Post by kingfaraday on Aug 25, 2017 11:05:29 GMT -6
The Warrior’s Challenge
By fan2000
Subject: AP Story
Lara Croft could see the valley’s edge through the dense jungle and started racing towards the edge of the trees. Lara’s breasts bounced up and down as she ran, almost to the point one would have thought her tight fitting blue top would let them out. Her long braided brunette hair snagged a twigs from trees and then fell against her back as she cleared the tree line and stood in front of the raised rock at the valley’s edge.
Taking a moment to rest, Lara walked over to the crack in the rock that the ancient Maya had undoubtedly used as the way in and out of the valley. The beautiful archaeologist looked on either side of the opening and found Mayan glyphs on the left side. Grabbing the sketchbook from her tight, short shorts, Lara started translating the text. While learning she was at the valley she was looking for, Lara had trouble figuring out certain glyphs that were either eroded or had never been seen before making translation difficult.
Suddenly, the unmistakable noise of someone running through the jungle turned Lara’s head. Then a figure appeared from the trees with dyed blond shoulder-length hair with red streaks and a noticeable pear shape slender body with good C cup breasts. Lara then looked at the face and realized it was her old classmate Teresa Cruz from her oval shaped face and blue eyes. Teresa looked at Lara and exclaimed, “Well, well. What is the amazingly endowed Lara Croft doing here?”
Lara’s eyes showed the rage on hearing the statement that hit both at her chest and her family. She then responded, “Doing what I was taught. How about yourself? I don’t see that many BIG bounty hunters in the wilds of Honduras.”
Teresa smiled at Lara’s wording and walked over to her former classmate. In the process she moved out of the shadows and showed her Hispanic body off. “Bounties are put on men and objects alike. This time it’s the latter and it comes in handy to be a former archaeologist for such a hiring.”
The two stared at one other then Teresa asked, “So, Lara why did the ancient Maya revere this place so much?”
Lara smiled and said, “You know as well as I that it was revered to house the source of youth. But it’s unclear what that source was.”
“Yes, my contractor hopes it is not the preverbal Fountain of Youth but a more travel-oriented object.”
Lara then raised her eye and said, “So your contractor wants eternal youth does he? Unfortunately Teresa a can’t let you take it.”
“Actually it’s a she, Lara. And the only way who can stop me is if you get it first.” Teresa then grabbed Lara’s long braid and pulled her down to the ground. Then racing through the crack in the raised rock, yelled out, “Nice seeing you Lara.”
Lara got back on her feet and raced through the crack and after ten feet came out on a ledge that dipped off into a centuries old trail through the jungle. The path led down into the heart of the valley where a river coming down from a waterfall split in two around a circular island were an ancient Mayan pyramid stood. Seeing Teresa a good hundred yards in front, Lara jumped off the ledge on to the trail and raced to catch up. Lara’s long legs gave her great strides and through the rough jungle terrain she was able to catch up with in a few feet of Teresa.
Teresa for her part just tried to stay directly in front of Lara to minimize her rival’s long legs. The two raced down the pathway when it started to widen as it came to a clearing next to the river. Teresa knew she was not going to be able to stay in front of Lara and so she started running faster as the river came closer and closer. With a hundred yards to go until the edge of the river, Lara came up beside Teresa and race was on.
The two women approached the clear river and saw it was shallower than they had imaged from up on the ledge. Teresa and Lara charged full steam ahead into the river, running on the river bottom. The two women found that the deepest it would go was at least the middle of their powerful thighs. However, the two women full of adrenaline and looking at the opposite shore, didn’t know what was happen to either of them.
As Lara raced through the river, Lara’s breasts grew fuller and larger bouncing more and more. Then things started to change more drastically. On Lara’s face, fine lines stared appearing under and around her eyes and mouth. The muscle tone in her arms and thighs started to fade as they became leaner. Farther through the river, Lara’s breasts started to sag against her tight top. Her hair started going gray around her face and streaking back through the rest of her hair. On her face, the lines grew deeper on her forehead, around her eyes, and around her mouth. Veins started showing through her thinning skin on her arms and legs. As she approached the shore, the twenty-something Lara that entered the river wasn’t what was going to some out.
