RESIDENT EVIL VILLAGE - The House of Dimitrescu

Chapter 4 - The Bells of this Chamber

Y/N stood back,  considering the dusty room before him for a moment. 

'Let the five bells of this chamber ring out...' he muttered to himself quietly. 'Five bells... five bells... five bells...' He caught sight of a small staircase behind him leading up to a platform that overlooked the room, and he quickly ran up to stand there. The spinning cogs to his left were very loud, grinding away by themselves and seemingly lit from within, but the rest of the room was still very dark, lit only by the silvery light from the curved skylight above the enormous portrait of Lady Dimitrescu. 

Quickly, Y/N scanned the pulpit-like platform around him, running his hands over the wooden handrail, looking for levers, buttons, more hidden messages. 

Suddenly, he spotted that one of the panels in one of the walls seemed oddly crooked, and knocked it gently with his knuckle, being rewarded by a hollow sounding click. Placing a palm on the panel, Y/N pressed it hard, and the panel sprang outwards on hidden hinges to reveal a small opening behind the wall. 

Y/N hesitated, then removed the contents of the stash, closing the panel shut with another audible click. 

The revolver he had found was weighty and well-worn, but though it was a tad rusty in places around the cylinder, Y/N expected it might clean up nicely with a little oil. He also found a small box of ammunition, which tough half-empty still contained enough to fill the cylinder three times. 

After checking the revolver quickly, he loaded it, prior knowledge serving him well as he replaced the spent cartridges and loaded the fresh ones inside. Once the gun was ready, Y/N looked around the room again, wondering what on earth he would have to use it for.

A moment later, he understood. A large, brass bell hung on a stand on the desk down below him, motionless and covered in dust. Y/N looked at the revolver quickly, then at the door, wondering if the grinding of the gears might be enough to hide the noise of the shot from the still searching Dimitrescus.

Quickly, he cocked the gun, clasped it loosely in both hands, then levelled it at the bell. Smoothly, Y/N pulled the trigger, and the shot rang out with a loud crack. The bell pinged into life, a small flame flickering into sight from the stand above it, and Y/N grinned triumphantly as he lowered the gun. 

Swiftly, Y/N began to work his way around the room, spotting and lighting the other bells situated at intervals around the room. One stood atop a large cabinet, another inside the chandelier overhead, and another one inside the wall attached to the edge of one of the large, spinning cogs. 

As Y/N fired off his sixth and seventh shot, smashing through the skylight and lighting the bell fixed to the roof outside, he heard a deep, grinding noise reverberate through the entire room. Quickly, he descended the steps, and ahead of him, the portrait of Lady Dimitrescu gave a loud clunk, before swinging laboriously backwards in its frame to reveal a hidden space behind it, a hold in the wall leading to a dusty, cluttered corridor. 

'Thank you!' Y/N hissed triumphantly, praising whoever had come through before him and left the tools to their survival for him to find. 'Thank you!' Quickly, he gathered the two journals back into his arms, grabbed the box of ammunition, the revolver, and the note from the corner of the canvas, then dashed forwards into the painting, swinging it shut behind him with a loud clunk.

The corridor behind the painting was narrow and cluttered with junk. A thin layer of grime lay over everything, and there were several large gaps in the brickwork which rendered the corridor absolutely freezing. To Y/N's left, a stack of crates blocked off part of the passageway, so he went right, moving to a ladder which disappeared into the roof, and began to climb, the revolver and ammunition tucked into his belt, the note in his pocket, and the journals held tightly under one arm.