CHAPTER THIRTEEN - THE MANSION'S GLOOMY HALLWAYS
Her footsteps echoed through the dim hallway as Fiona walked down the dirty chessboard floor. Apparently the maid didn't attend to this part of the building. In fact, Fiona got the impression that no one had been in here for a long, long time. Unlike the castle, there were no chandeliers to illuminate the corridors. The only sources of light were a few small lamps with a single light bulb and lit candles, which made the mansion dark and gloomy. The hallways were sparsely furnished with only a few randomly placed small, circular tables and accompanying chairs, a stark contrast to the castle's numerous masterly crafted and sturdy furniture pieces, countless ornaments and spectacular art like the paintings and the sculptures. Fiona peered through a big window to her left, but saw nothing but blackness. How long had she been asleep? Hewie was barking at a round hole in the wall just like the one Fiona had seen in the museum. She could feel a stale and damp gale of wind blowing from the other side of the opening. "Why not?" she thought. With Hewie's help, she had managed to get through the entire castle to this manor unharmed. So far, they were doing well. Besides, she ought to check out every area anyways. However, Hewie had to wait outside. She promised the faithful canine she would only be gone for a short time, and then, she crawled into the darkness.
On the other side was a small area, no more than 8x16 ft. Like most of the rooms in the castle, crammed bookcases lined the walls from top to bottom. Birdcages were dangling from the ceiling and several strange looking machineries took up space on the other side of the room. She noticed a document written in Italian hanging on the wall to her right. The text appeared to be old, at least from the 17th century. Thanks to her parents, Fiona was bilingual and just happened to be fluent in Italian. The sheet held information about the contraptions in the room called Variation Machina and Perpetuum Machina. About Variation Machina it said, By using a medallion one can actually transform items into new things which properties are roughly determined by the base items colour compatibility." White (album) for humans, blue (viola) for animals, red (rubium) for antimony and magnesia and green (viride) for metallic objects like other medallions. Whenever on hasn't the means to protect oneself, come here for sanctuary. Signed Aureolus Belli. Fiona had never heard that name before. Had he once been the owner of these buildings? Was he her ancestor, or was it another Belli family altogether? A small table with scales and books lying on the desktop was placed in the middle of the room. The book seemed almost archaic in nature. She shifted through the pages and read about the different sorts of alchemic brewery that could be made by putting medallions inside the Variation Machina; health items for humans and animals like Quies, Mundus, Sedatio, Recreatio, Fortis, Remedium, Esca and Magna Esca. Precarious items such as Carbo, Nigred, Torva, Sylvestra Esca and Benneman Esca. She learned the name of the strange orbs that she'd hurled at the giant earlier; antimony powder (purple) and refined antimony (yellow). A third, even more powerful variant also existed, antimony tube; as well as another alchemic concoction called Magnesia, a diamond shaped crystal that would explode if stepped on. It came in three forms, Standard (green), Refined (red) and Prima (multi-coloured). She turned to face the peculiar contraption called Variatio Machina. Next to it was a wooden box filed with medallions. Fiona selected one, placed it inside the centre hole of the device and pressed start. A wheel started to spin and a button prompted Fiona to press stop. Every now and then, the dull, ash-grey would swiftly reveal its many hidden colours. After she'd pressed stop, another wheel started to spin, and then the next. One by one, a total of nine wheels spun around the middle-centred medallion before the process ended. In order to forge it into a new item, at least two similar colours had to be directly connected to one another, which was much harder than it sounded like. After three fruitless attempts, Fiona finally managed to get two white orbs in line and the machine started to glow. Her prize was a box filled with yellow-greenish pills. It said Quies x 2. Perfect! Her knee was still throbbing so she swallowed them all. Hewie was howling impatiently outside, she'd better hurry. Just one more try. She picked up a blue medallion from the box and placed it in the inside the device. This time she got lucky and managed to connect four blue and two white orbs. She was rewarded with a cylinder containing pills with the colour of a late-summer lawn. The ancient book identified the substance as Magna Esca, a brewery that would fully heal a wounded animal and make it "happy". With that, Fiona went back to the mansion's dark hallways where Hewie was waiting.