Even with Lara all the way through the river, Teresa was changing as well. Her backside and hips, packed in tight shorts to show it off, grew a little to make it jiggle more and more as she ran. Then Teresa started to change more drastically. On her face, lines appeared under and around her eyes and mouth. Her breasts started to sag above a growing stomach that started to force Teresa’s tight shirt to ride up. On Teresa’s arms and legs, veins started appearing as their muscle tone started disappearing and they grew leaner. Farther through the river, Teresa’s face grew more wrinkled as lines deepened around her eyes and mouth and on her forehead. Her backside, hips, and stomach stopped growing and slowly started to go leaner as her breasts sagged more. The red streaks through her hair disappeared and her dye blond haired turned back to its black origin only to find gray streaking through it. As she approached the show, Teresa was coming out a new woman.
The two aged women exited the river exhausted and went to their knees to rest. Instead of the young, twenty something women that had entered the river on the opposite shore, both women were in their seventies and just starting to feel it. Although they thought it was just from the run they had, their bodies were starting to ache in other places then they would have thought and from their appearance it was easy to understand.
Lara’s hair was dominated by gray, but some dark areas were still present. Her face was wrinkled as deep thought lines crossed her forehead, crow’s feet next to her eyes that had double bags under them, and deep-set laugh lines around her mouth. Lara’s cheeks had thinned and sagged along with her chin for the appearance of a double chin. Lara’s most noticeable feature in youth was the same in old age as her breasts sagged down almost to her waist. Her arms and legs had shrunken to show veins and several age spots appeared on her skin.
Teresa’s hair was solidly gray in color as no sign of her natural black hair was to be seen. Her face was wrinkled with deep thought lines across her forehead, crow’s feet on at the edge of her eyes, and deep-set laugh lines around her mouth. Teresa’s cheeks still showed a hint of youthfulness, but sagged down and helped form a second chin. Teresa’s breasts had sagged down to the top of her stomach, which looked little a small potbelly. Her very identifiable backside and hips showed signs of sagging with a little more weight than when Teresa had entered the river. Teresa’s arms and legs showed veins through her thin skin that sported age spots even though it was a shade darker than in her “younger days.”
Lara put her right hand on her back and groaned in a raspy voice, “I feel strange.”
Teresa turned her head to Lara and her eyes grew wide before she laughed, “That’s because you’re an old hag.”
Lara looked down and saw that her breasts were sagging, which quickly brought out her hands to touch them. However, Lara saw her thin, wrinkled hands and gasped. It brought a raspy laugh from Teresa. Lara looked over at her rival then smiled, “I wouldn’t be laughing Teresa, you look as old if not older than me.”
Teresa stopped laughing and said in a raspy voice, “I do no…” she stopped and clutched her throat. She then looked down at her wrinkled and thin hands and then gasped, “No!”
The two old women looked at themselves and felt her aged skin then Teresa felt her face and said, “No. Please no!” She then slowly got to her feet as her lean legs and weak joints got her up, but not without pain as shown on her face. Once on her feet, she slowly walked over to the river and stared at her wrinkled reflection.
As Teresa looked at her reflection, Lara put her hands down on the ground and lifted herself up onto her long, once powerful legs that seemed weak for the task. As she stood up, Lara felt the pain in her back and put her right hand on it as she finally stood erect. Lara wiped away a few strains of gray hair from in front of her eyes, brushing her wrinkled skin, making her wonder what her reflection was.
Lara slowly walked, in shorter strides, to the water’s edge and looked down at her wrinkled complexion. Teresa looked over at Lara then rasped out, “At least my breasts aren’t down to my waist.” She turned and touched Lara’s breasts, which jiggled.
