Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Walkway War

My allies approach the walkway, rather courageously all things considered. Right as my allies and I get close enough to the collapsed walkway that all of us can hear the braying of hounds, I smirk and order my corruption to go ahead and enslave the creatures closest to us.

I watch, walking closer to the walkway all the while, as my corruption which infects the foot of the wrecked walkway begins to lash out. The stuff transforms into barbed tentacles which emerge from every substance my sinful substance has managed to infiltrate.

It begins to slam into and stab some of the creatures who would have been the first to react to my allies and I. Curiously, this does not elicit a reaction from any of the other creatures watching the collapsed walkway.

I smirk as I sense my corruption filling the creatures, not at all killing them but instead dealing huge damage to their senses of self. The entities are not smart creatures but they possess solid wills, tethered to The Backrooms itself. As they are corrupted, I make use of one of the abilities of the “Essence of the Binder” and begin to invoke “Commands”, issuing orders to the creatures that I have infected with my sigils.

“Commands” are absolute orders I can make those I control fulfill. These orders are so powerful that in order to fulfill them those under my control will be temporarily enhanced if a command is beyond even the very best of their capabilities to fulfill. I know exactly the limit of the orders I can issue, and I understand how powerful an ability this is, which is why I use it in this moment.

No less than four smilers emerge from my shadow, all in shadowy, 2D bodies of their own. Their inky forms dart forward, dashing towards the collapsed walkway, and I can sense the cruel sadism they feel. Hounds in their own 2D forms also dart out of me and dash forward. In both cases I have plans for them especially since they are well and truly immortal so long as I live…

My companions and I get close enough to the walkway that our enemies can see us, right as the shadowy forms of my servants slip past the first batch of foes we’re going to have to clash with. I smirk as “Rollers”, strange animated clumps of muscle that surge towards their foes begin to dash towards us. They are circular things that are only dangerous when they are slopes. Sadly, for my faction, they are on slopes as the things are positioned right at the top of the walkway.

I decide to handle them myself rather than making an ally of mine do it. My companions all gasp when they hear the increasingly loud noises of distant rollers dashing towards us and building up more and more speed all the while. I only smirk and I raise my hand with a knowing look on my face.

After turning inward and focusing for a moment I project a wave of telekinetic force in the direction of the rollers. The energy ripples out of my hand and is so tense and tightly woven that it causes the air in front of me to visibly vibrate.

If someone sharp-eyed were watching me right now they’d notice that the air in front of me ripples as my power surges forward. This is a manifestation of my power and when it reaches the tiny creatures, each of which is a perhaps three-foot-tall orb of muscle and skin, they are sent hurtling into the air.

My power, a simple application of what I suspect would be called a “Force Push”, is tremendously effective and it hits all five of the rollers that were dashing towards my party. All five of the small but destructive beasts are hurled back and off of the walkway. I watch as they helplessly fall into the toxic radon gas awaiting them down below. But my victory isn’t total, as even as I watch the rollers fall to their deaths I seem to have enraged the gigantic moths which begin to buzz angrily.

“Get ready, our foes are coming.” I tell my allies even as my friends lay their eyes on the convulsing bodies of hounds. Their hands tense around their weapons, but I shake my head and point upward at the enormous moths which until now have been content to be eerie guardians of the ruined walkway.

Visible tentacles also jut out of the walkway, and when they notice them that makes my allies tense up even more. That is annoying but understandable. Time freezes as text boxes appear and I sense the universe wanting me to say something. I select a text box almost immediately this time.

“The tentacles are mine. They are a weapon in my arsenal that I can use to obstruct or even defeat entities from far away.” I explain, causing my allies to turn and gaze at the corruption in awe. At the same time the gigantic moths begin to fly towards us, no less than six of the things intent on assailing my allies and I.

