Chapter Text
Level 0 - The Lobby
Threat Index: Class 0
*Safe
*Unstable
*Devoid of Entities
My senses came back together one by one. First, touch; it was the cold and harsh dampness where i pressed my cheek on. Then, hearing; the faint buzzing sound that felt like it was coming from miles away gradually filled up my ears, to the point where i could figure out it was coming from everywhere at once. The smell was nothing i could recognise, i was pretty sure it was my first time coming across whatever substance that was. I was pretty sure it was coming from the damp carpet i was laying on, though.
Eventually i opened my eyes and completed the awakening. I slowly sit up to get rid of the feeling of dampness on my face, it was pretty irritating. However, a bigger problem was that i had no idea where i was at all.
It was a large space with yellow wallpapers which i couldn’t quite put my finger on about what it was supposed to be yet. Yellow wallpaper, damp and worn carpet, a few outlets scattered around and some REALLY irritating fluorescent lights… It was all like some distorted version of a retail outlet.
After taking in the visuals, panic started. I couldn’t remember ANYTHING at all. My head started to ache terribly upon forcing myself to do so. I tried to remember where i was before passing out. Who i was with, what time it was, what happened, who i was…
I tried taking a few steps in each direction in hopes to see anyone that could help me, anyone at all. Even though all this felt like some psychopathic serial killer’s doing, i didn’t care. Before i could realise, i have already started pacing through the identical hallways and rooms in hope with to find someone.
After a while, panic turned into fear and i was lucky it did. Panicking would get you killed, fear would do anything to save you. All i had to do was let adrenaline do it’s job and think of a way to figure out where i was, and then get out.
All the bustling out certainly did not help, i didn’t remember where i woke up and neither how far i came. The place and all the rooms were completely empty. They weren’t identical but still devoid of a pattern, i could still try finding one of course.
I did not know how big this retail outlet like place was, however, i could still reach the corner of the building. Of course, i had to assume the building was a square at best for this. And if i walked in one direction enough, i could reach the outmost wall, then i could trace it until i found the exit door.
It did take long enough for me to realise that i was hopeless. I was walking in a straight line for almost an hour, the time already started to make no sense. Surely, a building couldn’t be this big.
I knew it, it had to be a dream. I had dreams like these time to time. Very hyperrealistic, felt like they took forever whereas in reality they lasted just a few seconds. Right, all i had to do was wake up somehow.
The burning sensation on my face after the slap was pretty real. Maybe i just did not slap hard enough. I tried again. When it did not work, all i could think of was to just try again, and again and again.
“Whoa! What are you doing!”
I almost had a heart attack upon hearing a voice other than the constant buzzing. My hands quickly searched for something i could use to defend myself with however only thing i had were my fists. Hands squeezed right in front of my face, i turned around to face the stranger.
The most distinctive thing about the young man standing in front of me was his flamboyant west. It was green, kind of one that is used by construction workers. Other than that, he was tall and broad shouldered. He was tanned, from work maybe? His brown hair had a neat cut and brown eyes matched it.
Other than his looks, i could tell at a glance that he was just as clueless as i was.
“I was trying to wake up. In case if i was dreaming.” I lowered my fists upon the inspection i made. Now, i was just happy to come across someone. Even though a sense of relief started to flow in me, i reminded myself that i should stay vigilant.
“Yeah, been there. It’s not though. Not sure what it is, but not a dream.”
I was hesitant about trusting his words but it was true, i did not felt like dreaming either.
“Do you remember how you came here? Or have any idea about this place maybe?”
Man tilted his head and scratched the back of his hair while fixating his gaze on the very annoying damp carpet.
“Uhh… Not really? I was probably in the building site though. When i first woke up i thought i fell down to one of the unfinished floors.”
“So you remember who you are?”
“I mean, of course. Sure nothing makes any sense but, i haven’t lost my mind yet.”
It was strange. Perhaps we were blackened out with different methods and mine also had an amnesia effect?
Either way, we had to find a way to get out of this never ending mess of hallways and rooms.
“Did you find anything out of ordinary? I mean, everything technically is but…”
“Nah man… Everywhere is empty as it takes.” Construction worker crossed his arms and took a few lazy steps. We didn’t seem to have any plan, or any idea.
