"Don't forget…"
"Hopefully you'll have lots of me…"
There was the voice of a woman, different from any of the prisoners, speaking from behind the pounding of Daniel's head. While his mind was abuzz with questions Daniel knew to focus on certain information while he pushed on towards the spot of the castle he knew to be the safest.
"…some things mustn't be forgotten. The shadow hunting me…I must hurry. My name is Daniel, I live in London at…at…Mayfair…. What have I done? This is crazy. Don't forget, don't forget. I must stop him. Focus!"
At last Daniel had reached the abandoned location of safety.
"My name is…is…I am Daniel."
Daniel could stand only a few moments longer before he fell into the slumber the amnesia drink brought on. It was cold and quiet for what seemed like an eternity as his mind drifted further away from him.
"Ok, well I have no fucking clue what was going on there, guys."
The voice returned. It had subsided after its short, muffled line but now it came to Daniel as he slowly regained consciousness.
"Um…I've played a few seconds of the demo of this, but that's about it."
Demo…?
Slowly Daniel blinked his sight back to him. It appeared to be raining outside and on the floor, by his face, was pink stains.
"Oh…we seem to be bleeding in on the floor. Always a good place to start the game I suppose. In a creepy castle with a storm going on outside by the looks of things, yeah…."
Who…are you…?
Speaking was out of the question at this point, as much as Daniel wished he could ask the woman who and where she was. After much struggle Daniel could stand and look around.
"I apologize if it's a bit too dark or the sound's too quiet, uh, I have to upload it first to see what it looks like anyway."
Beside the pink stains on the carpet were red rose petals and in his mouth the flavor of roses lingered. One thing Daniel could remember was their symbolism for love and memory. The irony was not appreciated.
"Ok, hints, ok. I've got a memento, so I press M to access my mementos but I can also access them through my journal, which is J."
What are you going on about…?
In the satchel Daniel had with him he did find a journal but there was next to nothing in it. The only thing there was a short note telling him to follow the liquid trail and find its source. It was the only lead he had so it seemed best to follow it.
"Mementos…follow the bl – the liquid trail - I'm assuming it's blood – back to its source. So, um…got no notes at the moment, no diaries at the moment, and we have our memento. So I guess our objective is to do that."
First: blood would never be pink. Second: who, what, and where are you? Third: everything else that's wrong with this situation.
"Um…"
Thunder announced its presence outside and water trickled down into the castle. The first archway Daniel looked through showed a mass of boulders and debris blocking his path.
"Nothing much in here. This is a lovely, desolate castle. It's very British. Um, judging from the guy's accent at the start this is set in England, because he sounded very British."
Daniel followed the pink liquid, thankful that this voice might be useful with its knowledge. He knew he was from London, Mayfair to be more specific, but that was all he knew of his origins.
I hope you'll tell me your name soon, even if you can't hear me I wish to address you properly.
"Not quite as British as the cast of Forbidden Siren, but you know…"
I've never heard of that book, I'll have to look it up after this whole mess.
"…pretty fucking British."
Harsh language from a lady was rare, another odd memory Daniel kept, and to hear one speak it so calmly and freely was next to unheard of.
"So, uh…the sound in this is phenomenal, the lightning going on over here…"
Daniel felt dizzy and unstable. He lowered himself to the ground so as not to fall before his body had returned to normal. His mind left his body, moving was struggle enough.
"…God, what the fuck? I appear to be having a seizure, guys."
Guys? Who is with you?
Daniel used a nearby suit of armor to hoist himself back to his feet, taking the helmet after noticing it was in no way held to the suit.
"Oo, God…oh I can pick things up…"
It was useless and Daniel was still regaining health so he just let it drop to the floor.
"…and I can drop them."
Why do you speak as if you are me? Our voices are different and I'm a man so it simply is not possible.
Daniel took the helmet from the floor but dropped it again.
"Hey, this is fun. I can woo~…"
The helmet fell to the ground with a clank.
"Woohoo! I like this. I can throw them apparently by right clicking on them, let's try that."
If you want, though it seems pointless.
"Pick it up."
She sounded forceful and Daniel threw the helmet as she wanted.
You are a very odd woman.