Lara retaliated by saying, “Well, at least I’m not on the verge of being a plump grandma.” She then patted Teresa’s hips to illustrate her point.
“Grandma!” Teresa shouted, “When I find away to become young again, I’m going to make sure you’ll stay old, just so I can show you whose a grandma.”
Lara then said, “I would rather stay a grandma to keep you and your contractor from getting your hands on any youth elixir or device. If only I knew how we grew old in the first place?”
Lara and Teresa both grew silent, they had started the day young and full of life and now their entire lives were gone. They were both staring into a future in which they would only get grayer and more wrinkled. Neither of the two noticed the appearance of luminous light that turned into a figure a few yards away on shore. Both women came became aware when a voice called out, “Welcome brave warriors.”
Lara and Teresa were startled and turned for to see the figure. The luminous image appeared to be a woman in some type of armor, but neither could tell for sure. The figure then motioned, “Follow me to thy final task.” The figure didn’t walk, but moved further away from the river.
Lara and Teresa followed as fast as their legs could carry them. The figure seemingly didn’t go out of view and appeared sometimes to slow as to make sure the two women knew where they were going. As they went up over a rise from the river shore, they saw the figure stop near two large stones in a jungle clearing. A minute later, Lara and Teresa were next to the stones. The figure motioned for them to sit and the two aged women didn’t hesitate.
Teresa looked at the figure and demanded, “What did you do to me?”
Lara asked, “What task are you talking about and was tasks have we done before?”
The figure replied to both questions, “This is a place for the bravest of warriors to prove themselves. (Pointing to Lara) You accepted the challenge of proving learned scholars wrong. (Pointing to Teresa) You accepted the job I offered you to find the source of youth. Those were you first completed tasks, hardly any get pass it. Your second task was to cross the River of Time. Passing through its waters ages you so that those who do not succeed at the third task, are not able to return to the outside world. If you had been slow in crossing or stumbled, you would have aged out of existence, and only dust would have fallen to the riverbed.”
Lara and Teresa looked at their hands and arms in realization of how lucky they were to still be alive. Then Teresa said, “You said the we had a final task, what is it?”
The figure looked at both women and said, “In the chamber on top of the ancient pyramid temple, is a pool of water. The first to bath in it will be given eternal youth and earn a place among the warriors of the End Time. The one who fails in the third task will remain as she is, prevented from telling the world or attempting again to gain admission to eternal youth.”
The two old women looked at one another and slowly sat up from the stones they had been sitting on. The two rivals not only in school, but in a challenge to gain eternal youth got ready to race to the pyramid. The figure then motioned and a path appeared through jungle that had not been there before. The figure then moved in front of them and away several yards before saying, “When I disappear the final task will begin.”
Lara and Teresa watched as the luminous figure suddenly disappeared leaving a clear way towards the jungle path. The two seventy-something woman then started moving. Each tried to run as quickly as they had coming down towards the river, but their frail bodies slowed them and they started jogging towards the entrance of the path. As they jogged, their bodies jiggled and quivered especially their sagging breasts.
Getting onto the path, they could see it curve slightly to the right before showing a small clearing in front the steps to the pyramid. Lara and Teresa jogged as fast as they could, yet slow enough to conserve energy for the climb up the stairway. They were even as their frail bodies made it halfway down the path as it started to curve. Both women continued to be even as the number of yards grew smaller until they were in the clearing just twenty feet from the beginning of the pyramid’s steps. Both covering the twenty feet easily, they looked up the 90 steps to the pyramid’s top and both stepped up towards the top.
The two women were even though five, then ten steps when Lara had to pause to catch her breath making Teresa laugh, “Thanks Grandma.”
But after several seconds, Lara started up again, three steps behind Teresa. They continued up. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty, and thirty-five steps were covered by Teresa with Lara right behind. As they continued up, they were slowing down as the physical exertion to their bodies was taxing. Finally at the 43rd step, Teresa stopped for a second to gather her strength. Lara caught up with her and passed her by a step making Teresa start up again.