The second the things begin to descend towards us I exert a fraction of my willpower on the corruption inside of my allies. My friends, still looking at me, are distracted enough that it is easy for me to lift their weapons up and fire their corrupted guns at the moths even with the minuscule amounts of corruption inside of them. They internally rationalize these actions as reactions to stimuli they can’t consciously detect but that doesn’t escape their unconscious notice.

This startles the insects but the bullets are too fast for them to dodge. I smile as I hear their distant wails of pain even as the corrupted bullets that struck them melt in their bodies and fill them with corruption.

I dash onto the walkway, effortlessly leaping onto the guard rails of the thing and I turn to face my allies. There is a visible smirk on my face even as I feel more and more powers awakening within me.

In the middle of my field of view I see an image of myself appear in a circular “frame” of sorts. Three bars jut from this frame, one of which is red, another is blue, and the final one is green. I don’t have to study them to know what they are, I played video games before I was dragged into The Backrooms.

The red bar is my health, an abstraction and a quantification of my lifeforce. The green bar is my stamina bar, which gives me a representation I can look at to examine my internal energy stores. The blue bar is much more mysterious, as it represents my internal wellspring of magical energy, and it is partially depleted. I used my magic to help Zac, and thanks to Rebecca I know that Brandon, Zac’s brother, made it to the settlement a few minutes ago… No doubt due to my arcane intervention.

I leap onto one of the visible tentacles, and I quietly gesture at my allies to follow me up the walkway, before I have the tentacle I am on stretch backward like it is part of a slingshot. I will it to snap in the direction of the top of the walkway and it flings me high into the air. My allies, quickly, decide to do things the good old fashioned way.

For several moments I silently sail through the air, a broad grin on my face. I’m starting to enjoy certain parts of being an adventurer! I smile as I dart past various moths, and when I look at them I learn that they are called “Death Moths” thanks to another unconscious activation of “Observation”.

I am still sailing in the air when I reach into my backpack and I pull out one of my new items. I feel the curves of a bow and I smirk as I pull out one of my “Mistilteinn”, potent weapons that serve as the “Capstone Item” from the “Trickster” line of items.

The bow in my hands is an arcane thing that glows with strange, otherworldly energy. It is made of living wood but it looks like it is a metal bow. The thing vibrates in my hand, and I can sense it sensing me.

I sense the back of my mind filling with knowledge of how to use this item. There are no arrows provided for me, but I don’t need any… The bow can generate them and fires them out whenever I use it.

I glance back at the moths that I have just sailed past and I quickly point the bow in their direction. As I do I focus on them, and I pull the thin, but lovely string of the bow back. My vision narrows as I focus on a specific moth, and I am surprised when I see my bow flash brilliantly for a split second. I stop pulling the string back and an arrow is generated, covered in corruption, that rockets forward out of the bow.

The force of the arrow’s release actually speeds me up a bit. I chuckle as I watch the corrupted arrow fly through the air, until it slams into one of the moths. As it hits the creature the thing turns pink for a second and hearts begin to flow out of it, but additionally I watch the moth next to it freeze and shriek in pain, as if it has somehow been dealt a portion of the damage that its friend just suffered from.

The moth I actually struck is filled with corruption and I watch the stuff overwhelm it, but I am a bit surprised that whatever bizarre status effect my blow dealt is not also contagious. The moth next to the corrupted one is filled with rage and is darting around erratically.

I fill the moth with perks as it is fully corrupted and already under my control, as I turn around and reach the rest of the normal walkways. I land on the guard rails of one of them, and I hop off the rail to confront the closest monster that isn’t on my side. I find myself face to face with a smiler. The weirdly “Cheshire Cat” like creature is a menacing thing that stands as tall as a human, and radiates the same aura of intimidating pressure as a tiger might.

This high up I can hear distant sounds of carnage all around me. I know that my monstrous forces are currently clashing with various entities around here, but none of them are close to where I am. Far below me my human allies are currently climbing the wreckage of the walkway, and I can hear them calling out for me to wait for them. The smiler glares at me, maniacal and sadistic joy in its eyes as it studies me.

