Chapter 2

Albert Stone lay on the hard ground, his cheek pressed against the cold stone. He drifted back to consciousness. He only wanted to go back to sleep right now. He shifted his position, and felt the pain in his cheekbone where it lay against the hard stone floor. His whole body ached. His arms, and legs, and mostly his head—the terrible pounding pain in his head. He felt as though he had went several rounds against a gorilla, and said gorilla had a friend.

He pushed himself up on one elbow, opened his eyes, and retched, vomiting all over the ground. He tasted the sour bile and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He head was throbbing; he felt dizzy and a bit seasick, as if he was rocking back and forth on a boat.

Albert muttered out a soft curse, as he rolled onto his back, turning away from the puddle of vomit. The pain in his head made him breath in short and shallow breaths. He opened his eyes once more, trying to regain his bearings once again, only to quickly shut them again from the bright light that was overhead. He tried to open his eyes once more, letting them adjust the lighting around him. He couldn’t remember anything expect for being in the chamber with Seta and bright white light. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was the soft melody of bells.

He felt sick again, and closed his eyes until the nausea passed. He continued to lay there for several more minutes, before he slowly started to push himself up into a sitting position. He could feel his joints popping, luckily though none of his bones felt broken. He look about curiously at his new surroundings.

*Uncharted 2- Marco Polo*

The room was smaller, almost oval shape, columns running along each side of the room. Though unlike the bud-shape columns they had found in the chamber in Egypt, these columns here looked more liked Corinthian columns. Though most of them looked destroyed; worn from age and harsh weather, he could still see the carved ornaments of leaves and flowers on their bases. He also took note of several shattered windows, and parts of the ceiling overhead was missing as well, letting the sun shined through. At the far end of the room was a large throne, almost like the golden one in Egypt, though this seemed to be made of stone, large parts were missing of its upper half.

He started to slowly get up on his feet, making sure not to stumble over himself. He could feel his head ach returning again. He gave himself a moment to recover before picking up his duster that was lying on the ground beside him. He gave a quick examination, looking for any kind of tears or damage done.

After a satisfied check, he neatly placed it back onto his head once more and headed over towards one of the windows. Maybe he could get an idea as to where was. Though what he saw wasn’t quite what he expected to be, being greeted by a sea of trees and other vegetation. He could see mountains just over the tree lines at the distance.

“Just where the fuck am I?” He muttered confused by what he was seeing. Where ever he was, he defiantly knew he wasn’t in the same temple anymore. Hell, he didn’t think he was even in Egypt anymore either.

“Alright, let’s try not to freak out here.” He muttered, leaning heavily against the cold hard stonewall. His mind was trying to process all that was going on right now. He tried to think back as to what might had happen back at Egypt or as to ‘how’ he had gotten here. He kept thinking back to the carvings in the temple. Was what had happen with the key and the carvings reasonable for bringing him here?

“Alright then, we’re lost in some ancient ruins in God knows where, maybe miles away from any help, and no food or water on you. On the bright side, you’re still alive, none of your bones feel broken, and you still got your hat….yeah, sounds like a normal day.” He muttered examining the room once more, picking his short beard in thought, a habit he done for years since he had grew it out. A large part of the room was heavily shadow, though he could still make out some of the architectural structure within the room. It seemed nearly similar to many of the gothic castles that were in Europe.

He mind began to grind its gears. People had to have been here before to build this place, so there has to be a fair chance of maybe a town or village nearby that could help him. Since this place looked kind of like a European castle of fortress, then maybe for all he knew he could be somewhere in Europe; at least that’s what he hoped.

With a plan in mind Albert started to make his way towards the staircase that he had saw at the far end of the room. It looked like it led. As he was making his way towards the stairs he started to hear a low growl. He brushed it off at first thinking it was nothing more than his stomach. But what made Albert made his body tense up was the second growl, it sounded much louder and closer this time. He could feel the hair on the back of his neck started to stand.

Albert slowly turned his head around. His eyes started to widen, seeing two yellow eyes staring back at him from the shadows. A lion, he knew it had to be a lion; he could just barely make out the mane on its head. His best guess was that it didn’t look pleased that someone was invading its home. He could feel his heart racing. He wondered just how a lion could be here or how he could have not noticed it before. He slowly reached for his revolver. He knew he was in a very bad situation right now. But right now he needed to get to the stairs as quickly as he could. Maybe if he was cautious, the lion won’t rush him; if it did he would only have seconds to react.

Albert slowly started to back away towards the stairs, keeping a hand on his revolver, and an eye trained on the creature that was in the shadows. Just as he touched the first few steps, is when he saw the creature started to move from its hiding spot, but what Albert saw next nearly made his heart stop. The lion was huge, bigger than any normal lion he had ever seen in his life; it was nearly the size of a large horse! But it wasn’t just the size that made him stop in place; it was what was ‘on’ the large lion that shocked him to the core.

