The heels of her boots made small tapping noises in between the squelch of water on the dry floor. As she entered the warm, circular, domed room from the snowy outdoors, she pulled back the furred hood of her parka to look around. In the back of the room, a stairway led up to the second floor. Marble pillars were evenly placed around, not quite against the wall. The shadows that lurked by each pillar were very dark…

In the center of the room was a decorative pedestal with an orb in the clutches of a griffin’s bronze claws. She walked up to examine the griffin which held this crystal orb. There was a haze floating around inside the orb, but one could not get a good look at it since the griffin gripped it in an obscuring manner. She looked up at the griffin who’s stone gaze could penetrate the strongest bravery. The griffin’s wings were folded neatly against its back and its tail was wrapped tightly against its side. She reached up to touch it…

“Marvelous creature, the griffin, isn’t it?” A cool male voice broke the silence. She straightened up and whirled around, pinpointing where the voice might have come from. A silhouetted figure stepped forward from the shadows of the pillar. “Well, Lara, you didn’t think you’d be the only one going after this treasure now would you?”

“The thought had crossed my mind,” retorted Lara, who took off her parka and draped it over the griffin’s arm, feeling warm in her shirt and shorts. The figure stepped into the full light that the glass dome cast, but Lara had already figured out who it was. He drew a pistol and aimed it at Lara.

“You’re not going to shoot me, are you, Eric?” Lara stepped back behind the griffin. Hopefully she could make it to the second floor safely enough. In the months that she had read up on this room, she ought to have figured out how to open the secret entrance below the griffin. But, she hadn’t, and Eric wasn’t going to give her time to find out unless she stalled him. Lara pulled her grappling gun from her backpack and placed it in an empty holster.

“You know, Lara, you worry too much. That’s what it is, yes. You worry about your own well being which is more than I can say for some people. Give it up, Lara, we all have to die at some point.” Eric moved swiftly around the griffin but Lara kept herself hidden directly across from him as she worked her way around. Finally Eric stopped moving. He was probably tired of her games. Sweat beading on her face and breathing heavily, she peered around the back of the griffin. Eric spotted her and shot a whole clip into the hind quarters of the griffin, but not before she pulled her head back. Lara smiled weakly, and as Eric fished around for another clip, Lara dashed up the stairs and to the left where the low wall would keep her from Eric’s sight providing she stayed down. The way the stairs ran against the wall it was impossible for him to see her and with the tall, solid railings that also sided the stairs. At the top of the stairs Lara had ducked behind a flowerpot and pulled out her grappling gun, ready for him.

Eric pressed his way up the stairs, pushing another magazine into the pistol. Miraculously he turned right, not even checking the other direction. Lara moved low to the ground and quickly made her way around the left side, prepared to meet him in the middle. But where the middle should have been, was a thick stone slab that jutted out past the path and up into the ceiling. Lara sighed, relieved that Eric was on the other side. There was a stone box pushed into the wall beside the slab, and it fit so perfectly that Lara couldn’t get her fingers in to pull it out. She took her grappling gun and aimed it at the box, pulling the trigger. The force of the hook snapped the side of the box, and Lara cringed, knowing that Eric would have heard that.

He had indeed, and realizing that she was on the other side, screamed at himself and ran back around. Lara frantically dug at the large crack in the box, and finally one of the snapped edges came off. She pulled on the other one which came off too, and reached into the box and pulled out a dagger-like object. Her fist scraped the sharp snapped stone on the way out, and she dropped the dagger, her fist bleeding. Eric called to her as he began to make his way around the left side of the second level. Lara gathered her gun and recoiled the grappling rope inside the barrel, locking the hook onto the end. She took careful aim and as Eric rounded the last bit of the wall, she shot the grappling hook square into his face. Silently he fell to the ground, clutching his face and dropping his gun. Lara reset the grappling gun again and picked up the dagger and pistol, sweeping by his unconscious body.

As she descended the stairs, she wondered where the dagger might go. She climbed up onto the griffin and searched it thoroughly, but there was no place she could see that might house the dagger. Maybe the clue was on the dagger. She climbed down and sat at the base of the griffin, taking out the dagger to examine it. There were many circular designs that stood out on the handle, but they didn’t seem to mean anything. They only circular things she could think of were the room and the orb. Was it the orb? Lara jumped up and ran her hand over the orb where she could. Between the first two talons, her fingers slipped past the face of the orb. This part of the orb actually had a slot in it, but was disguised, and very well done she could add. She placed the tip of the dagger into the slot and tilted it upright, turning it until it began to slide in. there was a clinking sound as the hilt of the dagger hit the orb, and the haze inside the orb turned gold. An image of the griffin’s head appeared inside the orb, the back of the head opening up to show a circular space. Almost as soon as it appeared, the picture went away in a flash of light. Lara pulled the dagger back out and put it away in case it still had a use.

Suddenly there was a cracking sound like rock breaking, and the griffin began to move its hand away from the orb. The orb rolled down onto the floor and Lara stopped it with her foot to pick it up. There was a hiss of air as the back of the griffin’s head opened, and Lara climbed back up to put the orb into the circular space. There was a clunk as the orb hit the bottom, and the back of the head closed again.

With Lara still clinging to it, the griffin rumbled as it shook to life, spreading its wings and standing up. Lara jumped off and it looked at her, roaring quietly and nudging its head towards her. She walked up to it and pet it, wondering how a statue could act so much like a real creature. There was a crumbling of rock from above, and a few stones hit the floor. Lara and the griffin looked up. Eric’s hand was hanging over the wall and he was attempting to get up. Suddenly his bloody face became visible over the wall, and Lara began to panic. The griffin cried and jumped off of the pedestal, revealing a trapdoor. Lara jumped up and grabbed the trapdoor, pulling it open. There was a ladder on the wall that led to the earthen floor. As soon as her head cleared, the griffin pushed the trapdoor shut again, leaving Lara in semi-darkness. Below on the earthen path, a lamp was radiating which gave her a little light. She pulled out the dagger and pushed it through the metal loop that the trapdoor fell upon. This would keep Eric from getting in if he found a way to move the griffin.

