As much as I could see that Lara’s confusion and tension were slowly rising as her mind tried to make sense with what was happening here, I needed some information to confirm the timeline before we got distracted by having Hermione explain about magic. For instance if Himiko had already been resurrected then we needed to move right now.

Turning to Lara, I broke the silence, causing everyone to look up from where they had been slowly eating their sandwiches. “Ok, before we start explaining things, we need to know what exactly has happened. All we saw were possibilities of what might happen. After that, we will explain why and how we are here and what might happen.”

Lara took a shaky breath as she considered my words before she nodded. “What do you want to know?”

I tried to look calm because this was absolutely not going to go over well. “I am sorry, but we basically need a situational report if we know where to help. As hard as it is, this Sitrep will let us know where to focus.” There was a moment while I waited for her to look down and breathe a few times before she looked up and steeled herself for my questions.

Seeing her determination, I began asking. “Was your ship broken in a storm? Is any of the crew still alive, and if so where? Has Sam been captured? Is the ship captain Conrad Roth still alive? And is your expedition leader, James Whitman, still alive?”

There was a moment where Lara looked like she might have been having a flash back but then I saw the steel in her spine and reminded myself why she was a hero in her own right. She started out soft but it got louder as she went on. “We were sailing when a storm hit us. I believe it was 4 days ago, but I have begun losing track of time. Especially as I was unconscious for some of that period.”

Hermione scooted a little closer before putting an arm around Lara. Lara swallowed but continued her story. “I arrived and was captured for a little while and had to fight my way out… it wasn’t pretty.”

Amy seemed to realize that Lara wasn’t as ok as she had maybe let herself appear and walked over to her other side before asking, the very image of a professional doctor. “I am a healer, may I heal you? I only need to touch your skin.”

Lara actually bit her lip for a moment before she nodded, and Amy kneeled down and touched her arm before hissing in distress or maybe worry. “Wow, you have certainly gone through quite the ordeal, Miss Croft, but don’t worry, I have seen and healed worse. Your abdominal puncture is causing some internal bleeding, but your cauterization is doing a moderately good job keeping you up. You have some massive internal and external bruising from multiple sources. Not to mention quite a few burns. Worst of all, you have received two different blows to your head that have given you quite the concussion.”

All of us looked a little horrified at how badly she was doing, but Amy surprised us all. “What is interesting is your body is fighting and healing quite a bit above what would be human normal.”

That confused everyone so I got up and slowly approached Lara who was looking around just as confused as everyone else. Yet as I looked carefully, I could see Lara’s own magical funnel and tap. The tap wasn’t shaped like Holly and Hermione, but it looked a little different from what I could remember of the squib I had seen over a year ago.

That magical boost explained her superhuman abilities and how she was winning a one woman war against a small army. It also explained how she was managing to run and fight after taking what should have probably been crippling injuries.

The question was what I should say about it. I didn’t want to mention souls anytime soon. Maybe just a generic discussion on seeing magic potential?

Looking Lara in the eyes, I smiled as wide as I could and put on a jovial tone. “Congratulations, Lara Croft, you are officially allowed to know about the magical world. You aren’t a wizard or witch like the rest of us, but you do have magic, and it seems to be looping around to be more or less supercharging your body.”

Gesturing towards Hermione, I continued. “In a second, Hermione will tell you more about magic, but since you are a type of squib we aren’t even breaking any rules by telling you about the hidden magical world. However, before we get to that, please finish your story.”

Lara frowned heavily, but after a moment she decided to continue. “I found Sam for a little while with a guy named Matthias. He talked alot about the ancient Queen Himiko that ruled this island. I was so tired that I crashed for a bit. However, when I woke up, they were gone. I found a few more members of the crew and expedition near the beach, but the natives found us.” A flicker of emotion crossed her face. “They killed a few of us”. The flicker of emotion got stronger. “I was captured with Dr. Whitman and then that guard…” There was a momentary pause when I realized the attacker might have actually raped her. This wasn’t a plot that was sanitized for a T for Teen game, this was the real world.

Yet before I could figure out how to ask about something so potentially traumatizing, Lara continued, eyes hard but distant. “While he was distracted… I got his gun and shot him.”

