Prison

Darkness begets darkness, and fear begets horror.

I survived my descent from madness only to find myself in a place far worse, a location that made me wish I'd stay behind and been destroyed by The Shadow that so relentlessly pursues me.

The Prison.

As warden of the surrounding land, Alexander was in charge of maintaining the local jail. Whatever it used to be, this was no longer a jail. It was a maze of pain and suffering, unlit terror awaiting around each bend. The worst of it was the darkness. This wasn't like any place I'd been before, or even like storage. This to me, as a player, actually felt unnatural. There were no lights at all, everything had to be lit by me. The blackness was suffocating, working its way inside my mind and corrupting my every thought. Noises came down the hallways - half whispers and the dying thoughts of men and women past. As I slowly worked my way through, I had a close encounter with one of the Gatherers. I was JUST about to light a torch when it came around the corner and if there had been only a second difference in the timing, I would have been a dead man. Thankfully the lack of light aided my escape as I pondered my next move and came to a horrible realization.

Unlike previous areas where the monsters were drawn by certain events, here they actively patrolled. It was no longer a simple matter of avoiding one then being safe for a time - it was an active game of cat and mouse. a mouse who could barely be called sane by this point.

As I progressed, I began to suspect that this prison wasn't just for criminals. This must have been where Alexander kept his subjects, the ones he killed for his "essence". More disturbingly, it seems Daniel may have had a hand in this. The young girl I believe Daniel murdered in storage seems to have escaped from here. The more I learn, the more I believe Daniel didn't give himself amnesia to wipe the memories on terror stalking him or done to him. I believe he chose to do so in order to forget the horrors he committed himself.

My plight and near misses forced me to move at a faster pace than I was comfortable with, inadvertently leaving behind valuable lantern oil. At one point I even let one of the Gatherers out of a cell by mistake, and again just barely avoided death.

Close enough to touch.

My vision is frosted in that image because I'm losing my sanity. That Gatherer came closer than any had before and still didn't find me. My years of playing Thief served me well, but it changed little. My lantern oil was starting to diminish and my sanity was comparable to a Scientologist.

Several times I was forced to hide from the monsters, but each time I made it out alive.

Rotting pig carcasses = cardboard box of Amnesia

Each time I made it - until I was finally attacked by one of the creatures.

I had made it close to the end and managed to use an acidic compound to force open a door. Unfortunately, the noise alerted a nearby Gatherer. I thought it didn't see me so I hid in the shadows beyond the door. Fate however, was not so kind.

It DID see me, or saw me, and so came at me. These things don't run - not like you or I. When they move, they seem to waddle. The way they look supports this, as they look like something wearing human skin and not used to moving in it. When alerted though, it moved so unnaturally - it still shifted its weight from one side to the other, but at such a speed as to seem physically impossible. It a moment it was one me as I turned. It let out a shrill noise - less of a roar and more of a demonic cry of joy, and let loose its claws on my back. It only got one hit in those, for as it turned out the exit to the prison was directly by me. I took it and fled with what little sanity and health I had left.

I left behind the searing pain as I applied ointment to the wounds, and found myself in a far different area, one very well lit and seemingly devoid of the Gatherers. This place was the sewer system of the entire castle and despite its innocent appearance, the memory remained.

After all, I'd met things in the water of the castle before.