- First Person View (River) -

'It's been a few months, hasn't it?' "Go, quickly! Hurry up!" Metal creaking sounds come from behind us. 'You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation.' "Keep going! I see the exit back to Level 1!" The metal creaking sounds are getting quicker and quicker. Soft wind is hitting our faces. 'I'll tell you the situation when we get back.' "NOW!" We clip through the vent, ending back in Level 1.

*whoosh*

*thud*

"That was really stressful! I felt like I was about to die!" Dell said. Dell is the tech nerd in our group, male, short-statured, with brown hair and blue eyes. Thankfully glasses can be put inside the hazmat suit.

"That. Was. GREAT! We gotta do more of this crazy stuff, come on!" That maniac is Athena. Thrill-seeker, combat expert, you get the idea. Female, tall, long black hair, toned abs, and red eyes. Sometimes people have mistaken her for a demon. It made things harder.

"Athena, we should be more careful, the entity that was chasing us was called a Clump, and they are very dangerous when you get close, you would have died due to the tight spaces, how are you expected to..." That knowledgeable guy lecturing Athena is Ether. Knowledge seeker, cautious individual. Basically, he's the smart one in our group. He's close to the same height as me, with dark brown hair, and brown eyes. And yes, before you ask, he also needs glasses.

"Alright, alright. Ether, you can lecture Athena when we get back to the base, come on." Footsteps sounded out against the concrete. 'I suppose I should start talking then. In a few months, I've explored a large variety of levels, contributing a decent amount of knowledge to M.E.G. They decided I should be a base leader, although in a far different area than First Light. This is to cover more ground to find more lost wanderers.'

The group was chatting, though I heard an interesting thing. "The electricity of Level 1 has been more off than usual." Dell, ever the tech wizard said, though it stood to reason, why is this happening? I decided to join the conversation. "Though it is something to think about... why is this happening? Is there something specific in Level 1? This anomaly hasn't been recorded on this level before."

Ether gave his opinion. "Is it possible there's an entity messing with the electricity, or worse, the energy?" Athena was the usual. "If it's an entity, all we gotta do is crush it!" Ether rebuked Athena. "Are you dumb? We don't know the capabilities of this possible entity. We need information. I suppose I should be used to your way of doing things after a few months." Athena turned quiet. Ether always won the arguments against her.

'While me and my group are making our way towards the base, let me tell you about the level we were in before. Level 96 - The Ductwork. It's a seemingly infinite maze of vents that can lead to a lot of different levels based on the type of vent. There's also other factors of course, like lighting color, or air temperature. Vents can sometimes go in impossible directions, which can make it difficult to navigate, or possibly hit a dead end at a critical moment. If you ever see rusty parts of metal, don't go near it. That's an entity.'

Getting back at the base, which we call M.E.G Outlands Outpost, we've improved the structure quite a bit. We've holed up in a parking lot room, using metal gained from deconstructing random machinery to make walls. We have lights on, always. We don't need a Smiler suddenly appearing. We've gotten used to sleeping with the lights on.

"Home! ... kind of." Dell said. We make do where we can. "Finally back." I complained. "I wanna fight things though..." Athena whined. "Then go punch some metal we have. I swear you have a superhuman physique..." Athena ran off to do exactly that. We all (except for Athena, apparently) took a break after what we dealt with. Let me tell you, it isn't fun being chased by a giant blob made of human limbs.

We all ran around to do our tasks after taking a break. I reported to the higher ups, Athena was punching metal (how does she do that?), Dell looked at the tech we have to make sure nothing has any problems, and Ether went over to our computer area, deciding to look through more of the M.E.G. database. I should probably describe how the base looks.

The base entrances have been blocked off by metal, with a metal "door." We have tools to open it if Athena isn't here. In one corner, we have our computers. These were sent by M.E.G. for the purpose of recording knowledge and sending reports to higher ups. In turn, we're allowed to look at the database, though I have the best clearance out of the group, being the base leader. In another corner, we have our lounging area. We took car seats from the broken down cars to use as chairs or couches. Wooden boards are used as tables to hold food and drinks.

In another corner, we have our storage for everything. Wooden materials, stone we found, useful metal, bandages, even food and drinks. Though the food and drinks are stored in a barely working refrigerator. It's better than nothing. In the last corner we have training materials. Tall metal blocks (for Athena), weights we badly made, planks on the floor for exercises (hopscotch or whatever), and finally, we actually found a fucking conveyor belt. You heard me right, a conveyor belt. With the help of Dell, we made it into a treadmill. If you're wondering where we sleep, it's in the lounge area. Ether thought it would be a good idea to get backups, which I agreed with. And yes, we have blankets.

'Thankfully, we're doing okay.' The moment I thought that, things got weird. The lights started flickering rapidly, changing from warm to cold. Of course the others were confused as well. The lights started to be out of sync as well. Imagine multiple lights in a parking lot, switching from warm to cold, hell, even off sometimes, out of sync. I know I would be confused. Then, even weirder, actual energy was made visible. We could see the energy in the room. If I wasn't confused enough before, I'm definitely stunned. The others were also confused. Ether being the knowledgeable one, was the most confused. And then it stopped. The energy in the air and the lights wasn’t moving. Then suddenly...

*crackle*

All the energy rushed into my body. The others were stunned, but then became concerned. "I'm fine." I said. "I feel fine, I don't feel anything wrong." Ether spoke up. "Are you sure?" I can see that he speaks with concern, but he's also looking at me as if I'm a treasure. Ever the knowledge seeker, huh? "I'm completely fine." Athena ruined the moment. "So are you really strong now? Can we fight? I wanna fight!" Everyone slapped their foreheads. 'this knucklehead...' Ether took her aside to tell her that's not the first thing she should be thinking of. Dell looked at me for a second with concern, then went with them. Now... let's deal with this.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

[Hello, you have been chosen for the Backrooms Fourth Disaster System.]

{The Backrooms what?}

[The Backrooms Fourth Disaster System]

{Alright... what do you do?}

[My job is to summon players from earth into the Backrooms in the form of a game.]

{So, you bring people to the Backrooms.}

[That is slightly incorrect. I bring players' souls to the Backrooms to put in virtual bodies.]

{I feel different though. What did you do to me?]

[I have upgraded your physical and mental abilities.]

{I'll take it. Might as well get started... this is going to be interesting.}

[The next operation is to create a game, please give a title.]

{A title, huh...? Is there any concept of the Backrooms in that place where the players are?}

[There is no concept of the Backrooms on the planet Earth in Reality Plane 6702N.]

{In Reality Plane what?}

[Reality Planes are alternate universes of each other.]

{Ah, got it. Back to the title. Since there's no concept of the Backrooms, just name it "The Backrooms".}

[Understood. Please give a description.]

{Hmm... alright. "Realistic virtual reality experience, the Backrooms is a game about a large amount of liminal spaces interconnected with each other. What levels will you find?"}

[Understood. Uploading to platform "Steam" in Reality Plane 6702N.]

{This will be fun. I can't wait to see what this reckless bunch discover.}

[Agreed. There will possibly be things I do not know about.]

{Yeah.}

[!!!]

{What? What is it?}

[Notice. The first player has joined the game.]

{Already? Can you show me?}

[Understood. Conjuring screen.]

{Is this screen invisible to others?}

[Yes.]

{Good. Now let's watch this unfold.}

[Understood.]

Chapter Word Count: 1,504