The creature laughs, the sound weirdly human, as it lunges at me and tackles me to the ground. The thing was only a few feet from where I had landed, and it moves at me with speed unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, but despite all of that it deals me no damage as it knocks me to the floor of the catwalk. I glare at the thing and hiss when it bats my bow out of the way, all the way off of the catwalk.

I abruptly punch the cat in its cartoonish face, hitting it hard enough to send it reeling back. Instinctually I know that this must be possible because of a perk, because I don’t have the strength needed to deal such a blow to this creature, or at least I didn’t before I came to The Backrooms. The creature makes a weird sound as it is knocked off me, and I take advantage of the moment to leap to my feet.

As I get up my bow appears in mid-air, hovering next to me. It’s string is already drawn back, and as I glance at it, the bow releases the string and an arrow is generated just in time to sail into the smiler’s face. I watch the arrow sink into the cat’s creepy head and then appear on the other side of it, without creating an entry or exit wound. The cat slumps over, even as its skin ripples and corruption courses through it. It is at this point that I get a notification that causes me to stop and stare.

[Alert: [Class] perk unlocked. [Class] perk activating… [Levels] perk unlocked. [Levels] perk activating… [Skills] perk unlocked. [Skills] perk activating…

[Modifier] detected. Three classes unlocked. [Rogue], [Fighter], [Wizard], classes awakened. All classes are now level 1.

[Skills] awarded: [Sneak Attack], [Expertise], [Fighting Style (X3): Unarmed fighting, Thrown weapon fighting, and Archery], [Second Wind], [Spellcasting], and [Arcane Recovery].

The notification is powerful and as I read it I can feel myself growing stronger. It is great enough to distract me for a moment, but only in a way that brings a proud smile to my face.

I am about to begin to sprint towards some of the nearest foes when I suddenly feel my goosebumps emerge all over my arms. I look up at the sky, which stretches a few hundred meters above even where I am currently located, compelled to do so by instinct.

As I look up at the sky my eyes widen when I see one hundred portals abruptly open up so high they look like weirdly colored clouds. And that’s not all as other portals begin to appear much closer to the walkway, even the part of it that has been wrecked. There is a portal between my allies and me!

Creatures almost immediately begin to fall out of them, onto the walkway. There is no way this is a coincidence… I grit my teeth and glance down in the direction I came. I see my companions steadily climbing the difficult slope that leads to where I am.

---

The group of six people, Rachel and the humans from the settlement, are all steadily climbing up the unintentional slope. All around them there is violence occurring as the initial Death Moths that Gustavo corrupted works to protect them from its peers and to corrupt other gigantic moths.

They were shocked, at the beginning, but they know now to expect the unexpected and impossible with Gustavo. He is growing greater and greater every time he corrupts something.

The sounds of the moths fighting each other is surprisingly loud, but knowing that the moths are distracted is enough to convince the adventurers to be speedy. They listen to the sounds of the moths fighting, even overhearing them spit sickly streams and globes of acid at each other. These noises motivate the party to work hard and to quickly climb the slope that itself reaches a height of hundreds of feet in the air. Even motivated, this is a tricky task and they are having a tough time of it.

Fortunately for the climbers they are able to hold onto each other and the guard rails that keep the walkways from being even more of a death trap than they are thanks to things like smilers and other entities lurking on them. The adventurers have also learned a lot about a dangerous type of entity they have never seen before, which Anna and Marco both appreciate.

They are beginning to make serious progress in their task when Lucy, one of the two women from the camp in the group, and their best vision-based scout, gasps as she looks ahead. Without hesitating everyone from the camp looks in the direction she is looking in right as energy begins to coalesce not far from in front of them and the air begins to shimmer… A doorway shaped hole in reality appears, disconnecting the path up the slope from the end of the slope.