At the 60th step, Lara again stopped for a short rest and Teresa quickly passed her by two steps. Lara again started going up the stairway with Teresa just in front of her. Both women were getting slower as hot sun made the ordeal harder and more taxing on their bodies. It seemed Lara was fading when she stopped for rest at step 71 giving Teresa a four-step lead. But then at the 80th step, Teresa had to pause and regroup her strength for the final push. However, Lara made up the four steps she was behind.
The two old women battled to get ahead of the other the last 10 steps, but where even when they took the final step up. They two got on the top platform of the pyramid and looked into the opening of the chamber. In the middle bathed in light from an opening in the top of the chamber was the pool of water. Neither woman hesitated to jog into the chamber.
Lara and Teresa were even as they entered the chamber, their seventy-something year old bodies taxed by the physical efforts. The two women jogged as fast as they could. It was 40 yards to the pool and both women were running as fast as they could. Then Lara got a step lead just ten feet away from the pool when Teresa grabbed Lara’s long braided hair and pulled back.
Lara was stopped dead in her tracks and she turned around to get her hair from Teresa. However, Teresa pushed Lara down and headed towards the pool. Lara gathered all her strength about her and leapt to her knees, then lunged towards the pool. The gray-haired woman landed two feet short as Teresa jumped into the pool. All of a sudden a beam of light appeared from the opening in the chamber’s top to the pool then burst out.
On the outside of the pool, Lara was getting to her knees when she started to age more. Her graying hair went totally gray then white. Lara’s face grew thicker with wrinkles as well as becoming deeper set as her cheeks sagged off of her face. Her breasts sagged even more as her tight fitting T-shirt continued to down to her waist. Lara’s arms and legs grew thinner as veins became more prominent.
The older Lara was feeling the exhaustion of the run on her body when Teresa emerged from the pool. Lara’s Latina rival was again vibrantly young as she emerged from pool, water dripping off of her. Teresa turned to look at Lara and gloat when she noticed Lara older than she had been. Teresa remarked, “Lara, you don’t look so good, all that activity isn’t good for a woman of your age.”
Lara looked up at Teresa. Then both women were bathed in light as the luminous figure returned. The figure descended from the opening in the chamber to the floor where the figure became real. Teresa took a step back as a white woman with blond hair under a Viking helmet materialized with two spears in her hand and a sword at her side. Teresa then muttered, “A Valkyrie!”
The Valkyrie looked at both Lara and Teresa before saying, “Brave warriors you fought well and with guile, it is a shame that both of you cannot win eternal youth.” Then the Valkyrie put one of the spears in front of Teresa. “Victor of the final task, here is your prize.”
Teresa grabbed the spear, which turned gold for a moment as an outline of Viking armor appeared around her. Then it disappeared. Teresa looked at the spear in her hand and smiled.
The Valkyrie then put the other spear in front of Lara. “Brave warrior, you handle defeat with honor. The time comes in every warrior’s life in which the tools of war become the tools of life.” Then the spear fell off and hit the floor in front of Lara. “When a warrior knows a century, she deserves peace.”
Lara put her hands on the staff and helped her century-old body up off the ground. Once she had, she leaned on her staff as her legs were exhausted from climb up the pyramid. Then white robed figures appeared in the doorway of the chamber and came in. They gathered around Lara and motioned her to a stone chair that emerged from the darkest. “These servants will attend to you until you are called to rest, live well.”
Lara sat down slowly as her old body seemed to groan as she did so. The 100-year old archeologist looked funny dressed in the clothes of a twenty-something woman. Teresa smiled inwardly then headed towards the doorway. Before she left the chamber she turned around and looked at Lara one more time before saying, “Bye, bye grandma.” Then Teresa left and the Valkyrie disappeared from sight leaving the aged Lara and her attendants alone.