She gave Hewie two of the tablets. The rest she would save for later. The canine seemed to appreciate the treat and let out a satisfying bark. There was a door with pottery plants on each side at the end of the corridor and some furniture pieces in the hallway to her left. She decided to check out the left hall first, crossed another round table and chair and went up to an old and unsteady showcase. Inside it, several discoloured bones lay in a pile. "I can lie to myself all I want to," Fiona thought. "But there is no denying these are human bones." Insects filled up another glass case at the end of the corridor. Why had she even bothered to look? Above the case hung a painting of a mother lovingly holding a child. The artwork had been a stunning masterpiece until someone had spoiled it by red paint. Blood red dye dotted the female's body and it had been flowing down the canvas creating the impression of a bleeding woman. The female's face had been painted red altogether. Who would do such a thing? Fiona sought comfort in knowing that that person was probably not around here anymore. She called for Hewie and they went through a door to her left. On the other side was a dark area, which was only illuminated by a couple of small lamps on the floor. Fiona followed the narrow pathway, turned right and ended up at another door. On each side of the trail were huge gaps. An enormous mammoth head dominated the small space. Its trunk had been smashed into the path, and several blocks of stone were jumbled around the long nose of the prehistoric animal. Ears laid flat to his head, Hewie started whining. He was scared… no, he was terrified. Fiona wondered if he thought the mammoth was alive. She bent down and tried to comfort him the best she could. Through a glass wall next to the huge animal, a stuffed chimera was showing off its fierce gaze. Why would anyone ever decorate a room with something so hideous?
They hurried out the creepy hallway and Fiona was relieved to be outside and breathe fresh air again. Hewie too seemed to be feeling better. They were standing on a wooden walkway attached to the outer wall. It was hard to tell how far above the ground they were, but they were definitely not at ground level. Dark shadows the shape of treetops stood out against the night blue sky and there was something white in the distance. Was that… mountaintops? The Alps? Or perhaps it was the Pyrenees? "Where in God's name am I?" she asked herself. Suddenly she remembered that she and her parents had been driving through France. After going away to college, she hadn't seen her mum and dad for weeks and she had missed them so terribly. Her mum had suggested that they should take a few days off work and studies and do something nice together as a family. And what could be nicer than a weekend holiday trip to Nice, her mother had laughingly said. Besides, Fiona needed to freshen up her French. Her father had been reluctant, but they had managed to talk him into it. Fiona had been thrilled; college was OK and so were her classmates, but she had such a hard time trusting and bonding to people. She was such a shy and quiet girl, always had been and she'd often felt lonely at the Campus, sometimes even downright depressed. She had ever been interested in sports or partying and had spent most of her time studying in her room and in the library. It wasn't that she didn't have any friends, but she'd just missed her life in London so terribly. The safe and quiet neighbourhood, the animal shelter, the ballet and piano lessons and not to mention her parents and her aunts. Her parents… what he'd said, the man that called himself Riccardo, was it really… true? Her parents… dead? She could feel the tension building up in her chest, making it harder and harder to breath. Her lags gave in; she had to grasp hold on the railing. She was very close to having an anxiety attack. Hewie stopped and looked up at the grief-stricken girl as she was clinging to the banister. She focused on her breathing; deep inhalations, slow and controlled exhalations. She couldn't let herself break down, not here, not now. That would be dangerous. For them both. She had to hold the tears back, if she started to cry now she was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop. She had to be strong, her parents would have wanted her to fight back. For herself, her parents and for Hewie, she had to be strong. "I'm OK now Hewie," she assured him.
The walkway turned out to be a dead end. The door leading back into the manor was locked from the other side. There was nothing else to do than to return to the hallway. She looked up in the partly clouded sky wondering if they were looking for her. She must have been reported missing by now, right? Though no one expected them to return to London for a few more days, her aunts must have been suspicious when her mother hadn't called them. She wondered if anyone at college would notice that she was gone. She'd only had one close friend, a girl named Alyssa. She had met her in nursery school when they were three and four. Talkative and outgoing, Alyssa had been quite the opposite of Fiona. Still the two girls made best friends from day one and had spent almost every day of their childhood together. Alyssa too, had a strong bond to her family. She loved her mother and grandfather very much. She had never known her father, and for that, Fiona had always felt sorry for her. Then one day, she'd gone to meet Alyssa but her mother, the otherwise so sweet and hospitable Mrs. Hamilton, had abruptly dismissed Fiona saying that Alyssa had left for boarding school and wouldn't return for many years. "I'm sorry, sweetie" she had said, "but you must never come here anymore." It had broken Fiona's heart. Only 13 years old, she lost contact with the only real friend she'd ever had. It still puzzled and saddened her. From that day, she had kept mostly to herself. She hadn't let anyone into her heart again until a few hours ago when she'd met Hewie. Besides, her parents had always been a bit over protective, so Fiona had never been given much chance to have a social life. It had never bothered her though. She would rather spend her time with the people she loved and felt comfortable with anyway.
