The world had gone from a blinding white chaos to a terrifying, absolute silence.
Lara pushed herself up, every muscle screaming from the brutal impact of the avalanche's shockwave. Her head was ringing, and the biting cold was instant and deep. The first wave of shock was already receding, replaced by a searing, singular terror: Leo.
"Leo! Jonah!" she screamed, her voice weak and thin against the vast, indifferent mountain.
She was pressed against the rough, icy rock of the outcrop where they had sheltered Jonah. Miraculously, Jonah was still there, secured by the thick hemp rope, slowly stirring as the sedative wore off. But Leo was gone. The blizzard, generated by the avalanche, had consumed the slope in the span of a single breath.
Lara frantically searched the immediate area. She found the tell-tale drag marks of his boots—marks that ended abruptly in a snowdrift fifty feet below. Her heart hammered against her ribs, the rhythm of primal fear.
He's alive. He has to be. He's Leo.
She focused, forcing the fear into a tight, hard ball of determination. She was an archaeologist, a fighter, and now, a medic. She had one priority: Jonah's survival.
She confirmed Jonah was breathing steadily, his sedative-induced sleep now turning into a groggy, confused wakefulness. The immediate danger of the avalanche was past, but the secondary threat—hypothermia—was severe.
"Jonah, can you hear me? We're safe," she whispered, checking the knots on the rope.
Jonah's eyes flickered open, heavy and unfocused. "Lara... where... cold."
"We're going to get you warm. We have to move, now."
She used her Advanced Grapple-Axe and incredible Strength to pull Jonah into a more comfortable position, but she knew dragging him further was impossible. She needed fire and shelter, immediately.
Lara looked down the massive, terrifying expanse of the Geo-Thermal Valley—the open-world hub, she instinctively knew, the true entrance to Kitezh. She had to believe Leo was also making his way there.
She spotted a cluster of thick, dead pines, perfect for shelter construction, a hundred yards down the slope.
The First Step: Fire.
Working with ruthless efficiency, she quickly gathered pine needles and dry bark, pulling her flint striker from her belt. Her hands were stiff, freezing, and clumsy, but the flicker of a tiny flame, protected by a ring of stones, was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen. The fire was life.
The Second Step: Shelter.
She used the Grapple-Axe to chop down the dead pine limbs, weaving a rudimentary, wind-proof shelter around Jonah. The work was exhausting, demanding every ounce of her Stamina, but the sight of Jonah finally beginning to shiver—a sign his body was fighting back—drove her on.
Once Jonah was secure in the shelter, Lara turned her attention back to the silent mountainside. She couldn't leave him, but she couldn't wait either. She had to search.
She tracked Leo's path using her honed survival instincts. She found a faint trail of disturbed snow, leading toward a dark thicket of pines further down. But then, the tracks vanished under a massive blanket of newly fallen ice and rock.
Lara dropped to her knees, sinking her gloved hands into the snow, digging frantically.
No. Not like this.
She pushed the thought away, forcing herself to be rational. He wouldn't have been caught in a landslide. He was too smart, too fast. She continued to sweep the area and then she saw it—a large, jagged tear in the snow leading to a different path. And a few yards away, the deep, fresh gouges of an impossibly large animal.
She followed the path of destruction, her hand instinctively reaching for her Stabilized Pistol. The gouges were too deep for a wolf. This was a bear.
She found the final scene minutes later: a gigantic Siberian Brown Bear, crushed beneath a massive rock shelf that had clearly been dislodged intentionally. The sheer scale of the kill was staggering. The air reeked of blood and something acrid—a strange, chemical smell, like crushed herbs and metal.
She immediately knew what had happened. This wasn't a natural kill. This was Leo.
The strange chemical smell was the residue of the Poison Dart he had crafted, and the precise collapse of the rock shelf was the signature of his calculating, tactical genius. He hadn't just survived the avalanche; he had gone through the bear attack, beaten it, and leveled up his survival skills.
Lara sank back on her heels, the wave of relief so powerful it almost buckled her knees.
He's alive. He's injured, and he's missing his pack, but he's fighting.
She knew what that meant: He was moving down, injured, toward the only possible shelter in the Geo-Thermal Valley—the Soviet Installation. He wouldn't stop until he was sure she and Jonah were safe.
Lara salvaged what she could from the massive bear carcass: thick, usable Bear Hide for crafting heavy armor and a good supply of Animal Fat for torches. She also found a small pouch of Gunpowder and Salvage near the kill site—dropped by the bear's Trinity pursuers whom Leo had foiled.
Returning to the shelter, Lara checked on Jonah. He was now shivering violently but coherently.
"Lara, what... what happened to Ana?" Jonah asked, his voice weak.
Lara sat beside him, feeding the fire. She looked at the dancing flames, wrestling with the implications.
"Ana was with them, Jonah," Lara said, her voice hard, emotionless. "She helped drug you. She was the one protecting the Trinity soldiers. I don't know why, but she is working against us."
She chose to withhold the rest of the dark truth—the part Leo had muttered about her being a "chief strategist." Lara was not ready to accept that her father's former friend, her protector, was a conspirator in a global cult. It was a staggering betrayal, and one she would deal with later.
"I have to go after Leo," Lara stated, looking at the distant plume of smoke rising from the valley floor. "I know where he's headed. You need to stay here. The shelter is stable, the fire is hot, and you have water. I'll be back within the day."
"No. You're not going alone," Jonah protested weakly, trying to push himself up. "Not after Yamatai. We stick together."
Lara gave him a small, grim smile. "We will stick together, Jonah. But Leo needs me first. And this is not Yamatai. This is Trinity. And they're after the Divine Source. They will not stop."
She secured the shelter's entrance, gave Jonah the water, and strapped on her Stabilized Pistol. She slung the newly acquired Bear Hide and Salvage over her back.
The Geo-Thermal Valley awaited. Lara needed to find Leo, tend to his wounds, and retrieve the rest of their critical gear before their enemies realized their key operatives were still alive.
She left the shelter, descending the mountain with ruthless purpose, the fierce, cold determination in her eyes shining brighter than the first morning sun on the Siberian snow.
Chapter End.