That thing is hard! And cold as ice!" She knew clay found far beneath the surface was not warm at the touch, but the golem's freezing aura reeked of enchantment.

It stepped forward again. Lara had a single advantage against this foe: it was so big it could barely move! Its head rubbed on the ceiling and its legs could not bend easily. She exploited the situation at its maximum: fending off the monster's attack with whatever felt under her hand, Lara slowly moved around the basement, ducking behind bookshelves, aiming at the monster's eyes with rusted locks and curios light enough to be thrown but heavy enough to hurt. A few times, the thing managed to grab hold of her arm or leg but she fought it off: its frozen earth skin seemed to melt quickly at the contact of her own warm skin, making it hard for the monster to hold his grip as Lara's mud covered limbs slipped easily out of between its fingers.

She was now as close to the door as she could get without stepping within range of the monster's fiercest blows. Her white night robe had been shred and soiled in the fight and hung pitifully behind her. Her breasts and back hurt: she was not used to run and jump around without any kind of support. "If I had not dropped that stone, she thought, all that swinging would have been enough to get me off!" Almost as a response, the creature cried again: "Stone!"

Lara wanted to make a break for it and was looking for a mean to distract the golem's attention for a second when she noticed that the creature was no longer lunging at her. It had suddenly turned around and was rummaging through the remnants of a bookshelf that had just fallen over. Something green and shiny rolled out of under the broken case. "The stone!" Lara said out loud in surprise.

But the golem had seen it too: it watched it roll on the ground, all the way to one of its clay foot. Then, as all the other objects the creature had touched, the green stone was absorbed by the monstrous body. Lara stood up, a little disheartened at the loss of her new toy and half-expecting something terrible to happen. She was not deceived: the golem's disembodied voice suddenly exploded in a deafening cry while its whole body shook and trembled. She saw the brownish and frozen skin suddenly start to shift and bubble, as if something burned within the creature and made it boil. A white light emanated from its body and bathed everything in the basement.

Lara came to her senses: it was her chance to escape! She rushed to the door and grabbed the handle.