Back in the mammoth hallway Hewie's ears went flat once again, the dog was obviously petrified of the hideous looking creatures. As soon as they were back in the main hallway he appeared to be fine. Fiona hurried past the showcases, headed left and found herself surrounded by three doors. She ought to find a map as soon as possible so she would know where to go in this labyrinth of hallways. The door to her right had windows on each side and led her to a small veranda. They were definitely on the second floor. It was too dark to make out any details, but she was probably above a garden of sorts. She could see trees, a small building and haphazardly placed stones. Since there was no way she or Hewie would be able to get down from the balcony, she went inside and opened the door to her left. She was now in a small, globular room. The grandfather clock's hands showed well beyond midnight. She'd been sleeping for nearly two hours. In the ceiling hung a chandelier, the first one Fiona had seen since leaving the castle. Hand-written notes lay on top of a desk and ornaments decorated a bookcase. Spheres of Antimony lay amongst the ornaments. The manor appeared to be uninhabited, but one could never know. It was better to be safe than sorry, especially in this creepy place. She picked up a yellow one. A couple of plants were placed on the floor, and a figurine of a female clasping an unlit oil lamp was placed in the middle of the room. A peculiar pattern engraved into the floor encircled the small sculpture. A door next to the bookcase led to a wall of stone. What was up with this place? Holding on to the Magna Esca and the refined antimony, Fiona went out of the room and through the door with plants on both sides. She walked into a small, cold and dark area, which was completely empty except for a mirror covered with a curtain. The sound of splashing water emerged from the floor below. How odd. She moved through a door next to the covered mirror and entered a room that was completely opposite of the ones she'd so far seen. It was warm, moist and highly illuminated. Palm trees stretched towards the glass-made ceiling and below full-bodied flowers were stretching out in every direction in constantly watered flowerbeds. A luminessant made Fiona speed up her pace. They walked across a u-shaped bridge over the flowerbeds and exited on the other side of the same wall that they had entered. Fiona made sure to close the door between herself and the bothersome creature.
They entered a dirt-covered foyer, which bent slightly to the left. Behind her, another door appeared to lead nowhere. A dead plant stood next to a long, red and filthy couch. An identical, and equally filthy one lined the other wall. A doll the size of a human was placed in the sofa to the right. It had long, blond hair and dressed in a crimson dress covered in dust and cobwebs. A closer look made Fiona realize that it was not a doll at all. It was, without a doubt, a mummy. The realization gave Fiona quite a shock, would she ever get used to this place? Not that she wanted to. She could feel the mummy's eyes burning in her neck as she walked away. On the contrary, the desire of getting the hell out just grew stronger. In a small corridor to the left hung a dark painting entitled Blue Flame, Secret Ways. She walked up to a door at the end of the main hallway, turned the knob and found herself staring into another wall of stone. This place was seriously getting on her nerves. She felt the mummy watching her as she and Hewie searched for an exit. There had to be a secret passageway or something around here somewhere. She tried to knock on the walls and to turn the painting and the tiny masks decorating the walls. Nothing happened. After ten minutes, she started to loose hope. What now? Was she now trapped here, like the mummy had been many years ago? Would she suffer the same faith? No way. They had come too far to loose out to this hellish nightmare now. Fiona examined the painting more closely. Meticulously, she studied every detail. A young female in a blue hooded jacket was raising an oil lamp. A hand sticking out from the darkness was ready to grasp the young woman's arm. The only bright spot in the mysterious painting was a blue flame burning brightly from inside the oil lamp. "Blue Flame, Secret Ways," a rather strange title for a picture. Unless it was some sort of a hidden message. Staring at the painting, Fiona tried to take in its essence. What was it trying to say to her, what message was it conveying? It was almost as if the girl was guiding her deeper and deeper into the painting. Could there be a secret passage behind that wall? She studied the oil lamp. Hadn't she seen one like it just moments ago? Focus, Fiona, think! Of course! The statuette in the room where she'd picked up the antimony, it had been holding an unlit oil-lamp. "Come on, boy," she said to Hewie. "We have to go back and look for matches." She hurried past the mummy and into the greenhouse, remembered the luminessant and spurted over the bridge. She'd hoped that glowing, purple thing had died by now. However, this was… bluer. It reminded her of… the painting. Could it really be… that simple? She slowed down and let the bug follow her. She entered the circular room and kneeled down behind the small sculpture. A second later the glowing bug crossed the entry. Heading to where Fiona was sitting, it smashed into the oil-lamp and ignited the wick. The floor started to shake and a deep, scraping sound of stone moving against stone could be heard from deep inside the building. A mesmerizing blue flame was now dancing from the oil lamp's wick, just like in the painting. Fiona and Hewie hurried back to the hallway where the mummy was resting to see if anything had happened.