By fan2000
Subject: AP Story
Lara Croft could see the valley’s edge through the dense jungle and started racing towards the edge of the trees. Lara’s breasts bounced up and down as she ran, almost to the point one would have thought her tight fitting blue top would let them out. Her long braided brunette hair snagged a twigs from trees and then fell against her back as she cleared the tree line and stood in front of the raised rock at the valley’s edge.
Taking a moment to rest, Lara walked over to the crack in the rock that the ancient Maya had undoubtedly used as the way in and out of the valley. The beautiful archaeologist looked on either side of the opening and found Mayan glyphs on the left side. Grabbing the sketchbook from her tight, short shorts, Lara started translating the text. While learning she was at the valley she was looking for, Lara had trouble figuring out certain glyphs that were either eroded or had never been seen before making translation difficult.
Suddenly, the unmistakable noise of someone running through the jungle turned Lara’s head. Then a figure appeared from the trees with dyed blond shoulder-length hair with red streaks and a noticeable pear shape slender body with good C cup breasts. Lara then looked at the face and realized it was her old classmate Teresa Cruz from her oval shaped face and blue eyes. Teresa looked at Lara and exclaimed, “Well, well. What is the amazingly endowed Lara Croft doing here?”
Lara’s eyes showed the rage on hearing the statement that hit both at her chest and her family. She then responded, “Doing what I was taught. How about yourself? I don’t see that many BIG bounty hunters in the wilds of Honduras.”
Teresa smiled at Lara’s wording and walked over to her former classmate. In the process she moved out of the shadows and showed her Hispanic body off. “Bounties are put on men and objects alike. This time it’s the latter and it comes in handy to be a former archaeologist for such a hiring.”
The two stared at one other then Teresa asked, “So, Lara why did the ancient Maya revere this place so much?”
Lara smiled and said, “You know as well as I that it was revered to house the source of youth. But it’s unclear what that source was.”
“Yes, my contractor hopes it is not the preverbal Fountain of Youth but a more travel-oriented object.”
Lara then raised her eye and said, “So your contractor wants eternal youth does he? Unfortunately Teresa a can’t let you take it.”
“Actually it’s a she, Lara. And the only way who can stop me is if you get it first.” Teresa then grabbed Lara’s long braid and pulled her down to the ground. Then racing through the crack in the raised rock, yelled out, “Nice seeing you Lara.”
Lara got back on her feet and raced through the crack and after ten feet came out on a ledge that dipped off into a centuries old trail through the jungle. The path led down into the heart of the valley where a river coming down from a waterfall split in two around a circular island were an ancient Mayan pyramid stood. Seeing Teresa a good hundred yards in front, Lara jumped off the ledge on to the trail and raced to catch up. Lara’s long legs gave her great strides and through the rough jungle terrain she was able to catch up with in a few feet of Teresa.
Teresa for her part just tried to stay directly in front of Lara to minimize her rival’s long legs. The two raced down the pathway when it started to widen as it came to a clearing next to the river. Teresa knew she was not going to be able to stay in front of Lara and so she started running faster as the river came closer and closer. With a hundred yards to go until the edge of the river, Lara came up beside Teresa and race was on.
The two women approached the clear river and saw it was shallower than they had imaged from up on the ledge. Teresa and Lara charged full steam ahead into the river, running on the river bottom. The two women found that the deepest it would go was at least the middle of their powerful thighs. However, the two women full of adrenaline and looking at the opposite shore, didn’t know what was happen to either of them.
As Lara raced through the river, Lara’s breasts grew fuller and larger bouncing more and more. Then things started to change more drastically. On Lara’s face, fine lines stared appearing under and around her eyes and mouth. The muscle tone in her arms and thighs started to fade as they became leaner. Farther through the river, Lara’s breasts started to sag against her tight top. Her hair started going gray around her face and streaking back through the rest of her hair. On her face, the lines grew deeper on her forehead, around her eyes, and around her mouth. Veins started showing through her thinning skin on her arms and legs. As she approached the shore, the twenty-something Lara that entered the river wasn’t what was going to some out.