“There has to be something different. We entered this place from somewhere.” I tried observing the corners of the walls, ceiling and floor. The more i look, more the anxiety grew. It felt like we were rats in the middle of a maze, observed by some crazy scientist. Looking at our situation now, it wasn’t a crazy theory.
“Look over there.”
“Huh?” I was awaken from my state of dizziness by the man calling out to me. He was pointing at somewhere far away in the hallway. It seemed pretty similar to any other place in this area.
“Even though this place doesn’t make any sense, it still has a sensible structure. The walls and colons are where they’re supposed to be to make a stable floor.”
“So?” I still couldn’t figure out. To me, nothing in this place made any sense.
“That wall in there, it looks like a later addition. It doesn’t fit the floor structure.”
Even though constantly growing headache and dizziness made it hard for me to understand anything at all, when i looked at the wall the man was pointing at, it started to look out of place to me as well. Maybe i did not understand anything at all and my brain simply wanted to believe what he said. Either way, there was no reason why we shouldn’t go and check it out.
“Okay. Let’s go and check it out.”
I was all alone. It wasn’t that the man suddenly disappeared, i just had a brief moment of refreshment upon noticing the out of place structure. I couldn’t deny that it was eerie. However i knew i was hallucinating the whole time.
I silently thanked the non existent construction worker for helping me. Maybe he wasn’t a part of my blurred consciousness but some guiding creature of this weird place after all.
I walked in a straight line, not letting the out-of-place wall leave my sight. I felt the wall with my hand. It was just like others, same yellow wallpaper and all.
I might’ve taken a few extra steps around the wall, or simply went to somewhere else. But when i felt another wave of refreshment wash upon me, i was sitting on a swivel chair. I was gently swinging back and forth as if i was in a trance.
It took me a few minutes to realise that surroundings changed ever so slightly. I was in a room with manila patterned wallpapers instead of the usual yellow ones. In front of me, i could see a table with papers scattered around. The buzzing sound grew fainter but it was still there, fueling my migraine.
I reached out to one of the papers. First thing that caught my attention was a transparent stamp, covering the whole paper diagonally. It simply read “M.E.G.”
Level 0
This is the level you are currently within. A unique property of this level is it’s isolating effect that prevents any two wanderers from seeing or interacting with each other, even when standing in what should be the same location as well as its shifting, non-Euclidean nature. Noclipping, as described earlier, is the only safe, documented way to exit this level.
“What the hell?”
What was i even reading? Why did it say “Level” like it was some sort of game?
I let out a pained laugh. I was exhausted, drowned in mind fog. I thought i had found a way out but it only brought more questions. I leaned forward and took my head between my hands. Maybe closing my eyes for a while would help with the migraines.
..
…
….
“Are you real?”
I suddenly jumped in my place upon the sudden sound. It did not feel creepy at all, it was very soft in fact. But i didn’t remember another person entering the room.
I lift my head to inspect the owner of the sound. The girl was standing just next to the door. She was very pale, looking tired probably from all the walking. Her long brown hair reached her waist, standing right above an incarnadine belt decorated with a big bow ornament of the same color. It seemed like she was wearing a bright red lipstick but the color faded over time. She looked pretty stylish overall, i could think she was a model if i saw her on the street or something.
“Yeah. And you?”
At this point i pretty much did not care if she was real or just a hallucination.
“Of course i am!”
“Nice.”
I brought my hands to my temples once again to rub my head.
“Do you mind if i sit there for a while? My legs are so sore from all the walking and the ground is just…” She scrunched her nose and lifted a feet slightly up while gazing down. I did not realise that the floor in here was also damp and had the strange smell.
“I don’t mind.”
As soon as i stood up dizziness returned. It almost felt like the room itself was spinning like it was on a swivel chair. Then i realised, i did not get up but simply started spinning. Girl was watching me curiously.
“Yeah, sorry.” I stopped spinning and stood up awkwardly.
“How did you end up here?” She settled in the swivel chair as i plopped myself on the ground. My pants were getting damp from the carpet but i was too tired to care.
“I have no idea. I don’t remember a single thing.”
“Yeah… You seem pretty awful. For me though, last thing i remember is that i was in school.”