The room was silent as we all waited, not knowing how to continue. Amy didn’t stop and was visibly holding her hand tighter, and Hermione squeezed her shoulder. I didn’t doubt that everyone could tell what had probably happened, but before anyone else could say anything Amy cut through the silence, voice again completely professional. “No egg was fertilized and I have healed and removed any and all evidence of the encounter.”

Lara shuttered, and I noticed a little tear leak down her cheek. I wasn’t sure how long we waited when I realized that I was still standing to her side. I didn’t think she wanted to be treated any differently, but having a man standing in a way that might be considered looming over her while she had been thinking about her experiences wasn’t the best idea.

I decided to split the difference and reached forward to pat Lara’s hand Amy was holding before backing up and sitting down on the ground almost two yards away. Lara glanced at me and then at the people around her for a moment before I could see the determination start to return to her posture and face.

Lara took a deep breath and decided to just continue her story. “I found Captain Conrad Roth. He was hurt pretty badly, but he asked me to get a distress beacon up on the tower. However, when a plane did arrive, it was struck down by lightning that came out of nowhere.”

Internally I frowned. So we were pretty much following the script of the game for now. That was both good and bad, as we could plan a little, but it also meant that Sam would be sacrificed very soon. Plus, as we learned last year, our very presence seemed to be butterflying things heavily. That meant we were probably going to need to figure out what to do with Himiko as well since we couldn’t trust things to just work out like they did in the games.

The only thing I had learned from this talk was a little on how and why Lara was so much stronger and tougher than the average human was. The problem was that this was now real life. I winced, knowing that Lara’s friend Sam, along with an unknown number of crew members were now surrounded by these same sociopaths. I could only hope that Sam’s importance would keep her safe, and we could get to the rest of the crew before anything else happened to them.

I stared up at Lara for nearly a minute before I sighed. “Well, good news is we are here now, but bad news is we have a lot to do to rescue the crew and we need to get to Sam in particular before she can be taken away. However, before I explain why, I think we should let Hermione explain magic.”

I let my mind wander somewhat as Hermione explained what magic was and how certain people could use it, only clarifying that the fact Lara was a squib didn’t mean she couldn’t use magic, just that she couldn’t use a wand. I wasn’t sure if I should have been surprised or not, but she seemed to accept it all fairly easily. Especially as it seemed to answer some of her own questions on her abilities.

Even the revelations that Oracles and Seers were real and we had two here didn’t really faze her too much. Nor did the fact Amy, Sabah, Taylor, and I had special powers.

What did eventually surprise everyone including the trio of Hermione, Holly, and Ginny was that we introduced Ahri as a nine-tailed fox. The trio who understood magic were confused at the mythical creature looking so human until she showed her tails. Then that confusion was redoubled when I said she was hiding as my cat all year. Lara had gone wide-eyed from the mythology that she seemed to represent, and I wondered how many myths she knew about the species.

Ahri just looked amused and flashed through some illusions to demonstrate what she could do. After the multitude of inevitable questions from both Hermione and now Lara about Ahri we got back on track.

It was then that Hermione got to show Lara a little of what she had learned at Hogwarts. Amy had long since finished healing Lara and had apparently decided to lean against me instead of Sabah who was still watching over the prisoners.

I wasn’t sure if she was just picking the closer target or if she was trying to confirm that I was a safe man to be around. However, internally I was kicking myself for not finding Lara sooner, even if the more rational part of my brain knew there wasn’t much more I could have done.

At this point, the conversation finally moved back to my Family. I hadn’t been looking forward to this part.

I cleared my throat, knowing how uncomfortable I looked. I didn’t even try to hide it as it would help show how dangerous the situation was and didn’t need to be faked. It wasn’t like we could just snap our fingers and get everyone back despite all our magic and abilities. We didn’t even know where everyone was being held right now.

After a moment, I started explaining. “Well, good news is that Sam is indeed a descendant of Himiko. Or at least close enough not to matter after over 1000 years.”

Lara interrupted me. “1600, actually.”

I blinked before I shrugged. “So now that you know magic is real, I can tell you she did indeed have powers. The problem is that Himiko was a powerful witch and has some skill at dark and ancient soul magic. She is still alive, kinda, and is going to use her power to try to take over Sam’s body.”