The portal solidifies almost immediately, and the adventurers can see what it contains. There is a strange red room on the other side of the interdimensional doorway, and in that room rests a dark table on which is a weird looking… cake. Right before any of the adventurers can study the cake, a tall being seemingly made of a weird, leather-like substance appears, suddenly taking up a lot of space in the portal, and leaps through the portal.

This creature has a crimson emoticon-like smiley face etched onto what must be its head. It has yellow skin and darts towards the party the instant that it is through the portal. The portal is far enough away that Marco has time to both gasp and aim his gun. He shakily points it at the creature’s head but this does not deter the creature.

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Marco does not hesitate. He pulls the trigger and a corrupted bullet rockets out of the gun. The thing hits the creature in the head and Marco yelps when the bullet enters what must be the creature’s head, and then exits out the other side without leaving an entry or exit wound. Nevertheless, the creature is sent backwards by the blow, and collapses against the floor of the walkway.

It is at this point that the portal abruptly disappears, and Gustavo appears. He smiles at Marco and there is something about his appearance that powerfully assures the group that everything is gonna be okay, somehow.

The mysterious figure has just closed a portal to a location that his supernatural abilities informed him is named “Level Fun =)”, and his instincts told him that particular level is anything but what its name suggests. He takes a beat to use his skills on the corrupted “corpse”, while commanding the “body” to stay still and play dead.

He learns that the monster that attacked his companions is called a “Partygoer”, a type of creature native to The Backrooms but not “These” backrooms. He ponders this for a moment before recalling the situation he is in and refocusing.  

“Hey, come on! Portals are opening all over the place. We’ve got to get moving.” Gustavo explains, causing the eyes of his companions to widen.

“Wait… if there are more portals that just keep opening, what can we do?!” Marco asks, fear and panic seeping into his voice. He is normally unshakeable, but he knows that the walkways contain hordes of monsters.

He is rightfully afraid of what could happen to them while they are using the walkways to navigate the level, and he’s also scared of what it might take to get down from this height. Gustavo frowns but the look on his face is a patient one. Rachel looks at Gustavo for a split second before beginning to repeat what he begins to say to her, telepathically.

“There are portals opening right now that are depositing flying creatures into the level. ‘Death Moths’. Gustavo has counted over one hundred different portals in the skies above the walkways. He can shut down the portals, using his powers, but if he doesn’t and the moths fly over any of the settlements…” Rachel warns the party, causing everyone to blanche abruptly.

“We have no choice. If we want to stop the destruction of the settlements… We’ve got to go THROUGH this nightmare. Running from this is not an option.” Gustavo himself tells his companions.

“Shit… This is…” Marco begins, his voice a quiet hiss.

“It’s apocalyptic. For this level at least. If even a small group of the creatures appears over any settlement they can just rain acid down on it. A high enough group of the bugs can bomb the shit out of a settlement and render it uninhabitable without the inhabitants having a chance to fight back. Worse still, they could erode the walkways and send them collapsing down. Not only would that endanger people beneath the walkways when it happens if it is done enough a place is plunged into darkness.” Anna adds, eloquently stating some of the reasons why this cannot be allowed to come to pass.

Everyone is silent for a moment as the weight of Anna’s proclamation hits them all. Anna is absolutely correct, if nothing is done here to fight back against the portals that are spewing the gigantic, flying insects then there will be no point to making settlements in this region and eventually the range of the uninhabitable zone of this level will encompass the whole level.

They all nod at each other, as they steel their resolves and prepare for what comes next. During this time Gustavo’s forces have been hard at work and Gustavo himself is feeling the rewards that accompany their efforts.

“Okay…  There’s no choice. How can we help you?” Replies another of the men, an older man named Anthony. He is a dark-skinned black man who is quite short at an even five feet tall, and he is the quietest figure in the group aside from Gustavo.

 Gustavo is quiet for a moment and Rachel does not speak up. This causes the group to begin to assume the worst before Gustavo quietly sighs and accepts that it is time to come clean. Not completely, not yet at least, but it is time for him to reveal some of the truth.