"Woo~. Oh that is awesome, I very much liked that."
You are also easily entertained.
"No doubt that'll come in handy with throwing things in blind panic and-"
A few steps into the next room a wooden door slowly opened on its own. It was strange but the strange woman was not as level headed as before.
"OH HO HO ahh…hello, Mr. Door…you opened by yourself, that's very kind of you."
For her sake, Daniel focused on a cupboard that had not done anything strange. She calmed down almost immediately and completely.
"Kay, so I can open…I said I can open doors, come on. Kay, this is fail at the moment. Oo, here we go. Can we open this as well?"
The cupboard doors were practically glued together but they opened soon enough. Inside rested a plain shirt and a tinderbox.
"Very stylish, very British coat in there…"
It's just a shirt…
"I don't think this is set in the past, it seems to be, it's seems to like…getting a medieval vibe from it thus far…"
The past? When are you from? I have no idea who, what, where, and now even when you are!
"I picked up a tinderbox as well, always nice."
No, you tell me this instant when you are.
The door had scared the woman so Daniel entered through it to see if this would encourage answers. A bit cruel perhaps but he had the right to know.
"Let's go in the room the door opened for me. There must be a reason for going in here, surely."
Wonderful, you don't even care.
The room seemed to be an oddly placed sitting room. There was a fire, a small table, chairs, a wine bottle, and another tinderbox.
"More tinderbox…tinderboxes, is that the plural?"
Yes.
Education was not common for the average woman but this one did not seem particularly thick headed either. Of course, having amnesia, Daniel was not sure what was or was not common knowledge.
"Kay, I can access my inventory to see it's a tinderbox."
Daniel left the room; it was pointless aside from the available tinderbox.
"Okay, I get the idea, yep. Tinderboxes can be used to um…to light things is what I'm guessing. Anything else in here?"
A second cupboard held a broom and a third tinderbox.
"Oo, another tinderbox, what a surprise, we seem to be seeing a pattern developing here, guys, of, uh, finding tinderboxes. That's good."
If there are others with you why can I only hear your voice? Your voice lovely and all but this is still very confusing.
"Let's see…"
The door to the next area creaked open and was accompanied by the woman's nervous laugh. Past the door was a large staircase and poor lighting.
"The doors opening in itself is creepy."
You frighten easily. I'll have to take care of you.
Daniel was not certain how he could, but he found it his duty to keep the lady safe and try to keep her from being frightened.
"Where are we going?"
You expect me to know?
"I don't even know what I/m doing. We're following the blood trail, but that seems to have pissed off for the mom-oo, no, there it is. Well done, blood trail."
There were a few dots of the pink liquid at the top of the stairs, clearly not blood but the true identity was still unknown. Daniel felt unsteady and became dizzier and dizzier the more he progressed. The castle groaned in protest of the strain its structure was facing.
"What the fuck is this? The whole place is shaking."
Your tongue does not suit a lady.
"Beams are creaking – oh God, the sound is fucking scary guys."
I understand that this is far from ideal, and eerie to say the least, but there are better ways to handle this.
All thoughts of better options and bravery left as Daniel reached another turn and heard the distant screams of pain accompanied by the call of something unidentifiable. The voice laughed nervously as Daniel collapsed to the floor and tried somewhat in vain to return to his feet. He felt hollow and numb. His mind and spirit seemed gone as the world around him rang and buzzed. Air refused to come or go easily as Daniel gasped for air, pleading with the world to cooperate with him.
"I'm having another fit…the fuck? Something just roared and my character actually had a seizure."
Daniel finally made his way to his feet and calmed himself quickly, lest he look like a craven to the lady in his head. He stumbled and hardly had control of himself for a few moments but he was soon fine and denying that he could be so weak as to succumb to a thing as silly as a panic attack.
It was merely the effects of dizziness and this blasted amnesia, I assure you.
"Ok…."
The voice giggled nervously as Daniel walked on, passing under a swing chandelier.
"Look at the light, it's moving. Ah, ok, this is really eerie so far. I am most impressed. Blood everywhere…I don't know if it's blood, it could be something else I guess."
Seeing as it is pink it's safe to assume that is not blood.
A door at the end of the hall slowly opened on its own but the woman did not giggle and Daniel did not panic. It was only a door.