I paused as I considered something and shot a portal towards the peak of the mountain.

I then continued my explanation. “One of her human sacrifices hundreds of years ago killed herself during the transfer and so Himiko was stuck in what is essentially a mummified corpse.”

Lara visibly recoiled as I explained, but after a moment she had questions. “How do you know? What can we do to stop her? Why is everyone else here then?”

I paused before I sighed. “For the first question,” I pointed towards Luna who had started looking over some of the mushrooms in the corner of the room and Dinah who was sitting next to Taylor.

“Between those two along with some records of other Seers we saw this possibility. It is how we knew to come look for you. However, I will repeat. We don’t know everything, only some possibilities. Hell, we don’t even know where anyone is right now or what they are doing. Well, other than the fact that Matthias will be taking Sam to the peak of the mountain.”

Lara paused for a moment before she frowned.

I paused, then considered. “The next question is what we can do to stop her.” I said before I sighed again as I felt my portal destabilize due to the hurricane winds at the peak of the mountain.

“That question does not have such an easy answer, as just now, the portal I tried to push directly to Himiko's palace at the peak popped due to the storm. So my portal might be less than reliable.” I blinked at the uncomfortable faces the trio and Lara were making. Rolling my eyes I explained. “My portals popping won’t kill anyone. They are, what you might refer to as, soft portals. However, it does mean our group would be split up and vulnerable while I am forced to create new ones.”

Lara’s jaw clenched. “But we need to do something. I want Sam, but I also don’t want to let them keep getting away with all of this.”

I swallowed. “I… I think you are right. If we just leave after getting the rest of the crew away, this island will just continue killing passing sailors and pilots until she is eventually resurrected.” I wiped my hand down my face. “I… I have killed before… honestly, I have done worse than killing as I literally tore the few I killed apart. However, the men I killed were mass murderers or unrepentant rapists.”

Once again, I paused as I realized I had already reached my own conclusion on what I would do here, then spoke slowly. “I like the idea of giving those who want to change a chance at a better life, but I really don’t have any problems killing those who hurt and terrorize innocents. Second chances are for those who want to change.”

I eyed each of my girls in turn before facing the trio of Hermione, Holly, and Ginny. “However, I am ok if you don’t want to participate in the violence.”

There was a moment of silence as each girl thought about it. Lara suddenly seemed to realize how young each of us was. Amy had made us look a little older before arriving, but we still looked like we were still just shy of twenty, barely adults. I would need to clarify that later.

Taylor and Amy almost interrupted each other as they spoke a variation of. “We will fight.”

Sabah looked over to Amy before looking at me. She smiled slightly as she responded. “I will fight and kill if it protects our Family. Otherwise, I will just stun them.”

Ahri just raised her eyebrow and I nodded. She felt bad about it, but despite Amy and my modifications, she was still a predator of humans and was still forced to eat a soul every few months. Killing evil men was the best way to get her the food she needed.

Luna shook her head. “I am sorry if it causes problems, but I won’t kill anyone. I can, however, make them wish they had never been born or joined the Rotfang Conspiracy”

Dinah hesitated before she nodded. “I would prefer not to, but I will if I must.”

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Ginny and Holly looked at each other for a long time before they slowly nodded. Holly apparently spoke for the two of them. “We will fight and if we think they deserve it, we will kill them.”

Hermione frowned for several more seconds before she shook her head. “I am not ready. I am not against it, I just don’t think I am ready.”

Lara frowned but scoffed as I raised my eyebrow. “If they are trying to hurt Sam, I will end them.”

Hearing each person’s answers, I nodded and I gestured for everyone to follow me over as I examined the prisoners. “Amy, can you paralyze them from the neck down, then wake them up?”

Amy grimaced, but nodded. “Yeah, give me a sec.”

Lara and the trio seemed to realize exactly just what Amy could do and their postures suddenly turned a little more defensive. Realizing it now my turn to demonstrate Amy was safe, I patted her shoulder and smiled as she kneeled down.

In only a dozen seconds or so, two cultists we had captured were awake and staring at us.

The first one started immediately cursing at us and I slapped him. “Shut it,”

That seemed to make the two of them realize that they couldn’t feel their bodies and the panic started setting in before Amy forcefully calmed them back down again.