She was not let down. The wall with the painting on it had been moved several feet back and torches lit up a secret staircase to the lower level. Fiona and Hewie descended to a tiny area, passed a small sculpture and table and headed right. The floor here had the same chessboard pattern of black and white squares and the same small lamps were hanging from the ceiling. Nonetheless, there was something different about this floor. Maybe it was the red-tinted arched windows to her left. They gave the place an eerie atmosphere, even more so than the gloominess upstairs. Black steel crisscrossed the crimson glass in a mosaic pattern. It was like the flaming red colour was burning into the room. Or maybe it was the movement she saw behind the barrier she was walking next to. A fence going from floor to ceiling split the room in two and Fiona could swear she saw something green moving on the other side of the lattice. Hewie lowered his head and ears in apprehension and Fiona could hear the deep, guttural sound of hostility emerging from his throat. Fiona focused her eyesight on the object. A hand was moving in steady, monotonous circular patterns... Belonging to a woman dressed in green who was wiping a table. She suddenly realized who it was, the maid. She was behind the fenced area, absorbed in her house-cleaning chores. She didn't seem to notice Fiona's presence, or maybe she was just ignoring her. Fiona's pulse rose at the sight of the mad woman and once again, the ice-cold grip of angst manifested itself inside her chest. "Maybe she is locked inside the fence, unable to get out," Fiona thought not really believing it. She hurried past the enclosure and through an arched doorway. She didn't even notice the door behind her.
She was now in a T-shaped hallway illuminated only by three red lamps in the middle of the floor. On each side of the paths were pitch-black gaps of darkness. Fiona walked straight ahead through an ached opening with no door and entered a small room that looked completely normal when compared to the other rooms in the mansion. It was clean, illuminated and there was no chessboard pattern on the floor. The two windows were normal, square and with colourless glass. To her right stood a grandfather's clock and a banister forged from wrought iron. She stepped down a few steps to a small sitting area and a sofa. On the table, Fiona found what she'd been looking for, a hand drawn sketch of the Belli mansion. She picked it up, started to orient herself, and quickly found the T-shaped hallway she'd just crossed. The building was made up of many, long and narrow hallways and there seemed to be no easy way to move from one part of the mansion to the other. She was in the building's east wing and according to the map, the entrance was in the west wing. On the other side of the door to her left, a path led to the other side of the manor. She turned the knob. Locked. Typical. In this labyrinth of a mansion, "no easy way to move from one area to the other" was an understatement. Thanks to the map, she found an alternative route. She went back to the red, T-shaped hallway, took opened the other door and crossed a tiny, half-spherical area that was designed as a children's carousel. The interior was made up of three white horses attached to a pole going from top to bottom. An elk's head stared at her from the concave wall. She could even hear carousel music. It was slightly disturbing. At least she got over to the desired hallway.
Again, the floor was chessboard black and white. She passed a poster filled with jumbles of letters called "Glowing Sun, Radiant Star, Luminescent Moonlight." It was fastened to the wall over a smear of dried blood. Before moving down the shady hallway, she unlocked the door into the sitting area, just in case. She passed a descending staircase to the left, rounded a corner, passed a closed door and headed right. She wanted to leave, not explore. This part of the walkway was darker, dirtier and creepier. A covered mirror and three dolls the sizes of little girls were placed against the walls. She removed the curtain covering the mirror. If the maid started chasing her again, the mirror would distract her. Fiona felt like the dolls were tracing her steps as she walked down the corridor. It was really creping her out. Hewie too, he was growling at them. She tried not to look at them as she crossed the disturbing passage. She was starting to regret she had left he castle. But Lorenzo would never have sent her to this place if there wasn't a way out, right? He obviously knew this place well, so she had to trust him. She walked through a door at the end of the passageway and found the path obstructed by water. Even if she did try to swim across, she wouldn't be able to pull herself up on the other side. The edge was too high. She could see a door in the distance. Was that her way out of this hellish maze of a mansion? She had to go back and examine the areas she'd just crossed more closely. She sighted, turned around 180 degrees and retraced her steps in the gloomy hallway trying to ignore the creepy dollies the best she could. She had the uncanny feeling that the search for the manor's entrance was going to be a living hell.
