By Caitlin Ward
Lara walked furthur into the center of the circle, not knowing what lay ahead, her every step could have been her last. The myths that had lead her to this very place were hanging over her head like a giant, black raincloud, just waiting to burst. There were many myths of Stonehenge. Some people say it is the equivilant to a Crop Circle, and was built by aliens billions of years ago. Alot of other people said that the display was built by the Ancient Norse Gods, Odin, Loki, Magni, Thor, Baldur, Freya, Ragnarok, Asgard, Skoll and Valkeries, when they were building a home for them all to live in on Earth, but the home was not finished as there was a great battle between the Norse Gods and the Ancient Beasts, but unfortunatly the circle remained unfinnished as the Norse Gods lost the battle and the Ancient Beasts took over the world and unleashed pain and fear into it.
However, Lara knew that neither of these stories were true, as they dated back way before Stonehenge was built, which was just about five thousand years ago, and the story of how it really was built had remained a mystery, until Lara set foot on the grounds of the most famous circle in the world.
There was no way she was turning back now, Lara wasn't afraid of what was going to happen, it was just the thought of nothing happening, she had travelled all this way and it wasn't going to be for nothing, surley there must be something underneathe, carvings, drawings, traps, bodies, she had to find out what, even if it meant putting her life at risk. She stopped, right in the middle and looked around - nothing, nothing at all which she could feast her eyes on. Except, then, just then, she caught sight of a carving of an animal in one of the stones, Lara walked closer, and reached out to touch it. Even though it was broad daylight, she couldn't see the carving properly so she grabbed a torch out of her brown leather backpack and turned it on. A snake, no a sea serpant ? Lara couldn't figure out what it was. Just then, the ground started to shake and Lara wobbled around like jelly, she dropped the torch and tried to steady herself, however she couldn't, the lucious grass beneathe her feet dropped, and Lara was taken down with it. Down and down she fell, into a deep, dark bottomless pitt of cobwebs and dirt.
A few minutes later, Lara awoke, disorientated and dehydrated she looked for the torch but it was no where to be seen, she would have to use flares, even though she had very few. 'Well that's one way to lose weight,' she chuckled to herself, 'Although, how I'm going to get out of this cave ?' She grabbed a flare and lit it, then she walked deeper into the cave, hoping for another great adventure. She held the flare out infront of her, but no matter how bright the flare was, she couldn't see anything... apart from the frightening faces on the walls. Lara crept closer and held the flare against the ancient wall. The pictures on the wall told a story, but some of the pictures wern't clear enough for Lara to make out. She saw men being dragged across waste-land, they looked weak, like they hadn't eaten in weeks, they were being whipped and tortured in horrific ways. Lara saw what looked a giant cage, with the men being beaten to death and some men even praying for mercy from God. However, the next picture was more horrifying, women and children being slaughtered and hung, even babies. The men who were torchering them had hung the men, women and childrens bodies on the walls, and were bowing down to them, like some ritual, or bowing down to them like they would to Ancient Pharaohs. A shiver went down Lara's spine and a gust of freezing wind swept past her, like a race car, automatically, she looked behind her, nobody was following her, she turned back to the wall and saw another terrifying picture, it was of a child, who had turned into a demon and was killing everyone in the village with his gastly breath, Lara had tears gathering in her eyes, and one rolled down her cheek. Lara knew she must go on through the dark tunnel, so she wiped her eyes and padded onwards.
The darkness surrounded her like a whirl-wind, thoughts of what the drawings had to do with Stonehenge ran through her head, which made Lara feel dizzy, she sat down to rest, she looked at the flare how the flame danced in the darkness, but then ran out. Lara sat motionless, dissolved in darkness. A few minutes later, Lara heard something, a child, a little boy, crying for help, and calling for his mother, at first, Lara thought it was her mind playing tricks on her, but when she heard it for the second time, she wasn't quite sure.
She walked further down the tunnel as the darkness swollowed her up, as she had only three flares left, she decided to keep them for emergancies only, so she put her hand on the wall and followed it, not knowing where she would end up next. The crying and calling was constant now, and getting louder. 'Hello ?,' Lara called out, the voice had stopped, 'I mean no harm. Where are you ? I can help.' Silence. Lara took one step further and was startled by a voice, a mysterious male voice. 'Leave this place, and never ever ever come back, save yourself.' Lara looked around, and saw nothing but the black atmousphere that awaited her. She called out again. 'Who was crying ? I heard a child, a boy. I'm Lara Croft, who are you ?' The horrid, croaky voice arose again. 'Ahhh, Lara, we have waited for this day, come closer into the darkness, the secrets will be revealed. Come and meet us. Come and meet me and Volovaz. Hurry, they are waiting.' Who was 'we' ? What were 'they' waiting for ? Lara felt only seconds away from a trap and wasn't going a step further until she received more information. 'What are you waiting for ? Who is Volovaz ? Who are you ?'