It was then that the first one started screaming, “Kill the Witch! Burn the Witch! Begone Witch!”

Looking at Amy, I frowned and gestured in a dismissive wave. “Put him under again. Maybe we will get something from the other.”

The silence and the widening eyes of the second cultist seemed promising, so I started asking my questions. “Well, let's start with why you are helping kill people and how many people you have killed before we find out about the hidden strongholds around the island.”

I was pleased to see the gulp.

However, half an hour later, I had to admit I was disappointed with the knowledge we had gotten out of the man.

Oh, he had sung like a canary, but he was a grunt. He didn’t know nearly anything and had only been here for a year or two. He had betrayed his business partner when their jet had crashed on the island. He had gotten the man killed and gotten his business partner’s wife sacrificed. All in order for him to live a little bit longer. He had then killed two men since then. Specifically ones that had tried to surrender and plead for mercy.

Not wanting to listen to his excuses any longer, I had Lara put him under again.

Staring down at the once again unconscious man I sighed and grimaced. He wasn’t the most evil man alive, but I wouldn’t trust him anywhere near the other survivors, and I didn’t think he deserved to have Amy carefully keep him alive and comatose just to spend life in prison. No, he deserved to die here, but I wouldn’t make him suffer.

I only paused for a moment longer before I pulled a knife from my belt and after one final additional moment of hesitation I slammed it down into his heart.

Seeing the cooling corpse, the girls all looked away for a moment. All except Ahri who had obviously decided to discreetly consume his soul since she hadn’t eaten in a few months.

I considered pulling my knife out to do the same for the other captive before Lara pulled out her pistol and shot the other in the chest before she turned to me. “What did he say?”

My girls and I all paused and looked over at the four other girls in the cave.

I was the one to ask. “What do you mean?”

Lara frowned. “You were talking in English so we got the gist of the conversation, but I am pretty sure he was speaking some sort of southeast Asian language. Maybe Cambodian… I don’t know. Was that magic?”

I thought for a moment and looked at Amy and Taylor. However, it was Luna that spoke up. “It is a benefit of joining Max’s Family. His gifts allow for everyone to understand the fabric and the pattern.”

I looked around surprised that Luna just confirmed it was something I was doing, but Hermione, unsurprisingly, was the first to ask questions before I could think about it further. “Does this omni-lingual skill also include written language? How does it work? What do you mean Family? Is this a power you can share? How do you share it? What does she mean, the pattern and the weave?”

There was a moment of silence as grins started to grow on everyone’s faces as we walked back towards the center of the cave with the still unconscious pilot. Hermione would always be Hermione, just like Luna would always be Luna.

Deciding it was simpler to give a short explanation than try to deflect, I sighed and once again gestured to Amy. “The trio here have heard a lot of the details, but Amy will explain a bit to catch you up, Lara. However, we don’t have time for a detailed explanation.”

Turning to Taylor, I continued. “Why don’t the two of us scout for the other pilot via portals in the meantime. After that, we need to find the rest of Lara’s captured expedition.”

That sobered everyone up, but Amy started tapping her chin for a moment, obviously thinking on what to explain. However, when I saw a small smile start to grow on Amy’s face I realized I probably should have asked someone else.

Before I could stop her Amy started explaining. “We don’t have time for all the specifics. But, yes, we can empower women who want to join us to a significant degree. The language ability and other gifts are possible as well. My ability to make our bodies younger is another one of these benefits. However, you should know while all four of you would be welcome, our Family demands that you put the Family first. We want Smart, Powerful, Kind women to join us for our travels.”

Hermione frowned. “That sounds like you are Max’s Harem.”

I winced, remembering how I had started out thinking of them as my possessions while under the compulsion, but Amy just smirked. “Yeah, but you don’t see any of us unhappy, do you? Plus, those of us who swing for both teams get extra benefits. Plus, he has been incredibly clear he won’t touch those not physically ready or those who don’t want it.” She gestured towards Luna and Dinah which made everyone’s eyebrows rise.

I was getting ready to be yelled at by Hermione when she shocked me by instead hesitantly asking. “And you can read everything… a book in any language… and all I would have to do is join your group to get the same?”