"The other door over there just opened. Please, no body come out of it, because I am defenseless apparently."
If you are ever in danger, I will help you.
Daniel was more than defenseless, he was vulnerable, but he could never reveal this to a lady no matter how crude her language. The first room seemed safer to check first even if it did give the opportunity for someone or something to corner Daniel in if there was someone or something around to do so.
"Let's see what's in here. God, it's dark in here. Uh…suit of armor and another tinderbox. I think we should leave the dark. The dark in this game doesn't seem too friendly at all."
The game comment would remain a mystery but Daniel made no arguments concerning leaving the dark room. Darkness never seemed right to Daniel and the current situation was only making matters worse.
"If there's any problem with the frame rate and stuff, when I um, finish this set, guys, I'll uh, tweak around settings but let's see how it goes for now."
It was not even worth questioning. The other room was brightly lit and Daniel saw no one as he passed to check a nearby cupboard. Inside was a folded shirt and nothing more.
"Ok, what's in this cupboard? Oh, lovely, another shirt. Can I pick it up? No, I can't pick it up. Damnit, I want some stylish fashion accessories, damnit."
The shirt will serve no purpose, it is intended for a man, and you're a disembodied voice. You simply can't wear a shirt.
Daniel was almost happy he had no idea what the woman looked like as his imagination might have betrayed him otherwise with his last thought. The brightly lit room was essentially empty. There was nothing of use and Daniel was set to leave when every speck of light left.
"What's in here? What lovely paintings and-"
There was more frantic giggling. Daniel was frantic himself as he panicked and lit the candles with a tinderbox.
"Ok, um…'Beware! When standing in dark your sanity will slowly decrease…' So light things, ok. So, being in the dark: bad thing. I'm guessing we have a heart attack or something if we lose our sanity."
The way Daniel's heart was racing and pounding it seemed a very possible result. The woman laughed again.
"So tinderboxes are for restoring light in moments of total panic, I get it."
To calm himself, Daniel looked over the paintings in the room. None were especially calming but they did not send him into another panic attack either.
"There're some lovely paintings here. People being crucified, lovely…. What's this? Nice tree…ok, uh…"
There was nothing else to see and Daniel was more than ready to leave. He moved through to the next area which sadly was even darker.
"We've been everywhere in here, haven't we? Let's just follow the uh, the liquid down the stairs here."
What light was there seemed green and the stairway was rather drafty. There was no sound of rain or birds on a sunny day, not even voices. There were only the sounds of Daniel's footsteps, the woman's voice, and the wind.
"Oh I don't like that wind. I don't like storms, guys. I probably already said this before: storms scare the living crap out of me. So, um…this is not good."
While your words are…interesting, I'm terribly sorry should there be a storm.
At the bottom of the stairs was a single door made of red wood and metal. There was no sign, but the woman knew it.
"Oo, Old Archives, I guess this is a loading zone. Um…"
Beg pardon?
"Let's try it out – woohoo!"
Daniel went on as the woman began to mumble, quickly reading something, but she soon stopped to address the others Daniel knew nothing of.
"The other children cheered…just read that yourselves, guys, I can't be bothered."
Read what? All we've done is walk through a door.
"It's very creepy and British though…and there's a rose. Roses are British, don't you know?"
I'll take this as a sign to not ask you questions if I want a good answer.
"Oh…come on. Hopefully it won't take too long to load; I don't want massive load screens in the middle of the videos."
…I'm sorry but I simply must ask about that. What on earth are you talking about?
There was silence for a few moments.
"Come on, rose, out of the way. Come on, come on…we have scary things to experience, game."
….
Daniel shut the door behind him, obscuring most of what the woman said. Past the door was a series of stone halls lit by torches. It was not pleasant but then again neither was amnesia or a voice in one's head. She laughed nervously and Daniel made his way down the halls.
"Right…not sure I like this at all…"
Neither do I but we have to continue.
"Ok, um…"
The voice broke into nervous laughter again as a door blew open with a strong gust of wind filled with dust and papers that blew out what light had been available. The darkness made this worse than unpleasant.