Silence surrounded the atmousphere, almost as if Lara had gone deaf, there was a ringing in her ear, and then the crying once more. Lara was tranfixed for a moment, and then tuned the ringing out. A piercing voice echoed down the tunnel but it was a different voice, a womans' voice. 'He must not leave he must stay here !'
Lara was getting annoyed. 'Who are you ? Where is the boy ? Who is Volovaz ? I demand you tell me now !' The voice broke the silence and startled Lara, who jumped backwards in shock. 'The ritual must be complete, Kozalk must be destroyed, and his power will fall unto us,' Lara could stand the mystery no longer, she put her hand back on the wall which was now freezing cold, she stumbled down the tunnel and suddenly, there was a blast of light. She had reached the end of the long, dark, horrific corridor and entered, what looked like a room for rituals and witchcraft. There were carvings on the walls, similar to the ones in the corridor, however, before Lara could get closer to the walls, the womans' voice rang out again, but it felt as if the voice was coming from all around, not just one direction, 'You have reached the place you desire,' Lara had no choice but to pull out her pistols. 'Who are you ?' she called out, losing her patience. The first voice called out again, this time, more powerful than ever. 'We are the slave men, and our wives' blood was spilt for the entertainment of Kozalks' army and our children were offered up to Kozalk, simply because he needed food to make his power stronger.' Lara now felt like she was getting somewhere. She asked another question, looking around and pointing her gun in every direction. 'Who is the woman ? The other voice... who is that ?' The voice filled the room with a piercing screaming sound as if summoning the dead. 'I am the one who defeated Kozalk, and I am the one who protected the world from Kozalk, until he rose again.' Lara knew what question to ask next, and then she would find out who this 'Kozalk' was. 'Who is the boy, the one crying out for help ? What does he have to do with Stonehenge ? What does any of this have to do with Stonehenge ?' The first voice broke out, not as powerful as the last sentence it spoke but still loud and clear. 'Ahhhh... the boy...' The voice chuckled to its' self. 'Volovaz, I believe this is the question you have been waiting to hear for so long, so I will let you answer.' The piercing voice appeared again, it sounded angry, as if she had been waiting for the question, but as if the question was to have never been asked. 'The boy was the sacrifice. He was a stupid boy, at six years of age you would have expected him to understand.' Lara looked shocked, six ? Six ? Six years old and had been made a sacrifice ? What for ? Lara knew she had to find out more. 'Sacrifice ? For what ?' The first voice broke out. 'As I am Master Nathanderfol, I command you to step up to the alter, if you really wish to find out more...' Lara did just that. Without hesitating, she ran up to the alter, to find a book, she opened it and saw horrific drawings, which were very upsetting.
Lara looked at the drawings in sympathy. She gently touched the book with the tips of her fingers on her left hand. 'Oh my word,' Lara looked at the drawings, feeling instant guilt. drawings were of which could have been Nathanderfol and Volovaz with a boy, their son. The next picture showed that the family was happy and loving. The next picture, however, looked like a serpant, the serpant that was on the stone before Lara fell, but there was something Lara hadn't noticed before, the serpant had the letters K.O.Z.A.L.K. tattooed on its body.... Kozalk ! Lara knew what was going on right away, she didn't have to finnish the book. 'How could you ? Your own son !' The first voice rang out. 'You wouldn't understand ! You wernt in our position ! It was him or us !' Lara was confused, none of this ment a word to her, she had to find out more. 'So what does any of this have to do with Stonehenge ?' Lara asked angriliy she was distraught that anybody would do something like that especially to somebody so young. Suddenly, there was a shadow of darkness along the brown, stony wall to Laras' right hand side. The wall changed. The room changed, into a church, Lara couldn't believe her eyes ! How could it be ... changing ? Their was people flooding in from everywhere, trying to protect themselves from Kozalks power. Their was a preist, begging all the people to calm down. There was a deafening banging on the church doors, 'Don't let him in !' One person shouted, pressed against oak double-doors. 'He will kill us all !' Shouted another. Lara looked around, nobody could see her, it was like she was invisible. The banging became more powerful, and was throwing people away from the doors. Kozalk had broke in, petrifying people with his size and voice. 'I am Kozalk, the one who defeated the Norse Kingdom ! And I will take over the world and make you into art work, to be hung up onto the walls of my tomb.' Kozalk then released a gastly breath of poison into the air, killing everyone in the room. Lara then caught eye of Nathanderfol and Volovaz. The serpant slithered over to them, they had not yet been killed. 'You are strong, you will have to come with me to my special tomb, and be killed there.' Volovaz stood up. 'Please, not us,' she begged, 'we are good people, not nearly as strong as this boy.' Kozalk looked over the the small child beside Nathanderfol. The boy started to cry, it was the same cry Lara had heard in the tunnel. 'Mummy ? Mummy, no !' The boy was killed and Volovaz and Nathanderfols' lives were spared.
