P.1
Coughing, bruised and battered, hanging from her restraints in a blank gray stone room: Lara rested as best she could while bracing for the next round of ‘interrogation’.
The strength in her legs sapped from having to keep herself upright while being caned in every conceivable place, her arms long since numb from being elevated, she could only think.
A low hum broke the rhythm of her labored breathing, as the lights once again came to life around her. Through the heavy iron door, her captor entered. A tall, slender Scandinavian man, he carried with him a glass cylinder, capped at both ends by steel hatches, containing a semi translucent fluid, though she knew not what.
“It seems you are much more resilient to pain than I was lead to believe, Lady Croft.” His thickly accented voice taunted. “You are forcing me, in your resilience, to resort to methods I could and would not otherwise employ. You see, before you lies a being not of this natural world; a being of, how you say, extra-dimensional origin?”
Lara turned to high alert, a fresh course of adrenaline rushing through her, preparing her to react in whatever way she could.
“I assure you, Lady Croft, that even were you not stripped of all but your wits, that you could not harm this being. As such, it in turn has no intent to harm you. The intentions of such a being are wholly benevolent, in as far as it can perceive.”