I did a double take to really study the bookworm who was now fidgeting slightly before I realized Holly and Ginny were doing the same.

Turning to look at the two of them, they looked a little surprised at Hermione, but I was inwardly a little happy to see they didn’t look disgusted or afraid of me. However, neither did they look particularly interested in our offer.

Turning back to Hermione, I realized that her love of books was strong enough that the thought of reading every book in existence was apparently enough to make her consider this.

Then, as if I didn’t have enough mind-blowing revelations, I did another double take as I realized that Lara was giving me a considering side-eye as well.

Internally, I had to do a little reconsidering.

Apparently, the ways to get girls to join our family was either to find women who were desperate to get away and then be kind and helpful so they happily stayed with you afterward, OR to offer driven women something they wanted.

I shook the thoughts away and changed the subject. “That is something to address down the road. Now we need to save Sam and the others that we can find from the Endurance. However, if you see Dr. Whitman, be aware that what we saw from the Seers showed he is willing you sell you all out, even to death or torture, for a chance to save himself or further research the ruins. In the visions we saw he tries to sell you out to the undead army and that is what finally kills him.”

There was a pause before Lara predictably asked. “Undead army.”

I sighed again. “Sorry, we got distracted. Most of the men like those two are castaways are still just normal humans fighting and killing each other, law of the jungle style. However, Mathias is leading a cult who are trying to find a woman to sacrifice to Himiko. A woman she can use in order to get herself a new body. Although I am not sure if Matthias thinks reviving her will allow him to leave the island or if he is actually insane and blindly obsessed with her at this point.”

I shook my head. “Regardless, back to the undead army. What you should know is that Himiko is what we might call a Dark Lord, and when she was still alive she created her personal army of undead Samurai that protect her even through her death. So if you see someone dressed as a Samurai, don’t hesitate, strike to destroy their body or run, there is nothing left inside to reason with.”

There was a moment of silence before Taylor spoke up. “I think I found the other pilot out of your southwest portal. He is being held alone and is quite hurt from the blood I sensed. However, he is out in the open, probably as a trap for you, Lara.”

Lara grimaced, but took a deep breath and then narrowed her eyes. “Let's go.”

I opened up a portal on the back of another set of houses, but this time I held both Luna and Dinah back with me. If Luna didn’t want to kill, I wasn’t going to put her in the direct line of fire.

Yet, thankfully, before I could even consider giving orders, Taylor spoke up. “I will try to keep a firefly in the direction of all the enemies around each of you like a mini-map in games, but be careful, I have been having trouble spotting tripwires and traps.” she took a breath. “Also, I am switching to lethal bugs.”

There was a momentary pause where we needed to explain video games to the girls who were growing up in the mid 1980 and 1990s. There was then an additional moment of tension when the girls were once again confronted with the fight we were going into, but I nodded. We didn’t have time to mess around here. Not when the pilot was bleeding out up ahead.

Instead, I just followed Taylor and Lara’s calls as they moved forward. Between Lara’s bow, Taylor’s bugs, the occasional flashes of light from the Golden Trio’s spells, and the completely invisible movements of Ahri and Sabah we nearly flew through the random cultist surrounding us. I even saw Amy shoot off a few spells as well, even if she was mostly focused on defense.

Better yet, we didn’t seem to be setting off any alarms even if the group ahead of us was getting a little nervous.

It was then that we spotted the pilot and even without Taylor’s warning we all would have known it was a trap. The entire area made a semicircle around the pilot down below, who was alone on open ground with no way to covertly approach or take cover from attacks. When combined with Taylor’s bugs we could spot the dozen or so cultists surrounding the area making it even more obvious.

Frowning, I spoke through the conversation portals I had kept up. “I can’t just instantly portal him away. I am certain someone will try to shoot him while I try.” I considered for a moment before I continued. “Unless someone is confident enough to transfigure a dome to protect him from a distance, we need a distraction so Ahri can get close enough to use her illusions. Then I can portal him away to the cave safely. Her illusions are nearly perfect, but they are still only short range and only visual, plus I would rather be safe than sorry.”

Lara hummed before she bit her lip. “What if I go up to try to talk to them while Ahri sneaks around. It will keep them distracted. Matthias likes to talk anyway.”