Up above, Eric stumbled to his feet and ran down the stairs, yelling at the griffin to open the trapdoor. The griffin mindlessly retrieved the orb from the back of its head and returned it to its hands, lying down on the pedestal to once more become an immobile statue. Eric screamed in anger and banged on the griffin but it would be to no avail. There was no way he could get in. Lara had the dagger that unlocked the door. Off to the side of the griffin was Lara’s parka, thrown there when the griffin had come to life. He put it on as he walked outside and put his hands into the pockets. He pulled something out of one of the pockets and smiled…

Lara descended the ladder hurriedly and landed in an earthen hall that went two directions. Going left first, she took out some paper and began to map the paths and intersections. It was a maze down here. Of course, they weren’t going to make it easy to find this artifact. After wandering along many paths, coming across the ladder again and again, and retracing some steps, Lara found a great stone door that blocked the middle of a hallway. The door was covered in a strange writing that looked little like the English alphabet but many of the letters had extra branches. Some of the letters glowed and Lara touched these in their order from top to bottom, making them even brighter. Lara smiled at her own cleverness. Once they were all highlighted, they began to move around until they created a sentence in the middle of the door. It was a riddle.

If one hundred birds can lay one hundred eggs in twelve days, how long does it take for one bird to lay one egg?

The glowing letters disappeared and more faintly glowing letters appeared. She figured they must be the answer to the question. From top to bottom and left to right, Lara highlighted the letters in order, corresponding to the answer.

Twelve days.

When she pressed the final letter and stepped back, nothing happened. Lara frowned. She was sure that was the answer. Sitting on the floor in front of the door, she thought about it. The letters suddenly began to move. They disappeared and arranged once more, spelling

You may enter.

Lara stood up and smiled again, happy she was right. The door lifted up with a clinking that sounded like metal. A great mechanism was what was pulling up the door. There was an awful screeching sound as something in the mechanism began to bind. Lara ran through the doorway and turned around to look at the door. The chains holding the door snapped, and instead of sliding off the door when the door fell, they snagged, and the door pulled the mechanism down with its sheer weight. All of the rumbling as both hit the floor threw Lara to the ground.

Eric stood outside the dome room, examining what he’d found in Lara’s pocket. All of a sudden the ground began to rumble and he held his arms out to try and keep balance. The top of the dome began to cave in on the griffin, and Eric scrambled to get out of the way of the collapsing building. He slipped on the ice and fell forward to the ground, the crusted blood on his face falling away to let the blood flow anew…

Lara carefully sat up, dizzy with all of the rumbling that was happening around her. She was in an enclosed room, and there didn't seem to be a way out. Looking up, she saw that there were wooden double doors built into the ceiling, and a thin iron rod was pushed across them, keeping them shut. The ceiling was about twenty feet up, so there was no way she could unlock the doors. She moved out from under the doors and sat in the corner, eyeing the doors frequently.

Up above, the glass dome began to crack as the whole bulding attempted to move with the seismic activity. Large granite bolts holding up the stone slab that blocked the second floor snapped right in half. The slab, in a sense, wriggled out of it's hold, sliding slowly to the first floor. As the top of the slab slid past the second floor, it hit bottom with a loud cracking sound.

Lara looked up at the doors as they began to splinter, and the iron rod began to bend. The doors bulged as something tried to force its way through. She wondered if she could help it along. She aimed her grappling gun at the iron rod and managed to get the hook around it a couple of times. Planting her feet firmly in the dirt, she pulled with all her might and the iron rod began to come loose.

The slab forced its way through and broke the brittle iron just as Lara gave another tug. Her eyes widened and she ducked as the grappling hook came flying back at her and lodged itself into the wall just above her head. Splintered boards of wood fell to the floor and the slab began peeking into the room. Lara dropped her gun and gave herself as much room between her and the slab that the room would allow. She crouched and shielded her head. The slab came down and sent a cloud of dust whooshing over her.

The final bang as the slab hit the floor sucked the remaining strength from the walls above. Eric rolled over onto his back and lazily pulled the object from Lara's pocket closer. It was a picture of Lara, her brother, and her father. A single tear rested on his cheek as he whispered, "Goodbye, sis," watching the unstable wall come down onto him...

Lara saw that the opening where the doors were was bigger than the slab by about two feet all the way around. That was enough room for her to squeeze through. Her grappling hook had fallen from the wall, and she used it to gouge hand and footholds into the limestone slab. The slab continued up past the ground floor, and rested just short of the second floor. When she got to the top, she noticed the slab had been covering another doorway. There was a small room on the other side and there were plenty of windows in it, letting in a cool breeze. Lara looked out of the windows to the ground below. Eric's hand and the skewed picture were all that was visible under the rubble. Tears dropped onto the sill and she knew that if Eric ever had another chance, he would try to change.

A circular box sat on the floor behind her. She bent down to pick it up and pushed back the cover. Some light escaped from the box and she took in a deep breath in surprise. The light flowed like a mist towards her and she inhaled it. The feeling was quite strange. It gave her new energy and made her feel so alive. And then she thought of something...

Tucking the box into her belt, she used the grappling rope to lower herself out of a window and onto the ground. She walked over to Eric and let out a little light, blowing it softly over him. The light seeped through the rubble, and as Lara turned away, his hand moved ever so slightly...