Lara is showing Stephen some of the relics she uncovered, and in turn he takes her on a trip to
the Mirror Dimension..
“This one here,” Lara noted as she carefully unwrapped a dagger.. “Looks like it’s from the Chou Dynasty.” She laid it down on the table, the cloth partially still wrapped. “I tell you, it’s going to take months to catalog everything. I might just have to take your offer on portals, because it’s going to get expensive going back and forth.”
Lara didn’t mind so much when she went into her Empire City role. It was so much easier, especially with Stephen since she was familiar with him, not that he would remember their friendship in Derleth. It was amusing, and a little comforting to know that even in an alternate reality, Lara was still able to make and maintain friendships.
“Nothing out of the ordinary so far, but my father has thousands of journals he kept. Now that I know he’s not crazy, there are places and objects that no one would ever believe existed…” She paused. “Looks like anything is possible now.”
With gloved hands, Stephen lifted the dagger with the amount of reverence it deserved. “It’s in amazing condition,” he said, holding it up to the light to inspect closer. “Circa 850 B.C., if I’m not mistaken. The flecks in the blade are indicative of the era. Used for ceremonial purposes. See the stamp on the pommel? That’s the royal seal of Xi-Bo, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty. He’s regarded by Confucian historians as the model Emperor.” He picked up a lot of knowledge of Asian history during his studies at Tamar-Taj. An amazing discovery, but alas… not imbued with magic.
Smiling a little to himself, he was much more accustomed to places and objects that no one would ever believe existed. “Once upon a time I was one of those non-believers. Delving into sorcery has opened my eyes to things that would blow your mind.” He glanced over at Lara, eyebrows raised, wondering and hoping she would ask to be shown… but he wasn’t going to offer if she didn’t think she was ready.
“Or I could pop over there,” he offered, setting down the dagger. “Might be easier? And it’s been a while since I’ve been to England.” Again, the decision was left to her. “What else did you bring?” he then asked, eagerly.
It was difficult not to show excitement, this was the part of history that Lara truly loved. It was good to keep a record, she was sure somewhere the artifact can be returned. There were still plenty of gifts that were given to her father, but there were still plenty of items that Lara wanted to make sure to return back to the rightful owners. Plus, it was one of her favorite parts, taking notes and cataloging everything.
Lara raised her eyes. “Really? More than finding the lost kingdom of Yamatai and having to defeat an Ancient Sun Queen?” Part of her was being sarcastic, she was one-hundred percent sure that Stephen had faced much stranger, and that it was only the tip of the iceberg. Yet, Yamatai was the first real event for Lara that opened her eyes, mostly because after all this time, she realized her father wasn’t so crazy after all. “I’m curious now if you're being literal or not, because I don’t fancy my mind actually being blown.” She playfully shrugged.
Lara grinned, carefully looking through her container. “I’d be okay with it,” she replied. “Besides, I think you’d really like to see Croft Manor, there’s so many mysteries about that place, that I haven’t even discovered them all.” She carefully brought out a smaller container which held three Noh masks. “This, I thought was extremely cool to see.”
“Gotta admit, that does sound pretty cool.” Stephen felt Lara’s excitement for learning contagious, so while her brand of adventure was not his own, he was happy for her… and even a little aroused. His gaze lingered on her facial expressions for a little bit longer than necessary before turning to the masks. “To be honest, I’m not as knowledgeable about Sino-Japanese history as I am with Chinese…. However, Chinese historical records have written about Yamatai and its Queen Himiko, who possessed supernatural abilities over life and death.” His smile quirked a little wider, “Which is, admittedly, more along my area.”
He knew that Himiko’s power wasn’t magical in nature, otherwise there would’ve been more information about her in Kamar-Taj… but he left space for Lara to explain and expound what she’d learned. “You’re lucky to make it out of there alive.”
Stephen picked up the oni noh mask, admiring the detail of its horns and garish grin, but also considering Lara’s interest to explore. “Tell you what,” he said, carefully setting the mask back down into its box. “I can open a portal to take us to Croft Manor, but on the way take you for a little trip through the Mirror Dimension.”
Lara nodded. “I usually try to prepare myself ahead of time, I’m surprised how much information I can store, though I’m constantly worried about what I’m losing with late nineties and early two-thousand pop song lyrics stuck in my head.” She laughed and was only mildly joking. Lara was comfortable enough to know that maybe she wasn’t on the same level of intelligence as Stephen, but she was confident in her own abilities to know that she was still quite intelligent, and even smart people had seemingly useless information imprinted on their brains.
Lara smiled appreciatively then shrugged. “That’s not even the worse.” Then immediately bit the inside of her cheek. Shit. This Lara hadn’t gone through Kitezh or Paititi.
Instead she turned her attention to Stephen’s suggestion. “Alright, the Mirror Dimension? Okay, see that sounds way more exciting.”
“You don’t know when all those song lyrics are going to come in handy!” Stephen teasingly warned, wagging a finger at Lara. “Just watch, next adventure you go on, you’re going to need to solve the puzzle by singing Britney Spears.”
He glanced at the items she brought, then back at Lara. “We can go right now if you want, but my suggestion is to leave these things here. I can conjure a portal and we can bring them later, but to get the most out of the Mirror Dimension for the first time, it’s probably best that we’re encumbered. Are you ready?”
The next moment, they were no longer in the upstairs room, but standing at the bottom of the grand staircase in the entrance foyer. Stephen was no longer wearing his casual clothes, but had donned the blue tunic and leggings of a sorcerer. The Cloak of Levitation soared, seemingly from out of nowhere, to join them by attaching itself upon Stephen’s shoulders. “Let’s go outside,” he said, tilting his head in the direction of the door, which swung open on its own.