I expected that sentence to trigger a memory in me. Maybe i needed more?
“What was the school like? Was it similar in any way to here?”
Girl paused for a moment to remember. “It wasn’t similar to here. It was much more warmer, lights didn’t buzz and walls were white. Only thing i can liken is that the hallways were empty.”
It felt like my brain decided to work again. No memories but thoughts. I picked up the paper i left on the table earlier.
“What about uhh… Levels? Do you remember anything about playing a game or something?”
She peeked behind my shoulder at the paper. “Levels? Not really. What’s that though?”
“I don’t know. I found it here but it just did not make any sense.”
She snatched the paper from my hands and started reading it anxiously. The more she read, more her burrows furrowed and face got paler.
“What if it’s like Saw, you know?”
“Like what?”
“The movie! What if some psycho put us in a game and expecting us to fight for our lives and escape? These seem like instructions to me.”
Her words made sense. Perhaps the only thing that made sense since i got here. It did not explain how the halls could be endless and non-euclidean but it was safe to assume we might’ve been under the effect of some drug, or a different method that made us hallucinate.
I got up from the floor and leaned against the chair to take a better look at the paper.
“What about Noclipping ?
“I’m not sure what that means. Maybe we can find it on another paper.”
And so, we made our way through every paper and every document we could find in the room. We were also lucky to find a beverage called “Almond Water” in the cabinet. We were too thirsty to care if it was safe to drink or not.
Fortunately, it was pretty refreshing and tasted good to me even though the girl, i learned her name was Lia, did not like it at all.
The documents were mostly about different levels except the ones that explained some technical terms.
Noclipping is the action of travelling quickly enough to pass through a solid object. This is considered the main method of entering and exiting many of the levels in the Backrooms. While noclipping is a fairly supernatural process, it draws similarities with quantum tunneling.
“Maybe it’s like a game term, you know? These quantum stuff and all…”
Nearly in all of the levels we could find the description for, the phenomenon called “Noclipping” seemed to be the guaranteed way out.
“It could mean a secret button or door. We should try searching to room again for these.”
“Wait!” Lia grabbed my arm as i was about to grab things randomly.
“It said in the document that it’s not entirely safe.”
Noclipping, if unsuccessful, can lead to serious bodily harm from the high velocities it requires. Worse, if noclipping is only partially successful, it can lead to absorption where a wanderer may end up inside of a wall, instantly dying.
“I doubt we’ll end up inside a wall. They probably just wrote that to scare us, whoever this M.E.G. is…”
Lia wasn’t exactly relieved, however she agreed to search the room with me to find a possible Noclip channel.
“Grabbing isn’t enough. Maybe we should try the process in the description.”
After searching every nook and cranny once again, we were back to the middle.
“It doesn’t make sense at all!”
Looking at it again, we already tried the first step and failed: check for noclipped walls or floor parts.
“We should try walking into a wall. Pick the one that makes you feel uneasy the most.”
“Every single one of them makes me uneasy.” She wasn’t as bright as she was when she entered the room some? time ago. We both were even more exhausted.
“If i had to pick, though… I would pick the spot you were sitting on earlier.” She pointed at the ground right next to the table. It was the place i chose to sit on when she took the chair.
“Let’s try then.” I crouched down and placed my hand on the ground. The description was eerie, however, it didn’t feel strange. It was something like you would do involuntarily in an overly vivid dream. It was something you might’ve done in a brief moment of memory absence. It could very well be the method that brought us here. Even though my mind insisted that it’s supposed to some kind of trap door or a button…
As i gently placed both hands on the ground and started applying a little force, i closed my eyes and tried to imagine. Even though i wasn’t faithful i thought i could give it a shot.
I tried to imagine the quantum tunnel mentioned in the paper. I didn’t know what it meant so i could only guess. Something like a wormhole, filled by strong wind current. It did not feel unwelcome.
However, soon the air shifted. I didn’t recall any memory of getting into a tunnel or a door. It almost felt like i was getting sucked out of reality.
When i opened my eyes, the soothing feeling provided by both having someone around and the manila patterned room disappeared. Fear took it’s place.
I was sitting in the middle of an empty warehouse.
Up Next: Level 1
Threat Index: Class 1
*Safe
*Stable
*Minimal Entity Count