Amnesia: The Dark Descent [Part One]

It sure is dark in here

A few steps into the Refinery and Daniel felt his vision blur. He stopped for a moment to adjust, listening for what was to come, hoping it wasn't like his last memories.

"It sure is dark in here." He sighed as he heard his voice, completely calm. He continued walking down the corridor. Dark was an understatement. Daniel re-filled his Lantern with oil, suddenly feeling the need to conserve the oil. 

"Yes, and there is good reason for it. You can light the lantern now if you wish."  Alexander's deep voice  said, at the same time Daniel lit his lantern. The light didn't do much for his sight, though.

"What's the reason? For the darkness, that is." He heard himself ask. He smiled, it was strange hearing himself talk, especially when he read his own thoughts. Though, that  was comforting in a way, it showed his old self and himself now weren't that different. It made him think that his old self must have known what he was doing.

"Stay close- be careful not to stray." Alexander replied.

"What's the reason? Why is it so dark?"

"Pay attention, Daniel." Alexander snapped. He thought he heard him sigh before continuing. "It's important that you keep going straight and be careful not to stray." Daniel shook his head, what was with that man? Always beating around the bush. 

He reached a room filled with large barrels. Movement to the left caught his eyes and Daniel flew behind them as another thing disappeared in the next room. He muttered something foul before heading into the next room. Simple, empty save the bottle of Laudanum on the shelf. Daniel picked it up, grinning. "Laundandandanum." He grinned childishly as he pocketed it and glanced at the note on the shelf. He held it up to the lantern's light to read;

22nd of June, 1839

It's been more than a month since my last entry. After the event inside the underground chamber in Algeria, professor Herbert insisted I return to England. He said he didn't want to risk forfeiting the entire expedition lest I took a turn for the worse. An excessive decision in retrospect, but I'm glad it turned out that way.

I found my journal this morning in the haphazard collection of things brought home from Africa. Next to it lay the broken stone orb wrapped in cloth. I tried to assemble it, but I couldn't. The pieces wouldn't fit together, as if they weren't from the same object. Could I have imagined it all? Was there ever a complete orb?

 Daniel shook his head, strange after strange after strange in this place. He looked up, placing the paper back on the table. Two doors, one left one right. He chose right, slipping through it quietly. He heard something shuffle behind him and he glanced back, nothing there. Shrugging, he continued through another door. This time he saw a piece of paper and picked it up to read, it was another entry of his journal. 

25th of June, 1839

I feel the need to continue this journal, even though it was intended for my journey in Africa. This must be something very important, I just know it. I've taken it upon myself to piece the orb back together, but it's been more difficult than one might think. The pieces are behaving strangely. They seem to change color, shape and texture, but ever so slightly.

Yesterday I took careful measurements and notated any significant markings. Today, I confirmed my suspicions. They were changing. I was terrified and rushed off to see the finest geologist in London, Sir William Smith. I approached the subject with care, and we discussed how rocks change form. He told me about the nature of glass, how it eventually collapses on itself, like ice slowly melting over the course of centuries.

Smith eased my mind a bit, but I can't escape the feeling that these shards have otherworldly properties.

Daniel resisted the urge to twirl his finger about his ear and whistle, maybe his old self was a little off the rails. He turned on his heel and went back to the room he started in. Bang. Daniel's heart leaped into his throat, he whipped around. A pile of boxes in the corner wobbled, as if they had been recently disturbed. Something dark shifted behind them and Daniel felt his skin break out in a cold sweat. 

"Hello?" He whispered, frightened to make a sound. When nothing replied he swallowed, leaning forward to get a better look, not wanting to get too close.

"Hello?" He repeated a little louder, trying to provoke a response. Nothing. Again. Daniel cautiously slid a foot forward, then another, and another, until he was less than an arms breadth away. He waved his lantern over the boxes, nothing moved and nothing tried to eat him so so far so good, he thought.

In one motion he lashed out with his foot, kicking the bottom box out and causing them all to come crashing down. He did a strange dance as he tried to get out of their way. Something hard knocked on his foot, crushing it. He keeled over, pulling it out from under the box which was incredibly heavy. He hopped around, mouth open but no sound as he tried to ignore the pain. He hissed, eyes watering.

"Ow..." He felt his little toe throbbing inside his shoe. It was always the little toe, wasn't it? His eye caught on what was behind the boxes and gasped, there was a whole big enough for a man to crawl through, leading into darkness. He hobbled over to it, trying not to put weight on his injured foot. After a quick internal debate and a little encouragement from a strange noise in the other room, he got down on his hands and knees and crawled through the tunnel. 

He emerged in a plain looking room, one wall was decorated with only a raised barrel, the other had a shelf and a trap door covering the floor. He re-filled his Lantern with the oil, noticing how quickly it seemed to run out. Then he moved onto the shelf, pocketed a tinderbox and stopped to take a better look at the trap door. 

He tried opening it and sighed as it didn't budge. Nothing, nothing was easy here. Everything was a challenge.

"I'm growing very tired of your tricks, Brennenburg." Daniel muttered, looking around him for anything to help. He followed the rope on the door to the pulley high in the roof and groaned, there was a stick jammed inside the contraption.

"I don't care. I don't even care about this anymore." He said, throwing his hands in the air. The sudden movement  caused a few of his tinderboxes to drop to the floor, the sound rang in his ears. That's another thing he hated about this place, everything was so loud. As he picked them up an idea formed in his mind. He stood up, stared directly at the pulley and flung the tinderbox towards it. It hit the wood with a relatively quiet thunk before dropping to the ground, along with the stick. He grinned as he collected the tinderbox, opening the trap door. He looked down into the space below, his enthusiasm slowly draining away. 

"It sure is dark in there..." He said, checking how much oil he had in his lantern. Half full, with two oil fillers in his jacket. They would only fill it once, though, which means if down there was dark for a while he wouldn't have light for long. Daniel thought for a moment before crouching over the edge.

"Geronimo," He muttered, dropping into the depths below. 

Hello everyone! I know this is only short, but I wanted to upload again. I've cut the next part into another chapter because, well, most of you would know the next part is one of the most formidable sections of the game, if not the most scariest definitely the most difficult. Anywho, if you enjoyed it please vote, if you have opinions or ideas please comment and if you would like to see more feel free to fan me or add this to your reading list!