Even with Lara all the way through the river, Teresa was changing as well. Her backside and hips, packed in tight shorts to show it off, grew a little to make it jiggle more and more as she ran. Then Teresa started to change more drastically. On her face, lines appeared under and around her eyes and mouth. Her breasts started to sag above a growing stomach that started to force Teresa’s tight shirt to ride up. On Teresa’s arms and legs, veins started appearing as their muscle tone started disappearing and they grew leaner. Farther through the river, Teresa’s face grew more wrinkled as lines deepened around her eyes and mouth and on her forehead. Her backside, hips, and stomach stopped growing and slowly started to go leaner as her breasts sagged more. The red streaks through her hair disappeared and her dye blond haired turned back to its black origin only to find gray streaking through it. As she approached the show, Teresa was coming out a new woman.
The two aged women exited the river exhausted and went to their knees to rest. Instead of the young, twenty something women that had entered the river on the opposite shore, both women were in their seventies and just starting to feel it. Although they thought it was just from the run they had, their bodies were starting to ache in other places then they would have thought and from their appearance it was easy to understand.
Lara’s hair was dominated by gray, but some dark areas were still present. Her face was wrinkled as deep thought lines crossed her forehead, crow’s feet next to her eyes that had double bags under them, and deep-set laugh lines around her mouth. Lara’s cheeks had thinned and sagged along with her chin for the appearance of a double chin. Lara’s most noticeable feature in youth was the same in old age as her breasts sagged down almost to her waist. Her arms and legs had shrunken to show veins and several age spots appeared on her skin.
Teresa’s hair was solidly gray in color as no sign of her natural black hair was to be seen. Her face was wrinkled with deep thought lines across her forehead, crow’s feet on at the edge of her eyes, and deep-set laugh lines around her mouth. Teresa’s cheeks still showed a hint of youthfulness, but sagged down and helped form a second chin. Teresa’s breasts had sagged down to the top of her stomach, which looked little a small potbelly. Her very identifiable backside and hips showed signs of sagging with a little more weight than when Teresa had entered the river. Teresa’s arms and legs showed veins through her thin skin that sported age spots even though it was a shade darker than in her “younger days.”
Lara put her right hand on her back and groaned in a raspy voice, “I feel strange.”
Teresa turned her head to Lara and her eyes grew wide before she laughed, “That’s because you’re an old hag.”
Lara looked down and saw that her breasts were sagging, which quickly brought out her hands to touch them. However, Lara saw her thin, wrinkled hands and gasped. It brought a raspy laugh from Teresa. Lara looked over at her rival then smiled, “I wouldn’t be laughing Teresa, you look as old if not older than me.”
Teresa stopped laughing and said in a raspy voice, “I do no…” she stopped and clutched her throat. She then looked down at her wrinkled and thin hands and then gasped, “No!”
The two old women looked at themselves and felt her aged skin then Teresa felt her face and said, “No. Please no!” She then slowly got to her feet as her lean legs and weak joints got her up, but not without pain as shown on her face. Once on her feet, she slowly walked over to the river and stared at her wrinkled reflection.
As Teresa looked at her reflection, Lara put her hands down on the ground and lifted herself up onto her long, once powerful legs that seemed weak for the task. As she stood up, Lara felt the pain in her back and put her right hand on it as she finally stood erect. Lara wiped away a few strains of gray hair from in front of her eyes, brushing her wrinkled skin, making her wonder what her reflection was.
Lara slowly walked, in shorter strides, to the water’s edge and looked down at her wrinkled complexion. Teresa looked over at Lara then rasped out, “At least my breasts aren’t down to my waist.” She turned and touched Lara’s breasts, which jiggled.