There was a moment where I waited for someone to come up with a better answer, before I sighed. “Let's do that then.”

Lara nearly instantly went loud by switching to her pistol and shooting a cultist further on in the head. The remaining men instantly started panicking and moving around. Taylor continued to pick off men she could get to since her wasps weren’t small. The golden trio also moved up casting the occasional explosion hex to keep up the pressure. This was all while I tracked Ahri through her soul’s portal as she creeped forward, completely invisible.

It was, predictably, Matthias that came out to yell at Lara. “What are you doing here, you stupid girl?”

Lara yelled back, just as angry. “I am here to kill you bloody arseholes and get my friends back.”

Matthias scoffed, obviously dismissive, as I pulled out my rifle and lined up the shot. I might be able to stop a lot of the problems if I could kill him here and now.

Matthias gestured towards the pilot who was still groaning below, saying something I didn’t pay attention to as I worried we wouldn’t be fast enough. Yet, I heard Ahri call out softly through the communications portal. “Pilot is covered, you are good to move him.”

Working as fast as I could, I put a portal directly below him and let him fall through to the cave, while I opened one in front of Amy to allow her to put him to sleep and heal him. I also yelled at Ahri that I was done and to move back.

That appeared to be not a moment too soon as not a second later Matthias lost his patience. “Kill the trespasser and the heretic girl.”

Lara had to duck out of the way as bullets began to rip through her previous position, but as I watched, I saw Holly cast a shield in front of the girl and any bullets began to simply bounce away.

Looking forward as I took aim at Matthias, I saw three other cultists throw down explosives on the fading image of the pilot below. Internally, I scoffed as I slowed my breathing while aiming at the retreating leader. Were all villains also drama queens? Simply shooting the pilot would have been simpler and damaged their buildings less, but then again, maybe big over the top displays helped keep their minions in line. Plus, he may have been trying to traumatize Lara or something.

Letting my breath out, I pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet raced for Mathias’s heart. Yet before it hit, there was a sudden burst of wind that pushed the bullet just far enough to the side that it split Mathias’s left bicep instead of hitting him in the center of his chest.

Matthias lurched and then threw himself away from me into the caves behind him. I saw multiple wasps from Taylor start to converge on the cave he entered, but once again a burst of wind blew them away.

I cursed and all the girls glanced at me. “Damn it. Mathias might have active protection from Himiko. I tried to shoot him and I saw Taylor try to sting him, but both times a gust of wind knocked our attempts aside.” I said then sighed. “Next time, Taylor, we aren’t going to wait if we can help it, just go for the kill. I would send a portal now, but I suspect I will lose him in those caves, and we need to find the other crew members and Sam first if we can.”

I turned my gun and helped the girls finish off the three remaining cultists as the rest seemed to have made a run for it when Matthias left them.

Lara grimaced as we grouped back up. “I think we are going to have to move quickly. I don’t know where the other crew members are, but we hurt Matthias and he might retaliate against everyone else if we don't hurry.”

It was then that we spotted the undead samurai showing up in order to investigate and we stopped in our tracks. I didn’t want to get caught in a firefight with them out here in the open. Not when we weren’t sure the cultists weren’t going to come back.

Yet, as we watched, the Samurai grabbed the dead cultists and started dragging them away. I turned towards the others. “Do we follow them, maybe try to pick these guys off, or do we try to find our way through the tunnels directly to find the crew?”

Lara hesitated. Probably for the same reason I did. Tactically, it made more sense to not leave an enemy alive at your back, but we needed to move quickly.

Yet in the end she shook her head. “We need to find the others before something happens.”

We all nodded before we stepped through another portal to skip past the still wandering Samurai.

Turning, I spotted another two explosive barrels and I pointed them out to the trio. Holly and Ginny understood quickly and banished them over the edge into the group of Samurai below us. Hearing the wails from the undead queen’s minions, we moved on quickly.

The caves seemed to go on for miles and miles.

Occasionally, Lara stopped to inspect an inscription or carving. She also was excited when she realized that we could confirm her translations from ancient Japanese since it just looked like funky English if we weren’t paying attention to the characters themselves.