A legendary beast that was described only in myths and legends, a manticore! How could that even be, sure he guess in ancient times that animals like unicorns and dragons might had once existed, yet no proof was made of them being real. But yet here, staring at him in the face was a creature that had a body of a red lion, and a tail of a scorpion. The very creature of myth itself, standing no more than several feet away from him!

It stood at full height, the red fur shining from the sunlight, horns standing proudly on its head. Its large paws almost looked like normal lion’s paws; was covered in reptilian like scales. Though instead of wings this manticore’s tail however was a larger, and at the tip were several large needles that were nearly the size of his arm.

He remembered reading once that a manticore would sometimes shoot poisonous spines from their tails to either paralyze or kill its victims. He cringed as it let out a loud roar, showing its three rows of sharp teeth. It was then that Albert knew he needed to get the fuck out of here, caution be damn! He turned and bolted down the stairwell; the beast charging after him.

*Uncharted 2- Cat and Mouse*

Albert continued racing down the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. He could hear the manticore not too far behind him. He took a glance back, and let out a small curse. It was starting to gain ground on him; he could just see the growing shadow of the manticore along the wall.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and came upon a T-junction. He quickly turned left and raced down the corridor. He looked back again seeing the manticore now, still following close behind him. It was maybe no more than fifteen yards behind him. He pulled out his revolver and wildly shot three rounds behind him. Out of the three bullets only one actually managed to hit its mark; skimming the manticore’s left eye.

The beast roared, surprised by the sudden pain in its eye. But it seemed that the wound only anger the creature further. Albert looked about, hoping to find another exit and fast. He took another left down the passage and saw a door onto the right. He quickly slammed through the door, shutting it behind him before bolting the door. He knew that thing could probably rip the door apart with ease, but he needed some way to slow it down. The room was small, looked like it had once been a bedroom with maybe a noble. The only things that seemed to had remain was a small bed that looked all but rotten and a small fireplace. He noticed a balcony at the other end of the room. He raced over and peered over the balcony trying to find some way down; he could already hear the manticore pounding at the door.

“Oh you got to be shitting me.” Albert muttered seeing the only escape route available was a ledge that was ran along the building, it was so thin; he doubted half of his feet would fit on them. But it was undeniably leading towards a mess of vines just a few yards over. They looked like it could support his weight, which was hope anyway.

The manticore busted through the door, looking about for its prey with its only good eye left. It started to sniff about, looking for its two legged meal. It knew the prey was still nearby; the scent was still strong here. It slowly stalked in, following the scent towards the balcony, where the scent was getting stronger. It stopped at the sound of muttering and the fall of loose stone

Albert stopped for a moment to regain his balance after his left foot almost slipped off. He was right, the ledge was thin indeed. He could hardly steady his heels on it. He pressed his back against the wall. He risked a glance downward. He was nearly there; he could just touch the vines now.

*ROAR*

Albert whipped his head back towards the balcony and cursed. The manticore was standing there growling at him in anger, its tail raised as if it was ready to strike. His stomach turned. He could take a really good guess as to what that beast was about to do. He quickly reached over for the vines and started to slide himself down as quickly as he could just as the first several needles flew inches over his head. He slid as far as the vine could go, and cursed; he was still a long ways down. He looked about and took note of a broken part of the wall onto his right side. It looked assessable enough for him to grab of hold of.

The sound of another set of needles whizzed passed by, forcing him to press himself against the wall again. He gazed up to see the manticore was still shooting its poisonous spines from the balcony railing above. ‘That thing doesn’t know when to give up.’ He thought, holding onto the vine for dear life.

Albert could feel that the vine was starting to give-away from his weight. He knew it was only a matter of time till the vine would give way under his weight; he need to act now; his only chance right now was to reach for the ledge. He pressed his feet firmly against the hard stone and started to run himself back and forth along its surface several times. He needed to give himself the momentum he needed for the leapt. After about the third swing Albert let go of the vine and leapt, just barely grabbing a hold onto the ledge. He could hear the manticore roaring above, but it seemed the creature had stop shooting at him. But he didn’t care right now, and started to shimmy his way across the ledge, working slowly his way downward.

Albert reached the ground, glad to have the soft earth underneath his feet again. As he had been climbing down he saw a bridge, which lay just on the other side of these ruins. If he could make it towards the bridge then he should be ok, just as long as he didn’t run into that manticore again. He dug through his bag and pulled out a small box. “Shit.” Looking at the only remaining bullets he had left. Besides the two in his gun, he only had enough for eight more shots.