Lara retaliated by saying, “Well, at least I’m not on the verge of being a plump grandma.” She then patted Teresa’s hips to illustrate her point.
“Grandma!” Teresa shouted, “When I find away to become young again, I’m going to make sure you’ll stay old, just so I can show you whose a grandma.”
Lara then said, “I would rather stay a grandma to keep you and your contractor from getting your hands on any youth elixir or device. If only I knew how we grew old in the first place?”
Lara and Teresa both grew silent, they had started the day young and full of life and now their entire lives were gone. They were both staring into a future in which they would only get grayer and more wrinkled. Neither of the two noticed the appearance of luminous light that turned into a figure a few yards away on shore. Both women came became aware when a voice called out, “Welcome brave warriors.”
Lara and Teresa were startled and turned for to see the figure. The luminous image appeared to be a woman in some type of armor, but neither could tell for sure. The figure then motioned, “Follow me to thy final task.” The figure didn’t walk, but moved further away from the river.
Lara and Teresa followed as fast as their legs could carry them. The figure seemingly didn’t go out of view and appeared sometimes to slow as to make sure the two women knew where they were going. As they went up over a rise from the river shore, they saw the figure stop near two large stones in a jungle clearing. A minute later, Lara and Teresa were next to the stones. The figure motioned for them to sit and the two aged women didn’t hesitate.
Teresa looked at the figure and demanded, “What did you do to me?”
Lara asked, “What task are you talking about and was tasks have we done before?”
The figure replied to both questions, “This is a place for the bravest of warriors to prove themselves. (Pointing to Lara) You accepted the challenge of proving learned scholars wrong. (Pointing to Teresa) You accepted the job I offered you to find the source of youth. Those were you first completed tasks, hardly any get pass it. Your second task was to cross the River of Time. Passing through its waters ages you so that those who do not succeed at the third task, are not able to return to the outside world. If you had been slow in crossing or stumbled, you would have aged out of existence, and only dust would have fallen to the riverbed.”
Lara and Teresa looked at their hands and arms in realization of how lucky they were to still be alive. Then Teresa said, “You said the we had a final task, what is it?”
The figure looked at both women and said, “In the chamber on top of the ancient pyramid temple, is a pool of water. The first to bath in it will be given eternal youth and earn a place among the warriors of the End Time. The one who fails in the third task will remain as she is, prevented from telling the world or attempting again to gain admission to eternal youth.”
The two old women looked at one another and slowly sat up from the stones they had been sitting on. The two rivals not only in school, but in a challenge to gain eternal youth got ready to race to the pyramid. The figure then motioned and a path appeared through jungle that had not been there before. The figure then moved in front of them and away several yards before saying, “When I disappear the final task will begin.”
Lara and Teresa watched as the luminous figure suddenly disappeared leaving a clear way towards the jungle path. The two seventy-something woman then started moving. Each tried to run as quickly as they had coming down towards the river, but their frail bodies slowed them and they started jogging towards the entrance of the path. As they jogged, their bodies jiggled and quivered especially their sagging breasts.
Getting onto the path, they could see it curve slightly to the right before showing a small clearing in front the steps to the pyramid. Lara and Teresa jogged as fast as they could, yet slow enough to conserve energy for the climb up the stairway. They were even as their frail bodies made it halfway down the path as it started to curve. Both women continued to be even as the number of yards grew smaller until they were in the clearing just twenty feet from the beginning of the pyramid’s steps. Both covering the twenty feet easily, they looked up the 90 steps to the pyramid’s top and both stepped up towards the top.
The two women were even though five, then ten steps when Lara had to pause to catch her breath making Teresa laugh, “Thanks Grandma.”
But after several seconds, Lara started up again, three steps behind Teresa. They continued up. Twenty, twenty-five, thirty, and thirty-five steps were covered by Teresa with Lara right behind. As they continued up, they were slowing down as the physical exertion to their bodies was taxing. Finally at the 43rd step, Teresa stopped for a second to gather her strength. Lara caught up with her and passed her by a step making Teresa start up again.
