Once Upon a Time

by Greywolf
Downloads: 727
Story: Once upon a time there was a winter so cold that it seemed it would have never left Earth, even with the arrival of April. In an icy, yet clear night, a young girl named Lara was standing on a balcony of her home, careless of the cold, gazing at the stars, which looked even brighter than usual.

Suddenly the stars of Cygnus looked more gleaming and vibrating, as if they were moving. Then Cygnus turned into a real swan and began to flap its wings and fly. Lara blinked her eyes twice, unable to believe what she was seeing. The Swan performed an elegant turn, as it was as weightless as its own feathers. Lara rubbed then opened wide her eyes, almost in disbelief. The Swan nose–dived straight towards her.

Lara would have ran away, but her legs felt like two tree trunks set in the ground. The Swan spread its wings and landed just in front of her, light as a shadow.
“Hi!”, it said. “you must be Lara, I suppose.”

[spoiler]“Oh, don’t be surprised if I know your name,” it went on, answering the question Lara hadn\'t been able to ask as she was breathless. “I know many thing: every night I watch onto the earth and I see what’s happening there… I think you’re the right person for a very important task: saving Easter, the Spring Fairy, who is held prisoner by the evil Winter Wizard.”
“Right, but what makes you think that I’ll be able to succeed?”, Lara asked.
“Because to succeed in this task you don’t need neither strength nor magic or noble lineage: you just need spirit of adventure and cleverness. Well, what do you think about? Are you ready to come with me?”

Lara mounted on the Swan’s back (which was as big as a pony) and it hovered in the starry nightsky; they overflew fields, woods, small and big towns, until night gave place to day and they reached the Season Valley and an enormous castle.

The Swan landed gently on a large balcony and finally Lara could get off and get into the castle.
After crossing many halls, she came into a room where a tall figure was waiting for her: he was wrapped in a long mantle and with a long white beard. “Well”, the Wizard sayd with a voice so cold that gave shivers, “there’s a new guest which wants to try to set Easter free. I\'ve imprisoned her inside my Magic Gem: go into it and try to open her prison!”
And, at these words, the Gem seton the top of Wizard’s stick, became more and more gleaming and started pulsing of a strange light, while the room began to spin and whirl around Lara and she felt sucked inside the Gem.[/spoiler]


Installation: the level doesn’t require any installation: just run the game clicking on the Tomb4.exe file. If your monitor is 3:4 use \"Load.bmp\" file in \"Load 1024x768\" folder. In these levels you can choose many different paths; also the number of secrets differs in each path: the higher is 6, but in some path they are less; you can read the number of secrets at the beginning of each path.

Note: this level contains enemies and traps that could hurt Lara, so it can\'t be played by young children.