Author Note: I do not own Amnesia. I'm so sorry for being a terrible person in making you all wait this long for an update. The good news is I got a new laptop for my birthday, but the bad news is I'm really overwhelmed and stressed out, and have had several breakdowns lately. Hopefully I'll update regularly but if I'm not, it's because it's my senior year in high school and I'll be really busy, and I'm dealing with personal issues right now too. Anyways, enjoy!

Scene 8: Aqua Regia and Calamine

Daniel glanced around, letting out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He imagined he heard a man crying from somewhere nearby, but he couldn't be sure. Honestly, he didn't think he could trust his own mind anymore.

He walked through the dark, misty room, absently moving aside crates as he searched. He tried to move with a purpose, but aside from his terror and confusion, he felt only drained. So much had happened to him. His entire life was full of uncertainty and fear. For the millionth time (or so it seemed), Daniel wondered how he had gotten himself into this mess and why he had chosen to make himself forget.

He made his way out to the room with the staircase, keeping his lantern off to conserve oil, and a sudden surge of unbridled fear came over him. Heart pounding, Daniel half-ran to the room with the table that had glowing splatters on it. He calmed down somewhat by being in the candle light and looked around, though he'd already searched the room before.

Gathering his wits and courage, Daniel turned his lantern on and examined the small wooden map attached to the wall outside the room.

Turning his lantern on, he made his way to a room in the opposite corner of the room. This 'room' turned out to be more of a long hall, much like the one he'd been in earlier. Rather than keep his lantern lit, he used a tinderbox to light a torch so he could see. The darkness was getting to him more and more, making him crave light like a moth. He shivered, imagining he could see the misty shadows of the room bending and shifting…

Pull yourself together, he scolded himself. But still he wondered. Was this the work of the mysterious Shadow? Perhaps it literally was a shadow and was following him at that very moment. Maybe he was seeing the Shadow moving in the darkness.

Shaking his head, Daniel walked quickly down one end of the room, as though with a purpose. He tried to shove these unpleasant thoughts to the back of his mind. They were, indeed, driven out when he thought he heard footsteps above him, along with the creaking of floorboards.

Taking only a second to glance around the dark end of this room, he left it and headed the other way, pausing a second by the lit torch. Seeing nothing of interest, Daniel walked into the adjacent room. Out of desperation, he lit his lantern again and as he was walking through the room, he heard what sounded like his own voice saying, "What? What is this place?"

He whirled around as though expecting to see who had spoken before realizing he was simply hearing himself from his lost memories. There were green splatters similar to the one from the room he'd been in before leading to a shelf. Lighting a torch and stowing away his lantern, Daniel turned and inspected the shelves near the strange liquid. The shelf the trail led to had only numerous, useless bottles and another tinderbox. Daniel looked behind the shelf and glanced around the room, wondering if there was any significance to the trail at all.

Giving up, Daniel turned on his lantern again and headed out to the room with the staircase again. He half-ran up the staircase, then stopped himself and went back down and into the room directly across from the stairs. After collecting himself, Daniel went back into the long room with blood splattered everywhere, though it was one of the last places he wanted to go.

To his delight, Daniel found a bottle labeled 'Aqua Regia' on a table in the room. Feeling as though he was definitely making progress at this point (he now had three out of four ingredients he needed!), Daniel walked quickly into the room next door.

Upon entering, he heard a voice saying, "What was that?!" Trying to ignore the disembodied voice, Daniel went and refilled his lantern then set about searching the room. Among a few tables (one of which was overturned), he found a bottle. Picking it up, he said that it said 'Calamine'.

His happiness lasted only a split second, however. Suddenly, the entire room began to shake. Debris fell from the ceiling and he looked up just in time to see a barrel heading straight for him.

He tried to move out of the way, but it hit him, knocking him out cold.

His last thought before falling unconscious was, What happened?

…

Please review. I was going to finish the video for this chapter, but the barrel hitting Daniel seemed like a good ending point. Hope the chapter was worth the wait.

Question: Who's completely psyched about the new Amnesia game, A Machine For Pigs?

Answer: I've been watching Tobuscus play it and it looks great so far.

Leave your answer in a review!