“I can control entities. This isn’t sight based and its not perfect, but if I can hit them or if one of the entities under my control can hit them, I can gain control of them. And if you can hit them I can also seize control of them. At least if you can land a clean shot.” Gustavo reveals, a dark smile appearing on his face as he reveals this.

This revelation shocks the group, though some like Anna and Lucy, were already aware of this. It was the only way to explain how the entities they shot turned on their peers…

“With every entity I seize control of I grow stronger. I can use some of the entities against the moths. I need you to attack the entities you see. Every entity under my control allows me to shut down more portals and do it faster.” Gustavo explains, causing the group to nod in unison. Gustavo does not stop looking at them when they nod, and they all wonder what he is about to reveal next before he turns and faces the sky above them.

“There’s one more thing… I only grow so much stronger, with these abilities, every time an entity falls under my control. On the other hand, I grow much stronger if humans join with me. If we want to overcome this nightmare, it’d be much easier if you joined me. It’d only be temporary, but the boost I’d get from five people adding their might to mine would be incredible.” Gustavo says, causing everyone to look at him suspiciously.

Rachel is about to respond to their words when Gustavo raises a hand silently, silencing her. He turns and faces the skies again.

“Even now new moths are escaping the portals. They are falling as quickly as they are appearing, but they are inexhaustible. I need an answer.” Gustavo adds, stressing this softly but sadly. Anna and Marco both approach him and glare at his back. Lucy approaches him and she is the first one to speak.

“Gustavo… if it means I can protect the village, let me ‘Join with you’.” She says, causing Gustavo to smile even as he does not turn to face her. A light aura begins to emanate from him as he mentally asks her to join the hivemind he commands, a request which she accepts. She gasps lightly when she enters the hivemind and feels her mind becoming just one of many in a tight web of connected, subservient minds.

Gustavo begins to tremble as the power of Lucy’s mind gives him the power to pierce through the interference that has been preventing him from making sense of the words he could faintly hear at the edge of his sensory range. As the obstruction to his senses is overcome he is surprised to hear a stunningly beautiful voice screaming out for aid.

"Can anyone hear me?! Please… Help!” The voice shouts, crying out for aid. It is an incredibly melodic voice, unlike anything that the once mundane man has ever heard. This is jarring, but Gustavo responds extraordinarily quickly.

---

“Hello! I can hear you. Where are you?!” I ask, speaking to the person crying out for help via the power of “Faustian Bargaining”.

“Huh!? Someone… Someone heard me?! Oh thank goodness. My name is Narlin. My sisters and I were captured by the Universal Consciousness which lords over this place. Please, come help us!” The voice says, revealing that she has also been victimized by this universe. There is a note of excitement in its voice.

I feel a pang of sympathy once it reveals that it has been captured by the same entity that rules over this place. I am about to tell her that I will go save her soon, before I realize something… It’s odd that she knows about the universal consciousness lording over this place.

I know the exact contents of several human minds. None of the humans I have met knew about the concept of a universal consciousness and those that do now did not before they met me and were connected to Rebecca’s mind and to my own. If this woman knows about the Universal Consciousness… What is she?

“I’m gonna go rescue you, but first… What are your sisters and you? The fact that you know about the Universal Consciousness which rules over this place is weird.” I state, definitely and then ask. The voice falls quiet for a moment, clearly considering how to answer my question. It takes it a beat, long enough for my companions and I to start walking up the slope, attacking what entities we can all the while, before the creature replies.

“As I stated before, my name is Narlin. I am a primordial goddess of fire and creation. My sisters are all primordial goddesses. We have been trapped by the Universal Consciousness which rules over this universe. It is a hostile, aggressive thing, and it got us when we were weak from traveling through multiverses. Now… What are you, little one?” The voice replies, and I can sense the weight of its words lifting themselves off of Narlin’s mental chest. I mentally chuckle even as more entities begin to become a part of my hivemind, a process which never fails to make Lucy smile.