At one point, Hermione even asked about our ancient runes class back at Hogwarts. She was not at all pleased that part of the reason I was doing so well in that class was because I could read them like a language. I had to explain that I didn't know how to instantly use the runes. It was like writing a story or maybe poetry was a better example. You could understand the overall meaning, but the flow and deeper symbology took time to study out even if you knew the words. Unfortunately for me, the really powerful enchantments and wards all required that deeper understanding.

The discussion was long enough that we were still talking when we managed to find something up ahead. Unfortunately this time we came out to find the area up ahead was being held by five men all pointing their guns at the Irish helmsman.

I blinked as I remembered this scene in the game. Lara was ready to surrender when they threatened to kill the salty Irish sailor. He refused to let that happen and took three of them down before falling to his death.

Just like I expected the first cultist yelled out. “Drop your weapons or we cut his fucking throat.”

Lara once again hesitated and I whispered quickly to Taylor. “Get ready, you need to put them down before that Irishman gets himself killed trying to protect Lara.”

Lara seemed to have heard me, but not seeing another way, she lowered her weapons. Those who were currently visible followed suit, lowering our weapons as well.

That still left Ahri and Sabah on one side and the golden trio on the other who didn’t seem to have been spotted.

Yet before we could do anything else, the helmsman made the same choice as in the game. “Don’t stop fighting, Lassy, give these bastards hell!”

Taylor’s bugs seemed to have dropped two of the cultists, while the Irishman pushed another one off the edge of the platform. I knew he probably deserved it, but watching him fall at least 50 feet to his death was still hard.

The fight still wasn’t over as the Irishman then turned to the one holding a rifle and pushed him towards the edge. The two men fought for a second before the Irishman tackled the other towards the edge.

The two of them tittered on the edge for a long moment before they too started to fall. Lara screamed out. “Angus, nooo!”

Yet before I could panic, I saw one of the golden trio cast an ‘arresto momentum’ and the now named Angus began to slow in his fall. That gave me plenty of time to put a portal beneath him and a moment later he was also healed and asleep in our cave.

We only paused for a moment to regroup and decompress slightly. Lara walked first up to Hermione who had apparently cast the spell and gave her a tight hug before she turned and walked over to first Amy and then, after a slight hesitation, to me. Giving us both a hug as well. “Thank you… I… I have already seen too many people die.”

Once again, I winced internally as I realized that having only a few survivors in the games implied quite a few more people had been killed. In this more ‘realistic’ world, their deaths might have all happened right in front of her. In that respect, her break-down earlier was even more understandable.

Still, we knew we had to push on.

It was then that I moved us across the gap in the housing to the next set of caves and walkways. We followed them for only a few hundred yards when we spotted a large cavernous room filled with cultists.

I remembered this from the game. This is where they tested Sam to find out if she was ‘worthy’ to go through the ascension ritual.

I started to whisper to the rest of the girls to get ready to attack. Yet before we could do anything, I felt my blood freeze as, out of the corner of the room, three men stepped up and lifted a trio of dirty crooked wands.

“Bombarda Maxima!”

I didn’t have any time to dodge or move. We were trapped in a small alcove with nowhere to go. I didn’t even think I had the power to shield one full powered explosion hex, let alone three from adult wizards.

It was then that I watched as a rock flew forwards into the path of the spell, while I heard three strong voices yell out “Progeto!” and I saw three shields pop up.

There was a moment where time seemed to stretch as I realized I didn’t even have time to open a portal in front of the spells. I couldn’t do anything.

Then time seemed to once again resume and the rock struck the lead spell causing it to detonate early.

This caused the following two explosion hexes to also detonate, and we were momentarily blinded. Yet I could still hear the distinctive tinkle of broken glass as the first two shields failed before the last one cracked but held.

Yet even as I saw the mundane cultist nearest to us being flown away, already dead, I didn’t have time to counterattack as we all heard the ominous CRACK, CRACK, CRACK.

Then before I could think of something to help save us I heard Luna’s voice call out something that sounded like “mons fuga scutum” which my brain translated as something to do with shields to avoid mountains before our world suddenly went black.

Interlude Sirius Black:

Something inside of him shifted and for a moment he felt his mind start again as he looked forward.

He knew he needed to do something.

He was a failure.

He needed to do something.

He was a failure.

He needed to kill something.

He had failed them.

… who was he again?