Azoth

Fendari stood in the middle of the small room with the table, sweeping up the broken shards of glass from the oil lamp his master knocked over days ago, and thinking to himself. Riccardo had gotten to her before he had, and that infuriated him. It was a total fluke, had she not been walking through that passageway at that time, he would never have found her. Just when he thought he could finally take her... he had failed to account for that possibility, so it was really his own fault. He knew there would probably be numerous other opportunities... But he didn't know how much longer he could wait. Now that she was here, it was becoming almost unbearable.

He had been forced to give Riccardo the antidote, not wanting the man to find out about his plan, his perverted desire. And now, with that intruder somehow surviving... it was a miracle he survived the nail trap, even more a miracle he was up and walking, and still coming after his prize. No matter that he no longer knew who he was, or what he was doing... the man still posed a threat. Fendari knew that Leana was most likely smart enough to solve the puzzle in the atrium, and decided to wait until then to attempt to abduct her again.

Since the incident in the operating room, he had given up following her for the time being. He assumed she could fend for herself, and knew he'd probably run into her soon enough anyway. But precious time was wasting... the master could arrive at any minute. And if she fell into his hands... he didn't like to think about that. Hundreds of years this longing had been inside him, hundreds of years it burned... And finally, after all this time, she had returned to him. This time, he would not let anything get in his way.

Daniella examined the wall. A single word was painted... AZOTH. She had entered this room from the hallway, deciding to enter because it struck her interest... the door was painted red. It reminded her of the door leading into that awful skeleton room, which was blue, so she knew it had to have some importance. After that experience, though, she was a little hesitant on entering.

Beneath the word, there was a square hole cut into the stone. Inside this hole were three closed glass jars, the one on the left holding a silvery liquid, the one in the middle holding a white powder, and the one on the right holding a yellowish substance. Was this another strange puzzle? Why would somebody put this in their house? It must have been some sort of security mechanism... but why couldn't they just use locks like normal people? It was starting to creep her out...

Poppy was sniffing at the jars, the one on the right for some reason catching his interest. Daniella knew that there was some way to solve this, that it was designed to be solved by anybody, you just had to be smart enough. She looked intently at the word painted on the wall, noticing it was painted in different colors. The "A" was painted in yellow, the "Z" in red, the "O" in blue, and the "TH" both black. Above each of the first three letters, there were more small holes, big enough to fit one of the glass jars each. A fourth was placed above the "TH". What was this? What was she supposed to do?

Daniella crouched down beside Poppy, examining the jars. She knew what was in the one on the left, had seen it before. It was unmistakable, there was no other substance in the world that looked quite like it. It was filled with mercury, and she knew that it was deadly stuff, and did not dare open the jar. To the right of that one was a jar filled with white powder... but a closer inspection revealed not powder, but very small crystals. She decided it didn't look very hazardous and slowly took off the top. She thought she knew what it was, but couldn't be sure. There was only one way to find out...

Hoping it wasn't poisonous, she took a bit on her finger and put it on her tongue, and her suspicions were confirmed. It was just ordinary salt. She closed the jar again, and looked at the one on the right, which Poppy was still sniffing at. It was a sickly yellowish-green, and Daniella knew what it was just by looking at it. To be sure, she carefully removed it from the hole and removed the top.

Sure enough, a pungent odor filled the air immediately. Poppy drew back, suddenly deciding he wasn't so interested in it anymore. It was sulphur. She quickly put the top back on, and put it back in the hole. So we had mercury, salt, and sulphur... she was probably supposed to put them in a certain order in the holes above the letters... and judging by what she'd already been through, she guessed that if she got it wrong, she wouldn't live to give it a second try.

She tried to think, thinking back to anything that might give her a hint as to how to do this... then she remembered. SALT... it had been carved on the blue diamond. Blue... She looked back at the letters. The "O"... it was blue. She decided that this was her answer, and was about to put it in the hole, when she hesitated. What if she was wrong? What if it was just a coincidence that the salt crest had been blue, and she put it in, and some horrible death came to her? She looked down at her dog, staring at the wall confusedly, and sniffing every once in a while at the "A". Whatever happened, he would be with her. She put it in the hole, and heard a clicking noise. Daniella looked around worriedly, but nothing else happened.

She sighed, and went back to the other jars. That was the only crest she'd found... she had no idea what colors these were. Red, yellow, and black were left. She was starting to think she wouldn't be able to do it after all when she remembered Fendari's words to her... Mercury is a red planet. Was he trying to tell her how to do this? Did he know she would end up here? It was all she had to go on... and she had promised herself she would find out the secret of this place. Slowly, with a trembling hand, she reached for the mercury and put it above the red "Z". Another click. She looked back at the last bottle, and up at the two spaces left. Which one was it?

She noticed Poppy still sniffing around the hole above the "A". She watched him intently, sniffing around for a moment, then sat back, looking at her and whimpering.

"What is it, boy?", she asked as she looked inside the hole. She noticed the distinct smell of sulphur there, too... so that must mean...

Daniella took the last jar and placed it above the "A", closing her eyes and hoping it was all correct. There was a final "click", and she heard something begin to move behind the wall. She stepped back, fearing for a moment she was wrong, but all that happened was a small silver object fell into the hole above the "TH". She moved forward cautiously, taking it and examining it. It was another key... this one had a symbol carved into it, though. A cane with snakes... she had seen it before, and she felt fear rise in her as she remembered where...

The torture chamber.