Her first stop was a door to her right. It led outside to a locked up area. Hewie was running around, sniffing and searching every corner. To her left, a pillar of a seething flame was spewing forth from the stone-covert floor. Fiona stepped up to it. Above it was a balcony, but she would be burned alive if she tried to reach for it now. Until she found a way to put out the fire, the only sane thing to do was to stay away. To her right, a locked door led into the greenhouse she'd passed over earlier. The universal symbol of femininity was carved into the door. In this case, it probably referred to Venus. There was nothing more out there besides a small statue clenching an oil lamp. Fiona turned to go inside and froze at the sight of the 3-headed monster guarding the entrance. It appeared to be some kind of dragon and even though it was made of stone, its flaming red eyes and wide-open mouth made Fiona feel very nervous. She noticed a small paper inside one of the dragon's mouths and quickly picked it out, remembering all to well what had happened the last time she'd put her hand inside a hole like this. She unfolded the paper; the handwriting was the same as on the previous letter. She read the scribbled notes. It was another helpful note from her friend Lorenzo. Dearest Fiona. I write this in hopes that you've made it this far. Speak the proper words to the 3-headed dragon personifying fire. Doing so will calm the blazing flames which incinerate all and show you the way. The words themselves are the name of spiritual essence. It is what we call SALT, SULFUR AND MERCURY. Be careful, my dear Fiona. Lorenzo.
Something above that would show her the way… she had to put the flame out somehow and get up there. Speak the proper words to the 3-headed dragon… now how was she going to do that? She peered into the open mouths; there seemed to be a slot of some kind inside. However, there were no more clues outside. She called out for Hewie to follow and they went inside the mansion, passed the shady hallway, the sitting area, the red T-shaped passage and back to where the maid was cleaning. She'd taken a quick look down a dark path descending to her right in the hallway, but had only found two locked doors engraved with the symbol of Jupiter. She noticed a door on the other side of the room and she hurried past the enclosed area. Fiona opened the door and closed it her. They were inside a restroom that had been unused for years. Another set of jumbled letters filled up a part of one wall. To her left was a toilet, a sink, some shelves filled with toilet requisites and to her right, a plate-pressing machine. She put the Magna Esca and refined Antimony down, tucked the map inside her boot and made three thin plates. Each plate had a word from Lorenzo's letter stamped on it. With the 3 plates in her hand, she examined the bathroom. She was a bit thirsty and wondered if the water was safe to drink. She turned the tap and fresh, clear water oozed from the faucet. She tried a zip. It tasted fine. She drank until she'd quenched her thirst. Hewie was sniffing one of the two bathtubs. The other one was filled with stagnating, reddish water. "It's probably rust discoloration," Fiona thought. "Unless that red colour is coming from something else." Was she just being paranoid, or was her uneasiness justifiable? She wasn't sure; over the last couple of hours, she had really started to doubt her own judgement. She had to get out of here before she went mad. If it hadn't been for Hewie that would probably already have happened. Her eyes caught a window covered with blinds. "I wonder what is going on outside this steel cage I seemed to have landed myself in?" she wondered. She decided to open the blinds to have a peak outside. She shouldn't have.
At first, she saw only darkness, then an enormous creature passed by the window. Fiona jumped at the sudden movement. Puzzled, she wondered what she'd seen floating by on the other side. It sounded crazy, but she could have sworn she'd just seen a fish from a different time period swimming by, looking exactly like a fish she'd seen in a natural history museum that she had visited when she had been a kid. Who could've possibly fathom that this room was under water? Hewie was growling. She stirred into the darkness, but she couldn't see anything else moving. It wasn't until she stepped two steps back that she noticed the reflection in the glass. It took her two seconds to realize that the maid was standing behind her. When she turned she noticed Hewie's body language. He was ready to fight. So was Daniella. She hissed, raised the sharp glass she was holding and pointed it at Fiona. The petrified girl clenched tightly around the plates keys. She was cornered, the maid was blocking the door and the Antimony was lying next to the plate-pressing machine on the other side of the room.
Finally an update, yay! Did you guys notice the recerence to CT3? To me all the games (or at least HG, CT, RE and DMC) belong to the same universe of awesome Capcom games.
AerithGast88 - Yeah, the detective is pretty darn smart, but he still has to work on the Who and the Where, and he has to convince other people that his insane theories are actually true. That is not going to be easy.