Divine Source

The Divine Source is an ancient artifact of mysterious origins. It was discovered by Jacob during the era of the Byzantine Empire. After gazing upon it, he finds himself to be healed from grievous injuries and to live periodically. This led him to become the Deathless Prophet and build a religion around the artifact.

The Remnants & the people of Kitezh believe that the Divine Source holds a fragment of the soul of the Abrahamic God Yahweh, and believe that is the reason why the Divine Source is able to give immortality, but in actuality its true origins and who created it are entirely unknown. The Divine Source removes and stores the soul of whomever gazes at it, thus making them immortal. Though all of the Prophet's followers, Trinity, the Remnants and Lara believed it to be Divine, only Jacob (The Prophet) knew that it was not truly divine.

Discovery by Jacob
Jacob found the artifact in 866 on the island of Rügen, near modern day Germany, among altar stones and ancient megaliths. Gazing into it, he gained immortality as well as healing abilities. He then used his new found supernatural powers to perform "healing miracles" upon people with ailments or who were close to death's door. The people soon started to believe him to be a prophet of the Abrahamic God Yahweh and the Divine Source to be of divine origin, although Jacob himself however privately knew the artefact was not divine.

Prophet of Constantinople
Word spread about the Prophet of Constantinople and the Divine Source. Trinity soon gained word and were interested in the artifact. They ordered the Prophet to be executed and the Divine Source to be acquired for themselves.

Trinity and the Prophet's pilgrims soon battled for the artifact, with Trinity killing the Prophet in the process. But despite the Prophet's death, his followers managed to acquire his body and secure the Divine Source as they fled from Trinity. The Prophet's followers built him a giant tomb in Syria. But before they could complete their work, the Prophet was revived with all of his wounds regenerated.

Exodus from Syria and Building the City of Kitezh
The Prophet and his followers soon fled from Syria with Trinity, who had learned of his rebirth, hot on their tail. After a long journey, they arrived in Siberia and stopped near a massive natural rock formation, which they took as a sign of their god. They soon settled around the valleys and even built a temple near the rock formation in order to honor the scout who discovered it.

The Prophet soon recruited the best architects, philosophers, warriors, scientists, artists, builders and craftsmen of the Byzantine Era to built the city of Kitezh. After Kitezh was built, the Divine Source was hidden and locked away in the Chamber of Souls, which is a large vault in the middle of the city. The Atlas was crafted to show its location.

Mongolian Invasion and the Destruction of Kitezh
During the Mongol attack on Kitezh, Jacob in a turn of desperation, used the Divine Source to give immortality and superhuman physical abilities to thousands of his Elite Guardians and they became known as the Athanatoi, the Deathless Ones who, alongside the people of Kitezh, fought and battled the Mongolian Invaders. Despite the supernatural advantages that the Divine Source had given them, the Deathless were still unable to completely repel the Mongol horde due to their overwhelming numbers. Knowing that they would eventually loose and desperate to keep the Source out of the enemies hands, the Deathless turned their trebuchets at the large glacier above Kitezh, bringing tons of ice down on the city. This act not only destroyed the Mongolian Invaders, but also buried Kitezh and most of its inhabitents under the glacier to secure the Divine Source.

The Prophet soon escaped the ruined Kitezh and rendezvoused with the very few other citizens who escaped as well as those that lived outside the main city. These people start calling themselves The Remnants, who believe that guarding the Divine Source is a duty that they must pass down to their descendants. Using their Byzantine heritage, they developed tactics, weapon and combat skills which helped them survive for centuries largely undisturbed by outsiders.

Lara's search for Immortality
Richard Croft's search for the Divine Source led to his death, and later to the the events of Rise of the Tomb Raider, where both Lara Croft and Trinity were after the Divine Source. Lara continuously aided the Remnants in order to earn their trust and find out more about the Divine Source, though they still kept it a secret from her. However, after witnessing Jacob magically heal Jonah's wound, Lara realised that he was the Deathless Prophet, the man who originally found the Source over a thousand years ago. Jacob then privately admitted to her that he simply found it long ago and the Source was not divine, but was every bit as powerful as the legends surrounding it portrayed it to be. Upon realizing this she immediately demanded to be let into the Path of the Deathless, a secret entrance into the outskirts of the buried city, showing more determination to acquire the Divine Source before Trinity does.