“I am a jumper. A young one, but a jumper nonetheless. I was trapped in this dimension before my powers would have awoken on their own, but intervention on my behalf and my powers have allowed me to arrive here.” I reply, which causes me to hear not only one but several gasps. I can easily identify several different voices listening in, something which I would have not thought possible but if the voices belong to “Primordial Goddesses” I guess there’s a lot they could probably do…

“A jumper! If you can free us and we can escape… Well, we’ll be sure to award you appropriately. We’re trapped in a place we’ve heard distant voices call ‘The Vault’. If you can hear us you must already be reasonably close… There’s an ornate treasure chest, the only one of its kind in the vault. We’ve been trapped in it, in the form of a suit of armor, weapons, and accessories. Come and find us. Please.” The voice pleads, even as I sense another new power awakening within me.

Underneath the image of me that floats in the middle of the top section of my field of view a mini-map appears. This mini-map is a 2D representation of my surroundings. It is also positively filled with colored symbols, each symbol representing myself, a friend, or a foe. Most the symbols represent foes.

“If I free you… Can your powers, as they are, allow me to destroy all of these portals?” I ask the voices in my head, even before I mentally project a telepathic snapshot of the skies filled with portals. I do not get an immediate response from Narlin, which is both surprising and encouraging. It’s clear she’s still well enough, mentally, to consider her own limits. Lucy is also listening, very curiously.

My corruption begins the work of closing and capturing some of the portals in the skies above us, even as my allies and I begin to shoot moths with our corrupted bullets. My bow also participates in the clash, firing target-seeking arrows which lance and dance through the air before piercing targets and corrupting them. It is at this point that Narlin finally replies.

“There is an extremely real chance that if you free me, even in my initial and weakened state I’ll be able to purge the portals that are spewing out monsters. I fully believe that I can handle that many portals.” She states, quietly. There is a seriousness in her tone that I can respect.

I also sense my mental map suddenly expand beyond where I’ve been in this level. As it does I see an arrow pointing to what looks to be a huge circular chamber, causing me to realize that that’s where Narlin’s voice is coming from!

I smirk at Lucy, who smiles brightly back at me, even as she points her gun in the direction of a hound that was sprinting at us and fires without breaking eye contact. Distantly the first few portals begin to flicker out of existence, exiting reality and entering my inventory, where they float, mysteriously.

“Everyone… Now is the time to join hands with me! If all of us join together now, a process which I can end later on, then we both leave this place AND protect your home.” I say, even as I continue to work on shutting the portals down with my corruption. Anthony and Lopez, the two other men in the group aside from Marco and I look at Lucy who nods softly at them. They nod back, and I feel Lucy add them to the hivemind, simply by inviting the pair. Marco and Anna steadfastly refuse, but I can work within the bounds of the victory I have received.

Several bodies begin to form in the spaces around and behind us. We dart forward, and the bodies begin to take on the actual appearances of Rachel, myself, Lucy, and Anthony and Lopez.

“Anna, Marco, keep going in this direction! Our group will turn around and go in the direction of a tool that will allow us to end this. For real.” I tell my companions. As I speak Lopez, a normally soft-spoken person, suddenly cusses.

“Is that where… the fucking Vault is?!” Lopez asks, causing Anna and Marco to stop in their tracks. They turn around just in time for another portal to “Level Fun =)” to appear. I point my gun in the direction of the portal and begin to open fire on a number of “Partygoers” that try to slip through the portal.

“You know where the Vault is?!” Anna asks, causing me to nod excitedly at her.

“Yes! And I’m going to go find it. But I’ll also stay here. Because thanks to my powers… I can do both.” I remark, confidently, even as the minions I managed to corrupt turn on their allies. The partygoer from earlier clambers up the slope, having started moving after we did. Lucy and my new party and I dart backwards and start walking in the opposite direction, a few moments later, even catching up to the entity who just finished ascending the slope.

We’re on a mission. We need to rescue Narlin! We need to find the Vault.

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