‘Going to have to use them wisely.’ He thought as he started to reload his revolver. Right now every bullet counted.

Albert continued to venture onward, climbing over rumble and small walls as he made his way towards the second large stoned structure. As he drew closer he noted a hole off to its side, it looked just large enough for him to climb on through. He began to climb up hesitantly through the hole in the wall, gripping his gun so hard it ached. He carefully looked about, if to see any signs of the manticore. Seeing that it was clear he slowly climbed himself in and dropped softly onto the ground.

The room looked about the same size as the first room he had been in early. Same rib vault designs, several broken stain windows, and only thing new was a large stoned round pillar that sat in the middle of the room. On the top of it was a large sphere, though vegetation nearly covered most of its designs. Just underneath it were five stone arms sticking out, each looked like they once held something of great importance.

Albert stepped towards the center of the room. He could see a large double door at the end of the room, and still no manticore within sight. 'Safe' he thought, making his way towards the doors. He was halfway there when something very large landed behind him. He glanced back and curse; it was the manticore again. It’s one good eye staring at him in raging fury. It gave roared; swing its tail and destroying a smaller column beside it.

*Uncharted-Showdown*

“You are persistent bastard, aren’t you?” He said, driving off to the side just as the manticore shoot off several of its needles at him. He rushed towards another column, trying to find cover of the manticore’s assault; he fired off two more rounds at the beast. He needed a plan and fast, just shooting at it was only making it madder and wasteful to his remaining rounds. He peered around the corner and quickly ducked again as several more needles flew at him. His brain was working overtime, looking about for anything that could help him. Suddenly an idea started to form in his head. All of columns looked rather weak and broken at some parts. It would take one good hit to knock them over. It was really crazy but if he could just time it right, there was a chance he could make it out of here.

Albert moved out from his cover and stood in front of the column. “HEY KITTY!” WOULD YOU LIKE A BIRD?” Giving the manticore the middle-finger. “COME AND GET IT!”The manticore growl and started to charge towards its prey. Albert just stood and counted down in his head. It wasn’t until the manticore was nearly on top of him that Albert drove off to the side, ending the manticore crashing head-first into the column.

The force behind the impact cracked the column, breaking it off its base, and sent it crashing down on top of the beast. Albert didn’t waste any time and rushed for the doors. He continued to race down the steps, his lungs like they were on fire, but he could see the bridge just up ahead.

*CRASH*

Albert glanced over his shoulder. The manticore busted through the doors and was hot on his heels; its body was covered in cuts and bruises. Albert knew he couldn’t keep running like this, it was only a matter of time for the beast would catch him. He was half-way onto the bridge when he stopped and turned back towards the manticore. The bridge creaked underneath the stain from the weight they were putting on it.

*Uncharted 2- Desperate Times*

Another idea was forming; he only saw this done in a movie once, but he hoped it would work. It was stupid and it may just kill him, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He started to wrap one of his legs around one of the ropes. The manticore was getting closer now, only 20 yards now. He pulled out his revolver and pointed it towards the other rope “I hope you can grow some wings quickly….” He pulled the hammer back; 10 yards left. “Cause we’re going on a ride.” He pulled the trigger.

The first shot tore through the rope, but it took a second shot for the rope to fully snap. Albert felt the bridge starting to give way. He let go of his gun and threw himself onto the bridge floor, grabbing a hold of the broads as tightly as he could. The combine weight of both man and beast put too much strain on the remaining rope snapped, causing the bridge to fall apart beneath them. Albert could feel himself being slammed onto the cliff wall, but held on tightly, not letting go. The manticore was trying to reach out to latch onto something, but was only grabbing air as it tumbled downward into the river below.

Albert stared on for a few more moments, waiting to see if the manticore would pop back up again. With no sign of it coming up Albert started climbing his way upward till he had reached the very top. He slowly crawled himself up onto the soft grass, breathing in short shallow breaths. The adrenaline was starting to wear off. His body was aching, the pounding in his head was returning with vengeance. He could feel himself trying to drift off to sleep.

‘No, I can’t….not now.’ He thought, struggling to his knees, trying to fight off the sleepiness. He couldn’t black out now, who didn’t know what other creatures could be out here. But now it was going to be even harder since having to drop his gun, leaving him only his knife. After finding someplace that was safe he could then rest, but for now he needed to keep himself moving. He slowly pushed himself onto his feet again and slowly started his way down the road into the unknown forest.

*At the river*

A large paw reached out of the water and latched a hold of dry ground. The manticore pulled itself out of the freezing water; its body was battered and beaten. It looked upward with its only eye, giving one last growl, before slowly limping away into the darkness of the forest. For now it will rest and lick its wounds, and then…it will hunt again. It will have its revenge on the two legged creature.