Tomb Raider Anniversary Story

The Story of Tomb Raider Anniversary tells of Lara's quest for the Scion.

Los Alamos, New Mexico

During nuclear tests near Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1945 a mushroom cloud engulfs an abandoned town, uncovering a crystalline structure, sending an unidentified winged creature, Atlantean Ruler Jacqueline Natla as we discover later, flying out.

Calcutta, India

Magazine

Fifty-one years later, in the year 1996, Lara Croft is sitting in the lobby of the Imperial Hotel in Calcutta, India reading her fathers diary, when her long-time adversary Larson Conway enters the scene. He places a magazine on the table. The headline reads Croft bags... Bigfoot?.

• Larson: What's a man got to do to get that sort of attention from you?
• Lara: If that's the sort of attention you want, Larson, you're well on your way.
• Larson: Sounds like fun, but I'm only here to make an introduction.

Larson places a large hand-held device on the table on which a blonde woman appears.

• Larson: Lara Croft, meet Jacqueline Natla, of Natla Technologies.
• Natla: Good afternoon, Miss Croft. My research department has recently turned its focus to the study of ancient artifacts. And I'm led to believe that, with the right incentive, you're just the woman to find them for me.
• Lara: I'm afraid you've been misled. I only play for sport.
• Natla: Which is precisely why I've come to you, Miss Croft. This is a game you've played before; with your Father.

[The screen shows pictures of Scion and some atlantean letters.]

• Natla: You both spent years searching for the Scion of Atlantis. All you needed was the location of Qualopec's Tomb.
• Lara: You've found Vilcabamba?
• Natla: How quickly can you get to Peru?

Peru

Mountain Caves, Peru

Lara stands at the edge of a cliff in the Andes in Peru, reading her fathers diary.

Vilcabamba continues to elude us, and my insistence that we press on in spite of these failures has morale low... I suspect Jenkins to be the author of this sedition; he simply refuses to accept the possibility that Atlantis is the foundation upon which all known civilizations were built. Increasingly, I find it is Lara alone who remains untainted by academic dogma and open-minded enough to see this truth.

Meanwhile her guide is looking for a path up to the big gate into the caverns. He manages to climb a ladder which crumbles under his weight. He himself reaches the ledge above but the ladder is gone. He looks down to Lara.

• Guide: I'm sorry; I didn't bring enough rope.
• Lara: Not to worry. I'll find another way up.

Lara manages to find a way up to the gate which they find tightly shut.

• Guide: There you are. Look, we have arrived.

After some climbing Lara reaches a ledge high above the gate where she discovers a trigger that opens the gates below her. The guide strains his eyes to look into the darkness of the caverns behind. Suddenly 1, 2, 3, 4 pairs of yellow gleaming eyes appear. A moment later a pack of wolves rushes out, attacking the guide who tries to flee screaming.

• Guide: Aaahhhhh!

Lara jumps down, guns blazing and manages to kill the four wolves, but it's too late for the guide. He lies dead on the ground. Lara heads into the caves alone.

[...]

Qualopec's Tomb, Peru

[Lara enters Qualopec's tomb. She observes his corpse and the two mummified creatures.]

• Lara (reading the wall): Here sits the God-King Qualopec; One of the Triumvirate; Keepers of the Three pieces of Scion; Diviners of its knowledge; Sacred rulers of Atlantis.

[Lara gets out from the tomb and meets Larson, waiting for her.]

• Larson: I'd love to join you, but I forgot my trunks.
• Lara: Why am I not surprised?
• Larson: You've got your job; I've got mine. I'll take it from here.
• Lara: I hope Natla sent you here with more than that shotgun.
• Larson: Don't sweat it, kitten; I prefer a more hands-on approach.

[Lara is interrogating Larson, after defeating him.]

• Lara: This is only one piece of Scion. Where's the rest of it?
• Larson: Gimme a minute, I'm thinking.

[Lara points her guns to Larson's face.]

• Larson: Whoa! It makes no difference to me: Pierre's probably already found his piece.
• Lara: Pierre Dupont? Where?
• Larson: Now that I don't know.
• Lara: All right. I'm convinced.
• Larson: Damn, you really had me going there.

Natla Technologies Headquarter

[Lara watches a video with Larson spying her in Qualopec's tomb.]

• Larson: Looks like our girl's pulled it off.
• Natla: Of course she has. Now it's up to you.
• Larson: Not that I'm complaining boss, but what makes you so sure she's not going to bring it back herself?
• Natla: Lara would never part with the Scion; she's far too obsessed with it. Just like her father.

[Lara changes the video]

• Natla: Ah, Monsieur Dupont, you have something to report?
• Pierre: Good news, Madame, your information was correct. I have located my piece of the Scion. Voilà. It is bured under a place called-

[Lara stops the video]

• Lara: St. Francis Folly.

Greece

[In St. Francis Folly entrance]

• Richard Croft (message): I've acquired new evidence that leads me to believe it is the Scion itself that is in some strange way, a vast library of information to rival even Alexandria. I am now convinced that, if I can obtain it, I will finally discovered what happened to my beloved Amelia.

Lara: Oh, Pierre, you litter bug.