The Truth about the Divine Source
Upon entering the ruins of the entombed city of Kitezh, she encountered the notes of an ancient Trinity soldier who was entombed in here after the Deathless Ones buried the city beneath the ice. He had left his notes as a warning should anyone ever follow his path. Through the notes she realized the true danger of the Divine Source's power, even convincing herself that Jacob was right and that the Divine Source is not meant for the world. This made her even more determined to stop Trinity, because she now realized and feared the atrocity they will commit with this power.

Destruction of the Divine Source
Despite the long battle between Trinity's army, the Deathless Army and Lara with the Remnants, Trinity's hunt for the Divine Source was a success, with Ana making it to the artifact first. After Trinity enforcer informs Ana that nearly all of their soldiers have been slaughtered by the Deathless Ones, he is killed by Jacob. Ana retaliates by shooting Jacob a few times. Lara arrives, after killing off Konstantin, and holds Ana at gunpoint as Jacob and the Deathless Ones slowly approach them. Ana tries to use the artifact but Lara snatched it from her hands when the artifact's power weakened her. As she held the artifact and saw the Deathless Ones slowly closing in, Jacob gave her his blessing and permission to destroy it. By smashing it, she released all the souls stored in it. This in turn turned Jacob and the Deathless Ones mortal again. Though the Deathless Ones immediately and violently turned to ash, Jacob was disintegrating slowly and thanked Lara for giving him a chance to move on to the Afterlife as he peacefully succumbed to his extremely advanced age, blessing her for her courage, strength, skills and conviction.

Trinity's Attempts Salvage the Divine Source
After the Divine Source was destroyed, Trinity attempted to try and find another way to harness the power of the Divine Source, which they linked to the isle of Yamatai and the Sun Queen Himiko, who they believed still resided trapped in the body of Samantha Nishimura, they purchased the facility that Sam was being kept, and began to experiment on her. This caused Himiko to emerge and take control of Sam's body. Now free, Himiko escaped the facility to get back to Yamatai in order to ascend the throne once more, rampaging across Europe in the process.

Powers

 * Soul Absorption: It has the ability to absorb the soul of anyone who gazes at it. However destroying it will release all the stored souls and in return, cause those who used the Source to disintegrate into dust.
 * Immortality Bestowal: It can bestow ressurective-immortality and eternal youth upon those who are exposed to it. This is due to the fact that as long as the someones soul is contained within the Divine Source, they cannot age or truly die by any means unless the Source itself is destroyed.
 * Regenration/Healing: The Source greatly enhances the natural regeneration of those who store their soul inside it, as well as granting the ability to heal the wounds of others. This is evidenced when Jacob quickly recovered from a gunshot wound to the abdomen and completely healed Jonah's knife wound by simply covering it with his hand, saving him from death.
 * Physical Enhancement and Durability: On top of bestowing all of the above powers, the Divine Source also greatly enhances the physical durability and strength of individuals, as evidenced by the Deathless Ones, who are capable of taking far more damage than modern Trinity soldiers and their advanced armour.

Trivia

 * Jacob is apparently the only person known to have retained his humanity after gazing upon the Divine Source. However, the Deathless are not completely devoid of emotion or individuality as evidenced through an old Trinity agents notes. Furthermore, there is no mentioning of the Divine Source stripping people of humanity beyond Jacobs own assumption.
 * Adding to this, what humanity means differs from person to person and unless the Divine Source is alive and has an agenda of its own it does not make sense for it to have a view on what humanity as a concept/ideal is, nor does it make sense for an entire army to be stripped of it, yet one person isn't.
 * A possible point of connection is between Himiko and the Divine Source is the fact that both share the same blue light which could mean that while Himiko herself never possessed the Divine Source she encountered something like it. However Himiko came across her powers though the effects were clearly very different from what the Divine Source could do as Himiko would need to transfer her soul into a new body as the ones she would possess would eventually age and decay.
 * Another point to keep in mind is that while the body Himiko's possessed would age and decay she would continue to live on in them meaning that whatever gave her this power granted her eternal life but not youth as the Divine Source did for Jacob.