The room changed back and Lara walked down into the center of the room. 'So what happened after that ? I thought that the Norse Kingdom was destoryed billions of years before Stonehenge was built.' Volovaz's voice arose. 'No. They wern't destoryed, they were hidden away from us that is why we started to build the sanctuary, Stonehenge, as you call it, to protect us, and only us, that's why we need Kozalk for the ritual, we needed to kill him, and make sure his followers and our son, Nowakikk could never harm us. We left it unfinished as Kozalk took Nowakikk, and became more frightening. Our son became a follower of Kozalk and killed millions of innocent people. Then, when the twelve day week had ended, Kozalk and his followers would hide away for another five thousend years... today.' Lara drew her pistols, looking all around. 'So you left the sanctuary unfinnished, and then....' Nathanderfol spoke. 'We were poisened, and buried in the walls of this very room... Kozalks room, he will rise today and we need you to to become his follower, so we can kill him and make you as our slave to finish the sanctuary.' Laras' eyes narrowed. 'NO ! You can't finish the sanctuary because Stonehenge is the most famous circle in the entire world and your certainly not going to kill me.' Volovaz's voice filled the room. 'KOZALK.... AWAKEN !' Lara shot at the serpant as it rose from a secret compartment in the ground. A hissing sound was made, and a green smoke came out of Kozalks nostrils, as if it were sleeping. Nathanderfol shouted 'KOZALK, GET HER,' Lara knew that they must have done something to make him do what ever they said. Kozalk slithered nearer to Lara and a secret door opened, Lara had no choice but to run through it.
Lara sprinted down the dark, dingy corridor and came to a long, series of traps, there were knives being thrown across from one side of the wall to the other, there were three giant swinging hammers, there was a crumbely part in the floor, there was spikes moving in and out of the walls, and Kozalk was only a few seconds behind her. Lara had no other option but to put her pistols in her holsters and make a run for it. She rolled under the knives and ran straight through the swinging hammers. She jumped over the crumbely part in the floor, now the spikes. The rest of the traps had been no match for Lara, but the spikes were getting faster, and Kozalk was slithering around the walls catching her up. If Lara could make it through the spikes, and Kozalk can't slither across the spikes like he did with the walls, then surely Lara would be safer. She ran through, the spikes catching her up, she was nearly trapped until she thought on her feet and jumped through the last wall of spikes. Lara had no time for a breather, as a giant rock boulder sped down towards her. She sped down the stoney corridor and turned left. Another boulder dropped. She turned right. Three boulders dropped. She saw a ledge above her and jumped. Lara pulled herself up... she was safe now. She could see daylight opposite her. Volovaz's voice echoed through the walls. 'DON'T LET HER GET AWAY !' Lara heard the blistering scream of Kozalk being crushed but the spikes, she looked back remembering the adventure, until she saw green smoke seeping up the walls. She held her breath and ran. At the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something, something gold and shiney. Lara grabbed it and jumped into the fresh air. She landed on the ground with a thud.
About ten minutes later, Lara awoke, there was darkness all round her, the only light was the light from the moon and stars. She had something in her hand. A statue of Kozalk. It was very highly detailed, it even had the letters carved in its' side. It also had the scales and the fine detail of the knotwork around his eyes. Lara put it in her brown backpack and looked up. There wasn't anywhere she could have come out of, and there wasn't a hole in the ground where she had fell either, which was really wierd, but she was alive. So she turned back around and climbed on her Norten Street Fighter Motorbike, and left Stonehenge with her head held high.