[Lara is looking for Pierre among the columns]

• Pierre: I suppose you're more of a dog person.
• Lara: Natla doesn't honor her contracts, Pierre. I'd move on if I were you.
• Pierre: No, mademoiselle. Natla and I understand each other. I find things for her and she rewards me handsomely. But you seek the very thing she does. That is why you are not trusted.
• Lara: I trust my instincts.
• Pierre: And that's why you're in second place. I am a professional, mademoiselle; I focus on the job, and I get paid.
• Lara: There's more to life than money, Pierre.
• Pierre: This isn't life, mademoiselle, it's business. Your compulsion prevents you from seeing the difference.
• Lara: It hasn't prevented me from getting a piece of the Scion. How's business for you?
• Pierre: [pause] Touché. So then, why don't we see whose compulsion gets them the next piece?

[Pierre is holding Lara at gunpoint]

• Pierre: You see, instincts can be expensive. Yours are going to cost you both pieces of the Scion.
• Lara: That's not a price I'm prepared to pay.
• Pierre: Don't be absurd; no job is worth dying for.
• Lara: [pause] Yes, it is.

• Pierre: On second thought, you have it! [Lara takes the Scion] Bonne chance!

[Lara watches a vision]

• Tihocan: You have tainted the power of the Scion; In betraying your fellow Kings you have broken the sacred Triumvirate of Atlantis. You have maimed Qualopec. Your own brother.
• Qualopec: I am still here, wretch. Tihocan has ended your treachery. But it is my face you will see in your nightmares.
• Tihocan: What have you to say for yourself?

Egypt

[Lara starts to watch the vision from before]

• Qualopec: But it is my face you will see in your nightmares.
• Tihocan: What have you to say for yourself?
• Natla: The Gods favor action, not council.
• Qualopec: Yet it is this council that rules over you today.
• Natla: You rule over nothing! Atlantis is in ruin; nothing can change that. Everything must burn. Only then can the Seventh Age begin.
• Qualopec: You choose a path to madness. I wash my hands of you.
• Tihocan: For your treachery, for using the knowledge of the Scion to unleash our armies against us, I expel you forever from the sacred order of The Three, and condemn you to shame in the frozen limbo of eternity.

[Lara is surprised to see Natla]

• Natla: It cannot be stopped! The wheels of Kathar are already in motion! Doom will find you both while I rise from the dust of your bones to finish what I've started-
• Tihocan: Nam sing pratem. Fanf te rang. So tan qua lua licheon.

[Natla is frozen by Tihocan's spell]

• Lara: It was you? You were the Queen of Atlantis.
• Natla: Once.
• Lara: And the Scion holds its history.
• Natla: It holds far more than that. All the knowledge of the Ancients; things none of you could even comprehend.
• Lara: What is the Seventh Age?
• Natla: How far are you willing to go to find out, Lara? [snorts] Not far enough, I'm afraid. Kill her quickly. We have work to do.
• Kid: I'm gonna enjoy this.
• Kold: Enjoy watchin'. I'm cuttin' her.

Lost City

[Lara finds out that the track has been blocked by a large crate. Larson walks out, holding up a fuse]

• Larson: Sorry, darlin'. This is the end of the line.
• Lara: [sighs] Just hand it over, Larson. This has nothing to do with you.
• Larson: What's it get to do with you? This Scion belongs to Natla; Face it, you got no business here.
• Lara: I don't have time for this. Get out of the way or you die.
• Larson: [snorts] What you gonna to do, shoot me? C'mon, Lara; I just work here. Now I know how bad you want this, but I can't let you pass. And we both know you're not gonna kill me for it. [Lara hesitates] That's just not who you are.
• Lara: [expression changes] I'm not who you think I am.

• Kold: I was hoping you'd to show up; I want to make you scream.
• Lara: Unless you want to end up like Larson, get out of my way.
• Kold: It's so good, isn't it? It gets even better. You can't explain it to people; they have to feel it.
• Kid: Girl, you gotta be out of your mind!

[Lara shoots Kold, who fells weak on floor. She and Kid shoots each other]

• Kid: Not so hard now, are you?

[They start another fire]

• Kold: She is mine.

[Kold stabs Kid and pushes him away]

• Natla: You've reached the top, Lara. There's nowhere left to go but down.
• Lara: You're rebuilding the army of Atlantis.
• Natla: This Pyramid breeds far more than the soldiers you've faced. With the Scion, I now have the means to create anything I desire.
• Lara: What is it you desire, Natla?
• Natla: It takes Three to rule. Tihocan and Qualopec were too weak to destroy what stands in the way of the Seventh Age. But you have the strength to claim this seat beside me. Immortality has its price. But what are a few lives to sacrifice for your dreams?
• Lara: This is madness.
• Natla: This is what you've been searching for. The answers you've sought your entire life are within the Scion; everything you've done has led you to this place. You're here because you belong here, Lara. That's who you are.
• Lara: I'm sorry, Father.

[Lara shoots the Scion]

• Natla: NOOOOOOO!

[Natla appears]

• Natla: Thousands of years I've waited for this moment! Do you realize what you've done? That blood on your hands, do you believe it was spilled for the good of all man, or for your own selfish desire? Look inside yourself, Lara. Your heart is as black as mine.

[Lara shoots Natla and thinks she is dead. However, she gots Lara by the neck]

• Natla: I cannot die, you fool. [Natla throws Lara away] Sooner or later, you'll run out of bullets.

• Natla: What have you really accomplished here? Nothing but a temporary stay of execution for your kind. This island is just one remnant of Atlantis; I will find another. But you Lara, you have lost everything.

[Lara and Natla fight, which ends with Lara grappling one of the pillars down on Natla]

• Lara: No, I haven't.