"Warning, uh…witnessing unsettling events will, uh…oh God, so we're not allowed to see anything either, that's scary, otherwise our fear level rises and we die as well, I guess."
She certainly was not helping. Daniel inspected the room the wind had come from and saw that it was at least lit better than the halls now were. There was a leak and the entire room seemed damp. Surely mold was growing somewhere by the smell of things.
"So, um…not good…there's some lovely water in here…um…"
Small papers littered the ground but the writing was too small for Daniel to read. His head started to throb again and his balance was at risk. When he turned around after a few stumbles he saw an army of roaches swarming about the puddle at the base of the leak. The creatures were disgusting.
"Guys, what the fuck was that? What the fuck was that? What's going on?"
The voice caused worry not only with what she said but by the fact alone that it was a woman. Somewhere in Daniel's subconscious was the memory of women being far more frantic and high-pitched when even a single bug was near.
"Oh God, there's loads of bugs! Look, look."
I am looking, and as soon as I can find a way out that does not cross through them we will leave.
"Get out of here, I don't like this room, just leave, just leave, the bugs probably kill us or something…"
Daniel highly doubted that the vile things were deadly but he was not one to upset a lady on purpose. There were two in front of the stairs but he managed to avoid touching them in his escape.
"And everything's gone really dark, all the lights have gone out and everything…uh, God…don't like this at all…"
I'm very sorry, ma'am, but there simply is not an easy way out of here.
The only silver lining was that the pink stains had reappeared and Daniel could work on completing his objective.
"What's this on the floor? Can I pick it up?"
It was another book. Daniel lifted it to humor the lady and threw it as he knew she liked him to do.
"Can I read it?"
Oops….
"It's just a book I can throw it around apparently, that's fine."
It was probably of no use anyway.
The pink blots of the strange liquid led Daniel onwards into another room. A single window let in enough light to see by though Daniel would have much preferred having a few candles lit.
"God, I don't like this at all."
Once in the center of the room the building shook around Daniel. Wind howled as Daniel moved forward to a nearby table, if only for something to hold on to.
"The fuck is that? I can hear things."
Something fell from the table just as Daniel reached it. When he looked down he saw a lantern resting by his feet.
I suppose that's one good thing so far.
"There's things moving around…can I pick this up? And what's this? What's this?"
The castle slowly settled itself and Daniel grabbed the lantern, knowing it would be his best friend.
"Picked up a lantern…ok I've just picked up the lantern, I can use it, ok. I need to top it up, um…"
Daniel searched the room for oil but his search yielded only pink liquid stains and unimportant books. His time was better spent elsewhere.
"Ok, so I go to the inventory…. I think I've read somewhere that this uses oil, and I must find oil so I don't want to use it too much. Um…but anyway, won't use it for now…. I can see what I'm doing; I hope you guys can see what-"
The lady laughed her endearing nervous laugh as the wind sent papers lying on the hall's floors spiraling upwards to soar a bit.
"I don't like that wind, flying bits of paper everywhere, it's quite freaky."
Daniel spared both the woman and himself from more of the wind's harm by returning to the previous room. There was nowhere else for them to go even if he did not want to go that way.
"That's bit's caved in…. You know I hope you guys can see all this, 'cause if you can't this set it'll be brighter, I promise."
I'm willing to overlook the idea of a woman's voice being in my head but my delusions are not permitted to have delusions of their own. Either more voices are to show up or, preferably, all voices save my own are to leave my mind!
"Just follow the blood into the pitch blackness here. Is this lowering my sanity, just walking through it like this? I don't know, I…let's open this door and go in here."
The darkness certainly was not helping Daniel's sanity; in fact it more than likely was lowering it. The idea of sanity being measured so definitively was a strange one to Daniel but he did not know how else to explain it. When he was in darkness his sanity lowered, when he saw bugs, when the castle shook, and when any other odd event occurred. Light helped him and that was all he knew. That was all he needed to know right now.
"I can hear my heart beat sometimes; it's like: bum BUM…bum bum…bum bum…"
You are a very peculiar woman.
The castle shook again, not caring if Daniel was in a new room or not. This time though there was a candle for him to light in an attempt to even out his sanity.
"Should I light that or not?"
