The bridge collapses.

When a sound came from below, Lara carefully turned to look, but couldn't see anything or anyone that might have caused it. She must have imagined it while her mind was focused on her crossing the ancient bridge in one piece.

All of a sudden bats flew at her, a few at first, but then more and more followed. Lara took out her guns slowly and started shooting, but she could hardly keep up with the hordes of bats coming at her and almost making her lose her balance. The sound of her guns echoed as loud as thunder storms in such a big, empty space.

The bridge made a creaking noise and then the rope tore, followed by a loud snap as the bridge tilted to one side, before the other followed and the bridge was severed in half. It flew towards the side of the cliff with full speed, slamming against the stone wall, the loose planks falling into the void. Lara managed to grab a rope in the nick of time and hold onto it, but lost her guns and backpack in the process.

Completely disarmed now, she tried to climb the bridge that was falling apart with each second. Wanting to have as much agility as possible and less to weigh her down, she discarded her empty holster. As she pulled herself up on the rope that was all that remained of the bridge, the muscles in her arms stretched to painful measures.

With her last bit of strength, Lara pulled herself over the edge and to safety, before kneeling down to gasp as she tried to catch her breath. She was happy to have survived what had just happened. She'd had some close calls in the past but this time it'd been really close. She rubbed her arms that ached from the impact against the stone and the long distance she'd had to climb. They were sore and hurt like hell.

She looked up, the ground before her was covered in skulls and bones which were most probably either the old guardians or the adventurers who'd met their demise, either starving to **** or being killed by whatever lurked within those cursed ruins. Now, the served as a reminder for her to be careful and stay on her toes if she wanted to get through the temple in one piece.

''Well at least that takes care of the competition, poor chaps'' She said, almost feeling pity for those whose remains were spread in front of her.

She climbed up to the circular platform in the middle of the room and approached the dais that stood there.

’’ Present me the blessing of that which can subdue even a mighty foe like fire and I shall let you pass, but beware the path which will bring you to your doom,’’ She carefully deciphering the ancient readings inscribed on the dais.

‘’A blessing that can subdue Fire? Hmmm I know it’s water but this whole place is almost dried up, and the water running from the stone walls seems unreachable, there is a huge gap separating me from reaching that. There is no sign of any device or puzzle that can provide me with that either,'' Lara thought to herself as she observed the place and looked around for a solution.

She couldn't get back to the other side either, so she was stuck with either solving the puzzle or meeting the same fate as her unfortunate predecessors, and she wasn't planning on the latter.

The only other things in the room were the two statues which stood on each side of the door, one of a huge Minotaur like creature and the other of a masked man, probably a sorcerer of the temple.

While the Sorcerer seemed to be in pretty bad shape, the Minotaur didn’t seem affected by the time at all. But what really caught her eye was the Fire symbol on his chest.

She approached the statue to search for anything unusual. Beside it she found a sword, with another inscription.

‘’ Ye who subdues the fiend not with brute strength, but with a gentle tongue, shall have the path reveal itself. ''

'' Ask your questions and let me pass! '' Lara shouted but no one answered.

'' Speak your riddle great deity and I shall answer, '' She tried again, but to no avail.

The only thing she could think of was that the riddle must mean not using ****, but rather the power of speech. But the room remained silent and the more she tried the more frustrated she started to become.

‘’ Could it be that it's meant in the literal sense somehow? ’’ She said to herself, and wondered if others had tried the same path already, only for it to lead them to their demise.

‘’That might be the way the inscription on the dais warned us against, but what else can it be?! ’’ She wondered as she continued to try for an answer.

Why did all those before her fail so miserably? Was there something missing? Something they may have overlooked, or was there simply no way to solve the riddle?
Either way, she had to try something unless she wanted to starve to ****.

She took another glance at the remains of the fallen ones, especially their clothes. They were all men, with not a single female between them.

With this in mind she continued searching for more clues. Something quickly caught her eye that she hadn’t thought of the first time round, namely the leather loincloth on the statue of the Minotaur. It struck her as very strange for a stone statue to have a piece of clothing on it, but perhaps the tribes had done so to honour their gods.