Amnesia: The Dark Descent [Part One]

Water

Almost as soon as his feet made contact with the floor he knew something was wrong. There must have been a water leak somewhere, dripping sounds echoed through the new area.

Cellar Archives... Daniel thought. He'd known the name, and with it came a sense of dread that he could quite put his finger on. The other two things he noticed were how dark it was, and how cold. He shifted from foot to foot to try and keep warm, but almost as soon as he did he knew something was definitely wrong. His foot, instead of meeting hard ground, met a cold liquid. Daniel frantically lit the lantern, holding it down by his feet. He gasped, the archives were filling up with water, and they were filling up fast. He frantically looked for somewhere higher up and forced his way through the water to a large, heavy chest. He clambered on top, watching the water level stop rising just before spilling onto the top of the chest, which was nearly a metre high. 

"What in the world..." He said, awestruck at how unlucky he was at the moment. Turning his head from side to side, Daniel tried to see where he was. It was a straight corridor, boxes bobbed in the water here and there peacefully. Next to him, to the right was an open doorway. He couldn't see inside very well. Down the corridor he could make out another doorway, a shelf filled with books just past it. He held up his lantern, straining his neck. The corridor turned left, that's all he could make out before it faded into pure black. He looked down, he was stuck on this chest. The only way out was to get into the water and walk. 

"After all, a bit of water's never killed anybody. Besides, I need a bath." He hesitantly took a step onto the ground, gasping as the freezing liquid rushed into his clothes. He held the lantern high, making sure not to get it wet as he stood there trying to get used to the feeling. The water was up to his waist as he waded through it to the room on his right. Inside were boxes and books bobbing around in the water, on the far wall was something shiny. He moved over to it, surprised to find a lever jutting out. He stuck out a pale, cold hand and pulled until it clicked, then he let go. The familiar ticking of a mechanism echoed around the building and Daniel tried to pin-point where he'd heard it before.

The books in the Library, he thought. The ticking was a sort of timer, but since it was just a lever, maybe it meant he had a certain amount of time to get to where he needed to be. He pulled it again and counted the seconds until it stopped.

"So, one minute. That's a very short amount of time." Daniel said, biting his lip. He didn't really want to go looking for the source of the lever, he tried to figure out where he was supposed to be heading. All he knew was there was another room further up the corridor he'd just come in from, and there was a turn to the left. It wouldn't be hard to check the room as he went past.

"Well, that's that sorted." He said, getting ready to pull the lever down again. As his hand hovered over the stick something stopped him. He suddenly felt very aware of eyes on his back, the hairs on his neck stood up. Nothing's easy, is it? He though, mentally sighing before snapping himself back to reality. If there is something here then where is it? 

The room was empty, as far as he could see. His eyes drifted over each nook and cranny there was, nothing was watching him though. No beady eyes or glowing orbs staring at him from behind a box. "Hm..." He said, wondering if he was a little edgy from behind here too long. It wouldn't be a surprise, the amount of- 

An almighty roar shook the walls and caused the water to ripple, Daniel squeaked in fear, eyes glued to the door. Nothing was there...

A splash, then another a little ahead of it. Daniel raised an eyebrow, "What in the world..." The splashes got faster, every second brought them closer and closer to him. That was when he realised, "Oh God, they're footsteps!" He screeched, lunging for the nearest object and hauling himself up, oh no oh no oh no oh no, where was he supposed to hide?!