The castle calmed down so Daniel decided 'not' was the better answer. There was sufficient light here and he could not help but feel tinderboxes would be best used later down the line of the day.
"I don't want to light it. It seems like it would be a waste of a tinderbox. I don't know if this is killing me, just walking around in the dark – let's open this cupboard."
Daniel was learning to tune the woman out. Most of what she said was useless thoughts to him, no worthy information really. None of the jokes men have told to or around Daniel were stored in his available memory but if they were he would definitely draw parallels between this situation and the majority of tales about wives.
"Ok, what's in here?"
The cupboard held a broom, a rug, and one tinderbox which Daniel tucked away in his satchel.
"The ominous music there…got another tinderbox, good."
All notes of music, guys, buttons, cameras, and other such things that made no sense were to be tuned out as best as Daniel could. There seemed to be nothing else of use so he headed to the only available door left.
"God, I'm starting to get a bit quiet, guys, it's just so intense!"
We are in a strange castle and I am not certain we are welcomed guests. Being quiet is a good thing right now.
The liquid trail ended at the foot of a desk in the next room. There was a single candle illuminating the desk's contents and part of the room. There was a piece of paper just waiting for Daniel to read it.
"Oo, hold on, this looks important. The blood trail seems to end here, or the liquid trail."
Daniel began reading.
"What is this?"
19th of August, 1839
I wish I could ask you how much you remember. I don't know if there will be anything left after I consume this drink. Don't be afraid Daniel. I can't tell you why, but know this. I choose to forget. Try to find comfort and strength in that fact. There is a purpose. You are my final effort to put things right. God willing, the name Alexander of Brennenburg still invokes bitter anger in you. If not, this will sound horrible. Go to the Inner Sanctum, find Alexander and kill him. His body is old and weak, and yours, young and strong. He will be no match for you. One last thing, a shadow is following you. It's a living nightmare, breaking down reality. I have tried everything and there is no way to fight back. You need to escape it as long as you can. Redeem us both Daniel. Descend into the darkness where Alexander waits and murder him.
"Ok, so we have to kill…"
Your former self,
Daniel
The words that were scrawled onto the page repeated themselves over and over in Daniel's mind. He was not so much afraid as he was confused and concerned. The name Alexander was definitely familiar but Daniel could not remember the man's face or even how he knew him. The reason the man deserved death was beyond Daniel's imagination but f he himself thought it was necessary there was no reason to go back on himself. Daniel trusted himself, and so did the woman in his head.
"Yeah, sorry for interrupting you there, talking note. Uh, we've written a letter to our self apparently, 'cause we've lost our memory. Uh…we need to kill some dude called Alexander, um…who, um…I'm sure is a nice person. Is this an old diary now? No. Having I haven't actually got an objective now, which is a bit confusing, um…. Ok, we have that note, Daniel's not to self. Ok, guys, very creepy so far and very dark. Um…next time, more Amnesia. I guess we'll have to see what happens next"
Next time?
A/N: So yeah, I'm back. Sorry but my interest in fandoms come in waves plus real life gets in the way with college applications and health issues. But now I can relate to and write Daniel better because now I've had my own panic attacks and near black outs for reference |D. I've since found out that apparently Daniel is supposed to actually see the important items glow blue like the orb and sense the way due to heightened instincts from the shadow's power, but I'm lazy and didn't want to go through what I already wrote so I'm omitting the blue glowing deal. I can't say how quickly this will be updated but I can give a general forecast of other stories. I've received requests and suggestions of other let's plays to write and while I'm not against writing multiples of these sorts of stories most of the players either act very similar to Daniel, afraid and trying to figure out how to progress, they do things I can't justify as Daniel, or they're quiet for long periods of time; that doesn't give me much to work off of. I chose Lani since he's more or less Daniel's polar opposite and Mangaminx for a female angle and her cute braveness. If you can think of a player who I could write about that you want to see me write about feel free to leave me a review or PM about them.
I plan to write another story in the amnesia universe soon, focused on what happened before Daniel drank the amnesia drink. I'll try to flesh out the events in Algeria and at Brennenburg, developing the characteristics of the prisoners and the main cast as well. This might take me a bit longer to get to since I want to learn as much as I can about the Amnesia world before attempting to write it out.