Disrupting the Ritual
---Lara pov---
I was now running away from a burning Jungle. I turned my head towards the burning jungle behind me and saw a three-headed wyrm black dragon. The dragon was holding a black Jian sword with his three-fingered arms. The dragon threw his sword at me, which didn't give me enough time to dodge. The sword was about to hit me, but someone went in front of me.
The sword went through the man's chest. I looked at the man that protected me and saw his white hair. He then turned around and smiled at me. His body is starting to burn away while he reaches out his hands to caress my cheeks.
Joseph: "Lara, wake up…" when he said his final words, his hands and face started to burn away, leaving nothing for me to hold. I tried to grab his ashes, but those too burned away.
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I suddenly opened my eyes and got up the bed. I am surprised that it wasn't me who killed Joseph this time, but something or someone else killed Joseph. I took a deep breath to calm my heart down. But while I was breathing in, I smelled something was burning.
I grabbed my gun case and headed towards the exit. When I opened the door, I saw that deck was on fire. I looked around and saw a man standing in the center of all this fire. Seeing this, I quickly ran towards the edge of the ship and jumped off.
When I hit the water, the current tried to push me around. But all of a sudden, someone grabbed my hands and pulled me out of the water. When on the raft, I coughed the water in my lungs. I then looked at who saved me and saw an injured Hana.
Hana's injuries aren't severe, but she might not be able to walk for a while. I ripped a piece off my black skin-tight long sleeve shirt and wrapped it around Hana's injured leg.
Hana: "thank's Lara… we didn't expect that we would be attacked at night." she said.
Lara: "Do you know where Jonah is?… did he get off the ship," I looked at Hana worriedly.
Hana: "Don't worry about Jonah Grant, and Viper got to him before everything went to shit on the ship." when I heard this, I sighed in relief. I grabbed my gun case and opened it. Inside is a high compound bow, handgun, climbing ax, and a shotgun.
Hana saw my gear and just whistled in amazement. At the same time, I grabbed a leather jacket and guns inside. Hana started paddling the raft towards the beach of the island.
Hana: "we should be able to reach the beach. You can go ahead and leave me. I will be calling for backup." she said while paddling. I just stayed silent and looked at the island that was getting near us.
Lara: "I can't believe that I am back here again..."
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I hid behind cover while I was being shot by heavily armed men dressed in green camo. When I heard them reloading, I then came out from the shelter and shot them all down with my bow. After confirming that there were no enemies nearby, I started walking towards the place where I destroyed Himiko's body.
After a bit of thinking about where they would perform the ritual, I felt that they would do it in the ritual chamber of the last known location of Himiko. I just need to hope that my instinct is telling the truth. Thinking back when I was here, Roth always told me to trust my instincts.
While thinking to myself, I pass by an empty building where the storm guards should have been. It still surprised me on how Joseph cleared this entire island from any life except for animals. All of a sudden, I saw a dead body, I would have ignored the body, but this one was different. This dead body has an SCP logo on his shoulder.
Joseph had told me about his time in SCP. But his story about his time there has a lot of plot holes. One was he didn't tell me where he was sent for his first deployment. And another was what happened to his girlfriend and how he got his daughter.
I shook my head and refocused my attention back to the body. I saw that his wounds are still fresh. But it seems he died from a heavy object crashing into him. I then grabbed his remaining grenades and ammo and was about to walk away. But suddenly, I heard people walking towards my current position.
I quickly hide behind cover, waiting to ambush them. When I saw the armed men, I was going to attack them, but I stopped that plan when I saw an Asian woman wearing a green qipao. She seemed to lead the group of Armed men.
Armed guard: "Mam, the girl is here in this temple; we need to eliminate her before she could stop the ritual of the ascension." the woman didn't say anything but raised her hand. The men around her nodded and fanned out to search for me.
I grabbed one of the grenades I have taken from a dead body and pulled the pin. I then threw it in the woman's direction. I waited for the expulsion and started shooting the guards one by one. Armed guard: "Mam, we need to move. We're being attacked right now." the woman looked confused while looking around. Then I noticed her eyes seemed grayed out, indicating she is blind. Out of curiosity, I tried to shoot my handgun.
When I shot my gun at her, she looked at my direction. She raised her arms, and all the rocks around her levitated. She waved her hands at my general area, and all the rock came crashing down towards me.
I quickly ran from my previous position into a new one and switched my weapon to my bow. I then grabbed another grenade and wrapped it on to my arrow I will be shooting at the woman.
I then shot an arrow at her guards that are defending her.
One of the guards looked at the arrow that missed the woman. He saw there was an attached explosive on the bolt. He was about to warn everyone, but he was too late. The blast disoriented the woman and almost killed all her guards around her.
I didn't delay and ran towards the woman who was disoriented. I then grabbed my climbing ax and swung it at her head.
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---Sam pov---
I am now in front of a burnt corpse of the previous Himiko that Lara destroyed before. Matsu walked towards the corps and bowed to it.
Matsu: "It is a pleasure to meet you, my Empress… the Dragon Emperor has sent us to retrieve you as his next wife." all of a sudden, he turned around and looked over the distance with a surprise and sad look on his face. "I see my brothers and sisters are all dead. I am the last guardian left to perform the ritual..." He then looked at the last men he had left.
Matsu: "we need to perform the ritual while we still can." he said while bringing out three golden objects and putting them around me. One was a small golden statue that was placed in front of me. The second item looked like a golden dragon that is set to my right. The final piece was a golden leaf that was placed on my left.
When everything was set in place, Matsu raised both his hands and chanted something I don't even understand towards the burnt corpse. The corpse suddenly glowed blue and started to levitate. The golden items around me also floated up, and a blue stream connected to me, the burnt body, and all the pieces.
I felt pain as something was invading my mind. I was going to faint from shock when suddenly an arrow was stuck in front of Matsu. The grenade that was wrapped around the bolt suddenly blows up, disrupting the ritual. I looked at who came to save me and saw Lara.
Lara: "Get away from Sam…."