Walking out into the sunlight and trotting down the small steps to the sidewalk, Stephen took the lead. With just a little circular wave of his hand, the area directly in front of them silently fractured, the same way a glass pane does, though the other pedestrians around them noticed. Without breaking his stride, Stephen walked through the portal, expecting Lara to follow.
Crossing the threshold, the neighborhood looked exactly the same. “The Mirror Dimension,” he began to explain, “Is parallel to our own, but what happens here, stays here, and doesn’t affect our world. We sorcerers use it to practice our spells, and sometimes to fight and trap our enemies.”
And also to blow the minds of the uninitiated. Stephen checked Lara’s reaction to see how she was handling it, but there was no hiding… he was enjoying showing off.
Lara chuckled and she very much hoped it wouldn’t come to that, she did not think she would be able to do Britney Spears justice.
He didn’t have to ask twice, quickly but carefully, she set her things aside with a nod. A little enthusiastic, lightly hesitant with a dash of nervousness. Lara had no idea what to expect from the Mirror Dimension but at the moment all she could do was nod, and then stumble slightly as Stephen moved them. “Still not used to that,” she muttered but pleasantly even if she did typically think of herself as steady, his magic really threw her off sometimes.
There was no real reason for Lara to be on edge, but her instincts from her life before Derleth started to kick in, but she didn’t want Strange to think that something was off. From what she could tell so far, he didn’t remember Derleth and Lara was completely at a loss on how to bring it up. Then again, was it even her place to do so? They were friends, yes, but were they close enough for her to mention it? She honestly had no idea.
Lara blinked a few times, unable to really process what she was seeing. “Holy shit.” Was what she managed to get out she quickly looked around taking in her surroundings. “I really hope you don’t see me as an enemy,” she joked.
Stephen warmly smiled and responded with a deliberately slow blink. “You’re no enemy,” he assured her. If anything, he would like to ask her out on a date, but she never seemed interested in anything besides being friends and colleagues, so he decided not to pursue any romantic relationship and enjoy her company just as they were. And right now, Lara’s reaction was everything.
Follow me closely, I don’t want you to get lost.” He gave her a look of confidence, knowing she had this. The trip he was going to take her on would be unlike anything she ever encountered before, but wasn’t that what she craved? Adventure? then began striding down the middle of the street where a car was coming straight toward them. A wave of his hand, and the car split into two, then four, then six, each branching out into different directions like a spiral, where he led Lara through the center. At a corner, instead of turning, he did a little jump and began walking straight up the side of the building. The entire city then started twisting and turning like a kaleidoscope, and Stephen navigated through the insanity with ease, leaping from one wall to roof top.
Lara grinned. “Appreciate it.” It was hard to focus as she kept looking around, the only close thing she could relate it to was some bizarre house of mirrors. Only way different, it was certainly easy to get lost but Stephen’s voice snapped her back.
Lara had seen a lot, even this version of Lara had still been through it, but neither of them fully understood the sort of magic that Stephen had talked about, here and at Derleth. Lara followed him closely, doing her best to remain confident, it was hard to admit she was definitely out of her element here. “Shit,” she muttered in surprise and amazement as she watched the car split. Then her head turned in time to see Stephen leap to the side of the building.
“Okay.” Was all she could manage to get out but her brain worked quickly. You got this, Lara. She followed suit and let out a laugh of amazement, but also some relief. Lara badly just wanted to just watch everything around her, but she kept her focus, even if her brain was having difficulty comprehending what she was seeing, a stumble here and there, but she managed to keep up with Stephen.
Reaching the top of a building, Stephen rested his foot on a raised roof edge and paused, looked over at Lara, smiled, then looked out at the skyline, inviting her to do the same. The view, as far as could be seen, twisted, turned, and split into geometrical shapes, fanning out and ever shifting, some faster than others, in a trippy scene.
“It never ceases to amaze me…” he muttered. “No matter how many times I’ve been here. It’s never the same twice.” Agan, he glanced at Lara. “What do you think?”
Lara followed and when she reached the top next to Stephen, she held her breath for a moment as she took in every angle and shape that formed around them.
“It’s amazing,” she replied quietly. It wasn’t often Lara was taken aback and she had seen a lot, in this life and in her real one. “I’ve never seen anything like it.” It was certainly beyond her imagination and it continued to push her to live beyond her books and to continue to seek out truth.
“This is an impressive trip, Stephen. I don’t think I could top it if I tried.”
Concealing a small smirk, he turned his face away on the pretense of looking over the view. “Take a photo,” he suggested. “Nobody will believe you.” He chuckled. “They might accuse you of photoshopping.”
A pause, and then a question, “Shall we return to the Sanctum to take your artifacts back to England? Or would you rather…” he gestured with a nod to indicate ... would you rather continue exploring?
“Not a terrible idea, though I wouldn’t even think of showing anyone else, you’re right, they wouldn’t believe me.” Lara took out her phone and moved herself closer to Stephe. “Let’s get a selfie, as the kids say.” Her arm extended out, making sure to fit the two of them into a photo but angled enough to see where they were located.
After that photo, she made sure to take another one of the world ahead of her, very bizarre but also very cool. “I think the artifacts can wait a little longer,” she replied.
Stephen playfully posed for the selfie, smiling and holding up two fingers in a ‘V’ shape. “Send it to me?” he requested. “For as many times I’ve been here, I’ve honestly never taken a photo, myself.” It only occurred to him to tell Lara she should as a whim, but it was one of those things he kind of took for granted.
Smiling at her answer, he was happy to accommodate. “If you want to move on, I’m ready when you are.”