At the 60th step, Lara again stopped for a short rest and Teresa quickly passed her by two steps. Lara again started going up the stairway with Teresa just in front of her. Both women were getting slower as hot sun made the ordeal harder and more taxing on their bodies. It seemed Lara was fading when she stopped for rest at step 71 giving Teresa a four-step lead. But then at the 80th step, Teresa had to pause and regroup her strength for the final push. However, Lara made up the four steps she was behind.
The two old women battled to get ahead of the other the last 10 steps, but where even when they took the final step up. They two got on the top platform of the pyramid and looked into the opening of the chamber. In the middle bathed in light from an opening in the top of the chamber was the pool of water. Neither woman hesitated to jog into the chamber.
Lara and Teresa were even as they entered the chamber, their seventy-something year old bodies taxed by the physical efforts. The two women jogged as fast as they could. It was 40 yards to the pool and both women were running as fast as they could. Then Lara got a step lead just ten feet away from the pool when Teresa grabbed Lara’s long braided hair and pulled back.
Lara was stopped dead in her tracks and she turned around to get her hair from Teresa. However, Teresa pushed Lara down and headed towards the pool. Lara gathered all her strength about her and leapt to her knees, then lunged towards the pool. The gray-haired woman landed two feet short as Teresa jumped into the pool. All of a sudden a beam of light appeared from the opening in the chamber’s top to the pool then burst out.
On the outside of the pool, Lara was getting to her knees when she started to age more. Her graying hair went totally gray then white. Lara’s face grew thicker with wrinkles as well as becoming deeper set as her cheeks sagged off of her face. Her breasts sagged even more as her tight fitting T-shirt continued to down to her waist. Lara’s arms and legs grew thinner as veins became more prominent.
The older Lara was feeling the exhaustion of the run on her body when Teresa emerged from the pool. Lara’s Latina rival was again vibrantly young as she emerged from pool, water dripping off of her. Teresa turned to look at Lara and gloat when she noticed Lara older than she had been. Teresa remarked, “Lara, you don’t look so good, all that activity isn’t good for a woman of your age.”
Lara looked up at Teresa. Then both women were bathed in light as the luminous figure returned. The figure descended from the opening in the chamber to the floor where the figure became real. Teresa took a step back as a white woman with blond hair under a Viking helmet materialized with two spears in her hand and a sword at her side. Teresa then muttered, “A Valkyrie!”
The Valkyrie looked at both Lara and Teresa before saying, “Brave warriors you fought well and with guile, it is a shame that both of you cannot win eternal youth.” Then the Valkyrie put one of the spears in front of Teresa. “Victor of the final task, here is your prize.”
Teresa grabbed the spear, which turned gold for a moment as an outline of Viking armor appeared around her. Then it disappeared. Teresa looked at the spear in her hand and smiled.
The Valkyrie then put the other spear in front of Lara. “Brave warrior, you handle defeat with honor. The time comes in every warrior’s life in which the tools of war become the tools of life.” Then the spear fell off and hit the floor in front of Lara. “When a warrior knows a century, she deserves peace.”
Lara put her hands on the staff and helped her century-old body up off the ground. Once she had, she leaned on her staff as her legs were exhausted from climb up the pyramid. Then white robed figures appeared in the doorway of the chamber and came in. They gathered around Lara and motioned her to a stone chair that emerged from the darkest. “These servants will attend to you until you are called to rest, live well.”
Lara sat down slowly as her old body seemed to groan as she did so. The 100-year old archeologist looked funny dressed in the clothes of a twenty-something woman. Teresa smiled inwardly then headed towards the doorway. Before she left the chamber she turned around and looked at Lara one more time before saying, “Bye, bye grandma.” Then Teresa left and the Valkyrie disappeared from sight leaving the aged Lara and her attendants alone.